Season Five Episode Seventeen: Beginning of the End
Network: Comedy Central
Riffers: Tom Servo, Mike Nelson, and Crow T. Robot
Mads: Dr. Clayton Forrester and TV's Frank
Plot Synopsis: Newspaper photojournalist Audrey Aimes accidentally stumbling upon a small town in Illinois which has been inexplicably destroyed. All 150 people in the town are missing, and the evidence indicates they are dead. Incredibly, the local fields are also barren, as if a swarm of locusts had eaten all the crops. Aimes suspects that the military is covering something up, and travels to a nearby United States Department of Agriculture experimental farm to learn what creature might have caused the agricultural destruction. She meets Dr. Ed Wainwright (Peter Graves), who is experimenting with radiation as a means of growing gigantic fruits and vegetables to end world hunger. Dr. Wainwright reports that there have been a number of mysterious incidents nearby, and that locusts have eaten all the radioactive wheat stored in a nearby grain silo.
Host Segments:
Prologue: Mike and the Bots attempt to sing some classic standards is repeatedly interrupted by a white trash woman (Pehl) on the Hexfield who keeps dialing the wrong number.
Segment One/Invention Exchange: After being on the phone with the woman for a while, Mike finally hangs up on her when she's distracted. Down in Deep 13 the Mads have come up with the Re-comfy bike, even more comfortable than the recumbent bike. Frank doesn't like it though. MatBs present new playing cards. .
Segment Two: While the Bots advise against it, Mike calls the Mads and catches them doing unmasculine things. The Mads try to cover it up, but it's too late. Mike says he won't do that for a while.
Segment Three: Crow has written a screenplay: "Peter Graves Goes to the University of Minnesota". It gets somewhat repetitive.
Segment Four: Tom's standup routine at the Improv (with its trademark red brick wall) is heavy on jokes comparing grasshoppers and locusts.
Ending Segment: Mike unlocks the secret to Bert I. Gordon special effects by having toy grasshoppes attack fan postcards, Meanwhile in Deep 13, the Mads box to reclaim their dignity.
Stinger: "Alright, men. Into the woods!"
Review:
Oh yeah, another Bert I. Gordon disasterpiece. I think this is his 37th movie shown on MST3K. Believe you me when I say they all suck. The better question for today's flick is how good was it? Well, it was definitely in so bad it's good territory. Who would be afraid of giant grasshoppers? If they're anything like the giant ants, gecko, and radroaches of Fallout, they should be a piece of cake. Clearly Mr. BIG saw it differently.
The riffing for this episode was much better than the previous two episodes. There were more than just a few laugh out moments. Not only that bu the Host Segments were also as funny. Mike discovering that they could call the Mads, then finding out what they do during the experiments is one of the better host segments I've seen. Good episode all around. 9/10
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http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/61035294 - My MST3K Watchthrough topic.