A conversation with Mystery Science Theater 3000, in which Adam, Beth, and Chris rewatch episodes of MST3K and then talk about things that come up in each episode: Weird Hollywood, curious history, half-forgotten music, and lots of Donald Pleasence.
12 to the Moon saves two seats for Chris and Charlotte, who pretend to be experts in concept cars, driving anxiety, space politics, one-woman shows, and Wall Drug.
With the musical short, Design for Dreaming!
12 to the Moon (David Bradley, 1960): IMDB. MST3K Wiki. Trailer.
Design for Dreaming (William Beaudine, 1956): IMDB. UnMSTed.
Previous Dodecalabour Day episodes: Hercules Against the Moon Men, Hercules Unchained, The Loves of Hercules, Hercules and the Captive Women, Hercules, Colossus and the Headhunters. Also I guess Manos was a sort of Labour Day episode?
The Story of Mankind (Irwin Allen, 1957) stars just about everyone, from Chico Marx to Peter Lorre to Agnes Moorehead to John Carradine to Dennis Hopper, but mostly it stars Vincent Price as the devil. And Marie Windsor from Swamp Diamonds!
Our episode on Rocketship X-M.
A reminiscence of visiting the 1956 General Motors Motorama in New York City.
The kitchen of tomorrow, from Frigidaire. (Frigidaire was owned by General Motors at the time.)
Host your car show at the Waldorf Astoria.
More about the concept cars of that Motorama.
The 20 Greatest Concept Cars of All Time, according to Motor Trend.
The Henry Ford (museum). (For some reason “Museum” isn’t officially part of their name?)
Noah Caldwell-Gervais’s majesterial seven-hour-long YouTube travelogue video essay about the Lincoln Highway — the first transcontinental highway in the US — includes a visit to The Henry Ford (museum) and shows off some of the old cars.
The Firebird II. More about the Firebird II. And a brochure for the car, which explains the automated highway stuff, kinda.
The National Air & Space Museum’s overview of the space race.
Kennedy’s January 1961 State of the Union Address and his September 1961 “We choose to go to the moon” speech.
A 1985 US Congressional Report on US-Soviet Cooperation in Space is a fascinating snapshot.
The 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. (Chris consistently mispronounces Союз, despite practicing it beforehand. Oh well.)
This Vox video about the situation with Russia and the International Space Station is a few years old, and the news cycles have kept going, but it’s a reasonable start.
“Cindy Williams is Twlya Tharp as Isadora Duncan in The Meredith Monk Story (co-starring Tom Bosley as ‘Bosley’).” (UPDATE: Listener Ned points out it’s probably this Bosley. Of course!)
Beware! The Blob (Larry Hagman, 1972).
Meredith Monk: Dolmen Music.
DJ Shadow: Midnight in a Perfect World.
And where one sampled the other.
Judy Chicago: The Dinner Party.
The Lennon Sisters vs. The Lemon Sisters (Joyce Chopra, 1990).
Wall Drug and its far-flung billboards.
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The Phantom Planet brings Chris and Charlotte down to its own size, while they discuss serving man, making a killing, nutty confections, Andy Rooney, and women in space.
The Phantom Planet (William Marshall, 1961): IMDB. MST3K Wiki. Trailer.
Flesh Gordon (Michael Benveniste & Howard Ziehm, 1974) and Bonanza: Under Attack (Mark Tinker, 1995), again.
Our episode on Crash of Moons.
We talk more about Richard Kiel in our episode on Eegah.
All about the Solarites.
The Twilight Zone episode To Serve Man.
Our episode on The Leech Woman.
The Killing (Stanley Kubrick, 1956).
Elisha Cook Jr. might look familiar.
We talk about Hellzapoppin’ in our episode on The Rebel Set.
And our episode on Swamp Diamonds with Marie Windsor.
Valentino (Lewis Allen, 1951) vs. Valentino (Ken Russell, 1977).
Ben-Hur (Fred Niblo et al., 1925) vs. Ben-Hur (William Wyler, 1959). (We get the dates slightly wrong in the episode!)
