I am the maiden of hell fire!
Film watched: Fire Maidens of Outer Space
The Segments
Prologue- Joel uses the 'Bots silhouettes to check their posture, leading to the crowning of the king and queen of posture. As he and the 'Bots leave for commercial sign, a shadowed figure that looks like Crow suddenly appears and attacks Cambot!
Segment 1
- As Joel fixes Cambot, Crow introduces the dark spectre to him and Servo. He reveals its name to be "Timmy" and that it came when he "wished for a friend". In Deep 13, the Mads present the Big Checkbook, but soon panic when Frank makes some sizable investments he can't remember. Joel shows off a pair of sneakers that squirt out port-wine cheese, perfect for post race snacking.
Segment 2
- Joel helps Servo with the art of double entendres by pointing out that tone counts for everything. Timmy prompts Crow with dirtier ones, to everyone else's disapproval.
Segment 3
- Inspired by the incredibly simple spaceship controls in today's film, Joel invents the Twin Screw Universal Controller, a pair of levers that can warp reality. Despite his protests, Crow is blamed for Timmy's antics in the theater and his shoving Crow into him. As Joel demonstrates the controller, Timmy screws around with it, causing reality to go wonky and ending up with Joel roasting Servo over a pit.
Segment 4
- Timmy attacks Servo in the theater, prompting Joel and Crow go out and help him. On the bridge, Servo is cocooned to the wall begging for death, while Crow goes one-on-one with Timmy. Joel arrives to with a broom and snatches Timmy with it, ultimately shooting him out the airlock. Relived from Timmy, Joel berates Crow for letting the spectre on the SOL in the first place, but soon apologizes to him for today's turn of events.
Segment 5
- Joel helps through the 'Bots work through their trauma of the film's continous padding and Timmy's attack through letter readings. In Deep 13, Frank finds and adopts Timmy, but is greeted by the spectre biting his finger off.
The MST3K presentation of Fire Maidens of Outer Space provides examples of:
- Adults Are Useless: Joel, big time, refusing to believe Crow or Tom and failing to see the Obviously Evil Crow clone Timmy for the sinister "dark specter" that he is for most of the episode — at which point he lectures Crow for letting it aboard the ship.
- Bigger Is Better: Dr. Forrester's invention exchange, the Big Big Checkbook.
- Camera Abuse: Cambot Abuse — Timmy attacks Cambot in the opening segment and shakes him around as the image cuts to static. Cambot's POV is askew in the next segment until Joel fixes him.
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: After Crow invokes this by its former name (during a blatantly fanservicey dance number), Tom pipes in with:Tom: [singing] Watching Underoos is fun! I can see the dancers' buns!
- Continuity Nod:
- When Joel is introducing the new Twin Screw Universal Controller, he explains that it controls the tenperature... which is a reference to one of the poorly labeled gauges on the ship in Fugitive Alien.
- In the opening segment, Joel checks the Bot's posture, announcing that they were going to crown a "King and Queen of Posture", a reference to the "Posture Pals" short that aired with The Unearthly.Servo: Couldn't I just be an earl, or a dauphin of posture?
Crow: I'd rather marry into posture. - Joel and the Bots offer up yet another "Hi-keeba!" riff during the movie.
- In the closing segment, after Joel has lifted the Bots' spirits, he boasts to the Mads that they've survived Mighty Jack, The Castle of Fu Manchu, Fugitive Alien, and The Hellcats.
- Dark Is Evil: Timmy. The Timmy puppet is actually Crow's body double for the movie theater scenes.
- Devil in Plain Sight: Timmy the Dark Crow. Only Servo is wise to Timmy's antics, and Joel seems particularly oblivious. It's not until Servo is kidnapped by Timmy that Joel and Crow decide to take action.
- Diabolus ex Nihilo: There's no explanation as to where Timmy comes from, what he is or why he does what he does. The closest we get is Crow saying Timmy arrived when he "wished for a friend".
- Doorstop Baby: After Timmy is jettisoned from the SOL he's adopted as one of these by Frank... and promptly bites one of his fingers off.
