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"Yep, that's my cue! Big Alan Steel! Splash me on in the morning, wear the great smell of me all day long!"
- Servo (as Hercules)


The Movie[]

Main article: Hercules Against the Moon Men (film)

Synopsis[]

Moonmen

Hercules Against the Moon Men

The hero Hercules is recruited to battle invaders from the Moon who demand human sacrifices. He must also defeat the evil queen Samara who is in league with the Moon Men.

The Episode[]

Host Segments[]

Moonmen2

The Bots' Booby Trap

Prologue: Wanting to assert their independence, Tom and Crow decide to run away to the other side of the ship. It doesn't last.

Segment One: While Joel and the bots have invented the Super Freak-Out Kit, the Mads' invention of DEEP HURTING is woven into the experiment itself. Joel's invention results in Frank having a freak-out of his own, leaving Dr. F to send up the movie himself. Joel and the bots say "We got Movie sign!" backwards before heading into the theater.

Segment Two: Crow and Tom use Joel as the subject of their amazing BOOBY trap illusion, with innuendos abounding.

Moonmen3

Deep Hurting

Segment Three: Joel gives the Bots new muscular arms and they all come up with their new tough guy names (the rules: a virile first name and a last name that is something hard, as in "Alan Steel"). Unfortunately Tom's suggestions aren't all that aggressively tough and his body rejects his new donor limbs.

Segment Four: Having finally had enough with all the toga/skirt action in these Hercules films, Joel and the Bots sing the stirring song Pants!. Frank joins in, but gets on Dr. F's nerves, causing him to blow some sand in Frank's face.

BotsBigArms

The Bots' new arms


Closing (Segment Five): The SOL crew discuss the replacement of actors in sequels and TV series. Crow upsets Gypsy by mentioning that Richard Basehart was a replacement and Joel has to disassemble him, leaving Tom to read the letter alone. Dr. F is alarmed by Joel and the Bots' ability to survive a movie like this, but works out some of his anxiety by enacting a little DEEP HURTING on Frank.

Stinger: Old guy gets skewered on a booby trap.

MST3K Cast[]

Trivia[]

  • Crow's alter ego in segment three, "Drake Tungsten", would later be used as the name of one of the comic book lines in the video game Fallout 3.
  • Joel has a goatee again, as he last did in the previous season episode Daddy-O. He wore one again during his appearance in Episode #1001, and again (with a moustache) throughout his appearances in Season 13.

Callbacks[]

Running Gags[]

  • Several references are made to the songs of musician Roger Miller (including "Dang Me" and "King of the Road"). Miller had dark hair and a beard similar to Alan Steel as Hercules. Later, this gets shifted to singer Rolf Harris (best-known for his song "Tie Me Kangaroo Down") who also had a similar beard and hairstyle.

Obscure References[]

