Looks like Bella Abzug
Film watched: Gunslinger
The episode is available in the Gizmoplex here
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The Segments:
Prologue- Joel, Crow, and Gypsy are playing Kaboom, using Servo's head as the balloon.
Segment 1
- Servo's enlarged head has given him super-intelligence, though he still can't understand why Manimal was cancelled. For the Invention Exchange, Joel takes the concept of the Whiffle Ball and expands it into a fine line of Whiffle products. Dr. Forrester tries to make Frank's head explode with his new Scanner Planner, but it backfires and Frank gets angry.
Segment 2
- Joel and the 'Bots rest in caskets to simulate being dead, then discuss what they want their funerals to be like.
Segment 3
- Crow and Gypsy have started the Gypsy Express, the Satellite of Love's first courier service. For its first assignment, Crow and Gypsy have to deliver Servo's lunch request to Joel, standing a mere three feet away.
Segment 4
- After noting a particular gaffe in the film, Servo explains to Crow and Joel about "quantum linear super-position", and how John Ireland uses it to bend time and space at will to mount his horse from anywhere. He also demonstrates the skill himself, teleporting around the bridge and restarting the segment.
Segment 5
- Seeing that only Roger Corman could make the 1870s seem so dismal, Joel and the 'Bots discuss how the 1970s were even worse. Joel then reads some deep-fried letters. Dr. Forrester finally succeeds in blowing Frank's head up.
The MST3K presentation of Gunslinger contains examples of:
- Anachronism Stew: Unclear and probably unintentional in the movie itself, but routinely lampshaded by the crew:Servo: (looking at an old farming device) What is that thing?
Crow: Whatever it was, it wasn't invented yet- - Bar Slide: Joel is disappointed that the big Bar Brawl scene doesn't include one. Servo "explains" that it hadn't been invented yet.
- Big "SHUT UP!": Towards the Mayor when telling yet another war story that made him look better than he really was.
- Black Comedy: After the climactic shootout, the SOL crew decides sight unseen that every other character had died.Tom: (as Rose; Rose is riding out of town) Well, goodbye everybody!Crow: (as a townsperson) We're all dead.Tom: (as Rose) Oh, that's right...
- And then when the new marshal, Sam Bass, arrives in town, and heads off-screen to the marshal's office:Tom: (as Sam) Hey, lady, you forgot to tell me where the- OH MY GOD! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
- And then when the new marshal, Sam Bass, arrives in town, and heads off-screen to the marshal's office:
- Bizarre Taste in Food: Servo's lunch order in the third segment is for a peanut butter and dijonnaise sandwich.
- Brick Joke: Dr. Forrester manages to blow up Frank's head offscreen in the very last segment. He's pleasantly surprised.
- Call-Back: One is made to Viking Women And The Sea Serpent, which Jonathan Haze (Jake) also appeared in. Ironically, Haze played Ottar in that film, while it was Senya who spoke the line in the film.Crow: (as Jonathan Haze's character) I'm a Grimald warrior!
- Call-Forward: The sound effect Dr. Forrester uses to "scan" Frank is the same one eventually used when Observer invokes his reality-warping powers.
- Casual Kink: Servo mentions offhand that he really appreciates Corman for the wrestling match between Rose and Erika.Tom: Well, say what you will, Joel, Roger Corman pushes my buttons.
- Complexity Addiction: Tom using the Pony Express to tell Joel, who's standing right next to him, what he wants for lunch. Which he tells Joel verbally while they're waiting. Then Joel can't read his handwriting and sends a message back asking him to write more clearly.
- Deep-Fried Whatever: The 'bots deep-fry the fan mail.
- The Dog Bites Back: When Dr. Forrester attempts to scan TV's Frank's brain (and accidentally blows up a lightbulb in the lamp), Frank gets really cheesed off when he realizes it.TV's Frank: You were scanning me, weren't you? You were trying to make my head explode, you freaked-out maniac! [smashes Forrester's head with a large lollipop.]
