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in: MST3K Episodes, Season 10, 70s Movie,
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MST3K 1007 - Track of the Moon Beast

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The Movie

Synopsis

Track of the Moon Beast revolves around Paul Carlson (Cordell) (pronounced "Pol" by his love interest), a grad-student mineralogist who gets a small fragment of moon rock embedded in his even smaller fragment of brain during a meteor shower (although fortunately he suffers no pain - in fact, he feels nothing). Everything seems copacetic... until he transforms into a seven-foot bipedal lizard and starts eating people and making a general nuisance of himself whenever the moon is full.

The authorities call in local anthropologist Professor Johnny ("my friends call me 'Stu'") Longbow (Sala), expert in Navajo legends, archery, and stew. (On slideshows, he needs some remedial work.) Longbow, who coincidentally is best friends with Paul the were-lizard, realizes that the terrible manifestation of a Navajo legend has indeed occurred, and there is only one thing that can be done about it. 

Information

  • 'Sid' the drunk bowler (and the first of Paul's victims) has his bowling bag magically disappear during one of the cuts!
  • The movie was filmed in and around Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Some location trivia:
The scene where Paul and Kathy go to Sandia Crest seems to have actually been filmed on the Crest, but the filmmakers oddly decided to film at night with very little lightning and a terrible camera, and so the amazing nighttime view of Albuquerque is totally absent leading one to wonder why they bothered actually travelling all the way up there for such a lousy shot.
Paul imagines himself committing suicide by jumping out of the Sandia Peak Tramway, but it is not possible to simply jump out of the tram as the doors are locked from the outside with a special key.
The film never specifies what tribe Johnny Longbow is supposedly from (it implies he's Navajo), but the ancient legend he presents to the sherrif is completely invented and not really based on any of the lore of the tribes local to Albuquerque.
The film's final act implies that Paul intends to make it to Sandia Crest to kill himself simply by hiking up the mountain after he crashes his motorcycle, but, even using the established trails to do so would take several hours.
The guy singing "California Lady" is Frank Larrabee, a local Albuquerque musician who, as of 2013, owns a construction company in Corrales, New Mexico along with an Apaloosa horse ranch, still occasionally playing local shows and city events.  A recording of the 45rpm vinyl, studio produced version of "California Lady" can be found here.

The Episode

Host Segments

1007 2

Tom and Crow showing Mike their blossoming garden, made of the SOL's junk.

Prologue: Blossoming makes everything taste great!

Segment One: Crow and Mike devour Servo's deliciously blossomed head. Pearl has created a device that controls Bobo by universal remote.

Segment Two: Crow, Servo, and Gypsy rush the Halloween season. Mike, unimpressed, continues to eat pea pods. An unimpressed Crow, tries to make it look like Mike was terrified, but takes it a little too far.

Segment Three: SOL's Legends of Rock present: The tragic story behind The Band That Played "California Lady."

Segment Four: With the help of the Mobile Personnel Reconnaissance Robot, Servo and Crow might finally learn what kind of pajamas Mike wears!

Segment Five: While playing with his bow and arrow, Servo accidentally shoots a baby satellite. Brain Guy give Bobo a few pointers on how to care for his newly exposed brain. Pearl hates that.

Stinger: Girl is wowed by moon rocks.

Quotes & References

  • "I have a creepy feeling that this was filmed at the Spahn Ranch."

The Spahn Ranch was home to Charles Manson and his "family" prior to their killing spree.

  • "Frank, there, is a child of the universe, no less than the trees."

Mike is paraphrasing a quote from the Desiderata.

  • "It's his Indian name. His tribal one." "Like Wahoo McDaniel."

Wahoo McDaniel was a wrestler.

  • "We're gonna have to practice some Zen and the Art of Watching Motorcycle Maintenance."

A reference to the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

  • "He got that bike cheap from Gary Busey."

Actor Gary Busey suffered severe head injuries in a motorcycle accident in the late 1980s.

  • "I borrowed my outfit from Doc Sevrinsen."

Doc Sevrinsen is a jazz trumpeter famous for his long stint as band leader on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He was well-known for his relatively flamboyant clothing.

  • "I'm Kent Brockman."

A reference to the newscaster from The Simpsons.

