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So you can just take a sharp left in space...
- Crow T. Robot


The Movie[]

Main article: The Phantom Planet (film)

Synopsis[]

An astronaut encounters a mysterious society on a distant asteroid.

The Episode[]

Host Segments[]

Phantomplanet2

Mike and Tom on "Good and the Beautiful"

Prologue: Crow has challenged Mike and Servo to an Andy Rooney-Off. Gypsy acts as the judge as the trio cover the subject of soups.

Segment One: Gypsy tries to announce the winner of the Rooney-Off, but Mike and the 'Bots can't stop Andy Rooney-ing long enough to hear it. Meanwhile in the middle of moving into Castle Forrester, Pearl receives her World Domination Starter Kit from Spiegel. However, it's missing its nuclear core which has been shipped separately up to the SOL by mistake. Mike is somewhat fearful of its radiation and wants to get rid of it, but Servo and Crow get kind of attached. Bobo has trouble with Pearl's collection of liver ats.

Phantomplanet3

Mike's space walk

Segment Two: Taking a cue from the movie, Mike and Tom focus their attention on the Good and the Beautiful, trying various combinations of foodstuffs as the "Good" and model-actresses as "the Beautiful" in search of the best balance between the two.

Segment Three: Mike's space-walk slips Crow's mind, as down in Castle Forrester, Pearl and Brain Guy have to contend with strange and eerie sounds, but there is a somewhat less than other-worldly explanation for them.

Segment Four: Crow and Tom have taken up the glass armonica and they bravely struggle through "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". They mistakenly believe their limited ability will still allow them to trounce Mike, but he is surprisingly good.

PhantomPlanetMST3K

Mike tries playing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"

Closing (Segment Five): Crow is yet again inspired to dress up as a character from the day's movie, this time as a Solarite. Crow comes to realize he has a problem due to the frequency that this occurs and the fact he doesn't even recall making the costume. Mike and Tom offer very passive emotional support, having become bored with Crow's shenanigans. Down in Castle Forrester, Pearl is about to give up on being a mad scientist when a mob of frightened villagers threatening to storm the place renew her spirits, or so she thinks.

902-rat

Bobo's box of "Liver Ats"

Stinger: Lt. Makonnen: "You know, Captain, every year of my life I grow more and more convinced that the wisest and best is to fix our attention on the good and the beautiful, if we’ll just take the time to look at it." Chapman responds, "You're some guy, Makonnen."

MST3K cast[]

Regular cast

Guest cast

Trivia[]

  • The space helmet Mike wears while outside the ship is a repurposed helmet from Photon, a once-popular arena-based laser tag game from the late 1980s that inspired a TV series of the same name as well as a series of novels by Peter David. The same helmet prop would later be used during Mike's ladder descent during the first host segment of Experiment #904, Werewolf.
  • Mike shows up the bots by playing Claude Debussy's Arabesque No. 1, which is the opening theme of Jack Horkheimer's PBS show Star Gazers.
  • The “Teachers of America” are thanked at the end of the credits for the last time.
  • In Host Segment 5, Pearl uncharacteristically refers to Crow by his actual name, not Art.

Callbacks[]

Quotes & References[]

  • "Pat Buchanan's first day as president."
Pat Buchanan, conservative pundit and adviser to Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1992 and 1996 (and the Reform Party in 2000) with foreign policy positions that his critics considered warmongering.
  • "Those nooks and crannies really hold the butter!"
Thomas' is a brand of English muffins and other bread products. They ran ads in the 1980s for their English Muffins that highlighted the "nooks and crannies to hold the butter."
  • "Weird. We're in space, and I can hear you scream!"
A reference to the iconic tagline used to promote Ridley Scott's Alien: "In space, no one can hear you scream."
  • "The Phantom Planet is quilted for softness!"
Mike is most likely referencing the toilet paper brand Quilted Northern, which is designed to be soft to the touch by its build.
  • "Hey! The same guy who wrote 'The Messiah!'"
Mike jokingly places the name Handel from the opening credits with that of Baroque era composer George Frideric Handel. His oratorio Messiah is one of his best-known works, famous for its rousing "Hallelujah!" chorus.
  • Crow: "Today, the moon narrowly missed hitting a man's eye like a big pizza pie." Servo: "Scientists believe that's amore."
Referring to the major hit and signature song for Dean Martin in 1953, "That's Amore", written by Harry Warren and Jack Brooks.
  • "Lipstick of the gods."
A reference to Chariots of the Gods?, a 1968 book and later documentary, which involves the hypothesis that the technologies and religions of many ancient civilizations were given to them by ancient astronauts who were welcomed as gods.
  • "I miss the Earth so much, I miss my wife"
A lyric from the 1972 song "Rocket Man" by Elton John and Bernie Taupin.
  • "Motion in the ocean/His air hose broke"
Lyrics from the 1978 song "Lobster" by The B-52s.
  • "Rose and Valerie, screaming from the gallery!"
Lyrics from the 1969 song "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" by The Beatles.
  • "We must talk about your future." "Plastics, Benjamin."
A reference to a piece of advice that Dustin Hoffman's character Benjamin receives in the 1967 film The Graduate: "I want to say one word to you. Just one word... Plastics."
  • "The time has come..." "The Walrus said..."
The opening lines of the narrative poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter" by Lewis Carroll, which appears in chapter four of his 1871 book Through the Looking-Glass.
  • "Stupid Leech Woman!"
Liara is portrayed by Coleen Gray who also played the titular role in The Leech Woman, which was used in Episode #802.
  • "Look at this guy. George Shultz is more expressive!"
George Shultz was an American economist, politician, and businessman. He served in various positions under three different Republican presidents: Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush. He was one of only two people to have held four different Cabinet-level posts. He was notoriously inscrutable.
  • "The Audience is Hemorrhaging."
This is a play on "The Audience is Listening", the tagline at the end of the promotional spot for the THX sound system that played in THX-certified movie theaters before films. The sound produced by the gravitational devices is similar to the Deep Note, THX's sound trademark.
  • "Let's get ready to ruuuuuuuuuuumble!"
Michael Buffer is an American ring announcer for boxing and professional wrestling matches known for his trademarked catchphrase "Let's get ready to rumble!".
  • "Why don't you kill me?" "I'm a loser, baby."
"I'm a loser, baby, so why don't you kill me?" is from the chorus of the 1994 song "Loser" by Beck.
  • "Boy, the monster dresses like Carol Channing."
Mike comments how the Solarite looks like it is wearing a fringe dress that actress/Broadway performer Carol Channing would wear for some of her musical routines.
  • "I'm sorry! Now I'm deaf!"
Perhaps unbeknownst to Mike, the actress who played Zetha (Dolores Faith) lost her hearing at age four from an accident, but it later returned by age eight. Both MST3K experiments in which she appears feature her playing someone with an impairment other than deafness. In The Human Duplicators her character is blind, and in The Phantom Planet her character is mute.

