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| Puppets riffing puppets. |
In reality, instead of being a pulpy, trippy mix of ventriloquism, soul transference, murder, and Great Britain in the 60s, Devil Doll is a tepid and dull excuse in horror. But, it’s those elements that give Mike and the Bots so much to feed on and result in a gem of an episode. There are jokes at the expense ventriloquism in general, like Servo saying, “See as he doesn’t talk and I don’t move my lips!” They also serve up plenty of Brit riffs, from numerous examples of British huffing and puffing and murmuring sounds, to calling the food, “Stewed tripe and curdled pork butt,” and that’s before the main characters take a side trip to Germany! They even make light of how dour the movie is, from Servo announcing as a Taxi stops, “The most depressing spot in London, Sir, just as you asked,” to, Mike, as the camera pans in on the brooding and villainous Vorelli, morosely saying, “Darling, I'm in a wonderful mood.”
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| 50 Shades of Grey by Jeff Dunham. |
This movie’s like a dinner where each dish on their own would’ve been tasty, but piled up, makes a hell of a meal. There aren’t a ton of literary jokes or obscure references, just the joy Mike and the Bots have at being wry at the whole drab-yet-silly endeavor. They make each other chuckle a lot in this one, always a good sign. It’s kind of like you’re stuck seeing a bad, overly-serious play, and you and your friends have the privacy of the back row to joke through the whole thing. The only things keeping this from being an all-time classic episode are the lack of anything really cheesy, memorably dumb, or painfully annoying in the movie, which is too drab to be that entertainingly bad.
Their joy at taking the piss out of the movie carries over to the host segments too. British movie? Time for Crow and Tom to make an old world pub! Devil themed movie? Time for an appearance by Pitch, selling Crow evil dolls! And the final segment, where Crow pretends to be Vorelli and dresses Mike up as Mike-o the dummy, needs to be seen to be believed. There’s a little disconnect with Pearl and Brain Guy on their part of the Great Chase storyline, stuck in ancient Rome, but it’s fine.
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| Pitch trying to make an indecent living. |
Season 8 offered so many good episodes that some just seem less by comparison. And while Devil Doll isn’t Space Mutiny or The Giant Spider Invasion, it’s a solid and hilarious entry that deserves to be re-watched by fans who haven’t seen it in a while.
Episode in a Riff:
“Mike,
you think if I went away and painted the entire satellite and came back, I’d
miss anything?”-Crow
Random Asides:
Random Asides:
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Vorelli’s act isn’t just bantering with his puppet, but berating him, like a
really bitter couple bickering on stage. Love it.
-The intro segment, of Tom and Crow trying to throw a bitchin’ Friday college kegger, with only a window, is great, as is Mike’s reaction. “ So we’re gonna have a big rockin’ dorm blowout and what we have is, exactly, a window.”
-The moment when a drunk Crow smashes in the window, supposedly for a woman, is not the first time he mentions a “Debbie”; he also mentioned one in his Civil War documentary Crow T. Robot’s Bram Stoker’s The Civil War back in Episode 810 - The Giant Spider Invasion. But here, it’s just plain hilarious to hear him scream, “Debbie! I punched a window out for ya, baby.”
- Poor Mike is often the babysitter and the therapist for these dumb puppets, especially when having to console a drunken Crow, who is screaming about a non-existent woman named “Debbie”, and Servo, who is distraught over a broken window that he bought for an ephemeral reason.
-I know the Scifi channel thrust the serialize storytelling on them, but Pearl and Brain Guy forced out of their element in Roman times is great.
-“Brain Guy! Get over here and save my bacon again!” Pearl and Observer’s relationship in a quote.
-Who’s creepier, the Great Vorelli or Carlo Lombardi from Episode 808 – The She-Creature?
-I love angry Mike is at the appearance of the demonic Pitch, and how Pitch is just casually trying to make a sale of evil dolls to Crow.
-MST3K considers slamming Bruce Willis and Demi Moore edgy. That’s cute.
-40 minute mark: did a hypnotized Marianne walk through all of London in her nightie.
-54 minute mark: some precise editing when Vorelli’s female assistant rolls around naked in bed.
-Crow’s explanation for why he’s dealing with Pitch: “Obviously, just to become more powerful in the service of the Master so that I may deliver more souls to his dark realm!” Solid reasoning.
-The Mike-O bit isn’t just memorable because it shows up in the show’s intro again, but because it pretty much exemplifies the Mike / Bots relationship.
-The intro segment, of Tom and Crow trying to throw a bitchin’ Friday college kegger, with only a window, is great, as is Mike’s reaction. “ So we’re gonna have a big rockin’ dorm blowout and what we have is, exactly, a window.”
-The moment when a drunk Crow smashes in the window, supposedly for a woman, is not the first time he mentions a “Debbie”; he also mentioned one in his Civil War documentary Crow T. Robot’s Bram Stoker’s The Civil War back in Episode 810 - The Giant Spider Invasion. But here, it’s just plain hilarious to hear him scream, “Debbie! I punched a window out for ya, baby.”
- Poor Mike is often the babysitter and the therapist for these dumb puppets, especially when having to console a drunken Crow, who is screaming about a non-existent woman named “Debbie”, and Servo, who is distraught over a broken window that he bought for an ephemeral reason.
-I know the Scifi channel thrust the serialize storytelling on them, but Pearl and Brain Guy forced out of their element in Roman times is great.
-“Brain Guy! Get over here and save my bacon again!” Pearl and Observer’s relationship in a quote.
-Who’s creepier, the Great Vorelli or Carlo Lombardi from Episode 808 – The She-Creature?
-I love angry Mike is at the appearance of the demonic Pitch, and how Pitch is just casually trying to make a sale of evil dolls to Crow.
-MST3K considers slamming Bruce Willis and Demi Moore edgy. That’s cute.
-40 minute mark: did a hypnotized Marianne walk through all of London in her nightie.
-54 minute mark: some precise editing when Vorelli’s female assistant rolls around naked in bed.
-Crow’s explanation for why he’s dealing with Pitch: “Obviously, just to become more powerful in the service of the Master so that I may deliver more souls to his dark realm!” Solid reasoning.
-The Mike-O bit isn’t just memorable because it shows up in the show’s intro again, but because it pretty much exemplifies the Mike / Bots relationship.
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| Mike's life on the SOL in a nutshell. |
-“Not only can’t you have ham, you can’t have any luncheon meats! Not bologna nor capastrami, not even cotto salami! Why? Because lunch meats make the sawdust in your stomach explode!”
-I have to admit Bryant Haliday is fun in the roll, very sleazy and evil. William Sylvester floats through the movie like he does in most of the movies I’ve seen him in. No wonder Roy Scheider took over as 2010.
-I’m glad Shout! Keeps including behind-the-scenes documentaries and interviews with the people behind the movies riffed, but God bless Richard Gordon, one of the old producers they found to talk about it, but I found it a pretty dry recanting of how the movie got made.
-I’m not sure how many times Paul Chaplin has played Pitch by this point, but I love his Midwestern cheeriness and by the hour attitude. He said in the episode guide entry that he sometimes worried about playing a demon from hell. “I wonder if I might not be somehow inviting the Dark One into my own soul? I sure hope not!” no Paul, we just invited you into our weird hearts.
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