“ | "Why does he have to kill them to prove his point? Can't he just show them a pie chart or something?" | ” |
- Servo |
The Short[]
- Main article: Radar Men from the Moon
Cody and Ted attempt to steal an atomic ray gun from the Moon Men.
The Movie[]
- Main article: The Mad Monster (film)
A disgraced scientist uses a wolf blood serum on his mentally-challenged gardener, turning him into a wolf man. The scientist then dispatches the wolf man to kill the men who denounced him as a charlatan.
Information[]
- Originally released on May 8, 1942, The Mad Monster is tied with The Corpse Vanishes - which was released on the same day - as the oldest feature film used on Mystery Science Theater 3000 (though the short Catching Trouble from 1936 used in Experiment #315 is the oldest material ever used on the show).
The Episode[]
Host segments[]
Invention Exchange: Joel's "Hell in a Handbag" - a flame-throwing purse. Dr. F and Dr. E show off their thunder lizard.
Segment Two: Tom flirts with Joel's blender.
Segment Three: Joel answers the Bots' questions about the wolf man.
Segment Four: Joel switches Crow's and Servo's heads to near-disastrous consequences.
Ending Segment: Joel tries to offer RAM Chips to the Bots to say good things about the movie; when they don't, he threatens to give them to Gypsy, claiming that she was created as a peripheral character so that they would have someone else outside of the movies. As the discussion devolves into existentialism, the Mads are angry at their ignorance that a mad scientist died at the end of the movie.
Obscure references[]
- "It was the Ice Capades, and I was pop riveting my kneecaps to Peggy Fleming's Zamboni. Or maybe it was '56, Sun Valley. I was found behind the soft serve machine, drooling over a picture of Dick Buttons [sic]. Or perhaps Oslo, when I was found drunk and woozy, scratching the name Toller Cranston into my upper thigh with a nail."
- The Ice Capades was a touring theatrical ice skating show founded in 1940. Peggy Fleming is a figure skater who won the ladies competition at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble (being the only American to be awarded a gold medal at those Games), and later became a figure skating commentator for ABC. Sun Valley is an Idaho winter sports resort located in Blaine County. Dick Button is a figure skater who won the mens competition at the 1948 and 1952 Winter Olympics (the only American to win multiple figure skating golds at the Olympics), landing the first double Axel at the former and the first triple jump of any kind (a loop) at the latter. He later became a figure skating commentator for ABC. Oslo is the capital of Norway and hosted the 1952 Winter Olympics. Toller Cranston was a Canadian figure skater who won the bronze medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics. His overall placements were often held back due to poor showings in the compulsory figures segment.
- "Is that Marty Feldman?"
- Marty Feldman was a British comic actor who was known for his bulging, off-kilter eyes. He played the hooded hunchback Igor in the Mel Brooks film Young Frankenstein.
- "Guns by Vidal Sassoon."
- Vidal Sassoon was a British-American hairstylist who marketed a line of hair-care products, including hand-held blow dryers (which the Moon Men's guns resemble).
- "You will believe a man can fly."
- This was one of the taglines for the 1978 Superman feature film, touting the high-quality special effects.
- "And no brown M&Ms this time!"
- An oft-repeated story about the rock band Van Halen says that their rider (that is, the list of conditions that they require from venues in which they are scheduled to perform) includes a request for a bowl full of M&Ms in their dressing room with the brown-shelled candies removed. Some interpret this (and similar anecdotes about other performers) as an example of privileged celebrities being spoiled and demanding, but Van Valen's representation has claimed that the clause exists as a test to make sure that all of the conditions of the rider are met (meaning that if they enter their dressing room and see brown M&Ms in the bowl, they can assume that other conditions that might affect the quality of the performance have also not been met).
- "I got it from Dennis Hopper I think"
- Refers to a scene in the movie Blue Velvet where Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper) gets high off of a small gas tank. In the movie it's officially amyl nitrate, not nitrous oxide.
- "Maybe it's really helium and they'll sound like the Munchkins."
- In the film The Wizard of Oz, the Munchkins were a race of small people whom Dorothy encountered shortly after her arrival in the Land of Oz. They had high-pitched voices. Helium is a gaseous element that causes people's voices to sound higher if they breathe it.
- "Those are all Bob Mackie creations, aren't they?"
- Bob Mackie is a fashion designer who produced clothes for many famous actresses in the latter half of the 20th Century and into the 21st. He also designed the infamous "curtain dress" from the Gone With the Wind parody sketch on The Carol Burnett Show.
- "It's a Moon Car! And it's filled with evil Michelin Men!"
- The Michelin Man is the mascot of the Michelin tire company. His body is made of tires and inner tubes, giving it a bulky, padded appearance.
- "It is just me or do those guys look like the Crash Dummies?" "You could learn a lot from a dummy. Buckle up."
