Produced by Charles Band and distributed by Compass International Pictures, The Day Time Ended (1980) bombards the senses with every manner of effects. Stop Motion, Models, Matte Paintings. The window dressing is more developed than the story. The Vault, The Fortune Meal, Spray-On Mustard Gas, Musing on How to Die, “Concepts”, Dr. Erhardt. “International, international? This film’s more international than a house of pancakes”, “Hey Y’all prepare yourself for the Charles Band… Man!”, “Oh that’s smart, they’re having the movie treated for termites.” “The Day Time Ended, The Morris Day Story” or “Wait, this is Radiator Springs?”
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Oh, man, I need me some steak milk!
This movie is so bafflingly weird that it’s perfect MST3K fodder. The Concepts song says it all, really. The crew nailed that song.
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Concepts.
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My reaction to this film was identical to that of Tom Servo regarding the short Once Upon a Honeymoon, where he stated, “What the hell was that about?!?!?”
Concepts is definitely the best song of Season 12.
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I don’t enjoy serious plotless movies (a la Altman) but boy do I love goofy plotless movies from people who clearly had no idea themselves.
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“Concepts” is an all-timer. Baron Vaughn freaking kicks it through the goalposts on Saturn.
The real highlight here for me is the return of J. Elvis Weinstein as Dr. Erhardt. The last time the show dealt with the guy was on a milk carton way back in Season 2’s Rocketship X-M (unless we’re counting the callback-heavy Earth Vs. the Spider from Season 3, which had Erhardt likened to one of the giant spider’s victims). It was a surprise I never saw coming, and it was so cool to see him come back… and less mad, too!
Yeah, I was freaking out accordingly!
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I didn’t like that they killed off Forrester and Frank. I realize they can use the magic of TV to write them back in if they ever decide they want to be a part of the show again, but it feels so unnecessarily final.
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Sweet Jerusalem!
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Technically speaking Dr. F and Frank were already dead. They just killed them twice.
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The steak milk riffs were hilarious and My favorite episode from season 12! Kind of an interesting story although not put together well.
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Agreed. Also, it’s just a show, relax, yada, yada yada…
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Agree with this. It’s also my favorite episode of the revival, though Season 13 is starting to give the Netflix seasons a run for their money!
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Two steak milks were enough for me, like a lot of the at-times overly crafted riffs in the Netflix seasons. But I really enjoyed the rest of the episode - it’s another standout from a mixed, too short season.
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I figure they’re about as dead as disco, which did come back. If and when the opportunity presents itself there’s always a way to resurrect them, do time travel, etc.
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This is one of my favorites since the show returned. The movie is goofy fun and I dig the special effects. It all just works for me.
My affection for The Day Time Ended and Laserblast had me excited that we had more Charles Band on tap with Robot Wars, but that experiment didn’t quite land for me, certainly not anywhere near as much as the first two.
(I think it might have been Drake being such an irredeemable chucklehead)
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This one grew on me so stealthy it became my favorite of the new experiments before i realized it. It has some killer riffs:
Anytime Crow goes into a monologue for Grant
Jenny-isms:
-I’m BUSY!
-come sweet Death
-then you’ve failed my test Mother
“Neiiiigh!”
“Stop talking to the lovecraftian obelisk dear!”
“Your most welcome human child”
“Wise men still seek him”
“I ain’t no hollarback horse”
Around this time i realized it was going to stop being notes and become transcription so I’m stopping
After one more: “steak-milk!”
And as everyone else has mentioned Concepts. not only a massive success but it’s the perfect button on the fake out of Get in your mech
After deflating expectations for another hit song with that hilarious piece from Atlantic Rim - they surprised us with this.
It’s a great episode
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“Concepts” is a big favorite original song of mine because I like Music Man so I found the song really fun 
Also this movie made “an American man of a Certain Age” a fundamental part of my vernacular now. You’d be surprised how often that comes to mind as an apt descriptor in real life hahaha
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This one is so hard for me to get through. I just can’t get my brain to shut off enough to figure out what the falafel is going on with the “plot” of the movie. Unlike Pod People that has at least four movies going on but still feels somewhat coherent, this just seems so disjointed. You know, just like the song tells us.
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Isn’t Frank a spirit roaming the cosmos? Based on Soultaker (1990)? Just have him haunt Moon 1 sometime.
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As for the episode, this one’s a lot of fun precisely because THE MOVIE’S SO DAMN WEIRD AND MAKES NEGATIVE SENSE
The “Tainted Love” riff is a classic one in my book, and the running gags they have here (the pizzeria, the bikers, the steak, etc) are wonderful.
The snacktime riffs where Crow as the mom keeps recommending some snacks for her kid? Priceless.
Also? Servo’s “We come from the Planet Betamax. We’re technically a superior format.” = A+
Also also, Servo’s “This whole movie is like the cold open of a Columbo episode.” = A+++
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