It’s Just A Show

It’s Ed Wood’s centenary year, and in celebration, Chris and Charlotte are giving in to The Sinister Urge. It’s leading them down a dark path towards smut, dirty pictures, deathly orgies, love feasts, and taking it out in trade.

Thank goodness this experiment also features an educational short about Keeping Clean and Neat!

The Sinister Urge (Edward D. Wood, Jr., 1960): MST3K Wiki. IMDB. Trailer. Watch on YouTube.

Keeping Clean and Neat (Unknown, 1956): IMDB. UnMSTed (in colour?!).

Turkey Day 2024 announcement! And the trailer!

Potato cakes are back. (Various sources on the internet suggest they might be vegan, but I don’t know.)

Our episode on The Painted Hills, which includes the college-student-shaming short Body Care and Grooming.

Our episodes on other Ed Wood-related films: Bride of the Monster and The Violent Years.

Rudolph Grey: Nightmare of Ecstacy: (The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr.)

Glen or Glenda (Edward D. Wood, Jr, 1953), or watch it riffed by The Mads.

Orgy of the Dead (Stephen C. Apostolof, 1965): Trailer (NSFW), Blu-ray

Take It Out in Trade (Edward D. Wood, Jr., 1970): Trailer (basically SFW), Blu-ray

The Love Feast (Joseph F. Robertson, 1969) is available as a bonus feature on the Take It Out in Trade Blu-ray.

The Violent Years (William Morgan, 1956) is also available on a lavish Blu-ray.

Hard Wood: The Adult Features of Ed Wood will be released soon.

Was (Not Was): Walk the Dinosaur (or if that link isn’t available in your country, try this one).

Jean Fontaine’s very reliable IMDb page.

Fred Mason’s IMDb page.

Harry Keaton’s very reliable IMDb page. (More about Harry Keaton and Harry Keatan.)

Support us on Patreon and you can listen to a superfan bonus bit cut for time — and you can join us on our friendly Discord.

Happy (belated) Halloween! The Creeping Terror slowly approaches Chris and Charlotte and overhears them discussing carpet samples, Vic Savage, Ed Wood, avant-garde composers, and Love, American Style!

Content warning for mentions of domestic and sexual abuse. We give a warning before these topics come up. Skip ahead to the chapter on Love, American Style at 46:36 to avoid it.

The Creeping Terror (Vic Savage, 1964): MST3K Wiki. IMDB. Watch on YouTube.

We talked about the 2005 remake of The Fog (John Carpenter, 1980) in our episode on The Slime People.

Andrew J. Robinson: A Stitch in Time.

Our episodes on Manos and the one with Johnny at the Fair.

The Creep Behind the Camera (Pete Schuermann, 2014).

So! Robert Silliphant is credited for writing the story for The Creeping Terror. He also wrote the screenplay for The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? According to the documentary, his brother Allan Silliphant was the one who wrote the story, not Robert. Also, Vic Savage was trying to cash in on the fame of Allan’s more successful brother, Stirling Silliphant. It’s all very confusing.

Lois Wiseman: Hollywood Con Man.

Street-Fighter (Vic Savage, 1959).

We also mentioned the Spahn Ranch in our episode on Wild Rebels.

Jon Lackey sounds amazing.

Richard Edlund has also done some good work.

A letter from Frederick Kopp.

The amazing theme song to Love, American Style.

Our episode on The Green Slime.

Edgard Varèse: Ionisation (this is the specific recording we talk about), Poème electronique, and Density 21.5.

Frank’s letter to Varèse, his later thoughts on Varèse, and another essay by Frank, “The Idol of My Youth”.

Support us on Patreon and you can listen to a superfan bonus bit cut for time, where Charlotte talks more about The Fog. And you can join us on our friendly Discord.

SST: Death Flight, chock full of celebrities, is flying as fast as it can to hear Chris and Charlotte talk about Lorne Greene, John de Lancie, Billy Crystal, Misty Rowe, and, you guessed it, Donald Pleasence.

SST: Death Flight (David Lowell Rich, 1977): IMDB. MST3K Wiki.

Previous Donald Pleasence Day episodes: Warrior of the Lost World. The Pumaman. Alien from L.A.. Circus of Horrors. Pod People. Teenage Crime Wave. Prince of Space. Hangar 18.

Oops: Tom Welling.

Our episodes on the KTMA episodes City on Fire, Humanoid Woman, and Time of the Apes.

We talked about Lorne Greene in our episodes on Johnny at the Fair and, for some reason, San Francisco International?

John de Lancie’s novel.

The Bastard (Lee H. Katzin, 1978).

John Jakes: The Bastard.

Our episode on Quest of the Delta Knights.

Benjamin Franklin’s bath theory.

Oh, and our episode on Final Justice, which also has some Donald Pleasence discussion.

