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(As the film ends, a crane shot shows dozens of bodies sprawled around burning ruins)

Cleanup in Borough Five!

- Mike


The Movie

Synopsis

MST3k HS in Escape the Bronx

Escape 2000

The "General Construction Corporation" decides it's had more than an enough of the Bronx being infested with gangs and their gang activity and decides to do what any reasonable, generic, faceless corporation would do when faced with such obstacles: hire a group of militarized thugs to murder everyone living there so they can move in and repurpose the area with upscale apartment buildings.  When renegade gang leader "Trash" (Mark Gregory, reprising his role from 1990: The Bronx Warriors) discovers these "Disinfestors" have roasted his parents, he decides to pursue revenge by blowing up lots of stuff and killing a lot of people.  As promised, things get blown up, people get killed, and the delightful cherry on top is a main villain named "Floyd Wangler."[1]

Information

Escape 2000

"Leave the Bronx. You are ordered to leave the Bronx."

  • This movie is a direct sequel to the 1982 film 1990: The Bronx Warriors, though there is little connection between the two films.
  • On the wall in the apartment of Trash's parents is a large black and white poster of Mark Gregory from 1990: The Bronx Warriors.
  • Carla Brait cameos as the Ironman leader from the first movie 1990: The Bronx Warriors.
  • Director Enzo G. Castellari cameos as the Radio operator with the mustache.
  • The full death toll in the uncut version is 174. There are 110 killed in shootings, 40 in explosions, 9 by flamethrowers, 1 by stabbing, 1 off-screen kill, 4 unknowns, 6 electrocutions, 2 bashed in the face with a helmet and 1 face turned to red mush after being hit with a shotgun butt.
  • Giancarlo Prete, the actor who plays Strike (the sewer-dwelling guy with the pyromaniac kid), also stars in Warriors of the Wasteland, another similarly post-apocalyptic Italian movie recently featured on Rifftrax. It also co-stars Fred Williamson from Experiment #501 Warrior of the Lost World.
  • Not to be confused with another film entitled Escape 2000, released in 1982, starring Steve Railsback and Olivia Hussey.

The Episode

Host Segments

Escape2

Dr. F puts Pearl into a home

Prologue: Crow holds his annual auction to help the Really Good Cause, which he is not sure of. His first item? A penny. His second item is a nickel and his third item is a dollar.

Segment One: Crow accidentally lights the SOL on fire while trying to burn an ant with a magnifying glass near a pile of oily rags. Luckily, Gypsy takes care of everything. Meanwhile, Dr. F is forced to put his mother Pearl into a home. As in, locked in a little playhouse in the main room of Deep 13.

Segment Two: Mike sets up Crow with his biofeedback machine, giving Crow a nice warm feeling. As Crow continues to relax, several small fires start across the ship. Gypsy tells Cambot to activate the sprinkler system but he goes through the hallway.

Fire

Gypsy on fire

Segment Three: Mike plays the big boss, nearly choking Servo with cigar smoke. Crow doesn't understand all of the slang terms for getting Mike another beer.

Segment Four: Servo recovers from his smoking jag as the Mads call. Dr. Forrester has determined the ratings are too low, and so he introduces Timmy Bobby Rusty, who disturbs the crew. Alas, the ratings remain low, so Timmy Bobby Rusty is promptly dropped.

Segment Five: Tom lowers himself from a helicopter as Mike reads a letter. In Deep 13, Toblerone's laughter disturbs Dr. F. He comes over to yell at Clayton after the mad scientist complains and rescues Pearl from her home.

Stinger: Toblerone spits and laughs.

Other Notes

Timmy

Timmy Bobby Rusty (played by Paul Chaplin)

  • Timmy Bobby Rusty is notably a spoof of "The Cousin Oliver Syndrome", which by definition means when a TV show's ratings are low, then they introduce a younger character in an attempt to boost ratings (this noticibly was coined from the character Cousin Oliver from the last season of "The Brady Bunch").
    • This also forcasts what is to come in the Season finale Laserblast (notably with the events of the episode being the result of the "ratings").


Guest Stars

Obscure References

  • The background music in the opening host segment is the closing theme from The Mystery Science Theater Hour.
  • "They dress like Randall P. McMurphy to leave the Bronx!"

The character played by Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

  • "Watch out! Her other jaw is going to shoot out!"

See Ridley Scott's movie Alien whose eponymous antagonist possessed this then-unique feature.

  • "Those squibs were meant for me!"

