MST Monday - "The Human Duplicators"

We've reached Monday again, and so it's time for another edition of MST Monday. This week, we take a look at "The Human Duplicators", a rather dull movie about an alien plot to infiltrate humanity with an army of android duplicates. Ready? Settle in, we've got Blog Post Sign!

Host Segment #1

Joel is considering making some modifications to the Bots and asks what they might like. Gypsy wants another eye and possibly a fin. Crow wants to stay the way he is unless Joel can increase his capacity to love. Tom Servo has drawn up a couple of sketches for redesign ideas he had including becoming a 700 foot tall tank and a trendy hotel in Seattle.

Invention Exchange

Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank are having a laughing fit at the very thought of their invention for this week, so Joel decides to go first. Borrowing the idea from the beanie hats that were popular when he was a kid, Joel has made a Beanie Copter with a massive propeller on top. The Bots are less than impressed as they were thinking  Joel would go through the roof when it turned on.


The Mads finally present their invention, though they're still in hysterics as they describe it. It's the William Conrad Fridge Alert, an alarm system specially designed go off whenever William Conrad is raiding your refrigerator. Dr Forrester admits he has it set on demo mode as Frank continually opens and closes the fridge door in the background setting off the alarm.

As odd as this may sound, I say the Mads won this week's Invention Exchange if only for the fact that Frank shouting "Look at me, I'm William Conrad" through fits of laughter as he trifles with the door was one of the few moments that made me laugh out loud this episode. And that being said, it's Movie Sign!

Movie Segment #1

The movie begins with a spaceship that resembles "a Christmas ornament from the 1960s" flying through space. Tom Servo takes that as his cue to sing a few bars of the theme song from "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians". On the ship, the very tall Dr. Kolos is instructed by his overlords to go to Earth and, with the help of a man named Professor Dornheimer, establish a colony on the planet so they can expand their Galaxy Domination Program.

Kolos is transported to Earth and arrives at the Professor's estate. After dispatching the doorman, Kolos enters the house and meets Lisa, the Professor's blind niece. She leads Kolos to the lab where he announces his intentions to assist Prof. Dornheimer with his android creation experiment regardless of whether or not he wants it.

Movie Segment #2

We next see a man by the name of Dr. Munson arrive at a government research facility. He breaks into a supply room and begins to steal transistors. Upon trying to flee the facility, he breaks through a metal gate and suffers no ill effects from four point blank gunshots fired by a security guard. I think it's possible there may be more to Munson than meets the eye.

The police arrive to investigate followed closely by Glenn Martin, an agent of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). Given the odd nature of the incident, Glenn wants to take a look at Dr. Munson's file.

The highway patrol call in and report they saw the suspect's car go into a canyon. Glenn and the police report to the scene to investigate. Upon descending into the canyon, they find a body. It's Dr. Munson, now looking quite dead.

Host Segment #2

 Joel and the Bots participate in an art project, make a spaceship as good as the one in the opening of the movie using objects found around the house. Gypsy made her ship out of a Quaker Oats can, an old earring of hers, a sneaker and leftover carpet samples. Tom didn't put much effort into his model and just cut a Clorox bottle in half. Crow made a scale model of the Satellite of Love. Joel made a modal also. Crow dismisses it as a piece of junk noting it's made out of a bowling pin, a lacrosse helmet, some Tupperware pieces... wait a minute...

Movie Segment #3

 Glenn returns to the NIA offices. The report from the crime lab comes in along with the coroner's report. It says that Munson died from electrocution several hours before the robbery occurred. Glen decides to investigate the Dornheimer estate since it was near the crash site.

Lisa confronts Kolos saying that everything seemed to change after he arrived and asks why everyone seems to take orders from him. Kolos says she shouldn't be bothered and she storms off.

Glenn comes to the door posing as a reporter saying he wants to do an article on the Professor. As he enters the estate, he encounters Lisa who tells him that it would be best for Glenn to not stay but she is interrupted by saying anything further when her uncle walks in. Glenn tells the Professor that he wants to do an article on his daily life. Professor Dornheimer says he life is not the dull routine that the general public might imagine. Glenn's response, "Your niece is very lovely" to which Joel replies, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" In all honesty, it is a fair question for Joel to ask.

Movie Segment #4

 Glenn is interrupted while trying to pump information from the Professor. A servant apologizes to Glenn and asks if he can come back at a later time as the Professor has some urgent work to attend to.

Gail, Glenn's colleague and love interest, is seen lounging at poolside with a terrier. The phone rings and Crow remarks, "Hey, your dog's ringing. Oh, it's the phone". It's Glenn calling. He's made arrangements for the two of them to meet for dinner and asks Gail to pick up some books from the library on her way over.

After dinner, they return to Gail's apartment to do some research. Glenn is deep in thought as he reads, tending to ignore Gail. What follows is easily my favorite moment of the episode;

Gail: Well, say something.
Crow: Something.
Glenn: (Two seconds later) Something.
Crow: D'oh! I got riffed back on that one.

As Glenn continues his reading, he discovers that Professor Dornheimer is a leader in the field of cybernetics and mentions the possibly of the Professor creating androids.

Host Segment #3

Tom Servo has gone and created several duplicates of himself. Joel and Crow enter and are horrified by what they see. Joel tells Servo is treading shaky moral ground by doing this, but Servo fails to see a problem and orders his army to attack. They just stand around, not responding. Joel drags Servo off and the clones start to close in on Crow with malicious intent. Just as it seems like all is lost for our hero, he is saved by Movie Sign!