Um actually, Jodie from Soap is not the first regular gay character in a tv show. That would be Peter Panama from the short-lived show The Corner Bar.

Matt Baume’s video essay on Soap, and his delightful book about television and gay history, Hi Honey, I’m Homo!

Rabbit Test (Joan Rivers, 1978).

Roger Ebert’s review.

One of Robert Reed’s memos about terrible Brady Bunch scripts.

Yet more cross-references! Our episodes on It Conquered the World, Attack of the the Eye Creatures, Parts: The Clonus Horror, At the Earth’s Core, The Last Chase, and Hangar 18 again.

Bert Convy.

Klamath Falls has a slightly misleading name.

Bucket of Blood (Roger Corman, 1959).

The Cheers: Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots.

Major spoilers for Soylent Green (Richard Fleischer, 1973).

Misty Rowe’s demo reel.

The Who Wants to Be a Millionaire fan wiki has all the answers.

Support us on Patreon and you can listen to one more familiar face segment, about Tina Louise — you know, Ginger from Gilligan’s Island! And you can join us on our friendly Discord.

The Slime People obscures Chris and Charlotte, who keep talking about volcanoes, fog, mist, domes, and slaughterhouses.

Featuring the short Radar Men from the Moon, part 6: Hills of Death.

The Slime People (Robert Hutton, 1962): IMDB. MST3K Wiki. Trailer.

(We never mention it, but yes, the director is the same guy who plays our reporter hero.)

Radar Men from the Moon (Fred C. Bannon, 1951): IMDb. UnMSTed. (Our episodes with parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 & 5).

All about Bosley.

Jeffrey (Christopher Ashley, 1995).

Our episodes on Hercules Against the Moon Men (with Sand Storm) and... oh no, we still have to watch Lost Continent (with Rock Climbing)!

We talked about Andy Rooney in our episode on Phantom Planet. Here’s Andy on morning people.

The eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980.

Why we dropped that bomb into that volcano.

Ursula K. Le Guin: Tales from Earthsea.

Avatar: The Last Airbender (season 3, episode 6): The Avatar and the Fire Lord.

Bombing volcanoes in Popular Science.

The USGS on what bombing a volcano would actually do.

The Fog (Rupert Wainwright, 2005) and The Fog (John Carpenter, 1980) and The Mist (Frank Darabont, 2007).

Hubrisween!, a Megaphonic podcast that reviews an alphabet of horror movies in the 26 days leading up to Halloween, covered The Mist for the letter M in 2019. (And hey, their 2024 episodes should be dropping in a few days!)

Buckminster Fuller (who we talked about in our episodes on Invasion of the Neptune Men and The Deadly Mantis) and his Dome over Manhattan.

Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.

KTTV Studios.

Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse-Five.

The bombing of Dresden.

A quote from the novel: “There are almost no characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters.”

Slaughterhouse-Five (George Roy Hill, 1972).

Holly Near: Singing for Our Lives.

Glenn Gould: Music from Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five.

Slaughterhouse-Five: The Graphic Novel, with images by Albert Monteys and words adapted by Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics fame.

(And the giant plush dinosaur we mention is the largest one pictured on this page.)

How to throw a progressive dinner party.

Support us on Patreon and you can listen to even more of our conversation about Slaughterhouse-Five that was cut for time. And you can join us on our friendly Discord.

12 to the Moon saves two seats for Chris and Charlotte, who pretend to be experts in concept cars, driving anxiety, space politics, one-woman shows, and Wall Drug.

With the musical short, Design for Dreaming!

12 to the Moon (David Bradley, 1960): IMDB. MST3K Wiki. Trailer.

Design for Dreaming (William Beaudine, 1956): IMDB. UnMSTed.

Magical Kitties Save the Day!

Previous Dodecalabour Day episodes: Hercules Against the Moon Men, Hercules Unchained, The Loves of Hercules, Hercules and the Captive Women, Hercules, Colossus and the Headhunters. Also I guess Manos was a sort of Labour Day episode?

The Story of Mankind (Irwin Allen, 1957) stars just about everyone, from Chico Marx to Peter Lorre to Agnes Moorehead to John Carradine to Dennis Hopper, but mostly it stars Vincent Price as the devil. And Marie Windsor from Swamp Diamonds!

Our episode on Rocketship X-M.

A reminiscence of visiting the 1956 General Motors Motorama in New York City.

The kitchen of tomorrow, from Frigidaire. (Frigidaire was owned by General Motors at the time.)

Host your car show at the Waldorf Astoria.

More about the concept cars of that Motorama.

The 20 Greatest Concept Cars of All Time, according to Motor Trend.

The Henry Ford (museum). (For some reason “Museum” isn’t officially part of their name?)

