Saturday, August 16, 2014

418 - Attack of the Eye Creatures

First Broadcast - 10 am Saturday, Dec 5th 1992


#86 in Mighty Jack's Top 100
Amazing Colossal Grade: Smoochers!
Movie Pain: High - Dismal, unskilled production
Riffing: Solid, good humor
Skits: A mixed bag: some funny, some not


A very cheap and cheesy remake of the 50's sci-fi/horror parody, "Invasion of the Saucer Men", in which teenagers stave off an embarrassingly weak alien invasion.

J&TB razz the heck out of this movie. From playful pokes directed at Susan's jiffy-pop hairstyle to the angry swipes on those two insufferable 'peeping tom' military men. There's also an old man who hates them "smoochers" and an oily drifter who sleeps in a sweater dress. Both of whom are teased often and well.

In addition to those delights, the BBI riddle "Eye Creatures" with pop culture bullets. Reference material includes Ignatius P. Riley a character from the book "A Confederacy of Dunces" (Though they get the middle initial wrong), Jazz bandleader Stan Kenton, Bob Dylan ("Maggie's Farm" is sung), Cheech and Chong ("Claaass!"), the Elephant Man "Dr. Treves, would you like to see my Cathedral?" and even Ketchum, Idaho, the city where writer Ernest Hemingway killed himself. And that's just a short list (For a few more see Riffs Explained).

The skits include the classic "They just didn't care", where J&TB expose some hilarious film idiocy. I also enjoyed Joel's invention, the "Funny Gag Fax". Plus Tom Servo's first kiss (or was it? I seem to recall some smoochers in Su-Maru). Sadly, there are also the noisy Earl Holliman and Rip Taylor segments that mar the experiment.

Eye Creatures isn't one I can over-watch, but spreading out viewings shows it's still first class comedy.

Host Segments
Intro: Tom & Crow: Best friends. Invention: The Mads use the Router Ouija Board. J&TB send a Funny Gag Fax. Segment 1: Tom wants a kiss. Segment 2: A look at Earl Holliman. Segment 3: The Rip Taylor Trio. End: They just didn't care and a visit from the director. Stinger: Solemn sweater dress guy hangs up the phone.

MST Hour Segments
Part 1: Jack receives a back rub and tells us of his father’s frightening stories about diseased Uncle Hugo. In seg 2 – Our host dons a pair of goofy eyes and submits that our peepers are pretty gross when you think of it. For the end credits, he wanders around like a monster but trips over the set. Part 2: Jack plays around with his eyes and gives the recap. Seg 2, Perkins is holding a steering wheel and during the credits he makes a crewman get on all fours and pretend to be his car.


Notable Riffs
* "Welcome to the third grade" - Crow
* "Darling, your head is full." - Joel on Susan
* "Come out with your eye's up" - Joel
"I saw it!" - "with my own hair!" - Susan/Crow
"Hi, I'm selling subscriptions to "Smoocher" magazine" - Servo as Carl
"Speaking of yellow ones..." "How's your teeth?" - Waitress/Joel
* "I'd like to apologize for the entire male gender, thank you." - Joel
* "Sure is dark out there, hope they don't get a moonburn." - Servo
* "I'm going to show you the moon." - "No, please stay seated" - Stan/Crow
* "Ironically I'm having a hard time seeing, ha ha" - Crow as Eye Creature
* "It's more like the Minor Vandalism of the the Eye Creatures." - Crow
* "Ah, a single smoocher, The worst kind" - Joel
* "Here, make a dog out of that." - Crow as cop with a balloon
"O'Neal ambulances. You plug 'em, we lug 'em." - Servo
"That's the dullest thing you've ever said." - Servo as Susan
"The unspoken language of bald men!" - Servo
"What a surprise. He lives in a shabbily furnished room." - Servo
* "You know, they've gotta lot a optic nerve." - Joel
"And don't be alarmed if it suddenly becomes 2 in the afternoon" - Joel as Stan addressing his fellow teens.


Riff Explained
"Man, It's like "No Exit" with bad jokes!" - Joel
No Exit? A one act play by French existentialist, Jean-Paul Sartre. The entire play takes place in a single set, a drawing room. And contains cheery dialog like, "Hell is other people."

"I heard my Bouncing Betty go off" - Crow as Old Man
Bouncing Betty's are land mines that, once activated, fly about 3 feet in the air before exploding.

Stuff and Nonsense
* John Ashley (Stan) went on to work as a producer on television shows like "The A-Team" and "Walker: Texas Ranger". He was married to actress Deborah Walley (Gidget Goes Hawaiian)

* Cynthia Hull (Susan) played several roles on TV in the 60's. Including the part of "Angelita" in the Monkees episode "A Nice Place To Visit".

* Jody Daniels (Critter Jones in "Girl In Gold Boots") can be spotted in a small role. When the skinny guy with the bug eyes is blinded by the landing alien craft (about 15 minutes into the movie); he enters a restaurant to tell his friends. Stan, and an unnamed character played by Daniels. Thankfully he doesn't play guitar or eat tin Hershey bars.


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