“ | GOWNS! There's gonna be gowns in this movie! | ” |
- Crow |
The movie[]
- Main article: Revenge of the Creature (film)
Revenge of the Creature
The mysterious Gill Man is captured and put on display in a theme park. He escapes and goes on a rampage.
The episode[]
Host Segments[]
First appearance of Professor Bobo
Prologue: After 500 (and 25) years of being pure energy at the edge of the universe, Mike, Tom, Gypsy, Cambot, and Magic Voice are forcibly teleported to the SOL. Crow is already there, stating that he was bored of being pure energy after the first 5 minutes. But he seems different and doesn't remember Mike. Suddenly, the SOL is about to crash into the Earth. Mike is able to avoid a collision, but horror awaits when Mike and the bots contact Earth, and a talking ape answers.

Half man, Half Octopus
Segment One: After lots of screaming, Professor Bobo and Dr. Peanut explain that Earth is "a planet where apes evolved from men". Bobo then sends a bad movie to the SOL crew because, oddly enough, it's "Ape Law".
Segment Two: Tom and Mike try to repair the SOL’s engines with a little help from the Nanites via a magnetic resonance scanning and tunneling microscope left by Helmut (who Crow remembers quite fondly). Crow still seems different somehow, and Mike can't let it go.
Segment Three: An angry alien demands to speak to Servo, who has been trading in contraband vanilla pudding.
Pearl returns as The Lawgiver
Segment Four: Crow may be different, but he knows how to make a nice cup of espresso.
Segment Five: The Bots have tracked down information about Mike’s relatives, and they learn that virtually all of them intermarried with apes. Then they learn who The Lawgiver is - Pearl Forrester! She reveals that she never got around to raising Clayton Forrester (who transformed into a baby in the previous episode) better than last time, so she smothered him with a pillow and had herself cryogenically frozen. Nonetheless, she's determined to carry out the experiments and dog the SOL crew to the end.
Stinger: John Agar swims softly and carries a big bull prod.
Obscure references[]
- "2525? Is man still alive?" "Did woman survive?" "Can you pick your son, pick your daughter too from the bottom of a long glass tube?"
- These are lines from the 1968 hit song "In the Year 2525" by Zager and Evans.
- "Heir to the legacy of Godo, Bogo, and Chim-Chim."
- Godo is the name of a character from the film Time of the Apes, but he is one of the human protagonists. Chim-Chim is the name of Speed Racer's pet chimpanzee.
- "Oh! Hey listen! I heard the "Ooh ooh Ah ah Eeee" creature!"
- The creature Mike is referring to is the Laughing Kookaburra; a bird native to Australia whose call had been used as a stock sound effect for jungle settings in many movies. (Including Revenge of the Creature itself and its predecessor Creature from the Black Lagoon.)
- "Oooo the Amazon!.....Oh! There's a Croc-Ah-Dile too! Ugh guk guk guk!"
- Servo is mimicking the classic depiction of Popeye the Sailor Man, who usually mumbled to himself a lot and had a distinctive laugh.
- "¿Qué? Is difficult."
- The catchphrase of the Spanish character Manuel on the British sitcom Fawlty Towers. He is a well-meaning but dim, disorganized, and constantly confused waiter with a limited grasp of the English language and customs.
- "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Creature."
- A reference to the British sitcom The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.
- (Joe Hayes and his crew use dynamite to knock out the Gill-man) "Ah, ha-ha! The Charlton Heston Fish Locator."
- Charlton Heston was then serving as the president of the National Rifle Association.
- "Think anybody at the Rockefeller Foundation questioned the dynamite line-item?"
- The Rockefeller Foundation is a philanthropic organization known for supporting scientific research.
- "This guy's bad. This is his first and last movie."
- Crow is referencing Clint Eastwood, who has a small role in the film. He, of course, went on to a long and successful career as an actor and director.
- "Say it ain't so, Joe!"
- Headline of a column written by Charley Owens of the Chicago Daily News when he was covering the Black Sox Scandal. It recounted an anecdote where Shoeless Joe Jackson was leaving the courthouse after testifying for a grand jury when he was approached by a boy who asked, "It ain't true, is it, Joe?" (the more familiar wording was used instead in the movie Eight Men Out). To which he replied, "Yes, kid, I'm afraid it is." An interview with Jackson decades later stated that the tale was apocryphal.
