Laserblast, the last episode they did on Comedy Central, was one of the funniest. The fat-redneck cop jokes alone were worth it, and the well-deserved ridicule of famous film critic and idiot Leonard Maltin was great, but what really made the episode was the take-off on 2001 at the end.
Secret Agent Super Dragon is special to me because it’s one of the few times I came up with a spontaneous line at the same moment as the bots: “Hey – it’s the Old Spice guy!” This movie was such a stupid spy flick that I turned to my brother and said, “Gee, this really makes you appreciate the Flint movies.” He replied, “Are you kidding? This makes you appreciate the Matt Helm movies!” Ouch.
For a funny episode and truly twisted vision of 1950’s America, I recommend Invasion USA. It comes with a short, “A Date With Your Family”, that still creeps me out. The movie itself is based on the premise that Russians will conquer the US because the DoD can’t get any companies to take military contracts to produce tanks. Damn Commies.
The Brains did a tour of college campuses several years ago,where they’d show an episode in front of a theater and then do a Q&A session afterwards. One of the questions was “who does the squeaky glass noise?” Mike started a long, detailed explanation of how that whole thing started, and while he was talking, Trace took off his glasses and started wiping them with his shirt, making the noise.
The other good bit from that was when somebody said that he grew up in Wisconsin and thought that their Midwestern Housewife accents were dead-on, and could they do them for the audience now? All at once, they all started saying, “Oh, no, no… I don’t think that would be a good idear there, no…”
Another good movie to find: Fugitive Alien. “He TRIED to kill me with a forklift!”
I had always thought they were just exaggerating that accent. When I went to the 1994 convention and checked into the hotel, the desk clerk had that exact accent. It was all I could do not to laugh.
Kevin must’ve inherited it by the time “Riding with Death” came around.
I think the finest mimicry I ever heard on the show was in Devil Fish when the soused marine scientist plays a tape of what he believes to be a horrible sea monster. He ends up playing back nothing but silence, during which Servo interjects the sound of beer cans being cracked and drank … flawless.
And of course that’s more or less what the OP was talking about, wasn’t it? Guess that’s what I get for posting when somebody linked me to only the second page and forgetting to read the first…
Warrior of the Lost Universe has been mentioned, but it gets my vote for best episode. How can you not love a show with:
“ANY FRUIT TO DECLARE”?
“The future is PONG?”
“Jimmy Carter is The Mechanic”
“Mega-Weapon! Mega-Weapon!”
“Mega-weapon’s cooler than all you guys. (sniff)”
“Oh, that Liver-faced Paper-Chase guy”
High School Big Shot
Human Duplicators
The Violent Years (having hobbies turns your kids into commie delinquents) Outlaw
Santa Claus
Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell
Skydivers
Kitten with a Whip
Shit, I forgot Manos: the hands of fate. I know it’s already been mentioned a million times in this thread, but I can’t bear to leave it off The List, so stick it between The Violent Years and Outlaw.
I love it solely for the scenes with Torgo lurching around and speaking like his words are being jerked out of him. After we watch this one, I can make Mrs. Giraffe laugh until she cries by impersonating Torgo.
I mentioned this in another MST3K thread, so forgive the repetition, but I originally saw Manos when I was rather ill – what set me off laughing was the long driving sequence with no dialogue, in which Tom Servo drones on and on about his twenty year plan. It’s not so much what he said was funny, but that there was such a gap in the soundtrack that he had plenty of time to blather on…
Torgo – he makes the Dark Side fun.
And the wives wrestling whilst wearing their grans’ underthings…now that’s a directatorial vision I never needed to see.
Anyone remember HELPING CHILDREN THROUGH RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT?
“Hi Everyone. Let’s Pitch In N Get Cracking Here In Louisiana Doing Right, Eh? Now Then, Hateful, Rich, Overbearing, Ugly Guys Hurt Royally Everytime Someone Eats A Radish, Carrot, Hors d’oeuvre, And Never Does Dishes. Eventually, Victor Eats Lunch Over Peoria Mit Ein Neusberger Tod.”
Damn, I’ve been dying to see that one. Gregory Peck is my all time favorite actor.
How about when they did Parts: the Clonus Horror and every time Peter Graves pops up they yell, “Biography!”
Rabid Child:
“You’re listening to KPORN-sleazy, slutty music all morning long.”-Tom Servo
“Stay tuned for our obscene call of the day, here on KPORN.”-Mike
Speaking of, the part where the guy was running with his wife’s head under his arm, and the guys kept yelling, “He’s at the thirty yard line…now at the twenty-he’s going for a touchdown!” Hehehehehe…
And one of my favorite lines: “Oh, as if you’re the only one who ever had her head cut off-quit whining!” -Tom Servo, to “Jan in the Pan”.
Well, if by “best episode” you mean “worst movie”…
Although less (in)famous among MSTies than Manos, it was generally agreed among my college buddies that Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders (which I always referred to as Merlin’s Magical Mystery Tour) was the most painful of the movies to air on the show. It’s not as badly made as Manos, but it will hurt your soul. And part of the appeal of MST3K for me has always been the soul-hurting.
It also features Ernest Borgnine as the grandfather who inexplicably tells horror stories to his young grandson at bedtime.
When it comes to inept moviemaking, Future War deserves special mention. Oh, those forced-perspective dinosaur puppets! There’s also what must be one of the single worst lines in film history. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but you’ll know it when you hear it.
As a point of trivia that probably only I find interesting, a minor role in Future War is played by Joanne Takahashi, who was Grace Nakimura in the FMV computer game Gabriel Knight II: The Beast Within.
Also, the guy who played the main character (the Bible-quoting human who was a slave to evil aliens who apparently taught him to kickbox…seriously) went on to play one of the agents in the Matrix series.
