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It’s Just A Show

Chris Piuma and Charlotte Wells (and Adam Clarke and Beth Martin)

A friendly conversation about the cult tv show Mystery Science Theater 3000, and about its weird movies and diverse cultural references.

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#194
September 18 · 58 min
194. The Infinity Impulse. [MST3K K03. Star Force: Fugitive Alien II.]
Star Force: Fugitive Alien II returns, KTMA-style, to send Chris and Charlotte into black holes, hyperbolic curves, infinite mysteries, historical myths, and national anthems. Show Notes. Star Force: Fugitive Alien II (Minoru Kanaya & Kiyosumi Kuzakawa, 1978 (tv show)/1987 (film)): MST3K Wiki. IMDB. Watch on YouTube. We covered Fugitive Alien (part I) in episodes 176 (KTMA) and 177 (season 3). Our episode on Prince of Space. Janna Levin: Black Hole Survival Guide was the most useful book Chris read on the topic. Einstein Online (from the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics) and NASA also have useful pages on black holes. Cygnus X-1, Messier 87*, and Sagittarius A* are the three obvserved black holes that we mention. The Event Horizon Telescope. In case you can't imagine the math function Chris describes, here's a graph. David J. Silverman: This Land Is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving. The Smithsonian on the Thanksgiving origin story. Delish on Thanksgiving. Mary Livingstone’s poem about two Thanksgivings on the Jack Benny Program, 1939. (Or listen to the whole episode. Though Chris was probably thinking about the episodes that came out around Thanksgiving 1940.) Canadian Thanksgiving myths. An alternative lyric. Support us on Patreon and hang out with us in a friendly Discord.
#193
August 29 · 58 min
193. What If We Don’t Tell Stories? [MST3K 318. Star Force: Fugitive Alien II.]
We’re back, and Ken’s back, and the plucky crew of the Bacchus 3 is back, as Star Force: Fugitive Alien II throws Chris and Charlotte into the brig, where they talk about puppets, costumes, pussycats, cleavage, and choreography. Show Notes. Star Force: Fugitive Alien II (Minoru Kanaya & Kiyosumi Kuzakawa, 1978 (tv show)/1987 (film)): MST3K Wiki. IMDB. Watch on YouTube. We covered Fugitive Alien (part I) in episodes 176 (KTMA) and 177 (season 3). A national park. We talked about marionettes in our episodes on Invaders from the Deep and we must have talked about puppets in our episode on Devil Doll, no? Oh, and we talked about H.R. Pufnstuf in our episode on Crash of Moons. Is there a Puppet Wiki? Of course. Though the Muppet Wiki has more info on Big Bird. And you might want to go to the regular wiki for more info on Señor Wences. Videos going inside Jim Henson’s Creature Shop and behind the scenes of Netflix’s The Dark Crystal. And how Muppets go outside! The Northeast Georgia History Center offers a video about the history of puppets. The British Puppet Guild and the Chicago International Puppet Theater. Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (Russ Meyer, 1965). Peaches Christ highlights Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! and interviews Tura Satana in 2005. Roger Copeland: Merce Cunningham: The Modernizing of Modern Dance was a helpful resource (although not without its flaws). Merce Cunningham: Common Time, a book which accompanied a museum retrospective, was also fun to read. The Merce Cunningham Trust carries his legacy forward. They also have a YouTube channel. Merce by Merce by Paik (Charles Atlas, Nam June Paik, Shigeko Kubota, 1978) is two short films (made for tv) about Merce's work, and includes some of his early experiments with dance and video. Cage/Cunningham (Eliot Caplan, 1991) is a charming documentary about John Cage and Merce Cunningham’s work together. I wonder if someone has uploaded the whole thing to YouTube? Support us on Patreon and support the show.
