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"Wait…so you’re my grandma, my sister, my mom … did you marry Bill Wyman?"


The Movie[]

Main article: Untamed Youth (film)

Two sisters passing through a small town fall victim to the corrupt local government. They are arrested on dubious charges and sentenced to work on a cotton farm with other young people. They are exploited and forced to live in inhumane conditions, though they are able to engage in the occasional high-spirited musical number. Eventually, the younger sister is able to expose the corruption and the system is reformed.

The Episode[]

Host Segments[]

Tongue puppet

Tongue Puppet

Prologue: While fixing Tom, Joel discovers a "computer virus" (or "magnetic tape worm" according to Crow).

Invention Exchange: Joel invents a "never-light pipe" with a sprinkler system activated by a smoke detector which puts itself out whenever you try to light up. Larry and Dr. Forrester realized that children adore puppets and putting things in their mouths, so they've invented "tongue puppets": puppets that you put on your tongue.

Segment Two: Inspired by a background extra's resemblance, Joel and the bots present their tribute to TV's Greg Brady.

Segment Three: Joel considers the question of what Gypsy thinks about.

UntamedYouth

Segment Four: Gypsy is sick and can't stop coughing up synthetic cotton. She starts spitting up other things upon command, including a second Tom Servo.

Ending Segment: Joel and the bots try to comprehend the goofy glasses-wearing guy from the movie. Then they read some letters.

Notes[]

  • This episode earned the show one of its first negative reviews. The magazine Gorezone objected to Joel and the bots riffing over Eddie Cochran's song.
  • The episode was screened by Joel Hodgson as part of the #MakeMoreMST3K​: Livestream #II. He was joined by J. Elvis Weinstein and other members of the new casts.
    • During the livestream event, Weinstein claimed that this had been the first episode during which the writers had felt compelled to consume alcohol in order to produce material. He and Joel identified cans of Mickey's Big Mouth as the beverage of choice.

Obscure References[]

