Sounds like a clothing store for high school girls!
Film watched: City Limits
The episode is available in the Gizmoplex here
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The Segments:
Prologue- Crow and Tom dump a load of ping-pong balls on Joel as an homage to Captain Kangaroo. He's not amused.
Segment 1/Invention Exchange
- The SOL crew produce Mr. Meat & Potato-Head, perfect for new vegetarians who don't know what to do with the meat still in their freezers. The Mads have invented Tupperware which helps contain the freshness of pop stars. They demonstrate with Morrissey, who's a little depressed.
Segment 2
- Crow presents his a cappella love ballad to Kim Cattrall, "Oh, Kim Cattrall". Then he ropes Joel, Tom, and Gypsy into recreating a scene from Mannequin.
Segment 3
- Crow and Tom leaf through their comic book collection, then start coming up with their own superheroes.
Segment 4
- Joel and the 'Bots come up with even more superheroes. They need to fill up the Fantastic 85, after all. Or is it Fantastic 185?
Segment 5
- While playing the promotional City Limits Trivia Game from Subway, the crew realize that they can't remember anything about the film. The first fan letter would like to join the Information Club, while the second one tells some jokes. Morrissey is sniffing Dr. Forrester, forcing Frank to chloroform him.
The Mystery Science Theater 3000 presentation of City Limits contains examples of:
- The Adjectival Superhero: The Fantastic 85, with such characters as "Lint-Attachment Man", "Jazz Trio Man", "Really Deep Man" ("He's really deep, man!") and "Always-Smells-Like-Maple Man".Crow: Oh, I got one! He's called "Man Man". He's bestowed with all the powers of a man... but he's a man.
- Berserk Button: Joel gets increasingly irritated with the Bots' repeated NBC Mystery Movie riffs every time a flashlight appears. By the start of the next episode, Joel is putting them through Behavioral Conditioning.
- Call-Back: Frank singing "I sing whenever I sing whenever I sing" to himself during the opening skit.
- Joel makes a quick joke about a phone in the movie being the Cheese Phone that the Mads once used in a previous invention exchange.
- Crow loses his eyes in the first segment and says "help me" in the same inflection as the random blind man from Rocket Attack U.S.A..
- Joel references The Sidehackers, Mighty Jack, and Pod People when singing to the credits, ending his comparisons with a Curse Cut Short.
- Crow mocks a buggy computer, saying "Must be System 7". Servo, the avowed Mac fan, protests "Hey!", harkening back to Crow and Servo's PC/Mac debate from Gamera Vs. Barugon.
- Celeb Crush: Crow's crush on Kim Cattrall begins here and continues until The Magic Sword, where his affections switch to Estelle Winwood.
- Ending Fatigue: Servo and Crow get really impatient during the end credits, annoyed that they can't leave. Servo: CAN WE JUST PLEASE LEAVE NOW?!
- Even Nerds Have Standards: Crow and Servo have this exchange as they sort through their comic books (also doubles as a Take That!):Crow: Shouldn't we be carefully placing these comic books in plastic bags?Servo: No, we have lives.
- Gag Censor: "Would you guys mind if I opened my umbrella here, I just thought, you never know when..."
- Glasses Pull: Observed in Kim Cattrall's character:Tom Servo: She just has those glasses so she can pull them off dramatically.Crow: I like it!
- Instant Soprano: Referenced during a Batter Up! brawl when one of the thugs falls prey to a Groin Attack:Look, now he's a Vienna Boys Clipper!
- Joke and Receive:Clipper: Hey Ernie!Joel imitating Ernie: Yeah, Bert?Clipper: Send him back!Ernie: Shut it, Bert!Joel: [laughs] It is Bert and Ernie!
- Money, Dear Boy: Their theory In-Universe on why James Earl Jones is in this: "You can't pay the rent doing August Wilson plays."
- Running Gag: A variation on "This is CNN" is uttered nearly every time James Earl Jones's character appears on screen.
- Scenery Censor: Joel stands up just at the right time while holding an umbrella to obscure a woman skinny-dipping.
- Seasonal Rot: In-Universe. For their Invention Exchange, the Mads use Pop Star Tupperware to keep the freshness in pop stars, with Morrissey as a start.
- Shout-Out: "Rules? In a knife fight?"
- As Robby Benson's character is talking on the phone, Crow responds as the other end of the call by saying, "Uh, yeah, your girlfriend just threw something off a bridge." That's a reference to Benson's role in The Film of the Song Ode to Billy Joe.Mick: I'll meet you at the station.Joel: At the Shining Time Station?
- As Robby Benson's character is talking on the phone, Crow responds as the other end of the call by saying, "Uh, yeah, your girlfriend just threw something off a bridge." That's a reference to Benson's role in The Film of the Song Ode to Billy Joe.
- Super Team: Joel and the bots develop a list of increasingly oddly named superheroes to fill out their "Fantastic 85" (upgraded later in the episode to the "Fantastic 185").Crow: Super Sim Catrall!Joel: (confused) Super Sim Catrall?!
- Troll: Joel clearly was getting a kick out of using his umbrella.
- Those Wacky Nazis: Part of the Super Team is Professor Hitler and his Invisible Knee Machine.
- Too Dumb to Live: Invoked by Crow.Crow: You have to be really stupid to get hit by a car AFTER the apocalypse.
- With Lyrics: The guys sing along with the end credits.