And our episodes on The Sword and the Dragon and the Paul Frees film The Beatniks.
French burnt peanuts, peanut brittle, and Nut Goodies.
Phantom Planet: California.
Black History: Lost, Stolen, or Strayed (hosted by Bill Cosby in 1968).
Harry and Lena with Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne from 1970.
Andy Rooney on minorities, bottled water, and kitchen gadgets.
Some relevant Playtex ads: 1 & 2.
Dealing with menstruation in space.
The Artemis II and Artemis III space trips.
Support us on Patreon and you can join us on our friendly Discord to share your precious moments with us.
Being from Another Planet shuffles towards Chris and Charlotte, hoping to collect their thoughts about Egyptian mummies, musical daddies, Jack Palance, Herb Edelman, and other things grandmas love.
Being from Another Planet (Tom Kennedy, 1982): IMDB. MST3K Wiki. Trailer.
Matt Foy and Christopher J. Olson: Mystery Science Theater 3000: A Cultural History.
Rowman & Littlefield’s Cultural History of Television series.
Our episodes on Teenagers from Outer Space, Manos: The Hands of Fate, Warrior of the Lost World, and The Castle of Fu Manchu.
Mannequin (Michael Gottlieb, 1987)
Our episodes on Riding with Death and Village of the Giants. (Chris says Riding with Death is from the KTMA era but of course it's actually from Season 8. Yikes!)
Bonanza: Under Attack (Mark Tinker, 1995).
Johnny Prophet: My Yiddishe Mama and Like Someone In Love (for you Björk fans).
More about Harry Belafonte.
Flesh Gordon (Michael Benveniste & Howard Ziehm, 1974).
Jack Palance’s famous Academy Awards acceptance speech and fitness routine.
Chris and Charlotte (and some of our Megaphonic friends) once talked about The Greatest Story Ever Told as a thank-you gift for our Patreon supporters.
O 5º Poder (Alberto Pieralisi, 1962) vs. The First Power (Robert Resnikoff, 1990).
That ad for Switch (Blake Edwards, 1991).
Precious Moments and the Precious Moments Chapel.
Support us on Patreon and you can join us on our friendly Discord to share your precious moments with us.
The Corpse Vanishes offers Chris and Charlotte a corsage, which induces them to talk about orchids, Tiger Beat, Teen Beat, Wham-O, and tag.
Features the short, Radar Men from the Moon, part 3: The Bridge of Death.
The Corpse Vanishes (Wallace Fox, 1942): IMDB. MST3K Wiki. Trailer.
Radar Men from the Moon (Fred C. Bannon, 1951): IMDb. UnMSTed. (Our episodes with parts 1, 2, and 4 & 5)
Our earworm disccusion began in our episode on High School Big Shot.
The Awful Green Things from Outer Space.
Jim Vorel’s list has been updated to include Season 12.
And our episode on The Mad Monster.
Some orchids don’t have scents, but many do.
Dracula vampira flowers turn out to reach a foot tall!
Georgia O’Keeffe: Narcissa’s Last Orchid.
An article about being a reporter for Tiger Beat.
New Kids on the Block: White Christmas.
Checking in on Charlotte’s favourite New Kid on the Block.
The Gay Amigo (Wallace Fox, 1949).
Our episode on The She-Creature.
The Third Sex (Richard C. Kahn, 1934).
A nice article about Wham-O’s founders.
Chris keeps saying “micronium” but the made-up word was “microdium”.
Hokusai: The Great Wave off Kanagawa.
Our episode on Humanoid Woman.
Support us on Patreon and you can listen to a superfan bonus bit that was cut for time from this episode—and you can join us on our friendly Discord.
The proof-of-concept pilot for MST3K tackles The Green Slime, which leads to Chris and Charlotte talking about beginnings, Beeper, Charles Fox, Armageddon, and Minneapolis.
The Green Slime (Kinji Fukasaku [深作 欣二], 1968): IMDB. MST3K Wiki.
The first KTMA promo for the show.
Our episodes on The Beast of Hollow Mountain and The Beast of Yucca Flats.