A squib is a type of explosive charge used to simulate gunshots in movies.

  • "What are the Mercury Seven doing here?"

Mercury Seven refers to the astronauts who participated in the Mercury missions.

  • "They're NOT getting the Tom of Finland posters!"

Tom of Finland was an artist known for the overt homoeroticism of his work.

  • "Put that on still store."

A callback to the segment in the show in which they read letters from viewers; it had been retired by this point in the show.

  • "But I'm with Parade!"

Parade is a magazine included in many Sunday newspapers. It does not have a reputation for hard-hitting journalism.

  • "Wilford Brimley IS 007."

The elderly man in a jacketed suit, who Mike is introducing, bares a resemblance to diabetes survivor/Liberty Medical spokesperson, cult icon and cowboy actor Wilford Brimley.

  • "Sir, would you at least take a Watchtower-"

A reference to The Watchtower, a magazine published by the Jehovah's Witnesses.

  • "Lorenzo Lamas is Gino Vannelli"

Spoken by Mike when Trash walks by in his (now-dead) parents' apartment. Lorenzo Lamas was the main actor in the popular 90's TV series Renegade. Like our main hero, Trash, all he pretty much did was ride around on his Honda motorcycle, wear black leather and jeans, manfully scowl, and shoot some bad guys along the way. Gino Vannelli is a Canadian pop music singer recognizable for his manly curly Italian hair. The resemblance between Trash and Gino is astounding. Or modest, if non-hair features are any consideration.

  •   "Realistic makes one of these that says 'Explode' and 'Don't Explode'."

Realistic is a name that Radio Shack formerly used for their store-brand consumer electronics.

  • "Daaah, I gotta call Schneider!"

Schneider was the building supervisor on One Day at a Time, a sitcom from the late 1970s and early '80s.

  • "They tossed him onto the streets of Rio Bravo!"

Rio Bravo was a 1959 Western movie starring John Wayne.

  • "She's got a Bobbi Flekman voice!"

Bobbi Flekman was a record company flack played by Fran Drescher in This Is Spinal Tap.

  • "Steve Dallas, Terrorist."

Steve Dallas is a character from the comic strip Bloom County.

  • "The Very Large Corporation of America."

The name of the company attacked by the pirates in the short preceding Monty Python's Meaning Of Life. (Terry Gilliam at his finest, by the way.)​

  • "Sonia Braga looks on."

Sonia Braga is a Brazilian actress who appeared with MST alumnus Raul Julia, (among others) in Kiss of the Spider Woman.

  • "Hey! Rockwell wants his suit back!"

Rockwell was an R&B singer who is best known for his hit single 'Somebody's Watching Me!'.

  • "They re-showed the Theismann injury..."

Joe Theismann was the quarterback for the Washington Redskins until he suffered a graphic career-ending compound fracture during a 1985 game.

  • "She's so pop-u-lar!"

Crow is singing one of the many interpretations of the chorus to the Peter Gabriel song "Games Without Frontiers".

  • "Comin' in low out of the rising sun. Scares the hell out of the executives!"

A parody of a line from Apocalypse Now.

  • "Uh, guys, I sweated all over the GORP!"

GORP is another name for trail mix. It is alternately given as an anagram for Good Old Raisins & Peanuts, Granola, Oats, Raisins, & Peanuts, or Grapes, Oranges, Raisins & Peanuts or Gobs Of Raw Protein.

  • "SEGA!"

A reference to 1990s Sega video game commercials, which ended with a frenzied scream of "SEGA!!!"

  • "Shoot 'em all. We'll make more!"
    MST3K_705_(Escape_2000)_Promo

    MST3K 705 (Escape 2000) Promo

A parody of the slogan ("Crunch all you want. We'll make more.") from a series of Doritos commercials featuring Jay Leno.

  • "Motion in the ocean/ His air hose broke! Lots of bubbles/Lots of trouble!"

Quoted from the B-52's song "Rock Lobster".

  • "Go ahead and hate your neighbor/Go ahead and cheat a friend..."

Mike is quoting "One Tin Soldier", the theme song from Billy Jack.

  • "Someday, love will find you..."

Servo's song over the end credits suddenly turns into "Separate Ways" by Journey.

Memorable Quotes

Moon Gray: This isn't a press conference, it's a farce! An unadulterated, dirty, filthy farce! Do you hear me? And the GC Corporation sucks!
Mike (as another reporter): Is that true? Do you suck?
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