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This is a song that I wrote at a time in my life when I was very, very, very sad. Breakfast, actually. It's called "Hairdresser in a Coma": I cried last night, I died a million deaths. Thinking of your sweet face, and the way you sing. I cried inside, we lied and died. And then I cried again. I must have wept for hours as I...
- Morrissey


"City Limits? Sounds like a clothing store for high school girls."
- Joel


The Movie[]

Main article: City Limits (film)
Citylimits2

City Limits

Synopsis[]

In a post-apocalyptic dystopia, rival gangs of youths fight for dominance.

The Episode[]

Citylimitshost

Joel screams "ping-pong balls!"

Host Segments[]

Prologue: Joel says "ping-pong balls" just like Captain Kangaroo, with similar results. Poor Joel!

Segment One (Invention Exchange): Tom Servo's head is full of ping-pong balls, and he has somehow acquired Crow's eyes. Joel shows off his Mr. Meat & Potato Head toys. The Mads demo Pop Star Tupperware - currently featuring "Morrissey".

Segment Two: Deeply smitten, Crow sings an ode to Kim Cattrall, appropriately titled "Oh, Kim Cattrall!". With the help of Joel, Tom Servo, and Gypsy, Crow them attempts to re-enact a sequence from Cattrall's 1987 film Mannequin, with predictably shambolic results.

City Limits Superhero

Tom, Crow, and Joel invent comic book superheroes

Segment Three: Tom, Crow, and Joel invent comic book superheroes.

Segment Four: Tom, Crow, and Joel invent even more superheroes.

Segment Five: Joel and the bots try to play the City Limits trivia game, but they can’t remember anything about the movie. They read some letters instead. In Deep 13, the Mads have had enough of "Morrissey".

Stinger: Remote-controlled airplane attack!

MST3K Cast[]

Citylimits

Joel's way of covering nudity

Regular Cast

Guest Cast

Production[]

  • The AV Club did a piece on this episode for their "A Very Special Episode" feature. It can be found here.
  • When Kim Cattrall appeared at ConventioCon ExpoFest-A-Rama 2: Electric Boogaloo in 1996, she shared this story: "I was in my hotel room and was channel surfing. And what do I hear but my own name being sung by a small golden man. And it just went on like that. I yelled for my boyfriend to come in and see this. We were just in shock. A few minutes later, one of my lesser accomplishments came on: City Limits. I called my publicity agent and asked him if Mystery Science Theater 3000 was a real show. He said yes. I called my florist and had an odd request: to send a bouquet of flowers to a Crow T. Robot." [1]
  • Production person Ellen "Ellie" McDonough joins the show with this episode.
  • Dr. F’s name is still spelled "Forrestor" in the credits.
  • Though this is the first episode without a "Turn Down Your Lights (Where Applicable)" screen before the opening credits, it's not the first to regularly feature a title slate instead. The title slate did air for it at least once on a later repeat, and is featured on the DVD release, but the vast majority of airings of this episode cut straight to the opening.
  • Tom Servo's hands aren't painted white (they're Caucasian flesh-tone) from this episode through Attack of the Giant Leeches.
  • This episode aired fifth during Turkey Day '92.
  • At one point Joel stands up with an umbrella which he uses to block a female actress' nudity.

Callbacks[]

Obscure References[]

  • "I've got Crow T. Robot eyes."

Sung to the tune of award-winning song "Bette Davis Eyes," originally written and composed by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon in 1974, but made popular by American singer Kim Carnes in 1981.

  • "Get on with the invention exchange, Crocodile Kangaroo."

Dr. Forrester may be referring to The Monkees episode "Captain Crocodile," in which the band met an amoral children's TV show host who was a parody of the wholesome Captain Kangaroo. It might also be a reference to Uncle Croc's Block, a comedic Captain Kangaroo parody starring Charles Nelson as a cynical and acerbic kid's show host.

  • "Meat is murder, Frank."

Meat Is Murder is one of the albums by Morrissey and The Smiths.

  • "Is it wrong not to always be glad?"