- Dramatic Irony: When revealing the movie for the experiment, Dr. Forrester says it's going to be Joel's first western. This is his second-to-last movie.note
- Everybody's Dead, Dave: The crew decides by the end of the film that everyone in town has been murdered in the crossfire between the two leads.
- Foreshadowing: In Segment Two, Servo asks Joel why doesn't he just not die, as if death is a decision people make. Considering what the next episode is...note
- The "Fun" in "Funeral": During one of the host segments, Joel and the bots get to experience death... or at least what it feels like to be in a casket. After a moment contemplating what death would be like, they start describing how they want their funerals to be like — Crow's and Tom's are really fun. Servo finally decides he wants a circus, and Crow "modestly" demands to be mummified and buried next to Stalin. Joel humors the latter.
- It Runs on Nonsensoleum: In Segment Four, Tom bends the laws of time and space through his knowledge of higher mathematics ("It's physics, Joel.") allowing him to zip off one side of the screen and immediately appear on the other and eventually to restart the segment by concentrating really hard, much to Joel's slowly dawning confusion. On the plus side:Crow: Hey, my sandwich is whole again! Cool!
- Madness Mantra: Using Servo to play Kaboom, Crow and Gypsy loose interest and want to keep pumping the balloon until it bust by chanting "Pop him. Pop him. Pop. Pop. Pop." It gets faster and louder until Commercial Sign.
- Offscreen Teleportation: Tom Servo explains that the examples of this trope in the film are examples of applied "quantum linear superposition". He thoroughly demonstrates it for Joel and Crow.Crow: He does this to me at night. Scares the hell out of me!
- Psychic Powers: Making people's heads explode like in Scanners. Dr. Forrester caps off the episode by scanning the button.
- Riddle for the Ages: In the opening segment, Servo's head (now a large balloon) has expanded so much he knows almost everything in the universe. Save one thing:Servo: Why did they cancel Manimal? Why?!
- Running Gag:
- Dr. Forrester spends the episode trying to read Frank's mind and make his head explode with his newfound Psychic Powers.
- Fridge Logic from a Special Effect Failure (the door to Cane's room at the saloon opens out instead of in) leads to the conclusion that Cane's staying in the hallway. Hilarity Ensues.
- "Oh look, a sale at Hurrah."
- "That hasn't been invented yet."
- Scream Discretion Shot: One from Sam Bass as he enters the town at the end of the movie, where the crew has decided, everyone else has been killed during the shooting:Servo: (as Sam Bass) Hey, lady, you forgot to tell me where the — oh my God! AAAAAGGHHH!!!
- Shout-Out:
- Dr. Forrester "invents" a how-to guide for scanning.
- "...you freaked-out maniac!"
- Take That!:Crow: This is like Silverado, only better.
- They Killed Kenny Again: Dr. Forrester succeeds in blowing Frank's head up with his newfound scanning powers. Much to his surprise.
- Unusual Euphemism: The Mayor's wife wants her husband to hurry up appointing Rose the new sheriff because she has a beef roast in the oven.Crow: You know, a beef roast. In the oven.
- Watsonian versus Doylist: Crow's response to Servo insisting they utilize quantum linear superpositioning to move about so quickly (as he demonstrates) is that the town, as a movie set, is just a bunch of false fronts, and that Tom is just a bunch of false fronts, too. Joel sides with Crow in spite of Tom teleporting around the set.
- Your Head Asplode: Head explosions are a minor theme this week:
- Tom's dome has been temporarily replaced with a balloon for the SOL crew's game of Kaboom. It ends, as the game often does, with everyone losing patience with the actual game and just pumping up Tom's head until it pops.
- Dr. Forrester invents "The Scanner Planner", a study guide that teaches you how to hone your psychic powers so you can scan people and make their heads explode, like in the movie. It works on Frank... eventually, but it does immediately make the aforementioned balloon in Tom's dome pop.
