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"That squares my breasts!"
- Crow T. Robot (as Gumby's mother)


The Short: Robot Rumpus[]

Synopsis[]

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Gumby uses toy robots to do his chores. Initially Gumba (Gumby's mother) is pleased by her son's ingenuity. Things go awry and the malfunctioning robots wreak havoc throughout the house and yard.

The robots paint graffiti on the house and begin to tear down the family's garage. Gumba panics and calls her husband Gumbo at the fire department, who races home in a fire truck and tries to stop the robots. He is quickly overwhelmed by the machines and dumped in the trash. Gumby manages to rescue his father while another robot breaks through the wall with a lawnmower and frightens Gumba. Gumbo tries to stop a rogue robot who is digging up the flowerbed, but is thrown onto a nearby roof. Gumby rescues his father, then hijacks a crane and destroys the last robot.

Gumby's parents then force him to do all the chores by himself. The end credits feature a robot's head hung above Gumby's garage, which distresses Servo and Crow.

Information[]

  • This was the first and only Gumby short used on MST3K.
  • The MST3K version cuts out the first five minutes of the short, starting as Gumby and Pokey are heading to the kitchen.

The Movie[]

Main article: The Screaming Skull (film)

Synopsis[]

A recently-widowed man brings his new bride to the home he inherited from his wealthy deceased wife. The new wife (who has a history of mental health problems) is beset by seemingly-supernatural terrors.

The Episode[]

Host Segments[]

ScreamingSkullHost

Prologue: Tom reveals that he has become a beautiful butterfly.

Segment One: Although he doesn't look like it anymore, Tom is still a beautiful butterfly. Meanwhile, Pearl, Brain Guy, and Professor Bobo pull a less-than-effective prank on the SOL crew, wasting lots of time and money in the progress.

Segment Two: Crow and Tom create their own little playlet based on the Gumby short, only to breakdown from the pain caused by it.

Segment Three: Tom tries to scam his way into getting a free coffin.

Screamingskullhost

Crow as a screaming skull

Segment Four: Crow disguises himself as a screaming skull to scare Mike. It works a little too well.

Closing (Segment Five): Tom's coffin arrives and he reveals that in order to pay for shipping, he has maxed-out Mike's credit card. Later, Bobo tries to pull the same trick on Mike and the Bots from before, resulting in him getting shrunk by Brain Guy.

Stinger: Eric flings a stool at the skeleton.

MST3K cast[]

Regular cast

Guest cast

Trivia[]

Obscure References[]

