A-Z GUIDE TO MOVIES AND TV SHOWS PARODIED BY MAD, CRACKED, CRAZY, ETC. UP TO 1996. THEY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS. SPOILERS AND OTHER NON-SEQUITURS, TOO. SOMETIMES THESE THINGS HAVE WORDS OR SITUATIONS WE DON'T USE ANYMORE. YOU KNOW, 'CAUSE THEY'RE OLD.
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THUNDERBLAHH
MAD #165, March 1974
w: Arnie Kogen
a: Mort Drucker
From 8 “James Bomb” Bomb Movies.
Thunderball was the fourth in the James Bond series. Bond (Sean Connery)'s enemy here is Largo (Adolfo Celi) of SPECTRE, whose mistress was Domino (Claudine Auger). It was followed by From Russia, With Love.
STRICTLY ROMPER ROOM
Australian MAD #319, June 1993
w: Mark Juddery
a: Peter Wikinson
Mostly Australian month ends with two Australian movies most Americans have heard of, Strictly Ballroom and Romper Stomper, here mashed up.
Strictly Ballroom is about ballroom dancing hopeful Scott Hastings (Paul Mercurio) upsetting the community by doing his own moves and upsetting the community by ruining his chances of winning the championship with his own moves. Romper Stomper stars Hando (Russell Crowe), leader of a Neo-Nazi skinhead group and profiles their downfall.
Among the skinheads are Telly Savalas and Sinead O'Connor, who caused a scandal that year by “sucker punching” Saturday Night Live, when as musical guest she ended her act by tearing up a picture of the Pope on television without telling anyone in advance.
In Ballroom, Scott abandons his original dancing partner Liz (Gia Carides) in favor of Fran (Tara Morice), who appears to be a beginner but turns out to come from a long line of flamenco dancers.
The characters in Alien³ all have shaved heads as well. It has been nicknamed Skinheads in Space.
PUNS AND CAVORTERS
Australian MAD #242, October 1983
w & a: Tim Hannaford
They really like the prime time soaps in Australia. This was about the feuding Palmer and Hamilton families. Its main star was Patricia “The Rat” Hamilton (Rowena Wallace). Its other stars were Fiona Thompson (Pat McDonald) and Jill Taylor (Kim Lewis)
John Palmer (Peter Phelps) and Angela Hamilton(Ally Fowler) were two of its other stars.
THE SANTA CLOD
Cracked #298, May 1995
w: Andy Simmons
a: John Severin
I was saving this for Christmas then my computer was broken on Christmas then after everything was fixed I had this new backlog and I'm trying to do things alphabetically and blah blah blah, but here it is.
A family film that became a whole franchise. It's about Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) who sees Santa fall off his roof and then disappear. He sees a note to put on the suit and continue the work and thinks it's a one-time thing, but not realizing the fine print in the note says that he's legally bound to continue as Santa Claus.
Scott is divorced from his wife and shares custody of his son Charles. Charles' stepfather Neil (Judge Reinhold) thinks he's ready to outgrow Santa, but continues to believe in him once the father continues as Santa.
Scott's magically stretched when chimneys are too small and his bag of toys is replenished for each job. He overcomes obstacles in each home and everything is taken care of for him. He thinks he's done and will go back home but it taken to headquarters at the North Pole where the head elf (David Krumhholz) gives him instructions for the next year.
Scott finds himself turning more and more into Santa Claus. Charles knows the transformation is real, but his mother (Wendy Crewson) and stepfather think Scott is taking the delusion too far and take custody of Charles. Scott has kidnapped Charles and have sent the police out to look for them.
Scott/Santa is caught and arrested, but elves rescue him so he can continue his work and everyone believes in him again.
Australian MAD #224, July 1981
w: Dave Emerson
a: Jimmy Green
Not to be mistaken for the British series. This series, syndicated in the states as Prisoner: Cell Block H was a soap about a womens' prison in Australia. The parody doesn't mention everyone's names, so it's hard to identify everyone. The main cast was Meg Morris (Ellspeth Ballantyne), Lizzie Birdsworth (Sheila Florance), “Queen” Bea Smith (Val Lehman), Doreen Anderson (Collette Mann), Deputy Gov. Jim Fletcher (Gerard Maguire), Gov. Erica Davidson (Patsy King), Vera Bennett (Fiona Spence), Noelene Bourke (Jude Kuring).
There are marginal cartoons similar to Sergio Aragones' Drawn Out Dramas but about prison, though not by Aragones.
Norman Gunston was a talk show character in Australia.
Johannes Bjelke-Peterson was the premier of Queensland.
