Well, that's the Hee Haw font; how can it be deadly?
Film watched: The Deadly Bees
The Segments:
Prologue- Previously on the Satellite of Love... Mike and the 'Bots run through every television cliffhanger cliché they can think of.
Segment 1
- In Castle Forrester, Brain Guy and Bobo are stuffing their faces with chili dogs and watching Jerry Springer. As Bobo goes to get more food, Brain Guy gets a sudden visit from his fellow Observers. They are ashamed to see one of their own become such a lazy slob and insist on taking him back to their restored planet before blowing Earth up. Pearl does not take this news very well.
Segment 2
- Crow has written a sonnet for the "cigarette hag" Mrs. Hargrove.
Segment 3
- Inspired by the movie's bee farm, Crow and Servo decide to raise lice and wood ticks. Brain Guy is preparing to return to the Observer planet and sings his farewells while Pearl and Bobo insistently sing for him to stay. It takes some convincing, but Brain Guy's loyalty to the Mads wins out.
Segment 4
- Wearing a ridiculous bee costume, Mike announces his idea to communicate through body movement like bees do. Servo asks him interesting and complex questions. Crow just wants to know where his Just For Men hair coloring went.
Segment 5
- Harcourt passes through the SOL to the crew's confusion. Brain Guy is locked in a literal battle of wits with the other Observers. With help from Pearl and Bobo, he triumphs and banishes them to Wisconsin. Harcourt then passes through the castle and confuses the Mads.
The Mystery Science Theater 3000 presentation of The Deadly Bees contains examples of the following tropes:
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: After Hargrove finds his wife dead:Servo: (as Hargrove) Someday I'll come home, and she'll be dead finally and — hey! Look! All right!
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Pearl and Bobo convince Brain Guy to "Stay" via song (though their brains are not in pans), rather than rejoining his Observer brethren in annihilating the planet.Bobo: Please stay... I... love you. (clings to Brain Guy and sobs)
Brain Guy: (to other Observers) He's... like... a pet. - Big Damn Kiss: During the imaginary Previously on… segment:Gypsy: It isn't broccoli I want, it's... YOU! (Gypsy and Mike kiss)
- Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Invoked: the bowler-hatted guy (Harcourt) from the end of movienote wanders through the SOL bridge and Castle Forrester's great hall, confusing the hell out of everyone involved.
- Brain Bleach: The reaction to Mrs. Hargrove's gruesome death.Mike: Oh, thank you, movie.
- Celebrity Resemblance: Several early riffs involve The Jeffersons (and one for Mandingo), owing to Frank Finlay's strong resemblance to Paul Benedict (who played Mr. Bentley).
- Commuting on a Bus: A rare late-season "appearance" by Magic Voice during the fake Previously on… segment. "And now, tonight's episode."
- Continuity Nod:
- The other Observers return to bring Brain Guy back into the fold. Mike destroying their planet is also referenced; that these events happened 500 years in the future is not.
- Crow falls in love with Mrs. Hargrove ("Wha— you mean the cigarette hag?" "Don't call her that!") and writes her a sonnet, a la his sudden crush on Estelle Winwood in The Magic Sword.
- Brain Guy defeats his fellow Observers by depriving them of their brains and using his reality-warping powers to... turn them into workers at the Burnett County Dairy Co-Op, which is where we saw Past Mike temping in Time Chasers. He also turns them into raging Packers fans, much like the mob of hicks from The Giant Spider Invasion.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: After his victory, Brain Guy turns the other Observers into slackers who work at a Wisconsin dairy.
- Fanservice: Subverted during the bee attack on Vicki.Servo: Y'know, if she really wanted to be safe from the bees, she should just strip down and turn on the shower. I'm not saying this out of any prurient interest — it's just good advice.
- Fate Worse than Death: The other Observers are reduced to Packers fans working in a Wisconsin cheese factory.
- Felony Misdemeanor: After being challenged to punish Mike, Brain Guy summons... a necktie. Mike likes the pattern.Observer: (puzzled at first, then...) AHA! No one wants a tie for a present! Can't you see what a terrible gift that is?