  • "Butterflies are free to fly. Fly away, high away, bye-bye."
Tom is doing a somewhat matter-of-fact recitation of a lyric from Elton John's song, "Someone Saved My Life Tonight".
  • "Hey, don't! That's Wallace and Gromit's lawn!"
Wallace and Gromit are the main characters in a series of claymation films (shorts and a feature) by Nick Park about the adventures of a bumbling inventor and his dog.
  • "Habitat AGAINST Humanity..."
Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit Christian organization that builds houses for families in need around the world.
  • "Sixteen tons, what do you get? Another day older..."
These are the first two lines of the chorus of the song "Sixteen Tons" which is about the drudgery and poverty of coal mining. It was originally recorded in 1956, and later popularized by Tennessee Ernie Ford.
  • "Hey, you use one of those older Philips analog chips in your robot, you're going to get this."
This refers to an attempt by Philips in 1992 to create the Digital Compact Cassette, a cassette recorder/player that was compatible with analog cassettes and that could compete with MiniDiscs and DATs. It never caught on, and was discontinued in 1996.
  • "So he just goes to work starkers?"
"Starkers" is British lingo used to describe someone going completely naked.
  • "I'm going to set you on Don Knotts strength!"
Don Knotts was an American comedic actor. His most famous roles include deputy Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show and landlord Ralph Furley on Three's Company, which played up his thinness and lack of physical prowess for humorous effect.
  • "I wonder why the Gumbys never had any other children."
Later in the series, Gumby did have a sister. Her name was Minga
  • "Davey and Goliath are moving in next door. There goes the neighborhood."
Davey and Goliath is a Christian television show by Art Clokey (also the creator of Gumby) that features the adventures of a boy and his talking dog who gave moral advice.
  • "Now I'm ready for years of powerful Adlerian therapy, Mike!"
Alfred Adler was an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology. Adler emphasized the importance of equality in preventing various forms of mental disorders. His most famous concept is the inferiority complex which speaks to the problem of self-esteem and its negative effects on human health. Said complex is recognized as an isolating element which plays a key role in personality development.
  • "This is worse than Seven!"
Seven (stylized as SE7EN) is a 1995 psychological crime thriller about two detectives' pursuit of a serial killer, who is killing people in ways that make them embody the deadly sins of which the killer feels they are guilty. The deaths of the victims are graphically depicted and extremely gruesome. The penultimate victim is discovered as just a decapitated head in a box.
  • "Gotta move this body back upstate."
In the movie Goodfellas, a group of mobsters must move the body of someone they murdered several months earlier when they learn the area where they buried the body is about to be developed.
  • "Thank you and good night."
Thank You and Good Night is a 1991 docufiction on the family issues of elders, aging, and death.
  • "Looks like a dead person won the Kentucky Derby."
The Kentucky Derby is an annual American race for three-year-old thoroughbred horses that, since 1875, has been held on the first Saturday of May. It is also called the "Run for the Roses," because the winning horse is draped in a blanket of red roses.
  • "Al Lewis's one-man show!"
Al Lewis was best known for playing the vampire Grandpa in the sitcom The Munsters.
  • "Brekekekex, ko-ax, ko-ax."
This is the frog chorus from Aristophanes' comedy The Frogs, which was first performed in 405 BC. Yale University uses the frog chorus as a cheer.
  • "My Sharona..."
"My Sharona" is the debut single by The Knack in 1979. It re-entered the charts in 1994. It's noted for having a hard, fast bass line.
  • "Mazo-ola corn goo-oodness..."
In an ad shown from the late '70s to the early '80s, the three above words were chanted by Native American men in an attempt to connect Mazola corn oil with Native Americans, the natural world, and quality.
  • "I knew an Alex Kristy McNichol once. Thank you very much. Good night."
Kristy McNichol is an American actress who is best known for her roles as a teen and as a young woman in such TV shows as Family (1976-1980) and in such movies as Little Darlings (1980), Only When I Laugh (1981), and The Pirate Movie (1982). McNichol's last onscreen role was as Barbara Weston in the sitcom Empty Nest, which she left in 1992 after being diagnosed as bipolar. She returned for the series finale in 1995. She has rarely appeared on-camera since, though she has done some voice acting.
  • "Help us! NBC is after us! Hide us!"
The pretended speakers are the peacocks in this scene, and NBC's logo is a peacock.
  • "Poor Mickey." "He's so fine, he blows my mind, poor Mickey."
A re-phrasing of the song "Mickey", popularized by Toni Basil. The lyrics are actually "Oh Mickey, you're so fine/You're so fine you blow my mind/Hey Mickey, hey Mickey". Toni Basil also played Red in Village of the Giants.
  • "Now let me tell you about Norman Schwarzkopf's book!"
Norman Schwarzkopf was a former United States Army General who led the coalition forces in the first Gulf War. He was known for being very short-tempered and did in fact write a few books including his memoir It Doesn't Take a Hero. His serious and stern nature is probably what alludes to the joke that the kind of books Jenny reads are anything but romantic.
  • "Are they skeet shooting in the lido deck?"
Skeet shooting is one of three sporting practices that involves shooting "clay pigeons" with a shotgun. Skeet shooting is a common recreational activity on high-end cruise ships (as it removes the necessity to clean up the debris from shot pigeons). Such ships often have a lido deck which contains an outdoor pool and related equipment.
  • "Gandalf's outside scratching things on there."
The wizard Gandalf from the J. R. R. Tolkien novel The Hobbit scratched symbols on the door to main protagonist Bilbo Baggins' house so the Company of Dwarves could find him for their quest to reclaim their homeland.
  • "Hey! Do me a favor, open the door, let 'em in!"
Lyrics from the Paul McCartney & Wings song "Let 'Em In".
  • "First snow, horse, then the Mary Jane."
All are street slang for different drugs: cocaine, heroin, and marijuana, respectively.
  • "Fruma Sarah!"
In he song "The Dream" from Fiddler on the Roof, the "ghost" of Fruma Sarah is part of a story that Tevye weaves to explain a change in an arranged marriage.
  • "Not me." "...and Ida Know."
Not Me and Ida Know are two recurring characters in the newspaper comic The Family Circus. Appearing as ghosts, they are allegories for the kids' excuses for their own wrongdoing.
  • "Jenni..." "I've got your number."
Lyrics from the 1981 hit song "867-5309/Jenny" performed by Tommy Tutone.
  • "They must have bought that chair from Gateway."
Gateway Inc. was a company founded in Sioux City, Iowa that built brand recognition in part by shipping computers in spotted boxes patterned after Holstein cow markings.
  • "He's doing Juan Epstein."
In the 70s sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, a character would occasionally respond to a question with a series of "what?-where?-when?-who?" responses, but the character who did this wasn't Juan Epstein, it was Vinnie Barbarino.
  • "She moves like Gale Sayers."
Gale Sayers was an American professional football player who was both a halfback and return specialist in the NFL from 1965 to 1971. He was known for his elusiveness and agility and was regarded by his peers as one of the most difficult players to tackle.
  • "I should have married that nice Mr. von Bülow."
Claus von Bülow, a lawyer, consultant, and socialite, who, in 1982, was initially convicted of both the attempted murder of his wife Sunny in 1979, which had left her in a temporary coma, as well as an alleged insulin overdose in 1980 that left her in a persistent vegetative state for the rest of her life. On appeal, however, both convictions were reversed, and he was found not guilty at his second trial.
  • "I was going to do Dance of the Seven Veils, but I only have four."
The Dance of the Seven Veils is Salome's dance performed before Herod II. It is an elaboration on the biblical story of the execution of John the Baptist, which refers to Salome dancing before the king, but does not give the dance a name.
  • "The only end my friend!" "Yeah, yeah, and the children are insane..."
Crow and Mike are reciting lyrics from the song "The End" by The Doors which was used for the opening and ending of the movie Apocalypse Now. The actual lyrics are "This is the end, my only friend" and "All the children are insane."

