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What sin... can a man commit in a single lifetime... to bring THIS upon himself?
- Col. Glenn Manning


The Movie[]

Main article: The Amazing Colossal Man (film)

Synopsis[]

A military pilot is exposed to radiation that causes him to grow to an unmanageable size. He experiences a mental breakdown and goes on a rampage.

The Episode[]

Host Segments[]

MST3KFort

The Bots make a fort

Prologue: Crow and Tom Servo make a fort to hide from Joel and get out of doing their chores.

Segment One (Invention Exchange): The Mads make a plant that reviews music, while Joel demonstrates a non-permanent tattoo that can be drawn on a paper wax-board and changed for your newest girlfriend.

ColossalManHost

Joel tries to teach the bots to be sensitive

Segment Two: Joel tries to teach the Bots how to be sensitive to someone whose spouse has been horrendously injured. The Bots don't get any of it.

Segment Three: Joel acts like he's 50-feet tall, and he isn't happy about it. The Bots try to help, but fail.

Segment Four: Joel and the Bots ponder what it would be like to meet the Amazing Colossal Man, and then get their chance when Glenn drops by.

Mikeascolossalman

Glenn (Michael J. Nelson) visits the Satellite of Love

Segment Five: The crew ponders other things Glenn could have done, letters are read, and Frank discovers the joys of giant syringes.

Stinger: Glenn cracks up and then convulses.

MST3K cast[]

Regular Cast

Guest Cast

Notes[]

  • Tom's unusual amount of emphasis on "your girlfriend's birthday" during the invention exchange was reportedly because Joel was having trouble remembering his cues for that segment, as reported in The Amazing Colossal Episode Guide.
  • The mirror box illusion used for the Mad's plant experiment had been recycled from their inventions in Jungle Goddess and First Spaceship on Venus.
  • The MADs introduction to the movie mentions that it's about "a giant mutated guy that doesn't star Richard Kiel". This was prior to any of Kiel's movies being on the show, most notably The Human Duplicators and Eegah.
  • This episode aired ninth during Turkey Day '91.

Callbacks[]

Goofs[]

  • During Segment Four Servo quips that Glenn "didn't exactly charm the pants off" Las Vegas during his last visit. Presumably he's referring to the giant's rampage across Vegas, which hadn't yet been seen by that point in the episode.

Obscure References[]

  • "Stop. Wait. Come back."

Reference to Willy Wonka's half-hearted attempt to stop Mike Teevee from entering the WonkaVision machine in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The actual quote is "Stop. Don't. Come Back."

  • "Jerry Paris!"

When the doctor takes off his mask he looks like Jerry Paris, best known for playing Rob Petrie's neighbor Jerry Helper on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Paris also directed the vast majority of episodes of Happy Days.

  • "It's Buddy Hackett! And Mickey Rooney too!!"

A reference to It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World where Buddy Hackett and Mickey Rooney are flying in a personal airplane with an intoxicated Jim Backus.

  • "I'm huge. Don't smoke, I'm huge now."

In a posthumously-aired, anti-smoking PSA that actor Yul Brynner filmed shortly before his death from lung cancer, he said, "Now that I'm gone, I tell you... don't smoke." One of Brynner's notable physical characteristics was his completely bald head, like Glenn's.

  • "It's just like Clifford the Big Red Dog."

Clifford the Big Red Dog, a fictional giant dog Joel mentions in the theater, is the titular protagonist of the children's book series by Norman Birdwell.

  • "Hellooooo babyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!"

The footage of the plane crash prompts Joel to reference the plane crash that claimed the life of "Chantilly Lace" singer J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson (as well as other talents Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens).

  • "Message for you sir!"

Crow takes a line from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The quote comes from Lancelot's servant Concorde, who is shot in the chest by an arrow with a letter attached to it.

MST3K_309_Promo

MST3K 309 Promo

  • "The horror! The horror!!" "I feel like choppin' a cow in half!"

Quoting Marlon Brando's famous line as Colonel Kurtz at the end of Apocalypse Now. "I feel like chopping a cow in half" describes the grisly scene of a cow being butchered by natives while Kurtz is being assassinated.

  • "Hey it's Peter Garrett from Midnight Oil!" "Oh the power and the passion!"

Midnight Oil was an Australian rock band featuring vocalist Peter Garrett who sang one of their flagship songs "Power and the Passion". The reference here being that like Glenn Manning, Peter Garrett is notably bald. Mike-as-Glenn also makes mention of this resemblance in the fourth host segment.

  • "Lockhorns. She burnt the dinner again, he came home late."

