MST3K
Register
Advertisement

"I suppose you're wondering when the Terror from the Year 5000 will show up. My apologies. It is taking rather long, but we're trying to pace ourselves."
- Servo


The Movie[]

Main article: Terror from the Year 5000 (film)

Synopsis[]

A scientist experimenting with time travel technology makes contact with a ravaged future Earth. An envoy from the future travels back to the modern day and disrupts the experiment.

The Episode[]

Host Segments[]

  • ObserversSing

    The Observers sing

    Prologue Tom Servo orders a coat from a catalog that is comfort-rated. He proceeds to comfort-rate everything on the ship...everything.
  • Segment 1 Pearl and Bobo have worn out their welcome, and The Observers make them fight each other to the death before they dissect them. The Satellite of Love crew don't respond to the Observers' mental commands, so they are forced to resort to a game of Charades to communicate.
  • Segment 2 The Observers reveal that they no longer eat food, but pills. However, the pills have extremely limited nutritional value. Mike makes the pills into a nice parmesan-encrusted pill cakes.
    TimemachineTerror5000

    Mike, Crow, and the time machine

  • Segment 3 Mike has the Nanites whip up a time machine and uses Crow to test it by sending him to see his family in Wisconsin. Crow spends eleven years there and has a wonderful time, yet forgets to tell the Nelsons anything about Mike's fate. He also has a dalliance with Mike's ex-girlfriend, whom he nicknamed "Ginger-SNAP", which devastates Mike.
  • Segment 4 The crew debates yodeling-styles (they were debating what Jimmy Rogers sounded like), which torments the Observers. They respond with music of their own, a sweet little song called "When I Held Your Brain in My Arms". The SOL crew is impressed.
    BeezTerror

    Beth McKeever as The Terror

  • Final Segment Crow brags some more about his exploits with Mike's girlfriend. Mike sets Crow up with a date courtesy of the time machine...the Terror herself. Meanwhile, Pearl defeats Bobo, but refuses to kill him. Her impassioned speech touches the Observers, until Bobo comes back and starts the fight again.
  • Stinger The Observers present their brains...yet again, this time smiling.

MST3K cast[]

Regular cast

Guest cast

Trivia[]

  • The Observers forcing Pearl and Bobo to engage in combat is a nod to the Star Trek episode "The Gamesters of Triskelion", in which Captain Kirk, Lt. Uhura, and Ensign Chekov are abducted and forced to engage in gladiatorial combat for the entertainment of a trio of disembodied brains known as The Providers. The speech Pearl gives in the final host segment is stylistically reminiscent of the ones Kirk would frequently give.
  • “When I Held Your Brain in My Arms” was the first original song on the show since Dr. F bade farewell to Frank in Samson vs. The Vampire Women.
  • This episode aired second during Sci-Fi Channel's Thanksgiving Marathon.
  • "When I Held Your Brain In My Arms" is done in the style of old pop/jazz vocal groups like the Ink Spots or the Mills Brothers, who were the direct precursors to Doo Wop.

Callbacks[]

Running Jokes[]

  • Servo keeps impersonating the narrator's booming declarations of the TERROR FROM THE YEAR 5000 to apologize and make excuses for the TERROR's failure to show up until about an hour into the movie.
    • Tom: "I realize I may have oversold the "terror" at the beginning, and for that I apologize."
  • The pale, flabby, unattractive physiques of the lead characters when they get into their bathing suits.
  • Riffs based upon Bob's haircut making him resemble a Drill Sergeant.
  • Bob's secretary supposedly having a hair-trigger temper.

Obscure References[]

  • "Are you ready for some TERRRRRORRRRRRRRR..."

Mike seems to be combining the slogan for ABC's Monday Night Football ("Are you ready for some football?") with the catchphrase of boxing ring announcer Michael Buffer: "Let's get ready to RUMBLE..."

The famous German synth-pop group Kraftwerk is famous for showing no emotion as they perform.

  • "Martin Bormann: Stock Car Racer."

Martin Bormann was head of The National Socialist German Worker's Party and private secretary to Adolf Hitler.

  • "I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine!"

A lyric from the song "One Night in Bangkok" from the stage musical Chess.

  • "Funky little shack! Funky little shack!"

Lyrics from the B-52s Song "Love Shack".

  • "I'm going to the city to be a stud."

A reference to the film Midnight Cowboy, in which the protagonist Joe Buck had plans to leave his hometown in Texas and go off to New York to act as a prostitute for rich women.

  • Servo: "He..." Mike: "He was a small, oily man..."

Mike and Tom are singing to the tune of the Beatles' song "She's Leaving Home".

  • "They whacked Toonces!" "He killed a made canary."

A reference to the "Toonces, The Driving Cat" sketches from Saturday Night Live, which involved a cat who could indeed drive, but would inevitably drive off a cliff. In Mob circles, a "made man" is someone who has been inducted into the actual La Cosa Nosta organization, and killing them without permission of a boss would be punishable by death.

  • "Hey! Here's a great new essay by Susan Sontag."

Susan Sontag was a social and political essayist known for her radical commentaries on subjects like war, AIDS and human rights.