#192
April 23 · 59 min
192. Trash Heaps of Love. [MST3K 514. Teen-age Strangler.]
Teen-age Strangler is out there not stealing no bikes while Chris and Charlotte discuss forever love, temporary love, parental love, punk rock love, but mostly their love of Mikey. With the short: Is This Love? Show Notes. Teen-age Strangler (Ben Parker, 1964): MST3K Wiki. IMDB. Watch on YouTube. Is This Love? (Unknown, 1957): IMDB. UnMSTed. KTMA episode 3 has been found! You can find it on YouTube or archive.org. Doctor Who also found some long-lost episodes. Talking Pondo: Purple Rain and America’s Sweethearts with Charlotte Wells and Chris Piuma A note on Reddit about John Humphreys passing. Jack Douglas: Shut Up and Eat Your Showshoes!. Butthole Surfers: Lady Sniff. (That’s the one Charlotte couldn’t remember the name of.) The Dead Milkmen: Punk Rock Girl. Mojo Nixon: Elvis is Everywhere. Jello Biafra & Mojo Nixon: Are You Drinking with Me, Jesus? and Love Me, I’m a Liberal (originally written by Phil Ochs). Jello Biafra running for mayor. More. Dead Kennedys: California Über Alles Check out the Chad Mitchell Trio, now without Chad Mitchell! A local talk show segment about the 60th anniversary screening of Teen-age Strangler in Huntington, West Virginia. Support us on Patreon and you can listen to a special bonus bit that was cut for time from this episode.
#191
March 31 · 59 min
191. The Lon in Lon. [MST3K 409. Indestructible Man.]
Indestructible Man gets revenge on Chris and Charlotte, who double crossed him by talking about Max Showalter, Lon Chaney, Lon Chaney, Mr. Bulky's, and the Mountain Goats. With the short: Undersea Kingdom, chapter 2! Show Notes. Indestructible Man (Jack Pollexfen, 1956): MST3K Wiki. IMDB. Trailer. Watch on YouTube. Undersea Kingdom, ch. 2 (B. Reeves Eason & Joseph Kane, 1936): IMDB. KTMA episode 3 has been found! You can find it on YouTube or archive.org. Demon Squad: Tooth and Claw (Thomas Smith, 2026). Our episode on Demon Squad. We talk about Crash Corrigan in our episode on Attack of the Giant Leeches. Our episode on Catalina Caper. Sixteen Candles (John Hughes, 1984). Niagara (Henry Hathaway, 1953). A review of Undersea Kingdom which will help you identify Lon. The Phantom of the Opera (Rupert Julian, 1925). The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Wallace Worsley, 1923). The Wolf Man (George Waggner, 1941). The Mountain Goats: Rotten Stinking Mouthpiece. (Some of the lore about the movie presented here is not accurate, but that’s OK.) I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats. Mr. Bulky’s. (See also Grandpa Joe’s.) R.E.M.: Cuyahoga. We tried the candy in our episode on The Green Slime. Support us on Patreon and you can listen to a special bonus bit that was cut for time from this episode.
#190
February 28 · 58 min
190. Another Person Who’s Miserable. [MST3K 1202. Atlantic Rim.]
Atlantic Rim lurks in the depths, waiting to see if Chris and Charlotte are drift-compatable enough to nagivate Kickstarters, notorious movies, mockbusters, Guillermo del Toro, and garage bands. Show Notes. Atlantic Rim (Jared Cohn, 2013): MST3K Wiki. IMDB. Trailer. Hopefully on YouTube in a few weeks. The Kickstarter, in the unlikely event that this is the first you’re hearing about it. A reminder about some of the things Mike has said in the past, and Mike’s apology. Demon Squad: Tooth and Claw (Thomas Smith, 2026). Listen to Charlotte on Fiasco Family Movie Night talking about rom-coms! Dances with Wolves (Kevin Costner, 1990). The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Chris Weitz, 2009). North (Rob Reiner, 1994). Love by Design (Jared Cohn, 2023). Naughty by Nature: Hip Hop Hooray and O.P.P. A profile of The Asylum. The Asylum have put a bunch of their films on YouTube, because why not. Pacific Rim (Guillermo del Toro, 2013). Pacific Rim: The Black. Ellen McClain’s casting is intentional. Bruce McCullough remembers a sketch. Or, I guess technically, multiple sketches, but the first one is the best. Support us on Patreon and you can listen to a special bonus bit that was cut for time from this episode.
