With Short: Commando Cody Part 1
First Broadcast - December 1989 (Unconfirmed)
Movie Pain: High - Cheesy monsters, but too talky.
Riffing: Induced mostly smiles
Skits: Same as above, though Josh's squeal of pain when he's struck by Dr. Fs security device was a hoot
A mummy protects valuable artifacts. An evil scientist, who calls himself "the Bat", builds a robot to help him steal them.
Our experiment this week provides a couple of chuckles here and there, as well as lots of dead spots (and I'm not just talking about the mummy). Notable for the urinating scene and when Joel mutes the woman's shrill singing (Mike apologizes for this in the ACEG but hey, it was funny). The epic battle between title characters is pretty lame, with the boxy bot getting the bolts beat out of him!
Shown with our first short, Commando Cody. The series shorts are the weakest simply because they offer the same story week after week, which doesn't allow for a lot of variety in the riffing. But at least it provides us with a terrific bit of terrible dialog, when a character explains that they are going, "...a lot of miles per minute!".
This is also the episode that features the Demon Dogs throughout the host segments. All told - show #102 is so light in the laugh department that it gets my lowest grade for the year.
Host Segments
Invention: Joel's airbag helmet for motorcyclists. Clay's Chalk man. Segment 1: Tom takes on a demon dog invasion, and loses. Segment 2: Gypsy eats Enoch, King of the demon dogs. Segment 3: Crow disguises himself as Enoch. End: Joel plays fetch with the dogs. The Mads are wrapped in bandages. No Stinger -But if I chose one? I'd use the scene where the graveyard caretaker leaves a smoke trail as he runs away.
Notable Riffs
Radar Riffs
* "He's cleverly disguised as a Hershey's Kiss." - Servo
* "It sure is sunny in space." - Crow
* "You can tell they're more advanced because their furniture doesn't break... It tips over but it doesn't break" - Joel
* "Oh I'd hate to shoot a butt like that!" - Servo
* "Oh, I thought that was a smoke detector!" - Servo as Cody
Aztec Riffs
* "It's about the Aztec breastplate and bracelet, gentlemen." - "I put them on at night and dance." - Edward/Joel
* "What are you doing here..." "We're hitting people" - Watchman/Crow
* "Digging for gold Bruno?" - Crow
* "No, Edward! Don't do it!" - "DO IT, EDWARD, DO IT!!" - Flora/All.
* "This is the kind of movie you don't pause when you leave the room." - Crow.
* "Okay -- It forms two creamy layers -- No, wait, three layers: a creamy layer, a gelatinous layer, and... dammit, I must find that formula!" - Servo as The Bat
* "You have my word of honor that the story I have been telling is the truth... Okay, mixed with a little fiction... Alright, I'm lying my butt off..." - Servo as Edward
* "It's not so great, it doesn't have knees." - Crow on the robot
* "It's time I revealed something very serious..." "My underwear is one hundred years old!" - Edward/Servo
* "Great, first I'm a shadow, now I'm a cog." - Crow
Producer K. Gordon Murray, who also brought us the delightful "Santa Claus", got his start in show biz as a casting assistant at MGM. His first job was to hire Munchkins for the "Wizard of Oz"
Riffs Explained
"I'm Milton, your brand new son" - Joel
This comes from a Saturday morning cartoon called "Milton the Monster", which ran from 1965 to '67. Milt was a good ol' Southern speaking monster with a heart of gold.
"Oh I'd hate to shoot a butt like that" - Servo
I asked Josh about this riff and he responded... "My recollection is that it was a comment I (as Servo) improvised on a KTMA episode that cracked up Joel H. so much that it became a standard."
Available on DVD: Volume 15
< Previous * Next >