And our episodes on Time of the Apes, from KTMA and Season 3.
Charles Fox: The theme song from The Green Slime. (Richard Delvy is the singer, apparently.)
Charles Fox plays a medley of his tv theme songs.
Roberta Flack: Killing Me Softly with His Song.
Our episodes on Hercules and Godzilla vs. Megalon.
Claes Oldenberg and Coosje van Bruggen: Spoonbridge and Cherry.
The Hopkins post office. Look for box 5325.
Touring the Best Brains Studio.
Pearson’s Salted Nut Roll and Zagnut.
Support us on Patreon and you can listen to our superfan bonus bits—and you can join us on our friendly Discord.
High School Big Shot is a bleak movie, but at least the attached short, an allegory about selling bread called Out of This World, is ridiculous. Together they tempt Chris and Charlotte into talking about Roger Corman, Mother Nature, specialty breads, Abe Lincoln, and Tom’s Diner.
[Content warning: Depressing movie; occasionally sad episode. The movie includes a suicide, which we don’t talk about.]
High School Big Shot (Joel Rapp, 1959): IMDB. MST3K Wiki. Trailer.
Out of This World (Unknown [Jam Handy Organization], 1954): IMDB. UnMSTed.
Once again, thank you to Ned from By-The-Bywater!
We mentioned Art Garfunkel walking across America in our episode on Colossus and the Headhunters.
R.I.P., Roger Corman, who we’ve discussed before in our episodes on It Conquered the World, Lords of the Deep, The Undead, The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent, Avalanche, and probably elsewhere.
The Intruder (Roger Corman, 1962).
Roger Corman with Jim Jerome: How I Made a Hundred Movies and Never Lost a Dime.
Roger Corman: The Pope of Pop Cinema (Bertrand Tessier, 2021).
Chris Nashawaty: Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen, and Candy Stripe Nurses: Roger Corman: King of the B Movie.
The Little Shop of Horrors (Roger Corman, 1960).
The Trip (Roger Corman, 1967).
Our episode on I Was a Teenage Werewolf.
Battle of Blood Island (Joel Rapp, 1960).
Joel Rapp: Radio, TV, Mother Earth & Me: Memories of a Hollywood Life. (Check out the shirt he’s wearing on the cover!)
New Zealand fig and almond bread from The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum, an excellent book for anyone who wants to learn breadmaking.
Sourdough apple bread from The Village Baker by Joe Ortiz, which is also pretty great.
Support us on Patreon and you can listen to a superfan bonus bit that was cut for time from this episode—and you can join us on our friendly Discord.
Mighty Jack once again rises out of the water and makes a bank turn to rescue Chris and Charlotte, as they talk about dedicated scientists, hot ice, Kurt Vonnegut, Herman Melville, and Betty White.
Mighty Jack [マイティジャック] (Kazuo Mitsuta, 1968): IMDB. MST3K Wiki.
More Mighty Jack links in our previous episode.
Our episode on Ring of Terror.
Charlotte talks about The House of Frankenstein in our episode on The Mad Monster.
Kurt Vonnegut: Cat’s Cradle.
D.J. Manly: Melting Ice 9.
Chris's book podcast, The Spouter-Inn, should be coming back soon with new episodes!
Herman Melville: The Berg (A Dream).
Chris's other other podcast, Game Show 1939!
Betty lists and Betty guesses. Jamie Farr is good too.
We talked about Benjamin Franklin in our episode on The Beast of Yucca Flats, but not Ben Franklin.
One of the last Ben Franklins.
Support us on Patreon and you can listen to bonus bits that were cut for time — and join us on our friendly Discord.
Mighty Jack is coming to rescue Chris and Charlotte from sick jail, but while they wait, they talk about fan clubs, fan newsletters, math equations, Japanese special effects, and bowling.
Mighty Jack [マイティジャック] (Kazuo Mitsuta, 1968): IMDB. MST3K Wiki.
