518 - The Atomic Brain
Air Date	December 4, 1993
AKA	Monstrosity
Movie Director	Joseph V. Mascelli
Year	1964
Cast	Marjorie Eaton, Frank Gerstle, Frank Fowler
Preceded by	517 - Beginning of the End
Followed by	519 - Outlaw

Contents 1 The Short 1.1 Synopsis 1.2 Information 2 The Movie 2.1 Synopsis 2.2 Information 3 The Episode 3.1 Host Segments 3.2 Obscure References 3.3 Video Release

The Short

WHAT ABOUT JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

Synopsis

A band of no-good punks beat a guy for driving too slow and steal his mechanical pencil, before arriving to pick up their missing member Jamie, the son of the man they've just beaten. Twist!

Information

The Movie

Synopsis

Any pesky notions of Cartesian dualism are dropped like a hot potato in the premise of this bit of celluloid. Hetty March (Eaton) is a ruthless old woman with plenty of scratch. With the help of rogue physician Dr. Otto Frank (Gerstle) who labors in her basement making good use of the nuclear reactor she had installed, she intends to have her brain (through the miracle of modern 1964 atomics) transplanted into a beautiful young host body so that she can finally "be loved for herself" and not for her money. Although she would still have her money. (Anyone see a flaw in this idea?)

Her new body is to be selected from among three candidates recruited from abroad and hired on as servants. Which one will it be? Anita from Spain, Nina from Austria, or Bea from England? What happens to Victor, her gigolo / paramour / servant, once she has achieved her new look? Do the three host candidates have any inkling of what awaits them? 

And what does Xerxes the cat think of all this?

Information

The Episode

Host Segments

Prologue: Mike gushes as Crow and Tom do the final dress rehearsal for the performance piece Love Letters.

Invention Exchange (Segment One): The Bots dress up as and mock the Mads, leaving the Mads no choice but to fight fire with fire.

Segment Two: With the aid of a weather station kit, Tom has transformed himself into Weather Servo 9! He quickly learns why they normally don't leave the safety of the ship.

Segment Three: Mike shows Tom and Crow what a chin puppet is. They're disturbed by Mike's behavior... until he turns right side up.

Segment Four: Magic Voice chats with the film's voice-over guy, but quickly finds him to be loathsome.

Closing (Segment Five): Crow is Hank Kimball as The Fugitive while Mike reads letters, while despite his better judgment "Dr." Frank consents to meet Dr. Fist.

Stinger: Anita teaches us Spanish for "AAAAAAAH!"

Obscure References

• "Blanche, no! Rrrrrrrrrrrrr, dmmm dmmm dtttmm."

Inspired by the car pulling up to the gate, Servo is referencing the sororicidal scene from What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

• "Norm! Norm! Norm! Norm! Norm!" (short)

A double reference, to the character from Cheers, and to the members of the gang who are dressed identically.

• "Now, Janet..." "Dammit!"

A reference to the song "Dammit Janet" from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Video Release

• Commercially released on VHS by Rhino Entertainment in October 1997, the episode was also released at the same time as part of a 3-VHS set with I Accuse My Parents and Red Zone Cuba.
• Commercially released on DVD by Rhino in April 2003 as part of The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Volume 3, a 4-DVD set with The Unearthly, The Sidehackers and Shorts Volume 2.
• The DVD features alternate takes for the host segments from this episode.

preceded by: Season 4		MST3K Season 5					followed by: Season 6
		1993 - 1994
501	Warrior of the Lost World	1993-07-24	509	The Girl in Lovers Lane	1993-09-18	517	Beginning of the End	1993-11-25
502	Hercules	1993-07-17	510	The Painted Hills	1993-09-26	518	The Atomic Brain	1993-12-04
503	Swamp Diamonds	1993-07-31	511	Gunslinger	1993-10-09	519	Outlaw	1993-12-11
504	Secret Agent Super Dragon	1993-08-07	512	Mitchell	1993-10-23	520	Radar Secret Service	1993-12-18
505	The Magic Voyage of Sinbad	1993-08-14	513	The Brain That Wouldn't Die	1993-10-30	521	Santa Claus	1993-12-24
506	Eegah	1993-08-28	514	Teen-Age Strangler	1993-11-07	522	Teen-Age Crime Wave	1994-01-15
507	I Accuse My Parents	1993-09-04	515	The Wild Wild World of Batwoman	1993-11-13	523	Village of the Giants	1994-01-22
508	Operation Double 007	1993-09-11	516	Alien from L.A.	1993-11-20	524	12 to the Moon	1994-02-05