- Double Entendre: Parodied. Joel points out that the most innocuous comments can become double entendres if you just emphasize certain words in a suggestive voice.Say, does this TV have a remote?
As far as I know, Lincoln's not president anymore!
She came home from the store, with a bag of apples... and a loaf of bread!
And now a word from our sponsor! POOM!- Crow doesn't quite get the concept after being suggested a few particularly lewd ones by Timmy.Crow: Grind her in der hi—
Joel: CROW!
Tom: (amused) D'oh! [...]
Crow: She's built like a brick sh—
Joel: Crow!
Crow: --showboat.
- Crow doesn't quite get the concept after being suggested a few particularly lewd ones by Timmy.
- Evil Twin: Timmy is an all-black version of Crow who starts off pulling mean little pranks and ends up cocooning up Tom a la Alien before Joel — up to that point completely Genre Blind — finally blows it out an airlock, and admonishes Crow not to let any more "dark specters" aboard the ship.Crow: I wished for a friend and he came!
Servo: Crow, isn't that a little preternatural? - Frame-Up: Timmy pushes Crow into Joel and gets Crow gets blamed for it ("Monkeyshines and lying?"). And Joel still doesn't believe that this dark spectre is being mean to the robot that he created. All is forgiven in the following host segment, though.
- Giant Novelty Check: Dr. Forrester expands on the concept ad absurdum with a Giant Novelty Checkbook, the Big Big Checkbook, for this week's invention exchange. Naturally this necessitates a giant pen to fill out the check.
- Go to Your Room!: Joel sends Crow to his cubicle for a five-minute "time-out" after Timmy shoves Crow into him.
- Knight of Cerebus: For a one-shot character, Timmy proves to be the scariest one in the series and his screen time is mostly played for horror with a few moments of Dark Comedy.
- I Taste Delicious: Timmy fools with Joel's new Twin-Screw Universal Controller, leading to (among other things) Joel roasting Servo on a rotisserie spit:Servo: Joel, if you don't mind, I'm cooking here... I'm beginning to smell delicious...
- Mercy Kill: Cocooned Servo begs Joel to kill him. He continues the request after Timmy's been dealt with.Joel: Oh, I'll kill you alright...
- Mood Whiplash:
- Oh, boy, that part towards the penultimate host segment. At first it's all funny, with the guys watching the movie and making jokes on it. Then Timmy enters the theater... and sits there with them. Then he disappears and reappears in the seats several times. It changes to being quite darkly funny when he keeps biting and headbutting Servo, who gets more and more annoyed until he charges at him, and offscreen you can hear a scuffle and even Tom's 'I'm choking! I'm choking!' is still darkly funny, as is when Joel and Crow notice what's happening and Joel accidentally calls the Evil Twin 'Tommy'. Then you hear Tom's muffled sobs and screams for help, and the mood changes back to terrifying again as he's dragged from the theater. And then the mood goes straight back to humorous again as Timmy is defeated and even as Tom is encased in a pseudopod. Whew!
- Meanwhile, on the topic of that pseudopod:Tom: (over the sounds of sirens and fighting; in pain) Kill me... Kill me... Kill- (normally) Uh, say, Crow? Could you please kill me?
- Not Now, Servo: When Timmy sneaks into the movie theater and begins antagonizing Tom, he keeps trying to get Joel's attention, only for him to either blow him off, or mistake his comments for riffs. Tellingly, it's only when the two start brawling that Joel realizes what's going on.
- Padding: "Pad, pad, pad the film! Pad, pad, pad the film!" "CY ROTH HAD TO PAD THE FILM JUST TO GET TO THE PART WITH MORE PADDING!"
- Prop Recycling: "Timmy" is actually the Crow that sits in the theater (which is painted black to prevent artifacts if the shiny gold finish reflects light). Servo is also painted black, which is why viewers can't see through his dome while in the theater.
- Public Domain Soundtrack: The film's constant use of "Polovtsian Dances" turns into Chinese water torture for the S.O.L. crew.
