MST3K 213 - Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster

213 - Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster
Air/Release Date	February 2, 1991
MST3K Director	Jim Mallon
Turkey Day(s)	November 28, 1991, 6pm
Movie Director	Jun Fukuda
Year	1966 (Japan) 1969 (U.S.)
Cast	Akira Takarada Chôtarô Tôgin Haruo Nakajima Tôru Watanabe Akihiko Hirata Chieko Nakakita Peter Fernandez Hal Linden
Preceded by	212 - Godzilla vs. Megalon
Followed by	301 - Cave Dwellers

“	(Sea Monster rises from the water as a couple captured natives try to flee, James Bond-like music plays in background) James Bond is back as the spy with the biggest crab claw you've ever seen in your life! Double-O crab.	”
	- Servo

The Movie

Main article: Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (film)

A young man steals a boat to find his brother, but he and his shipmates become shipwrecked on a mysterious island inhabited by a giant sea monster and a slumbering Godzilla.

The Episode

Host Segments

Joel reads to the Bots

Prologue: Joel reads the Velveteen Rabbit and does all the voices.

Invention Exchange: Joel shows off his Mind Control Guitar (“All I gotta do is add the appropriate facial grimaces, wear spandex, and meet with the ladies after the show!”). The Mads play their squeaky Doggie Chew Toy Guitars.

Segment Two: Joel explains the very fictional origins of Godzilla with the song "Godzilla Genealogy Bop".

Segment Three: Crow and Tom believe that Joel is suffering from space madness, with Crow mentioning that he was uttering Leonard Nimoy's name while listening to Nimoy's cover of the song "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" and burning incense. They think Joel’s models of famous earth structures made from found objects are further evidence of his mental decline. So they, along with Gypsy, destroy the models for Joel’s own good.

Mothra visits the SOL

Segment Four: Crow and Tom decide to imitate the Mothra twins, much to Joel's dismay. As Tom laughs at the warning Joel gives him and Crow, the Bots receive a visit from Mothra on the Hexfield Viewscreen. Fortunately, he’s pretty mellow. When the bots try to tell Joel about Mothra's visit, Joel won't believe them.

Segment Five: Joel teaches the bots about famous sayings that actors didn’t actually say. They look at some “Cool Thing” contest entries. The Mads briefly consider the possibility of reviewing policy and instituting a change to a less hostile posture toward the crew of the SOL, but it doesn’t go anywhere.

Stinger: The Mothra twins lead their followers in bowing down to their great insect god.

Information

• This is the first film distributed by Film Ventures International to be riffed on the show. The entire opening sequence is even shown unriffed as the SOL crew takes their time getting into the theater, reluctant to endure another Godzilla movie.

Obscure References

• "This is our new song, Plastic Man!"

"Plastic Man" was a 1969 song by The Kinks. It has no connection to the DC Comics superhero character Plastic Man.

• "Hey! It's Luke Skywalker's house!"

Referring to Luke Skywalker's foster home he grew up in with his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru on the planet Tatooine; as originally depicted in Star Wars: A New Hope.

• "A planet where apes evolved from man?"

This line spoken by Charlton Heston's character in the 1968 film Planet of the Apes is used repeatedly throughout the episode.

• "They shoot dragons, don't they?"

Parodying the title of the film and book They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, which is about a group of contestants during the Great Depression trying desperately to win a crooked dance competition.

• "And their first born was Godzooky, and now we begin to sing."

In 1978, Hanna-Barbera released an animated series where Godzilla would come to the rescue of a crew of explorers when they were threatened by less friendly daikaiju. His "nephew" Godzooky was a character invented for the show to supply humor, similar to Minilla in Son of Godzilla.

• "By the Power of Grayskull..."

A line spoken by Prince Adam as he becomes He-Man on the TV show He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

• "This must be for the seafood lover in us."

A parody of the advertising slogan for Red Lobster.

• "You may find yourself living in a shogun shack!"

Parody of a line from the Talking Heads song "Once in a Lifetime", which originally goes, "You may find yourself living in a shotgun shack."

• "I'm hysterical... and I'm wet!"

Paraphrasing of a line from The Producers, when Max throws some water in Leo's face to stop his hysterics and only makes it worse.

• "It's the Claw!" "The Claw?" "Not the Claw, the Claw!"

Possibly a reference to the Claw, a villain from the TV spy parody Get Smart. His thick Asian accent led to secret agent Maxwell Smart misinterpreting his name as "the Craw".

• "George Bailey! You give me that robe!" "Ah this is very interesting! Man doesn't get himself into this situation."

Referring to a scene from It's A Wonderful Life where a young Mary Hatch loses her robe and conceals herself behind a bush demanding her soon-to-be husband George Bailey return it to her. He purposely hesitates as he muses over her predicament.

• "I'm not Jeff Altman, honest!"