#189
February 17 · 31 min
189b. Toothpicks and Glue. [MST3K: The Web Series & MST3K: The Comic.]
MST3K: The Web Series (a.k.a “The ’Bots Are Back”) hit our web browers in 2007, about halfway between the end of MST3K’s original run and the beginning of the Netflix seasons. MST3K: The Comic hit comic book stores right before season 12 dropped. Both experiment with MST3K in new formats, but one is significantly more successful than the other. Chris and Charlotte investigate. Show Notes. MST3K: The Web Series was quickly taken offline, but you can find it on YouTube. MST3K: The Comic was published by Portland’s own Dark Horse Comics. It ran for six issues, and was collected in a trade paperback. Homestar Runner began in 2000. When the MST3K web series came out, they were up to sbemail 183. MST3K: The Comic mostly riffs on: Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter 2 (1962) Black Cat 2 (1946) Black Cat 3 (1946) Black Cat 5 (1947) Horrific 1 (1952) Horrific 2 (1952) Horrific 3 (1953) Henry Nilsson: A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night. Support us on Patreon and you can hang out with us in a friendly little Discord.
#189
February 3 · 59 min
189. Scratch and Flick. [MST3K 406. Attack of the Giant Leeches.]
Attack of the Giant Leeches feeds off Chris and Charlotte as they discuss creature features, leeches, surgeon’s sutures, Crash (as Crash), and Crash’s ranch. With the short: Undersea Kingdom, chapter 1. Show Notes. Attack of the Giant Leeches (Bernard L. Kowalski, 1959): MST3K Wiki. IMDB. Trailer. Watch on YouTube. Undersea Kingdom, ch. 1 (B. Reeves Eason & Joseph Kane, 1936): IMDB. King Kong vs. Gozilla (キングコング対ゴジラ) (Ishirō Honda, 1962) is but the first. King Kong on Wikizilla. MST3K has been sold. MST3K: The RiffTrax Experiments on Kickstarter. An article in Variety about the upcoming episodes. We talked about Atlantis in our episodes on Beyond Atlantis and Hercules and the Captive Women. We’ve mentioned Hee-Haw in a few episodes, including Prince of Space and The Deadly Bees. And we talked about Hummel figurines in our episode on Demon Squad. Our episodes on The Killer Shrews and The Leech Woman. This Podcast Will Kill You: Leeches. A video about leeches from Deep Marine Scenes. Ancient leech fossils. A PBS video on medicinal leeches. An article about a medical leech farm. Leeches and osteoarthritis. Leeches and biodiversity research. An Australian hiker with advice on leeches. A web tour of Corriganville. Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (William Beaudine, 1952). In memoriam Phillip Piuma (1978–2026). Support us on Patreon and you can listen to a special bonus bit that was cut for time from this episode.
#188
January 16 · 59 min
188. Please, Let Leonard. [MST3K 909. Gorgo.]
Happy Gamuary! This year Gorgo roars as Chris and Charlotte discuss Irish kaiju, Irish stereotypes, Irish playwrights, Irish boxers, and walking through London. Show Notes. Gorgo (Eugène Lourié, 1961): MST3K Wiki. IMDB. Trailer. Watch on YouTube. We began celebrating Gamuary way back in 2018 with our first episode on Gamera vs. Barugon. Also, we don’t mention this, but there is an earlier film that is arguably the first UK kaiju movie: The Giant Behemoth (Eugène Lourié, 1959). Same director as Gorgo. Leonard Maltin: Leonard Maltin’s 1998 Movie & Video Guide. Leonard Maltin’s homepage. Someone on Letterboxd posts all his reviews, including his review of Gorgo. Ógra. Rodan (Ishirō Honda, 1956). Coliemore Harbour in Dalkey, Ireland. Get your replica boots. Or the replica slippers. Chris talked about Samuel Beckett and Waiting for Godot on a recent episode of The Spouter-Inn. Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot. Endgame. Krapp’s Last Tape. Happy Days. Not I. See also (or search for) Beckett on Film. Not I (Anthony Page, 1973) starring Billie Whitelaw. We discuss John Ford and John Wayne some more in our episode on Last of the Wild Horses. The Quiet Man (John Ford, 1952). Cher: If I Could Turn Back Time. And a related ad. The Caine Mutiny (Edward Dmytryk, 1954). That one scene. Gordon Lightfoot: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. And an example of a later live version. Waiting for Gorgo (Benjamin Craig, 2010). Support us on Patreon and you can listen to a special bonus bit that was cut for time from this episode — and our holiday special!
