Wednesday, August 27, 2014

822 - Overdrawn At The Memory Bank

First Broadcast - 5 pm Saturday, Dec 6th 1997


Amazing Colossal Grade: Is it sexy? Not so much
Movie Pain: High - I saw the movie when it aired on PBS. The ideas are fine, but I didn't enjoy the telling or the look of it (shot on video tape)
Riffing: Fair to middling
Skits: Induced mostly smiles



Before there was Keanu Reeves as Neo, there was Raul Julia as Fingal. A bored guy from the future who dopples as a monkey, gets misplaced, then controls big brother by using a Casablanca virtual reality backdrop. 

While the episode doesn't have the consistency or the sharp wit of upper-level experiments, there are moments, mostly when it touches on subjects I like (Parker Posey) or relate to (I was raised Catholic and married a Lutheran, so those lines were a hoot). Most of the quipping is featherweight, there are rhyming name games, general silliness (my nuts? anteater hate), and they punch down with relentless slams on the Fat Man (with accompanying fart and belching noises).  

I wasn't in love with the "Public Pearl" host segments, which drag on waaaaay too long - as with the bits in "The Undead", there's a clever idea here, but one that doesn't always click on the screen. The duet with Observer and Pearl was cute, though not really funny.

There is a nice bit during the end credits with Mike calling the movie's "Tech Support" (Voiced by Beez McKeever) but in total Overdrawn's an average episode. 

Note: Sci-fi edited out the stinger during broadcasts but it was fully restored through the Rhino DVD. 

Host Segments
Intro: Crow markets his "You know you want me, baby!" catchphrase, via T-Shirts. Segment 1: Mike searches for a catchphrase and Pearl puts on a PBS like pledge draw. Ortega takes Servo's call. Segment 2: The bots order an angry monkey. Segment 3: Pearl and Observer sing a duet about love. Segment 4: Tom dopples into Nanite world with less than happy results. End: Bobo attempts to bond with Henry the Monkey. Public Pearl rakes in the cash. Stinger: "Mom, M' Nuts?"


Notable Riffs
"He had the most unusual eye's" - "They were made out of mylar!" - Apollonia/Crow
"Hey! Extreme babooning!" - Servo
"I can't lose you now! We've never even had a dance together!" - "You've never bought a muffler together, either. What's the point?!" - Apollonia/Crow
"I didn't want to bungle or bobble the Fingal dopple." - Mike as Apollonia
"So this is public television. Suddenly I feel like beating up Fred Rogers" - Crow
"Whoa! Huge slam on anteaters out of nowhere!" - Crow
"Hey! Someone turn off the fat rotating guy" - Servo
"Is it Children of the Damned Day at the Brain Institute here?" - Servo
"Okay, so it's my first dopple" "I've only dabbled in dopples" - Fingal/Mike
"Come, as you are, to my mall, to my aaatrium" - Crow
"Please, I can see your little fingal" - Crow as Apollonia
"You need to tinkle Fingal? How about a Pringal Fingal?" - Servo
"Wait, switch to analog!" - "It has a warmer sound" - Tech guy/Mike
"Don't talk about your private parts in public" - Crow as Mom
"Stay away from the fat man Fingal" - "He smells like feet" - Pierre/Crow
"Hooray for socks" - Crow as guy without a brain
"TV's Frank?" - "Hey Franks really come up in the world." - Mike/Servo
"Happiness?!" - "Ptaa, you're raised Catholic!" - Apolonia/Crow
"You know I'd rather watch the kind of hackers who spit a lot." - Crow
* "Were we just interrupted by a pork roast?" - Servo as Apollonia


Riff Explained
"The days of maruba fruit and roses" - Mike
This is a take off on the title of a 1962 film called, "Days of Wine and Roses". It starred Jack Lemon and Lee Remick as an alcoholic, co-dependent couple.

"I wish my brother George were here" - Mike
Mike is doing an imitation of Bugs Bunny doing an imitation of Liberace. George, a violinist, was the brother of the flamboyant pianist who starred in several TV shows in the '50s and '60s. in the cartoon "Hyde and Hare" (1955), Bugs plays piano and speaks the line referenced by Mike.

Stuff & Nonsense
* Apollonia was performed by Montreal-born Linda Griffiths, who went on to become an award-winning playwright (Alien Creature: a visitation from Gwendolyn MacEwen). She was also a speech coach. Sadly, Linda passed away from breast cancer in 2014... cbc.ca/news/arts/linda-griffiths  

* In the dopple skit – There is graffiti in Nanite world that says "Jodi" – Jodi was the name of a Nanite voiced by Mary Jo in episode #802. Also, note that Mike goes from his green jumpsuit to a pleasant pink outfit similar to Appolonia's in mid sketch.

Available on DVD: Collection volume 4

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