MST3K (415)

415 - The Beatniks (w/ General Hospital [segment 2]) - Based on its title and genre -- '50s youth in trouble -- I was really hoping this was going to be Daddy-O II. It was! Like that previous experiment, this episode was a pleasant surprise full of strong riffing. Eddy: "What's your name?" Helen: "Helen Tracy." Crow-as-Eddy, in a sultry voice: "That's my name, too." I was brought to tears of laughter a few times during this episode.

It seems as though the General Hospital segments are unrelated to each other. Either that, or I'm just not able to follow them. This one was better fodder for the show than the last. It featured an incredibly awkward dinner party that provided ample grist for JatB's riff mill. I think the soap opera segments are working out just slightly better than a chapter from a serial. I'd still rather have an educational short, of course.

Eddy, smoking, embraces Helen. Crow: "Let's create this scene from Videodrome." Woo-hoo, a David Cronenberg reference!

Joel... pocket pool? Kinda racy for the show, ain't that? Maybe it isn't for a blink-and-it's-gone riff, but for an invention exchange it seemed way out of character for him. Ah, wait a minute. I wonder if he was goofing on the Ron Popeil's infamous Pocket Fisherman that was sold on TV at the time and not the slang term? Could be, could be.

"You smell like chicken-fried punk." (8/10)

film d. Paul Frees (1958)
short d. ?? (1963)
mst d. Joel Hodgson (25 Nov 1992)