"Pod People" is why I try not to eat or drink while watching MST. Joel's song parody was so hilarious that, had I been drinking a soda, I would have squirted it all through my nose, can and all.

"It stinks!"

The first time I saw this episode it was 4:30 in the morning and I was with a bunch of friends (we had rented it from Blockbuster). It felt like I was on drugs because nothing in this movie made sense, and the host segments were just plain trippy. I'll bet if I watched it during the daytime when my brain isn't fried from fatigue I would be able to comprehend it a little better ;-] (No, I WASN'T on drugs BTW, I don't do drugs, never have never will, it was just FATIGUE clouding my brain)

It wasn't that you were on drugs, but I'm sure the producers of the movie definitely were.

This was one of the first episodes I ever saw- it was in college with a few people. We laughed ourselves senseless when we got to the "Trumpy! You can do MAGIC things!" part. We rewound it to catch the riffs we missed, and died laughing again...

Best lines (of this or possibly any MST3K episode):

(As the egg-crushing hunter cowers in fear): Hey, this guy looks like Norm Abrams...gettin' killed.

(As his friends search for him): Hear that? Sounds like Norm Abrams, gettin' killed by a giant chicken.

Not, i hasten to add, that i have anything against Norm Abrams....but...well, you just have to hear Crow saying it.

I didn't get the bit where they would say "Chief?" "McLeod?" Could someone please explain.

This is a reference to the old 'McCloud' TV series, starring Dennis Weaver as a New Mexican sheriff driving his temporary NYPD superiors nuts. Especially his boss, whom he called 'Chief'. Hence the Chief's exasperated cry, whenever having a cowboy on the force got too much to take: 'McCloud!!!' (Please note that the MST3K version features a startlingly good imitation of actor J.D. Cannon, who played the Chief and really did sound like that!)

My favorite part was when Joel and the 'bots did their own version of the "Trumpy, you can do magic" thing.
"Pod People" and "Moon Zero Two" are my all-time fave mst3ks.

One more question. Who was that other person in Deep 13 during the first host segment?

The 'Amazing Colossal Episode Guide' simply refers to the Mads being 'assisted by a mysterious woman (Bridget Jones [aka Mrs. Mike Nelson])' during that segment. Maybe she just felt like it? Deep 13, in terms of tippy-top secret access, isn't exactly the MiB lab.

Ahem...sorry if the above sounds a little snarky. (First beautiful Saturday in weeks, I've gotta work indoors, etc.).
Or...it could be repressed anger over the fact that nobody's answered MY question about this episode yet (last post under 'Some Obscure References' elsewhere in the Sink). But that's okay...i'm patient...i probably WON'T decide to blow up the entire board -- but you never know...(Grin).

Here's a missed opportunity. When they were commenting on Trumpy's eyes, one of them should have said, "Maybe he's from Arrakis."

Gordon Lawyer

Sounds great but - what (or who) is an 'Arrakis'?

You haven't read Dune????? Illiterate slob!!!!! ;~) Seriously, Arrakis is the planet in Frank Herbert's Dune where the spice melange is found. Among other things, it allows Spacing Guild Navigators to have prescient visions that allow them to safely travel through foldspace. One of the signs of frequent consumption of melange is that your eyes become all blue.

You haven't read Dune????? Illiterate slob!!!!! ;~) Seriously, Arrakis is the planet in Frank Herbert's Dune where the spice melange is found. Among other things, it allows Spacing Guild Navigators to have prescient visions that allow them to safely travel through foldspace. One of the signs of frequent consumption of melange is that your eyes become all blue.

Hey, yeah, that was a missed opportunity. Somebody should probably tell the Arrakians about how melange can also make you do magic things. I'm sure the ability to make electronic toys levitate will come in really handy. :)

What's with all the anti-drug views? Well, I think I had seen Pod People lit off some sticky green, and trust me, it doesn't make a difference. I just laughed at that crappy 80s group song Burning Rubber Tires.

Next time, I'll get higher to better movies.

It's a rip-off of E.T., on a cheap, dumb scale, with violence, poor voice dubbing, and a "music" group.

"You're a jerk!"

I still love that:

"Chief!" "McCloud!"

I cracked up listening to Joel rhapsodize over the 'glories' of hunting: "Yeah...the feeble cough of a squirrel with a crushed face - that's what life's all about..."

