This web site requires use of the Macromedia Flash software for this feature.

Movie Summary  Short: Design For Dreaming:  Produced by General Motors in 1956. We kick off with an attractive brunette and a home invasion. Not to worry, the woman dances away with the masked intruder to an auto show at the Waldorf-Astoria. In addition to chrome-drenched cars, he shows her wildly impractical kitchen appliances, and boy, is she jazzed. In the end they drive blissfully away into the Distant Future, in a little car on a rail. (It's amazing how prescient this film was.)  Movie: 12 To The Moon:  A static Fifties vision of space travel. A couple dozen multicultural astronauts land on the moon. Mysterious lunar beings, lurking just off camera, respond to the visit by freezing the entire continent of North America and by stealing the expedition's cats. (This is not explained.) A Nazi's son and a Jewish fellow join together to try to save Earth, riding a suicide rocket straight into the atmosphere. It's an act of wacky self-sacrifice the Moon-beings find touching. They relent on the whole freezing thing, but they keep the cats. — Paul Chaplin Host Segments  Prologue:  Mike sits through one of Gypsy's boring tea parties. Small talk is real hard.  Segment 1:  Frank hosts a roast of Dr. Forrester, and it turns nasty. "In all sincerity, Dr. Forrester, I hope you die a slow, painful death, secure in the knowledge that nobody loves you..." While playing tennis, Servo violently protests Gypsy's "out" call: "Why don't you grow some hair!" (see Reflections section below.)  Segment 2:  Out of the short and straight onto the SOL pops Nuveena, Woman of the Future, who only understands singing. She wants to take Mike and the 'Bots to her futuristic world; Mike thinks about it. She's rather attractive.  Segment 3:  While all pack to leave and Nuveena flits about and nags, the 'Bots express reservations about the move. "She sings a lot, Mike."  Segment 4:  Nuveena turns the 'Bots into appliances, so Mike changes his mind and kicks her out.  Segment 5:  The 'Bots comfort Mike for his loss, and then Mike sings a letter. Nuveena pops briefly into Deep 13, tantalizing Frank.  Stinger:  German scientist: "Aggh, ridiculous!" Reflections When Servo gets mad at Gypsy at the beginning, he shouts, "Why don't you grow some hair?!" That's something John McEnroe said once. Servo's whine a bit later ("I am having hard enough time!") originated with Ivan Lendl, during one of his many Wimbledon losses. There have been, what, a dozen or so major civilizations during recorded history. I'm talking about your Greeks, your Egyptians, that caliber of world-dominating culture. And the USA is clearly one of the biggies. The greatest civilization ever? Who's to say, but you have to put us in the top four of five of all time, by almost any measure.  That's how I think about those big old GM cars: They're like the pyramids. And they get about the same mileage! Thank you! I'm outa here!! — Paul Chaplin