MADS - The Brain from Planet Arous

MADS - The Brain from Planet Arous
Air/Release Date	November 17, 2020
Running Time	115 minutes
Movie Director	Nathan Juran
Year	1957
Cast	John Agar Joyce Meadows Robert Fuller
Preceded by	MADS - A Night of Shorts
Followed by	MADS - Santa Claus vs. the Devil

“	Men - Acting shitty since before you were born!	”
	- Frank

A live streaming show in which the Mads (Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff) riff the 1957 science-fiction movie The Brain from Planet Arous.

The Movie

Main article: The Brain from Planet Arous (film)

An alien brain possesses a human scientist and is challenged by another brain from its native planet.

The Show

Callbacks

• "Oh, is the great Jacques Marquette going to honor us with his presence?" - calling back to several episodes of MST3K in which Crow (played by Trace Beaulieu) would react similarly to crew members with especially aristocratic-seeming names.
• "Sort of ... Rock Climbing. Kind of, but not really ... Rock Climbing." - Lost Continent
• "There's Ro-Man fur all over it!" - Robot Monster

Quotes & References

• "It's not delivery, it's Bill Giorgio..."

This is a play on the slogan for DiGiorno frozen pizzas: "It's not delivery, it's DiGiorno!"

• "We need a Walter Greene New Deal."

The Green New Deal is a series of environmental policies proposed by the Progressive wing of the Democratic party in the United States. The name is derived from the New Deal plan for employment and infrastructure that was implemented under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

• "Oh, Larry Tate's brother."

Larry Tate was the co-founder of the advertising firm McMann & Tate on the TV sitcom Bewitched. Larry was Darrin Stevens' boss and he often visited the Stevens home, where antics would ensue.

• "It doesn't make any sense!" "-How Chris DeLilla has a career!"

Frank seems to be referring to comedian Chris D'Elia, who has recorded several stand-up specials and had roles on the TV series Whitney, Undateable, The Good Doctor, and You. D'Elia's comedy can sometimes be crass and misogynist, and he has been credibly accused of sexual misconduct multiple times.

• "You're listening to the Orville Redenbacher channel."

Orville Redenbacher was the founder of a successful popcorn company, and he later appeared in commercials for it. This inspired the sketch in Host Segment Four of Experiment #212. The clicking of the Geiger counter is similar to the sound of popcorn popping.

• "The Scooby Gang is there!"

This most likely refers to the mystery-solving teenagers and their talking dog from the various incarnations of the Scooby-Doo franchise, though the heroic teenagers on the supernatural-action-drama TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer also referred to themselves as "The Scooby Gang" or "The Scoobies".

• "He got the Jeremy Renner Hawkeye seat at the table..."

Jeremy Renner plays the heroic archer Clint Barton in the popular films based on Marvel Comics (in which the character is called "Hawkeye"). In the post-credits scene for the 2012 film Marvel's The Avengers, Renner is seated at a restaurant table with the rest of the heroes, but his back is to the camera.

• "He's eating like Frank used to!" "Better be careful..."

In 2019, Frank Conniff underwent heart surgery. He has since changed his eating habits and lost a significant amount of weight.

• "Rat Patrol! Oh, shit, I'm old..."

The Rat Patrol is a TV military drama that was first broadcast from 1966 to 1968. Set during World War II, it dealt with a small band of Allied soldiers who were fighting the Axis forces in North Africa. Jeeps were prominently featured.

• "Star Trek set..."

Trace seems to be commenting on the location's similarity to the area surrounding Vasquez Rocks, a Natural Area Park in northern Los Angeles. Vasquez Rocks has been used as a filming location for a number of movies and TV series, including Star Trek (most notably for the Original Series episode "Arena").

• "Glenn Ford in Cade's County! Oh dammit, I'm still old..."

Cade's County is a modern-day western TV crime drama that was broadcast from 1971-1972. It starred Glenn Ford, who had been a popular film star in previous decades.

• "It's a Nick's cave!"

Nick Cave is an Australian musician and actor who is known for being the front man of the group Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

• "Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo in A Brooklyn Gorilla Meets the Brain from Planet Arous..."

Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo were nightclub performers whose act was strongly inspired by that of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. They co-starred in the film Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla.

Behind-the-scenes

• The livestream of The Brain from Planet Arous was the fifth performance by The Mads of 2020. Following the outbreak of COVID-19, all shows by The Mads for 2020 were cancelled. This production also marks the fifth commercially available performance by The Mads outside their participation in RiffTrax productions.
• The Mads were joined by Dana Gould before and after the movie.
• A portion of the proceeds were donated to the Friends in Need Food Shelf, a Minneapolis based organization that distributes food to those in need.
• The livestream was produced by Chris Gersbeck.
• At the conclusion of the event, the Mads announced that their next live streaming event would be on December 15, 2020 and feature a riff of the film Santa Claus vs. the Devil (aka Santa Claus).