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| Eye eye eye! |
Original air date: November 28, 1989
The opening starts with Dr. Clay Forrester and Dr. Larry Erhardt (The Mads) and includes a little actual backstory, which is unusual for the series. The show is really in its infancy, and it is evident here as the formula changes a little in the early seasons.
Joel and the Mads have their invention exchange, and Joel presents an "electric bagpipe". The first time I watched this, it seemed like a ridiculous and irritating idea. Almost 15 years later, when I first saw a live performance by the Celtic band Gaelic Storm, I learned that electric bagpipes actually exist. Also, I know I am being a stickler here, but the way Joel's electric bagpipe worked is inconsistent with real bagpipes. With real bagpipes, you blow into the bag to fill it with air. You then squeeze the bag to release the air and make notes. Joel's version makes music by blowing air into the bag. Music becomes a staple of host segments in later seasons, but early on the musicality in the show was rather weak. Joel and Bots singing in this sketch was quite atrocious.
The ominous organ music that plays as the Mads give Joel and the Bots the movie is just... out of place. As Joel gets Movie Sign, he hits the table. In the early days at KTMA, as well as in later episodes, there is a set of three buttons on the table, but during the early episodes of season 1 the buttons are missing.
The film, The Crawling Eyes, is a 1958 movie from the United Kingdom starring Forrest Tucker (of F-Troop fame). It is based on a 1956 UK television serial called The Trollenberg Terror. The movie begins when a British mountain climber is attacked on a mountain in Trollenberg, Switzerland by some sort of creature and is decapitated. United Nations "troubleshooter" Alan Brooks (Forrest Tucker) is on vacation and is asked by a local scientist to investigate the mysterious deaths and disappearances. I never watched F-Troop, since it was before my time. In this movie, Forrest Tucker reminds me of the 50's era TV Superman, George Reeves. Must be the glasses, suit, and hairstyle.
The silhouette effect used in this episode shows some poor production quality. The bluescreen was apparently "thinner" (whatever that means), and there is a strange gap that can bee seen in Tom Servo. Crow also looks different (apparently they used an older puppet for the theater scenes in the first few episodes). The silhouettes themselves are a dark gray, and it just doesn't look right. These just a few bits of evidence indicating that the show was in its infancy.
There is a lot of dead space in this episode. The riffs are few and far between. There were only a few laugh out loud funny moments. The funniest lines in this episode come from the first host segment, when Joel has to explain to Crow and Tom Servo why humans need their heads. This exchange is rather witty:
As far as the movie goes, it was quite a stinkburger. Unfortunately, the lack of riffs make it hard to get through the movie. We don't see the Crawling Eye itself until over an hour in. While saving the monster reveal can be a good thing, when the movie is called The Crawling Eye, you'd expect to see an eye. Also, what kind of bad parent will evacuate without having her child with her? And in the end (spoilers), the eyes are killed by molotov cocktails and bombs. What a let down!
The final host segment is Good Thing/Bad Thing for RAM chips. While this was cute and worked as an ending for the first few episodes, it was something that would get old after awhile. Tom's Good Thing/Band Thing was wittier and more insightful than Crow's, which is early evidence of how the two Bots personality differ. Crow loses his ram chip when he says "Well, hindsight is 20/20."
Favorite Riffs: "Oh, hey, nice reel change!", "Hey buddy, it won't get better if you pick at it.", "Oh, now they're gonna have to wait all day for the cable guy to show up.", "Hans across the letter opener.", "Eye, eye, eye eye.", "That eye is lashing out at society.", "Joel's getting really irate.", "I don't think outside is a place to get fresh air right now".
The only real reason to watch MST3K in order is in order to catch all of the callback references in future episodes. As long as you don't care about this, do not make this your first episode of the show. It's certainly interesting from a historical perspective, but is one of the weakest episodes of the series.
This episode was included in the Vol 17 DVD set and is also available to stream at Amazon Instant Video, YouTube and can be downloaded from the Digital Archive Project.
