Synthia Selects 4: Espionage & Intrigue

Final Justice

Special Guest: Emily Connor

"Whoever made Sanka's fired" - Synthia - And irksome Emily fields the question, "what is Joe Don Baker's deal?" - Later Snth thinks she gets Joe Dons deal, Em wants to have a drum circle. so, they can really connect - Syntha responds with a pun (dumb circle)

First Segment Text:

Syn - "The face that Sanka thousand ships"

Em - "Once waved at JDB at a boat show"

Syn - "Her mug runneth over"

GizmoBlip: Crow punches Em because he thinks he's Jason Bourne, Tom believes he's more a Manchurian Candidate and he and Em try and help come up with a sleeper agent trigger name

Second Segment Text:

Syn - "Preferred "Penultimate Justice""

Em - "You'll have to specify which face hole"

Syn - "Keith Moon 13"

Code Name: Diamond Head

Special Guest: Jonah

"It should be hard to cancel a gym membership... because of the puritans" - Synthia. Jonah is asked what he likes to stay away from, he lists Mads, hibernating bears, the cold vacuum of space and Jim (because you don't mess around with Jim). Later Syn denies his request for water and tell him he can bathe in his own humiliation.

First Segment Text:

Syn - "She's billed monthly by the Curves in Sheboygan"

Jonah - "Clearly stays away from combs"

Syn - "Has tugged on Superman's cape"

GizmoBlip: Emily and crew want to update Bond girl names for modern sensibilities and replace them with blander, un-sexy names. They then do bad impressions of Connery.

Second Segment Text:

Syn - "Code Name: Cubic Zirconia Head" 

Jonah - "Code Name: Tourmaline"

Syn - "Is one of those "people""

Danger!! Death Ray

Special Guest: Pearl

"Cold cream can work as whipped cream in a pinch" - Synthia - Pearl chastised Synthia and tells a story that proves she's own weapon of destruction, one that desires to put everyone and everything in danger. At the end, Syn plays with silly Fargo names, which irritates a silly name hating Pearl

First Segment Text:

Syn - "Currently in a pinch"

Pearl - "Currently doing the pinching"

Syn - "Test drove a stingray (the animal)"

Gizmoblip: Emily and the bots are embroiled in a series of double-crossing spy games; this one involves a licked donut... or is it?

Second Segment Text:

Syn - "Still in that pinch"

Pearl - "Has heard and dated them all"

Syn - "aka Fart Bargo"

Mighty Jack

Special Guest: Servo (Baron)

Synthia talks banana peels and poses the question, "hot ice, how can this be?" The closing bit features the discussion, Mighty or Mightiest Jack, and remembering the Alamo (hu?).

First Segment Text:

Syn - "Doesn't get the ap-peel"

Servo - "The smallest of bots"

Syn - "The hottest solid"

Gizmoblip: Tom and Crow, agents of HIASHAY (hello I am a spy how are you) requests that Jonah put a soft bag over his head and come with them, he agrees.

Second Segment Text:

Syn - "She's mighty mighty, just letting it all hang out"

Servo - "He's mitey mitey"

Syn - "It's a Titanic joke, you see"

Invasion, U.S.A.

Special Guest: M Waverly

Synthia talks Paul Revere logic and Waverly barges in again and the duo talk hypnotism - M attempts to figure out the trigger word that'll make Syn quack. Stay to the end, as theirs a piece on producer Albert Zugsmith

First Segment Text:

Syn - "Never been to British"

Waverly - "You're killing me, Smalls"

GizmoBlip: With Jonah - what makes a good henchman, plus the trio do their Wilhelm screams. 

Second Segment Text:

Syn - "Is nothing but regrets"

Operation Kid Brother/Double 007

Special Guest: Crow (Hampton)

Syn plays with her fingers ("only cool clones can do this") - Crow loses it when he finds out he has no older brother. Later, Syn offers to create him a big brother, but he's good. Afterwards we see Joel's DVD introduction

First Segment Text:

Syn - "Talented phalanges"

Crow - "Only" "Child"

Syn - "Her sister is a tube"

GizmoBlip: The best thing about being a spy is code names, Jonah's is Viper, Servo's is Bazooka and Crow is Code Name: Darryl Hannah

Second Segment Text:

Syn - "Double oh no she didn't"

Crow - "Has big LBE (L'il Brother Energy)"

Syn - "Has big LBE (Literal Big Ego)"

Crow battles Emily during "Final Justice"

Index

Season 13 - Episode 09 & Special Event 06 with Short

1309 - The Million Eyes of Sumuru

Premiere Date: Friday, September 2, 2022, 5:00 PM PST 

Host: Jonah Heston

Special Guests: Magic Voice (Sharyl Volpe), joins Joel and Emily in a skit

Writers: Devon Coleman, Tammy Golden, Tim Ryder, Mary Christen, Harold Buchholz, Sarah Morisano, Mary Jo Pehl, Howie Michael Smith, Kevin Sciretta

Great start on this one - Kabahl offers marketing advice, the bots notice that Jonah is grotesquely tall - and the experiments... mug of doom (Patton was in peak form with this), and business skittles (check out the label on "Sycophant Strawberry"), were all funny as heck. Theater-wise? I took a quick 20-minute listen to the other versions and noticed a few riff overlaps (Kill Bill and a baptism were in Rifftrax, and - "Is that Twiggy?" (KTMA) version, vs. "I'm evil Twiggy" - Jonah, which was discussed during the after show), aside from that, the revisit is actually about as relaxed as the KTMA original,  and more mature than what Rifftrax dished up - even when they go lowbrow, the work on MST didn't come off as dumb or childish (even Crow's "what knockers", which is a shout out to Young Frankenstein - speaking of which, plenty of movie references for the film buffs in this one - Room 237 and that bad Risky Business slide, for example, were cute)

First impressions? While there are notable riffs that tap nicely into the movie ("Here you go, some champagne, if you want more, I’ll have to get the shop vac"), the work was maybe too playful and easygoing (or loose, see the Q&A)? Some of this is still funny, and I understand that they're not going to give a movie the full "Mitchell" treatment these days, but I'd like a little more bite than I'm hearing, especially with a movie like this. With its sexism and senseless plotting, it's okay to lean into it and throw a few haymakers. (Most of the comments on those topics were closer to love taps). 