#187
Dec 25, 2025 · 58 min
187. The Most Holiday Movie We’ve Ever Done. [MST3K 1304. Munchie.]
Happy holidays! Look, we got you a Munchie! Put it in a box and everything. And we also got you an episode of Chris and Charlotte talking about Munchies, Munchie Strikes Back, Dom DeLuise, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and the late great Loni Anderson. Show Notes. Munchie (Jim Wynorski, 1992): MST3K Wiki. IMDB. Trailer. Support us on Patreon and listen to our holiday special, all about the Edvard Grieg musical biopic Song of Norway (Andrew L. Stone, 1970). (You probably don’t want to watch the movie itself.) Grieg is the composer behind In the Hall of the Mountain King — and much more! Get ready for Fiascomas! A new little daily podcast about holiday movies, running between Christmas and New Year’s, by the friends who bring you Hubrisween!. Our episodes on MST3Kon and Cry Wilderness. Munchies (Tina Hirsch, 1987). Munchie Strikes Back (Jim Wynorski, 1994). Love Hewitt: Heart of Glass. We talk about The Bastard (Lee H. Katzin, 1978) in our episode on SST: Death Flight. A Prince for Christmas (Fred Olen Ray, 2015). Phantasm (Don Coscarelli, 1979). The Classic Erich Wolfgang Korngold. (Yes, he used a different pseudonym for this.) Kevin Kutchaver. Little Miss Millions (Jim Wynorski, 1993). Judy Tenuta in 1990, uh, being weirdly topical for today. Support us on Patreon and you can listen to a special bonus bit that was cut for time from this episode — and our holiday special!
#186
Dec 15, 2025 · 1 hr
186. A Crackpot Theory That I Have No Evidence For. [MST3K 603. The Dead Talk Back.]
The Dead Talk Back, but maybe you’d rather hear Chris and Charlotte talk about true believers, ice cream sales, safety plans, public service announcements, and The Grateful Dead. With the short: The Selling Wizard. Show Notes. The Dead Talk Back (Merle S. Gould, 1957/1993): MST3K Wiki. IMDB. Watch on YouTube. The Selling Wizard (Unknown, 1954): IMDB. UnMSTed. MST3K has just uploaded The Christmas That Almost Wasn’t, which we covered last year, for the holidays. The Body Is a Shell (Merle S. Gould, 1956). Peter Ballbusch: The Body Is a Shell. Edgar Cayce. We talk about H.R. Pufnstuf or whatever in our episode on Crash of Moons. The New York Times on The Body Is a Shell. Clips of Dickory Doc. An article about ice cream getting popular. The relevant fountain pen by Ensso is no longer in production, but here’s a review. (Chris has the black one.) OK, but what if everyone jumped at the same time? International ShakeOut Day. Gas mask drills in World War 2. 1950s civil defense drills. An example of a tsunami drill. MST3K PSAs: riffing a news reel and pretending there’s an emergency on the SoL. Stuff You Missed in History Class on The Sisters Fox. If you missed the news about the talk to your dead grandma through AI thing... The Grateful Dead (with John Oswald): Greyfolded. Support us on Patreon and you can listen to a special bonus bit that was cut for time from this episode.