  • "I just want some peyote!"

Peyote is a hallucinogenic plant that is sometimes consumed in Native American religious ceremonies.

  • "Do you know Billy Jack?

Gunslinger and martial artist Billy Jack is the bi-racial Cherokee/American hero in a series of cult films created by and starring Tom Laughlin.

  • "Why do you keep a picture of Army Archerd on your nightstand?"

Army Archerd was a longtime gossip columnist for Variety magazine.

  • "When will our eyes meet?"

A quote from the song "Weekend in New England." The background music at this point shares oh, about eleven out of every twelve notes with that particular song. Odds are they would've been sued if the movie had been seen by more than five or six people.

  • "He stole Robin Gibb's head!"'

​Robin Gibb was one-third of the Bee Gees .

  • '"He opens his curtains and immediately gets hit by Skylab!"

In 1979, the abandoned NASA space station Skylab re-entered Earth's atmosphere, and much of the debris landed in western Australia.

  • "I am the Jim Morrison king!"

A reference to Jim Morrison's spoken-word piece "Celebration of the Lizard."

  • "FAME, Fame, fame, fame, fame..."

Reference to the fading repetition in David Bowie's song "Fame," if a little excess.

  • "Hi, I'm here for the misbegotten!"

An allusion to the Eugene O'Neill play A Moon for the Misbegotten.

  • "Is that Dick Gregory?"

Comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory was once known for making public appearances with extremely obese people in which he vowed to help them lose weight.

  • "Martin Yan?"

Chef Martin Yan is best known for hosting the PBS show Yan Can Cook.

  • "...Toots & the Maytals..."

Toots & the Maytals are a pioneering ska and reggae band.

  • "...Brewer and Shipley..."

​Folk-rock duo Brewer & Shipley are best known for the song "One Toke Over The Line ."

  • "She's got an autographed picture of Elvis Costello and Dean Acheson."

Dean Acheson was the U.S. Secretary of State under the Truman administration.

  • "It's Chairry before she gained weight!"

Chairry, a living armchair, was a character on Pee-wee's Playhouse.

  • "Good night, Keith."

Said during a shot of the moon; Keith Moon was the drummer for The Who.

  • "Your own personal moon rock..."

Servo is parodying the Depeche Mode song "Personal Jesus".

  • "Thank you, R. Crumb!"

Cartoonist R. Crumb was one of the pioneers of the underground comix movement.

  • "What's happening to the Indian in the painting?" "Uh, he's in the cupboard."

A reference to the children's book The Indian in the Cupboard.

  • "Nobody knows what may happen." "Except for Faith Popcorn."

Faith Popcorn is a futurist known for projecting business and lifestyle trends. She inspired Joel's invention is Experiment # 423 Bride of the Monster.

  • "I was dreaming and suddenly Judith Light appeared over my head."

Actress Judith Light is best known for co-starring with Tony Danza on the 1980s sitcom Who's the Boss?.

  • "Does anyone need a food cart to crap on?"

​In 1995 an investment banker named Gerald Finneran got stinking drunk on a United Airlines flight. After being refused more alcohol, Finneran dropped his pants and defecated on a service cart in the first class section. He received two years probation, 300 hours of community service, a fine of $5000 and ordered to pay $50,000 in total restitution to the other passengers.

  • "I must get to my Skitch Henderson convention."

​Lyle "Skitch" Henderson was a composer and conductor, working for NBC much of his career. "Sing Along With Mitch" was a popular television show with which he was strongly associated... because he was on it.

  • "Hey, did you hear about Niels Bohr and his wife?"

Niels Bohr (1885-1962) was a Danish physicist who was one of the chief architects of quantum mechanics, which has been called the most successful scientific theory of all time. Later in his life he worked extensively with Americans on the Manhattan Project.

  • "Tonight on 'Sightings'."

Sightings was a TV series about the paranormal that aired during the 1990s, notably on the SciFi Channel.

  • "I need a wheat penny and a Glock."

Among coin collectors, the term "wheat penny" refers to pennies minted between 1909 and 1958.

  • "Let's throw water balloons on Georgia O'Keeffe!"

​American painter Georgia O'Keeffe worked and lived in New Mexico. She preferred a semi-hermitic lifestyle.



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