“ | "It's a civilization of elderly great-aunts." | ” |
- Tom Servo |
- This article is about Experiment #803. For the Mads' Mole People assistants, see Gerry and Sylvia.
The Movie[]
- Main article: The Mole People (film)
Synopsis[]
A subterranean expedition discovers a hidden society deep beneath the surface of the Earth.
The Episode[]
Host Segments[]
Prologue: Crow claims he's a space child because he has replaced his normal inanimate eyes with glowing balls. His "Supreme Leader" orders him to enslave Mike, Tom and Gypsy, but he can't get it together and naturally, they remain un-enslaved.
Segment One: It's Lawgiver Daze! Pearl Forrester forces her simian charges to honor her with a celebration and parade. Professor Bobo, uncomfortable doing any of it, ends up kneeling before her begging to be killed. The S.O.L. is ordered to make baked goods for the event. Servo makes a variety of similar-looking but differently-named folded pastries. Crow makes a mile-high meringue pie that is actually a mile high. He climbs up to slice the pie for Mike, but loses his balance and falls one mile down, landing painfully.
Segment Two: Mike dresses up as the "Gesture Professor" from the prologue of The Mole People. The 'Bots have to talk Mike down to the point where he's trying to give a little levity and then he gets "jumped all over". He then finally apologizes to them about the skit. (Mike: "We'll be right— [into character] —down, down, down...–"
Crow & Servo: [O.S.] "Mike!")
Segment Three: Tom tries to play the mandolin and sing a ballad about what he’s been up to for the past five hundred years, but cannot properly tune the instrument. After getting the tune right, Tom then does proceed to his song, only to have one of the mandolin strings snapping and hitting Mike's eye. Tom finally gives up shortly before Movie Sign.
Segment Four: Crow, the archeologist, searches for evidence of a previous Crow and has a breakthrough. As Mike talks it out with Crow's 500-year loneliness, he goes through a short state of realization and suddenly remembers Mike. (Crow: [O.S.] Get me a spot, will you!?)
Segment Five: Crow believes there’s life beneath the floorboards of the SOL, and he’s right. (Mike: "Well, we better call Orkin!") On Earth, the Lawgiver is presented with a hunky gift - a speechless human named Howard.
Stinger: Nestor Paiva reaches his limit
MST3K cast[]
Regular cast
- Michael J. Nelson - Mike Nelson
- Mary Jo Pehl - Pearl Forrester
- Bill Corbett - Crow T. Robot
- Kevin Murphy - Tom Servo / Professor Bobo
- Jim Mallon - Gypsy
Guest cast
- Michael J. Nelson - Dr. Peanut
- Paul Chaplin - Background Ape #1 / Pale Day Player #1
- Bill Corbett - Background Ape #2
- Jim Mallon - Background Ape #3
- Patrick Brantseg - Pale Day Player #2
- Robert Smith - Howard
Trivia[]
- The 1st host segment features the first of several instances where Crow falls from a great height.
- Though it's only visible for a brief instance, the Polaroid in Host Segment 3 is indeed a picture of Crow.
- Features a special guest star: Robert Smith, a star running back of the Minnesota Vikings. Celebrity guests were extremely rare during the original run of MST3K (see also Leonard Maltin).
- The Mole People had been considered as an experiment for the entire run of the show. Gerry and Sylvia, Dr. Forrester's camera crew and go-fers during the first few seasons of the show, were inspired by the creatures in the film.
Running Jokes[]
- Referring to Lafarge exclusively as "the load."
- Mike's "Going down, down, down..." and the Bots telling him to stop.
- "...Pilgrim."
- How Bentley (John Agar) supposedly never stops talking.
- Adad appears to be playing a banjo. Servo substitutes hillbilly music accordingly.
- The albino guys being compared to elves, or Smurfs or other small races.
Quotes & References[]
- "It's a jump to the left."
A reference to the song "The Time Warp", in which one chorus presents the instructions to the dance given by the Narrator /Criminologist in his office at his desk (the character of the Criminologist in The Rocky Horror Picture Show was inspired by the heavy-handed narrators in old sci-fi movies like this one).
- "Oh, these are the people who make that nice Mexican sauce!"
Molé sauce, or simply molé ("molé sauce" is redundant), is a concoction made from peppers, spices, and unsweetened chocolate. Molé comes in a myriad of varieties.
- "Mike, I don't love you anymore because the mountains are crumbling [possibly mumbled: 'into the sea'?]"
