MST3K 907 - Hobgoblins

“	It's the Eighties! Do a lot of coke and vote for Ronald Reagan!	”
	- Mike

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

The Movie

Synopsis

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.

The security guard arrives to save the day.

In the present day, the security guard's new, young assistant inadvertently lets the creatures loose, and he and his friends have to round them up before they cause more chaos.

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.
• The character actor who plays the bouncer in this film, Duane Whitaker, later got the role of the pawn shop owner in the 1994 hit film Pulp Fiction. This happened after filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, who worked at a videostore at the time, saw Duane in this film and the rest is history.
• The band playing at Club Scum are The Fontanelles, a relatively well-known punk rock group in the Los Angeles underground music scene at one time. The song they are performing is one of their better known releases, Kiss Kicker '99.  The actual studio version can be heard here.
• During the flashback where Mr. McCreedy describes how he first encountered the hobgoblins, he can be seen holding a promotional flyer for The Visitants, one of Rick Sloane's previous films.

• In 2007, Sloane announced his plans to make Hobgoblins 2. And indeed he did in 2009. [1]
• Hobgoblins was one of the films selected to be part of the Hulu series "Thirteen Nights of Elvira" in 2014.

Mike and the Bots place dummy versions of themselves in an ill-conceived attempt to escape both the movie & the SOL.

The Episode

Mike, Crow, and Servo regret jumping on Pearl's couch.

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 reminds him of Pearl, but chokes when Crow demands that Mike name one other woman.

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 Sloane. 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 & References

• "We on the road to nowhere...come on inside!"
  While Dennis is living his fantasy of being a rockstar, Crow sings the song "Road to Nowhere" by Talking Heads.

• "Paige Sullivan..."
  Servo is singing the name to the tune of "Ed Sullivan" from the musical Bye Bye Birdie.
• As the name "TAMI BAKKE" appears: “Is she related to Wacky T. Bakke?”
  Wacky Tobacky (sp) is a colloquial name for marijuana, derived from the fact that it is often smoked like tobacco, but renders the user "wacky".

• "This is a really cheap bio-pic on Jim Morrison..."
  Jim Morrison was the lead singer of the '60s band The Doors.

• "We paid for this wing with the profits from D.C. Cab!"
  D.C. Cab is a 1983 comedy movie starring Mr. T.

• "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 Sammy Johns. 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 a recurring SCTV sketch in which the nebbishy Mel (played by Eugene Levy) played music while his teenage audience danced around him (and often made fun of him).
• "Take on me...take, me, on!"
  Lyrics from the a-ha song "Take On Me". The video takes place inside of a newspaper comic, which the black and white security cam footage resembles.
• "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.
• "That's not a woman, that's David Lee Roth"

David Lee Roth is a heavy metal/hard rock volcalist and known for wearing spandex clothing. Crow refers to David Lee Roth when Fantasia is trying to push the car down the hill, in which her spandex pants are visible.

• "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 like the hobgoblins, but slightly less creepy.

• "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 (and a comparison of the androgynous MC at Club "Scum" with the androgynous MC in that movie.)
• "Wow, this makes me want to take out my extensive Adam Ant collection"
  Adam Ant is the alias of British punk/rock musician Stuart Leslie Goddard. He was lead singer of the band Adam and the Ants during the late 70's and early 80's before going solo.

• "'Hobgoblins' is usually shown on a double bill with 'The Harder They Come'."
  The Harder They Come is a 1972 film starring reggae musician Jimmy Cliff. The implication is that being stoned will make Hobgoblins more watchable.

• "Pinky! Brain!"
  A reference to the Animaniacs characters Pinky and the Brain.
• "Fresh Fish!"
  A reference to a Laurel and Hardy sketch in which they sell fish out of a truck.
• "He found Ben Stein's money!"

Win Ben Stein's Money was a Comedy Central gameshow from the late 90's. The prize money was actually put up by the show's sponsors.

• "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

Hobgoblins director Rick Sloane being interrogated by Tom Servo and the gang.

• Commercially released on DVD by Rhino in November 2005 as part of The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Volume 8, a 4-DVD set with The Phantom Planet, Monster A-Go Go, and The Dead Talk Back.

External links

• The Annotated Hobgoblins by Michael Cheyne

preceded by: Season 8			MST3K Season 9			followed by: Season 10
			1998
901	The Projected Man	1998-03-14	906	The Space Children	1998-06-13	911	Devil Fish	1998-08-15
902	The Phantom Planet	1998-03-21	907	Hobgoblins	1998-06-27	912	The Screaming Skull	1998-08-29
903	The Pumaman	1998-04-04	908	The Touch of Satan	1998-07-11	913	Quest of the Delta Knights	1998-09-26
904	Werewolf	1998-04-18	909	Gorgo	1998-07-18
905	The Deadly Bees	1998-05-09	910	The Final Sacrifice	1998-07-25