Sunday, December 30, 2012

An MC-Flavored "Top Twelve" List for 2012

When Callidus visited me in September, one of the things we did together was brainstorm a list of our top ten favorite MC scenes in movies and TV. We were thinking about publishing a single list of picks we agreed on, but later we decided it would be easier to each make our own list and publish that in our own time. So here's mine, just in time for the end-of-year retrospectives. In honor of the year (and because that's how many clips I found on YouTube out of all the ones I searched for), I'm giving you not ten, but twelve of my favorites.

If you like what you see, you'd better download these clips immediately, because there's no telling how long they'll stick around. Already, some of the videos I'd featured previously on this blog are gone; so I've had to make do with lesser quality versions or, in a few cases, interesting remixes. Then there was one (Eve Plumb in the "Pied Piper" episode of Wonder Woman) that I couldn't find at all. If you've seen that episode, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It would definitely have been in my top five.

Anyway, here's my "Top Twelve for 2012" MC countdown, minus Eve Plumb. Download while you can.

12. Lily's Seduction in Legend: Mia Sara is by far the best thing about this movie, and this is by far her best scene. Who or what is really seducing her here? No telling, but it's probably female...and Mia definitely loves it.




11. Emma Peel's Brainwashing in The Avengers: Brief and to the point, which is a blessing since this is supposedly an execrable movie. Thankfully, the only bit of it I've watched is this scene, which Callidus shared with me on his visit. I can't imagine what the poor guy suffered to bring us this brief moment of transcendence.






10. "I Want It" from Looker: Haven't we all been hypnotized by TV once in awhile? Too bad most of us don't look at hot as Susan Dey when it happens.





9. Close to You/Mirrormask: Neil Gaiman comes through again, this time with clockwork robots dancing to the very last song you'd ever expect to hear in an MC context.





8. Picard Gets Assimilated: I couldn't find a clip of his assimilation isolated from the rest of the plot, but I found something that might be even better: a chronological mashup of several MC-related moments from both parts of "Best of Both Worlds." Not only do you get the full horror of Picard's assimilation, but you also get the thrill of watching him betray the people he loves, all without having to wait on an actual plot. [Edit: I've replaced the original embedded video with a better, more atmospheric one - though oddly enough, both feature music by the same band. Even if you don't like Linkin Park, I recommend keeping the sound on because of all the horrified muttering by the Enterprise crew.].





7. Mannequin - Mutation: Here's something I stumbled across several years ago (via Asudem Latex, IIRC). I'm surprised and delighted to find it still online.





6. Carmilla Seduces a Young Maiden: I had thought this scene was gone from YouTube, but maybe I just needed to be logged in to see it. I found it today, anyway, in the middle of a ten-minute segment. If you don't want to wait around, just drag the slide bar over to 4:46. Carmilla smolders wonderfully, and her victim's expressions are almost as lovely as her pale, helpless body.





5. Fleurs du Mal: This video is technically an advertisement for Agent Provocateur lingerie, but in reality it's oh so much more. Xenia LaFleur linked me to the original clip on the AP website, and today I found a copy on YouTube that I could embed here. If you want the link to the original in its great big .mp4 glory, it's available here; and if you want to download that .mp4 but don't know how, you can find my instructions here.





4. Fright Night Club Scene, 1985 version: Here's another of those cases where I had to use a remix because the original video has disappeared. The shots in the remix are out of order, but at least the video is high quality. Plus, you get to see some nice bits from other parts of the movie. Nothing beats the club scene itself, though.





3. Eve's Virginity Test: Here's a clip from The Lair of the White Worm by famously wacko director Ken Russell. There's some extraneous stuff before and after the MC scene, but somehow I don't think you'll mind watching it. ;-P





2. Dana Scully's Hypnotic Orgasm: This scene comes from the X-Files episode "The Red and the Black." She's being hypnotically regressed so she can remember an alien abduction, but damned if it doesn't look like she's remembering something else! Unfortunately, there are no clips of the episode itself on YouTube and I've had to settle for dailies. Well, at least they're good enough to show you why this scene pushes my buttons the way it does.