  • "At least it’s a Warner Brothers picture."
Warner Brothers is one of the largest film studios in Hollywood. It was founded by four brothers (Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner) in 1903 when they opened a theater in New Castle, Pennsylvania. They began producing their own films by World War I. Untamed Youth was an independent production distributed by Warner Brothers, so Joel's optimism is somewhat misplaced.
  • "Sounds like it’s going to be one of those teensploitation things."
Teensploitation is a genre of film-making that exploits teen feelings of angst and rebellion with plots involving sex, drugs, music, and crime.
  • "I hope there’s a cartoon first."
For much of cinematic history, comedic short films (frequently animation) preceded the feature presentations at movie theaters. For Warner Brothers’ films, these shorts were very often Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, starring Bugs Bunny and the gang. Another explanation could be that the opening credits of the previous experiment - Moon Zero Two - are animated.
  • "It’s like he’s playing football against Claude Rains University."
Claude Rains (1889-1967) was an English actor best known for the title role in 1933’s The Invisible Man. He also appeared in Lawrence of Arabia and Casablanca.
  • "I’m not sure, but I think the word "daddy-o" is in this film about a million times."
Other than being the name of a future experiment (#307), "daddy-o" is a bit of beatnik slang from the 1950s, equivalent to "dude."
  • "It’s like the Stephen King book Children of the Dirt."
Stephen King is a horror novelist known for works like The Shining, Salem’s Lot, Christine, and The Stand. "Children of the Corn" is a 1977 short story by King about a small Nebraska town taken over and terrorized by a cult of children who worship "He Who Walks Behind the Rows." In 1984, it was made into a movie starring Linda Hamilton. That original film was followed by more than a half-dozen sequels.
  • "Don’t ever play chicken with cop cars. You’ll never win."
Chicken is the name given to the game wherein two people, often in cars, race toward each other to see who will lose their nerve first and swerve to avoid a collision. Sometimes, the game can be one-sided: i.e., a person can play against an unwitting opponent (such as a train).
  • "Works every time."
"It works every time" was the longtime slogan for Colt 45 malt liquor, used primarily in ads from the 1980s featuring actor Billy Dee Williams.
  • "Is that the primordial soup?"
"Primordial soup" is the colloquial name for the theory that the early oceans on Earth (and by early, I mean four billion years ago) contained vast amounts of simple chemicals and compounds. When electrified by lightning or simply excited by sunlight, these chemicals would group and form amino acids, the simplest building blocks of life. The theory was first proposed by Russian biologist Alexander Oparin in 1924.
  • "Hey, there’s a girl in my soup. –Don’t worry. She won’t eat much."
There's a Girl in My Soup is a 1970 comedy film starring Peter Sellers and Goldie Hawn. Coming immediately after the previous riff, this is a play on an old joke (with multiple punchlines) in which a restaurant patron complains about a fly in their soup, with the waiter responding "Don't worry, it won't eat much".
  • "It’s the Maytag repairman. He does look lonely."
Founded in 1893 by Frederick Maytag, Maytag is a manufacturer of appliances. The Maytag repairman (nicknamed "Ol’ Lonely") debuted in advertisements beginning in 1967, initially played by Jesse White. The premise of the ad campaign was that the repairman was always bored and lonely because his services as a repairman were rarely needed (since Maytag appliances are so reliable).
  • "Meanwhile, at Mount Vernon..."
The phrase, "Meanwhile, back at _____," originated with cards inserted in silent films of the early 20th century. In westerns, this was often "Meanwhile, back at the ranch..." Once audio became a common component, the phrase was still used by narrators for films, radio, and television shows. Mount Vernon is the name of George Washington’s plantation, located near Alexandria, Virginia.
  • "Just for snoring too loud."
A possible reference to an old Time-Life commercial that ran during the 1970s to advertise their series of Old West books. The voiceover in the ad talked about a man who was "so mean he once shot a man just for snoring." The man in question was John Wesley Hardin (1853-1895), a Texas outlaw who killed at least 21 men between 1868 and 1877, when he was sent to prison. He was pardoned in 1894 and shot in the back of the head by an El Paso policeman the following year.
  • "Her name was Peanut."
Ventriloquist/comedian Jeff Dunham has a purple puppet named Peanut, whom he often introduces by saying, "He’s a woozle, and his name is Peanut." The writers found this fascinating, pointing out in the Amazing Colossal Episode Guide that the phrasing made it sound as though the audience was supposed to know what a woozle is.
  • "Green Acres?"
Green Acres is a TV sitcom that ran from 1965 to 1971. It starred Eva Gabor and Eddie Albert as former city dwellers who try to adapt to life in the rural town of Hooterville.
  • "Looks like Tom Waits’ hometown."
Tom Waits is a goateed, gravelly voiced singer-songwriter of the jazz/blues persuasion who has also appeared in many bit parts in films.
  • "Somewhere out there is the Ark of the Covenant."