- "Boo Radley, Herald-Tribune!"
- Boo Radley is the infamous recluse in the Harper Lee novel To Kill a Mockingbird.
- (a barracuda swims by in the aquarium tank) "dundadadundadadundadadaDAAA....me!"
- "Yes, the gloves are off and the benches are clear! He's got Magnuson's jersey over his head!!"
- Keith Magnuson was an ice hockey defenseman for the Chicago Black Hawks from 1969 to 1979. The riff here plays off the tussle between Clete and the Creature and how it looks like one of the many fights Magnuson got into during his career.
- "One of the Kingston Trio!"
- The Kingston Trio is an American folk/pop music group that gained popularity in the '50s and '60s with tunes such as "Tom Dooley" and "M.T.A.".
- "And the John Birch Society meeting comes to an abrupt end!"
- The John Birch Society is a right-wing American political organization.
- "Now at Sears, Jeanne Kirkpatrick lingerie."
- Jeane Kirkpatrick was an American diplomat who served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the first term of Ronald Reagan's presidency.
- "So THAT'S what happened to Soyuz 7!"
- Soyuz 7 was a 1969 Soviet space mission that, despite some system malfunctions, ended (like most USSR missions) with a dry landing on the steppes of Kazakhstan. The reference might have actually been meant for Mercury-Redstone 4, Gus Grissom's 1961 flight in which the spacecraft (nicknamed Liberty Bell 7) was unable to be recovered and remained lost until 1999.
- "Show me the way to go home..."
- The well-known song is sung by the three primary protagonists in Steven Spielberg's 1975 film Jaws.
- "Esther Williams didn't age too well."
- Esther Williams was a competitive swimmer until her plans to compete in the 1940 Summer Olympics were cancelled due to the outbreak of World War II. She went on to star in Aquacade shows and MGM films, including a series of swimming-themed movies known as "aquamusicals".
- "Luca Brasi sleeps with us!"
- Luca Brasi is a fictional character in both the novel The Godfather and the film of the same name. In the story, Brasi is murdered by a rival crime family who then dump his body in the ocean. Don Corleone learns of Brasi's death when he receives two dead fish wrapped in a bulletproof vest—a message to Corleone that "Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes."
- "This is NOT Greg Norman."
- Greg Norman is an Australian entrepreneur and retired professional golfer who spent 331 weeks at the top of the Official World Golf Rankings during the 1980s and 1990s. In a reference to his blond hair, size, aggressive golf style, and his birthplace's native coastal animal, Norman's nickname is "The Great White Shark" (often shortened to just "The Shark"), which he earned after his play at the 1981 Masters Tournament.
- "Dammit, Jim. I'm a milkman, not a doctor!"
- "I'm a doctor, not a..." is a famous catchphrase used in Star Trek. The specific reference to a "milkman" is also used in the parody song Star Trekkin'.
Callbacks[]
- "Jerking around must have caused a flameout." (This Island Earth)
- "Pfft...yeah, great supervision: Gimme a needle-drop on some This Island Earth music."
Behind the Scenes[]
MST3K Cast[]
Regular cast
- Michael J. Nelson - Mike Nelson / Dr. Peanut
- Mary Jo Pehl - Pearl Forrester
- Bill Corbett - Crow T. Robot / Phil the Alien / Extra Monkey
- Kevin Murphy - Tom Servo / Professor Bobo / Wade the Nanite
- Jim Mallon - Gypsy
Guest cast
- Paul Chaplin - Ned the Nanite / Extra Monkey
MST3K Crew[]
- Created by Joel Hodgson
- Produced & Directed by Jim Mallon
- Written by Michael J. Nelson (head writer), Paul Chaplin, Bill Corbett, Bridget Jones, Kevin Murphy, Mary Jo Pehl
- Contributing Writer - Jim Mallon
- Associate Producer - Kevin Murphy
- Production Manager - Jill Roozenboom
- Set Design - Blue Thumb Scenic
- Art Direction - Patrick Brantseg
- Director of Photography - Jeff Stonehouse
- Techinical Supervisor - Bradley J. Keely
- Audio Mix - Bradley J. Keely
- Prop Diva - Beth "Beez" McKeever
- Hair and Make-Up - Andrea DuCane
- Special Effects Make-Up - Gizmo's, Inc.