#185
Nov 27, 2025 · 59 min
185. Everything Is Beautiful. [MST3K K01. Invaders from the Deep.]
Happy Turkey Day! Let’s celebrate with the very first episode of MST3K, which premiered on Thanksgiving 1988! Invaders from the Deep (which is to say, four episodes of Stingray spliced together into a movie) dives after Chris and Charlotte while they flap their lips about Turkey Day, Supermarionation, brief introductions, earnest ecologists, and beer nuts. Show Notes. Invaders from the Deep (David Lane, 1981 (based on Stingray (1964))): MST3K Wiki. IMDB. Details about this year’s Turkey Day, which is happening when this podcast goes live. You can see a print ad for the debut of MST3K on the KTMA era page of The Epicurean History of MST3K. Our episode on Humanoid Woman. Phones and Marina over on the Gerry (and presumably Sylvia) Anderson wiki. Filmed in Supermarionatin (Stephen La Rivière, 2014) is the documentary Chris watched, now available on YouTube. Our episodes on the test pilot, the first Comedy Channel episode, the first Mike episode, the first Sci-Fi episode, the first Jonah episode, and the first Emily episode. Silent Running (Douglas Trumbull, 1972). Beer Nuts. Support us on Patreon and you can listen to a special bonus bit that was cut for time from this episode.
#184
Nov 16, 2025 · 33 min
184b. It’s Just A Town. [Assignment: Venezuela, from the MST3K CD-ROM.]
Assignment: Venezuela sends Chris and Charlotte off to discuss economic colonialism, oil extraction, Latin American history, lying husbands, and CD-ROMs. Show Notes. Assignment: Venezuela (Jack Tobin, 1956): MST3K Wiki. IMDB. UnMSTed. Our episode on The Beast of Yucca Flats, with the short: Progress Island, U.S.A. The surprisingly robust Wikipedia article on Assignment: Venezuela, with lots of MST3K content. Eduardo Galeano: The Memory of Fire trilogy: Genesis, Faces and Masks, and Century of the Wind — as well as The Book of Embraces. A history of Levittown, NY. Some documents about the integration of Levittown, PA. The Wikipedia article on Robert Moses has a subsection on racism which details the recent arguments that have been made about the Jones Beach story. Don’t Worry Darling (Olivia Wilde, 2022). (Charlotte notes that the movie gets pretty dark.) The Mystery Science Theater 3000 CD-ROM. The Voyager Company, and a list of the CD-ROMs they released (or planned to release). Laurie Anderson recently had a chance to revisit The Puppet Motel. Someone uploaded a playthrough (if you want to call it that) of The Puppet Motel. Support us on Patreon and hang out with us in a friendly Discord.
#184
Nov 4, 2025 · 59 min
184. Fish Flopping. [MST3K 1005. Blood Waters of Dr. Z.]
Blood Waters of Dr. Z (a.k.a. Zaat) gets in its tank while Chris and Charlotte blurble on about fish supremacy, fish people, fish fingers, fish controversies, and smokeless tobacco. Show Notes. Blood Waters of Dr Z (Don Barton (and Arnold Stevens), 1971): MST3K Wiki. IMDB. Watch on YouTube. HubrisWeen! on Zaat. Our episodes on Revenge of the Creature and The Batwoman. Gill-Man from the Creature from the Black Lagoon films, Kraken from Clash of the Titans, and the Gill Monster from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Faith No More: Epic. An article about the video. Remembering Marine World Africa USA. Update: Marineland was sold! Mouth tobacco. The story of Big League Chew. And candy cigarettes... Pride and Prejudice (Simon Langton, 1995). Featuring a particular scene. Visit beautiful Switzerland! Support us on Patreon and you can listen to a special bonus bit that was cut for time from this episode.