The Ark of the Covenant, according to Judeo-Christian tradition, was the ornate chest that carried the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, Moses’ original scrolls, a jar of manna, and Aaron’s rod. In 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Ark was located in the ancient Egyptian city of Tanis and could melt the face off a Nazi.
  • "Oh, I hope it’s not the Von Trapp family. I hate them."
The Trapp Family Choir (or Trapp Family Singers) was an Austrian group of singers made up of a widower, his seven children, and Maria, a tutor who later became their stepmother. They escaped Austria during the Anschluss, the 1938 annexation of their country by Nazi Germany. Their story became the 1959 Rodgers & Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music and the famed 1965 film of the same name.
  • "Hey, it’s the body snatcher pod wagon."
Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1956 science fiction film based on a 1955 novel by Jack Finney. It involves alien invaders who create duplicates of people which emerge from large vegetable-like pods. At the end of the film, the hero is appalled to discover a pick-up truck full of the pods, apparently intended to spread the aliens around the country (and eventually the world).
  • "Lou Gossett Jr. will be out here to chat with you a little later."
Lou Gossett, Jr. is an actor best known for his roles in films such as An Officer and a Gentleman, Jaws 3-D, and Enemy Mine, as well as the acclaimed miniseries Roots.
  • "The original cast of The Dirty Dozen."
The Dirty Dozen is a 1967 movie about a group of Army convicts trained to kill German officers during World War II.
  • "Cubby. –Gregor. –Annette. –Hoppy. –Mabel. –Mabel. –And Mabel."
Cubby O’Brien and Annette Funicello were Mouseketeers on the original version of the TV show The Mickey Mouse Club, which aired from 1955-1959.
  • "And if you land on Free Parking, you get it back, which is great."
In the Parker Brothers game Monopoly, one of the board spaces is labeled Free Parking, meaning no rent can be earned there and no property built. While not a part of the official rules, many people play a variation wherein all taxes (and sometimes fees or fines) collected during the gameplay are placed in the center of the board and then disbursed to whoever lands on Free Parking.
  • "... spend the rest of your time in the county klink."
An imitation of Colonel Wilhelm Klink, the inept commander of the German prison camp on the CBS sitcom Hogan’s Heroes (1965-1971); the part was played by Werner Klemperer (1920-2000). "Klink" is also a colloquial term for a local jail.
  • "Hey, look! It’s Greg Brady!"
On the ABC sitcom The Brady Bunch (1969-1974), Greg Brady was oldest of the male children; he was played by Barry Williams.
  • "Hey, it’s Blond Lemon Jefferson."
Blind Lemon Jefferson (1893-1929) was a blues singer and guitarist called "Father of the Texas Blues." He was popular in his day and very influential on later blues artists, including B.B. King and Robert Johnson.
  • "Anyone want a snow cone? I can go to the galley. –No thanks."
Snow cone is the generic name given to treats of shaved ice coated with flavored syrup.
  • "Ixnay on the umpbay and rindgay (sic)!"
An example of pig Latin. A word game dating back to the 18th century, it works by taking the initial consonants or consonant cluster of a word, moving it to the end of the word, and adding "ay" to it. So, "umpbay" above is "bump." ("Grind" should have been rendered as "indgray," not "rindgay.") "Nix" is a slang term meaning "stop" or "cut." It derives from the German word nicht, meaning "nothing". "Bump and grind" is a basic move in burlesque/exotic dancing.
  • "Cat fight! –Trollop fight!"
"Trollop" is a word often used to indicate a woman of poor moral character. It comes from the word "troll," which originally meant "to wander."
  • "Hey, it’s Lenny and Squiggy school."
A reference to the two "wacky neighbor" characters on the TV sitcom Laverne & Shirley, which ran from 1976 to 1983 - Leonard "Lenny" Kosnowski (Michael McKean) and Andrew "Squiggy" Squigman (David Lander).
  • "Greg couldn't even get a suite on the Love Boat"
The Love Boat is a comedy/drama television series set on the luxury cruise ship S.S. Pacific Princess which originally aired from 1977 to 1987. Crow is likely alluding to the episode "Who Killed Maxwell Thorn?", in which Robert Reed and Florence Henderson appeared as Mike and Carol Brady.

Behind the Scenes[]

MST3K cast[]

Regular cast

MST3K crew[]

Production[]

  • With this episode, the MST3K "Fan Club" becomes the "Information Club" in the end-of-show announcement.
    Untamed youth gypsy

    Gypsy's first appearance in the theater

  • Gypsy enters the theater for the first time (not counting KTMA) in this episode: Joel calls her into the theater to produce cotton in response to Tom Servo’s query about what real cotton feels like.
  • This episode marks the first time a duplicate Servo appeared onscreen.
  • According to the Amazing Colossal Episode Guide, this episode was the subject of the first known negative review of MST3K, which appeared in Gore Zone magazine.

Goofs[]

  • In the fourth host segment, the tubing around Gypsy's upper lip comes loose and falls off.

Movie Edits[]

As with most of the riffed movies, Untamed Youth was altered to fit the TV format and had a few scenes trimmed slightly to fit within the desired time-slot.

Callbacks[]

Video releases[]

Untamed youth dvd

MST3K DVD Cover

Gallery[]

References[]


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