MST3K

See, I could point out that this isn’t in the future and it’s not a war, but you know me. I don’t like to complain.
- Crow T. Robot


The Movie[]

Main article: Future War (film)

A fugitive from time-traveling slavers enlists the help of a nun to evade his captors.

The Episode[]

Host Segments[]

  • Prologue: Using a computer spreadsheet program and California Senator Dianne Feinstein as a baseline, Crow tries to calculate how many times a lady Gypsy is. Gypsy is disappointed that she is only 2.7 times a lady. It turns out that Mike is eight times a lady.
    Futurewarhost

    What Crow sees while on LSD

  • Segment One: Pearl is conducting LSD tests on the robots and monitors their hallucinations. To augment the effect, Bobo and Brain Guy have formed an acid rock band called Narcotic Casserole. Servo has his usual delirium while Crow has a harrowing experience in which he sees Mike eating a Snickers candy bar, not a Milky Way. Pearl is pleased with these results and sends up the movie Future War. As the movie is being sent up, Crow is surprised to learn that Mike is not a clown.
  • Segment Two: Tom makes a pair of legs (which are non-functional, like his arms) so he can kickbox. He challenges Gypsy to a fight, but she has a leg of her own and instantly defeats Servo.
  • 1004-3

    Pearl's Drug Experiment

    Segment Three: Inspired by a line in the movie, Mike, Crow, and Servo realize they've never thanked Pearl for not killing them. They take a moment to do so, interrupting her attempt to kill them.
  • Segment Four: Crow is Droppy the Water Droplet, an emissary from the National Water Council, who has come to share just a few thousand of the many uses for water.
  • Segment Five: Mike has a giant Robert Z'Dar-esque chin. The bots chide him for being so insensitive to all the people with large prosthetic chins. Mike doesn't really care. Down in Castle Forrester, Bobo and Brain Guy inform Pearl that Narcotic Casserole is leaving to tour with Moby Grape. Pearl gives them each exploding tracking collars.
  • Stinger: Robert Z'Dar and Daniel Bernhardt kick-box and Bernhardt's shirt somehow slips off.[1]

Obscure References[]