Movie Segment #5

Glenn breaks into the estate and finds a room filled with components for the androids. He walks into another room and finds caskets filled with the bodies of people who have already been duplicated and disposed of afterwards. Glenn stumbles across the lab and witnesses a duplication taking place.  

Lisa finds Glenn and tells him that her uncle is not responsible for what's happening. Her real uncle has been imprisoned and the "Professor" that Glenn is seeing is actually a "twin". Kolos is actually the one in charge now.


Glenn walks back into the lab as is then attacked by the servant and Kolos.

Movie Segment #6

Glenn fights back and throws the servant off the stairwell. The servant's head breaks open and Glenn's suspicions are finally confirmed, they are indeed creating androids. Glenn is apprehended and they decide to make a duplicate of him. Lisa enters the lab and the screen goes black for a brief moment. Crow: That must have been from her point of view. Lisa finds a coin on the stairs that Glenn dropped in the fray and takes it with her as she leaves the lab.

"Glenn" returns to the NIA office and doesn't seem quite like himself. Gail suggests that perhaps Glenn has become an android and decides to do some undercover work of her own and follow him.

Movie Segment #7

Dr. Kolos makes a report to his superiors informing them of his progress. He tells them about the duplicate they made of Glenn and the fact they're keeping him alive since it may benefit them to create more duplicates since he's a government agent and may be able to gain clearance to obtain the resources they may need to continue with their mission. Kolos is then asked why he hasn't made a duplicate of Lisa yet. Kolos explains he feels there is no need to do so and that she poses no threat to remaining as an original. This doesn't sit well with the overlords and they inform him that he must not deviate from the plan and, as such, has to duplicate Lisa. After signing off, Kolos still insists he will not make Lisa into a duplicate despite the insistence of his supervisors and the Professor's duplicate.


Lisa makes her way to the dungeon to check on Glenn and her uncle, the real Professor Dornheimer. Lisa mentions she found a coin on the stairwell in the lab and Glenn asks her to bring it to him. Somehow this coin will help him escape, I assume.

Gail has tailed "Glenn" to a government facility in the middle of the night. She follows him in and locates him in a supply warehouse. He pulls a gun on her and this is enough to convince her that this is not really Glenn and she runs off screaming. "Glenn" chases after her and gets into a fight with a security guard who, it turns out, is also a duplicate as his head shatters after he's thrown to the ground. How deep has this plan gone?

Host Segment #4

Hugh Beaumont, who plays the head of the NIA in the movie, stops by the Hexfield Viewing Screen. He's crabby as hell.

Movie Segment #8

"Glenn" is seemingly cornered but manages to escape, leaving his right arm behind in the process.

Kolos is in Lisa's room fiddling with the coin on her dresser as he's waiting for her to show up. He tells her about what his supervisor's had told him in regards to turning her into a duplicate but how he has no desire to do so. After dropping a doll on the floor to distract him, Lisa swipes the coin off her dresser in order to bring it to Glenn.

Meanwhile, the duplicates are beginning to rebel. They decide to go after Kolos and then subject Lisa to duplication once they have him incapacitated.

Lisa makes her way to the dungeon via a secret staircase. Two robot nurses spot her and follow her down.

"Professor Dornheimer" has now appointed himself the leader of the duplicates and they seize Kolos down in the lab.

Lisa brings the coin to Glenn. The nurses then grab Lisa and drag her upstairs. Glenn frantically begins to file the bars in an effort to try and escape.

The Professor's duplicate tells Kolos that in designing the androids, one fatal flaw had been made. They all ended up achieving individual thought. Now that they are able to act on their own accord, androids will become the new master race.

Movie Segment #9

The real Professor Dornheimer tells Glenn that the way to defeat the androids is to cause electrical breakdown to their brains. With his dying breath, the Professor tells Glenn to use a fusion beam in the lab to accomplish the job.

Lisa is sealed in the lab in preparation to be duplicated.

Glenn finally breaks out of his cell and makes his way to the lab.

Kolos breaks free of the wall manacles he had been chained up in and begins to fight back against the duplicates. Glenn had made his way to the lab at this point and fires the fusion beam at the duplicates who begin to fight one another instead. Eventually all the duplicates collapse to the floor since their circuitry had been overpowered by the fusion beam.

Glenn faces off with the "Professor" in the foyer and the duplicate "Glenn" eventually enters. He refuses to fight the real Glenn even as the "Professor" continually commands him to. The two duplicates then fight each other just as reinforcements for Glenn arrive and enter the mansion.

Kolos emerges from the lab, carrying Lisa with him. He reveals all the details of the plan and says that ultimately he has failed. But it's not because he was weak, it was because Glenn was strong. Kolos says he will now return to his home planet where he will be exterminated for his failure, but this doesn't matter to him because he was also actually an android as well. Kolos teleports back to his ship to await his fate as the movie ends.

Host Segment #5

Joel commends Richard Kiel who played Kolos for coming out as a robot at the end of the movie. Crow says that he and Tom Servo had been inspired by the movie but faints as the emotional weight of their announcement is too much for him. Servo picks up the slack and comes out of the closet admitting to Joel that he and Crow are both robots. Joel says he knew that already.

In Deep 13, the Mads are still laughing at the absurdity of their invention. Just then, William Conrad sneaks in and raids their fridge. The Mads aren't bothered and just continue to laugh noting that he won't get very far. Dr. Forrester pushes the button to end the episode.

Stinger

Two duplicates are fighting one another, making goofy looking faces all the while.

I found the movie itself to be pretty dull. As a result, it didn't seem like there were many funny riffs in this episode. So unfortunately this episode gets another low rating from me, 2 and 1/2 stars out of 5.