- Humanity on Trial: Parodied, through song. Among the "several million reasons" Observer shouldn't blow up the Earth, according to Pearl and Bobo: meat, string, tortillas stuffed with ham, Pearl promising to fold Observer's sheets. That's it. It works.Observer: All these reasons you have given me
Have totally convince-ed me
I really can't be going! I must stay. - Kick the Dog: Literally in the movie.Mike: Appeal to your audience: kill the cute dog.
- Late to the Tragedy: In the film.Mike: (as Harcourt,note as the credits start to roll) Hello, I'm here for the movie — am I late? Hello?
- Mundane Made Awesome: Brain Guy is amazed at the genius of chili dogs, the concept of which is beyond his omniscience. Later, Bobo manages to distract the other Observers by tempting them with another plate of chili-smothered dogs.
- No Accounting for Taste: A number of riffs lampshade the bitterness between Hargrove and his wife.Crow: (as Mrs. Hargrove) Has the hate gone out of our marriage?
- Noodle Incident: The "Previously On..." host segment is basically a whole string of these.Servo: I think you knew that chicken puppet was stuffed with explosives; didn't ya? Didn't ya?!
- Painful Rhyme: In "Please Stay...
"Bobo: There's meat...
Pearl: And we've got string.
Bobo: And tortillas stuffed with ham.
Pearl: If you'll stay, I'll fold your sheets.
Bobo: If you just stay where you am! - Paranoia Fuel: Mocked by Servo, while Vicki's snooping through Hargrove's belongings. "Great. Now, I'm paranoid about pop stars sneaking around my study."
- The Pig-Pen: As usual for Mike, his tie is stained badly a few seconds after getting it.
- Previously on…: The first pre-movie segment thoroughly parodies this trope, through multiple genres and stock Cliffhanger scenarios. "Previously on the Satellite of Love..."Mike: (pointing a gun offscreen, Dramatic Wind whipping his trenchcoat back) Don't make me shoot you... (dramatic zoom) CROOOOOWWWWW!!!!
- Punny Name: Take a wild guess what prop diva "Beez" McKeever's nickname becomes in the credits for this episode.
- Railing Kill: How Manfred meets his end.Mike: Well, now, you can't blame that on the bees.
- Running Gag:
- The rather craptastic nature of Vicki's "holiday" is constantly invoked, between the Hargroves' lifeless, depressing farm and the attacks by killer bees.Crow (as Vicki): So, so what am I paying for, again?
- "But why?"
- Mary Hargrove, the "cigarette hag", Must Have Nicotine.
- The rather craptastic nature of Vicki's "holiday" is constantly invoked, between the Hargroves' lifeless, depressing farm and the attacks by killer bees.
- Skewed Priorities: As Hargrove stands over his dead wife:Crow: (as Hargrove) Oh no, a few of my bees are dead.
- Similarly Named Works: Invoked with The Birds, a obscure UK band best known for having Ron Wood (later of Faces and The Rolling Stones) in its lineup. Mike notes it's not the US band The Byrds, while Crow sings "Eight miles WRONG!" (Amusingly, when The Byrds had a UK tour, The Birds' manager tried to sue them for having a similar name. He was soon fired by The Birds.)
- Stylistic Suck: The song. Pearl and Bobo are constantly off-tempo, shoehorn in awkward rhymes, and come up with the lamest possible reasons not to destroy the Earth. Brain Guy is convinced anyway, probably because he doesn't really want to go in the first place.
- That Was Objectionable: "Objection! Stupid hat."
- Viewers Are Geniuses: Lampshaded. As Doris is being chased by the bees:Crow: (later) Damn, it's that bee-loud glade that Yeats spoke of.
- Villainous Rescue: Brain Guy saves Earth with the help of Bobo and a disinterested Pearl.
- Walking Disaster Area: Mike notes that Vicki's done more damage than anyone else in the film, including the bees.Crow: (as Hargrove and Hawkins approach Manfred's burning house) Yep, Vicki must be here.
