Mystery Science Theater 3000/Recap/S08/E21 Time Chasers

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Movie watched: Time Chasers

The Mystery Science Theater 3000 presentation has examples of:

Mike: So, Pearl...how come you're so evil?
Pearl: (thoughtfully) Hmmm...I'm filled with hate, I'm not sure that helps.

Eddie: You didn't count on the assistant janitor!

  • Alternate Universe: Crow gets the idea from the movie and goes back in time to get Mike to stop temping so that he never gets shot up to the Satellite. This results in a future where the Bot's get stuck with Mike's abusive brother Eddie and Mike himself dies right as his rock career is taking off.
  • Berserk Button: For Eddie, puns.
  • Continuity Nod: At one point, Mike remarks that Nick could use Chinderwear, which was an invention Dr. Forrester presented in an earlier episode.
  • Crack Fic: From a riff when Nick and co are discussing the possibilities of the time transport.

Mike Nelson: We could send Bob Saget to meet Charlamagne.

Crow: This... is not our star, is it? I will not accept this as our star, sorry.

    • Even Nick's choice of bicycle evokes derision.
  • Did Not Do the Research: Servo looks for Past!Mike in central Wisconsin. We see later that Mike worked at a dairy co-op in Burnett County, which is actually in northwestern Wisconsin, on the border with Minnesota.
  • Fandom Nod: Eddie complains about how much it's sucked since "those two guys (Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank) shot me up into space when that sleepy-eyed guy (Joel) left".
  • Funny Foreground Event: During the latter part of the experiment, Eddie is smoking and tossing several beer cans at the screen.
  • Having A Nice Chat With Bowser

Pearl: Oh, hey Mike? I despise you, and all you stand for, and you'll never escape... [chuckles] well, you know the rest. [sighs] Ah, he's a good kid.

  • Great Way to Go: In the altered timeline, Mike became a huge rock star to the point where women were throwing their hotel keys on stage for him. One night someone threw a key with a large keyfob, hitting Mike in the head; he went down and never got back up. Eddie sobs that he's proud of his little brother for this.
  • I Lied: In the previous episode (Space Mutiny), Mike and the 'Bots helped Pearl, Brain Guy, and Prof. Bobo escape from Ancient Rome, with the promise that it meant no more bad movies. "Y'know, sometimes I think I lie because I'm evil."
  • Incredibly Lame Pun: In-universe example: Eddie really hates them - threatening Servo after he makes one, then smacking Crow hard for making one.

Lisa: Did you bring your ray gun?
Mike (as Reagan): Weeell, noo...

  • Man Versus Machine: When our hero is trying to escape being crushed by the falling car. The robots begin cheering for the machine.
  • Non-Action Guy: Crow stubbornly refuses to accept Nick as the movie's hero.

Crow: This... is not our star, is it? I will not accept this as our star, sorry. See, he's coming up the stairs right now, going inside to meet the real hero, real hero coming up, and -- [Nick enters] -- D'oh!

  • Overly Long Gag:
    • Lisa "dropping shorts" on the runway.
    • Observer's "news segment" - so much so that he gives up in frustration.
  • Running Gag: The Crew gets a lot of mileage that the film takes place in Vermont, as well as the dropping price of syrup as the film goes on.
  • Self-Deprecation: The producers and actors loved being lampooned.
    • The actor who played Matthew Paul ("Pinkboy") was reportedly mad, but director David Giancola blamed it on the alcohol at the viewing party. He's apparently gotten over it, either way.
  • Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Tom sends Crow back in time to 1980s Wisconson in the hopes of preventing Mike from taking the string of temp jobs that would ultimately result in his getting shot into space.
    • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When Crow finally convinces Mike to quit temp work (by encouraging him to focus on his rock band Sex Factory), he creates a Bad Future where Mike became famous only to get killed on stage (see Great Way to Go above), resulting in Mike's sleazy Jerkass brother Eddie being sent to the SOL instead.
  • Temporal Paradox: In order to fix his own mistake, Crow goes back to warn his half-hour-older self not to change Mike's life. At the end of the episode, Pearl wonders if that means there's another Crow running around in the 1980s; cut to show Crow in a hairnet and apron, "working" at the cheese factory. Nobody seems to notice or care.
  • The Red Stapler: The "hero" of Time Chasers wears a Castleton State College T-shirt through most of the movie. The MST3K episode not only created a demand for the shirts, but made the movie popular enough to get a DVD release. As David Giancola revealed, the idea for the shirt simply came out of the popularity of Eddie Murphy's college shirt in Beverly Hills Cop, and the staff needed to cheaply get ahold of five or six identical shirts in various stages of distress (they actually got them for free).
    • Eerily enough, one of Crow's riffs during the episode was "remember when everyone got the Nick Miller haircut and started wearing Castleton T-shirts?"
    • And of course Nick Miller's hair cut was somewhat in style at the time of shooting though not because of him.
  • Uncanny Family Resemblance: Mike Nelson's brother Eddie is played by...Michael J. Nelson.
  • Yes-Man: Servo is this to Eddie in the alternate reality.

"Matt, it's time for you decide if you're going to be one of my team players or not."

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