The only actual line from a song written by Morrissey in the Invention Exchange, from the song "Sheila Take a Bow" (there's a Smiths song called "Girlfriend in a Coma" and a Morrissey solo song called "Hairdresser on Fire", but no Smiths or Morrissey song called "Hairdresser in a Coma").

MST3k John Stockwell, Darrel Larson, Kim Cattrall in City Limits

Cast of "City Limits"

  • "So, like, do you think you could get your dad to sign my Big Bambu album?"

Big Bambu is a comedy album by Cheech & Chong.

  • "Thomas Hewitt Edward Cat!"

A reference to the short-lived TV series T.H.E. Cat.

  • "I'm Charlton Heston for ConTel..."

A reference to an ad campaign in which Heston endorsed Continental Telephone.

  • "Burger Chef! He's incrediburgible!"

Burger Chef was a fast food chain that went defunct in 1982; their eponymous mascot, voiced by Paul Winchell, was described by his sidekick Jeff as "incrediburgible."

  • "It's the BART system!"

BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) is the official name of the San Francisco subway system.

  • "I'm dead now."

In a posthumously-aired, anti-smoking PSA that actor Yul Brynner filmed shortly before his death from lung cancer, he said, "Now that I'm gone, I tell you... don't smoke." One of Brynner's notable physical characteristics was his completely bald head.

  • "I don't care what you do. Just take me with you!"

Tom is roughly quoting the 1984 song "Take Me With U" by Prince and the Revolution.

  • "It's the New Power Generation!"

The New Power Generation was the name of Prince's backup band in the early 1990s.

  • "Gary Busey sold it to me."

Actor Gary Busey suffered severe head injuries in a motorcycle accident in the late 1980s.

  • "Then Came Boredom!"

A play on the title of the short-lived 1969 TV series Then Came Bronson. In the show, Bronson becomes a vagabond who rides a Harley-Davidson Sportster motorcycle.

  • "Now it's American Hot Wax!"

American Hot Wax is a 1978 movie about Alan Freed, the Cleveland DJ who first coined the term "rock 'n' roll".

  • "Look Smithers, I'm Davey Crockett!"

Tom is quoting Mr. Burns in the Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror II," in which he wears a human brain on his head with part of the spinal cord dangling down behind him, resembling a coonskin cap.

  • "Hey! Sonny Corleone's final destination!"

Referring to the toll booth scene from The Godfather where Sonny Corleone is brutally gunned down.

  • "Sing it! It worked for Mel Tillis."

Mel Tillis was a famous country singer who spoke with a stutter due to a case of malaria he caught when he was sixteen.

  • "He is a master of the universe no less than the trees."

Said of the logo on the back of a gang member's jacket. This is a parody of a line from "Desiderata": "You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars." Masters of the Universe was a popular toy line and children's cartoon (He-Man and the Masters of the Universe) in the 1980s.

  • "When I grew up and went to school, there were certain teachers who would shoot the children..."

A reference to the Pink Floyd song "The Happiest Days of Our Lives," from their 1979 album The Wall. The music playing in the background during the scene is similar to the music in the song.

  • "If God's in heaven, he's driving a red Cadillac."

"If there's a God in heaven/He's got a silver Thunderbird." is from the 1991 song "Silver Thunderbird" by Marc Cohn.

  • "Stalag 90210."

Stalag 17 is a 1953 war film about a group of allied POWs trapped in a German prison camp. Beverly Hills, 90210 was a television drama which aired on the FOX Network from 1990 to 2000 about high schoolers in an affluent California city.

  • "Jim Henson's Flying Leatherneck Babies!"

Flying Leathernecks is a 1951 movie about Marine aviators in World War II. It also references Jim Henson's Muppet Babies.

  • "He's humming the Roger Ramjet song!"

Roger Ramjet is a 1960s Saturday-morning satirical cartoon about a comedic superhero. The Roger Ramjet theme is set to the tune of Yankee Doodle.

Goofs[]

  • At about 10:54 minutes into the episode the sound of a page being turned can be heard. Probably one of the cast; Joel, Trace, or Kevin turning a page of their script. Likely Trace, as Crow's joke was the next one following the sound.

Video Releases[]

MST3K City Limits (DVD)

MST3K DVD Cover

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