MST3K 516 - Alien from L.A.

516 - Alien from L.A.
Air/Release Date	November 20, 1993
MST3K Director	Trace Beaulieu
AKA	Odeon; Wanda (TV title)
Movie Director	Albert Pyun
Year	1988
Cast	Kathy Ireland William R. Moses Richard Haines Thom Mathews
Preceded by	515 - The Wild Wild World of Batwoman
Followed by	517 - Beginning of the End

“	"This door sounds brown!"	”
	- Crow (as Kathy Ireland)

The Movie

Deep Roy in Alien from L.A.

Synopsis

Wanda Saknussemm (Ireland) is a nerdy social misfit with large glasses and a squeaky voice who lives in Los Angeles and works at a diner. After being dumped by her boyfriend for "not having a sense of adventure", Wanda is informed by a letter that her father, an archaeologist, has died. She flies to northern Africa and while going through her father's belongings, she finds his notes about Atlantis, apparently an alien ship that crashed millennia ago and sank into the center of the Earth. Wanda comes across a chamber beneath her father's apartment and accidentally sets off a chain of events that ultimately cause her to fall into a deep hole. An unharmed Wanda wakes up deep within the Earth to find Gus (William R. Moses), a miner whom she protects from being slain by two people. Gus, who has a very inconsistent Australian accent, agrees to help Wanda find her father, whom she believes is alive and trapped underground. Wanda soon discovers that both she and her father are believed to be spies planning an invasion of Atlantis.

Kathy Ireland in Alien from L.A.

During her adventures, Wanda's appearance changes from nerdy to attractive (by removing her glasses and using a steam vent to clean her skin). People from the surface world are referred to as "aliens" by Atlanteans, and when Wanda is overheard talking about Malibu Beach by a low-life informant (Janie Du Plessis), she soon becomes a hunted woman and must dodge efforts at capture, both from the mysterious "Government House" and from thugs in the pay of the crime lord Mambino (Deep Roy).

Much mention of Wanda's "big bones" are made during these sequences.

Wanda's efforts at escape are aided by Charmin (Thom Matthews), a handsome rogue who (briefly) assists her flight and falls for Wanda. She is ultimately captured by the evil General Pykov (Du Plessis again), who wants to kill both Wanda and her incarcerated father. The Atlantean leader decides to free Wanda and her father, provided they remain quiet about Atlantis. Gus shows up and helps the duo escape while fighting off General Pykov and her soldiers. Wanda and her father board a ship that takes them back to the surface and the film ends with Wanda on the beach, wearing a bikini and a sarong. She refuses the advances of her ex-boyfriend and is soon reunited with Charmin, who inexplicably appears on a motorcycle.

Information

• The phrase Dull surprise!! comes from this episode.
• Significant amounts of footage from this film (both used and unused) was utilized to comprise the bulk of one of Albert Pyun's later, uncredited, projects, Journey to the Center of the Earth.  While the movie begins as a modernized adaptation of the classic Jules Verne novel, it then quickly changes into a clumsily put together continuation of Alien From L.A. using recycled footage to pad itself out.
• This was the first feature film for supermodel Kathy Ireland.
• Despite receiving second billing in the opening credits it takes almost an hour before Thom Mathews appears in the film.
• This movie prominently features actor-of-small-stature Deep Roy. Roy has had a storied career. He's one of two actors to hold the "sci-fi trifecta," appearing in the Doctor Who, Star Wars, and Star Trek franchises (Simon Pegg is the other). He also has appeared in Blakes' 7, The NeverEnding Story, Flash Gordon, Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (playing all the Oompa Loomas), and many other beloved productions.
• What some might consider either a sad move or a slap in the face to MSTie's on Comedy Central's part, the channel some time after cancelling MST3K actually showed this film without riffing.
• Alien from L.A. is one of two films on the show to have been produced by The Cannon Group/Golan-Globus, later followed by Outlaw in the same season.

The Episode

Host Segments

Vend-a-gut

Prologue: Crow presides as Drill Sergeant over boot camp at Fort Satellite of Love, Mike is blindfolded and Tom servo is completely field stripped.

Segment One / Invention exchange: Dr. F presents the Vend-a-gut, which makes getting a donor organ as easy as getting a Snickers bar. Mike demonstrates Fridge Udders. Tom and Crow try to cow tip the fridge and Crow ends up crushed underneath it.

Segment Two: Crow, Tom, and Mike play guess the supermodel. The bots claim it’s Clara Peller. Mike won't believe it. (The clues actually point to Paulina Porizkova.)

File:TEATS.PNG

Teats!

Segment Three: Crow, Tom, and Mike sing “My Wild Irish Ireland,” with Tom doing the Kathy Ireland part. Pathetically, Mike starts to think Tom really is Kathy.

