Wednesday, August 20, 2014

518 - The Atomic Brain

With Short: What About Juvenile Delinquency?
First Broadcast - 7 pm Saturday, Dec 4th 1993

#81 in Mighty Jack's Top 100
Amazing Colossal Grade: Glenn's a cat person, and here we have one named Xerxes in full kitty mode, then a woman with Xerxes' brain, and Xerxes with a lady's brain.... Glorious!
Movie Pain: Medium - Sleazy but not excruciating.
Riffing: Rock steady, very funny
Skits: Hilarious


Jamie's gotta... lot of guilt when he discovers that it was his "gang" who roughed up his dear old bald dad. Jamie tears off his lightning bolt patch (teenage toughs loved Barry Allen in the '50s) and thereafter crusades on the side of righteousness. That's the tightly coiled plot of our well-riffed short, which gets the ball rolling on this most excellent experiment.

The featured film receives an even better beating and it's all about a sick and grumpy old gal who ogles young women in their undies and hopes a square-headed scientist (Dr. Knuckleknob) can put her brain into one of their skulls. This twisted story is rife with superb cat quips, movie reference -Crow's witty nod to the classic film, "Kiss of Death" for one- and bad accents.

The childish but funny host segments include Crow & Tom mocking the Mads (with the Mads -not so successful- come back) And Magic Voices hysterical conversation with the narrator of the film!

Of Note: Stinger? The stinger is left off the Rhino VHS and DVD release of this episode. The Brains say they sent it, Rhino says they never received it. SHOUT Factory later released the episode as a single disc with stinger intact.

Host Segments
Intro: Off-Broadway with "Love Letters". Invention: Everyone dresses up like someone else and mocks them. Segment 1: It's weather Servo Nine. Segment 2: Mikes terrifying Chin Puppet. Segment 3: Magic Voice talks with the movie's narrator. End: A letter from a Crow fan. Frank meets Dr. Fist. Stinger: Cat lady screams


Notable Riffs
Juvenile Riffs
* "How's dad?" -"How did you know?" - "He's always been my dad." - Jamie/Mom//Mike 
* "Martha Graham run!" - Mike
* "I'm too noodely." - Mike as the principal
* "I say lets put them to the spanking machine" - Servo

Atomic Riffs
* "Meanwhile, a body waits" - "I'm waiting." - Narrator/Crow as the body
* "Oh darn, I need another quarter." - Crow as the Doctor
* "She's the Battle-axe Potemkin." - Crow
* "Can you tell me where my accent is from." - Mike as Bea
* "You're all from Nebraska, cut it out" - Mike
* "Making love to an 80-year-old woman in the body 20-year-old girl was insanity." - "Oh they do it in L.A. all the time." - Narrator/Crow
* "Oh if only Richard Widmark were here" - Crow
* "That's Spanish for, AAAAAHHH!" - Mike
* "She doesn't have a brain." - "She'd make a good news anchor." - Crow 
* "You two get the 'not as hot as her' suite." - Victor/Crow
* "She thinks she's a cat!" - "And I just bought new furniture!" - Mrs. March/Crow
* "I'm looking for the Manos set." - Crow
* "A cat who bites her nails." - Crow
* "And she floats gently to her death." -Mike
* "Now, now, now, don't levitate." - Mike as the Doctor
* "The 400 Blows." - Mike


Riff Explained
"You've been fondled by Mildred Natwick."
Mildred was a character actress who played one of the "Snoop Sisters" with Helen Hayes. 'Sisters' was part of the "NBC Mystery Movies" series which also spawned "McCloud", "Columbo" and "Quincy". The only episode of Sisters I've ever seen was the one that featured Alice Cooper in a cameo.

Stuff & Nonsense
This was the final screen appearance for Erika Peters (Nina). Previously she'd shared screen time with Elvis Presley in "G.I Blues" and played the (dead) wife in William Castle's "Mr. Sardonicus"Erika was married to Sy Devore, the tailor to the stars (He dressed the famed "Rat Pack"), who died from heart failure at age 57 in 1966.


Available on DVD: Collection Volume 3


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