Mystery Science Theater 3000/Recap/S06/E02 Invasion USA
Featured work: A Date with Your Family (Educational Short) and Invasion U.S.A. (1952)
World War III separates the serious drinkers from the amateurs!—Tom Servo
The film Invasion USA (1952) was featured, along with the memorable short A Date with Your Family, an educational film about dinner manners served with a heaping side of Unfortunate Implications.
The Mystery Science Theater 3000 presentation of Invasion U.S.A. contains these tropes:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot / Crush! Kill! Destroy!: Mike's attempt to build his own Robot Buddy (following the lead of his predecessor Joel) results in this.
- All Just a Dream: Referred to in the final host segment.
- Camp Straight: The Arizona rancher character's cowboy outfit stampedes into this trope thanks to Have a Gay Old Time.
Crow: I really am a cowboy! I'm not gay!
- Color Coded for Your Convenience / Fridge Brilliance: The Robot Buddy Mike attempts to build is blue, which makes sense since Crow is yellow and Tom is red - blue is the logical next step, since it's the third primary color.
- Dead Baby Comedy: Or more accurately, Nuclear Holocaust Comedy.
Crow: (As airline pilot) We got a real pretty view of the dust cloud out the right window. It's currently seven thousand degrees in San Francisco...
Crow: (As Ohman) You know, you only rent cognac...
- Throw It In: Trace (as Crow) flubs one of his riffs during the movie, but they simply ignore it and keep going.
Crow: You know, this for.. fi.. fuh.. cuh.. aufhem.
[Servo chuckles]
The Mystery Science Theater 3000 presentation of A Date with Your Family contains these tropes:
Narrator: Dad will be home soon. Better tell Mother she's needed in the kitchen.
Servo: ... where the postman eagerly awaits.
- I Have No Son: A running gag during the "dinner" portion of the short. When the narrator explains that nobody should start eating before Father serves everyone their plates[1]...
Mike: Father feigns eating, draws Junior out, then disowns him!
Mike: 'Least I have a daughter...
- Nuns Are Funny: Invoked during the Dinner and a Show portion of the family's dinner, during the scenes where Brother and Sister are shown talking with no sound.
Servo: (As Brother, giving a blow-by-blow account of a fight) So Sister Mary Patrick had him up against the wall and nailed him...
Servo: (As Sister, making "unkind comparisons" about someone) Oh, and she was a big nun, with a mustache (Sister makes a gesture across her upper lip) and this huge black habit...
- Shout-Out: When Brother makes the "OK" sign after taking his first bite of dinner.
Servo: This stinks!
"EEEEEXTRA! PAAAAAPER! Read all about it! America invaded!"
- ↑ THIS MEANS YOU!