Mystery Science Theater 3000/Recap/S08/E10 The Giant Spider Invasion

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Film watched: The Giant Spider Invasion

Mike Nelson and Kevin Murphy hosted a Bill Rebane Film Festival in 2005 mentioning that while The Giant Spider Invasion is not a good movie, they can admire the director's ability to get it made.

During the crowd scenes in the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version, Mike and the bots cheer ‘’Packers won the Super Bowl! WHOOOO!!’’. This lead to a resurgence of interest in the episode among fans in 2011 when the Green Bay Packers beat The Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV.

The episode is included in the show's DVD boxs sets 10 and 10.2.

The Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment provides examples of:

Dan: You wouldn't know the difference between rabbit turds and Rice Crispies!
Crow: Snap, crackle, poop.

I'd like to say a few words. Uh, this guy's dead, the end.

  • Ironic Nursery Tune: What an assimilated Gypsy uses to try to lull the others into helplessness. "Let an evil superconsciousness / swallow you whole..."
  • Klatchian Coffee: Crow whips one up to help him stay awake. He's shuddering and stuttering as he describes its ingredients, and he nearly has a heart attack. After that host segment, you can still hear his racing heartbeat in the theater for a few moments.
  • Long List: Crow rattles one off of all the stimulants he's using to stay awake:

Crow: I-I-I-I'm fine, Mike. I'm fine. I've got French roast, V-V-V-Vivarin, Mountain Dew, Water Joe, Jolt, S-S-S-S-Surge, chocolate-covered espresso beans, M&Ms and I'm listening to Nitzer Ebb and I'm FINE MIKE. Really, I'm fine. I'm fine.

Crow: Go spiders! Go spiders, go, go, go!

  • Rousing Speech: Mike inspires Bobo by appealing to his heroic lineage.
  • Running Gag: "PACKERS! WHOOOO! PACKERS WON THE Super Bowl!"
    • Take That: Mystery Science Theater 3000's creators are fans of the Minnesota Vikings, and apparently don't think too highly of Packers fans.
      • The Packers had won the Super Bowl a few months before the episode aired, so the wounds are fresh.
      • However, Mike is from Wisconsin (though obviously not a Packers fan), which leads to a lot of jokes at his expense in this episode.
      • When the Packers won the Super Bowl in 2011, the twitterverse exploded with links to a video of the '’Packers won the Super Bowl! WHOOOO!!’’ bit. Bill Corbett tweeted "My god, the Giant Spider Invasion prophecy just came true" (being from Brooklyn, Corbett has no hatred for the Packers) while a depressed Kevin Murphy tweeted, "I humbly submit: [ahem] Packers. [bows deeply, bangs forehead on pile of Schlitz Tall Boys]"
  • Spot the Impostor: When Servo is faced with his pod-duplicate, Mike and Crow ask questions to see which one's real. The clone gets lucky on the first, Servo and the clone collaborate to answer the second, but the pod creature is outed when Mike asks about the contents of Servo's underwear collection.
  • Stereo Fibbing: Pod!Pearl and Pod!Observer trying to convince Mike and The Bots that the pods were harmless...

Pearl/Observer: Zucchini/Throw pillows.
Pearl/Observer: Throw pillows/Zucchini.
Pearl/Observer: Well, it's a kind of (Zucchini/throw pillow) that you can use as a (throw pillow/Zucchini).
Pearl: They're throw pillows -
Observer: Zucchi-
Pearl: (glares at Observer) They're throw pillows.

  • Whole-Plot Reference: To Invasion of the Body Snatchers. While camping, Pearl, Brain Guy, and Bobo discover a bunch of pod-like creatures, get duplicated, and send a few up to the SoL to assimilate Mike and the 'bots. Throughout the host segments the rest of the cast try to resist being assimilated, until only Mike and Bobo are left. Mike talks the ape into saving the day, but since Pearl didn't get to watch the others watching the movie, she sends it to them again.

Mike and the 'Bots: Movie sign! AGAIN!

VaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAaaaaNCE!

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