MST3K (511)

511 - Gunslinger - "Do you want to make people's heads explode? Sure, we all do." I am a huge Cronenberg fan, so even though "The Scanner Planner" isn't much of an invention -- it's more of a psychic technique -- I always enjoy a rare reference to my favorite director. "You tried to make my head explode, you freaked-out maniac!" Dr. F's face while scanning is a beautiful sight. If I could have one little prop from the show, it would be Dr. F's fake book with the artistic tribute to Michael Ironside on the cover. Also, I had no idea the "Brain Guy noise" was originally "Dr. F's scanner noise." Makes sense.

I'm never going to be a Roger Corman fan. This time, I was dozing during the extended Rose-Cain conversation in the middle of the movie, even though I started this ep in the afternoon and it was nowhere near bedtime. Corman just has that affect on my biology; JatB can't even stop it.

Joel read his very last fan letter today. This one was from France. As they usually do, they only read a piece of the letter. In the section they left off, the writer complains about the "Special Thanks to All MSTies Coast-to-Coast" credit. They, being fans living in Europe, felt it should say "All MSTies Around the World." I think BBI actually takes that suggestion to heart in the future. It remained "Coast-to-Coast" in this episode, which undoubtedly generated a few tears amongst the MST3KFCoSF.

I watched all of the host segments a second time after the credits rolled, paying special attention to Joel. Some people out there claim that you can see... something... indicating that he isn't happy. I don't see anything there. Perhaps the "Coffin Sketch" host segment is confusing to people. Besides the low lighting that accentuated all of the lines in Joel's face, he also tried to keep his face appropriately "funeral solemn" when he wasn't talking in this segment. These two factors combine to give him a sad look for most of the sketch. It is about coffins, after all. The only real difference I noticed in this episode is that he calls the bots "honey" quite a lot. Maybe he was already anticipating missing his little puppet creations?

"Gut-shot the schoolmarm. Sorry!" (6/10)

film d. Roger Corman (1956)
mst d. Joel Hodgson (9 Oct 1993)