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Mystery Science Theater 3000 Season 10 Episode 13

Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders

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9.2

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 9/12/99

Pearl gets her first experiment from the institute, and the crew watches Merlin in modern day.

FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (4)

"Remember to belive in magic, or else I'll kill you!"

8.5

By Lazlo25, May 05, 2009

[#48]

The wonders of Merlin come to present day as he opens of shop filled with heart's desire. Now this sounds a movie fun for the whole family, but the truth is, it isn't! Yes, for most of the flick, there's a monkey of doom that terilizies a small family! And I bet you're asking yourself "Where did this evil monkey stuff come from"? Well these scenes are actually from the director's older film, The Devil's Gift that was incorporated here for some unknown reason. From 1995, Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders which really should have been called Merlin's Shop of Mystical Horrors, but it's not, it's Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders!

Man, what kind of movie was that? A family film goes horribly wrong? That's not good! While not the side splitting I was expecting from this, the riffing is widely funny for the most part. I liked the grandpa quips at the beginning, as well as the riffs aimed at the monkey. They help prove the real heart of this flick. I loved the host segments, like Mike's transformation into a baby and Ernest Borgnine's Children Books review. These segments take the cake and give this a higher grade.

B+moreless
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Grampa Borgnine, no!

9.3

By jamoon2006, Aug 27, 2007

Nothing better than a chilling horror story to lull an innocent child to sleep...unless there's TWO terrifying stories! Ernest Borgnine, slumming in a huge sweater vest (that the Bots guess is concealing a sea turtle) plays the Grandpa, a washed-up TV writer who recalls some of his "Amazing Stories" reject scripts for his grandson's bedtime stories. Not only are the tales horribly scarring for a kid, but they're eight kinds of lousy. The first involves an egocentric reporter who tries out Merlin's spells (and ends up flambaying the cat), and the second involves a homicidal monkey toy out to kill a family (so, why does Merlin have it in his shop?) It's great fodder for the crew.

Host segments are good, starting off with Pearl's experiment to give Tom absolute power and see what happens. Of course, it corrupts him, and he delivers a dictator-balcony speech to his subjects, Crow and Mike. "And give me your cookies, and I won't have to kill you!"moreless
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Imposing Gandalf type walks around looking angry.

9.5

By Lokar, Aug 06, 2006

Legend has it that the wizard Merlin saw dragons wrestling in a pit where they were going to set the foundations of Camelot castle. He then predicted that Arthur would become a great king. Dragons are still part of important insignia in the United Kingdom-- for instance, in the flag of Wales and in the 'three dragons' emblem in England.

That whole story has nothing to do with the movie. I just pointed that out because this movie has nothing to do with Merlin-- I thought I'd be fair.

Why Merlin would come back just to *open up a store* is beyond me. If you need to do that to restore magic to this world... you're not much of a magician, are you?

Murky sound and muddy-looking film quality plague the movie from beginning to end. The scratches and skips make it even more difficult to see what is going on. Not that anything really is, to begin with.

The villain is an evil monkey that claps its cymbals and brings death. Why somebody didn't just go into the shop and beat the daylights out of the monkey with a sledgehammer, is beyond me.

Also ridiculous is the idea that someone looking like Merlin could walk around and nobody would know off the bat something was very, very wrong. Even today, there are few places where a person in that get-up could just blend in without being noticed immediately.

Mike and the 'Bots try to deal with all this trauma as best they can.

This is the last original episode of the show ever made.

We need them now more than ever.moreless
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The movie features Ernest Borgnine as a grandfather babysitting for his grandson. They are watching a scary movie on the TV when the power goes out. So it is up to Grandpa Borgnine to save the day by telling the boy a scary story he wrote years ago.moreless