PHAR OUT
Australian MAD #246, April 1984
w & a: Darren Pracy
The movie begins with Phar Lap dead and his story told in flashbacks. He's brought in to New Zealand as his trainer Harry Telford (Martin Vaughn) and wife Vi (Celia Van DerBurgh) look on.
David Davis (Ron Leibman), the horse's owner, has no faith in him and demands Harry sell him, but Harry convinces him to give Phar Lap, initially called Bobby, a chance for a percentage of the winnings as long as Harry doesn't associate him with the horse. Phar Lap's stable boy Tommy Woodcock (Tom Burlinson) thinks he's being worked to death and gets fired for saying that, but is rehired when it's found he formed a bond with Phar Lap who wasn't eating without him. Phar Lap was originally renamed Far Lap because he went long distances but it had to be changed because seven letters was required to enter races.
Phar Lap loses the first few races but Tommy and his assistant Cashy (Richard Morgan) realizes he likes to come up from behind, which helps him win, bringing in prizes and saving everyone from bankruptcy. He becomes a contender for the Melbourne cup,and Dave Davis attempts to capitalize on Phar Lap's success with gambler Eric Connolly (John Stanton).
Harry is getting threats because Phar Lap's now a valuable commodity, and asks Dave for security, something Dave eventually agrees to. While Tommy Is talking Phar Lap out to practice, they are followed by a car and shot at. Jim (James Steele), the jockey, and the horse, stay in hiding until the day of the race, and almost show up late with all the police escorts.
The N.R.M.A. Isbasically Australia's equivalent to the A.A.A.
Tommy gets married. Phar Lap has seemingly run his course and Dave wants to sell him. Harry tricks Dave into thinking Phar Lap is lame so he can buy him for less money but he ends up winning the next race. Phar Lap is asked to race at Agua Caliente, the biggest race in Mexico, and Tommy and the crew go with them.
PERV-IT MATCH
Australian MAD #263, June 1986
w & a: Deane Taylor
Game show parodies are easier to encapsulate if you've never seen them, because the only recurring character is the one host, who was Greg Evans. It's also easy when the show follows the format of another show, since this was similar to The Dating Game, where a contestant asked three innuendo-laden questions to three potential suitors, picking the best one sight unseen.
Game shows must also be equally as easy for the creators, since they don't have to caricature anybody accurately except for the host.
NEW FACES
Nine Network 1963-1985, Network Ten 1992-1993
NEW FARCES
Australian MAD #289, August 1989
w & a: Warren Brown
This parody was done in between the old and later incarnations of the show, presumably figuring who the hosts would be if there was a new version. This is hosted by Daryl Somers of Hey Hey It's Saturday (which had an ostrich pupppet as his co-star) with judges Wilbur Wilde and Victoria Nicolls.
If you haven't figured it out from the context, New Faces was a talent show.
Tony Barber was an Australian game show host. Jeff Fenech was a boxer. Bert Newton was the original host.
NEIGHBORES
Australian MAD #278, April 1988
w & a: Peter Broelman
Not to be confused with the Dan Aykroyd/John Belushi movie. This was a soap opera that took place on a street in Edinsborough, Victoria. The main characters were Charlene (Kylie Minogue) and her husband Scott (Jason Donovan), Jane Harris (Annie Jones), and Helen Daniels (Anne Haddy).
The Logie is an industry award for TV shows in Australia.
Jim Robinson (Alan Dale) lived in one house. Des (Paul Keane) was married to Daphne (Elaine Smith).
Lucy (Kylie Flinker) was another of the Robinson children. Henry (Craig McLachlan) was fromone of the Ramsays, another family on the block.
The show often had celebrity guest stars, so in this version the guest was then prime minister Bob Hawke.
The show became popular because of Kylie Minogue and vice-versa, and she started her career with a cover of The Loco Motion.
NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION (1983)
dir: Harold Ramis
NATIONAL LIMPOON'S GROUNDHOG DAY VACATION
Cracked Summer Special #1, Summer 1991
w: Lou Silverstone
a: Walter Brogan
In National Lampoon's later years, they did a series of Vacation movies based on a short story in the magazine. The movies centered on Clark (Chevy Chase) and Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo) Griswold and their children Rusty and Audrey, who were played by different actors each time. Rusty looks like he's probably Macaulay Culkin here, Audrey might be Alison Porter, who played Curly Sue, another John Hughes character.
Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) was another recurring character.
MR. AND MRS. SOUTH
Bughouse #3, July/August 1954
w & a: unknown
Franchise that started as a series of novels and a movie and radio show and eventually a TV show about Jerry and Pamela North (Richard Denning, Barbara Britton) a husband and wife detective team.