#183
Oct 28, 2025 · 59 min
183. Win the Butkus Award. [MST3K K15. Superdome.]
Superdome will give Chris and Charlotte tickets to the big game if they can give the inside scoop on 70s made-for-tv movies, Donald Pleasence, David Janssen, Donna Mills, and surprisingly little about football. Show Notes. Superdome (Jerry Jameson, 1978): MST3K Wiki. IMDB. Previous Donald Pleasence Day episodes: Warrior of the Lost World. The Pumaman. Alien from L.A.. Circus of Horrors. Pod People. Teenage Crime Wave. Prince of Space. Hangar 18. SST: Death Flight. Columbo: Any Old Port in a Storm. (One of Peter Falk’s favourite episodes.) Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978). Dracula (John Badham, 1979). Our friends over at HubrisWeen! have tackled The Giant Gila Monster and The Killer Shrews this year. Our episodes on It Lives By Night, The Sidehackers, and Space Travellers. The Fugitive: With Strings Attached. Centennial (1978–79). You will... Tom Selleck has no regrets. 1776 (Peter H. Hunt, 1972). Star Trek (TOS): The Day of the Dove, The Trouble with Tribbles, and Journey to Babel (which has Spock’s mother). The Jackson 5: Never Can Say Goodbye. Amen. Blacula (William Crain, 1972). We discuss Klaus Kinski most recently in our episode on The Million Eyes of Sumuru. Uptown Saturday Night (Sidney Poitier, 1974). Miller Lite, recommended to you by Dick Butkus and Bubba Smith. Donna Mills. Snack Canyon. Santa Cruz High School Band. M. Emmet Walsh. Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales. Support us on Patreon and you can listen to a special bonus bit that was cut for time from this episode.
#182
Sep 30, 2025 · 59 min
182. You’re Pro-Crime, Aren’t You? [MST3K 520. Radar Secret Service.]
Radar Secret Service spies on Chris and Charlotte as they discuss horror safety films, maligned westerns, unseen threats, hype cycles, and elegies for the dead. With the short: Last Clear Chance. Show Notes. Radar Secret Service (Sam Newfield, 1950): MST3K Wiki. IMDB. Watch on YouTube. Last Clear Chance (Robert Carlisle, 1959): IMDB. UnMSTed. The Thin Man (W.S. Van Dyke, 1934). Dashiell Hammett: The Thin Man. The latest episode of Chris’s bookish podcast, The Spouter-Inn, which mentions Dashiell Hammett. We still haven’t done the rock climbing of Lost Continent, but we discuss Deep Hurting in our episode on Hercules Against the Moon Men. See also our recent episode on The Bubble. A playlist of the Red Asphalt films, but, seriously, viewer discretion advised. Extremely gory, and not staged. We discuss Chicken in a Biskit crackers in our episode on Invasion of the Neptune Men. Crossbuck and Wigwag. They fight crime. The Terror of Tiny Town (Sam Newfield, 1938). Randy Medved: The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (And How They Got That Way). Theodore Rex (Jonathan R. Betuel, 1995). Pernell Roberts narrates a tribute to Morrison-Knudsen, shortly after William Agee became CEO. The Train Depot Museum in Nampa, Idaho. Our episode on Jungle Goddess. An article on the development of radar iconography was one of the more interesting things on the history of radar that Chris found. Check out what radar looked like before they designed that iconic circular swoop! The movie describes radar working underwater; that’s more like sonar. Here’s the difference. Walt Whitman: O Captain! My Captain! and When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d. Chris talks more about Whitman on an episode of The Spouter-Inn. Paul Hindemith: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d. Impaler: Vicious Dreams. The album cover. And that live video. (cw: pretend gore, non-educational.) Support us on Patreon and you can listen to a special bonus bit that was cut for time from this episode.
