TURKEY
DAY BUMPERS 1992-1995
(including 1995 Scrapbook/Poopie Infomercial)
Genre: MST Host Segments (Color)
Overview: On Thanksgiving Day, from 1991 until 1995, Comedy Central ran 28 or
more consecutive hours of Mystery Science Theater episodes in what was called the
MST “Turkey Day” marathon. In between MST episodes, specially
created thanksgiving-themed
host segments called “bumpers” were shown each year during these
marathons. The first, and best, set of these Turkey Day bumpers
feature Dr. F trying to take over the world while Frank
entertains a bunch of thanksgiving guests, and all of these 1991
bumpers are included on the MST Scrapbook
tape. This tape, on the other hand, is a fan-compiled collection of the rest of the bumpers from 1992 through
1995 that’s available out in tradeland.
Don’s Review:
Here’s my rundown of these
turkey day segments:
The 1992 set of bumpers were created by BBI and feature Dr. F torturing Frank by force-feeding him a whole turkey for every movie shown.
(That’s 15 turkeys in total!) It’s an amusing little joke, but is really rather limited and
begins to run out of steam after awhile.
In 1993, BBI didn’t make bumpers, so instead Comedy Central filmed a
fan’s
MST-themed Halloween costume party and pretended
that it was Thanksgiving.
These segments are rather weak, though, and, on TV, the costumes
– although creative – really
make
these MST fans look like a bunch of losers (it would have
probably looked better if they didn’t pretend that it
wasn’t Halloween).
The segments in 1994 also weren’t created by BBI and, instead,
feature Adam “Batman” West in a kitchen “cooking up” a Thanksgiving Day meal based on each movie shown.
Mamie Van Doren (who has aged well) and Beverly Garland each make a guest appearance.
Although some of Adam West’s lines are a bit amusing (“bad
carrot!”) and it is an improvement over the previous year’s
bumpers, this isn’t as nearly as good as any of the BBI bumpers.
The final set of Turkey Day bumpers is from 1995, and these are made by BBI
again as they feature Dr. F having to deal with some thanksgiving guests that Frank invited before leaving, as well as a visit from his
mother Pearl.
These are pretty funny bumpers, almost like a sequel to the great ones from 1991,
and are highlighted by a hilariously drunk Jack Perkins hitting on Mr. B Natural.
The last of these 1995 bumpers are the familiar Turkey Day special host segments for
episode 701 - Night of the Blood Beast, but
it’s
really better to see
all of the bumpers together, instead of just the last few that come with
the Turkey Day version of that particular episode.
Also on this tape is the
Scrapbook / Poopie! infomercial in which Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Trace
Beaulieu are hawking both the Poopie! And
MST Scrapbook videotapes.
This is occasionally amusing (in particular, Trace, who does the whole thing in a fake British accent, sounding
a bit like a member of Monty Python), but it’s still an
infomercial and is really only of interest to completest fans.
Trivial Note: Episodes 415 - The Beatniks, 416 - Fire Maidens of Outer
Space, 517 - Beginning of the
End, 615 - Kitten with a Whip, and,
of course, 701 - Night of the Blood Beast
all premiered during Turkey Day marathons.
Don’s Rating: 
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