Mystery Science Theater 3000/Recap/S04/E07 The Killer Shrews

Films watched: Junior Rodeo Daredevils and The Killer Shrews

"Killer Shrew! Killer Shrew! K-I-double L-E-R-Shrew! He's scary and tough If that ain't enough He's augmented with bath mats and stuff!"

Junior Rodeo Daredevils is a short about the death-defying rodeo stunts done by children after a prank on "Old-timer Billy Slater" went horribly wrong.

This episode was released on DVD along with another "lost" short as an extra: Assignment: Venezuela, the story of an American oil company employee trying to adjust to being sent to work in Venezuela while trying to make everything sound good to his wife and kids back in the States.

The MST3K presentation provides examples of:
"Tom Servo: [After reading the title card] Starring Joan Collins and Jackie Collins!"
 * Gargle Blaster: Tom and Crow's Killer Shrew cocktail may be non-alcoholic, but it can still send you into an instantaneous diabetic coma.
 * Notable Original Music: see the page quote.
 * Running Gag: Rook plays Dixieland Jazz.
 * Shout-Out: Several, but the "Will Rogers" sketch is chock full of them. Joel's attempt to impersonate cowboy humorist Will Rogers after watching the short ends up devolving into random quotations from Mark Twain, Casey Stengel, Alexander Woollcott, Mac Gruff, Nikita Kruschev, Garret Morris, Dion ("Abraham, Martin and John"), Ronald Reagan's 1984 campaign, and Dr. Seuss
 * Take That

"Dr. Marlowe: Radford? Joel: Rapid? Rapture? Dr. Marlowe: Radford, could you please step over here? I'd like you to meet someone. Joel: Rapid Bathroom? Tom: Yes; this is our resident novelist, Rapid Bathoom."
 * The Unintelligible: The head scientist and his daughter have very thick accents, which Joel and the bots mock to no end.


 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Joel gives fantastic gifts to the bots, including a Little Mermaid bath set for Gypsy, an indoor drag car for Tom, and... a pair of slacks for Crow.
 * Adding insult to injury, they're brown.
 * With Lyrics: "You're gonna die from shrew bites, you're gonna die from shrew bites..."