#181
Sep 17, 2025 · 57 min
181. He Does What We Do! [MST3K 507. I Accuse My Parents.]
I Accuse My Parents of leaving Chris and Charlotte no other option but to talk about Trace, Frank, farmers, parents, and badgers. With the short: The Truck Farmer. Show Notes. I Accuse My Parents (Sam Newfield, 1944): MST3K Wiki. IMDB. Watch on YouTube. The Truck Farmer (Second Edition) (Unknown, 1954): IMDB. The Dumb Clubhouse. The Truck Farmer (First Edition). Turns out Brownsville was named after a fort named Brown which was named after a guy named Brown. The Mads Are Back: I Accuse My Parents. The Ashley Madison scandal. Now a Netflix documentary. Tedros is from The Idol, which is in fact an (HBO) Max (whatever they’re calling it now) show, so you don’t need to write in. Unless you think Charlotte should watch it. Our episode on The Mad Monster. We’ll get to the rest. The Terror of Tiny Town (Sam Newfield, 1938). Our episode on Last of the Wild Horses. It’s a Wonderful World (W.S. Van Dyke, 1939). Omoo-Omoo the Shark God (Leon Leonard, 1949), which you can watch with Mary Jo Pehl if you want. Doris Day: Que Sera Sera. Oprah talks with John Bradshaw. Brannock! Our episode on Swamp Diamonds. Frank Conniff: Twenty Five Mystery Science Theater Films That Changed My Life in No Way Whatsoever and its audiobiook. Russell Hoban: A Baby Sister for Frances. Three Dog Night: Liar. Support us on Patreon and you can listen to a special bonus bit that was cut for time from this episode.
#180
Aug 29, 2025 · 59 min
180. Walt Disney Knew. [MST3K 1312. The Bubble.]
The Bubble has trapped Chris and Charlotte, who keep saying things about Arch Oboler, radio horror, wartime hitchhikers, zoos in space, and the side effects of childbirth. Show Notes. The Bubble (Arch Oboler, 1966): MST3K Wiki. IMDB. Trailer. Our episode on Fugitive Alien and Edmond Hamilton. Leigh Brackett. Salted egg seaweed crisps. Brian David Gilbert making pepcorn. Toronto Event Generator by Misha Glouberman, and Billy’s Popsicle Stand. Our episodes on Manos and San Francisco International. Arch Oboler’s radio plays can be found on Archive.org: Lights Out and Plays for Americans include the episodes we discuss, but there so much more. After recording, we discovered that someone is working on a biography of Arch Oboler, and the Library of Congress has a whole collection of his work. So that’s good! We talk about fictional human zoos for aliens in this episode, but human zoos (for humans) were a real and terrible thing. Edward D. Hoch: The Zoo. The Twilight Zone: People Are Alike All Over. We discuss Slaughterhouse-Five in our episode on The Slime People. Mary Poppins: The Chimpanzoo. (See also the Disney wiki.) Support us on Patreon and you can listen to a special bonus bit that was cut for time from this episode.
#179
Aug 8, 2025 · 1 hr
179. We Know Who’s Blonde. [MST3K 203. Jungle Goddess.]
It’s a big birthday for Chris and Charlotte, and Jungle Goddess surprises them with new songs, old tropes, Superman, Dick Tracy, and tricky family dynamics. With the short: The Phantom Creeps, chapter one: The Menacing Power. Show Notes. Jungle Goddess (Lewis D. Collins, 1948): MST3K Wiki. IMDB. Watch on YouTube. The Phantom Creeps (Ford Beebe, 1939): IMDB. UnMSTed. Regular Wiki. Twenty Thousand Hertz: Phone Tones: The hidden language of phone number beeps. The Minor Thirds: The New Songs is available on Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, YouTube, and more. Enjoy! The Minor Thirds: The New Songs (the music video for the first song on the album). Avogadro’s Number, if you need a refresher. Jack Kerouac: Doctor Sax. The humble gobo and the matte box (into which you can slide mattes, or masks). Our episode on Catalina Caper, which, being Chris’s favourite episode, also came out in early August... William Henry Hudson: Green Mansions. Edgar Rice Burroughs: Tarzan of the Apes. The Jungle Goddess (James Conway, 1922). Chris primarily draws upon Rhona J. Bernstein: White Heroines and Hearts of Darkness: Race, Gender and Disguise in 1930s Jungle Films. If you know of exciting and newer scholarship on this topic, please let us know! Trader Horn (W.S. Van Dyke, 1931). Stamp Day for Superman (Thomas Carr, 1954) vs. Superman (James Gunn, 2025). Dick Tracy (Alan James & Ray Taylor, 1937) vs. Dick Tracy (Warren Beatty, 1990). Thunder in the Pines (Robert Gordon, 1948). Jungle Queen (Ray Taylor & Lewis D. Collins, 1945). Danger! Women at Work (Sam Newfield, 1943). Chris discussed the trucker films of Joe Gage for our episode on Robot Holocaust, and The Gay Amigo for our episode on The Corpse Vanishes. Our episode on The Rebel Set. Bomba, The Jungle Boy (Ford Beebe, 1949). We discuss chapter three of The Phantom Creeps in our episode on Ring of Terror. Milton the Monster. (Probably someone has uploaded some episodes to YouTube, mm?) An interview with Hal Seeger, creator of Milton the Monster (and Ratfink, which we’ve discussed before). Smith Brothers. Support us on Patreon and you can listen to a special bonus bit that was cut for time from this episode.
