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That's not funny, sir. That's just vile. I'm hanging up.
- Mike to Al Gore


The Academy of Robots' Choice Awards Special is a special produced by Best Brains, Inc. for The Sci-Fi Channel, airing on March 19, 1998 as part of the build-up for the 70th Academy Awards.

The Special[]

The Satellite of Love crew receives a call from then-Vice President Al Gore, who asks them to do a special based on the Academy Awards. Mike is reluctant until Vice-President Gore offers to have a minor traffic violation removed from Mike's driving record, at which point everyone races into the theater. Mike and the 'Bots sing the elegant "1998 Academy of Robots Choice Awards Special" song over a montage featuring clips from Titanic, As Good as It Gets, The Apostle, Boogie Nights, Starship Troopers, The Wings of the Dove, Amistad, Wag the Dog, Good Will Hunting and Mrs Brown.

The show begins with Best Picture nominee Mrs Brown, showing a clip of Queen Victoria (Best Actress nominee Judi Dench) and her personal attendant, John Brown (Billy Connolly). Tom then introduces a clip of Best Actress nominee Helena Bonham Carter opposite Linus Roache in The Wings of a Dove. Mike introduces Best Picture nominee Good Will Hunting, a title which he finds cloying. The clip shows Best Director nominee Gus Van Sant before transitioning to scenes from the movie with Will (Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay nominee Matt Damon) meeting with his therapist (Best Supporting Actor nominee Robin Williams), and later having lunch with Skyler (Best Supporting Actress nominee Minnie Driver). After the clip, Mike continues to joke about the film's title as they go to commercial break.

After the break, another Best Picture nominee is featured. The film is As Good as It Gets, with another Good Will Hunting joke from Mike. The clip shows misanthropic novelist Melvin Udall (Best Actor nominee Jack Nicholson) meeting up with waitress Carol Connelly (Best Actress nominee Helen Hunt) and artist Simon Bishop (Best Supporting Actor nominee Greg Kinnear), who has recently been the victim of a homophobic assault.

Crow then comments on the lack of nominations for Steven Spielberg's Amistad. Mike makes another joke about Good Will Hunting by Mike, prompting Tom to ask if he needs to lie down. Crow points out that Amistad received only four nominations, then shows clips featuring Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, Anthony Hopkins, and Morgan Freeman.

Next up is Titanic, which Mike claims is the story of Tyrone Tanic, leading Tom to tell him to "give it a rest". The clip shows a fortune hunter (Bill Paxton) talking to an elderly Rose (Best Supporting Actress nominee Gloria Stuart) before flashing back to her youthful self (Best Actress nominee Kate Winslet). Also seen at the ship's launching is Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his friend (Danny Nucci), and Captain Edward John Smith (Bernard Hill). Another clip shows Rose's fiancé (played by Billy Zane) giving her the Heart of the Ocean Diamond. This is followed by a scene of Jack and Rose dancing. Tom and Crow stop Mike from giving away the "surprise ending", so Mike suggests viewers "finish your homework, put your big pants and your Dr. Pepper lip gloss on and go down and see Titanic for the seventeenth time". As they go to commercial, Al Gore calls again and Mike reassures him that they were aware that the ship sinks.

The SOL crew then goes over some films they didn't get a chance to see. First is Jackie Brown, showing Samuel L. Jackson, Robert De Niro, Michael Keaton and Bridget Fonda. Next, Boogie Nights, showing Mark Wahlberg, John C. Reilly, Best Supporting Actress nominee Julianne Moore and Best Supporting Actor nominee Burt Reynolds. Third is Deconstructing Harry, showing Hazelle Goodman and Best Original Screenplay nominee Woody Allen.

Crow introduces a Best Picture nominee, the "tender story of the fragile lives of boarding school children in war-torn France, La Confidentiel". Mike corrects him, as the nominated film is the crime thriller L.A. Confidential. A clip shows officer Wendell "Bud" White (Russell Crowe) as he questions Veronica Lake look-a-like Lynn Bracken ("Stephen Baldwin's sister-in-law" Kim Basinger).

Finally, Tom introduces the film they are all certain will win Best Picture, despite its lack of a nomination, Starship Troopers (nominated for Best Visual Effects), which he describes as "the only film that had the courage to tell the true story of our ongoing war with giant, intelligent insects". The clips show Denise Richards and Casper Van Dien as some of the titular Troopers.

The 'Bots then depart to finish cleaning up from the special, leaving Mike alone on the phone with Vice President Gore. Gore attempts to do some riffing of his own on the movies, and Mike ends up thoroughly disgusted by the Vice President's inappropriate jokes.

Cast[]

Crew[]

Obscure References[]

  • "My engines can't take it!"
When John Brown in Mrs Brown tells Queen Victoria he is resigning, Tom quotes Scotty from Star Trek
  • "Helena "Bonzo" Bonham Carter"
A reference to John Bonham, drummer for the band Led Zeppelin, whose nickname was "Bonzo"
  • Crow makes note of Gus Van Sant's resemblance to the character Elliot Carlin (played by Jack Riley) from The Bob Newhart Show.
  • "Who did that to you?" "John Henson."
When Carol in As Good as It Gets questions Simon, Tom references the then-current host of Talk Soup, of which Greg Kinnear was a previous host.
Crow is commenting on actress Gloria Stuart's resemblance to the mother of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
  • "How about that town you bought? What was that deal all about?"
As the clip from L.A. Confidential is shown, Crow references Braselton, Georgia. In 1989, Basinger and other investors purchased a large section of the town for $20 million with the intention of building a resort. The group later sold the land for $1 million.
As soldiers deploy in the Starship Troopers clip, Tom references actor Charlton Heston's tenure as president of the National Rifle Association.

Notes[]

  • Shown during the opening montage, but not the special itself, are Best Actor nominees Robert Duvall and Dustin Hoffman.
  • Although nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Jackie Brown, Robert Forster is not shown in any clips from that film.
  • Actor Neil Patrick Harris is not shown in any clips from Starship Troopers.
  • The major awards that year eventually went to Titanic (Best Picture and Director), Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Robin Williams, and Kim Basinger. Matt Damon & Ben Affleck won for Best Original Screenplay (Good Will Hunting), and Brian Helgeland & Curtis Hanson won for Best Adapted Screenplay (L.A. Confidential, based on the novel by James Ellroy).

Video Release[]

The Academy of Robots' Choice Awards was released on DVD as part of the MST3K: Fancy Hollywood Awards Preview Specials collection. The DVD was available when purchasing Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXXVII directly from Shout! Factory.

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