Recap / Mystery Science Theater 3000 S09E09: Gorgo

Film watched: Gorgo

Before DVD and Digital releases, this experiment only aired twice on its premiere day. It was taken down from rotation due to copyright disputes.

The episode is available in the Gizmoplex here.

The Segments:

• A rare (and big) Spix's macaw has made its nest in Crow's head-web, even laying an egg. The bird flies by and lays another egg as Crow and Mike explain the situation to the viewers.

Segment 1

• Crow is busy protecting the eggs, firing hot lead at the weasels trying to get to them. In Castle Forrester, Brain Guy and Bobo are engaged in a rather one-sided arm wrestling match, during which they call Pearl from a videophone. Still on vacation, Pearl's flown the Widowmaker to Los Angeles, where she's made a partnership with film critic Leonard Maltin, who the 'Bots are all too happy to ask questions to. Getting to the point, Pearl tells the SOL gang that she's hoping Mr. Maltin will give her pointers for more bad movies to send them in exchange for a free lunch, and she has even given him the honor of choosing and presenting today's experiment: Gorgo. Mike is hesitant that Maltin, a celebrated critic, would really submit him and his friends something so horrible, but the critic tells him that while he himself enjoyed it, the film sent two of his assistant editors to the hospital. Just before Movie Sign, Crow's eggs are taken by Egg Protective Services, since he made an omelet in front of them.

Segment 2

• Inspired by one of the film's characters and his uncanny resemblance to Samuel Beckett, Gypsy introduces the 'Bots' one-act production of Waiting for Gorgot, with Mike as the title character, to racucous and overly-long canned applause.

Segment 3

• Mike forces the 'Bots to play Trivial Pursuit: William Sylvester Edition. Mike gets in touch with his inner child as he gets really into the game, driven to win. The 'Bots lean hard in the opposite direction, since they don't even know who William Sylvester was, even though all the questions involve the names of characters he played.

Segment 4

• For once, the Nanites have been watching today's film, and they've been inspired to set up a circus, complete with live animals, carnival games, acrobats, and the ever-popular Nate the Clown. Mike drops some quarters to pay for admission, but since he forgot how tiny the Nanites are, his change crushes their circus, leaving the animals free to escape and wreak havoc on them.

Segment 5

• Crow and Servo have pre-sold a line of "The Women of Gorgo" exotic calendars, with financial backing by the mob. They've unfortunately been unable to find a single woman in the whole film, landing them in hot water with their backers. Mike points out two women; one on Nara Island, and another during Mama Gorgo's rampage, which inspires the 'Bots to spruce these women up for their calendar. In Los Angeles, Pearl and Maltin are shocked after seeing that the film seemingly had no effect on Mike or the 'Bots. To this end, Maltin decides to team up with Pearl in the hopes of providing her with even worse movies down the line, suggesting one with Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts.

The Leonard Maltin-approved MST3K presentation of Gorgo contains examples of:

