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in: MST3K Episodes, Season 9, Foreign Film,
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MST3K 909 - Gorgo

Revision as of 17:29, 28 November 2015 by Trivialist (Message Wall | contribs)
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“ "The Vice President's unimaginative campaign slogan." ”
- Mike


The Movie

GORGOMOVIE

Gorgo attacks in Gorgo

Synopsis

The plot of King Kong! The monster from Godzilla! The set decorations from Oliver!

After an undersea earthquake, a baby sea monster is captured off the Irish coast. A group of promoters put this monster (dubbed Gorgo) into a circus. 2001's Heywood Floyd (William Sylvester) suffers some general compunctions about the proceedings but goes along with them. As with King Kong, flashbulbs provoke the monster, and he goes on a rampage.

Shortly after this, Gorgo's mom shows up and destroys several London landmarks.

The movie ends "happily" with Gorgo and parent lumbering off into the sunset.

Information

  • Eugène Lourié later acquired a 35mm print of the movie for private use and cut out all the stock footage military shots.
  • The film was originally set in Japan. Later, the King Brothers and Eugène Lourié thought of setting it in Paris, but that would have meant the monster would have had to wade about 100 miles up the Seine to get to the city. Finally, the location was changed to Ireland and England.
  • Gene Simmons of KISS, a lifelong fan of monster movies, based the now-iconic design of his performing boots on Gorgo's head.
  • Aside from Japan, Paris, and finally the U.K., the producers were considering using Australia as the location. However, they decided that nobody would care if he attacked Australia, and settled on the U.K.
  • Both a novelization and comic book series based on the movie's titular monster were published around the time of the film's release.
  • There once existed a dinosaur named "Gorgo"saurus, which like the movie's monster was a bipedal predator similar to Tyrannosaurus. But it wasn't anywhere near the 200 ft. tall behemoth in the movie; as it reached lengths of 30 feet at most.

The Episode

Maltin IMG 2348

Leonard Maltin guest stars as himself

Host Segments

Opening Scene: Crow's head becomes thde nest for the rare Spix's macaw.

Segment One: Crow fights off weasels who want his eggs. Observer and Bobo arm wrestle, until a transmission from Pearl, on a trip to LA, interrupts. She has met Leonard Maltin, who recommends and introduces this week's movie. The eggs are taken away by Egg Protective Services when Crow makes an omelet.

Segment Two: Because one of the people in the movie looks like Samuel Beckett, the crew presents the play Waiting for Gorgo-t.

Waiting For Gorgo

"Waiting for Gorgo"

Segment Three: The crew plays Trivial Pursuit, William Sylvester style. Mike loves it and the 'bots don't.

Segment Four: The Nanites have a circus, which ends in tragedy when Mike pays for admission.

Segment Five: Mike helps Tom and Crow with their The Women of Gorgo calendar, financed by the mob. Pearl and Leonard make plans for future bad films.

Stinger: An Irish fisherman curses out our heroes.

Trivia

  • The "William Sylvester" version of Trivial Pursuit was in reality a "1960's Edition" Trivial Pursuit game, painted gray with artwork added.
  • Gorgo is referenced in the RiffTrax commentary of 300, due to Leonidas's wife being named Gorgo.
  • On mst3kinfo.com, this episode is referred to as the "closest we ever got to a lost episode," all because it only showed twice. It first aired at 5 P.M. on July 18th, 1998, and at 11 P.M. that same day before never airing again due to the loss of rights.
  • In final host segment, Pearl and Leonard Maltin contemplate the worst movie ever made. Leonard surmises that it would be something with Mickey Rourke, and Pearl suggests "cross-reference that with Eric Roberts". These two actors starred together in the 1984 film The Pope of Greenwich Village, which is generally well-regarded (and the source of the often-quoted line "Charlie! They took my thumb!"). They later both appeared in the 2010 film The Expendables, and in the 2014 film Skin Traffik.
  • This was the third episode featured during Turkey Day '15.

Quotes & References

  • "Is it true that they're working on yet another remake of 'The Fish Who Saved Pittsburgh'?"

The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh was a 1979 movie starring basketball great Julius "Dr. J" Erving.

  • "Good masonry work on the titles!" "Yeah, it was done by the guys at Mark VII Productions!"

Mark VII Productions, which produced TV series such as Dragnet, had a logo that depicted the words "MARK VII" being stamped into a stone block.

  • "It's Robert Maxwell! He's alive!"

Robert Maxwell was a British media tycoon who died in 1991 after falling (or jumping, or being pushed, according to some theories) off the deck of his yacht.

  • "Mike Nelson!"

...says Tom Servo, to which Mike replies "Tom Servo!". Tom is referring to Lloyd Bridges' character in Sea Hunt, who is a diver.

  • "Don't worry, sir. Turns out Shelley Winters is a very good swimmer."