The Lockhorns is a long-running newspaper comic strip about a perpetually-squabbling married couple.

  • "Ya-da-da-da-da-di-da-da-da-da!"

The melody Tom sings when Glenn punches the tent is the intro of a composition called "Entrance of the Gladiators", written by Czech composer Joseph Fucik in 1897. Originally a military march, a somewhat revised version gained popularity in North America and is now widely associated with circuses and circus acts.

A bestselling 1979 book that advocates the concept of "laugh therapy," using humor as a way of helping the body heal from illness.

Memorable Quotes[]

Dr. Forrester: Your experiment Joel is the only film about a giant mutated guy that doesn't star Ted Cassidy or Richard Keil. It's 'The Amazing Colossal Man.' Put "The Hurt" on them Frank!
Frank: Live to serve ya!
[Colonel Manning running out to save the pilot before the bomb goes off.]
Servo [as Manning standing before the bomb.]: Hey! FM Stereo! It's a really... wait a minute... what the Hell am I doing out here!? (Bomb goes off.) WWWAAAAUUUGGHH!!
[After the bomb explosion, the doctor working on Manning tries to console his worried fiancé.]
Doctor: Your name was the only thing he spoke.
Servo: Well that and AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
[Crow comments on the newspaper headline 'US ENTERS KOREAN WAR' cut off by the screen.]
Crow: "S" ENTERS KOREAN "WA"!
[Manning during his dream revisiting the same place where he felt the bomb blast.]
Servo [As Manning]: Oh no... Again?... I got to do this? (Bomb goes off). NOOOOOOOO!!!!


[Scene where a now giant Glenn Manning and his fiance Carol are having a conversation among themselves. Also the scene used in the Penn Jillette presentation 'This is Mst3k!' comparing the riffed and non-riffed version.]

Carol: The doctors are working night and day to find a cure. They fell that if maybe they can stop your growth they may be able to bring you back to normal.
Servo: Uh...define normal.
Glenn: ....You don't really believe that....
Servo: ....I don't....
Glenn: They'll never find a cure for me....
Joel [As Carol]: Well I was just trying to make conversation! GEEZ!!
Carol: ...Are you alright? Shall I call for Dr. Linstrom?
Servo [As Manning]: Nope...nope...cut-offs are just a little tight.....Thighs are bulging out.
Glenn: No...I'm alright...I'm alright. It's just.....I don't want to grow anymore.
Joel: I'm a Toys'R'Us kid.
Glenn: I DON'T WANT TO GROW ANYMORE!!!
Joel: I'M A TOYS'R'US KID!!
Servo: (Making a mock crying noise as Glenn gets up and leaves.)
Crow: Big baby....
Servo: (Looking at Glenn) Looks like it..
Crow: (Looking where Glenn was sitting.) OH!! That's the problem...He was sitting on a bush!!
Carol: Glenn! Glenn!......Glenn.
Joel: I don't believe he doesn't want a ride home....
Crow [As Eric approaching Carol]: Have you "seen" Glenn?
--------
[Joel and the bots encounter "Glenn Manning" as played by Mike Nelson.]
Joel: Well gee Glenn, what are you standing on there?
Mike as Glenn: I dunno... some planet I guess. Supposed to be "good for ya." Earth I think. (Sniffs the air.) Yeah... Baltimore.
[After Mike as Glenn bitterly reflects on his past "career", Servo reminds him of the climactic scene in the movie.]
Servo: Well you didn't exactly charm the pants of them last time you were in Vegas Glenn. Heh heh....
Mike as Glenn: ....You think I'm a freak don't you!?
Servo: Uh oh....
Crow: Oh..."Way to go" Servo!
Joel: (As "Glenn" starts shaking the SOL) Whoa! Everybody hold onto something!!
Mike as Glenn: That's right! I'm a freak!! I look like Peter Garrett, I dress like Sabu for God's sake and I eat livestock by the handfuls!! I bet you just wanna run home and tell all your buddies about the half-naked circus freak don't you "Sergeant!?" That's right!! Everybody take a big, steamy gawk at the circus freak!! Ah ha ha ha...ACH! (Starts clutching his chest)..ACH!!...ARRRGGHH!! Oh...my heart! I've gotta go! (Leaves the SOL and the crew safely behind.

Video Release[]

  • Commercially released on VHS by Rhino Entertainment in April 1996, the tape was later recalled due to rights issues involving the eleven AIP features owned by Susan Hart. This is the only VHS release that has never been re-released on DVD. The host segments are available on the Satellite Dishes disc included in Volume XXXIX.

References[]


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