- Grip - Michael Parker
- Controller - Tim Johnson
- Info Club Poobah - Barbara Tebben
- Interns - Elliot Cobb, Mytch Parks
- Special Thanks - Teachers of America, All MSTies Coast-to-Coast, The Authors of the First Amendment
Songs[]
- "MST 3K Love Theme" - music by Charlie Erickson & Joel Hodgson, lyrics by Best Brains, Inc.
Notes[]
- Bill Corbett's first appearance as Crow T. Robot.
- Kevin Murphy's first appearance as Professor Bobo.
- Michael J. Nelson's first appearance as Dr. Peanut.
- The first appearance and introduction of The Nanites.
- Bobo and company's headquarters went unnamed on-screen, but was called "Deep Ape" by the crew.
- First episode of The Sci-Fi Channel era and the 150th episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
- Beez McKeever takes over prop responsibilities from Jef Maynard, using the title "Prop Diva" in the end credits.
- For the first time in the series, a Mad (in this case Pearl) joins in singing part of the theme song. This would be the case for the rest of the Sci-Fi Channel era, and would continue during the revival era with Kinga singing part of the theme.
- This episode aired first during Sci-Fi Channel's Thanksgiving Marathon.
- The magazine Crow is reading at the start of the Prologue is the September 1996 issue of George.
Goofs[]
- Bobo says he is descended from Godo, which is a character from Time of the Apes. However, Godo was one of the characters in Time of the Apes who was NOT an ape. Presumably Bobo is descended from human/ape inbreeding, which will become a topic in the last host segment of The Deadly Mantis.
- Early on Mike says: "Crow, this is what we've been doing for seven years!" despite the fact Mike had only been on the show for 2 and half seasons at that point.
- Despite Mike wearing his navy blue jumpsuit when he became a being of pure energy in Laserblast, Mike returns to corporeal form wearing his green jumpsuit. Perhaps, being pure energy he could presumably resume his physical form in any color jumpsuit, but his navy jumpsuit would return next episode.
Video releases[]

MST3K DVD Cover
- Commercially released on DVD by Shout! Factory in December 2012 as part of Volume XXV, a 4-disc set along with Robot Holocaust, Operation Double 007, and Kitten with a Whip.
- The DVD includes an introduction by Michael J. Nelson, the Ballyhoo Motion Pictures feature Auteur on the Campus: Jack Arnold at Universal, and Life After MST3K: Bill Corbett.
preceded by: Season 7 | MST3K Season 8 | followed by: Season 9 | ||||||
1997 | ||||||||
801 | Revenge of the Creature | 1997-02-01 | 809 | I Was a Teenage Werewolf | 1997-04-19 | 817 | Horror of Party Beach | 1997-09-06 |
802 | The Leech Woman | 1997-02-08 | 810 | The Giant Spider Invasion | 1997-05-31 | 818 | Devil Doll | 1997-10-04 |
803 | The Mole People | 1997-02-15 | 811 | Parts: The Clonus Horror | 1997-06-07 | 819 | Invasion of the Neptune Men | 1997-10-11 |
804 | The Deadly Mantis | 1997-02-22 | 812 | Incredibly Strange Creatures... | 1997-06-14 | 820 | Space Mutiny | 1997-11-08 |
805 | The Thing That Couldn't Die | 1997-03-01 | 813 | Jack Frost | 1997-07-12 | 821 | Time Chasers | 1997-11-22 |
806 | The Undead | 1997-03-08 | 814 | Riding with Death | 1997-07-19 | 822 | Overdrawn/Memory Bank | 1997-12-06 |
807 | Terror from the Year 5000 | 1997-03-15 | 815 | Agent for H.A.R.M. | 1997-08-02 | |||
808 | The She-Creature | 1997-04-05 | 816 | Prince of Space | 1997-08-16 |