In the 1972 film The Posideon Adventure, actress Shelley Winters, then in her fifties, performed a memorable underwater rescue scene.

  • "Dave Foley."

Dave Foley is a Canadian actor and comedian who's best known as a member of the comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall. The kid spotlighted for a second during Gorgo's first attack does look a bit like him.

  • "The beast?" "That's right, Ian Paisley!"

Ian Paisley is a highly controversial Northern Irish Protestant leader.

  • "Mr. Ryan!" "How's your Hope? And your Daughter?"

Reference to the soap opera Ryan's Hope and the film Ryan's Daughter.

  • I crush you, you get crushed!

Sung by Servo to the tune of Barney the dinosaur's theme song.

  • Great, now Colonel Parker is managing his career

Reference to the controversial manager of Elvis Presley.

  • Talmud! Talmud! Talmud!
MST3K_909_Promo

MST3K 909 Promo

The Talmud is a collection of Jewish expositions on the law. Torah is a Hebrew word meaning 'law' or 'instruction' and is the Jewish name for the Pentateuch or the first five books of the Bible. Mike of course is suffering from homophone confusion and retrieval failure in referencing the series' classic "Tora! Tora! Tora!" bit.

  • You treated Jerry Lee Lewis better than this

Ray Berry revealed Jerry Lee Lewis' marriage to his 13 year old cousin (once removed) shortly after he landed in Britain for a tour in 1958. The tour was canceled after only 3 shows.

  • This is treating my bipolar disorder

Shock therapy has been reported effective in treating bipolar disorder.

  • Poor bastards appear every hundred years and get hit with a huge storm

A reference to the Lerner & Loewe musical Brigadoon about an enchanted Scottish village that only becomes accessible to outsiders every hundred years.

  • Samuel Beckett!

A reference to the fact the harbor master bears a striking resemblance to novelist and playwright Samuel Beckett whose famous plays Waiting for Godot and Krapp's Last Tape are referenced as well.

Memorable Quotes

[Over the title screen]
Mike: The Vice President's unimaginative campaign slogan.
[A scuba diver is seen on screen.]
Servo: This new "Cool Ranch" flavored scuba air isn't very good.
[A ship is tossed terribly in a tremendous storm. The scene fades out.]
Mike: And...?
[Cut to the next day, as the ship calmly sits in the water.]
Mike: Oh, they're fine!
Crow: [singing to "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"]
They got into port and everyone was okay.
They went out for lunch and felt better...
[Sam and Joe enter an old-fashioned peasant village.]
Sam: Looks like they're pretty hard hit.
Mike: Poor dopes, they appear every hundred years and get hit by a huge storm.
[Sam and Joe call McCartin's bluff about permits. He sits down, thoughtfully.]
McCartin: After you load with water… you leave. Tonight!
Joe: The sooner, the better!
Servo [as Joe/Cheerleader]: The tighter the sweater! / The boys depend on us!
Crow [as Sam/Cheerleader]: Yay!
[Gorgo is seen terrorizing a small Irish village.]
Mike: Poor Irish—if they aren't being invaded by Cromwell or infested by leprechauns they've got this guy!
[A sailor sends a message back to England by Morse code.]
Crow [as sailor]: Am in Ireland, send real food.
[After breaking free of his nets Gorgo swings his tail at what looks like an elephant, which blows up.]
Crow: I didn't know elephants exploded on impact!
[Gorgo's mother Ogra begins rampaging through London.]
Servo: Maybe Mary Poppins flies in and kicks his ass?
Mike: That I'd pay to see.
[The Bots reminisce about the Dorkin's Circus scenes during the endless military vs. Gorgo battles.]
Servo: I wish they'd get back to Dorkin.
Crow: Yeah! There was a lot of Dorkin at the beginning of the movie. They should show that some more.
Servo: Sure! I mean, who wouldn't rather watch Dorkin than this stock footage?
Crow: Yeah. I— I'd just really, really like to watch people dorkin'.
Servo: D'oh!
Mike: Hey! Tha— that doesn't even work!
Crow: [lewdly] Oh, it works, Mike. Heh heh heh.
Mike: That's enough, you two. Enough Dorkin! I—
[Mike throws his hands up in exasperation.]
Mike: You know what I mean. Stop it.
[After the latest attack by the British military on Gorgo's mom proves ineffective.]
Servo: Pacifist or not, Gandhi's gotta be chuckling right now.
[Sean watches Gorgo and his mother leave the blazing ruins of London and head back to the ocean]
Sean: She's going back now—back to the sea.
Servo [as Sean]: ...With the blood of many on her scales.
[Gorgo's mom and Gorgo continue back to the sea after demolishing London.]
Mike[As Gorgo's Mom]: C'mon son! As a treat; let's go crush France!
Servo[As Gorgo]: HOORAY!!

Video Release

Gorgomst3kdvd
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