Noah Caldwell-Gervais’s majesterial seven-hour-long YouTube travelogue video essay about the Lincoln Highway — the first transcontinental highway in the US — includes a visit to The Henry Ford (museum) and shows off some of the old cars.

The Firebird II. More about the Firebird II. And a brochure for the car, which explains the automated highway stuff, kinda.

The National Air & Space Museum’s overview of the space race.

Kennedy’s January 1961 State of the Union Address and his September 1961 “We choose to go to the moon” speech.

A 1985 US Congressional Report on US-Soviet Cooperation in Space is a fascinating snapshot.

The 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. (Chris consistently mispronounces Союз, despite practicing it beforehand. Oh well.)

This Vox video about the situation with Russia and the International Space Station is a few years old, and the news cycles have kept going, but it’s a reasonable start.

“Cindy Williams is Twlya Tharp as Isadora Duncan in The Meredith Monk Story (co-starring Tom Bosley as ‘Bosley’).” (UPDATE: Listener Ned points out it’s probably this Bosley. Of course!)

Beware! The Blob (Larry Hagman, 1972).

Meredith Monk: Dolmen Music.

DJ Shadow: Midnight in a Perfect World.

And where one sampled the other.

Judy Chicago: The Dinner Party.

The Lennon Sisters vs. The Lemon Sisters (Joyce Chopra, 1990).

Wall Drug and its far-flung billboards.

The Badlands Wall.

Buc-ees.

Support us on Patreon and you can join us on our friendly Discord to share your precious moments with us.

The Phantom Planet brings Chris and Charlotte down to its own size, while they discuss serving man, making a killing, nutty confections, Andy Rooney, and women in space.

The Phantom Planet (William Marshall, 1961): IMDB. MST3K Wiki. Trailer.

Flesh Gordon (Michael Benveniste & Howard Ziehm, 1974) and Bonanza: Under Attack (Mark Tinker, 1995), again.

Our episode on Crash of Moons.

We talk more about Richard Kiel in our episode on Eegah.

All about the Solarites.

The Twilight Zone episode To Serve Man.

Our episode on The Leech Woman.

The Killing (Stanley Kubrick, 1956).

Elisha Cook Jr. might look familiar.

We talk about Hellzapoppin’ in our episode on The Rebel Set.

And our episode on Swamp Diamonds with Marie Windsor.

Valentino (Lewis Allen, 1951) vs. Valentino (Ken Russell, 1977).

Ben-Hur (Fred Niblo et al., 1925) vs. Ben-Hur (William Wyler, 1959). (We get the dates slightly wrong in the episode!)

And our episodes on The Sword and the Dragon and the Paul Frees film The Beatniks.

French burnt peanuts, peanut brittle, and Nut Goodies.

Phantom Planet: California.

CBS rememebrs Andy Rooney.

Black History: Lost, Stolen, or Strayed (hosted by Bill Cosby in 1968).

Harry and Lena with Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne from 1970.

Andy Rooney on minorities, bottled water, and kitchen gadgets.

Some relevant Playtex ads: 1 & 2.

Dealing with menstruation in space.

The Artemis II and Artemis III space trips.

Support us on Patreon and you can join us on our friendly Discord to share your precious moments with us.

Being from Another Planet shuffles towards Chris and Charlotte, hoping to collect their thoughts about Egyptian mummies, musical daddies, Jack Palance, Herb Edelman, and other things grandmas love.

Being from Another Planet (Tom Kennedy, 1982): IMDB. MST3K Wiki. Trailer.

Matt Foy and Christopher J. Olson: Mystery Science Theater 3000: A Cultural History.

Rowman & Littlefield’s Cultural History of Television series.

Our episodes on Teenagers from Outer Space, Manos: The Hands of Fate, Warrior of the Lost World, and The Castle of Fu Manchu.

Mannequin (Michael Gottlieb, 1987)

Alias Smith and Jones.

Our episodes on Riding with Death and Village of the Giants. (Chris says Riding with Death is from the KTMA era but of course it's actually from Season 8. Yikes!)

Bonanza: Under Attack (Mark Tinker, 1995).

Johnny Prophet: My Yiddishe Mama and Like Someone In Love (for you Björk fans).

Looking for Johnny Prophet.

More about Harry Belafonte.

Flesh Gordon (Michael Benveniste & Howard Ziehm, 1974).

Jack Palance’s famous Academy Awards acceptance speech and fitness routine.

Chris and Charlotte (and some of our Megaphonic friends) once talked about The Greatest Story Ever Told as a thank-you gift for our Patreon supporters.

O 5º Poder (Alberto Pieralisi, 1962) vs. The First Power (Robert Resnikoff, 1990).

That ad for Switch (Blake Edwards, 1991).

Precious Moments and the Precious Moments Chapel.

Jesus is my coach.

Sam Butcher’s obituary.

Support us on Patreon and you can join us on our friendly Discord to share your precious moments with us.

