#49 in Mighty Jack's Top 100
Amazing Colossal Grade: What? MJ slotted this 45th in his rankings, is he mad? This is the greatest episode ever, a grade A plutonium blast o' fun!
Movie Pain: Low - Bert I Gordon's a kick
Riffing: Wildly Funny
Skits: Mostly hilarious
Amazing Colossal Grade: What? MJ slotted this 45th in his rankings, is he mad? This is the greatest episode ever, a grade A plutonium blast o' fun!
Movie Pain: Low - Bert I Gordon's a kick
Riffing: Wildly Funny
Skits: Mostly hilarious
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll retch at the sight of a 60-foot man in a diaper - Col Glenn Manning takes a radiation bath while trying to save another and soon starts growing at an alarming rate "...just like Clifford the Big Red Dog!" - Joel.
Something I enjoyed about this film was that I was able to relate to the Colonel, set in his place I wouldn't be the noble, introspective hero seen in similar movies. Heck no, I'd whine and moan just like Glenn! "What sin could a man commit in a single lifetime", he grouses. Servo's riff, "Wait till he sees the toilet!" gives hysterical justification to his grumpy attitude.
Director Bert I Gordon's story is both heartfelt angst and goofy cheese, wrapped in a 'watered down' cold war allegory. The scene with that giant syringe is a wonderful campy film moment, as is Glenn (A Toy's R Us kid) wandering around Las Vegas, sampling several giant objects (I wish he'd have worn the crown!). Mix in the smart riffing -"No man is a Three Mile Island." - Joel, and some hilarious host segments (Joel & Mike both do a colossal man, the Bots act 'decent' to Joel) and you get an excellent Platinum level episode.
2021 viewing update: I got a new laugh with the "Hospital Noir" line, only because I hit film-noir pretty hard this year, watching one after another - and there really was some noirish lighting in that scene. I never paid attention to that in previous viewings - with MST, you never know when something new will strike the funny bone.
Host Segments
Intro: Crow and Tom hang out in their "Robot-Exclusive" fort. Invention: At Deep 13 it's the melding of plant and man into the... Plant that reviews music! On the SOL they offer up non-permanent tattoos. Segment 1: Sensitive Tom & Crow come up with "well-cooked" things to say to Glenn's fiancee. Segment 2: Joel's a 50-foot man, sitting in a tiny room. Segment 3: Mike as Glenn visits the SOL. End: Things a 50 ft man could do. Plus Frank meets the giant needle. Stinger: Glenn laughs himself into a fit.
MST Hour Segments
Part 1: Poor Mike has a cold (for real), he makes introductions carrying Frank’s spit curl, he seems pretty fascinated by Bert I’s name. In seg 2 there is no credit gag (this will continue for a few episodes), Part 2: Jack stands next to a tiny bed and chair for the recap, and later takes hold of the giant syringe, attempts to give a crew member a shot (and I think, breaks the prop near the end)
Notable Riffs
* "Hit it, wiggle the plug or something!" – Joel after bomb fails to blast
* "Oh no it’s Amelia Earhart, she picked a bad time to come back" – Joel
* "Glenn's A Pillow!" - Crow, as Carol
* "I've never heard of him, it says so right here" - Joel as receptionist looks at card
* "I feel like chopping a cow in half" - Servo as Glenn as Marlon Brando
* "Psychologically you may do him a lot of good" – "But don’t climb on him" – Doctor/Crow
* "Wow, a hot dog makes her lose control" - Servo
* "Hey, don't laugh Glenn, we're on a fault line!" - Crow
* "Can we smoke?" - "I don't care if you burst into flames." - Sergeant/Joel
* "Vandals came in and put skin on him!" - Joel as doctor
* "Wait... he's alive, but his head's gone." - Crow
* "I am the king, give me my crown!" - Joel as Glenn
* "He hates the Village People" - Crow
* "...he still ribs me about my driving." - "RIBS! That's what I'm hungry for!" - Carol/Joel
* "Your not going to wipe your mouth with me again, are you sir?" - Joel
* "Your name was the only thing he said" - "Well that and AAAAAA!" - Doctor/Servo
* "Oh my goodness, I'm growing so fast I'm giving myself a wedgie!" - Joel
* "Oh shoot! I forgot the giant cotton balls!" - Joel as Doctor
* "Glenn, I need you to drop your sarong and turn around!"- Joel as Dr. with the giant hypo.
* "Well there's a 50 ft. guy. But he has hair, it can't be Glenn." - Crow as Carol
* "The body's like a factory..." - "There's a lot of underpaid workers in there." - Doctor/Servo
* "It reminds me of that picnic we took once" - "1952 through 1955" - Glenn/Joel
* "Why is this horrible thing happening" - "'Cause Glenn's a sinner, dear" - Carol/Servo (Joel laughs)
"Neck braces by Josef Von Stroheim" - Servo
Said during the opening credits (Josef did the sound for this movie). Tom is actually making reference to actor/director "Erich" Von Stroheim and his brilliant performance in the 1938 classic "Grand Illusion". Erich plays the commander of a prison camp who wears a stiff neck brace.
"Well I see he made his quietus with a bare bodkin" - Crow
This comes from Hamlet's famous soliloquy and is spoken while Glenn holds a dagger during a flashback scene. The dictionary of phrase and fable reports that the "bodkin" Shakespeare speaks of, was actually a sharp stiletto worn by ladies in their hair. Not a dagger.
The girl in the bathtub was Jean Moorehead. She was Playboy's playmate for October 1955 and Paula Parkins in the MSTed movie, "The Violent Years".
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