K16 - City on Fire
Air Date	March 19, 1989
Running Time	104 min.
Movie Director	Alvin Rakoff
Year	1979
Cast	Barry Newman Susan Clark Shelley Winters Leslie Nielsen James Franciscus Ava Gardner Henry Fonda
Preceded by	K15 - Superdome
Followed by	K17 - Time of the Apes

Contents 1 The Movie 1.1 Synopsis 1.2 Information 2 The Episode 2.1 Host Segments 2.2 Obscure References 3 References

The MovieEdit

SynopsisEdit

City on Fire is a 1979 disaster film directed by Alvin Rakoff and featuring an all-star cast, as was the custom for that time. The film’s plot revolves around a disgruntled civil servant who sets fire to an oil refinery, setting off a blaze which engulfs an entire city. [1]

InformationEdit

The film was partially financed by the government agency Telefilm Canada and filmed on a relatively confined budget. Some of the fire sequences utilized stock footage from both existing movies and news footage. City on Fire was ultimately a failed venture for the company and had a limited run at the American box office. [2]

The EpisodeEdit

Host SegmentsEdit

Prologue: The Mads get a letter informing them that their grant money has been terminated, because they no longer qualify as mad scientists... merely "mildly peeved researchers."

Segment One: Servo and Crow trick Joel into looking into a phony telescope, which leaves him with a black eye. (This segment appears on the MST3K Scrapbook tape.)

Segment Two: Joel invents a new anti-theft device for purses, called "Hell in a Hand Bag." Joel demonstrates it on Crow, much to Servo's delight.

Segment Three: Joel & the Bots perform a military-style song, which seems to have little purpose other than reminding the Bots how great Joel is. (A portion of this segment appears on the MST3K Scrapbook tape.)

Segment Four: Gypsy informs Joel and Crow that she's spent the entire day designing newsletters. Joel displays Gypsy's creations: the Satellite News, the Fan Club Certificate (suitable for framing) and the Fan Club Membership Card. Joel points out that they are available by writing to the MST3K Fan Club.^[1]

Obscure ReferencesEdit

• "I'm Servo. Now that I'm dead, don't smoke."

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."

• "They've got the Keystone Kops putting out the fire!"

The Keystone Kops was a series of silent comedy movies about bumbling policemen.

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ Satellite News

preceded by: --		MST3K on KTMA					followed by: Season 1
		1988 - 1989
K00	The Green Slime	--	K08	Gamera vs Guiron	1989-01-08	K16	City on Fire	1989-03-19
K01	Invaders from the Deep	1988-11-24	K09	Phase IV	1989-01-15	K17	Time of the Apes	1989-04-02
K02	Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars	1988-11-24	K10	Cosmic Princess	1989-01-22	K18	The Million Eyes of Sumuru	1989-05-07
K03	Star Force: Fugitive Alien II	1988-11-27	K11	Humanoid Woman	1989-01-29	K19	Hangar 18	1989-05-14
K04	Gamera vs Barugon	1988-12-04	K12	Fugitive Alien	1989-02-05	K20	The Last Chase	1989-05-21
K05	Gamera	1988-12-11	K13	SST- Death Flight	1989-02-19	K21	The Legend of the Dinosaurs	1989-05-28
K06	Gamera vs Gaos	1988-12-18	K14	Mighty Jack	1989-03-05
K07	Gamera vs Zigra	1988-12-31	K15	Superdome	1989-03-12