Entertainment
 

The Deadly Mantis

From MST3K

804 - The Deadly Mantis
Air Date February 22, 1997
AKA Incredible Praying Mantis
Movie Director Nathan Juran
Year 1957
Cast Craig Stevens
William Hopper
Alix Talton
Don Randolph
Preceded by 803 - The Mole People
Followed by 805 - The Thing That Couldn't Die


Contents

The Movie

Synopsis

The villain is a huge, carnivorous praying mantis. After the titular insect has attacked several people in a remote Arctic region, Col. Joe Parkham (Stevens) swings into action. Parkham and his associates, Dr. Ned Jackson (Hopper) and Ned's assistant Margie Blake (Talton), track the predatory mantis as it heads southward to Washington, DC. The green monstrosity meets its Waterloo in the "Manhattan Tunnel," where it's bombarded with poison gas. [1]

Information

  • Some of the Arctic scenes in The Deadly Mantis were clumsily culled from the 1933 drama SOS Iceberg and a handful of Air Force training films. [2]

The Episode

Host Segments

Earth blows up
  • Prologue It's business casual day on the Satellite of Love. Tom makes up useless dress codes and implies that Mike is breaking them. Mike counters that they're not a business so the entire exercise is foolish.
  • Segment 1 In Deep Ape Bobo and Dr. Peanut are helping theirs friends from the mutant H-Bomb cult (Beth "Beez" McKeever, Bill Corbett and Paul Chaplin) reactivate the nuclear warhead that they worship. Though the apes are struggling at first a helpful suggestion from Mike sets them on the right track and they repair the bomb quickly. Pearl sees this and tells Bobo to start Mike's movie while she flees. Mike begs the nanites to repair The Satellite of Love and only finds one on duty that day. The lone nanite refuses to do it without a work order. After some arguing Mike's work order is found. The nanite repairs the SOL so rapidly Mike doesn't notice the control panel that instantly sprung up on the table in front of him. He steers the satellite to a safe distance seconds before the bomb detonates.
  • Segment 2 Tom puts on a minister's vestments and performs a eulogy for Pearl and the other inhabitants of the planet Earth. Their solemn service is interrupted when Peaarl turns out to be alive. She's in her van, The Widowmaker, with a revolver trying to shoot the Satellite of Love. Pearl discovers that Bobo has stowed away on her space van. She hands him a gun but Bobo only manages to shoot himself in the foot twice. Gypsy takes control of the ship and evades Pearl by hiding behind an asteroid.
  • Segment 3 Mike dozes off at the wheel of the Satellite of Love. He and the bots try to stay awake by listening to the space radio. All the channels they can pick up only play space country and western music, much to everyone's annoyance.
  • Segment 4 Tom tries his hand at steering the satellite. He accidentally hits a space creature. Crow go to check on the blue, blob-like creature (Patrick Brantseg) and brings it inside. The creature proceeds to eat Crow. After several failed rescue attempts Mike gets the creature to regurgitate Crow, though he comes out partially digested.
  • Final Segment Crow serves Mike and Tom a mysterious meatloaf which turns out to be the creature that ate Crow in the last segment. Mike receives a letter from Dr. Peanut who was blasted back to the 22nd century somehow. Dr. Peanut is dating someone who may be Mike's future great granddaughter. Pearl calls to swear she will never give up her pursuit of Mike and the SOL.
  • Stinger Horny Soldier: She's like a butterfly flying across the lily pond

Quotes and References

Pearl survives
  • Narrator: For every action...

Mike: There is a Jackson!
 Action Jackson was a 1988 police action movie starring Carl Weathers. It's considered one of the last of the classic style blaxploitation films ever made.

  • Mike: Summon Queequeg, it's the great white one.

Queequeg was the master harpooner of the Pequod in the book Moby Dick.

  • Crow: Oh no, they let Stan Laurel watch the hut.

Stan Laurel was the thin, simple minded bumbler from the old time comedy duo Laurel and Hardy.

  • Crow: You know, maybe the army shouldn't have recruited Keith Moon.

Keith Moon was the drummer for The Who, a band notorious for causing major damage to hotel suites with their wild parties. There are several stories of Keith Moon throwing furniture off of hotel balconies and flushing cherry bombs down hotel toilets.

  • Mike: Men, commence tapping the Rockies.

"Tap The Rockies" was the former advertising slogan of Coors Light beer.

  • Tom:...Herbie the misfit elf is wanted for questioning.

Herbie is a character from the stop-motion Christmas cartoon Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

  • Tom: I've got a callback for Carousel

Carousel is a Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical. A callback is a request for an actor to return for another audition after a successful first audition or screen test.

  • Crow: Charles De Gaulle - security guard."

Charles De Gaulle was a French colonel and freedom fighter in WWII. He became the French Prime Minister in the 60's.

  • Crow: Damn, another 10,000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire.

Referring to the Beatles song "A Day in The Life". The original lyrics are "I read the news today oh boy | Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire | And though the holes were rather small | They had to count them all"

  • Crow: It's the Mighty Quinn!

The Mighty Quinn is a fictional Eskimo character from the Manfred Mann folk-rock song of the same name.

  • Mike: He's trading in his Chevy for a Kayak-ak-ak-ak-ak!

Mike is parodying the Billy Joel song "Movin' Out". The original line is "He's trading in his Chevy for a Cadillac-ac-ac-ac."

  • Tom: Charles Whitman Lends a hand.

Charles Whitman was the mass murderer who killed or wounded 45 people when he brought a case of long range hunting rifles and shotguns up to the top of the clock tower at the University of Texas and opened fire on the crowd below in 1966.

  • Mike: Ahhh... Pismo Beach and all the clams I can eat!

Mike if paraphrasing the Bugs Bunny cartoon "Ali Baba Bunny."

  • Crow: The USS Walter Payton.

Walter Payton was an all-star halfback in the 70's. His jersey number was 34.

  • Crow: Quick! Poopie suits on!

Crow is referencing the running gag from Episode 612 - The Starfighters.

  • Tom: She has a temp job as Baskerville castle.

Mike: She's a waitress at the International House of Usher.</br> The Hound of the Baskervilles and Fall of the House of Usher are two suspense tales set in foggy moors of England. They were written by Arthur Conan Doyle (as part of his Sherlock Holmes series) and Edgar Allen Poe, respectively.

  • Tom: What color is that parachute.

"What Color Is Your Parachute?" is a self-help book about career choices and navigating the job market.

  • Mike: Kelsey, throw us the keys.

Kelsey Grammer is a TV actor who got into a car accident while intoxicated the year before this episode aired.

  • Tom: This is a bug hunt man, a bug hunt!

A phrase uttered by Bill Paxton in the movie Aliens.

Catchphrases


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