- The Crash Dummies (also known as the Crash Test Dummies) were characters that appeared in a number of public service announcements encouraging people to wear seat belts. The dummies (who had expressionless faces) could move and talk and would show the dangers of driving while not buckled in. Television spots in which they appeared would end with the narration "You could learn a lot from a dummy". The PSAs were so popular that they eventually inspired a video game and a toy line. A rock band later adopted the name Crash Test Dummies, but they were not affiliated with the earlier project.
- "Those things will come in handy when Alan Sheppard gets to the moon. They'll make a swell golf cart."
- Alan Sheppard was an American astronaut who walked on the moon in 1971. He is famous for having hit 2 golf balls which traveled a great distance in the moon's low gravity.
- "Kind of looks like an electric razor." "Even our name says 'Merry Christmas'!"
- The Norelco company produces electric razors. They have had a long-running series of advertisements around Christmastime in which letters of the company's name are removed or obscured to spell "Noel". These ads employ the slogan "Even our name says 'Merry Christmas'!".
- "It's the Big Rock Candy Mountain!"
- "The Big Rock Candy Mountain" is an American folk song about a hobo's idea of paradise. It was first recorded in 1928 by Harry McClintock.
- "Snack Canyon."
- Snack Canyon was a theater ad about concession stand food from the 1970's.
- "It's the Land of Dairy Queen, and a river of chocolate's coming right for you."
- A series of advertisements for the Dairy Queen chain of restaurants and ice cream parlors featured a landscape made of ice cream and toppings (e.g. butterscotch, caramel, hot fudge) called the Land of Dairy Queen.
- "Buddy breathing."
- Buddy breathing is a technique where two divers can use one scuba tank, usually in an emergency.
- "I want you to meet my brother, Fred Gwynne."
- Fred Gwynne was a tall actor famous for playing Herman on the sitcom The Munsters.
- "Did I just see a chuck-wagon roll through there?"
- Purina Chuck Wagon was a popular brand of dog food. It had commercials featuring dogs chasing a tiny covered wagon through a suburban home or kitchen.
Memorable Quotes[]
Crow: It's Shirley Temple!
Behind the scenes[]
MST3K cast[]
- Joel Hodgson - Joel Robinson
- Trace Beaulieu - Crow T. Robot / Dr. Clayton Forrester
- J. Elvis Weinstein - Tom Servo / Dr. Laurence Erhardt
- Jim Mallon - Gypsy
MST3K crew[]
Trivia[]
- Host Segment Two is the source of a notorious outtake in which Tom flubs a line and then announces that he is "gonna go f*ck myself..." It is notable since Josh Weinstein continues to operate Tom's mouth as if still in character even after the take has been blown.
- The first episode to use the "move his spine around a lot" riff employed in scenes where an injured character is carried in an improper fashion.
- Both inventions were previously shown on KTMA ("Hell in Handbag" was used in K16 - City on Fire).
- Joel and the Bots actually leave before the movie ends and viewers see about 20 seconds of empty theater.
- Servo flirting with a blender is a remake of a sketch from Humanoid Woman.
Goofs[]
Movie Edits[]
As with most of the riffed movies, Mad Monster was edited to fit the TV format and scenes were trimmed to reduce the overall length in order to fit in the desired time-slot. Footage cut includes:
- A scene in which Lenora gives Petro a letter to deliver to her boyfriend in the city.
- A scene in which a group of hunters looking for the monster question Dr. Cameron, Lenora and Petro about whether they know anything.
- The scene when Tom first arrives at Dr. Cameron's house, which includes Petro's first spontaneous transformation. This includes Tom explaining that the note on Dr. Blaine's desk had the address to the house written on it, which is how he knew to find it.
- Dr. Cameron later apologizes for his rudeness to Tom during the removed scene.
Video releases[]
- Commercially released on DVD by Shout! Factory in February 2009 as part of Volume XIV, a 4-disc set along with Manhunt in Space, Soultaker, and Final Justice. This set has been out of print since 2016.
- The episode was subsequently reissued in September 2018 as part of Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Lost and Found Collection.
- The DVD includes the original theatrical trailer for the movie as a special feature.
- Digitally available through Shoutfactorytv.com, Youtube, Rifftrax, and Vudu.
- Available for rent or purchase on Amazon's streaming service.
Gallery[]
References[]
preceded by: Season K | MST3K Season 1 | followed by: Season 2 | ||||||
1989 - 1990 | ||||||||
101 | The Crawling Eye | 1989-11-25 | 106 | The Crawling Hand | 1989-12-16 | 111 | Moon Zero Two | 1990-01-20 |
102 | The Robot vs the Aztec Mummy | 1989-11-18 | 107 | Robot Monster | 1989-12-23 | 112 | Untamed Youth | 1990-01-27 |
103 | The Mad Monster | 1989-12-02 | 108 | The Slime People | 1990-12-30 | 113 | The Black Scorpion | 1990-02-03 |
104 | Women of the Prehistoric Planet | 1990-02-10 | 109 | Project Moon Base | 1990-01-06 | |||
105 | The Corpse Vanishes | 1989-12-09 | 110 | Robot Holocaust | 1990-01-13 |