Segment Four: Crow, Tom, and Mike play the “guess Kathy’s emotions” game, in which all of the emotions are "DULL SUPRISE!"

Segment Five: Frank is still feeding change to the Vend-a-gut.

Stinger: Kathy says “Yuck!”

Crow, Tom, and Mike sing "My Wild Irish Ireland"

Trivia

• “My Wild Irish Ireland” written and arranged by: Kevin Murphy, Michael J. Nelson and David Sussman.
• Unusual Credits: The sound of quarters continuing to pour out of the Vend-a-gut coin return slot can be heard during the first half of the credits.
• $150,000 in quarters would weigh 7,500 pounds. If you stacked them, the pile would be 3,450 feet tall (about 2/3 of a mile).

Callbacks

• "It’s Klandinctu!" (Crash of Moons)
• "He’s the best!" (Pod People)

Obscure References

• "I want to watch Sisters!"

Sisters was a TV drama series that aired from 1991 to 1996. It was geared towards women viewers.

• "And what is the name of your robot?"

Crow is paraphrasing Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (R. Lee Ermey) from Full Metal Jacket. Note also that Mike's crazed facial expression at the beginning of the next segment is a parody of the character Pyle's mental breakdown.

• "Getting dumped in... about an hour."

A parody of the advertising slogan for LensCrafters.

• "He looks like Clint Howard!"

Ron Howard's brother Clint is a prolific B-movie actor, and occasionally appears in films directed by his more successful sibling.

• "Going sideways, Mr. Saknussemm?"

A parody of the spoken-word intro to the Aerosmith song "Love in an Elevator". Saknussem's the name of a character from Journey to the Center of the Earth.

• "Hey, it's the Blue Mosque!" "No, the Blue Mosque isn't on a hill!"

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque, is a converted Eastern Orthodox Church and an Istanbul landmark.

• "When I squint, you look like Ian Anderson!"

Ian Anderson is the lead singer of Jethro Tull.

• "Saigon. Shucks. I can't believe I'm still in Saigon!"

A parody of the opening line from Apocalypse Now.

• "Has anybody here seen my old friend John?"

A quote from the song "Abraham, Martin & John".

• "It's Home Alone 3: The Destruction of Jared-Syn!"

Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn was a 3-D post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie released in 1983. At the time of this episode's production, the film Home Alone 3 had not yet been made.

• "It's a Samurai!"

The Suzuki Samurai was a compact SUV that drastically declined in popularity after a Consumer Reports article suggested that it was dangerously prone to rollovers.

• "Schlepcar!"

A reference to the Sid and Marty Krofft TV show Wonderbug, in which a living jalopy named Schlepcar could magically become the dune buggy of the title.

• "I wanna come over and roll in your clover and kiss your Blarney Stone."

The Blarney Stone is a famous Irish landmark where visitors kiss it for good luck. But since they're singing about their 'love' for Kathy Ireland, Crow is probably also using this as a euphemism.

• "Chicks and ducks and geese better scurry..."

Quoted from "Surrey with the Fringe on Top", a song from the musical Oklahoma!.

• "One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble!"

A lyric from the song 'One Night in Bangkok'  from the musical Chess. It became a popular radio single with vocals by Murray Head.

• "Tonight! Sam Giancana sings Pagliaccii."

Sam Giancana was a Sicilian American gangster whose exploits influenced those depicted in The Godfather. Pagliacci is an Italian opera famous for an opera singer dressed as a clown.

• "Hey, it's a Nelson!"

File:MST3K 516 Promo

A reference to the pop-metal band Nelson, fronted by Ricky Nelson's twin sons. They were known for their long, straight blond hair.

• "It's like a Peter Greenaway set!"

Peter Greenaway is the director of such films as The Belly of an Architect and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover.

• "Live the good life in the off-world colonies!"

A quote from Blade Runner.

• "You can't have any pudding if you don't eat your meat!"

A quote from the spoken-word outro to Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall".

• "Paul Westerberg to the rescue!"

Paul Westerberg is the lead singer of the Replacements.

• "It's the cover of Tommy!"

The Who's Tommy album cover is similar to the background in the shot.

• "Maybe they'll run into Spinal Tap back there!"

A reference to the scene in This is Spinal Tap where the titular band gets lost in the underground tunnels of a concert hall.

• "Tonight, kids- something really scary!"

Crow is imitating Count Floyd, a character from SCTV.

• "Are they on Captain Ron's boat?"

Captain Ron was a 1992 comedy movie starring Kurt Russell.

Video Release

MST3K DVD Case

• Commercially released on DVD by Shout Factory in March 2013 as part of The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Volume 26, a 4-DVD set with The Magic Sword, The Mole People, and Danger!! Death Ray.

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