1. Big Trouble in Little China: When the Calliduses visited me, we quickly agreed that "Big Trouble in Little China" is the right answer to anything. Best exploding heads of the 1980's? Big Trouble in Little China. Least convincing straight character in a fantasy film? Big Trouble in Little China. Shortest Neanderthal hockey player in the Brazilian league? Big Trouble in Little China. Anyway, if you're reading this blog, chances are you've already discovered that scene for yourself....and also that scene, and that one. At the moment (no guarantees how long this will last), you can watch the whole movie on YouTube with great quality video but out-of-synch audio (thankfully not much of an issue with that scene) and subtitles. Blogger won't let me embed it here while simultaneously starting the video at the right point, so you have two paths to choose from. If you want to jump over to YouTube and start at the right point, click here. Alternately, if you want to watch from here and scroll to the right point on your own, just enjoy the following pictures on the way down, then pick up the action at 1:07:25.













16 comments:

Traveller28 said...

I always had a soft spot for the scenes in Superman III and Dalek Invasion of Earth.

About 3 minutes in:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xanewu_daleks-invasion-of-earth-2150-a-d-p_shortfilms#.UOGeUW9GfNk

Also, Videodrome had quite a few interesting ideas about mind control.

Great post btw and have a fab NY!

Anonymous said...

I remember the Flash Gordon movie scene with Emperor Ming's ring controlling Dale Arden making an impression on me as a kid.

Also towards the end of the original V mini-series there was a mind control scene with the evil alien Diana and a female resistance leader where the resistance leader starts to surrender to control just before she is rescued which I can recall pretty vividly.
-Vanderbilt.

Anonymous said...

Nice collection.

I can confirm that the Avengers movie is indeed dire. The original series had a few MC moments though, with the original Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) going under at least once.

That clip from "Lair of the White Worm" is missing the actual induction scene? (though as inductions go, it's quite missable)

My own list would include:

Doctor Who (original series) - dozens of scenes, but particularly Sarah Jane in The Masque of Mandragora, Nyssa in Four to Doomsday, Romana in Full Circle and again in State of Decay, and Tegan in Snakedance

The 60's TV series "Champions", episode "Shadow of the Panther" - Sharron (Alexandra Bastedo) is faking it, but it looks good anyway

There was a Wonder Woman episode with WW herself as the MC victim (The Deadly Toys, iirc)

To go with The Vampire Lovers, a couple of other Hammer vampire films - "Lust for a Vampire" and "Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter"

The conversion chamber scene in "V - The Final Battle"

Our Man Flint and In Like Flint

thrall said...

Great choices, everybody! I remember the V induction from TOS very clearly. :-) It's probably on YouTube, but I wasn't thinking about it when I looked up the others.

Anyway, here's the link to the induction scene (which I quite like) from Lair of the White Worm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu1cqUYESCY&feature=share&list=PL7DC66AC39BCECFCE

Anonymous said...

Just for fun, here are a few more:

The Bionic Woman, "Brain Wash"

Robin of Sherwood - early in season 3, the scene between Marion (Judi Trott) and Gulnar (Richard O'Brien). This manages to be both hot and funny :-)

Blake's 7 - the scene where Jenna awakens Zen is not strictly MC, but is pretty good anyway. In season 4 ("Animals", I think) there's a sequence where Dayna is first brainwashed (off-camera) to hate someone so that she will betray him to Servalan, and then re-brainwashed (on-camera) to love him in order to secure his cooperation.

Something struck me when reading and writing these lists - the fact that certain works don't appear in spite of the fact that they should have had everything going for them:

"Trance" - a film starring Susannah Harker as a hypnotist, and somehow failing to have any decent MC scenes in it (!)

"A L'aventure" - a sex scene with three hypnotized girls, and... meh, it's just a sex scene.

"Liquid Dreams" - this one almost works in one scene, which has a promising start - but then doesn't deliver.

thrall said...

Oh, yes, I have fond memories of the Bionic Woman "Brainwash" episode. :-) I haven't seen the others you mention, though. There's just so *much* out there to watch!

