"The Crawling Eyyyye!"
"Starring..."
"Starring..."
Dr. Forrester: It's a real stinkburger of a film this week, Joel. It's called The Crawling Eye.
Dr. Erdhardt: Oh-ho-ho, it's- it's got a bad audio track, it's in black and white, and worst of all, it stars Forrest Tucker.
Dr. Forrester: Hmmm. Good name, bad actor.
Dr. Erdhardt: Oh-ho-ho, it's- it's got a bad audio track, it's in black and white, and worst of all, it stars Forrest Tucker.
Dr. Forrester: Hmmm. Good name, bad actor.
Servo: This must be a Paramount picture.
—The first riff in the theater.
Film watched: The Crawling Eye
The national debut episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 on the Comedy Channel, later Comedy Central. The featured movie can also be seen on Mike's television at the very end of the final episode, creating Book Ends for the series (at least the original run).
The episode is available in the Gizmoplex here
, and on the MST3k YouTube channel here.
The Segments:
Segment 1/Invention Exchange- Dr. Forrester and his assistant Dr. Erhardt move into Deep 13, which Joel recognizes and deems extremely radioactive. For the invention exchange, Joel presents electric bagpipes while Dr. Forrester injects Dr. Erhardt with dog antiperspirant.
Segment 2
- Recalling the headless mountaineer from the opening of the film, Joel explains to Servo and Crow why it's such a big deal for humans to lose their heads.
Segment 3
- Gypsy uncoils herself, and what's worse, she gets an itch.
Segment 4
- Forrest Tucker is freaking the Bots out, so Joel tries to focus their fear onto the giant eyes.
Segment 5
- Joel offers RAM chips to the Bots for saying one good thing and one bad thing about the movie.
The Mystery Science Theater 3000 presentation of The Crawling Eye contains examples of:
- Awesome McCoolname: When Dr. Erhardt says the film has Forrest Tucker in it, Dr. Forrester provides this quote:Dr. Forrester: Forrest Tucker. Great name, bad actor.
- Disguised in Drag: Alluded to in the cold open with the Mads:Dr. Erhardt: I think I was spotted on the way down here.
Dr. Forrester: Did you wear your disguise?
Dr. Erhardt: I was wearing my disguise, but I'm just not very good in heels! - Early-Installment Weirdness:
- This episode, along with the next few, start with Forrester and Erhardt instead of Joel and the Bots.
Word of God is that the reasoning back then was that the Mads controlled the experiment. Very quickly, the writers realized that since the focus of the show is on Joel and the Bots, they should start the episode instead. - Upon their first entry into the theater, Servo hovers to his seat by himself. Joel carries him in for the rest of the film segments. Servo thanks Joel for this and suggests this be done in future.
- This episode, along with the next few, start with Forrester and Erhardt instead of Joel and the Bots.
- Embarrassing Tattoo: During the invention exchange, Dr. Forrester goes to inject an antiperspirant serum into Dr. Erhardt's buttocks:Dr. F: What's this flower? And who's Roseanne?
- Everything's Louder with Bagpipes: Joel invents a set of electric bagpipes by adding a vacuum cleaner. Dr. Forrester notes approvingly that the racket made Dr. Erhardt's corneas bleed.
- Lame Pun Reaction: Crow and Servo make so many groan-worthy eye puns towards the film's climax that Joel asks them to stop... only for him to start it up again shortly afterward.Joel: I spy with my little eye...
Servo: You hypocrite! - Losing Your Head: The Bots don't see why human heads being detatched is any different from robot heads being detatched, leading Joel to explain it during the first break from the movie.Mountain climber: His head... it was torn off!
Servo: You say that like it's a bad thing. - Nothing Is Scarier: Averted. Servo is actually annoyed it takes so long for the Crawling Eye to appear in the movie.Servo: Do we ever get to see the monster, Joel?
Servo: Well, we haven't seen the monster yet. It's good to see something. - Unsettling Gender-Reveal: While trying to re-coil Gypsy, Tom discovers her gender… before realising he was mistaken.
