"Call Space Travelers: We're able to book any vacation."
Film watched: Space Travelers (Marooned, repackaged by Film Ventures International)
It's the only Oscar-winning film (for special effects) to be riffed on Mystery Science Theater 3000.
The Segments:
Prologue
- Crow is the Great Crowdini, hanging upside down from the ceiling and wrapped in chains with a lit cannon aimed at his head. Things go bad when he ends up losing the key.
Segment 1/Invention Exchange
- Crow is revealed to have escaped his predicament by chewing his own head off. Joel, meanwhile, has invented the Dollaroid, a camera that puts people’s faces on money, prompting Tom to waste no time ranting about how pointless it is. After observing the decline of The Last Boy Scout in the box office, the Mads present tissues with famous faces drawn on them, allowing people to blow their noses on them in ridicule. Pat Buchanan proves difficult to sneeze at, until Dr. F adds some pepper.
Segment 2
- The SOL crew list the various everyday objects provided by the United States space program. Some are more unreal than others.
Segment 3
- The crew reenact a scene from the movie, with Joel and Tom as the astronauts and Crow as Mission Control. Crow soon causes everything to fall apart when he randomly switches back and forth between his impressions of Gregory Peck and David Janssen.
Segment 4
- Inspired by Jim Pruett's sacrifice, Joel contemplates what might happen if one of the trio had to sacrifice themselves for the other two to live. The Bots are quick to point out that he’s the only one who needs oxygen.
Segment 5
- Joel plays fetch with Gypsy, shows Crow and Tom a magic trick, then reads a letter. The Mads are not impressed.
The Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of Space Travelers provides examples of the following tropes:
- Bait-and-Switch: TV's Frank's opinion on the Dollaroid is that it's absurd, ridiculous, and makes no sense. Therefore, he loves it.
- *Bleep*-dammit!: The "God" in Janssen's "Then God damn you!" is muted out, but the "damn" isn't, which catches Tom's notice in particular.
- Ironically, Richard Crenna is heard saying "Goddamn" later on in the film, but it wasn't censored.
- Broken Pedestal: The cast were big fans of Dennis Miller, 'til when they met him: he attacked them for doing this film, saying it was "a pretty good movie."
- In Frank Conniff's DVD intro for this episode, he seems to agree with Miller's comments, that they shouldn't have reviewed this film because it's too good.
- Call-Back:
- As Dr. Forrester reveals the movie for the day, he admits it's actually Marooned, but under a different name and new credits.
- When Joel asks rhetorically, "Who decides who lives and who dies?", Crow reminds him that he already called dibs.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Gene Hackman's character accidentally lets a camera float away in space.Crow: Millions of dollars went into this space mission, and they didn't invest in a camera strap?
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Genius Bonus: This actually happened once, during one of the pre-Lunar Apollo missions.
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- Escape Artist: "The Great Crowdini" tries to escape from chains while suspended upside-down before a cannon shoots him... but he drops the key, and doesn't quite make it.
- Felony Misdemeanor: Dr. Forrester and Frank lament the fall of The Last Boy Scout in the movie rankings, as they see its decline as a threat to the forces of evil everywhere.Dr. Forrester: You're right, Frank, this is cause for concern. Remember The Return of Bruno.
- Gaia's Lament: Crow's commentary over the beginning of the film states that it's an artificially-reproduced replacement for the environment, and that they shellacked a nature preserve for it.
- Have a Gay Old Time: Joel says, "I could go for some fap-jacks" upon seeing the name of the film's director of photography, Daniel Fapp, A.S.C. "Fap" hadn't become a profanity/vulgarity yet.
- Kick the Dog: When Joel tries to bring up to the bots how the movie's conflictnote could happen to them, Crow and Tom helpfully remind him that he's human, and they're not, so they would be fine.Joel: (staring directly into the camera; deadpan) I'm already alone, aren't I?
- Lampshade Hanging / Who Writes This Crap?!: Tom practically goes mental as a result of Joel's bit for the Dollaroid, questioning why Crow would need to provide identification for using money with his face on it and questioning why Joel would give Tom money with his face on it.
- Long List: Joel and the Bots list off all of the things that mankind has benefited from, thanks to the space program. Some of the items are a bit suspect, such as Branford
, Wynton, and Chicken Marsalis. - Running Gag: Confusing James Franciscus for Tony Franciosa, the Finder Of Lost Loves, which becomes a Berserk Button for Tom.
- Crow making references to David Janssen's role on The Fugitive.
- Gene Hackman is good in anything.
- Crow doing a Gregory Peck impersonation.
- Shout-Out:
- Several riffs reference 2001: A Space Odyssey (which came out a year before Marooned).
- During Crow's failed escape act, he says, "I saw Teller do this."
- During the demonstration of the Dollaroid, Tom says, "What is this, some kind of joke!? Am I a clown, do I amuse you!?"
- Skewed Priorities: As Jim lets himself die outside the shuttle, Tom yells for him to toss his Rolex. Then, as his body floats away, Joel voice-acts one of the remaining astronauts:Joel: Hey, you didn't sign our yearbook!
- Smoking Is Cool:Joel: Back then you were required to smoke.
- Stealth Pun: The first segment of the season premiere sees a botched magic trick involving Crow getting struck by a cannon going off. Or, in other words, they started the season off with a bang.
- Stock Footage Failure: In-Universe, the S.o.L. crew mentions that the film uses famous stock footage of an Apollo launch, despite having an ~$8 million USD budget. Not only that, but it's clearly missing the space capsule on top."They've cut off their nosecone to spite the rocket!"
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The moment the "Dollaroid" skit starts to fall apart? The instant Tom points out you don't need identification to use cash.
- Take That!:
- "Eight-million dollar film and they're still using Stock Footage!"
- After Joel sings a few lyrics from Yes' "Roundabout" over an establishing shot of the Ironman capsule, Crow remarks:Crow: Say "No" to "Yes".
