MST3K 412 - Hercules and the Captive Women

“	“You guys are supposed to be nice to me! Today is dedicated to my…” “We know!”	”
	— Servo and Joel

The Movie

Main article: Hercules and the Captive Women (film)

Synopsis

The mythic hero Hercules encounters the cruel queen of Atlantis and must stop her plans to create an army of superhumans to conquer the world.

The Episode

Host Segments

Prologue: Gypsy wants to join her friends in watching the movie. Crow and Tom are extremely leery.

Segment One (Invention Exchange): The Mads have continued their Deep 13 day care, and as a result, TV's Frank has developed the Lawn Baby, a lawnmower/baby stroller that is an accident waiting to happen. A radiant Joel demonstrates the Wombmate, a device that allows babies to listen to music in utero.

**The boys play with their Hercules action figure**

Segment Two: Joel, Tom, and Crow enjoy some good-natured brawling as drawn from the film. They're even good-natured after they've been patched up.

Segment Three: Crow’s history report on Hercules is unnecessarily harsh.

Segment Four: The Bots' Hercules action figure is rather inactive, constantly repeating, "I'm so sleepy, I can barely keep my eyes open." Joel faints when the toy gives a prescient response to Joel's attempts to cheer the bots up again.

Segment Five: Joel and the bots bid the Hercules movies adieu (for now, anyway). They read a letter. Back in Deep 13, Frank is being chased by his invention, and it ends as badly as one would expect.

Stinger: "Hercules!", followed by Herc's freaky expression.

MST3K cast

Regular cast

Joel Hodgson - Joel Robinson
Trace Beaulieu - Crow T. Robot / Dr. Clayton Forrester
Kevin Murphy - Tom Servo
Frank Conniff - TV's Frank
Jim Mallon - Gypsy

Guest Cast

Michael J. Nelson - Hercules Action Figure

Trivia

Nathan Devery concluded his internship with this episode.
This episode aired eleventh during Turkey Day '93.
TV's Frank refers to the Deep 13 Daycare in the Invention Exchange, which first appeared back in Time of the Apes.
During his recitation of Hercules "facts", Crow keeps referring to Hylas as Hinus (it's probable this was deliberate, hence why it's not listed as a Goof).

Callbacks

“Hurry, Diana!” (Undersea Kingdom)
Frank sings “I sing whenever I sing…” (The Giant Gila Monster)
“Rock Candy Baby” (Daddy-O)

Goofs

Joel says “Zatharatu” when he means to say Zarathustra.

Obscure References

"Bonanza!" "And if that map burns, it'll be a Greece fire!"

Bonanza was a 1960s TV western whose opening credits began with a burning map of the Ponderosa Ranch.

"Things fall apart."

A line from the poem "The Second Coming" by W.B. Yeats; the bots recite the next two lines as well.

"Atlantis? That's where the Superstation comes from!"

Cable channel TBS, which at the time billed itself as "the Superstation," is based in Atlanta, GA.

"Come back to Atlantis. Make it Atlantis again, mon!"

A parody of "Come back to Jamaica", an advertising slogan used to promote Jamaican tourism during the 1980s.

"Everything is beautiful in the valley."

A reference to the song "At the Ballet" from the musical A Chorus Line.

"Michael Gross, no!"

Michael Gross is an actor best known for his roles in the TV series Family Ties & the Tremors film series.

"John!" "Marsha!" "Oh, John!" "Oh, Marsha!"

A reference to a piece by comedian Stan Freberg that mocked melodramatic radio soap operas: the dialogue consisted of two characters just repeating the other's name over and over.

"Everybody must get stoned!"

A reference to the Bob Dylan song "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 ".

"We love you Conrad, Oh yes we do."

After the queen's brutal massacre of the slaves, Joel and the Robots sing a sad, slower version of the usually cheery and bright song "We Love You Conrad" from the popular musical Bye Bye Birdie.

"Except for Chopper, he's the funny one!"

There are a variety of episodes where Joel or one of the bots refers to a funny guy named "Chopper". The closest that fans of the show have come to determining the origin of the joke is that it's a reference to a toy manufacturer named Schaper, whose TV commercials featured the tagline "Schaper always leaves you laughing!" which was quoted in The Phantom Creeps. It may be that the writers mis-remembered the origin of the quote and mispronounced the name into the bargain, and it turned into a running joke that made little sense in the same manner as the "I thought you were Dale " in-joke.

"James Broilin in The Car."

A reference to a notoriously bad 1977 movie about a car that comes alive and starts killing people.

"I think this is the same ramp where Deep Throat used to meet Bob Woodward."

While investigating the Watergate scandal, Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward—along with his partner Carl Bernstein—met their informant who used the alias "Deep Throat" (who was eventually revealed to be Associate FBI Director Mark Felt) in an underground parking garage.

Video releases

Commercially released on DVD by Shout! Factory in March 2014 as part of Volume XXIX, a 4-disc set along with Untamed Youth, The Thing That Couldn't Die, and The Pumaman.
- The DVD includes an introduction by Joel Hodgson, MST3K Artist in Residence: Steve Vance, and The Posters of MST3K.


preceded by: Season 3		MST3K Season 4					followed by: Season 5
preceded by: Season 3		1992 - 1993					followed by: Season 5
401	Space Travelers	1992-06-06	409	Indestructible Man	1992-08-15	417	Crash of Moons	1992-11-28
402	The Giant Gila Monster	1992-06-13	410	Hercules Against the Moon Men	1992-08-22	418	Attack of the the Eye Creatures	1992-12-05
403	City Limits	1992-06-20	411	The Magic Sword	1992-08-29	419	The Rebel Set	1992-12-12
404	Teenagers from Outer Space	1992-06-27	412	Hercules and the Captive Women	1992-09-12	420	The Human Duplicators	1992-12-26
405	Being from Another Planet	1992-07-04	413	Manhunt in Space	1992-09-19	421	Monster A-Go Go	1993-01-09
406	Attack of the Giant Leeches	1992-07-18	414	Tormented	1992-09-26	422	The Day the Earth Froze	1993-01-16
407	The Killer Shrews	1992-07-25	415	The Beatniks	1992-11-25	423	Bride of the Monster	1993-01-23
408	Hercules Unchained	1992-08-01	416	Fire Maidens of Outer Space	1992-11-26	424	Manos: The Hands of Fate	1993-01-30