• Accidental Misnaming:
  • Pearl calls Leonard Maltin Mr. Siskel, Roger, Ebert and Mr. Maltin-Ebert, before finally settling on Leo.
  • "Hey, it's Large Bob!"
    Mike: (chuckling) It's Big Ben.
    Crow: ...Oh, suuure, Mike.
• Big "SHUT UP!": Tom makes Mama Gorgo give one as she's roaring when the obnoxious reporter gives one navel-gazing monologue too many.
• British Teeth: Mike quips that Gorgo has the best teeth in England.
• Call-Back:
  • To The Touch of Satan:
    Crow: Hi, I'm Gorgo — but I'm not Mormo of the thousand-faced moon.
  • To the Gamera movies:
    Crow: Go play on Gamera's back, kid, I'm not into it.
  • Mike wants to play Trivial Pursuit: William Sylvester Edition, based on the 2001: A Space Odyssey actor's presence in this movie, as well as Devil Doll and Riding With Death. The 'Bots can't be bothered.
• The Cameo: Entertainment Tonight critic Leonard Maltin appears to advise Pearl on bad movies to show Mike and the bots. He recommends this one to her, since, while he confesses to liking it himself (having given it an above-average rating in his movie guide), it supposedly put two of his assistant editors into intensive care.
• Celebrity Resemblance:
  • One of the characters Mike and the Bots see is dubbed Samuel Beckett.
  • A fisherman at the beginning they think could pass for Joe Strummer.
  • Meta-example: The little kid from the beginning sort of looks like a young Mike Nelson, or alternatively, a grown-up Dave Foley.
• Chromosome Casting: Discussed in the final host segment, where Crow and Servo try to find female characters for their calendar, but are able to find only extras in crowd scenes.
• Comically Small Bribe: Maltin agrees to help Pearl because she promised him a light lunch at Skybar (actually just an appetizer). She later threatens to downgrade it to a small decaf at Starbucks.
• Contemplate Our Navels: A reporter repeatedly gives speeches of this nature during the film's climax, much to Mike and the Bots' annoyance.
  Crow: WOULD YOU DIE?!
• Continuity Nod: Maltin's appearance, as well as referencing the rather favorable review he gave it, is also a call-back to a pair of bits in the earlier Laserblast and The Undead episodes. In Laserblast, Mike and the 'bots read out the various critically-acclaimed films ranked worse or no better than Laserblast's 2½ stars (like The Name of the Rose, Seven Samurai, etc.). In The Undead (given a full three stars in Maltin's Video Guide), Tom has Mike dress up as Maltin so he can freak out at him.
• Dumbass Has a Point: Crow and Mike's conversation about Crow getting a nest built on his head:
  Mike: See, what I don't understand is how you didn't notice them actually building a nest.
  Crow: Well, I was aware of some activity, Mike, but ::tch:: it's the top of my head! I suppose you know everything that's going on on the top of your head at all times?
  Mike: (Beat) I guess not...
• Eiffel Tower Effect:
  Servo: Oh, Mike, you're probably gripped with the urge to say "London Bridge Is Falling Down" at this point, but don't, don't! This is actually the Tower Bridge.
  Mike: (literally seconds later) London Bridge is falling down...
  Servo: Mike, what did I just tell you?
• Empathy Doll Shot: The movie plays it straight. But then...
  Mike: (as the shot cuts to tanks) Now tanks are brought in to roll over the doll!
• Inherently Funny Words: "Dorkin."
  Crow: (at the end of the movie) ...Oh, Dorkin was a person! A character!
• Loan Shark: Crow and Tom borrowed money from "a New Jersey firm, rough-looking guys in late-model cars" to finance their "hunks and babes of Gorgo" calendars. Bad idea.
  Crow: Right! Now, there's the problem: save our lives.
• Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds: This time, Mike inadvertently brings chaos to the Nanites' circus (and Nate the Clown) by dropping his two bits directly on the counter, causing death and destruction and freeing the caged nanoscopic animals. As a bit of Fridge Horror, this is the last episode where the Nanites appear, and they're never mentioned again.
• One-Sided Arm-Wrestling: A bored-looking Bobo easily tosses around Brain Guy.
• Scotireland: Some of the riffs are based on Scottish stereotypes, despite the setting being explicitly an Irish island. Played for Laughs, the joke being that they know Samuel Beckett is Irish as well as what he looks like but somehow can't tell Scotland and Ireland apart.
  • when the crew first land on Nara Island, there's a reference to How Green Was My Valley, which was set in Wales
• Separated by a Common Language: During Mama Gorgo's rampage, Servo sarcastically remarks that some of the people will be put "in hospital", perhaps even having come "from university".^note In American English, you'd want to add an extra "the" in front of each of those.
• Shameless Self-Promoter: Maltin's cameo presents him as such, trying to talk up his video guides, and he does get to plug the latest (1998) edition.
• Shout-Out:
  • Brain Guy wears a backwards baseball cap like Sylvester Stallone in arm-wrestling trucker movie Over the Top.
  • "Thunderbore." "Voyage to the Bottom of the Yawn." "The Abysmal." "Driving Miss Dummy."
    Mike: Wait... That... really doesn't work at all.
    Crow: Really?
    Mike: No, it really fails on a whole lot of levels.
    Crow: ...Well, I try, Mike.
  • When the boat is being rocked by the volcanic eruption at the start of the film:
    Crow: Mike, Servo? For what it's worth, my heart will go on.
  • "And now the rest of the movie is the Kray Brothers looting London."
  • "This is how My Giant ends."
  • When the ship is shown back in port just fine after just being shown in very heavy seas, Crow sings:
    Crow: Well, they got back to port and everyone was okay. They went out for lunch and felt better!
• The Smurfette Principle: Discussed in light of its absence: Crow and Tom decide to sell a calendar with a lineup of the women in today's movie, but they can't find any — Mike and Cambot help uncover two, but they're just extras in crowd scenes.
• Take That!: For a worse movie, Leonard Maltin suggests something with Mickey Rourke or Eric Roberts. Combining the two gets The Pope of Greenwich Village, which (as of 2009) Maltin gave three stars.