10

By Rattrap007, May 05, 2006

Wow where to begin with this episode. So many great bits. You got Ernest Borgnine obviously in need of some quick cash, that or parts really dried up, cameo-ing as Grandpa. You also have the smarmy nasty newspaper writer who can either save or trash a business into oblivion with a few strokes of his poison pen. Then you got henpecked Merlin. You\'ve also got a very out of place story line of a killer cymbal monkey that is at least 10 years older footage than the rest of the film. What do you get when you add all this up and toss in Mike and the bots? A great episode of MST3k.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Beth McKeever	Magic Voice [8-10]
Bill Corbett	Crow T. Robot [8-10] & Observer aka Brain Guy [8-10]
Kevin Murphy	Tom Servo [2-10], Professor Bobo [8-10] & Cambot
Mary Jo Pehl	Magic Voice [4-7] & Pearl Forrester [7-10]
Michael J. Nelson	Mike Nelson [5-10]
Patrick Brantseg	Gypsy [8-10]

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- The second half of the movie (the part dealing with the toy monkey) was created using scenes lifted from the movie The Devil's Gift only the ending was different. In the original movie, the monkey's cymbals crashed, killing Dave and his family and not the happy ending here where Merlin stops the monkey at the last possible second.
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QUOTES (26)
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- Zurella: Make a wish, honey.
  Crow: I did, but I'm still here.
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- Crow: (After we see the result of Jonathan's meeting with Satan) He turned me into Benjamin Franklin!
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- Tom: (as a cat catches on fire) That cat was made of oily rags!
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- Mike: (seeing aged Jonathan) It's Possessie the Clown!
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- Tom: (as Jonathan casts a spell on the cat) Meow meow safe! Meow meow very safe!
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- Jonathan: Jonathan Cooper decides to play wizard in Name That Spell!
  Tom: I name it Fred.
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- Merlin: Mr. Cooper...
  Tom: I bid you lick me.
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- Jonathan: Allow me to introduce myself.
  Tom: I'm Bob Jackass.
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- (the title appears, but they can't read it)
  Crow: Merlin's hop?
  Mike: Try the Merlin chop. A half a pound of Merlin served with steak fries, vege-table of the day and whipped dessert.
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- Crow: (describing the interior of Merlin's shop) It's a bleu cheese u-store-it.
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- Crow: I'm going to hit the mystical can.
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- Crow: (describing Merlin) He's a retired snow monkey.
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- Crow: (as Ernest Borgnine first appears) It's McHale's time share in Sarasota.
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- Jonathan: I am the supreme being.
  Tom: Clapton?
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- Crow: (as the woman uses the Quija board) Kiss... my... hey!
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- Merlin: Heed my words.
  Mike: Munch my shorts.
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- Crow: (as Dave buries the monkey) Doesn't he know it's Dig a Pony and Shock the Monkey?
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- Mike: (as Madeline tries to talk to Jonathan) I utterly loathe you! Wanna have a baby?
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- Tom: (after the fire) We're gonna change the dog's name to Crispy.
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- Tom: (as Jonathan reads the book) I talk to myself a lot, long monologues complete with sarcasm.
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- Crow: (as Merlin looks for the monkey) See, here's his problem: He's going around dressed like that asking women 'Have you seen my little monkey?'
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- Crow: (as Mike gets the monkey out of the trash) Yeah, thanks, kid! You're now part of the dark army!
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- Mike: (as the kid sees the waterfall in Merlin's shop) Merlin passed out while filling the tub.
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- Mike: (seeing a sign, 'Beware of Dragon') You know, if it was 'Beware of Daryl Dragon' I could relate.
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- Mike: (as Jonathan sees the spirit in the mirror) You know, I don't like the way they're portraying the devil. It's so biased.
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- Crow: Remember to believe in magic, or I'll kill you.
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NOTES (2)
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- This episode is available on DVD from Rhino Home Video.
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- Diabolik was actually the series finale. This episode was supposed to air earlier in the season, but was delayed due to a snag in getting the rights to the movie. SciFi billed it as the "Lost Episode." It was the last first run episode to be aired.
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- Marathon Man & Mister Rogers:
  When Jonathan tries to put a spell on his cat, he puts it in the cat's mouth and Tom says 'Meow meow safe! Meow meow very safe!' This is a double allusion to Meow Meow Kitty of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and the movie Marathon Man and its infamous dental torture scene where the White Angel asks Babe, 'Is it safe?'
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