1004 - Future War
Air Date	April 25, 1999
Movie Director	Anthony Doublin
Year	1997
Cast	Daniel Bernhardt Robert Z'Dar Travis Brooks Stewart
Preceded by	1003 - Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders
Followed by	1005 - Blood Waters of Dr. Z

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

A race of evil cyborgs kidnaps humans from Earth's future to use as slaves and take dinosaurs from the past to use as trackers. One of their slaves, the Runaway (Bernhardt), escapes and makes his way to present-day Los Angeles. There he must fend off the cyborgs and their trackers, the police, and the government, befriended by a prostitute-turned-nun (Stewart) who runs a halfway house.[1]

InformationEdit

• During filming, producer Dave Eddy and some other crew members remarked that it would be great if the film someday appeared on MST3K, which it ultimately did.
• A "Damage Control Unit" was formed to salvage the film when the producers were disappointed with the work of the director, Anthony Doublin.

* ^[1]

• One of the movie's taglines: "Past Predator, Present Alien, Future Terminator"
• Bernhardt would later go on to have a successful movie career as a stuntman, and he also appeared in The Matrix Reloaded as Agent Johnson, a leader of the Agents program.
• Shot in 1994 but not released until 1997.

The EpisodeEdit

Host SegmentsEdit

• Prologue: Using a computer spreadsheet program and Diane Feinstein as a baseline, Crow tries to calculate how many times a lady Gypsy is. Gypsy is disappointed that she is only 2.7 times a lady; turns out Mike is eight times a lady.

• Segment One: Pearl is conducting LSD tests on the robots and monitors their hallucinations. To augment the effect, Bobo and Brain Guy have formed an acid rock band called Narcotic Casserole. Servo has his usual delirium; Crow has a harrowing experience in which he sees Mike eating a Snickers candy bar, not a Milky Way. Crow is also somewhat surprised to learn that Mike is not a clown.

• Segment Two: Tom makes a pair of legs so he can kickbox. He challenges Gypsy to a fight, but she has a singular, misshapen leg of her own and instantly takes out Servo.

• Segment Three: Mike, Crow and Servo realize they've never really thanked Pearl for not killing them. They take a moment to thank Pearl, interrupting her attempt to kill them.

• Segment Four: Crow is Droppy, The Water Droplet, an emissary from the National Water Council, who has come to share just a few thousand of the many uses for water.

• Segment Five: Mike has a giant Robert Z'Dar-esque chin. The bots chide him for being so insensitive to all the people with large prosthetic chins. MIke doesn't really care. Down in Castle Forrester, Bobo and Brain Guy inform Pearl that Narcotic Casserole is leaving to tour with Moby Grape. Pearl gives them each exploding tracking collars. You can guess the rest.

• Stinger: Robert Z'Dar and Daniel Bernhardt kick-box and Bernhardt's shirt somehow slips off.^[2]

Obscure ReferencesEdit

• "Dustbusters Galactica"

A pun on Battlestar Galactica

• "Chuck Wepner's point of view!"

Boxer Chuck Wepner challenged Muhammad Ali for the world heavyweight title in a 1975 bout that loosely inspired the first Rocky movie.

• "Mink Stole!"

Mink Stole is an actress best known for her collaborations with director John Waters.

• "Damn Bumpasses' dinosaurs!"

The Bumpasses were the family of "hillbilly neighbors" with out-of-control dogs in A Christmas Story.

• "I want cars posted all along this route!" "Make 'em all Tercels!"

The Tercel was a compact car built by Toyota during the 1980s and 1990s.

• "This is Boris Becker reporting live!"

Boris Becker is a German tennis player.

• "Just call me Bruce Boxliker!"

A punning reference to actor Bruce Boxleitner.

• "They were transferred to a Costa Gavras film."

Costa Gavras is a Greek-born film director who specializes in dark political thrillers.

• "Reminds me of the time Chief Gates chunked all over headquarters."

A reference to former LAPD chief Daryl Gates.

• "Based on a play by Terrence McNally!"

Playwright Terrence McNally is known for exploring gay issues in his works.

• "He *is* Tom of Finland."

Tom of Finland was an artist known for the overt homoeroticism of his work.

• "Thank you, Soloflex!"

The Soloflex was a piece of home fitness equipment that was heavily advertised on cable TV during the late 1980s and early '90s.

• "Dee Snider's dance belt!"

Dee Snider is the lead singer of the heavy metal band Twisted Sister.

• "SUUUUURGE!"

The advertising slogan for Surge, a heavily caffeinated soft drink marketed by the Coca-Cola Company during the late 1990s.

• "It's a Fixx video without the music."

The Fixx was an '80s pop group best known for its song "One Thing Leads to Another."

• "It becomes the star of 'Night of the Lepus'!"

Night of the Lepus was a 1972 movie about giant mutant rabbits.

• "In fact, everybody cut footloose"

A lyric from Kenny Loggins's song Footloose, from the movie of the same name.

• "Am I Ving Rhames? I can't remember."

The actor onscreen vaguely resembles Rhames.

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ IMDB
2. ↑ Satellite News

preceded by: Season 9		MST3K Season 10					followed by: --
		1999
1001	Soultaker	1999-04-11	1006	Boggy Creek II: and the Legend Continues…	1999-05-09	1011	Horrors of Spider Island	1999-07-25
1002	Girl in Gold Boots	1999-04-18	1007	Track of the Moon Beast	1999-06-13	1012	Squirm	1999-08-01
1003	Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders	1999-09-12	1008	Final Justice	1999-06-20	1013	Diabolik	1999-08-08
1004	Future War	1999-04-25	1009	Hamlet	1999-06-27
1005	Blood Waters of Dr. Z	1999-05-02	1010	It Lives by Night	1999-07-18