- Reality Warper: The Twin-Screw Universal Controller can do anything (with just two levers)!
- Running Gag: Every appearance of distant sparkling stars in the film is met with references to It's a Wonderful Life.
- Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: Joel and the bots supply a creeeeak every time the Sexy Secretary opens and closes the gate. And she does it a
lot. - Scream Discretion Shot: From Tom as he's being abducted by Timmy. Justified as the struggle takes place under the seats and the camera is still directly focused on the movie and the silhouettes that are superimposed in front of it, reacting to the events taking place in the theater.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Crow recognizes the Stock Footage of the rocket, in particular the landing sequence with patently see-thru trees.Crow: What the — King Dinosaur? That's from King Dinosaur! I'm leaving!
[Joel grabs him to prevent him from leaving.]
Crow: Grrr... under protest. - Shout-Out:
- Crow first describes Timmy in the same terms that Regan uses for Captain Howdy.
- The final battle with Timmy the Dark Crow references both Aliens and Hercules and the Captive Women.Joel: Let go of him, you bitch!
- The inner mouth coming out of Timmy's beak at the end when he bites Frank is another Aliens reference.
- Joel quotes "Step Right Up" from Small Change, by Tom Waits, in a sketch.
- During the Do Anything Lever sketch, listen closely to Joel, and you'll realize he says "It controls the tenpreture", a call back to the Engrish control panel labels in the Fugitive Alien movies from the previous season.
- Tom trapped in an avocado-like pod begging (hilariously) to be killed is another Call-Back to Season 1 and the 'Avocado Man' from Robot Holocaust. Tom's death pleas could also double as a Call-Back to Hercules and the Captive Women, as there was a woman in a similar situation in that movie.
- A bit of Fridge Brilliance: the inclusion of Timmy is a shout out to Fire Maidens itself! They wanted to have a dark creature lurking about, just like in the movie!
- During the sequence when the astronauts follow the female alien, Joel and the Bots begin singing a very slow version of Boots Randolph's "Yakkety Sax", acknowledging that the scene is playing out like a chase scene from The Benny Hill Show, but in slow motion rather than under cranked.
- During the fire maidens' ceremony, Joel and the Bots offer up a couple cheerleading chants:
- The "Not Me!" issues of The Family Circus were parodied; Joel calls the Bots out on it.
- During "Servo on a spit", one will notice Joel waving the "screw ball" flag much as Daffy did in Duck Amuck.
- Skewed Priorities: As Crow (and then Joel) fight Timmy, Tom is more interested in getting someone to kill him.Tom: (as Joel grabs Timmy) Uh, did I mention I want you to kill me?!
- Soundtrack Dissonance: The uber-dramatic classical music in no way relates to the nothing that happens on screen.Crow: The music really matches the action.note
- Space Is Noisy: Especially during the "dodging meteoroids" scene: "You know, I definitely hear a bowling alley."Crow: There's traffic in space!
- Surprisingly Creepy Moment: The running joke with Timmy is that most of the creepy things he does are Played for Horror and played straight, adapting sequences from actual horror movies right down to the camera angles. Steered back into comedy by how Joel and the 'Bots mostly underreact to the Obviously Evil shadowy doppelganger.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: In-Universe, Joel and the bots lament at how one-dimensional the Creature is and openly wish he was really a good guy just to have some kind of Deconstruction within the film in hopes to make anything about it interesting.
- Thrown Out The Air Lock: Timmy is ultimately dealt with by Joel blowing the hatch and letting him get sucked out.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Again, Joel, who refuses to believe that Timmy is evil, and whenever Crow and Servo try to warn him, he basically tells them to shut up. Then, after Timmy's nature is revealed and he's defeated, he berates Crow for letting him on the ship in the first place. He does forgive him, though.
- Waxing Lyrical: One of the functions of the Universal Controller is that it turns you into a nine year-old Hindu boy.
- Who Are You?: Screamed by Frank at the conclusion when Timmy bites off a finger.
- With Lyrics: "Pad, pad, pad the film! Pad, pad, pad the film!"
