Probably. Familiarity can dampen the pain.
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That lighting makes it look like Crow got into the Gamma rays… 
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While the title may proclaim this as a Hercules movie, the protagonist is as much Hercules as Sadko is Sinbad. The truth is that it’s a guy called Maciste, a popular recurring character in Italian cinema who is largely unfamiliar in the States. A possible analogous concept would be if The Lone Ranger television series were repackaged in foreign markets with the protagonist referred to as Jesse James.
Though Maciste here is a beefy fellow in a tiny skirt who does Hercules type stuff, the setting doesn’t have as strong an Ancient Greece vibe as the other Hercules movies. Further muddling the situation is how the antagonists are implied to be aliens from outer space or something who demand human sacrifices from a kingdom. A dissenting advisor of the collaborating evil queen sends for Hercules/Maciste to deal with the situation. What follows is typical Hercules movie stuff. Though compared to Hercules Unchained, there’s a lot more action and less of the evil queen’s out of control libido on display.
Prior to the screening, the Mads make a big deal about the sandstorm scene and try to convince us that it’s equal to the rock climbing from Lost Continent in inflicting mental pain. At most, it’s a minor irritant that comes nowhere close to the soul-crushing tedium of rock climbing. The attempts by Joel and the Bots to sell it as such is unconvincing and, truth be told, a bit pathetic.
In the host segments, the clear high point is the song that pays tribute to pants in response to all the men in the film wearing tiny skirts. Though the ancient Greeks would likely disagree. Consider an incident recounted by the Greek historian Herodotus, where a guy named Aristagoras tried to convince the Spartans to go to war with the Persians to drive them out of Ionia. As part of his spiel, he essentially claims that the Persians will be lightweights. From Book 5 Chapter 49 I quote: “They wear trousers when they go into battle, and funny caps on their heads. So you can see how easy they will be to beat!” While modern observers may take issue with the first claim, both sides can agree that the Smurf hats the Persians wore are kind of silly looking.
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Actually “Maciste” as some separate person from Hercules is not accurate. Maciste as a separate individual never actually existed. The first existence of the term was in a historical geography book which referred to a temple near the river Asticon built to “Macistian Heracles” … which was a reference to Hercules being near the town of Makistios. This was continued in other documents and became basically one of Hercules’ nick-names … a sort of “Hercules the Macistian” in the same vein as “Conan the Cimmerian”.
Gabrielle d’Annunzio who was the writer for the 1914 movie “Cabiria” gave the main character the name “Maciste”, which he picked believing it was the surname of Hercules. So it would be like a writer having everyone in the movie call Conan the Barbarian “Cimmerian”. All the while the full intent is that the character IS Conan but everyone refers to them as “Mr. Cimmerian” with the idea that was Conan’s last name (even though it was more of a nick-name). Other subsequent movies simply continued this process. It was always Hercules.
So let us put to rest the mistaken opinion that movies like Hercules Against the Moon Men are NOT Hercules movies. There is no other person called “Maciste” that is “like Hercules but not Hercules”. No. That’s wrong. The character IS Hercules and the “Maciste” name is just a linguistic tweak referring to Hercules by the name of the town a temple of his was close to.
And the Rock Climbing went on for a lot longer (it’s like 40% of the movie) but the Sandstorm was dumber. Both are tedious, but at least the Sandstorm was over quicker.
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Yeah, the fact that at the very first appearance of a sandstorm J&TB are all “nooo!! Make it stop!!” etc is a bit over the top. You’ve had two seconds of sandstorm on screen - it hasn’t had enough time to be torture.
Unless you’re Anakin Skywalker, who hates all sand in general because it is coarse and rough and irritating and gets everywhere
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I’ve talked about genres on this site before. I love comparing them. It’s what makes the show so much fun. Now I have a confession to make. The sword and sandal genre is probably my LEAST favorite. I just don’t care for them. Fortunately, even my least favorite genre still has some gems. Like this one, easily my favorite of the Hercules movies. The movie riffing is okay but what really shines here are the host segments. There some of the best of the CC era.
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Crow and Tom Run Away.
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Frank: (high) See me, feel me, touch me!
Forrester: Oh, great. You’ve triggered a freak out in Frank.
