Entertainment
 

Hobgoblins

From MST3K

907 - Hobgoblins
Air Date June 27, 1998
Movie Director Rick Sloane
Year 1988
Preceded by 906 - The Space Children
Followed by 908 - The Touch of Satan


Contents

The Movie

Synopsis

Greydon Clark strikes again. A group of Gremlins Hobgoblins arrive in a really tiny flying saucer at a movie studio in the 1950's, but their powers to make fantasies come true have tragic results and force a security guard to lock them in a film vault. Don't worry about any of this freaking you out, because we learn all this through the magic of exposition. Yes, the security guard who locked them up has become quite the expert on these things. Probably because the only people he had to talk to over the last 30 years were exceptionally dim and greasy teenagers.

Well the latest exceptionally dim, greasy teenager is the star of our film! Makes you feel that much better already, doesn't it? Our auteur spends the first half hour of a 90 minute film establishing the following things:

  • Some teenagers really really like to have sex.
  • Some teenagers are socially awkward.
  • You don't get good help if you offer minimum wage and lousy hours.

Because you didn't know this already, right?

The rest of the movie explores what happens when prop comedy goes bad. Oh yeah, there's also a sequence at a thinly populated bar called the "Club Scum". If nothing else convinces you that yes, there is evil in this world, these scenes will. Think, this movie was paid for and foisted on an unsuspecting public--not blown up at the Nevada Test Site.

Background

Hobgoblins is a film written and directed by Rick Sloane, who personally suggested the movie to Best Brains as a candidate for the MST treatment. The Brains soon came to regret taking Sloane up on his offer; in particular, Michael J. Nelson has been quoted as saying that in his opinion, Hobgoblins is even worse than Manos: The Hands of Fate.

In 2007, Sloane announced his plans to destroy all happiness by releasing Hobgoblins 2. [1]

The Episode

Host Segments

Prologue: Due to the Robert Palmer version of the song "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On", the SOL crew have been exposed to the concept of accidental and involutary turn-ons, with even the slightest gesture being construed as a attempt to turn each other on.

Segment One: The on-turning has reached a stage of increasing malice with intentional turning on. Meanwhile Pearl is remodelling Castle Forrester, and her new couch has turned up early, having Brain Guy send it up to SOL for storage. However, Mike and the Bots jump up and down on it, with all manner of 'stainable liquids.' Pearl threatens swift retribution if they don't stop, but her words fall on deaf ears. So she sends them The Movie.

Segment Two: Due to the questionable stereotypes in the movie, Crow decides to create a film called "Let's Talk Women!", but his limited exposure to women outside of movies causes him to proclaim them to be mythical creatures. Mike's attempts to point out the flaws in the film are disregarded by the bots.

Segment Three: Crow sets up a 'crisis hotline' to help people who have seen the film Hobgoblins, but Bobo abuses Crow's goodwill to discuss another less savory crisis...

Segment Four: Continuing to use cardboard cut-outs, Mike and the Bots unsuccessfully try to flee, with Brain Guy spending fruitless minutes trying to point out to Pearl and Bobo the ruse.

Segment Five: Servo is The Terminator, having traveled back in time to "take care of" Rick Sloan. Crow's film research points out he may have had opposite effect however. With a heavy heart, Pearl takes back the couch from the immature SOL crew, but the couch is no more safe from her minions either.

Stinger: The Hobgoblins ride around in a golf cart.

Quotes and References

  • "Paige Sullivan..."
    Servo is singing the name to the tune of "Ed Sullivan" from the musical Bye Bye Birdie.
  • "This is a really cheap bio-pic on Jim Morrison..."
    Jim Morrison was the lead singer of the '60s band The Doors.
  • "We built this wing with the profits from D.C. Cab!"
    D.C. Cab is a 1983 comedy movie starring Mr. T and Gary Busey.
  • "The true story of Neil Peart."
    Neil Peart is the drummer for the Canadian progressive rock band Rush. Note that Crow mispronounces his last name as "Pert", rather than "Peert".
  • "They made love in their Chevy van, and that's NOT all right with me!"
    Crow is paraphrasing the song "Chevy Van" by Coven. Note that the van featured in this movie is actually a Dodge rather than a Chevrolet.
  • "They've stumbled onto Mel's Rock Pile!"
    "Mel's Rock Pile" was an SCTV sketch.
  • "Invest in arbitrage and read Jay McInerney!"
    Arbitrage is a term used in stock trading and other forms of high finance. Jay McInerney is best known for his 1984 novel Bright Lights, Big City, which was turned into a movie starring Michael J. Fox.
  • "I don't like Shari Lewis' new show."
    Shari Lewis was the creator and host of the educational TV show Lamb Chop's Play-Along, whose title character was a hand puppet.
  • "This guy gets his kicks calling about used Vegas!"
    The Chevrolet Vega was a compact car built during the 1970s.
  • "Wilkommen, bienvenue..."
    A reference to "Wilkommen", a song from the Broadway musical Cabaret.
  • "Fresh Fish!"
    A reference to a Laurel and Hardy sketch in which they sell fish out of a truck.
  • "The Koalas are attacking! We hate QANTAS! Grrrrr!"
    The bots point out the Hobgoblins resemblance to Koalas, making reference to the fact that QANTAS is the national airline for Australia, the animal's native country.

Video Release


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