Entertainment
 

12 to the Moon

From MST3K

524 - 12 to the Moon
Air Date February 5, 1994
Movie Director David Bradley
Year 1960
Cast Ken Clark, Michi Kobi, Tom Conway
Preceded by 523 - Village of the Giants
Followed by 601 - Girls Town

Contents

The Short

Design for Dreaming

Synopsis

In this musical short, a woman dreams of a mysterious masked man who takes her to see the future... as represented by the 1956 General Motors Motorama.

Information

  • The short was included on Mr. B's Lost Shorts??!! released by BBI on VHS in May 2000, and released by Rhino Entertainment on Shorts Vol 3 on VHS in Janurary 2001.
  • Rhino later released both on DVD within months of each other, Shorts Vol 3 as an limited time exclusive bonus for ordering MST3K: The Essentials from a specially created Rhino site in August 2004, and the retitled Mr. B's Lost Shorts, part of The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Volume 6 in October 2004.

The Movie

Synopsis

An international team embarks on an expedition to the moon in an uncommonly spacious rocketship. There they encounter a faceless alien intelligence who concludes that the human race is too immature and dangerous and must be destroyed. [1]

Information

  • Young mathematician Rod Murdock was played by Robert Montgomery Jr., Elizabeth Montgomery’s younger brother. Heroic Captain ohn Anderson was played by Ken Clark, who also starred in Attack of the Giant Leeches.
  • Does Dr. Luis Vargas look familiar? He's Anthony Dexter--you may remember him from such films as The Phantom Planet and Fire Maidens of Outer Space.
  • Oops! When the crew is ready to explore the moon’s surface, the door of the ship is thrown open, and we can clearly see someone (a gaffer, perhaps a key grip?) wandering around in the back of the set! And in the scene where the “space-taxi” leaves the ship, you can clearly see the black rod attached to the plastic model, moving it along against a backdrop.

The Episode

Host Segments

Prologue: Crow and Tom Servo make fun of Mike for being forced to attend Gypsy's tea party. He inadvertently reveals that he knows less about Designing Women than Gypsy thinks he does.

Segment One: Frank hosts a roast to Dr. F until his "jokes" begin to fall flat, and Dr. F retaliates with repeated blows to the stomach. On the SOL, the crew has its first ever Celebrity Open. When Gypsy calls him out of bounds, Tom has a tennis tantrum a la John McEnroe.

Segment Two: The gang is in the middle of playing international astronauts when Nuveena pops in on the SOL. Her singing and dancing is greeted with fear and trepidation.

Segment Three: The crew packs to leave with Nuveena. The Bots observe she sings and dances a lot. Gypsy is not entirely optimistic about moving, while Tom wants to blow the SOL up when they leave.

Segment Four: Nuveena makes Crow into a blender, Gypsy into an oven, and Tom into a pressure cooker. In her world, robots are nothing more than slaves and appliances, and so Mike chooses the Bots over her and tells her to leave.

Segment Five: Mike consoles himself over the loss of Nuveena with cookie dough and reads some letters to make himself feel better. In Deep 13, Nuveena makes one last appearance to dance with Frank.

Stinger: Heinrich says, "Ahh, ridiculous!"

Other Notes

Guest Stars

The Many Names of Capt. John Anderson

  • Cliff Beefpile
  • Sledge Riprock
  • Tank Concrete
  • Bronc Drywall
  • Stump Hugelarge
  • Chunk Pylon
  • Chunk Manmusk.
  • Ron Codpiece
  • Sledge Fisthammer.
  • Clint Stompheader.
  • Chuck Hardslab
  • Chunk Ironchest

Amazingly, none of these were duplicated later on in Space Mutiny. See also the 'rules' for tough guy names in host segment 3 of Hercules Against the Moon Men

Obscure References

  • "...Merchant and Ivory are calling!"

A reference to Merchant Ivory Productions.

  • "You're out of order! She's out of order! The whole damn court's out of order!"

Servo is paraphrasing Al Pacino in the 1979 movie ...And Justice for All.

  • "This is a rebuttal to 'Roger & Me'!"

Roger & Me was a 1989 documentary in which Michael Moore assailed General Motors for closing its plant in Flint, Michigan.

  • "It's Deal-A-Meal!"

Deal-A-Meal was a diet plan promoted by Richard Simmons that involved using a set of cards to plan meals.

  • "Looks like her Mother's Little Helpers kicked in."

A reference to "Mother's Little Helper", a Rolling Stones song about a pill-abusing housewife.

  • "Happy birthday, Wanda June!"

"Happy Birthday, Wanda June" is a play written by Kurt Vonnegut.

  • "Oooh-oooh, Black Diamond..."

The chorus from the Kiss song "Black Diamond".

  • "This is what happens when you go to a car show with Michael Crawford."

Michael Crawford played the title role in the Broadway musical version of The Phantom of the Opera.

  • "...I'd like to welcome you on board People's Express Flight 201 to the moon!"

People Express was a low-cost American airline that operated during the 1980s.

  • "Looks like Thierry Mugler designed these suits, huh?"

Thierry Mugler is a French fashion designer.

  • "Again with the finger!"

A quote from The Sunshine Boys.

  • "We are out of Colombian coffee!"

A reference to a series of commercials from the 1990s, in which a cruise ship or Orient Express-type train would turn around after the chef announced that the supply of Colombian coffee had run out.

  • "Sentimental hygiene..."

"Sentimental Hygiene" is a song by Warren Zevon.

References


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