Manos: The Hands of Fate

Frank: Now go on, play!
Servo (sobbing like a little girl, as he is wont to do): Oh, Daddy!
Joel: Now look what you’ve done.

This is a reference to It’s a Wonderful Life, when George Bailey scares his family by tossing over a model bridge he made. His daughter starts crying and Mary accosts him for it. It is, personally, one of my favorite movies and is referenced a lot in “MST3K”.

A little side note: there are a lot of episodes where someone insults Mike and Mike says something in agreement, stops himself short and cries, “Hey!” I’m pretty sure this is also a reference to It’s a Wonderful Life: in the scene at the dance. Mary is talking to this nerdy fellow but sees George and George asks to dance with her. As they’re going to the dance floor the nerdy guy says, “Hey, but this is my dance!” and George says, “Oh why don’t you go bother somebody else?” and the kid replies, “Well I’m sorry—hey!” Mike and the ‘bots always do this and it sounds a lot like the line from the movie. Oh, and if you’ve seen the movie and think that the nerdy guy looks kind of familiar, you’re right—it’s Carl Switzer, who played Alfalfa in the “Our Gang”/ “Little Rascals” movies.


(when the lady in the movie is in her slip and whips around after seeing Torgo peeking at her.)
Joel: Who’s lookin’ at Maggie the Cat?

Spoken by Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Liz Taylor plays a Southern belle who just wants some lovin' from her man (played by Paul Newman) but is, alas, scorned and verbally abused by him. Based on a Tennessee Williams play, so you should have an inkling as to why the guy doesn't really want to have anything to do with her...but made in the fifties, so they're never going to outright explain it.


Crow (singing): Charrreeeddd Fiiinnnggguuuhhhh!

A play on the theme song of the Bond film, Goldfinger. Considered by many to be the best James Bond movie ever. My own personal favorite is On Her Majesty's Secret Service, but I can readily understand why people consider it the best of the series. I personally love it. Sean Connery is gorgeous, the theme song is great, but what the hell was with Miss Galore? Why did she not melt in Bond’s hands right away? Why did she keep a gaggle of pretty girls with her? What’s with that name? I mean, man, what’s up with that? You’d think she was… oh. I get it now.


Man: Where did this place come from? It wasn’t here a minute ago.
Woman: I don’t care. Let’s just ask for directions.
Crow: Maybe it’s Brigadoon.

Brigadoon was one of the lesser-known Gene Kelly musicals, about two Americans who travel to Scotland and end up in a town that only appears every couple of hundred years or so. Once you enter, and the moon is full (or maybe it’s when the fog sets in, because there was a lot of fog in the movie) you can never leave again. One would think, “Okey dokey, I’ll just have try the haggis and some shortbread and head the hell out of here,” right? Wrong—Kelly muffs it up by falling in love with one of the townspeople. I remember watching this when I was a lass; nevertheless, the songs were forgettable, and most of the dance numbers too, along with pretty much everyone except Gene Kelly. I remember the scene where Kelly and his friend run over the bridge to safety. It was foggy. Mom made me watch a lot of Gene Kelly movies, for some reason—there was Singin’ in the Rain, of course (except the tape was scratched at the very end, so I never knew the ending until about five years after the fact) and An American in Paris, and the really weird one in which he plays a sad clown in love with a trapeze artist, and falls off a high-wire at the end. That was certainly therapy-inducing.


(Woman is yelling at Torgo after Torgo made the world’s sloppiest pass at her.)
Crow: Then I hah-ve my ahnswer. I’m walking on air!

Funny line. It’s from Hannah and Her Sisters, one of Woody Allen’s earlier-ish movies. Post-Bananas but pre-Everyone Says I Love You. It’s been years since I’ve slept through Hannah and Her Sisters, but I’m sure it starred Allen, Michael Caine, Mia Farrow, and Carrie Fisher.


(the Man is looking out into the darkness)
Joel: Someone left a cake out in the rain!

Believe it or not, this is a line from a psychedelic ‘60’s song by—Richard Harris! Yes, the Richard Harris, legendary Irish actor. He was in the musical Camelot, plus the first two Harry Potter movies, and A Sporting Life. He actually busted out a couple of records, but none of his songs did as well as “MacArthur Park” (where the above line is from). Yes, the song goes something like this: “Someone left a cake out in the rain/ And I don’t want to take it/ Because it took so long to bake it/ And I’ll never find the recipe again.” Yes, those are the actual lyrics. It’s a very long, bombastic song—maybe four or five minutes long. But, hey, it was the 1960’s. What are you going to do?