515: First Broadcast - 7 pm Saturday, Nov 13th 1993

Excellence Level: Sub-Par
Movie Pain: High - embarrassing, hard to watch
Riffing: Great short, but the feature induced mostly smiles
Skits: Solid, good humor

Hoping to ride Batman's coat, uh I mean... cape. Director Jerry Warren offers us the story of Batwoman and her gang of Batgirls, who thwart -bad guy- Ratfink's plan to steal an "Atomic Hearing Aid". Lord help us all
     I've been told by a few people to give this show a 2nd chance, and they are right, a second helping goes down easier than the first, barely. The boy's do their best with this mess, but this flick's so horrible even M&TB can't bring it out of the cellar. In fact, this episode ranks with "Herc and the Moonmen", "Strange Creatures" and "Hamlet" as my least favorite of the shows modern era.
     There are peaks: The "Badfinger Murders" line is clever, as are the "Crying Game" references. But the valleys are frequent and most of the time my jaws were locked in stony silence as I anxiously waited for the agony to end.
     So how does it warrant frequent visits to my DVD player? Because this weak experiment opens with the brilliant short "Cheating". This oppressively dark little film is the polar opposite from the feature. The guys enthusiastically rip on the apparently parent-less Johnny and his mortal sin. Very good, intelligent comedy that brings one to tears. One of my all time favorites of the series and often, I'll put in this tape "just" to watch the short.

Host Segments
Intro: Viva Las Vegas on the SOL. Invention: Frank uses the Atomic Powered Hair Dryer on Clay, D-OH! Mike demonstrates the Razor Back. Segment 1: Discussing the short. Segment 2: Crow cheats on his essay. Segment 3: A meeting is held to determine Crows fate. End: Crow defends and forgives himself. Frank fears Dr. F's hair. Stinger: Woman bites thug.

Notable Riffs
Cheating Riffs
*"A Centron production... although we got the idea from another company, because we're cheating. Thank you!" - Crow
*"This contract arrived for you from a Mr. Elzebub." - Servo, as Miss Grandy
*"Mother Theresa called... She hates you." - Crow
*"A young Franz Kafka awaits his fate." - Servo
*"Good thing I had my Paxil." - Crow as Johnny
*"But you remember what happened next John" - "You committed a mortal sin" - Narrator/Servo
*"There's Mary, with all the answers in her head" - "Split it open, now" - Narrator/Crow
*"I envision a cheating wing." - Crow as Johnny
*"So is this Ingmar Bergman's first American film?" - Crow
*"I have to bathe Mother." - Mike as Johnny

Bat Riffs
*"There's a peeping Zoro outside. - Mike
*"A lot of villains aren't bold enough to wear clam-diggers." - Mike
*"I have no clue what you're talking about, but I'm profoundly devastated." - Servo, as Flannigan
*"I have the feeling 'Satan' would regret making this movie." - Mike
*"Well you're out of paper, I had to use Heathcliff, he didn't mind." - Mike
*"It's fun when it's fun!" - Mike
*"It's like we're smart, but we're not" - Servo (as a Bat Girl)
*"I wish I was hanging by that rope" - Mike
*"Oh, god... I was gonna get through this movie without thinking about his hips, and now this!" - Mike.
*"Oh, stop pretending there's a plot. Don't cheapen yourself further." - Crow
*"She's got a frontal bike-rack" -Crow
*"That's 40 pounds of butt in 30-pound butt capacity pants!" - Mike
*"So there's a sub-plot about a horseshoe?" - Crow
*"You know, that may not really be Chinese." - Servo