Could be a reference to the Led Zeppelin song "Thank You" ("If the mountains should crumble to the sea, there would still be you and me.") which in itself is probably a reference to the Ben E. King song "Stand By Me" which also talks of mountains crumbling into the sea.
- "Oh, Pilate's favorite! What I wouldn't give to be spat upon!"
Paraphrase of "Ohh! What wouldn't I give to be spat at in the face! I sometimes hang awake at night dreaming of being spat at in the face." from Monty Python's Life of Brian.
- "Earthquake, shut up already, damn!"
A parody of the song "Housequake" from Prince's 1987 album Sign 'O' the Times.
- "Get the tiny Zig-Zags!"
The leaf in seen on screen vaguely resembles a cannabis leaf, and Zig-Zag is a brand of rolling papers.
- "It's Baby Jessica! She's digging her own way out!"
Jessica McClure, widely known as "Baby Jessica", fell into a well in her aunt's backyard in Midland, Texas, on October 14, 1987, at the age of 18 months. It took 56 hours for rescuers to successfully free her. The story galvanized worldwide attention and was later featured in the 1989 ABC television movie Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure.
- "Thank you, Hannah Arendt."
Hannah Arendt was a political theorist whose books were mainly concerned with the nature of power and evil, as well as politics, direct democracy, authority, and totalitarianism. She is best remembered for the controversy surrounding the trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann, her attempt to explain how ordinary people become actors in totalitarian systems, and for the phrase "the banality of evil".
- "I love my BluBlockers!"
Servo is referencing an old BluBlocker sunglasses cable television commercial featuring an impromptu rap by MC Dr. Geek, who was a quirky Venice Beach persona.
Memorable Quotes[]
- [The film begins with an introduction from Professor Frank C. Baxter of the University of Southern California.]
- Baxter: This is science fiction of course. It's a fiction, it's a fable.
- Mike: It's a fabulous funny freak-out.
- Baxter: But I think if you study this picture and think about it, when it's over...
- Crow: You'll feel dirty.
- Baxter: You'll realize that this is something more than just a story told.
- Servo: It's a story botched.
- Baxter: It's a fable with a meaning and a significance for you and for me in the 20th century. Thank you, and goodbye.
- Mike: Peanut nostrils happy clams.
- [The opening credits scroll out of a huge crater]
- Mike: Mt. Pinatubo erupted yesterday, spewing movie credits all over the Southern Hemisphere.
- [Dr. Bentley and his crew find a suitable camping site on the summit of Mt. Kuitara]
- Bentley: We'll make camp here!
- Crow T. Robot: Then we'll dig our graves over there!
- Moleman: My name is Hans. Drinking has ruined my life. I'm 31 years old!
- Moleman: No one's gay for Moleman.
Video releases[]
- Commercially released on DVD by Shout! Factory in March 2013 as part of Volume XXVI, a 4-disc set along with The Magic Sword, Alien from L.A., and Danger!! Death Ray.
- The DVD includes the Ballyhoo Motion Pictures feature Of Mushrooms and Madmen: Making The Mole People and a theatrical trailer.
- This episode was also included as an extra on Shout! Factory's Blu-ray of the unriffed movie in February 2019.
- Uploaded to the official YouTube channel in August 2016.
preceded by: Season 7 | MST3K Season 8 | followed by: Season 9 | ||||||
1997 | ||||||||
801 | Revenge of the Creature | 1997-02-01 | 809 | I Was a Teenage Werewolf | 1997-04-19 | 817 | Horror of Party Beach | 1997-09-06 |
802 | The Leech Woman | 1997-02-08 | 810 | The Giant Spider Invasion | 1997-05-31 | 818 | Devil Doll | 1997-10-04 |
803 | The Mole People | 1997-02-15 | 811 | Parts: The Clonus Horror | 1997-06-07 | 819 | Invasion of the Neptune Men | 1997-10-11 |
804 | The Deadly Mantis | 1997-02-22 | 812 | Incredibly Strange Creatures... | 1997-06-14 | 820 | Space Mutiny | 1997-11-08 |
805 | The Thing That Couldn't Die | 1997-03-01 | 813 | Jack Frost | 1997-07-12 | 821 | Time Chasers | 1997-11-22 |
806 | The Undead | 1997-03-08 | 814 | Riding with Death | 1997-07-19 | 822 | Overdrawn/Memory Bank | 1997-12-06 |
807 | Terror from the Year 5000 | 1997-03-15 | 815 | Agent for H.A.R.M. | 1997-08-02 | |||
808 | The She-Creature | 1997-04-05 | 816 | Prince of Space | 1997-08-16 |