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MST3K 314 - Mighty Jack

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“ (singing to "Blow the Man Down")

Slow the plot down, laddy, slow the plot down
Way hey, slow the plot down
We'll scuttle the story and run her aground
We'll try so hard to slow the plot down
Ohhh, we'll make you a movie that's long and immense
Way hey, slow the plot down
Just give us a script that makes no friggin' sense
We'll try so hard to slow the plot down!

”
  — Joel, Crow, Servo


The Movie

Synopsis

Mighty Jack

An evil criminal organization called Q has plans for world domination, so a high-tech crime-fighting unit is formed to fight Q; this unit is called Mighty Jack. Mighty Jack operates out of a secret base where they can launch their super-duper submarine/jet hybrid vehicle. Q kidnaps a man named Mr. Atari because they want the secret of Mighty Jack. The MJ unit is sent out by some old guy to rescue him.

In the second half of the "movie," using stolen research plans, Q has developed a new ice that stays solid at high temperatures and also an instant-freeze gun that uses this "hot ice." Q destroys an artificial island with its instant-freezing weapons and then uses a fake iceberg made of hot ice as their new base. Mighty Jack is called in to fight Q again and the hunt is on. [1]

Information

See Episode K14

  • Some might recognize agent Jerry as Ide/Ito, the goofy inventor from Ultraman.
  • The movie was actually created from Sandy Frank combining the first and sixth episodes of a 13-episode tokusatsu TV series created by Eiji Tsuburaya, better known as the special effects artist behind Ultraman and the first Godzilla movies.

The Episode

Host Segments

Formal Flippers

Prologue: The Satellite of Love is in ruins, and Joel Robinson is dead!... or at least they pretend so.

Segment One (Invention Exchange): The Mads create Formal Flippers for those formal spying occasions. Joel demonstrates his Ear-Shaped Earmuffs, so users don't have odd-looking balls of fuzz on the sides of their head.

Ear-Shaped Earmuffs

Segment Two: The Bots create a commercial for their new brand of dog food, Mighty Jack! The spokescreature is extremely creepy.

Segment Three: The Bots imprison Joel in the blinding light compartment from the movie. Joel foils their plans by closing his eyes.

Segment Four: Joel shows the Bots how cheap underwater filming is done by way of an aquarium. He then gets carried away. The Bots are disturbed.

Mighty Jack dog food

Segment Five: The SOL crew sings the old plot chantey "Slow the Plot Down" and gets Mighty Jack confused with other famous films. In Deep 13, Frank is a pirate who quotes Herman Melville.

Stinger: Fritz died as he lived . . . ‘loving’ his work

MST3K cast

Trivia

  • Joel appears in the green jumpsuit during the opening segment, where it gets trashed. By the start of the Invention Exchange, though, he's cleaned up and changed into the dark red jumpsuit.
  • This is the first episode since her introduction where Magic Voice fails to announce the approach of Commercial Sign during the prologue.
  • During the bit with the underwater filming sketch of Host Segment Four, Joel mentions "Spielberg is doing movies based on cartoon characters". This prompts Servo to joke "What's he going to do next: 'Casper the Friendly Ghost'?". Amblin Entertainment (Spielberg's production company) would release a Casper movie in 1995.
    • Joel also mentions wanting a "Josie and the Pussycats" movie, which eventually happened as well.

Callbacks

Goofs

  • Joel put Crow's human ear shaped muffs on backward.

Obscure References

  • "Something is very wrong on Saturn 3!"
A reference to the 1980 sci-fi thriller Saturn 3.
  • "I am a lineman for the starfleet..."
Joel is singing a pastiche of the first line of the song "Wichita Lineman", substituting the word "starfleet" for "county".
  • "This is no place for a convertible!"
Crow is quoting Phil Silvers in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
  • "Button, button, I've got the button!"

"Button, button, who's got the button?" is a children's game wherein players must guess who has received the button from the leader.

  • "Bootsy's 20-Meter Band?" "Rubber."
Bootsy's Rubber Band was a funk band led by bassist Bootsy Collins.
  • "...as if it were triggered by remote control." "The crappy game show?!"
Remote Control is a game show that ran on MTV from 1987 to 1990.
  • "Superslow...moving caaar..."
A parody of the Supercar theme song.
  • "You ain't woman enough to take my Mighty Jack!"
A parody of the Loretta Lynn song "You Ain't Woman Enough to Take My Man".
  • "Oh, that's just the set of Orca."
Orca is a 1977 horror movie about a killer whale.
  • "It's Toy Donahue!"
A punning reference to actor Troy Donahue.
  • "Oh man, they're swimmin' right through Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral!"
The Crystal Cathedral is a "megachurch" in Garden Grove, California founded by televangelist Robert Schuller.
  • "The politics of feeling good."
A quote from the 1980s pop song "The Politics of Dancing" by Re-Flex.
  • "You mean Roberto?" "Durán?"
Roberto Durán is a retired Panamanian boxer.
  • "Oswald..."

Upon seeing a man pointing a gun from a window, Crow whispers this in reference to Lee Harvey Oswald, who allegedly shot JFK from a similar position.

  • "Hey, that's a baby formula factory!"
During the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein claimed that one of the suspected munitions plants bombed was actually a "baby milk factory."
  • "I lied."
Joel is imitating Arnold Schwarzenegger in Commando.
  • "Pete DuPont?"
Pete DuPont was the governor of Delaware from 1977 to 1985.
  • "...I'm doing a rewrite on Next of Kin II!"
A reference to Next of Kin, a 1989 movie starring Patrick Swayze. There was no sequel.
  • "It's like What's Up, Doc? all of a sudden."
What's Up, Doc? is a 1972 screwball comedy film starring Barbra Streisand.
  • "I was born in a house my father built."

The first sentence of Richard Nixon's autobiography, RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon

  • "They hate these cans!"
Crow is paraphrasing Steve Martin in The Jerk, from a scene in which Martin's character mistakes some nearby cans as being the target of an unseen sniper (rather than himself).
  • "It's the Yancy Street Gang!"
The Yancy Street Gang is a gang that antagonizes The Thing in Fantastic Four comics.
  • "Go down to Ben Franklin and pick up another one, would ya?"
A reference to the Ben Franklin chain of five-and-ten stores.
  • "My name is Bobby Zimmerman."
A reference to Bob Dylan (a native of Minnesota), whose given name is Robert Allen Zimmerman.
  • "Oh there's Jesse "the body" Vogel."
A reference to Jesse Ventura, a former pro wrestler who later became the 38th Governor of Minnesota

Video releases

MST3K DVD Cover


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