Recap / Mystery Science Theater 3000 S05 E04: Secret Agent Super Dragon

Hey, it looks kind of like a Mickey Spillane still life.
Oh, wow! I bet this guy's so cool! He smokes, carries a gun, and... makes a lot of... phone calls.

Film watched: Secret Agent Super Dragon

The episode is available in the Gizmoplex here.

The Segments:

Prologue

• Crow and Servo have built a wind-up toy robot they've named "Minsky". He walks, he talks... and that's about the extent of what he does.

Segment 1

• After almost smashing Minsky, Joel takes the concept of miniature golf and shrinks it down to microscopic size with Micro-Golf. Frank shows off his comedic chops with Virtual Comedy, which goes great until Dr. Forrester sabotages it with drunken hecklers.

Segment 2

• The 'Bots put on a jazzy rendition of the Secret Agent Super Dragon theme song. Joel gets a little too deep into improvising his own lyrics.

Segment 3

• Crow pens The Spy Who Hugged Me, a super spy story written with tons of 90s sensibilities. Tom can't stand the lack of action and promptly bails.

Segment 4

• As Joel demonstrates, a vital talent of any secret agent is knowing the right one-liner for a successful kill.

Segment 5

• Dr. Forrester hosts his first Supervillain Symposium, explaining what it takes to become a proper world-conquering madman. Bored by it all, the SOL crew weaponizes the usual Sign Off Catchphrase to dupe Dr. F and Frank into ending the seminar early.

The MST3K presentation of Secret Agent Super Dragon provides examples of:

• Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: Anyone who has seen this film only as an MST3k episode might wonder over the film's ending, wherein Super Dragon informs the villain he has already photographed the formula for the film's McGuffin in the villain's office. Since his visit to said office occurs early in the film, why did he have to go through the whole adventure? The answer: He's not talking about the villain's office in the art gallery ("You got any art here?") but to a deleted scene, in the villain's office in the chemical plant where the drug is made (the place with the Man From UNCLE-esque hallway); see Out-Gambitted on the film's main page for how that works out.
• Batter Up!: In the time between the start of the first commercial break, and the start of the Invention Exchange, Joel had gotten so fed up with Minsky that he grabbed a baseball bat and began egging it on as if he's in The Warriors.
• Bond One-Liner: Joel educates the bots on the concept of the "post-kill pun".
  Servo: Ironically, death softens the blow of the pun!
• Broken Record: Crow and Tom's preferred version of the "Secret Agent Super Dragon" theme:
  Tom: (jazz riff) Secret Agent! (trumpet; jazz riff) Super Dragon! (trumpet) Take it, Crow!
  Crow: (jazz riff) Secret Agent! (trumpet; jazz riff) Super Dragon! (trumpet)
• Catchphrase: Minsky, ad infinitum:
  Minsky: I am the atomic-powered robot. Please give my best wishes to everybody!
• Implausible Deniability: Despite the fact that Crow and Tom walked in while he was very clearly trying to smash Minsky with a bat, Joel still has the gall to pretend he wasn't doing anything:
  Crow: (as he and Tom enter; to Joel) How you two gettin' along in ther- (Joel tosses the bat behind him) HEY! (stammers angrily; to Tom) Did ya see-
  Joel: Nothing! Noth-
  Tom: Oh, you were, too!
  Joel: No!
  Crow: (disappointed) Joel...
  • And then Joel uses the excuse of the Mads calling to blatantly elbow Minsky off of the table so he can press the button.
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Involving drugged chewing gum in the film, and the goofiness is rolled with.
  Super Dragon: (shows Ross, the drugstore bowling alley owner, part of his "special" gum stash) Now, uh, what's this?
  Ross: Nothing! It's just a... different brand, that's all! (Super Dragon backhands him)
  Servo: (as Super Dragon) You're working for the Wrigley company, aren't you!
  (later, as Super Dragon tries to force-feed Ross a stick of the gum)
  Joel: (as Ross) No! No! I've got dental work!
• Kick the Dog: After noticing that Frank's "Virtual Comedy" simulation is going a bit too well, Dr. Forrester decides to program in some drunken hecklers. Cue Frank's act crashing and burning.
  Heckler: You're not funny!
  * Leitmotif: Well, not really; but there's a little musical motif used prominently in one scene, not so prominently in another, and this is the basis of Servo's Super Dragon Theme (see below).
• Political Overcorrectness: Crow tries his hand at scriptwriting again with the psycho-babblicious The Spy Who Hugged Me...
  Joel (Holly Affirmations): You understand, Mr. Wyndam-Hill, that even though we are sharing a sexual tension between us... I must kill you.
  Servo (Sandy Wyndam-Hill): Um, Holly, thank you for being honest. Let me say that I think you're a really terrific, dynamite lady, but right now I'm in a committed relationship with (breaking character) someone who's very special to me?! I don't believe this...
  ...
  Joel (Gary Diabolique): You don't get it, do you, you stupid moron idiot! I am going to control how people respond to me! I am going to rule the world!
  Servo: Gary, that's really co-dependent — (breaks character) I can't believe I just said "co-dependent"!
• Right-Hand Cat: According to Dr. Forrester's Supervillain Symposium, every supervillain must have a strange or exotic animal.
• Robot Buddy: Crow and Servo build "Minsky", a little robot with an annoyingly repetitive Catchphrase and no off switch. Joel is not amused.
  • Years later, they'll get their comeuppance when Mike will build a blue robot which Servo and Crow think is cool, til... DESTROY! DESTROY! DESTROY! DESTROY! DESTROY!
• Running Gag:
  • Super Dragon's habit of snatching cigarettes right out of other characters' mouths:
    Crow: Secret Agent Super Rude, if you ask me!
  • The ongoing subtext that Super Dragon's cover story is as transparent as window glass:
    Crow: (as side character, reading Brian Cooper's business card) Hey, "Secret Agent" is crossed out and "Lawyer" is written in!
  • Super Dragon Failing his Spot Check:
    Servo: (as Super Dragon, in the Big Bad's lavishly decorated office) Um, you got any art here?
  • Whenever any character says the name of the Big Bad, Lamas, Joel and the 'Bots immediately ask: "Fernando or Lorenzo?"
• Serious Business: Downplayed: Joel and the bots are clearly more interested in their game of Micro-Golf than what Dr. F is saying, even to the point of shushing him.
• Shout-Out:
  • Servo's pronunciation of Chi-Chi Rodriguez as "Chai-Chai Rodrigweez" during the Invention Exchange is a nod to WKRP in Cincinnati.
  • "Hope this isn't like a John Waters film and they lick all the furniture."
• Signing-Off Catchphrase: The usual one is weaponized to make the Supervillain Symposium end:
  Joel: Well, the only thing we wanted to ask, and I think we're all in agreement on this, is: (with Crow and Tom) What do you think, sirs?
  Dr. F: (as Frank stirs awake) Good question... Push the button, Frank. (Frank bolts out of his chair, rushes over to push the button) ...what the- hey!
• [Verb] This!: Tom's response to Crow's screenplay.
  Servo: For God's sake, man! I want to drink martinis in Istanbul, and utter glib bon mots in Moscow, and drive with my feet while escaping thugs in Monte Carlo, and meet girls in Ipanema — the kinds of things a super-secret super-spy is supposed to do!
  Crow: I support you owning those feelings.
  Servo: Yeah, support this.
• Warm Water Whiz: While giving his lecture at the end of the episode, Dr. F takes the time to quietly place Frank's hand into a coffee cup full of water after noticing he fell asleep.
• Weird Trade Union: implied during Dr. Forrester's Supervillain Symposium, when he notes that a supervillain is, in essence, a small-business owner.
  • Foreshadowing: Six years later, Pearl Forrester finds out she has to belong to the Institute of Mad Scientists if she wants to rule the world, which is treated like a business alliance.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Comments frequently call out Super Dragon on his aforementioned Jerkass qualities, particularly during the Cyanide Pill scene.
  Tom: (as Super Dragon) So, you’re killing yourself for nothing! Neh-neh-neh-neh-neh-neh!
  Joel: What a jerk. He just wanted to get the guy's goat right before he died.

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[A xylophone announces the start of a fight scene]

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