Comedian Jeff Altman was host of the critically-panned variety show Pink Lady and Jeff, where he shared the spotlight with Japanese pop music duo Pink Lady. He also appeared as Weather Wizard in Legends of the Superheroes: The Challenge.

• "I caught him kneeling in front a picture of Leonard Nimoy. He was burning incense and singing snatches of 'The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins'!"

"The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" is a song composed by Charles Randolph Grean and recorded by actor Leonard Nimoy in 1967 (when Nimoy was co-starring on Star Trek). Nimoy sang the song on the TV variety show Malibu U.

• "Hey! You got your backgammon in my money!" "You got your money in my backgammon!"

A parody of the advertising slogan for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups - "You got your peanut butter in my chocolate!" "You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!".

• "It's a giant Video Toaster!"

The Video Toaster was a popular video-production computer system during the 1990s.

• "You want fame? Well, fame costs! And this is where you start payin'!"

A quote from the 1980s Fame TV series. It is spoken to an aspiring actress who is reluctant to pose nude.

• "Serpentine! Serpentine!"

A reference to the 1979 comedy The In-Laws, in which a suburban family man is given instructions on how to run to avoid gunshots.

• "I'm Servotron, the destroyer of worlds!"

J. Robert Oppenheimer , who is regarded as the "father of the atomic bomb", remarked after the first atom bomb test at Los Alamos that it brought to mind words from the Bhagavad Gita: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." "Servotron" was a vending machine which originally inspired Servo's name.

• "Love is like a butterfly."

A lyric from the theme of the UK TV show Butterflies, taken from Dolly Parton's 1974 number one hit country music song "Love is Like a Butterfly".

• "Jacques Plante; the early days."

Jacques Plante was a famous ice hockey goalie, best-known for winning 6 Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens between 1953 and 1963, and for being the first goalie to wear a goaltender mask on a regular basis in regulation play.

• "Super, Super, Super City!"

A reference to the commercial jingle for Super City a failed construction set made by Ideal Toys in 1967. It was similar to Lego, but focused on elaborate buildings which proved too complex for children and their small fingers. Production was discontinued in 1968.

• "Let's do the Aqua Boogie!"

A reference to the Parliament song "Aqua Boogie".

• "Sandwiches?" "Whatever did I give the wife?"

From a Monty Python sketch, where an incompetent police officer bursts into an apartment and attempts to frame the man inside by dropping a bag onto a table, and then pointing at it as evidence he has just "found". The man picks up the bag to see what is inside, and this exchange occurs.

Behind the Scenes

MST3K Cast

Regular Cast

• Joel Hodgson - Joel Robinson
• Trace Beaulieu - Crow T. Robot / Dr. Clayton Forrester
• Kevin Murphy - Tom Servo
• Frank Conniff - TV's Frank
• Jim Mallon - Gypsy
• Alexandra Carr - Magic Voice

Guest Cast

• Nathan Molstad and Robert Czech - Gerry and Sylvia
• Michael J. Nelson - Mothra

Production

• The squeaky-toy guitar sound effects were provided by Mike Nelson, Jef Maynard and Alex Carr.
• Footage of Godzilla jumping off the island was reused later in Godzilla vs. Megalon which was featured before this one; Servo even appears to recognize the footage (the scene was also used as the previous episode's stinger).
• This episode aired tenth during Turkey Day '91.

Callbacks

• “Rock climbing!” (Lost Continent)
• “You and your friends the only creeps in this place.” (Wild Rebels)
• “Linda!” (Women of the Prehistoric Planet)
• "In 1971, a series of nuclear tests were done on Monster Island..." (Godzilla Vs Megalon)
• "Is that the price, or is that your telephone number?!" (Ring of Terror)

Trivia

• It's never explained why this is the case, but even though Joel doesn't believe that Tom and Crow got a visit from Mothra in this episode, when Tom tells Joel that he, Crow, and Gypsy met Gamera two episodes afterward, he actually shows interest in this.

Goofs

• At the end of the Godzilla Genealogy Bop, Joel accidentally says Movie Sign (though he quickly corrects himself).

Video Releases

A home video release of this episode is not currently forthcoming due to rights issues that forced a DVD release of the previous episode off the market. However, the host segments are available on the Satellite Dishes disc included in Volume XXXIX.

References

preceded by: Season 1		MST3K Season 2					followed by: Season 3
		1990 - 1991
201	Rocketship X-M	1990-09-22	206	Ring of Terror	1990-11-03	211	First Spaceship on Venus	1990-12-29
202	The Side Hackers	1990-09-29	207	Wild Rebels	1990-11-17	212	Godzilla vs. Megalon	1991-01-19
203	Jungle Goddess	1990-10-06	208	Lost Continent	1990-11-24	213	Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster	1991-02-02
204	Catalina Caper	1990-10-13	209	The Hellcats	1990-12-08
205	Rocket Attack U.S.A.	1990-10-27	210	King Dinosaur	1990-12-22