Backgrounds illustrated with a Technicolor yawn.
Film watched: The Hellcats
The episode is available in the Gizmoplex here
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The Segments:
Prologue- The SOL crew have caught colds, and nobody is particularly happy.
Segment 1/Invention Exchange
- Joel manages to ease everyone's colds by turning Servo into a humidifier, though he reads a warning that the vapor "may cause flashbacks". The Mads haven't invented anything this week (they're still riding the Hobby Hogs from Wild Rebels), but Joel finally gets the chance to present the invention he made in the last episode: a universal sign language translator that you speak into.
Segment 2
- Tom, typing in his diary, flashes back to the rubber hand segment from The Crawling Hand.
Segment 3
- Crow, speaking into a tape recorder, flashes back to the funny/unfunny-when-floating segment from Rocketship X-M.
Segment 4
- Joel, writing his diary, flashes back to the camera matte sketch from Jungle Goddess.
Segment 5
- Gypsy tries to "write" in her diary, and this leads the SOL crew to bond over the fact that they all keep diaries, even if the 'Bots are reluctant to say so. Even the Mads share a tender moment thanks to witnessing their familial relationship.
The MST3K treatment of The Hellcats provides examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Crow's "Hey, Bill, your rear's done" gets approval from Joel and Servo.
- Almost Famous Name: Crow insists the Davy Jones in the credits is the same one from The Monkees. An annoyed Joel snaps the name is spelled wrong (Davey) and Jones would have had to have been 14 if he were actually working on the film. note
- Big "NO!": The Mads' reaction when Joel guesses they're watching a biker movie. Nobody's really sure why, though.
- Call-Back: Constant references to Ross Hagen's previous appearance in The Sidehackers
- Continuity Nod:
- Servo says his flashback from Season 1 was before his voice changed.
- Joel finally gets to show off his sign language invention that he wasn't allowed to do the previous episode.
- Creator Cameo: Joel and the bots think the actor playing the crime boss's dragon was the director. It's unknown if Best Brains actually thought that or just thought having the flunky be the director was funnier. (The director actually played the crime boss.)
- Ditzy Genius: Gypsy takes her turn writing her diary in the last segment, dictating a letter to Richard Basehart by talking into a typewriter, and has her usual Verbal Tic of repeating the last thing anyone says in a singsong voice ("...Dia-ryyy..." "...Pa-perrrr..."). She also immediately twigs to Joel's reference to Friedrich Nietzsche and the latter's concept of Eternal Recurrence:Gypsy: Also sprach Zarathu-straaaa...
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Twice in the movie are scenes of the bikers suggestively spraying shaken beer all over themselves and other partiers. Crow remarks, "I hope that's beer..."
- Flashback Cut: All three host segments, shown as Joel and the 'Bots writing in their diary. The Colossal Episode Guide said this was done to save on scripting time, but ironically they took just as long as a normal episode to write.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: TV's Frank melts (down) over Joel and the 'Bots heartwarming group hug at the end of the episode:Frank: Why can't we know love the way they know love?!
- It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: Tom writing in his diary.
- Mr. Exposition: The two detectives from the funeral who awkwardly lay out the plot, dubbed Sgt. Exposition and Det. Plotpoint by Joel.
- Mondegreen Gag: The slurring of several cast members' lines makes them ripe for reinterpretation.Joel: Tractor mortars?!
Servo: Pottery wheel? - Noodle Incident: And a healthy dollop of
Ho Yay on Joel's part, too.Crow: Did I ever tell you about the time Joel had be dressed as Judy Garland and had me sing show tunes to him all night? I have a lot of pain. - Pun:Servo: "Scab"? How do you suppose they picked him?!
- Rhymes on a DimeServo: Hi! I'm Shelley. Hehe. Rub my belly! Hehehe!
- Running Gag
- "That's the number __!" (a Call-Back from The Sidehackers.)
- The biker sent to recover a drug stash from an impounded bike becomes "Kooky the Motorcycling Clown" for the duration of his scenes (mostly thanks to the inappropriately wacky music in them).
- Ship Tease: Tom briefly tries to hit on a fire hydrant in the film.
- Sick Episode: Which is especially impressive, since Crow, Tom, Gypsy and Magic Voice are all mechanical.
- Side Effects Include...: The medicine Joel and the 'bots take warns "may cause flashbacks".
- This Is Gonna Suck: Joel and the Bots groan when they see Ross Hagen's credit, knowing that they're in for it.
