403 - City Limits
Air Date	June 20, 1992
Movie Director	Aaron Lipstadt
Year	1985
Cast	John Stockwell, Darrell Larson, Rae Dawn Chong, James Earl Jones, Kim Cattrall, Robby Benson
Preceded by	402 - The Giant Gila Monster
Followed by	404 - Teenagers from Outer Space

Contents 1 The Movie 1.1 Synopsis 1.2 Information 2 The Episode 2.1 Host Segments 2.2 Obscure References 2.3 Notes

The MovieEdit

SynopsisEdit

Long version: Fifteen years from now the world is lit by widely spaced 40 watt light bulbs and populated by people who wear weird clothes. In this dystopia, your hero cowboy guy (with a cow skull helmet) ends up a pawn in a battle between biker gangs led by the foppier brother of Alex DeLarge from Clockwork Orange and the Hell's Kitchen guy's cousin. Meanwhile Kim Cattrall and Robbie Benson attempt to exploit the gangs for commercial profit.

'What commerce?' you ask, seeing how it's after the apocalypse and all. Well, repeat to yourself 'it's just a show, and I should really just relax.'

Anyway, Robbie Benson's shady business (the Sunya corporation) that is selling who-knows-what to who-knows-who comes under attack once cow-skull guy convinces the assorted biker types to team up with an embarrassed James 'I needed to pay the rent' Earl Jones in a finale that will shock and surprise amnesiacs and people who have just arrived on planet earth.

Short version: According to this movie, only the stupid will survive the apocalypse.

InformationEdit

Dean Devlin, who went on to co-write and produce blockbuster films such as Independence Day, plays the character Ernie in this movie.[1] Acclaimed and later respected character actors Tony Plana (Ugly Betty", "Miami Vice") and John Diehl ("Miami Vice", "The Shield") also have small supporting roles.

Mitchell Froom who has produced albums by artist like Tom Waits, Los Lobos, Elvis Costello and Suzanne Vega to name a few, co-wrote the soundtrack to this movie.

"Sunya" is Sanskrit for "emptiness".

The EpisodeEdit

Host SegmentsEdit

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 a tuneless 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.

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 it with Morrissey.

Stinger: Remote-controlled airplane attack!

Obscure References Edit

• "I'm Max Keller."

A callback to Master Ninja.

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

"Big Bambu" was a "comedy" album by Cheech and 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!"

A reference to an anti-smoking PSA that actor Yul Brynner filmed shortly before his death from lung cancer and had aired posthumously, in which he said "I'm dead now. Don't smoke."

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

Tom is quoting the Prince song "Take Me With U".

• "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 reference to the short-lived TV series Then Came Bronson.

• "Now it's 'American Hot Wax'!"

American Hot Wax was 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".

• "Jim Henson's Flying Leatherneck Babies!"

Flying Leathernecks was 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 was a 1960s Saturday-morning satirical cartoon about a comedic superhero. The song in question is set to the tune of Yankee Doodle Dandy.

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

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

• "Stalag 90210"

Stalag 17 is a 1953 war film about a group of allied P.O.W.s trapped in a German prison camp. Beverly Hills, 90210 was a television drama which aired on the FOX Network from 1990 to 2000.

• "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.

NotesEdit

Guest Stars

• Morrissey: Michael J. Nelson

When Kim Cattrall appeared at ConventioCon ExpoFest-A-Rama 2: Electric Bugaloo 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.” [2]

preceded by: Season 3		MST3K Season 4					followed by: Season 5
		1992 - 1993
401	Space Travelers	1992-06-06	409	The Indestructible Man	1992-08-15	417	Crash of Moons	1992-11-28
402	The Giant Gila Monster	1992-06-13	410	Hercules Against the Moon Men	1992-08-22	418	Attack of the the Eye Creatures	1992-12-05
403	City Limits	1992-06-20	411	The Magic Sword	1992-08-29	419	The Rebel Set	1992-12-12
404	Teenagers from Outer Space	1992-06-27	412	Hercules and the Captive Women	1992-09-12	420	The Human Duplicators	1992-12-26
405	Being from Another Planet	1992-07-24	413	Manhunt in Space	1992-09-19	421	Monster A-Go Go	1993-01-09
406	Attack of the Giant Leeches	1992-07-18	414	Tormented	1992-09-26	422	The Day the Earth Froze	1993-01-16
407	The Killer Shrews	1992-07-25	415	The Beatniks	1992-11-25	423	Bride of the Monster	1993-01-23
408	Hercules Unchained	1992-08-01	416	Fire Maidens of Outer Space	1992-11-16	424	Manos: The Hands of Fate	1993-01-30