Joel and the Mads have their invention exchange, and Joel presents an "electric bagpipe". The first time I watched this, it seemed like a ridiculous and irritating idea. Almost 15 years later, when I first saw a live performance by the Celtic band Gaelic Storm, I learned that electric bagpipes actually exist. Also, I know I am being a stickler here, but the way Joel's electric bagpipe worked is inconsistent with real bagpipes. With real bagpipes, you blow into the bag to fill it with air. You then squeeze the bag to release the air and make notes. Joel's version makes music by blowing air into the bag. Music becomes a staple of host segments in later seasons, but early on the musicality in the show was rather weak. Joel and Bots singing in this sketch was quite atrocious.
The ominous organ music that plays as the Mads give Joel and the Bots the movie is just... out of place. As Joel gets Movie Sign, he hits the table. In the early days at KTMA, as well as in later episodes, there is a set of three buttons on the table, but during the early episodes of season 1 the buttons are missing.
The film, The Crawling Eyes, is a 1958 movie from the United Kingdom starring Forrest Tucker (of F-Troop fame). It is based on a 1956 UK television serial called The Trollenberg Terror. The movie begins when a British mountain climber is attacked on a mountain in Trollenberg, Switzerland by some sort of creature and is decapitated. United Nations "troubleshooter" Alan Brooks (Forrest Tucker) is on vacation and is asked by a local scientist to investigate the mysterious deaths and disappearances. I never watched F-Troop, since it was before my time. In this movie, Forrest Tucker reminds me of the 50's era TV Superman, George Reeves. Must be the glasses, suit, and hairstyle.
The silhouette effect used in this episode shows some poor production quality. The bluescreen was apparently "thinner" (whatever that means), and there is a strange gap that can bee seen in Tom Servo. Crow also looks different (apparently they used an older puppet for the theater scenes in the first few episodes). The silhouettes themselves are a dark gray, and it just doesn't look right. These just a few bits of evidence indicating that the show was in its infancy.
There is a lot of dead space in this episode. The riffs are few and far between. There were only a few laugh out loud funny moments. The funniest lines in this episode come from the first host segment, when Joel has to explain to Crow and Tom Servo why humans need their heads. This exchange is rather witty:
Crow: Well, then why do people say that they're always, uh like, “I’d lose my head if it wasn’t screwed on”?In the second host segment, not only can you see the shadows of the puppeteers, but it is also very difficult to hear Gypsy due to her jaw being very squeaky.
Tom: Yeah, people often say their heads aren't in the right places.
Crow: Yeah, and Joel once I heard the scientists talking and they said you had your head up your a..
Joel: Uh, well uh Crow, that was just a figure of speech. Alright?
Crow: “Figure of speech”? Now what’s that supposed to mean?
Tom: Oh, like a “body of a paragraph”, perhaps?
Crow: I think that’s a “literary figure”.
Tom: Oh, maybe like Edna St. Vincent Millay?
Crow: Now there’s a body!
As far as the movie goes, it was quite a stinkburger. Unfortunately, the lack of riffs make it hard to get through the movie. We don't see the Crawling Eye itself until over an hour in. While saving the monster reveal can be a good thing, when the movie is called The Crawling Eye, you'd expect to see an eye. Also, what kind of bad parent will evacuate without having her child with her? And in the end (spoilers), the eyes are killed by molotov cocktails and bombs. What a let down!
The final host segment is Good Thing/Bad Thing for RAM chips. While this was cute and worked as an ending for the first few episodes, it was something that would get old after awhile. Tom's Good Thing/Band Thing was wittier and more insightful than Crow's, which is early evidence of how the two Bots personality differ. Crow loses his ram chip when he says "Well, hindsight is 20/20."
Favorite Riffs: "Oh, hey, nice reel change!", "Hey buddy, it won't get better if you pick at it.", "Oh, now they're gonna have to wait all day for the cable guy to show up.", "Hans across the letter opener.", "Eye, eye, eye eye.", "That eye is lashing out at society.", "Joel's getting really irate.", "I don't think outside is a place to get fresh air right now".
The only real reason to watch MST3K in order is in order to catch all of the callback references in future episodes. As long as you don't care about this, do not make this your first episode of the show. It's certainly interesting from a historical perspective, but is one of the weakest episodes of the series.
This episode was included in the Vol 17 DVD set and is also available to stream at Amazon Instant Video, YouTube and can be downloaded from the Digital Archive Project.
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