Recap / Mystery Science Theater 3000 S06 E02: Invasion U.S.A.

"The Woody Allen story!"
"Hey, I like my family as a friend!"

"Invasion Oosah".
"Starring these people and Chuck Norris!"

World War III separates the serious drinkers from the amateurs!

—Tom Servo

Featured works: A Date with Your Family (short) and Invasion U.S.A. (1952)

A Date with Your Family is an educational film where a rigidly-polite suburban family demonstrates proper etiquette at the dinner table, served up with a heaping helping of Unfortunate Implications.

The episode is available in the Gizmoplex here.

The Segments:

Prologue

• In the spirit of his predecessor, Mike tries his hand at building a robot. Unfortunately, the only thing the new 'Bot wants to do is destroy.

Segment 1

• After Mike is made to admit that he can't build robots, Dr. F decides to conduct a science experiment on the 'Bots to see whether they choose a wire robot “mother” or a Dr. F doll as a parental figure. Crow inexplicably chooses the wire mother, prompting Dr. Forrester's temper to flare up.

Segment 2

• Mike and the Bots recreate the bland and emotionless family dinner from the short. The boredom is broken when Gypsy mentions how dull the dinner is and suggests that the crew eat instead of talk, whereupon the crew pigs out.

Segment 3

• Tom dupes Crow into making a fool of himself by giving a complex lecture on the differences between the two actresses who played Lois Lane on The Adventures of Superman, since both of them appear in the movie.

Segment 4

• While the crew plays Jenga, they're visited on the Hexfield by “A-Bomb”, a washed up atomic device who has grown disgruntled at the trend of nuclear disarmament. The guys cheer him up by convincing him that there are still countries out there who need nukes, only to wonder whether or not they’ve done the right thing.

Segment 5

• Inspired by the twist ending of the film, Tom is convinced that life itself is nothing more than a dream. He even goads Mike into hitting him with a clown hammer to prove his point, only to be put in great pain. In Deep 13, Frank also succumbs to the hysteria, holding Dr. F at gunpoint. He’s easily subdued.

The MST3K presentation of A Date with Your Family contains these tropes:

• Cheating with the Milkman:
  Narrator: Dad will be home soon. Better tell Mother she's needed in the kitchen.
  Servo: ...where the postman eagerly awaits.
• Continuity Nod: When Brother makes the "OK" sign after taking his first bite of dinner.
  Servo: This stinks!
• Deconstructive Parody: The host segment based on this short has Mike and the Bots taking the narrator's advice. Their attempt to "converse in a refined and dignified manner" turns out to be bland and unspecific.
  Crow: Say, how about that sporting event? Hmm? One team emerged the victor, whereas the other, alas, found themselves vanquished.
  Gypsy: Ah, but such are the vicissitudes of sport.
  Tom: Hmm. Indeed. You know, the other day, I had the occasion to witness a cultural event. It seemed to point to the foibles of everyday living. Ha! Afterwards, I reflected on the stimulating nature of the presentation.
  Mike: Recently, I was taken by a particular article of literature. The author used sentences and paragraphs to express his point of view.
  Gypsy: Hear, hear.
  Crow: Oh, that reminds me of a pleasantry I was exposed to recently. An anecdote happened that might be interpreted as whimsical.
  (everyone else lets out chuckle that is just a tad forced)
  Crow: It provided all parties with a puckish sense of diverting amusement.
  • Which devolves into Jabba Table Manners once they get sick of it.
    Gypsy: Mike, this sucks! Can we just eat?
• Deliberate Values Dissonance:
  Servo: (as daughter) Dad, I'm dating a Negro! (laughs nervously)
• Emotions vs. Stoicism: The narrator never lets you forget that being "unemotional" is a key component of a pleasant family dinner. "Emotions are for ethnic people."
  Junior: Father, I had a feeling today.
  Father: Well, don't, son.
• Flat Joy: "My this certainly is pleasant."
• I Have No Son!: A running gag during the "dinner" portion of the short. When the narrator explains that nobody should start eating before Father serves everyone their plates^note THIS MEANS YOU!...
  Mike: Father feigns eating, draws Junior out, then disowns him!
  Mike: 'Least I have two sons...
  • And according to Mike and the bots, the whole family is disowned before the dinner is half over.
• Just Friends: After seeing the title screen, Mike yells out, "Hey, I like my family as a friend!"
• Nuns Are Funny: Invoked during the Dinner and a Show portion of the family's dinner, during the scenes where Brother and Sister are shown talking with no sound.
  Servo: (as Brother, giving a blow-by-blow account of a fight) So Sister Mary Patrick had him up against the wall and nailed him...
  Servo: (as Sister, making "unkind comparisons" about someone) Oh, and she was a big nun, with a mustache (Sister makes a gesture across her upper lip) and this huge black habit...