Memorable Quotes[]

[Over footage of an atomic bomb test]
Crow: Grandpa tried to use the microwave again.
Mike: Pat Buchanan's first day as President.
[Narrator's booming voice concluding his monologue before the story begins.]
Narrator: Yet this story you're about to witness, is only...
Servo: ...A First Draft.
Narrator: ..."The Beginning!!"
Mike: Well... that said, enjoy your crappy sci-fi movie.
Makonnen: You know, Captain, every year of my life, I grow more and more convinced that the wisest and best is to fix our attention on the good and the beautiful...
Crow [as Chapman]: Don't hit him...
Makonnen: ...if you just take the time to look at it.
Chapman: You're some guy, Makonnen.
. . .
Mike [as Makonnen]: You know, Captain...
Crow [as Chapman]: Shut up, Ray.
Chapman: You sure we're still on course?
Makonnen: Why?
Mike [As Chapman]: We're underwater...
[Makonnen and Chapman flying in space for a long time.]
Chapman: You seem pretty much at ease.
Makonnen: Well I figure it's just the same as fishing. You gotta be patient and wait...
Crow: ...Drink lots of beer!
[Chapman and Makonnen repairing the damage done to their ship.]
Crow [As Makonnen.] Um... I'm no good at this sir! I'm only good at making fruity philosophical speeches!
. . .
[Chapman has just landed his ship solo]
Mike [as Chapman] Wow, how did I manage to land without that mincing co-pilot jabbering on about the good and the beautiful?
[After losing much of his oxygen during a space walk, Frank Chapman stumbles back into the ship's cockpit in a daze.]
Servo [as Chapman, sickly]: Ohh, I'm gonna puke and it's gonna float around!
[Chapman starts having echoing auditory flashbacks to earlier parts of the movie. Mike and the bots' join the fun]
Servo: Congratulations, Ms. Astronaut, it's a boy!... boy... boy...
Mike: Wake up Frank! You wet the bed!... bed... bed...
Crow: Frank, you'll have to take third grade again!... ain... ain
Mike: Frank, this is Northwest Collection Agency. Do you value your credit rating?... rating... rating...
Crow: I'm afraid you're not 7-Eleven timber, Frank... Frank... Frank...
Servo: You're the worst party clown we ever had!... had... had...
[After shrinking out of his spacesuit and then fighting tiny people, Chapman is put on trial.]
Judge Eden: Man from Earth, you are accused of causing injury to one of our people.
Chapman: I thought I was being attacked, and I defended myself.
Servo [as Chapman]: …with courage and nudeness.
[Chapman is confused by Eden's explanation of how his ship was landed.]
Chapman: I don't understand.
Sessom: There are many things you will not understand here…
Crow [as Sessom]: …being an obvious doorknob.
[Chapman is being tried while two women stand off to the side]
Servo: Look! Rose and Valerie, screaming from the gallery!
[The judge speaks to the all-female jury, whose members stand single-file and are dressed in cheerleader-style skirts.]
Judge Eden: The jury will now vote and find you guilty or not guilty for inflicting injury on a Rheton man.
Servo [as Jury][cheering]
We find him GUILTY! GUILTY!
G-U-I-L … T-Y!
Guilty! Guilty!
G-U-I-L … T-Y!
Whoo! Yaaaay!
[Liara tells Chapman that Rheton's different atmosphere caused him to shrink.]
Liara: You see, oxygen in your atmosphere would restore you immediately to your regular size.
Crow: So people are just balloons?
Crow: You know, this is almost as good as 2001... nails driven into your eyes!
[During another flashback sequence...]
Crow: We didn't like these scenes the first time!
. . .
[The flashback includes a moment that only happened a few scenes earlier.]
Crow: No fair! You can't flash back to stuff we saw ten seconds ago!
[Lt. White, from the rescue ship, has found Chapman lying on the ground in his spacesuit.]
White: Chapman! Chapman!
Servo [as White]: You got any gum?
White: Where's Makonnen?
Chapman: He's dead. Gone.
Mike [as Chapman]: He kept yapping about beauty, so I shot him out the airlock.
[The rescue ship flies away from Rheton]
Chapman: Now they'll never believe me...
Mike [as Chapman][Unemotionally] I'll have to kill them all.

Video Release[]

MST3K_902_Promo

MST3K 902 Promo

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