  • "Augusta National. Proud to be restrictive."

Augusta National is an exclusive golf course that was criticized for its former policies on not allowing African Americans or women to join, as well as requiring all caddies to be black.

  • "NyaaaahhhhAHHH!"

Referring to the wailing cry of Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song".

  • "We got some good songs too. Like um...like 'Cherry Pie'...and 'Silver Thunderbird'." "Yeah. And what's that one Asia song?" (The bots begin making annoying sounds.)

"Cherry Pie" is a song from the band Warrant, while "Silver Thunderbird" is a ballad sung by Marc Cohn. "That one Asia Song" Crow is thinking of is "Only Time Will Tell".

  • "Never get off the gosh-darn boat! Absolutely golly-darn right...”

Mike is parodying a line from Apocalypse Now! said by Captain Willard when he and fellow crew member Chef hurry back to their boat after unexpectedly getting attacked by a tiger.

  • "The nurse is coming from inside the house!"

The babysitter and the man upstairs is an urban legend that dates back to the 1960s about a teenage girl babysitting children who is harassed by a series of anonymous telephone calls wherein she is told to "check the children." She eventually calls the police, and, after tracing the next call, they tell her, "The calls are coming from inside the house."

  • "Brought to you by a grant from the Onan Family Foundation."

The Onan Family Foundation is a philanthropic organization that gives grants to various organizations in the Minneapolis area, but the reference is also to Onan, a character in the Bible, the source of the term "onanism" which generally refers to masturbation. Angelo is leaving his shack full of dirty pictures at the time.

  • "Dressed like Pagliacci"

Crow is referencing the "sparkling" outfit of the woman from the future, with the large circular attachments. Pagliacci is an Italian opera, whose main character is Canio, an actor playing a character named Pagliaccio in a comedic play (the opera itself is a tragedy). Pagliaccio wears a distinctive white outfit with large buttons on the front.

Memorable Quotes[]

Narrator: Now, in an isolated area of central Florida, man struggles to penetrate the imposing barrier of all...
Sevo: Dames!
[Two scientists are looking at a statue of unknown origin]:
Scientist 1: Now there's an interesting sample!
Crow: Now there's an interesting line read!
Scientist 1: What is it?
Scientist 2: Don't know yet.
Servo: Remember, when making a dramatic film, be sure to use genuine actors.
Claire: I thought scientists were great explorers of the unknown.
Dr. Hedges: I'll do my exploring in the laboratory, if you don't mind.
Servo [as Hedges]: I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine! [N]
Servo: All these random scenes simply abut each other to form a movie.
[Claire takes a reluctant Dr. Hedges to a pier after answering about two dozen stupid questions from him.]
Mike [as Hedges]: Now what's going on?
Servo [as Hedges]: Who's that other guy?
Crow [as Hedges]: Where are we going?
Mike [as Hedges]: What is this fluid under my feet?
Servo [as Hedges]: What happened to the day-ball?
Crow: Let's chip in and buy this movie a life.
[On the creek bottom, Bob Hedges finds the chest containing the dead cat.]
Mike: Hey! They whacked Toonces!
Crow: Well, he killed a made canary, so they had to do 'im.
Dr. Erling: Think, Bob. Throughout human history, what has been the first activity of explorers of any new region?
Crow [as Hedges]: Genocide?
Mike [as Hedges]: Slavery?
Servo [as Hedges]: Diseased blanket spreading?
[Bob Hedges, Claire, and her father have some time to kill while waiting for Victor's test results.]
Hedges: Is there a good movie in town?
Mike[snorts] Now we get to watch people watching a movie? What is that all about?
Crow: Heh heh heh!
[Mike and Crow consider what they're saying.]
Mike, Crow: Oh.
[Victor packs a suitcase and leaves the house]
Crow [as Victor/Joe Buck]: I'm goin' to the city to be a stud.
Mike: Please! That's a hideous thought.
Servo: This is the same sumptuously detailed set that was later used in The Age of Innocence!
Crow: Or was it Sense and Sensibility?
Mike: I think it was Barfly.
Crow: Yeah, that's it.
The Terror: Our history clearly details how the women of the twentieth century stood idly by while the atmosphere was being contaminated....
Crow: Message coming in....!
The Terror: ....And the children of the future doomed!!
Claire: You!! You’re that “thing” that killed Angelo!
The Terror: I did not wish to. He surprised me! He would’ve spoiled my mission!
Mike: Yeah, “Cunning Angelo!” (The bots snicker.)
Crow: Remember! Always moisturize and use a sunscreen!!
Mike: And don’t bob for French Fries!!
Tom: Marry only UN approved attractive people!! (Mike and the bots make goofy sounds as they leave the theater with a still shot of The Terror’s buck-toothed face.) Duh hoo hoo hee hee hyuk hyuk hoo hoo...Good night!...dum dee dum dum hoo....!!

Video releases[]

A home video release of this episode is not currently forthcoming due to rights issues involving the eleven AIP features owned by Susan Hart. However, the host segments are available on the Satellite Dishes disc included in Volume XXXIX.

Advertisement