Make your own Roger Corman festival with our episodes on: It Conquered the World, The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent, Swamp Diamonds, Night of the Blood Beast, Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell, The Undead, Avalanche, Starcrash, Wizards of the Lost Kingdom and its sequel, and Lords of the Deep. (The full list.)
The archive of MST3K Satellite News fan newsletters!
Our episodes on Time of the Apes, both KTMA and season 3.
Our episode on Gamera vs. Jiger.
The Small House of Uncle Thomas.
Kooky Kountry as discussed in our episode on Hangar 18
Southern Folklore Quarterly, 25.2 (1961).
A bowling alley in Greenwich Village. (Though I guess not technically in the West Village.)
(By the way, Chris and Charlotte once put out a song about going bowling with their friends.)
The secret bowling alley at the alma mater.
Candlepin bowling. And yes, it's on YouTube.
Support us on Patreon and you can listen to some superfan bonus bits and join us on our friendly Discord.
Chris and Charlotte are sick. They’re getting better, but you’ll hear how lovely their voices sound right now, as they introduce five bonus bits — the parts of the show cut for time that we release for our Patreon supporters. Enjoy, and see you in a few weeks, hopefully!
Our episodes on City Limits, Colossus and the Headhunters, The Batwoman, The Sword and the Dragon, and The Deadly Bees.
The name change to artistic swimming.
Million Dollar Mermaid (again).
Neptune’s Daughter (1914).
Neptune’s Daughter (1949).
The Great Muppet Caper swimming scene.
Men in artistic swimming in the Olympics.
Svetlana Romashina and Svetlana Kolesnichenko winning gold at Tokyo 2020.
Turning Red (Domee Shi, 2022).
El Greco: View of Toledo
Get more of this by supporting us on Patreon. And thank you if you do!
It Lives By Night gains bat powers and tries to hunt down Chris and Charlotte, who just want to talk about Lou, Murray, Ted, Sue Ann, and Mary.
It Lives By Night [a.k.a. The Bat People] (Jerry Jameson, 1974): IMDb. MST3K Wiki. Trailer.
Our recent bonus episode on The Making of MST3K.
It Lives By Night, Diabolik, and Swamp Diamonds rough cuts.
(This got cut for time, but for the curious, this movie has a Bonanza count of 5, and a Murder, She Wrote count of 4.)
Our episodes on Final Justice and The Beast of Hollow Mountain (where we talked about cows).
Male bats who feed their kids.
More about how baby bats latch on.
ERRATUM: The Mary Tyler Moore Show actually had 168 episodes.
We talk about Geronimo in our Final Justice episode.
Russell Means and the American Indian Movement.
Support us on Patreon and you can listen to some superfan bonus bits and join us on our friendly Discord.
The Mad Monster (with the short, Radar Men from the Moon, ep. 2) causes Chris and Charlotte to howl about the moon, the Wolf Man, Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, and the Big Rock Candy Mountains.
The Mad Monster (Sam Newfield, 1942): MST3K Wiki. IMDb. Trailer.
Radar Men from the Moon (Fred C. Bannon, 1951): IMDb. UnMSTed.
Marc Evanier on Olsen and Johnson. (Thanks, Greg!)
Our episode on Humanoid Woman.
A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la lune) (Georges Méliès, 1902).
The House of Frankenstein (Erle C. Kenton, 1944).
Our episode on The Beast of Hollow Mountain.
Dangers of the Canadian Mounted (Fred C. Bannon, 1948).
Some more on the origin of charivari.
Harry McClintock: The Big Rock Candy Mountain. (Or sometimes “Mountains”.)
Pete Seeger: The Big Rock Candy Mountain.
Burl Ives: The Big Rock Candy Mountain.
The Big Rock Candy Mountain in Colorado.
Charley the Unicorn goes to Candy Mountain.
Herman Pleij: Dreaming of Cockaigne: Medieval Fantasies of the Perfect Life.
Rhubarb Rhubarb (Eric Sykes, 1980) is the remake of Rhubarb (Eric Sykes, 1970).
Support us on Patreon and you can hear all our superfan bonus bits, and hang out with us in a friendly discord.
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