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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This was the cover to some foreign edition, I neglected to note which one.
MAD #335, May 1995
w: Dick DeBartolo
a: Angelo Torres
Introduced by Rod Serling, a science-fiction series about a unit of the FBI that investigates the supernatural, particularly UFOs. The division is headed by Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson). Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) was the assistant director, and their boss. Mulder became convinced in the existence of alien life when he believed his sister was abducted at an early age.
The splash page, as well as all the panels throughout, are filled with aliens from various science-fiction TV shows, movies, and cartoons.
The first panel has then-New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman. Giants stadium is also located in New Jersey. Go figure.
The last panel features Ray Liotta, Robert DeNiro, and Joe Pesci of Good Fellas.
A couple issues later, on the letters page...
Cover to the Brazilian edition.
A CRACKED LOOK AT THE X-FILES
Cracked #305, January 1996
w: Rob Weske
a: Bruce Bolinger
STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK (1984)
dir: Leonard Nimoy
STAR BLECCH III: THE SEARCH FOR PLOT
MAD #251, December 1984
w: Arnie Kogen
a: Mort Drucker
Continuing where the last film has left off, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) has electrocuted himself so that everyone else so that the rest of the enterprise could live, and was given a burial into space, hopefully to land on the planet Genesis, the project of a branch bringing life to dead planets. Capt. Kirk )William Shatner) is giving a eulogy with Sulu (George Takei), Chekhov (Walter Koenig), McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), and Scotty (James Doohan) in attendance.
The Klingons, led by Commander Kruge (Christopher Lloyd) have intercepted a message about Genesis and are going the to find its secrets.
Lloyd had previously been in Taxi
They have returned to Earth and McCoy has been acting strangely. The Enterprise is to be decommissioned and Spock's father Sarek confronts Kirk about why Spock was not given a proper Vulcan burial. Sarek mind-melds with Kirk to find out why.
Lt. Saavik (Robin Curtis) and Kirk's son David Marcus (Merrit Butrick) are part of the team that have come to Genesis and have discovered Spock has been reborn. McCoy was detained because of his insanity and it's been figured out that when he was trying to stop Spock from sacrificing himself and Spock paralyzed him, he transferred his mind into McCoy's and the Enterprise crew breaks him out. They steal the Enterprise to get to Genesis and bring back Spock, pursued by the much larger Starship Excelsior, and outrun it.
The Klingons are hot on the Enterprise's tail and beat them to Genesis, demanding to know the secret to its life-giving properties and holding Saavik, Marcus, and child Spock hostage. David tries to stop the Klingons but dies diong so. Kruge threatens to have his soldiers take over the Enterprise if they don't give in. The Enterprise crew tricks the Klingons by beaming the Klingons up, but beaming themselves down at the same time and blowing the ship up, so now it's just Kirk and Kruge mano a mano. And phasers.
Having defeated Kruge by letting him fall into a volcano, they bring a barely-alive Spock back to his home planet. T'Lar (Dame Judith Anderson) helps revive spock's body. And he slowly comes to remembering who Kirk and all his friends are again.
Do I really have to tell you who James Bond, Indiana Jones, Superman, Rocky, Jaws. and Darth Vader are? Though it is strange they used Sean Connery rather than Roger Moore
MAD #251, December 1984
w: Don Edwing
a: Don Martin
Cover to the Mexican edition.
The British one.
The Brazilian one.
STAR DREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOOK
Cracked #209, January 1985
a: John Severin
ROBOCRAP 2
MAD #298, October 1990
w: Stan Hart
a: Angelo Torres
The city of Detroit has become even worse than in the first movie with the Omni Corporation taking over the city and the police force on strike. The only law enforcement is RoboCop/Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) and his partner Anne Lewis (Nancy Allen), and criminals are scared of him and his inability to err.
In the lower left is Hob (Gabriel Damon), who isn't used in this parody. He plays a major part in the movie as one of the leaders in the drug gang, used by them because they know RoboCop is programmed to not shoot minors.
If Detroit defaults on their loan from Omni, it will take over the city and build a new one, because of a contract that was signed by Mayor Kuzak (Wendell Pugh).
I'm not sure what the basketball reference is here. It's funny they reference Batman here considering Frank Miller, author of Dark Knight, wrote the screenplay. Ford Pintos were recalled because they were known to explode on impact.
Murphy is parked outside of his widowed wife's home watching his former family, she's threatening to sue the Omni Corporation, and they're looking for ways to get rid of him. Cain (Tom Noonan), leader of a drug gang, has invented a drug called Nuke, and has lured RoboCop to their warehouse, and disassembled him.
This was before Michael Moore was well known enough to make fat jokes and liberal jokes about but well-known enough for being intrusive.
The gang has now dropped the severed Robocop at the steps of the Omni Corporation, where they try to put him back together, but Dr. Juliette Faxx (Belinda Bauer) has plans for creating a new, improved RoboCop, or RoboCop 2, if you will, which she pitches to the head of Omni (Dan O'Herlihy).
A section is left out here where RoboCop is deliberately reprogammed to mess up.
Cain is injured in an accident trying to defeat RoboCop, and doctor Faxx uses his body to develop RoboCop 2.
More is left out as the drug gang buys back the city on the condition the city leaves them alone, Robocop 2 is introduced to the public and uses Nuke as fuel but gets addicted which makes it go awry. The dependency ultimately kills RoboCop 2. MAD probably used up its five-page limit with “made of metal” jokes so it couldn't get to parodying crucial scenes.
The British version had its own cover.
So did Germany as usual. Arnold Schwarzenegger was the reigning action star there as well, so the joke easily translates unlike some of the cover gags on foreign editions.
And Brazil
ROBO COP-OUT, TOO
Cracked #259. December 1990
a: Frank Borth
The omitted scenes from MAD are taken care of here.
MIGHTY MORONIC CHOWDER RANGERS
Cracked #290, July 1994
w: Greg Grabianski
a: John Severin
Kids series adapted from Japanese series about superhero robot team featuring Jason (Austin St. John), Kimberly (Amy Jo Johnson), Zack (Walter Emanuel Jones), Trini (Thuy Trang), Billy (David Yost), and Tommy (Jason David Frank). Their enemy, Rita (Michako Sago) is from the Japanese show with her voice dubbed into English. The action scenes are from Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger, the show in Japan this comes from. With the use of their coins, the are able to transform into the Power Rangers.
Clever. The Asian stereotype of substituting Ls for Rs. Other places stopped using it by the 60s, but Cracked continued into the 90s. The Putties were Rita's army and “Cement Mixer (Put-Ti, Put-Ti)” was a popular song in the 40s.
The theme song (see clip above) went “Go go power rangers”
Almost all afternoon childrens' shows had some kind of built-in public service announcement at the end.
WHEN THE POWER RANGERS' FORMAT SPREADS TO OTHER SHOWS
Cracked #297, March 1995
w: Greg Grabianski
a: John Severin
Dan Rather's rival here is Connie Chung.
Billy and Allison were Andrew Shue and Courtney Thorne-Smith.
This may be the only NYPD Blue parody that didn't mention the show's nudity.
Cover to the Brizilian edition of MAD.
A MAD LOOK AT THE MIGHTY MORPHIN' POWER RANGERS
MAD #333, January 1995
w & a: Sergio Aragones
A couple of these I just don't get. Probably because I shouldn't.
