“ | Joel, why are you psychoanalyzing robots? | ” |
“ | I accuse you, Joel Robinson! | ” |
— Crow |
The Short
The Truck Farmer
Synopsis

The Truck Farmer (second edition) reveals how the advances of modern technology allow vegetable farming to supply the needs of the American public year-round.
Information
The term “truck farming” is used to describe the large-scale production and distribution of crops by road or rail. The word “truck” originally referred to the bartering of goods, and then came to mean the process of carrying goods to market, and eventually came to mean the vehicle used to haul the goods.
The Movie
- Main article: I Accuse My Parents (film)
Synopsis
A young man from a troubled home pretends to have an ideal life. His deception is discovered and he falls in with a group of criminals.
The Episode
Host Segments
Tom Servo "Nude"
Prologue: With the aid of some pink paint, Tom Servo's wish of becoming a real boy, albeit a naked one, has come true. But it's not all it's cracked up to be.
Segment One (Invention Exchange): The Mads try Cake 'n' Shake, an instant stripper in a cake mix, but Frank accidentally baked the stripper inside, while Joel & the Bots invent the junk-drawer organizer.

Gypsy sings for Joel
Segment Two: Asking the bots to draw their families, Joel psycho-analyzes the results. It's not good news.
Segment Three: Inspired by the movie, Joel & the Bots get Gypsy to help them reenact the nightclub scene from it.
Segment Four: What's wrong with Jimmy? Joel and the Bots dig deep into the troubled boy's psyche.
Segment Five: Joel and the the Bots reenact the cafe scene from movie, though Crow and Tom choose to switch Jimmy's gun for a tank, and read a letter, while the Mads have finally finished digging out Rodney the stripper.
Cake 'n' Shake
Stinger: "What? What's so funny? asks Jimmy’s mother, as Jimmy’s father laughs at her ridiculous hat.
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
- Mary Jo Pehl - Magic Voice
Guest cast
- Bradley J. Keely - Rodney
Trivia
- Punk Rock band, The Riverdales have a song called "I Accuse My Parents" and make a direct reference to Mystery Science Theater in their song "I Think About You During The Commercials".
- This is the last episode which was used in The Mystery Science Theater Hour.
- In a June 15, 2010 interview with www.mondo-video.com, Joel Hodgson states that his two favorite episodes are Hercules Unchained and I Accuse My Parents.
- Ranked 12th in the Top 100 Episodes as chosen by backers of the Bring Back MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 campaign. It was the highest-ranked episode to feature a movie in black-and-white.
- This episode aired ninth during Turkey Day '93, second during Turkey Day '13 and Turkey Day '19, and first during Turkey Day '20.
Goofs
- Sam Newfield did not direct Jungle Goddess as Joel says when Newfield's credit appears. He did direct The Mad Monster (#103), Lost Continent (#208), and Radar Secret Service (#520).
- During the first half recap in the Mystery Science Theater Hour wrap, Jack Perkins keeps referring to Jimmy as Johnny.
- Early versions of the Rhino DVD packaging of this episode listed the episode number as 424. It got fixed in later printings.
Callbacks
- A partial "Hi-keeba!" (Women of the Prehistoric Planet)
- "Charbroiled hamburgers and french-fried potatoes." (Jungle Goddess)
Obscure References
- "Charley Varrick is employed!"
Charley Varrick is a 1970's crime film featuring a crop duster turned criminal.
- "Buffy and Hildegard are calling..."
Joel refers to the Mads as Buffy and Hildegard. Those were the two female aliases used by the characters played by Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari on the sitcom Bosom Buddies.
- "I wonder if they sold this film door-to-door..."
Spoken over a title card reading "Encyclopedia Britannica Films", this refers to formerly common practice of selling encyclopedias door-to-door.
- "Surrey... Cross the guernsey..."
This is a pastiche of the song "Ferry Cross the Mersey" which was popularized by Gerry and the Pacemakers in the mid-1960s. A surrey is a type of four-wheeled carriage. A guernsey is a breed of dairy cattle.
- "I Accuse My Parents brought to you by Boone’s Farm."
Boone's Farm refers to a line of malt beverages and flavored wines.
- "It's Killdozer! Clint Walker, NO!!!"
Killdozer is a short story by Theodore Sturgeon about a bulldozer that develops a violent mind of its own. In 1974, it was adapted as a made-for-TV movie starring Clint Walker.
- "Teahouse of the August Moon!"
The Teahouse of the August Moon is a 1951 novel by Vern Sneider which was subsequently adapted for a play (1953) and a film (1956) starring Marlon Brando. It satirizes the U.S. occupation and Americanization of the island of Okinawa following the end of World War II in 1945.
- "The John Bradshaw Story!"
John Bradshaw is a pop psychologist widely credited with popularizing the terms "inner child" and "dysfunctional family".
- "Well as long as it's not John Hughes."
John Hughes was a screenwriter and director who was behind such films as The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink.
- "Part IV: Citizens on Patrol!"
"Citizens on Patrol" was the subtitle of the fourth Police Academy movie.
- "Sergeant, take the gun and shoot the corporal!"
A quote from The Manchurian Candidate from a scene in which a brainwashed army sergeant is made to shoot an innocent unsuspecting soldier.
- "My dad is Gigantor!"
Gigantor, about a young boy who controls the giant robot of the title, was one of the earliest anime series to be broadcast in the United States.
- "A young Al Bundy!"
Al Bundy was the protagonist of the sitcom Married... with Children. He worked as a shoe salesman.
- "Cruel shoes!"
"Cruel Shoes" is a short story by Steve Martin. It was also the title of the collection in which said story was published as a book.
- "I never had one myself, enough to remember." "I was torn from the thigh of Zeus."
Riff comparing Kitty's absence of a mother to one of the many origin stories of seemingly motherless gods, goddesses and other supernatural beings in Greek Mythology. Dionysus was such a god "torn from the thigh of Zeus"; even though he did have a mother named Seleme and Zeus had him sewn to his thigh after birth.
- "Hey, Walter Lantz!"
Animator Walter Lantz is best remembered as the creator of Woody Woodpecker.
- "In our audience tonight, Tony 'Big Tuna' Accardo!"
Tony Accardo was a Chicago mob boss.
- "Jules and Jim!"
Jules and Jim was a 1962 French film about two bachelors wooing the same woman.
- "Why is she dressed like Major Barbara?"
Major Barbara is a play by George Bernard Shaw.
- "I lied."
Joel is imitating Arnold Schwarzenegger in Commando.
- "I am the Angel of Death. The day of reckoning is upon us."
Crow is misquoting a line from the Simpsons episode "Marge Gets A Job".
- "Here, what are you doing in a Cocteau film, boy?"
Jean Cocteau was a French novelist, filmmaker, and playwright. His films had the same sort of dark, foreboding look as Ingmar Bergman's, but were a bit more fast-paced.
- "But he was able to pick up a ride with the Joad family!"
The Joads (a displaced farm family who traveled with all of their possessions on a truck) were the central characters in John Steinbeck's dust-bowl novel The Grapes Of Wrath.
- "And I fixed your chair, too. It doesn't squeak anymore."
Line from the 1965 Sidney Poitier/Anne Bancroft film The Slender Thread.
- "I know I'd go from rags to riches..."
From the song "Rags to Riches", popularized by Tony Bennett, which is played at the beginning of the movie Goodfellas as a young Henry Hill begins his career as a mobster.
- "I'm up here, honey, with the DTs! Could you get the yellow lizard out of the bathroom?"
One of the main effects of Delirium tremens (the DTs) is hallucinations. It's usually associated with withdrawal from alcohol.
- "Ah, J. Edgar Hoover goes shopping!"
A reference to allegations that the longtime director of the FBI was a transvestite.
- "Oh, it's the three hard-boiled eggs she ordered."
A reference to a scene in the Marx Brothers' movie A Night at the Opera.
- Theme from Patton.
As the Bots drive their tank off at the end, one of them is heard whistling the theme music from the movie Patton, composed by Jerry Goldsmith.
In the final host segment, the tank the Bots are piloting has the name 'Anne Blythe' painted on the side. Anne Blythe was the married name of Anne Shirley, a character from the book series Anne Of Green Gables.
Video Release

