Entertainment
 

Laserblast

From MST3K

706 - Laserblast
Air Date March 18, 1996
Movie Director Michael Rae
Year 1978
Cast Kim Milford, Cheryl Smith, Gianni Russo, Ron Masak, Eddie Deezen, Keenan Wynn, Roddy McDowall
Preceded by 705 - Escape 2000
Followed by 801 - Revenge of the Creature


Contents

The Movie

Synopsis

Alien creatures kill a mutated alien creature in the California desert. Its remains, and the high-tech laser gun and power source accidentally left behind, are found by an ostracized teenager. However, the power source causes the teenager to mutate, too, and he goes on a murderous rampage. Eventually, the first aliens return to kill him as well, and then forget to take the gun again.
Mike and the Bots riff on "Laserblast"

[1]

Information

"Are you ready for some FOOTBALL!"
  • Roddy McDowall's name is misspelled in the ending credits as "Roddy McDowell".
  • This is the only film wherein Eddie Deezen plays a bully. In every other film he plays a (usually picked-on) nerdy character.
  • Alien conversation from the movie is used in the opening of "A Dios Alma Perdida" by Static-X.
  • Billy Duncan, literally armed with the laser cannon, blows up a Star Wars billboard late in the film.
  • The "East Coast, Southern California" town depicted in the final scene is actually a left over 1920's Chicago set. Note the "S.M.C. Cartage Co." building in the background after Billy gets vapour actioned to death. The infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre took place in the S.M.C. Cartage Company garage, Chicago 1929.
  • The first film to feature the stop-motion animation of Dave Allen.
  • The only film Michael Rae has ever directed.
  • This was the debut film for composers Richard Band and Joel Goldsmith.
  • Makeup artist Steve Neill plays the alien who is killed in the opening scene.
  • Keenan Wynn's scenes were shot in one day.
  • An early promotional article on the film misspelled the title "Laser Blast", whereas the films official title is spelled as one word.
  • Steve Neill, who was makeup artist on the film, also designed and created the alien ray gun and the pendant.

The Episode

Host Segments

Mike as Janeway
Dr. F pulls the plug

Prologue: Against Mike's will, Crow and Tom present the subtile nuances of The Thunderdome Joke.

Segment One: Dr. F’s funding has been cut, so he disconnects the Umbilicus, setting the SOL loose. He's moving out of Deep 13 with help from Pearl. Gypsy and Tom manage to fix the ship so they have thrusters, but no control. They drift out of Earth's orbit and begin to head into deep space.

Segment Two: The SOL is visited by Monad, an annoying robot relative of Nomad. He is taunted and confused by the SOL crew, and so Mike is able to boot Monad out of the airlock with no problem.

Segment Three: The SOL hits a field of star babies - and one of them needs a diaper change. Mike plays Ground Control ala Apollo 13 as Servo and Crow go out into space to get the little...er, big one taken care of.

Segment Four: With the SOL heading toward a black hole, Mike takes charge the only way he can: he becomes Captain Kathryn Janeway. It works, but it ends in a very weird manner.

Segment Five: The SOL reaches the edge of the universe and the crew transform themselves into noncorporeal beings of pure energy. In Deep 13, Dr. F becomes unstuck in time, has a revelation and is reborn in a sequence that pays tribute to the final sequence in 2001, right down to the broken goblet. Pearl rejoices at her second chance to raise him right, but Dr. F's only response? "Oh, poopie."

Stinger: The freaky hippie dude says, "Faaar out!"

Other Notes

Dr. F Starbaby

Guest Stars

Miscellanea

  • Trace Beaulieu's final appearance as Dr. Clayton Forrester and Crow T. Robot.
  • The Final Episode of the Comedy Central era.
  • The final host segment was a tribute to 2001: A Space Odyssey.
  • At the beginning, Dr. Forrester said that Leonard Maltin gave the movie 2 1/2 stars. During the movie's closing credits, Mike and the 'bots looked up other movies in his book that had worse ratings than Laserblast. Marathon Man, Hannah And Her Sisters, and Unforgiven were among those who had a worse or an equal rating.

Obscure References

Final Credit
  • "Norelco's secret plan for world domination! Even its name spells 'Merry Christmas'!"

A reference to a Christmas-themed commercial for Norelco electric shavers, in which Santa was shown flying on an electric razor while the letters in "NORELCO" started disappearing to form "NOEL".

  • "You ever notice how Haile Selassie is God?"

Haile Selassie was the last emperor of Ethiopia, and is believed to have been God incarnate by Rastafarians.

  • "'Sister Mary Elephant' is funny!"

"Sister Mary Elephant" was a comedy routine by Cheech and Chong.

  • "Meanwhile, on 'Quark'..."

Quark was short-lived sci-fi sitcom that aired in 1977-78.

  • "It's Rover from 'The Prisoner'!"

On the cult classic 1960s British TV series The Prisoner, Rover was an orb-like entity that hunted and intercepted people who tried to escape from the Village.

  • "If I built a fortress around your heart..."

A quote from the Sting song "Fortress Around Your Heart".

  • "Ecuadorian bat boy found alive in cave!"

A reference to an infamous Weekly World News headline.


Trivia

  • In the game Borderlands, available for the PS3, XBOX360, and PC, there is an achievement/trophy that is called "Can't We Get BEYOND Thunderdome?" A callback to the infamous joke.


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