Wednesday, August 27, 2014

901 - The Projected Man

First Broadcast - 5 pm Saturday, March 14th 1998


Amazing Colossal Grade: Face fashions by Pampers
Movie Pain: High - As exciting and lively as a dirt road
Riffing: Chuckle-Fest
Skits: Overall weak, with a few goodies



Bryant Halliday (Devil Doll's Great Vorelli) stars as Paul, a scientist with orange hair and killer panic attacks. He creates a teleporter, uses it on himself, and develops the power to electrocute people. Dry as toast and bitter as tea, if not for the guys in the theater seats, this little sleeping pill would have bored me to death.

England, its customs and people, receive a well-deserved spanking (well, deserved within the context of this movie); M&TB also have fun with knickers, face diapers, Devil Doll and Mitchell callbacks, Lembach (he isn't staying by the way), and Servo's crush on Sheila -who spends the end of the movie dressed only in her picnic underwear.

As for the other half? After a long drawn-out sequence with Pearl and her gang moving into Castle Forrester (again: less talk - more shorts, would have been my preference) the host segments improve with some nice movie-related skits. I especially enjoyed the added touch of Servo's footsteps, during Crow's "Touch of Death" sketch.

Not a great episode by any means and not an exciting movie in the least. But the Brainers have their moments. A decent mid-level experiment.

Host Segments
Intro: The wormhole sends the SOL back to present-day Earth. Segment 1: The extended director's cut of the move to Castle Forrester. Segment 2: The bots "project" some of Mike's most beloved objects. Segment 3: Mike calls Lembach and Pearl reads the family diary. Segment 4: Crow has the touch of death and uses it on Mike! End: Tom and Crow make grant requests. Pearl reclaims her destiny. Stinger: Lembach is staying


Notable Riffs
* "Oh no, they're going to make more British people" - Mike
* "The Golden Arches! He's McProjecting himself." - Mike
* "The great monsters of the cinema: Frankenstein's Monster! Dracula! Paul!" - Servo
* "The incredible, edible Earth" - Servo
* "Yeah, I always kill when I panic." - Servo
* "Um, driving she may be" - Servo
* "Dr. Hill?" - "Dr. Benny Hill?" - Secretary/Crow
* "You're an ugly, stupid Doctor" -Servo as Paul
* "The bickering explodes across the screen" - Crow
* "Yeah! No more tedious carrying rats across the room" - Crow
* "Shut up and get orange hair!" - Mike as Paul
* "Pat, I've been watching both of you" - "From the bushes" - Paul/Servo
* "I declare this movie suddenly great!!" - Crow
* "I can't get used to driving on this side, and I was born here" - Mike
* "Don't make me go to the larder and unseal a tin of whoop-ass" - Mike
* "Joy buzzer of death" - Crow
* "Don't point your diaper at me" - Servo as Sheila
* "Man, I forgot I had all this homework!" – Servo

Riff Explained
"I want some Amontillado"- Servo
Said as burglars chip at a wall. Great riff references Edgar Allen Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado". A guy looking forward to a drink of expensive wine ends up buried alive behind a brick wall.

"'Scuse me while I disappear" - Servo
This is a line from the Frank Sinatra song, "Angel Eyes"

"Smell the glove" - Servo
Album title seen in the movie, "This Is Spinal Tap".

Stuff & Nonsense
* Bryant Halliday (Paul), was one of the founders of "Janus Films", a venture responsible for introducing fine foreign films to the world. Many a Bergman movie, for example, carries the Janus seal.


Available on DVD: Volume 30