MST3K (518)

518 - The Atomic Brain (w/ Discussion Problems in Group Living: What About Juvenile Delinquency) - If anything, MST3K is a great lesson in recent history. From the short in this episode and the movie in 514, I've learned that the youth gangs of four to five decades ago wore homemade, felt patches on their jackets. Not only did these patches require the assistance of said delinquents' mothers to be sewn on, they made it easy for parents and authority figures to identify them in the event of a crime. Such nice boys! From this short and episode 415, I've also learned that a tap on your bumper from a car full of these kids is a warning of either impending violence or an imminent singing audition. That's a 50-50 chance. Stay alert!

What is it with the transplant horror? First The Brain That Wouldn't Die and now this (and also Eyes Without a Face). Did something important in this field happen during this time? That's it, I need to do a little 'net research... All right. The first successful organ transplant happened in 1954. That was a boring kidney swap between identical twins. All of the exciting stuff, like hearts and lungs, happened after these three movies were made. Hmm. I guess that kidney thing was enough to ignite the imaginations bad screenwriters everywhere. I suppose the idea of having another human being's body part in you is pretty weird. Too bad no one ever made a good horror movie on the subject.

I sense the eminent demise of the invention exchange. Though Joel got lazy with them on occasion, Mike has not so far. Dressing the bots up as the Mads, though very funny, is not anywhere near an invention. That's fine. I liked this segment better than an invention, anyway. It was deceptively deep, too. We've got Trace Beaulieu playing Crow, who's playing Trace Beaulieu doing a bad imitation of Dr. Clayton Forrester and he's talking to Trace Beaulieu playing Dr. Clayton Forrester, who's playing Trace Beaulieu doing a bad imitation of Crow. Whoa. I see circles.

I think Magic Voice had her own host segment once before this episode, but I can't remember in which one. Her segment in this round was perfect. The narrator of this movie was one of the sleaziest disembodied film voices ever and he really needed a good telling-off. "I only met you a few seconds ago, but you're really yucky."

I found the riffing during the short to very funny. This was one of the best educational shorts so far, I think. The humor during the movie itself just didn't work as well. The guys seemed to be really energetic and into it today, but I didn't find myself laughing as much as I did during the short. Instead, I found myself fighting the snoozes again. For a movie involving cat-activated nuclear destructions, nude ladies in brain transplant chambers and a human dog, it repeatedly failed to capture my attention away from dreamland.

"You're gonna miss the soup of the day, jerk!" (6/10)

film d. Joseph Mascelli (1964)
short d. Herk Harvey (1955)
mst d. Jim Mallon (4 Dec 1993)