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The Mads’ arc in this embodies their entire relationship. Not only this exchange but its fallout throughout the episode ending in Frank being tortured. Moon Men’s (1964) Mad scenes are a sampler of everything else in the series. Their friendship, their differences, Frank’s sweetness, Dr. F’s frustration. It’s there in one episode.
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Yeah, that’s one of the reasons why My Mom LOVES Frank and Trace together, I’m not sure if “tortured” is the right word here, it’s still comedy, But NO other replacements in the show can replace these two as the best mads ever. NO ONE.
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This running gag is my favorite running riff in the show.
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Agreed. The two together made a perfect combination that the show has never really managed to equal before or since Frank left the show.
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Proto Frank (The Weinstien Era): Josh was okay … but the dynamic between him and Forrester never quite seemed to find any footing. It was adequate, but lacked chemistry. It gets a 6 out of 10.
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Perfection (The Coniff / Beaulieu Era): Sigh. We didn’t know how good we had it until it was gone but this combo was almost perfect. Just the right combo of awkward friendship plus mutual antagonism plus abuse plus evil overlords. The show found its footing here and achieved its arguable acme. 10 out of 10.
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Collapse (MJP / Beaulieu Era): We went from the perfect high to the darkest low with this shift. MJP is a great comedienne and has her own appeal, but a foil for Dr. F she was NOT. Every host segment post-Frank where this was the dynamic was stilted, awkward, and often cringe. We went from a time where Dr. F was the boss, loud and proud and killing Frank to the complete opposite where he was a pathetic, sniveling, feckless wimp who would punch HIMSELF instead of killing Frank. It was awful and I’m not going to sugar coat it. It was still MST … so I’d still watch it … but it was inferior in every way and that’s it. 3 out of 10, and it only gets that high because of a few passable bits.
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Staggering To Our Feet (MJP, Bobo, and Brain Gaius): MJP is no Trace Beaulieu, but she found her footing in the Sci-Fi era where she took on the abusive boss role adequately. Bobo and Brain Guy are no TV’s Frank, but they made acceptable foils for MJP in a much more satisfying way than MJP was to Dr. F. It still pales in comparison to Dr. F and Frank, but it was a very welcome improvement over the Dr F / MJP dynamic. 6/10.
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Meh and OK (Felicia Day & Oswalt): I won’t sugar coat this either. Felicia Day is the Wish version of Dr. Forrester. She CAN’T ACT. Her delivery is overwrought, and not particularly funny. She tries. Oh, she tries. But no amount of effort is making up for her general lack of actual talent. I know she has her fans, and more power to those who like her delivery, but I don’t see it. Oswalt, however, nails it with Max … but having an almost perfect replacement for Coniff only makes Felicia Day seem that much worse. Day has had 3 seasons to get better and she hasn’t, while Oswalt slid into the role like he was born for it on day 1. Its still way better than MJP/Trace, but still only gets a tepid 5/10 (being entirely carried by Oswalt and dragged down by Day).
And there it is. I don’t expect agreement but that’s how I see it.
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No but I think you nail it pretty spot on, except I think that the MJP/Bobo/BG was a step up to 7/10. Especially with all the goofy visiting skits (the Romans, those creepy kids (though the nanny nanny boo boo chant was annoying)
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I’ve seen the episode, and almost lost it myself over the sandstorm scene, although the guys sinking into a depression over it had me cracking up a bit as well as singing “row your boat” very poorly to pass the time But the way Crow shouted “I SAID SING, DAMMIT, SIIIING!!!” was the cherry on top.
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I would no more choose a favorite Mad than a favorite host at this point. 
Middle Child Syndrome is real, no matter what my therapist says. 
And I don’t know how brave I’d call this. MJ got a lot of undeserved brickbats once upon a time, including some nasty body-shaming on Usenet and constant assertions from trolls that “she’s just not funny.”
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I said it was brave in jest, after poster said they didn’t expect much agreement. That’s all. Don’t know where the rest of that comes in at.
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My favorite part of this episode was watching it with my brother & I warned him that it can be a pretty rough one which was only more anticipated with the whole ‘Deep Hurting’ bit. He was like: this ain’t so bad.
Then came the sandstorm as he slowly sank into the coach.
A classic episode.
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Did he lose it a bit from the sandstorm? I bet he did.
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Everyone does. It’s sandpaper to the brain.
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I did too, with a mixture of laughing and overly dramatic crying, because the crew’s breakdown over the scene is comedy gold.
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