  • "...by Four Dead in Ohio Art! Tin soldiers and Nixon sold separately!"
A reference to both the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song "Ohio" (about the fatal shooting of student protesters at Ohio's Kent State University in 1970), and the toy company Ohio Art.
  • "He's goin' up against the Unification Church..."
Followers of the Unification Church are often derisively referred to as "Moonies", after its founder, Sun Myung Moon.
  • "NC Stu-Stu-Studio!"
Reference to L'Oréal's Studio Line hair care products, whose commercials began with the lyrics, "Stu-Stu-Studio. Studio Line from L'Oréal."
  • "Behind the Green Door!"
Behind the Green Door is a pornographic film originally released in 1972.
  • "Shop Red Owl."
Red Owl was a grocery store chain in Minnesota & the Upper Midwest.
  • "Rob Reiner, NO!"
Rob Reiner is a bald, bearded, heavyset actor and director who is perhaps best-known for the role of Michael Stivic ("Meathead") on the TV show All in the Family. The thug attacking Hercules looks a bit like Reiner in his later years.
  • "Father Murphy, NO!"
Father Murphy is a TV series from the early 1980s.
  • "Pizza Pizza!"
The slogan of the Little Caesars chain of pizza parlors in the early 1990s.
  • "Bandits!" "Hadji! Jonny! Race!"
References to characters from the cartoon Jonny Quest. Bandit, a small dog with black mask-like patch around his eyes, is Jonny's pet.
  • "Porky's 2!"
A reference to the infamous shower-peeking scene in the film Porky's, which starred Kim Cattrall. The actual sequel (Porky's II: The Next Day) features Space Mutiny star Cisse Cameron.
  • "Looks like they're in a Starburst ad."
Said of water flooding the room where Hercules is trapped. At the time the episode was made, commercials for Starburst candy would dramatize the act of eating one by showing water and fruit flooding the room where the consumer was.
  • "I'm writing a spec script for Aristophanes."
Aristophanes was an Ancient Greek playwright; a "spec script" is one which is written in the hope that it can later be sold (as opposed to one paid for in advance).
  • "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature!"
An advertising slogan for Chiffon margarine from the 1970s and 1980s.
  • "I am the Mighty Pavog (sic)!"
The Mighty Favog is a character from The Muppets segments on the first season of Saturday Night Live.
  • "It's the Inhumanoids!"
Inhumanoids is a toy/media franchise from the late 1980s about giant subterranean monsters menacing humankind. Technically, the rock creatures from the line weren't considered Inhumanoids, being allied instead with the line's heroes.
  • "It's like a bad Antonioni movie!"
Michelangelo Antonioni (1912-2007) was an Italian filmmaker.
  • "Gymkata!"
Gymkata is a 1985 Yugoslavian film. It's named after the martial arts style invented by its star, gymnast Kurt Thomas, incorporating ninjitsu and Olympic gymnastics. It later became a RiffTrax presentation.
  • "Help the bombardier!" "I'm the bombardier!" "Help him, help him!"
These repeated lines are from a pivotal scene in the novel Catch-22 (and its film adaptation) in which the bombardier protagonist is traumatized by treating the wounds of a disemboweled gunner on a bombing mission during World War II.
  • "Why don't ya kiss 'er instead of talkin' her to death?!"
Line from the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life.
  • "It's the Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots! They're gonna knock my block off!"
Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots is a game where the players control robot-styled boxers. The game is decided when one player manages to punch off the head of the other's robot.
MST3K_410_Promo

MST3K 410 Promo

  • "It's clobberin' time!"
Catch phrase used by The Thing, a member of Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four superhero team. The Thing is a man covered in rock, hence the reference when the Moon Men's rocky minions are nearby.
  • "Sounds kinda like Eraserhead."
The soundtrack to the David Lynch film Eraserhead is largely composed of ambient white noise.
  • "Look into your heart!"
Quoting the weaselly mafia figure Bernie Bernbaum in Miller's Crossing, as he begs for his life.
  • "This is like the planet of 98-pound weaklings. Everyone gets sand kicked in their face."
Reference to Charles Atlas' "The Insult that Made a Man out of 'Mac'" ads that appeared in comic books, in which a skinny man has sad kicked in his face, prompting him to become a bodybuilder.
  • "Hercules will return in 'Herc Goes Bananas'!"
A play on how older James Bond films would sometimes end, combined with a reference to the fourth film featuring Herbie the Love Bug, Herbie Goes Bananas. Hercules Goes Bananas was also an alternate title to the 1970 film Hercules in New York starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
  • "WILMA!!!"
After Baby Puss the house cat kicks Fred Flintstone out of the house and calls his wife Wilma to let him back in. This happens during the ending of every Flintstones episode.

Memorable Quotes[]

  • Crow: Don't forget about him trying to erase the memory of Walter Matthau in the TV remake of House Calls.
  • Gypsy: Ooh! And then, he grew up, and became Pernell Roberts!
  • Crow: (exasperated) Okay, that's it... Gypsy, did you realize that Walter Pidgeon was the original Admiral Nelson in the film version of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea?
  • Gypsy: No way...
  • Crow: Not Richard Basehart?
  • Gypsy: (upset) NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! JOOOEEELLLLLLL!!!!!!!

Hercules Against the Moon Men (movie)[]

  • Joel: This film has aged me.
  • Crow: "I know how she feels.
  • Crow: I SAID SING, DAMMIT! SIIIING!!!
  • Crow: THERE'S GONNA BE ROCK CLIMBING! AAAAAH!

Video Release[]

  • Available for rent or purchase on Amazon's streaming service.
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