It's #324, and Grandpa Ninja saves the day again!
It's two more episodes of The Master, a ten-years-late ripoff of Kung Fu, with more obvious stunt doubles and goofier plots. McAllister and his junior partner have two more adventures, and first they help a five-years-late Norma Rae ripoff organize her cannery workplace. Then, they help a twenty-five-years-later Bond ripoff fight terrorists and rescue hostages. Along the way, McAllister gets to play with all his ninja toys ("Oh, he brought his sample case."), and Keller drives a motorcycle and a plane, and kisses two pretty girls.
Did I mention George Lazenby is in this movie? They cast him as a Bondian spy, with a handful of cool gadgets. (His sticky-tracker gun looks bulky to bring into a garden party, but what do I know?) There's also a big part for David McCallum, who was one of the M[e]n from UNCLE. (He's doing well for himself these days as Ducky on NCIS.)
Sidebar: One final note on a guest star... uh, cameo in this FILM. Robert F. Hoy, who plays Masterson in the second episode... uh, half of the film, must be friends with David McCallum. He played three different characters on three episodes of Man From UNCLE, and his last role listed on IMDB is a cameo on NCIS. (He also appeared in bit parts on a LOT of the shows Joel and the Bots mention: Magnum PI, BJ and the Bear, The Rockford Files, Mannix, Mod Squad, Bat Masterson. And, it should be pointed out, he squared the circle by appearing on two episodes of Kung Fu.)
This episode has two so-so host segments, and two that are AMAZING. The "General Timothy Van Patten" one, pictured above, is just perfect. It's got one great joke, and lasts not a second too long. After that, Tom's long explanation, assigning specific pets to fictional detectives, is perfectly skewed, nerdy, and hilarious.
The riffs hit more than miss. I loved "You didn't have to climb into a security-guard warehouse," and also laughed out loud at "Didja ever see Food of the Gods, buddy?" There's even a Stan Freberg deep-cut joke with "John!" "Marsha!" (And I love the nerdiness of Tom's mention of Foucault.)
This one has a lot of repeated jokes. Not counting callbacks to the last episode, this is my second episode in a row to mention: "I've always depended on the kindness of strangers," "I'll Be Seeing You," Lech Walesa, "Hooker's a good cop!," Blazing Saddles, The Rockford Files, Starsky and Hutch, Silly String, Gymkata, Prince, "Huzzah!," Knight Rider, "Stranger in Paradise," and "Mendozaaaa!" (That Simpsons joke was really fresh at the time -- that episode aired just two months before this one.)
It's the fourth in a row to mention "Hi-keeba!" and Jerry Lewis. (And the fourth of the last five to recall 1960's TV Batman. I'll stop counting these now, putting them in the same category as Python and Wizard of Oz and Beatles jokes [three in this episode, not counting two solo Paul jokes and the Rick Nelson "Garden Party" line].)
AND the DVD has a nice long bonus: a 2010 Dragon*Con panel about Tom with both Josh and Kevin talking about their history with, and views of, the character. I saw this ages ago on YouTube, and the picture quality still isn't great, but it's an amazing collection of the best Servo stories (and Kevin even pulls out the original hate-banner). It's hosted by superfan Ken Plume, who's posted, like, a dozen hours of interviews with various MST folks over the years on his podcast, A Bit of A Chat.
A joke that didn't age well:"She’s got a Landers sister quality."
A joke I had to look up: "Looks like a Paul Klee painting."
My favorite joke: I liked a LOT in this episode, but my absolute favorite was "Let's see a show of hands." "I lost my hand in a fish-chopper."
Overall, I rate this one 8/10. The movie is goofy and fun, and the riffing is absolutely top-notch. If there were one more great host segment, I'd give this 10/10.
Up next, I watch #412, Hercules And The Captive Women.
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