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jbwarner86 — This Is So Not Illinois
Published: 2007-11-13 02:40:47 +0000 UTC; Views: 4911; Favourites: 90; Downloads: 86
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Number 19 in my countdown of my top 25 favorite "Mystery Science Theater 3000" episodes is perhaps the finest movie ever made on the subject of giant grasshoppers, 517 "The Beginning of the End"!Synopsis, from the MST3K Amazing Colossal Episode Guide:
"A young couple out for a night of sweet necking is attacked by something off camera. Cops find their destroyed car; then they find the entire city of Ludlow, Illinois demolished, and all the inhabitants gone. The authorities cordon off the area, but they can't stop ace reporter Audrey Ames from discovering that scientist Ed Wainwright (Peter Graves) is growing big honking tomatoes with radiation stored carelessly in a mini-fridge. Turns out some grasshoppers got into his supply and, having drunk lustily, are now growing and reproducing and growing and so look out! Goodbye, Peoria! Adios, Rantoul and Joliet! The hoppers are headed to Chicago, and the military's about to drop the Bomb. But Wainwright, torturing a captive hopper, figures out their mating call. A guy with a bullhorn broadcasts the call from Lake Michigan and every single hopper drowns, unfulfilled."
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Comments: 49
Actual line from the film: "You can't drop an atom bomb on Chicago!" ~ delivered by Peter Graves, whose brother, James Arness, was in two creature features: "The Thing from Another World" (in which he was The Thing!) and "Them!", in which he fought giant ants!
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"Hey, this guy caused the whole thing! He should be doing time up at Joliet now."
"Nah, the grasshoppers ate Joliet."
Also, fun fact for any tabletop gamers who read this far down: The premise of this movie, a horde of giant locusts descending upon Chicago and eating the whole city, also is part of the backstory of Shadowrun. Only there, the bugs were ghosts, not genetic freaks.
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"When you wish upon a star..." (Sinister laughter)
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Ah, my favorite episode, the first I ever watched!
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I just finished watching this episode not a day ago!
This is the movie that clued me in to how long car phones had been around (I had thought they started appearing in the mid-70s).
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Mike: "We have got to get organized! We should not be losing to grasshoppers, people!"
For fans who may not know, Shout!Factory has re-released this one on a no-frills, bare bones DVD so if you missed out on the Rhino release, now's a chance to add it to your collection.
Enjoying the gallery, jbwarner86!
Crow: "ONE WEEKEND A MONTH, MY A**!!"
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"SHORT CONTROLLED BURSTS, PETE!"
And then they showed downtown Chicago by postcards XD. I'll give it one thing: It's better than Transformers 3.
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Servo: "When Brian Eno ruled Chicago."
Gosh probably one of the worst B-movies I've ever seen, the bots and Mike make it more riviting than it's original format. This is a really nice spoof off of the series. My favorite line would have to be when the army is out looking for this creature and they finally find that blow-up version of the grashopper standing perfectly still, but made to look menacing:
"Hey! Is this what we're looking for?"
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' he's signing AAAAAAAHH!!' I spat my teeth across the apartment, wow..
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"I'm sensing I'm Peter Graves"
"'One weekend a month' my ass!"
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Luckily for Frank, the grasshopper was closed-captioned.
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I haven't seen this one in nearly ten years, but I STILL remember "They killed Jiminy, get him!". Ahh, memories, one of my first episodes...
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"I'm Peter Graves and I went to the University of Minnesota."
This is great, one of my personal favorite episodes!
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I am going to check this one out to night. According to this they might being doing a remake. 
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Gee, someone better warn Wainwright's assistant Frank about the giant locust. Here, I'll get him.
HEEEEY FRAAAAAANK!
... oh, right; Frank's deaf. Well, he's dead.
Another great picture. And I must say you do a killer toon Peter Graves.
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General - "The Air Force is standing by with a B-52 loaded with an atom bomb."
Crow - "Oh GOOD, maybe they'll get larger!"
Crow - *as soldier reading letter* "Dear Abby, I'm an elderly woman who doesn't enjoy s-WHOA, this came to the wrong place!"
Servo - "Careful, careful, you're stepping off the building there!"
But the best line is when she's driving and Peter Graves is sitting next to her...
Mike - "Hey, this isn't a shift stick... AAAAAAH!!"
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I just have my own off the top of my head comment for this: "OK, who just gave Jiminy Cricket growth hormones? I will personally kill them."
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"The Air Force is standing by with a B-52 loaded with an atom bomb."
"Oh GOOD, maybe they'll get larger!"
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LOL!! The most famous bad effect ever recorded in Mst3k; grasshoppers climbing on postcards. =-p Classic moment, it defined the whole movie. That and the whole "when you wish upon a STAR!! BWA HA HA HA!!"
Damn Nazi grasshoppers. =-p
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BTW, the way you dre Peter Graves here makes him look an awful lot like Professor Oak from Pokemon lol.
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LOL He does, doesn't he? At least then he'd been able to handle the giant grasshoppers if he had him some Pokeymon.
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Well, celebrity caricatures aren't exactly my forte, but I gave it a shot.
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You did a good job, I must say.
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It's Mike. Joel's last episode was 512 "Mitchell", remember?
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Oo I watched this one a while ago..."Hi, I'm Peter Graves..."
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Oh, great. Now the giant bugs are coming to Chicago. OKAY YOU GUYS! WE GOTTA MOVE!...AGAIN!... ^.^
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Servo: *sings evilly* When you wish upon a star!!!
Crow: THEY GOT JIMINY! GET 'EM!!!!!!!
These are two of the best lines in this episode lol.
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"We have got to get organized! We should not be losing to grasshoppers, people!"
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Oh yeah, you know we're doing bad when we're losing to stock footage of grasshoppers lol.
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My dad loved that one XD
"I'll dress like a sexy grasshopper!"
So many good jokes
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Oh, I have that one on tape! I remember that Peter Graves' character told her his friend's a deaf-mute, the guy turned around and Crow said, "Hey, I smelled that!"
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Yes, the riffs on deaf-mute Frank were among my favorites...
"Why, Frank, that's filthy! I should wash your hands out with soap!"
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Or when Tom pretended to be Graves and went: "Watch this: HEY FRANK!!!!!"
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"He's signing 'AAAAHH!!'"
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Luckly the grasshopper is closed captioned.
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I was thinking that!!!
Remember when one of the soldiers shot a grasshopper and Crow made another one say: "They got Jiminy! GET 'EM!"
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Boy. Talk about classically cheesy (hence the reason it was MST3K fodder), but definitely a good picture from YOU. Thanks for sharing your artwork. :-D
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I'm just happy I have that out of print Rhino DVD of it.
"Wait, this isn't a stick shift... AAHHHGHGH!"
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