Also, as you noted, some scenes don't live up to memory when you find them on YouTube. I had some other choices in mind when I started searching, but I rejected them once I found the clips online because they turned out to be less hot than I remembered.

I'm glad this thread is generating so many great responses. Keep them coming! :-)

Pretty Sissy Dani said...

Here are a few I find memorable:

Mighty Mouse: "Svengali's Cat":

http://s153.photobucket.com/albums/s233/prettysissydani/?action=view&current=singin01.mp4

Sherlock Holmes: "The Woman in Green":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FePGxplYKco

Gilligan's Island: "Ring Around Gilligan":

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x40823_ring-around-gilligan_shortfilms

Gilligan's Island: "The Second Ginger Grant":

"Flash Gordon": original serial (I edited this together from scenes from two different chapters):

http://s153.photobucket.com/albums/s233/prettysissydani/?action=view&current=flash.mp4

Anonymous said...

Can only find six seconds of the Flash Gordon movie ring scene sadly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfDSrPBlCC0

starts at 7:06

thrall said...

Great ones, Dani! I have to admit Gilligan's Island did it for me, too, when I was a kid. ;-/

And I also remember Melody Anderson (from the '80's Flash Gordon movie) very clearly. She did excellent trance in several movies. She always looked so soft. ;-)

Anonymous said...

ooh, what else was Melody Anderson in?

thrall said...

Melody Anderson had some beautiful trance moments in a movie called Firewalker (with Chuck Norris and Lewis Gosset, Jr., of all people). Here's her IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000758/ I can't remember which of the other movies and TV shows involved MC, but I do remember having this...feeling...about her being entranced all the time. ;-)

Anonymous said...

It struck me that there aren't all that many cases where one actress ends up doing multiple MC scenes in different films or shows. Even multiple times in the same show (such as Elizabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane in Dr. Who) is quite rare.

The only other example I can think of offhand is Melissa Gilbert, who did hypnosis scenes in, at least, Dying to Remember and in The Lookalike.

Anonymous said...

A few more scenes:

Bo + waitress, Bo + Lauren from episode 1 of Lost Girl, and Bo + female university dean in episode 3

Claudia Black guest-starred in an episode of the short-lived Dresden Files tv series, briefly falling under the control of an incubus

there's a brief scene in Red Sun Rising with Terry Farrell as the victim

Patrick Jane hypnotizing Lisbon in the second season of The Mentalist (kinda sweet really)

Mocata vs. Mrs Eaton in The Devil Rides Out

(there are of course several other cases of vampiric hypnosis in the Hammer oeuvre, but besides the ones mentioned upthread they tend to be a bit cheesy. Perhaps an honourable mention for Suzan Farmer in Dracula: Prince of Darkness.)

the Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service

There was a pretty dire TV series called "Mutant X" which somehow survived for three seasons, which included a few mind-control scenes including one episode with Krista "Emmanuelle in Space" Allen controlling men using pheromones, something she also did in an episode of Smallville. (typecasting?) Another episode has women being replaced by controlled duplicates for use as sex slaves. Victoria Pratt gets controlled at at least one point.

thrall said...

Claudia Black getting seduced by an incubus? I'd pay good money to see that...or even better money if it was a succubus! ;-P

Teri Hatcher got hypnotized a lot on Lois and Clark, but when I was looking for videos for this post, the one Callidus and I remembered best (from the magician episode) turned out not to be as hot as I remembered.

Anonymous said...

Hey, that sequence from Firewalker with Melody Anderson is pretty good. Thanks!

(I'd seen her in several other things besides Flash Gordon, but nothing else with any MC, until now.)

or even better money if it was a succubus!

sigh... we can dream :-)

There are not enough succubi on tv (and in film) if you ask me. (Though Lost Girl is going some way to making up the deficit.)

Argentyros said...

Oh Gods, how could I have forgotten about Legend?? I absolutely adore that scene, it was so wonderful. Thank you for reminding me of one of my old favorites :)