Recap / Mystery Science Theater 3000 S05 E14: Teen-Age Strangler

"...Or is it just rough sex with Michael Douglas?"

Now, is this a teenager who strangles, or a person who strangles teenagers?

Films watched: Is This Love? (short) and Teen-Age Strangler

Is This Love? features a couple of college kids who want nothing more than to get married. Everyone around them tries to get them (the girl especially) to slow down and think about whether their relationship is genuine love, or merely a physical attraction.

The episode is available in the Gizmoplex here.

The Segments:

Prologue

• Mike attempts to call his grandma to help him get back to Earth. Calling long distance from space and her answering machine hinders his plan.

Segment 1/Invention Exchange

• In order to get some privacy, Dr. Forrester has strapped a wailing Frank into the Frank-N-Forcer: a bouncing seat suspended over a bed of nails. Mike and the Bots create the Waiter-Baiter; a giant waving arm that attracts waiters so restaurant patrons don’t have to make fools of themselves by shouting across the room.

Segment 2

• Mike and the 'Bots ponder the nature of the short's question “What is Love?”, mostly in terms of celebrity relationships.

Segment 3

• Crow and Tom are gang members on the blacktop, ready to engage in a rumble. Mike kills the bit by attempting to have the two gangs peacefully settle their differences.

Segment 4

• The 'Bots trick Mike into wearing a pair of glasses wired to a device that makes him act like Mikey, the emotional, nasally-voiced dweeb from the movie. Mike eventually sees through the trick and puts the glasses on Crow instead.

Segment 5

• Portraying a school custodian, Mike sings the tender ballad “I’m a Janitor”. In Deep 13, Frank makes himself sick bouncing along to the song.

The MST3K presentation of Is This Love? contains examples of these tropes:

• Continuity Nod: At one point while Peggy and Joe are cuddling in the car Crow quips, "Watch out for snakes!"
• Dawson Casting: Made into a Running Gag invoked. Liz's actress, Lynne Gorman, was 37 at the time of filming.
  Crow: Oof, geez, how many times was SHE held back?
  Liz: Hi, Peg.
  Mike: (as Peggy) "Hi, Mom."
• Felony Misdemeanor:
  • Drinking in a dorm? Expulsion. And somehow Liz thought even that was too lenient of a punishment.
    Mike: (innocently) Drinking in college? I've never heard of that...
    Crow: Never!
  • A Brick Joke later on:
    Crow: Gifts given in dorms — punished by expulsion.
• Running Gag:
  • Andy as Liz's henpecked fiance. "Look, would you just lay off for ten seconds!!"
  • Many, many "age" jokes about how Liz looks way too old to be in collegeinvoked.
    Liz: You always talk about your mother as if she was an ogre or something.
    Mike: (as Liz) Why, I've known her for fifty years...!
• Shout-Out:
  • The bots compare Liz's oddly arched eyebrows to the rubber forehead of a Romulan.
  • Peggy's very arch mother causes Tom to imitate consummate Grande Dame Margaret Dumont, exclaiming "Captain Spaulding!"
  • At the title Servo quips, "Is this love or is it just rough sex with Michael Douglas?"

The MST3K presentation of Teen-Age Strangler contains examples of these tropes:

• Ambiguous Syntax: Tom makes it clear when he sees the title card.
  Tom: So is it about a teenager who strangles, or someone who strangles teenagers? ^AnswerIt's neither.
• Brick Joke: Servo asks, "Where's Waldo?" during the short. When Mikey first appears onscreen in striped shirt and glasses, Mike states, "I think we found Waldo!"
• Call-Back:
  • "The Master wants you, but he can't have you. I want you."
  • Eegah!:
    Crow: It looks like he took dance lessons from Arch Hall, Jr!
    Mike: (softly, deep-voiced) Shtemlo!
  • "Junior Car Rodeo with old-timer Billy Slater."
  • Crow: "Oh no, Mr. B Natural's in one of those lockers!"
• Celebrity Resemblance:
  • The guy managing the diner is considered a look-alike of Drew Carey and The Family Circus dad. A rather square-looking little kid with a buzzcut is referred to as "Charlie Whitman, at age 9".
  • Mikey is also compared to Waldo.
• Clothing Reflects Personality: Invoked. In one of the host segments, Crow and Servo coax Mike to wear a pair of thick glasses wired to make him talk and act like Mikey from the film, only to go back to normal after removing the glasses. And then he puts them on Crow...
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: In one scene, Jimmy lays on his bed while lifting his legs in the air. Mike and the bots wonder why he's in the stirrups position, and immediately follow it up with "Push!" comments.
• Dull Surprise: A girl learns of another murder with an unemotional "Oh, no!":
  Crow: (flat and unemotional) It wasn't me who was murdered, was it?
• Friendship Moment: After Mike’s attempt to call his grandma for help ends with him failing to even leave a complete answering machine message, Crow and Tom decide to comfort him by saying they are his family now. This prompts Mike to frantically try again.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Crow's plan to use the special glasses he invented to make Mike act just like Mikey whenever he wears them backfire when Mike puts the glasses on Crow, thinking he would look good wearing them.
• Hollywood Darkness:
  Mike: This film was filmed in Blue Vision.
• Large Ham: Hoo boy... Who isn't a large ham in this movie? Even Mike gets caught up in this ham-fest.
• Running Gag: Mike and the bots keep lampshading moments of Ho Yayinvoked they detect throughout the movie.
  • When someone mentions or addresses Anderson the police officer, the riffers chime in with "That's meee!"
• Shout-Out:
  • The unerringly wholesome folk performance in the diner has Mike and the Bots calling out for requests from punk favorites such as The Cramps and the Buzzcocks.
  • When a victim enters a shower, Servo snarks, "Oh, let me guess..." then makes staccato violin sounds a la Psycho.
• Whoopee Cushion: The bots make farting noises when two characters sit down on chairs.

---

Mikey: "And he didn't steal no bike neither! I did!"

---