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The MST3K presentation of Invasion U.S.A. contains these tropes:

• The '50s: The Mads must have had the '50s on the brain this week: the short, the feature, and Harry Harlow's experiments all come from the nuclear decade.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Mike's attempt to build his own Robot Buddy (following the lead of his predecessor Joel) results in Epic Fail — "DEE-STROY! DEE-STROY! DEE-STROY!" — terrifying the 'Bots. Mike wrestles it to the desk and jams a screwdriver in its neck. Servo and Crow spit and curse at the seemingly disabled robot ("Dork!" "Weiner!") before it starts up again.
  Crow: (later) Say it.
  Servo: SAY IT!
  Mike: (sheepishly) I can't build robots.
• All Just a Dream: Most of the movie was just Ohman putting the whole bar under mass hypnosis. Mike and Tom are disgusted, while Crow claims he Knew It All Along. In the last segment, Servo is absolutely convinced they've all been hypnotized like in the movie, and demands Mike hit him over the head with a clown hammer (the big one) to snap him out of it. Mike drops the hammer; Tom dizzily admits he might be wrong.
  Dr. Forrester: (sneering) Is life an illusion? Ha! In your dreams!
• Armored Closet Gay: The crew pick up on some latent Ho Yayinvoked between the rancher and George the tractor manufacturer when they buddy up to fly to San Francisco. Parodied when everyone wakes up at the bar:
  Rancher: (walking up to George) Hey... didn't we fly up to the west coast together...
  Servo: (as George) No! Shh — we didn't... No, we didn't — WE DIDN'T!
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: In-universe, the paperboy who goes into the bar and wanders around for a hot second, staring at Vincent and Carla before finally leaving causes the guys to crack up. It's later used as The Stinger.
  Mike: Now THAT'S a walk-on!
• Big, Stupid Doodoo-Head:
  Crow: Go away, you big stupid ca-ca-head Russians!
  • Also a Call-Back to almost the same riff in fellow "America gets nuked" propaganda movie Rocket Attack USA.
• Black Comedy: Or more accurately, Nuclear Holocaust Comedy.
  Crow: (as airline pilot) We got a real pretty view of the dust cloud out the right window. It's currently seven thousand degrees in San Francisco...
• Camp Straight: The Arizona rancher character's cowboy outfit stampedes into this trope thanks to Have a Gay Old Time.
  Crow: I really am a cowboy! I'm not gay!
• Continuity Nod: Mike whistles "Are You Happy in Your Work?" while working on the robot in the opening - a song from an episode he wasn't in.
• Chromatic Arrangement: The Robot Buddy Mike attempts to build is blue, which makes sense since Crow is yellow and Tom is red — blue is the logical next step, since it's the third primary color.
• Cyber Cyclops: Mike's attempted Robot Buddy has what looks like a Polaroid camera painted blue and green for a head.
• Dude, Not Funny!: In-Universe, as Crow gives the proper reaction to the bartender saying, "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die!"
  Crow: (as barfly) It's not funny when it's true, Ed!
• Easy Evangelism: Parodied as Carla shuffles around her apartment in a state of Dull Surprise/shock when Vince is apparently Killed Offscreen and replaced by "The Enemy's" mouthpiece extolling the heroism of the communist liberators:
  Tom: (as Carla, blearily) Well, that guy makes a lot of sense too. I'm torn between mourning my boyfriend and subscribing to Marxist dogma. Hmmmm. Mourn boyfriend... Marxist dogma. Hmmm.
• Extra! Extra! Read All About It!: A Big-Lipped Alligator Moment in-universe: a paperboy who looks like he's in his late twenties wanders right into the middle of a bar, looks directly at the main cast, then leaves — all while still yelling "Extra!" Inevitably becomes The Stinger for the episode. Mike and the bots giggle openly at the bad staging.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: The lettering on A-Bomb, MJ-P 2-27, is Mary Jo Pehl's initials and birthdate.
• Genius Bonus: A-Bomb mentions making an Harassing Phone Call to Helen Candicott. invoked
• Historical In-Joke: Crow becomes the subject of Harry Harlow's infamous experiment involving rhesus monkeys and wire mothers.
• Human Pincushion: Dr. F.'s experiment requires Frank to dress up as a literal pincushion while Forrester stabs him with giant pins. It's "essential".
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Comes back to bite him when he tries to hug Frank.
• Hypocritical Humor: Dr. F. after Crow selects the wire mother instead of him.
  Dr. Forrester: [quietly] Alright, alright. Let's handle this coolly, dispassionately... It's just that you're so incredibly stupid and wrong. Just so incredibly STUPID. And WRONG!!^note Made funnier by the fact a character played by Trace Beaulieu rejected a doll of Trace Beaulieu.