The Corpse Vanishes offers Chris and Charlotte a corsage, which induces them to talk about orchids, Tiger Beat, Teen Beat, Wham-O, and tag.

Features the short, Radar Men from the Moon, part 3: The Bridge of Death.

The Corpse Vanishes (Wallace Fox, 1942): IMDB. MST3K Wiki. Trailer.

Radar Men from the Moon (Fred C. Bannon, 1951): IMDb. UnMSTed. (Our episodes with parts 1, 2, and 4 & 5)

Our earworm disccusion began in our episode on High School Big Shot.

By Mennen.

Bill Finger.

The Awful Green Things from Outer Space.

Jim Vorel’s list has been updated to include Season 12.

And our episode on The Mad Monster.

Some orchids don’t have scents, but many do.

The dracula orchid.

Dracula vampira flowers turn out to reach a foot tall!

Georgia O’Keeffe: Narcissa’s Last Orchid.

Pseudobulbs.

Tiger Beat covers.

An article about being a reporter for Tiger Beat.

New Kids on the Block: White Christmas.

Checking in on Charlotte’s favourite New Kid on the Block.

The Gay Amigo (Wallace Fox, 1949).

Our episode on The She-Creature.

The Third Sex (Richard C. Kahn, 1934).

The B5 riots.

The Wham-O Magic Window.

A nice article about Wham-O’s founders.

Chris keeps saying “micronium” but the made-up word was “microdium”.

Hokusai: The Great Wave off Kanagawa.

Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty.

Our episode on Humanoid Woman.

TV Tag.

Support us on Patreon and you can listen to a superfan bonus bit that was cut for time from this episode—and you can join us on our friendly Discord.

The proof-of-concept pilot for MST3K tackles The Green Slime, which leads to Chris and Charlotte talking about beginnings, Beeper, Charles Fox, Armageddon, and Minneapolis.

The Green Slime (Kinji Fukasaku [深作 欣二], 1968): IMDB. MST3K Wiki.

Watch the pilot.

The first KTMA promo for the show.

Our episodes on The Beast of Hollow Mountain and The Beast of Yucca Flats.

And our episodes on Time of the Apes, from KTMA and Season 3.

Charles Fox: The theme song from The Green Slime. (Richard Delvy is the singer, apparently.)

Charles Fox plays a medley of his tv theme songs.

Roberta Flack: Killing Me Softly with His Song.

Our episodes on Hercules and Godzilla vs. Megalon.

Claes Oldenberg and Coosje van Bruggen: Spoonbridge and Cherry.

The Hopkins post office. Look for box 5325.

The giant raspberry.

Touring the Best Brains Studio.

Video of a studio tour, 1994.

Visit Paisley Park.

Pearson’s Salted Nut Roll and Zagnut.

Support us on Patreon and you can listen to our superfan bonus bits—and you can join us on our friendly Discord.

High School Big Shot is a bleak movie, but at least the attached short, an allegory about selling bread called Out of This World, is ridiculous. Together they tempt Chris and Charlotte into talking about Roger Corman, Mother Nature, specialty breads, Abe Lincoln, and Tom’s Diner.

[Content warning: Depressing movie; occasionally sad episode. The movie includes a suicide, which we don’t talk about.]

High School Big Shot (Joel Rapp, 1959): IMDB. MST3K Wiki. Trailer.

Out of This World (Unknown [Jam Handy Organization], 1954): IMDB. UnMSTed.

Once again, thank you to Ned from By-The-Bywater!

We mentioned Art Garfunkel walking across America in our episode on Colossus and the Headhunters.

R.I.P., Roger Corman, who we’ve discussed before in our episodes on It Conquered the World, Lords of the Deep, The Undead, The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent, Avalanche, and probably elsewhere.

The Intruder (Roger Corman, 1962).

Roger Corman with Jim Jerome: How I Made a Hundred Movies and Never Lost a Dime.

Roger Corman: The Pope of Pop Cinema (Bertrand Tessier, 2021).

Chris Nashawaty: Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen, and Candy Stripe Nurses: Roger Corman: King of the B Movie.

The Little Shop of Horrors (Roger Corman, 1960).

The Trip (Roger Corman, 1967).

Our episode on I Was a Teenage Werewolf.

Battle of Blood Island (Joel Rapp, 1960).

Joel Rapp: Radio, TV, Mother Earth & Me: Memories of a Hollywood Life. (Check out the shirt he’s wearing on the cover!)

R.I.P., Tom Pittman.

New Zealand fig and almond bread from The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum, an excellent book for anyone who wants to learn breadmaking.

Sourdough apple bread from The Village Baker by Joe Ortiz, which is also pretty great.

We the Future posters.

Support us on Patreon and you can listen to a superfan bonus bit that was cut for time from this episode—and you can join us on our friendly Discord.