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MST3K 319 - War of the Colossal Beast

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“ Uh, Mister B, what would you know about dignity? ”
- Joel


“ (singing to "99 Bottles of Beer")

100 years of solitude, 100 years of solitude! Take one down, pass it around, 99 years of solitude!

”
- Joel, Crow, Servo


The Short

Synopsis

Mrb

Mr. B Natural

Mr. B Natural, the sexually ambiguous spirit of music, teaches Buzz Turner how to be cool.

Information

  • This film was sponsored by C.G. Conn, a maker of musical instruments, thus the importance of a brand expressed towards the end of the short.
  • The short was released on the appropriately titled Mr. B's Lost Shorts??!! by BBI on VHS and by Rhino Entertainment on DVD re-titled as Mr. B's Lost Shorts, part of The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Volume 6.
  • Buzz, the young object of "Mr." B. Natural's attentions, went on to earn a PhD from New York University. He ran a children's theatre company, and authored a two volume study of Shakespeare. He passed away March 29, 2013. [1]
  • The short was filmed at the Waukegan (Illinois) Elementary School and Miami (Ohio) Sr. High School.

The Movie

Synopsis

File:Warofthecolossal.PNG

War of the Colossal Beast

A mysterious series of food-truck robberies makes government officials doubt that the 60-foot tall Colossal Man is dead. He is discovered in a desolate mountain range in Mexico, insane and horribly disfigured. The military drugs him and transports him back to America, where he promptly escapes and wreaks havoc on a city. [2]

Information

  • This episode is the origin of the riff "Glen was fifty feet tall!" It's pointed out by his sister, as if it was believed they were trying to find a normal-sized man.
  • In The Amazing Colossal Man, it is stressed that Glenn’s fiancée being the only ‘family’ that he has. However, in this sequel Glenn has a sister. The fiancée and the sister are not played by the same actress, and the sister is not meant to be the same character as the fiancée, though they look alike.
  • In this film, Glenn Manning is played by Duncan “Dean” Parkin. Glenn’s grunts and groans were performed by Paul Frees.

The Episode

Host Segments

Prologue: Joel and the Bots create new Mexican foods like Madison Avenue would.

Segment One (Invention Exchange): More new Mexican food, the Mads blast forth with the Breakfast Bazooka, and Joel turns a Twinkie into a grenade with the Between-Meal Mortar.

Segment Two: Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo with the ultimate debate: Mr. B Natural... man or woman?

Segment Three: Joel and the Bots sing with the big head when Glen drops by.

KTLAPredicts

KTLA Predicts

Segment Four: KTLA predicts the future! It's extremely random.

Segment Five: Joel and the Bots partake of drugged bread, a letter is read by Glen, and TV's Frank enjoys some Thorazine waffles.

Stinger: Mr. B Natural prances around like a happy king.

Guest Stars

Notes

  • During the host segment where the crew chats with Glenn they remark on how strange it is that he doesn't appear in the sequel, referring to the Colossal Man being a mindless, disfigured beast played by a different actor. This despite the Colossal Man not having appeared in the film sequences seen up to that point. The host segment featuring Glenn in the previous episode also featured such a continuity error.
  • This episode aired eighth during Turkey Day '93.

Callbacks

Obscure References

  • "Oh, Mr. Natural! I remember him from Zap Comix!"

Mr. Natural was a character from R. Crumb's underground comic book Zap Comix.

  • "Did it make you mad? Did it make you mean mad?"

A line from director John Ford's 1940 film The Grapes of Wrath.

  • "Conn LTD and the New Power Generation!"

The New Power Generation was the name of Prince's backup band in the early 1990s.

  • "I gotta finish my letter to Jodie Foster."

A reference to John Hinckley, Jr., who attempted to assassinate then-President Ronald Reagan for reasons stemming from his own unhealthy obsession with actress Jodie Foster.

  • "Where did you come from?" "Bellevue!"

A reference to New York City's Bellevue Hospital Center, best known for its psychiatric ward.

  • "Extra value is what you get when you play the coronet!"

A play on an advertising jingle for Coronet toilet paper.

  • "Hey look, Paul Westerberg is the film editor..."

Paul Westerberg is the former songwriter and lead singer for The Replacements.

  • "They should carve Crazy Horse."

Reference to the Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the project, started in 1948 still has not been completed.

  • "Third Base!"

Reference to Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First?" routine.

  • "Beware of the Dwarf!"

This was a warning given by a dying man to Gloria Mundy (played by Goldie Hawn) in the movie Foul Play.

  • "He blew his mind out in a car"

A reference to the Beatles song "A Day in the Life".

  • "Chains. My baby's got me locked up in chains. And they are the kind that you can see. "

Reference to the Beatles song "Chains".

  • "Oh, I get it, he's channeling Francis Farmer."

Francis Farmer was an actress, best known for her battles with mental illness (probably bipolar disorder), who was alleged to have been lobotomized. 

  • "KTLA Predicts!"

Reference to Criswell Predicts in Plan 9 From Outer Space. The Los Angeles TV station KTLA currently broadcasts as an affiliate of the CW Network.

  • "Peppermint soap!" "All-one!"

During KTLA Predicts, Joel references Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps (18-in-1 Hemp Peppermint Pure-Castile Liquid Soap), a brand of soap whose eccentric founder covered the bottles' labels in tiny text expounding his personal philosophy. Excerpts include "ready to help teach the whole human race the moral ABC of All-One-God-Faith!", and "Magic Soap to clean body-mind-soul-spirit instantly uniting One! All-One! Absolute cleanliness is Godliness." (The "Impossible below PH 3" line Joel quotes is also from the bottle, and was part of instructions on how to use Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap for a contraceptive. This practice is not recommended.)

  • "Mr. Utley."

During the debate, Servo is referencing Garrick Utley, who moderated NBC's long-running public affairs discussion program Meet the Press from January 1989 to December 1991 as well as frequently substituted as anchor for John Chancellor during the 1970's and for Tom Brokaw in the 1980s on NBC Nightly News.

  • "Get that cat out of here!"

As Dr. Richardson is preparing the EEG, Servo uses a running gag from The Man with Two Brains where a cat scampers across the patient before each operation.

  • "Giants Fail Last Chance! Giants Fail Last Chance!"

Crow adapts radio broadcaster Russ Hodge's legendary reaction to Bobby Thomson's Shot Heard 'Round the World to win the 1951 National League pennant.

Video releases


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