Mystery Science Theater 3000/Recap/S04/E15 The Beatniks

Films watched: General Hospital (short) and The Beatniks

The short was the second of three 1960s segments from the soap opera General Hospital to air on the series.

The MST3K treatment provides examples of:
"Eddy: Love wears a mask... Servo: A tight leather mask..."
 * Broken Pedestal: The bots idolize Tony Travis... until they learn he works at a dinky taco joint and shares a place with about a dozen guys and some kids.
 * Call Back: "Hey, it's Daddy-O!"
 * Cool and Unusual Punishment: "Shut up, Frank, or I'll let the dog play with you!"
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: While Eddy croons one of his bland love songs.

"Gypsy: [rushes in from offscreen and tackles Joel] Gypsy crushes Joel!"
 * I Thought That Was: As Joel and the 'Bots explain to the audience by channeling a Jeff Foxworthy routine, there are no beatniks in The Beatniks. (You want The Rebel Set, four episodes later.)
 * Poor Predictable Rock: Joel teaches the bots Rock-Paper-Scissors, taking advantage of the fact that they can't change their hands and so he always knows how to win. Unfortunately for him, he gets a little rough...

"Joel: Yeah, well, you should ask these little "charmkins" what I found oozing out of my pillow case this morning! Tom: Please, at least we killed it first."
 * To be fair to Joel, he was punishing the bots for a Noodle Incident.

"Joel: I think they might need to hire a continuity director."
 * Overly Narrow Superlative: "This is the best Tony Travis movie I've seen!"
 * Running Gag: Yelling in surprise at the poor editing resulting in objects and people jumping around mid-scene.