• Just Plane Wrong: Invoked as the subject of a Riff by Servo, who calls out the stock footage of the Russian bombers as B-29s on several occasions. However one of the main Russian 4-engine bombers at the time the film was made was the Tupolev Tu-4...which were bolt-for-bolt reproductions of impounded B-29s.^note the B-29 was only used in the Pacific Theater, and Russia was not at war with Japan for much of the conflict, only entering in the final week of the war. Therefore any American aircraft that landed in Soviet territory were impounded per the laws of war since Russia was a neutral country. In fact the copy was so exact, Tu-4s even duplicated repair panels^note piece of metal riveted or welded over damaged sections of the outer skin present on one of the impounded aircraft. So even if the footage was of B-29s, it would still serve as a completely acceptable stand-in of a Tu-4.
• Marty Stu: The guys are quick to identify Vincent as one. invoked
  Crow: (Smug Snake) You can all start admiring me now!
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Mike and the bots ponder if cheering up the A-Bomb was a good idea.
  Crow: Say, Mike, did we just do something horribly wrong?
  Mike: Yeah, I think we did.
  (All three chuckle nervously)
• Parental Substitute: Dr. Forrester's experiment tests whether the 'bots will respond to his terry softness or the primal nurturing of a "wire mother", based on psychologist Harry Harlow's studies on rhesus monkeys. Crow turns out to be especially susceptible, though being a robot, he prefers the metal mother instead of the soft, warm one. However, when gently told by Mike the thing is not his mother, Crow pauses, then asks eagerly of Mike, "Are you my mother?"
• Patriotic Fervor: Rampant throughout the movie, and parodied constantly. As Vincent broadcasts a inspiring radio message about the resistance fighters of New York City, Tom, Mike and Crow all begin to hum "America the Beautiful"; after he's found and shot, the Communist soldier immediately launches into another speech of his own about liberating America from capitalist tyranny, and Tom instead hums “The Internationale” while Mike and Crow pantomime marching.
• Phrase Catcher: Mike and Tom keep having the rancher say "No, I really am a cowboy! I'm not gay!"
• Rape as Drama: Mike and the bots react to the Husky Russkie attacking Carla.
  Crow: Hey! Nyet means nyet!
• The Scream: Crow shrieks in primal angst when Mike tries to separate him from his new "mother".
• Shout-Out:
  • Servo admits that the film makes Red Dawn (1984) look good.
  • "Now will the dancing Hitlers please get to this side!"
• Similarly Named Works: With Invasion U.S.A. (1985). As Mike puts it upon reading the cast page of the opening credits:
  Mike: Starring these people, and Chuck Norris!
• Small Name, Big Ego: Dr. Forrester is in fine form during this experiment.
  Dr. Forrester: Yuh-duh-duhduh-ya-dud-duh-duh FACT: in addition to my huge greatness... I'm quite a guy. Everybody likes me.
• Sophisticated as Hell: Ohman, who has a sort of Continental, transatlantic, pseudo-German thing going on:
  Servo: (as Ohman) Pass the beer nuts, you back-assward cracker.
  Crow: (as Ohman) You know, you only rent cognac...
• Soundtrack Dissonance: Lampshaded when the film for some reason gives goofy music to the bartender's corpse.
  Mike: Even in death he amuses!
• Spot the Impostor: The Mads riff the scene from the movie.
  Frank: (paranoid, holding a rifle on Forrester) Who won the World Series?
  Forrester: (Sarcasm Mode) I did.
  Frank: ...Well, okay.
• Stock Footage:
  Crow: So, apparently World War III is going to be a lot like World War II!
• Take That!: During the Spot the Imposter scene:
  Guard: You ever go see the Cubs play?
  Servo: Yeah, they won. Oops, DAMN!
  • Later:
  American patrol: Who goes there?
  Crow: (panicky) Uh, the Cubs! Studs Terkel! Saul Bellow! Oh, whatever, just shoot 'em!
  • This one at the very beginning of the Movie:
  Servo: This music is like a good Danny Elfman tune.
  Crow: You mean it doesn't exist?
  Servo: Boom!
• Television Geography: Soviet paratroopers are shown landing on a beach supposedly outside Washington, D.C., which is 30+ miles from the Atlantic Ocean.
  Crow: Ah, the sandy beaches of Dupont Circle.
• Ugly Cute: Invoked. Crow and Servo think Mike's robot is kind of cute in a naive, childlike way until it activates and tries to kill them all.
• Unusual Euphemism: As Carla's boss heads out to start manufacturing tank parts, he asks Carla if she's staying with Vince. Servo's reply:
  Servo: (as Carla) Vince and I are going to make our own tank parts.
• The Un-Twist: Invoked, as Crow claims he knew It Was All A Dream the entire time.
• Villainous Breakdown: When Crow chooses the wire mother over a Forrester doll, Clayton doesn't take it well.

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Paperboy: "EEEEEXTRA! PAAAAAPER! America invaded! Read all about it!"

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