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“It's one big sunny fun-filled Bataan Death March.”


The Movie[]

Main article: Catalina Caper (film)

A group of young beach-goers becomes embroiled in shenanigans centered around a scroll pilfered from a nearby museum.

The Episode[]

Host Segments[]

Creepygirl

Tom sings "Creepy Girl"

Prologue: The Bots say their nightly prayers, including God blesses for a number of fellow robots, including (at Joel's insistence) Twiki.

Invention Exchange: While willing to reluctantly pray for Twiki, the Bots refuse to pray for the Mads, who have created literal tank tops, whereas Joel opts to turn a bazooka into a fun generating tickling device.

Segment Two: Joel shares his remembrances of the 1960s.

Segment Three: Tom sings of his love for the mysterious "Creepy Girl".

CatalinaHost1

Joel's chart trying to explain the film

Segment Four: TV's Frank's attempt to sell Tupperware to Gerry and Sylvia goes badly as Dr. F decides to sit in and watch his sales technique.

Segment Five: Joel attempts to explain the film with a handy chart, but becomes frustrated when the Bots disagree on what is the emotional center of the movie. Joel reads a letter from two people who met and fell in love because of MST3K, including their wedding announcement.

Trivia[]

  • This episode was the thirteenth to air during Turkey Day '91.
  • This episode was the fourth one used during the Mindless Summer series of livestreaming events in 2021.

Obscure References[]

  • "And God Bless Cherry 3000!" "And Galaxina!"
Said during the opening host segment as the crew pray for other robots. Tom is presumably referring to the title character of Cherry 2000, a science-fiction film about a man on a quest to repair his robotic wife. Galaxina, a voluptuous android played by Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten, is the titular character in a 1980 sci-fi comedy.
  • "Robert Donner? I went to his party once."
A veiled reference to the Donner Party, a group of American pioneers whose trip to California took a series of unfortunate turns and is quite infamous for its claims that the group resorted to cannibalism to survive a early and harsh winter storm.
  • "Looks like Jacques Cousteau meets The Pink Panther."
Jacques Cousteau was a famous French oceanographer/explorer who revolutionized underwater exploration through films, books and inventions such as the Aqua-Lung. The animated title sequence, produced by Fred Wolf Films, is reminiscent of the art style used in the animated openings created by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises for the Pink Panther films.
  • "They took my thumb, Charlie!"
A repeated reference to the much darker heist film The Pope of Greenwich Village.
  • "Here's something we hope you'll really like."
This is a line that Rocky the Flying Squirrel would say on The Bullwinkle Show in the introductory bumpers.
  • "Hey, it's Steve Higgins!" "You mean the star of The Higgins Boys & Gruber show on the Comedy Channel?"
Steve Higgins is better known today as the announcer/sidekick on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. At the time, he was the co-host of The Higgins Boys & Gruber, a short-lived series on The Comedy Channel created and co-written by Joel Hodgson and co-starring Dave (Gruber) Allen.
  • "How do you know she's a witch?"
Reference to a line spoken by Sir Bedevere in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, pertaining to a woman who has been dressed up and accused of being a witch.
  • "Meanwhile, in the dark, impenetrable void, Jean-Paul Sartre was a-movin' and a-groovin'." "No Exit, baby."
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) was a French playwright and philosopher whose 1944 play No Exit features three damned souls trapped for eternity in a waiting room.
  • "I'm gonna go invent the Walkman.
Reference to a the once-ubiquitous portable audio cassette player manufactured by Sony.
  • "Was she in the movie David and Lisa?"
David and Lisa is a 1962 film about a man with Obsessive-compulsive disorder and a woman with multiple personality disorder.
  • "What happens if I run into a Leviathan?"
The Leviathan is a mythological sea monster prominent in several books of the Old Testament. A science fiction film, Leviathan, was released a year before this episode was produced.
  • "The cows are up in arms! They've left their fields and barns! They're marching from the farms because kids don't drink enough milk!"
A reference to a classic commercial for Hershey's Instant chocolate milk mix.
  • "It's the William Burroughs figurehead."
William Burroughs was a beat-era author whose longtime heroin addiction gave him a gaunt appearance.
  • "Let's see... You are a child, no less than the trees..."
A slightly mangled quote from the Desiderata, a poem by Max Ehrmann that became popular as a non-denominational devotional in the 1960s and '70s.
  • "He's no fun, he fell right over!"
Reference to a comedy album called How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You're Not Anywhere at All by The Firesign Theatre. The line "s/he's no fun, s/he fell right over" occurs on both sides of the record.
  • "By this time my lungs were aching--- Sorry, sorry."
One of numerous times MST3K used this line from the Lloyd Bridges TV series Sea Hunt ("By this time, my lungs were aching for air..."). Its first use as a riff was in Experiment #K01 #K01 - Invaders from the Deep.
  • "I'm comin,' Beany-boy!"
Reference to a signature line oft-spoken on the 1960's kid's show Beany and Cecil.
  • "I will kill him!"
Line spoken by Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen (played by Sting) in David Lynch's 1984 film Dune, based on the book by Frank Herbert.
  • "Slamdance Cosmopolis, Do the worm Acropolis"
These are lyrics from the song "Ghetto Defendant" by The Clash, from the album "Combat Rock". These lyrics are read by Alan Ginsburg.
  • "Ya. You were so much older then, you're so much younger than that now."
These are a take on the lyrics from Bob Dylan's "My Back Pages" from the album Another Side of Bob Dylan.
  • "It's the 'Keep Mandela in Prison' dance."
Anti-apartheid activist and African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela was imprisoned by the South African government for 27 years before his release in 1990.
  • "Do the Donald Hollinger."
Donald Hollinger, played by Ted Bessell, was the boyfriend of Ann Marie (Marlo Thomas) boyfriend on the TV series That Girl. He was a bit of a stiff.
  • "OK let's see now...Hello Muddah...Hello Fadduh...Here I am in...Catalina..."
Lawrence resembles comedic writer and singer Allan Sherman, who was known for his novelty song "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh".
  • "Nothing wrong with her that $100 wouldn't fix."
A line from the Tom Waits song "9th & Hennepin" (an intersection in Minneapolis, MN) from his album Rain Dogs.
  • "Huh. Zack Norman is Sammy in Chief Zabu..."
A reference to a long-running ad in Variety.
  • "...that Dave Delgado guy."
This is presumably a reference to Dave Del Dotto, a real estate investor who had an infomercial for his "Cash Flow" system in the 1990s.

Behind the Scenes[]

MST3K Cast[]

Regular Cast

MST3K Crew[]

Production[]

  • This episode would become infamous – and copies of it became collectors items – a few years later, when the rights to the movie expired and Comedy Central found they could no longer legally air it. It was the first movie where that situation occurred, but it would not be the last. Incidents such as this would lead to controversy among the fan base resulting from some people selling copies for monetary gain instead of the honor system of trading.

Callbacks[]

Movie Edits[]

Like most of the riffed movies, The Catalina Caper was edited to fit within the desired time-slot by trimming several scenes. Removed content in this film included:

  • A scene where Don and Tina scuba dive together.
  • An extended underwater sequence showing Don finding the map case and having to evade the rival divers during the scuba diving "treasure hunt."
  • A scene showing Borman and Angelo fighting with the Duvals on their boat and escaping with what they think is the real scroll. During the cut footage, Don throws the tube with the real scroll back overboard, which is mentioned later when Charlie wishes Don hadn't gone back for it after throwing it back in.

Video Releases[]

CatalinaTape

MST3K VHS Cover

Gallery[]

References[]

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