  • Gypsy is 2.7 times a lady.
The entire "how many times a lady" opening segment is based on The Commodores song "Three Times a Lady", sung by Lionel Richie.
  • "Eh, it's more like Jean-Claude Gosh Darn." "Van Dammit."
Daniel Bernhardt is best known for replacing Jean-Claude Van Damme in the straight-to-video Bloodsport sequels.
  • "This place looks like a maze." "We call it 'a corn'."
"You call it corn, we call it maize" is an advertisement campaign from the 1970s and 80s by Mazola. It is spoken stoically by a Native American woman to promote their now-discontinued margarine.
  • "Am I Ving Rhames? I can't remember."
The actor on-screen vaguely resembles actor Ving Rhames.
  • "Is that a heartbeat? Oh, no, I'm sorry, that's a lovebeat."
"A heartbeat, it's a lovebeat" is from the 1973 song "Heartbeat - It's a Lovebeat" by The DeFranco Family.
  • (After a title card saying "A David Hue Production" is shown) "In association with Bob Tet Offensive Productions."
Much of the fighting that occurred during the Tet Offensive, one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War, took place in and around the city of Huế, Vietnam. During the Battle of Huế, intense fighting lasted for a month, resulting in the destruction of the city. During their occupation, the People's Army of Vietnam/Viet Cong executed thousands of people in the Massacre at Huế.
  • "Dustbusters Galactica."
The spacecraft in the movie looks like the Battlestar Galactica, a space battleship in the original and re-imagined science fiction TV series Battlestar Galactica. (The actual Galactica appears in stock footage used in Space Mutiny.) The Black & Decker DustBuster is a cordless, hand-held vacuum cleaner that was introduced in January 1979.
  • "Romeo was restless, he was ready to production design!"
"Romeo was restless, he was ready to kill" is the first line of the 1977 song "Mystery Dance" by English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello.
  • "Formerly of Kajagoogoo""
Kajagoogoo was a British new wave band who's fame peaked in the 1980's with their hit song "Too Shy".
  • "And now, Ooh, Heaven Is a Place on Earth: The Movie."
Lyrics from Belinda Carlisle's 1987 signature song "Heaven Is a Place on Earth".
  • "Chuck Wepner's point of view!"
Boxer Chuck Wepner challenged Muhammad Ali for the world heavyweight title in a 1975 fight (which Wepner lost in the 15th round by technical knockout) that loosely inspired the 1976 film Rocky.
  • "This dinosaur used to rule Hollywood, now Spielberg won't return his calls...."
Referring to Steven Spielberg, director of Jurassic Park, which features a Tyrannosaurus Rex as one of the film's most prominent dinosaurs. Spielberg also directed its sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, which also heavily features a Tyrannosaurus Rex and was released the same year as Future War.
  • "Mink Stole!"
Mink Stole is an actress who began her career working for director John Waters, and appeared in all of his feature films.
  • "Calista Flockhart's belt!"
At the time this episode aired, Calista Flockhart was best-known for her roles as the title character on the TV show Ally McBeal. She is known for her slender build.
  • "What if God was one of us?"
Lyrics from "One of Us", a 1995 song recorded by American singer Joan Osborne.
  • "I just thought of a joke from Nunsense."
The concept of the 1985 musical comedy Nunsense originated as a line of greeting cards featuring a nun offering tart quips with a clerical slant. It was expanded into a cabaret show that ran for 38 weeks, and eventually into a full-length musical. The show has since been adapted into a television production starring Rue McClanahan, and has spawned six sequels and three spin-offs.
  • "Great Warren Moon impression."
Warren Moon is an American former NFL and CFL quarterback who played professionally for 23 seasons. He spent the majority of his career with the Houston Oilers (NFL) and the Edmonton Eskimos (CFL). In the NFL, Moon also played for the Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks, and Kansas City Chiefs.
  • "ABC-DEF-GHI-JKL-MNOP-QRSTUV-WXYZ!"
A reference to the song "ABC-DEF-GHI" from the children's television program Sesame Street. It is sung by Big Bird, who has mistaken the alphabet for one long word.
  • "Damn Bumpuses' dinosaurs!"
The Bumpuses are the family of unsophisticated neighbors with out-of-control dogs in the movie A Christmas Story.
  • "Am I a Wild and Crazy Guy?"
The Festrunk Brothers ("Two Wild and Crazy Guys!")] is a series of sketches from Saturday Night Live in the 1970s, wherein Dan Aykroyd and Steve Martin play Yortuk and Georg Festrunk, two brothers who emigrated from Czechoslovakia to the United States. They have heavy accents and are constantly trying to pick up women.
  • "Wastin' away again in Margaritaville."
Lyrics from the 1977 song "Margaritaville" by Jimmy Buffett.
  • "I want cars posted all along this route!" "Make 'em all Tercels!"
The Toyota Tercel is a compact car built during the 1980s and 1990s.
  • "This is Boris Becker reporting live!"
Boris Becker is a retired German tennis player.
  • "Just call me Bruce Box-liker!"
A punning reference to actor Bruce Boxleitner, best known for his TV roles on Scarecrow and Mrs. King and Babylon 5 and the title role in the film Tron.
  • "They were transferred to a Costa Gavras film."
Costa Gavras is a Greek-born film director who specializes in dark political thrillers.
  • "Reminds me of the time Chief Gates chunked all over headquarters."
A reference to former LAPD chief Daryl Gates.
  • "In fact, everybody cut footloose."
Lyrics from the Kenny Loggins song "Footloose", from the movie of the same name.
  • "Based on a play by Terrence McNally!"
Playwright Terrence McNally was known for exploring gay issues in his works.
  • "Maybe he *is* Tom of Finland."
Tom of Finland was an artist known for the overt homoeroticism of his work.
  • "Thank you, Soloflex!"
The Soloflex is a piece of home fitness equipment that was heavily advertised on cable TV during the late 1980s and early '90s.
  • "I'm sorry about Terry Jones..." "He was a good Python!"
Terry Jones was a British comedian who performed with the Monty Python comedy troupe. He also directed and co-directed most of their films such as Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Monty Python's Life of Brian.
  • "Dee Snider's dance belt!"
Dee Snider is the lead singer of the heavy metal band Twisted Sister.
  • "Let's do some crimes!"
A quote from the 1984 movie Repo Man.
  • "Here comes the big one! I'm comin', Elizabeth!"
Spoken by Fred G. Sanford (Redd Foxx), this is the most well-known catchphrase of the 1970s TV show Sanford and Son. Whenever things aren't going Fred's way, or the cantankerous old man just wants to get a little sympathy, he would clutch his chest dramatically, faking a heart attack, and call out to his dead wife.
  • "I'm your puppet."
Lyrics from the song "I'm Your Puppet", written by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham. The best known version was recorded by James & Bobby Purify in 1966.
  • "SURGE!"
Surge is a citrus-flavored, heavily caffeinated soft drink first produced in the 1990s by The Coca-Cola Company to compete with Pepsi's Mountain Dew.
  • "Casablanca! Could you doppel me into that, Mike?"
Crow, noting the marquee on a movie theater in the shot, refers to Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, which relies heavily on the famous film as a plot device.
  • "Sister Suzuki Sidekick."
The first generation of the Suzuki Vitara was known as the Suzuki Sidekick in the United States. It is a series of SUVs produced by Suzuki beginning in 1988.
  • "Go, go." "Can you hear them? They talk about us..."
Lyrics from the 1981 song "Our Lips Are Sealed" by The Go-Go's.
  • "It's a Fixx video without the music."
The Fixx is a 1980s pop group best known for its song "One Thing Leads to Another".
  • "Why don't you ask him if he's going to stay? Why don't you ask him if he's going away?" "Tusk!" "Don't say that you love me!"
Lyrics from the 1979 song "Tusk" by Fleetwood Mac.
  • "Ain't it funny how time slips away."
Lyrics from the 1992 song "Funny How Time Slips Away" written by Willie Nelson and first recorded by country singer Billy Walker. There are many cover versions.
  • "Father Oliver Platt."
The actor on screen bears some resemblance to actor Oliver Platt.
  • "Rip Taylor as The Android."
Rip Taylor was an American actor and comedian known for his wild moustache (among other flamboyant things).
  • "It becomes the star of Night of the Lepus!"
Night of the Lepus is a 1972 movie about giant mutated rabbits. It later became a RiffTrax presentation.
  • "Now they're eight miles high."
"Eight Miles High" is a 1966 song by The Byrds that was influential in developing psychedelic_music and raga rock. Accordingly, critics often cite "Eight Miles High" as being the first bona fide psychedelic rock song, as well as a classic of the 60s counterculture.

Callbacks[]

Behind-the-Scenes[]

MST3K Cast[]

Regular Cast

Guest Cast

  • Peter Rudrud - Launch Announcer

Video Release[]

Futurewardvd

MST3K DVD Cover

  • Commercially released on DVD by Shout! Factory in October 2008 as part of The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: 20th Anniversary box set, a 4-DVD set with WerewolfLaserblast, and First Spaceship on Venus.
    • The DVD includes a theatrical trailer, the Variations of a Theme Song featurette, and "MST3K at Comic-Con '08", a cast reunion staged at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con and moderated by Patton Oswalt in honor of the show's 20th anniversary.
  • Available for rent or purchase on Amazon's streaming service.

References[]