Primary host segments? Not bad, there are solid ideas drawn from the film (the acronyms bit was sharp) - most provide a moment, a funny line read or reaction, even if they didn't gel in total for me. Saying that, Magic Voice, yay!

Trivia? Sumuru shares the same director as season 8s "Devil Doll". And there's a Bikini Kill reference in the ep... the name of the band was actually inspired by this movie.

Oh, and I'm surprised they cut the "chips" bit from the movie, as that would have been my choice for stinger (see my KTMA write-up). Though to be fair, maybe the edit wasn't theirs, as there are several versions of the film, one that runs 80 minutes, another that runs 95. 

Livestream: Growler and M. Waverly introduce MSTs first Halloween cosplay contest - Q&A? guests writers Devon Coleman, Tammy Golden, Tim Ryder, and Kinga herself, Felicia Day, discuss the senselessness of it all, the song and the shared space suit (really, in these Covid days). They compare a clip from this and the KTMA episode and then speak to timing and the looseness of the riffing in the episode. They also address riff vetoes and appeals, and more. So overall, until it bogs down with Monopoly talk, it was a composed and informative session.

Favorite Riffs: "Let's use this distraction to get baby Moses down to the Nile" - Crow | "Security by General Zod" - Servo | "Hu, this page of the script just says, "drinking in despondency"" - Jonah | "You guys, you can see down to the bottom of the lake, it's like a whole new world down here" - Crow | "There were five mistakes in that scene, can you name them all?" - Jonah as Erna | "Sorry Pal Quit Reading" - Servo, interpreting sign | "And you will go to your posts all over the world" - "Some of you go to Akron, I'm sorry" - Sumuru/Jonah | "No one can defeat me on a beach, Frankie go!' - Servo | "Why won't they let the cameraman off the boat?" - Jonah | "The rare schadenfreude" - Servo | "Nobody's that British" - Crow | "Are they escaping into a foxhunt?" - Crow (on music)

Favorite Host Segment: Jonah is tall, let's climb him (also liked Kinga and the Synthia's Supervillainess song)

Amazing Colossal Grade: 3 - Good, mid-level experiment, could have used more pepper.

Special Event: A Tribute to Secret Agent Super Dragon + Short: Cavalcade

Premiere Date: Friday, September 16, 2022, 5:00 PM PST

Spoilers are a given in my write-ups, so be aware - and I'm only pointing that out because the reveal of who's riffing this short was such a delightful surprise. Who were the lucky duo? None other than Pearl and Larry, that's right, the hilarious Mary Jo and the incomparable J. Elvis, in the theater together for the first time (though yes, they quipped together as members of Cinematic Titanic). And I tell you, while neither wrote on this one, their vocal delivery and personally adds so much to the fun. The short is newsreel style, with pieces about electrical towers, telescopes, lead, ostrich racing ("We eat the winner!" - MJ), and the world's first rotisserie automobile... according to Josh. I don't know that it's the keenest writing they've done this season, but I got laughs, and it lifted my spirits, it might even replace the Penn short as my favorite of the year. Oh, and Pearl makes Erhardt sit a seat away from her... she don't want no shenanigans! LMAO

After the short, Pearl and Synthia set up the movie, striking Bond-like poses. Jonah and the bots discuss the death of jazz, which takes us to this month's tribute, starring the smoothest spy in the biz. I think it's cool that they are spotlighting episodes beyond the usual fan favorites like Pumaman - Dragon might not be as heralded, but it's aces, with riffs that go low ("secret agent super booger" - Crow) and high (Joel's witty observation... "His eyes have a zoom feature"). 

Live stream originals?

Emily explains the ads and thanks a handful of backers. Crow (Kelsey) reads viewer mail, with stillstore (that was a real treat), later he returns to thank more viewers (Servo does the same - giving shout-outs to backers and reading letters in his way works better than interrupting Q&As as they did in previous eps). 

There's a crazy spy sketch with Emily and the bots doing wandering accents. 

At the end, Jonah returns and asks for screenplay writing advice from Crow, before sending it back to Pearl and Synth, who are under Minsky's thrall (Dr. Kabahl suddenly pops in and just, stares... creepy). 

The show closes with a Super Dragon rap (and it's no Mother Crabber, unfortunately), and, surprise, surprise, Penn Jillette introduces the trailer as in days of old? Lastly...

Tim Ryder (Spymaster) plays DIYSPY with Emily (Missy Livingstone), Conor (Danny Landon), and Kelsey (Miss Chevious). All I can say to this is, "the hell?" Did someone slip me some goofy gum? Nope, it's actually an improv story game using suggestions from viewers - and while all 4 have their moments (Kelsey's line about crunchy pickle children), Emily -cosplaying some kind of Doctor Who/Bert from Mary Poppins hybrid- was the funniest part of this silly play, especially when she makes the others break character. 

In total? I'd score it as a win: We had original after show material (rather than an old DVD doc), there were callbacks to the past, a delightful short with an unexpected pairing, and one of the jewels of the Joel era.  

September's lineup for Espionage & Intrigue month

< Previous * Next >