MST3K DVD
- Commercially released on VHS by Rhino Entertainment in October 1997, the episode was also released at the same time as part of a 3-VHS set with The Atomic Brain and Red Zone Cuba.
- Commercially released on DVD by Rhino in April 2002.
- In May 2018 it was re-released by Shout! Factory in The Singles Collection.
- Special features for the re-released DVD include an introduction by Joel Hodgson, The Man on Poverty Row: The Films of Sam Newfield featurette, and The Mystery Science Theater Hour wraps.
- In May 2018 it was re-released by Shout! Factory in The Singles Collection.
- Available for rent or purchase on Amazon's streaming service.
External links
preceded by: Season 4 | MST3K Season 5 | followed by: Season 6 | ||||||
1993 - 1994 | ||||||||
501 | Warrior of the Lost World | 1993-07-24 | 509 | The Girl in Lovers Lane | 1993-09-18 | 517 | Beginning of the End | 1993-11-25 |
502 | Hercules | 1993-07-17 | 510 | The Painted Hills | 1993-09-26 | 518 | The Atomic Brain | 1993-12-04 |
503 | Swamp Diamonds | 1993-07-31 | 511 | Gunslinger | 1993-10-09 | 519 | Outlaw | 1993-12-11 |
504 | Secret Agent Super Dragon | 1993-08-07 | 512 | Mitchell | 1993-10-23 | 520 | Radar Secret Service | 1993-12-18 |
505 | The Magic Voyage of Sinbad | 1993-08-14 | 513 | The Brain That Wouldn't Die | 1993-10-30 | 521 | Santa Claus | 1993-12-24 |
506 | Eegah | 1993-08-28 | 514 | Teen-Age Strangler | 1993-11-07 | 522 | Teen-Age Crime Wave | 1994-01-15 |
507 | I Accuse My Parents | 1993-09-04 | 515 | The Wild Wild World of Batwoman | 1993-11-13 | 523 | Village of the Giants | 1994-01-22 |
508 | Operation Double 007 | 1993-09-11 | 516 | Alien from L.A. | 1993-11-20 | 524 | 12 to the Moon | 1994-02-05 |