Actually, come to think of it, there were a lot of great running gags in this one - like the 'Renaissance Festival' guy: "His last word was 'Huzzah!'"

I also love the 'bots' reaction when Trumpy makes the Transformer toy spin: 'Whoa, rogue robot!! He's got the mange! Somebody put him down!!!'

'Enjoy the good life in retirement! Morrissey songs 24 hours a day!'

'Huh...it's a Casio forest.'

'Listen, Pocahontas, Rick's mine!!'

(As the ditz runs off into the woods):"No, let her go...we have been pretty hard on her." -'Yeah, and it's a good chance to thin out the cast.'

'I...I think....her perm didn't take!!'

(As the poacher crushes the eggs): 'Man exploring his territory, here.' 'Awww, what is he, an L.A. cop?'

'Man, what is it about the gates of hell that makes people just go wandering into 'em?'

(Chasing after the ditz): "This way!" -'What, you smell her?'

(Coping with the ditz's death): "Come, let's eat something..." -'Yeah, the toast's gettin' cold...and she's not getting any warmer.'

"Trumpy, you can do •••••• things!"

"Gimme that, I'll show you how to use a prop phone."

(during egg breaking scene)
"Guess we know which came first now, don't we?"

"Quick, move her spine around a lot"

"I'd say those are ready to pop..."

Joel running though the branches...he cracks me up!

There was something in this movie that they didn't riff on which shocked me. Near the beginning of the film, •••••• guy's girlfriend says something along the lines of "You always come in too early!" (referring to his singing). Why didn't Joel or the bots say "ouch" or something? It would have gone over the little kids heads anyway.

By the way, the funniest non-MSTied thing in this movie was the guy in the "I'm a virgin" shirt. What in the heck was up with that? Were the producers trying to send a message that it's cool to abstain from sex? If so, then they sure didn't put it on the right person.

Was it just me, or did Joel look particularly dishy in this episode? (or maybe I’ve been watching too many videos and really need to get some sleep!)

My favourite lines:
“Boldly backing away from where no-one has gone.”
“Dorky Park!”
Poacher: “Looks like a cross between a pig and a bear.” Crow: “A pear?”
“She came from Rand McNally?”
“It’s a Peter Gabriel video!”
“Poor rabbit.” “Poor us.”
“Honey, I’m ho… oh, I’m a little kid.”
“Oh, Trumpy, gross!” “He stepped in some Trumpy dumpy.”

I know what you mean, Trumpy Cohen. Sometimes it seems like really easy-target stuff is left alone, possibly because the audience is already thinking of the same riff or something like that.

Also, FOR THE MOST PART, about 2/3 of the riffs in an episode are clean. For the most part.

I loved the potato scene. Perfect.

What's up with the opening and end credits though, all those people running round and getting killed by aliens? None of that stuff is in the ep. Is it from another movie, or was it just cut by Best Brains? I'm guessing it's a different movie, as the shots showing the asteroid approaching Earth were swiped from UFO and Space:1999, and the 'monster' looks completely different.

It is a different movie. This flick (and Cave Dwellers) are European productions originally. What you're seeing there is the North American distributor's, uh, creative approach to creating English-language credits.

Some fav lines:

"Okay, you've drawn Siegfried, now where's Roy?"

[Tommy shows up]
Mom: "Where did you spring from?"
Joel *Tommy*: "From your loins, Mommy!"

"There's carbon scoring all over my droid."

"His last words were 'HUZZAH!'"

Tommy: "What do you know?"
Crow *Trumpy*: "Food. Eating. The theater!"

"It stinks!"

A great episode in a great series. The "magic" scene and its subsequent parody is perhaps one of the greatest moments in MST3K history.

Last year the Cinema Snob did an E.T. theme week, reviewing five movies that had at least something to do with the original classic film about a friendly alien. One of them was "Extra Terrestrial Visitors" and the Snob opened it by saying that "you probably know this film under a slightly different title." As it turned out, it was indeed this, Pod People.

The director Juan Piquer Simon also did the horror film "Pieces" and cast Ian Sera (Rick) in that as well. And the Snob had already reviewed it before doing the E.T. theme week. And later on, Simon did another horror film "Slugs", which the Cinema Snob had also reviewed previously.

Also, clips from Pod People were shown during the opening and ending credits of the 1985 film "The Galaxy Invader", used without the permission of it's filmmakers. And both Cinema Snob and the crew of RiffTrax have featured that as well.

That's all pretty interesting, I think!