13 November 2006

MST3K (507)

507 - I Accuse My Parents (w/ The Truck Farmer (Second Edition)) - Though it was good-n-funny, I barely listened to the riffing during the short. I found the short itself fascinating. It's a nice little piece of petrochemical farming propaganda from fifty-two years ago. I'd pay good money to see James Howard Kunstler foam at the mouth while watching this.

Joel's whiteboard diagram in one of the host segments attempted to answer the question, by why accuse his parents? The embarrassing drunkenness of Jimmy's parents may explain the lies and, if I'm imagining his mom's pregnancy correctly, his stupidity. It doesn't explain his financial troubles, which were really the source of his downfall. His parents were constantly dumping money into his hands. Why get a job selling shoes, let alone a second one with the mob? All he had to see was stand around in his foyer in the vicinity of a parent to earn date money. Then again, this probably falls under the stupidity thing. Poor, dumb kid.

I remember there was some sort of junk drawer-related invention in 211. We seem to be on a streak of vague-ish repeats of past ideas lately. I suppose this is inevitable given that this is the 102rd episode of the series. Most shows would be long-canceled by now.

Joel's facial expressions, wig and evolving pencil-thin mustache during the "Gypsy Sings" host segment were great. He reminded me a little of Harpo Marx there. All four characters did a great job of recreating that scene from the film, duplicating the hustle and bustle of the club with their limited resources. Jim Mallon's not the greatest with the lip syncing of Gypsy, but that's a huge puppet to control.

Suddenly, I'm hungry for a hamburger sammich.

"She's got a closet full of dead shoe salesmen!" (7/10)

film d. Sam Newfield (1944)
short d. ?? (1954)
mst d. Trace Beaulieu (4 Sep 1993)