Memorable Quotes[]

Robot Rumpus (A Gumby Adventure) (short)[]

Crow [as Gumby]: One of my classmates died in the kiln today, mother.
Tom Servo: The nice thing about Gumby is that you can also use him as window caulk.
[One of the robots doing Gumby's yardwork drives its lawnmower through the fence into the next yard.]
Crow: Hey, don't! That's Wallace and Gromit's yard!
[Another robot chops down a tree.]
Mike: Hey! That's old-growth clay!
. . .
[Another robot is ripping slats from the garage.]
Crow: Habitat Against Humanity.
[Gumby's dad Gumbo arrives at the house, where we see a cloud — actually, a piece of white fluff — stuck on the construction-paper sky.]
Crow [as Weatherman]: It's a fair to partly-cottony day…
Gumby's Mother: Such clever boys certainly deserve crackers with their milk!
Servo: Crackers? Wow! Maybe they can have white rice later!
[A robot is digging up the flower garden.]
Crow [as mobster]: Gotta move this body back upstate.
[A robot spray paints the house]
Mike: Clay figures, go home!
[A robot throws a wrench at Gumbo, which goes through him and leaves a wrench-shaped hole in his torso.]
Servo: Liquid metal!
[The camera cuts to Gumby's reaction.]
Mike [as Gumby]: Hey, you can throw things through Dad! I'm gonna get an anvil!
[Gumbo flies through the air and lands, legs spread, on the roof of the neighboring house.]
Mike [as Gumbo]: Thank goodness for the internal genitalia!
[Gumby's stacked mother gives a stern look at a robot who's invaded the house.]
Crow [as Gumby's Mother]: That squares my breasts!
[Gumbo slides down the fire truck ladder from the roof in a sitting position.]
Mike [as Gumbo]: Son, I'm gonna need a can of Play-Doh to replace my butt.
[A robot head hangs over a garage door with the words, "THE END".]
Servo: Aah! They hung his head! Oh...
Crow: Now I'm ready for years of powerful Adlerian therapy, Mike.
Servo: They hung his head! Oh... oh... This is worse than Se7en!
Mike: Hey! His bump is on the other side!

The Screaming Skull (movie)[]

Narrator: "The Screaming Skull" is a motion picture that reaches its climax in shocking horror.
Mike: ...but we cut that.
Narrator: Its' impact is so terrifying, it may have an unforeseen effect: it may kill you.
Servo: ...if you watch it in front of a moving bus.
Eric: Jenni, this is Mickey.
Mike [as Eric]: Mickey's a wide-awake nightmare!
[Jenni goes to Marian's room, grabs a skull she found in the chifforobe, and flings it out the window.]
Servo: Alas, poor Yorick! She threw him well!
[Jenni pours her heart out to Reverend Snow, who looks grim.]
Mike [as Rev. Snow]: Have you tried talking to your minister about this?
[The face on Marian's tombstone briefly appears to morph into a skull as Eric looks at it.]
Servo [as Eric]: Don't you make that skull face at me, missy!
[Over a long shot of Jenni sitting on her bed, not moving...]
Crow: [impatient] Can we help you, movie lady? Do you need a push or something?
[In the greenhouse, Mickey struggles with an armful of flowerpots, dropping them as he tries to pick more up.]
Crow: GET A BOX!
[As Jenni runs from Marian's ghost, the soundtrack has a soprano singing an erratic sequence of creepy notes.]
Servo: Kiri Te Kanawa is drunk again!
[Jenni, back in the house, is shrieking uncontrollably.]
Crow: Oh, great! She's playing her Yoko Ono albums.
Mike: I think the title was supposed to be "Screaming, semicolon, Skull".
[There is a long scene of continuous knocking at the door]
Mike: Martin Luther is nailing each thesis individually.
[Eric flees to the stairs, where a skull tumbles down toward him.]
Crow: Everyone knows it's Slink-skull!
Crow: So, this movie's kind of a combination of "The Tell-Tale Heart", Blithe Spirit, and... well, a piece of lint, I guess.
[The skull is throw out the window and hits the ground rolling, landing right side up.]
Crow: Settled in a divot.
[The skull twitches.]
Servo: Woof!

Video releases[]

Mst3k screaming skull dvd

MST3K DVD Cover

References[]


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