#178
Jul 25, 2025 · 59 min
178. Good Job, Bud! [MST3K 906. The Space Children.]
The Space Children telepathically command Chris and Charlotte to discuss peep shows, touch tones, Professors, Uncles Fester, and a former child actor. With the short: Century 21 Calling. Show Notes. The Space Children (Jack Arnold, 1958): MST3K Wiki. IMDB. Trailer. Century 21 Calling (Robert W. Larsen, 1962): IMDB. UnMSTed. Morton Thi. Forklift wheelie. The Great Betrayal (1974) is on The Scare Archives Volume 2: Danger Stories. Staplerfahrer Klaus – Der erste Arbeitstag (Forklift Driver Klaus – The First Day on the Job) (Stefan Prehn and Jörg Wagner, 2000) (with English subtitles). Read more about it. (Warning: comedy gore.) Frank Conniff: Twenty-Five Mystery Science Theatre 3000 Films That Changed My Life In No Way Whatsoever, the audiobook. The Mads Are Back riffed Century 21 Calling in their A Night of Springtime Shorts show, which we discussed in our episode on Last of the Wild Horses. A history of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, Century 21 Exposition. The adult zone of Seattle World’s Fair. We discuss the 1970 Osaka World’s Fair in our episode on Gamera vs. Jiger. Expo 2025 is happening right now in Osaka! The Bellboy. DTMF signaling, aka Touch-Tone dialing. Technology Connections. All the star codes. Home automation in the 1970s (and today). Our episodes on Revenge of the Creature, This Island Earth and The Brute Man (with the short, The Chicken of Tomorrow). A scene from The Kid (Charlie Chaplin, 1921). The California Child Actors Bill and Coogan Accounts. We discuss both Won Ton Ton: The Dog that Saved Hollywood and The Greatest Story Ever Told with other Megaphonic hosts in our Patreon-exclusive holiday specials. Uncle Fester. The Beverly Hillbillies: Jed Gets the Misery. Nancy Kulp. Them! (Gordon Douglas, 1954). Our episode on Village of the Giants. Macbeth (Orson Welles, 1948). Farciot Eduoart. Dr. Cyclops (Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1940). Michel Ray de Caravalho. And an interview with him. Support us on Patreon and you can listen to a special bonus bit that was cut for time from this episode.
#177
Jul 15, 2025 · 30 min
177b. We’re Always Making Bloopers [MST3K Poopie! & Poopie! II.]
Whoops! Chris and Charlotte accidentally watch the Poopie! and Poopie! II compilations, and talk about bloopers, mishaps, flubs, gaffes, and boo-boos. Show Notes. Watch Poopie! and Poopie! II on YouTube. The Poopie Parade of Values is not yet on the official MST3K YouTube channel, but you can probably find it if you search. Our episode on Turkey Day 1995, aka the MST3K Anthology, which includes the Poopie Parade of Values. Kermit Schafer’s albums of Bloopers are also available on YouTube if you search hard enough. As are episodes of TV’s Bloopers and Practical Jokes. Support us on Patreon and hang out with us in a friendly Discord!

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