Day: February 19, 1976

MST3K Story: Before the credits, Joel and the Bots sing the “SST Death Flight Theme Song.” Dr. Forrester has returned from Vegas with sacks and sacks of money that he won playing Keno. He has a few gifts for Dr. Erhardt and a really bad movie for Joel that Bert Convy gave him in a parking lot. At the first break, Joel tries to give Servo some idea what pain feels like. Servo laughs off the “stub your toe” and “fiery Yugo crash” settings, but really feels it at the “Arsenio” setting. Gypsy’s voice suddenly becomes soft and sultry. She sings “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” for Joel, but he doesn’t understand why she sounds so different. Servo finally admits he was throwing his voice. Later, Servo sings “The Banana Boat Song” while the rest of the crew dances the Limbo. After the movie, Joel and the Bots answer their first viewer mail and invite people to keep writing in.

SST – Death Flight Story: The Maiden flight of a new Super Sonic Transport brings together a myriad of different people. They include out-of-work sportscaster Lyle Kingman and his wife, promotions director Tim Vernon and his girlfriend Angela, the plane’s designer Willy Basset, potential buyer Hank Fairbanks, and Dr. Ralph Therman who is bringing a sample of a deadly form of influenza to Paris. The ship is piloted by Captain Jim Walsh, whose by-the-book attitude led to Fairbanks losing his pilot’s license. Further complicating things for Fairbanks, the head Stewardess is his ex-girlfriend, Mae. Meanwhile, disgruntled mechanic Les Phillips has sabotaged the hydraulics system in order to force the flight to turn back. Walsh refuses to believe that the plane is in danger until Phillips admits to the sabotage, but by then it is too late: the plane could crash at any moment. An attempt to re-route the pressure goes wrong and a massive explosion rocks the plane. To make matters worse, the influenza sample is released by the explosion and the passengers begin to show symptoms of the disease. When this is learned on the ground, Paris refuses to allow the plane to land. Diplomacy is brought to bear to allow them to land in London, but the passengers decide to go with an alternate plan of landing in Senegal, the only place in reach where proper quarantine facilities exist. Unfortunately, they don’t have enough fuel and they go down in the jungle. Although several passengers die, most are rescued and the spread of the virus is stopped.

MST3K segments written by Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Josh Weinstein, Jim Mallon & Kevin Murphy
MST3K segments director unknown
SST – Death Flight written by Meyer Dolinsky, Robert L. Joseph & William Roberts
from a story by Guerdon Trueblood
SST – Death Flight directed by David Lowell Rich
SST – Death Flight music by John Cacavas

MST3K Guest Cast: Faye Burkholder (Puppet Operation and Voices)

SST – Death Flight Cast: Bert Convy (Vernon), Peter Graves (Paul Whitley), Lorne Greene (Cole), Tina Louise (Mae), George Maharis (Les Phillips), Burgess Meredith (Basset), Doug McClure (Fairbanks), Martin Milner (Kingman), Brock Peters (Therman), Robert Reed (Walsh), Susan Strasberg (Nancy Kingman), Chrystie Jenner (Kathy), Misty Rowe (Angela), Billy Crystal (David), John de Lancie (Bob Connors), Regis Philbin (Harry Carter), Robert Ito (Roy Nakamura)

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey