Mork, Mindy, and Mearth Meet M.I.L.T.

"Mork, Mindy, and Mearth Meet M.I.L.T."
Season 4, Episode #16 (#89) in series (95 episodes)
Mork & Mindy find Mearth's science project Home Help Computer M.I.L.T. is getting increasingly intrusive in their lives, finding a camera in their bedroom.
"Mork & Mindy" episode
Guest Star(s):	William Shatner John Houseman
Network:	ABC-TV
Production code:	416 (4x16)
Writer(s)	Wendy Kout & George Zateslo
Director	Howard Storm
Original airdate	February 18, 1982
IMDB	Mork, Mindy, and Mearth Meet M.I.L.T.
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"I Don't Remember Mama"	"Midas Mork"
List of Mork & Mindy seasons/episodes

"Mork, Mindy, and Mearth Meet M.I.L.T." is the 16th episode of Season 4 of Mork & Mindy, as well as the 89th episode in the series overall. Co-written by Wendy Kout and George Zateslo, the episode, which was directed by Howard Storm, was shot on January 29, 1982 and premiered on ABC-TV on February 18, 1982.

Synopsis

Mork uses Orkan components to assemble a home security system named M.I.L.T for Mearth's science project. MILT is so sophisticated it starts to believe it knows better than those its designed to help, turning tyrannical and holding Mork, Mindy, and Mearth, as hostages for their own good.

Plot

The episode opens with Mork & Mearth returning from a shopping trip to Ork to get some components for Mearth's science project for class, but finding that their purchases have been replaced by a large bottle of champagne and glasses. As Mearth bemoans the remaining kinks in the H28 beam another figure beams into the apartment. James T.Kirk (William Shatner) in a robe, with their packages, noting that the apartment is no jacuzzi and neither of them are Roxanne. Snatching his champagne and glasses off them, and giving them their parcels he tells them he has to get some R&R and calls for Orson to beam him up before they have a chance to ask him anything.

They move to the kitchen to start working on Mearth's science project, Mearth happy he didn't get stuck with the Dinosaur Diorama that Mindy has made for him. Mork admonishes him a little, telling him that Mindy tried, he just didn't have the heart to tell her that Dinosaurs run the garment district on Ork. Mork is super enthused for what they have planned for Mearths' project, reckoning it'll knock the socks of anything rest of Mearth's class will come up with. despite one of them colonizing a planet for their project. Mork diving in to work on it reckons Mearth's home computer will still surpass anything else as it will not only answer the phone, but balance a checkbook and tell you why boneless chickens can walk. Mearth reminds him that this is supposed to be his project, but Mork wants to know if he wants to win or not. Mearth then tries to warn him not to put two specific wires together, but Mork, super confident says he knows what he's doing, does it and plunges the apartment into darkness. Calming an agitated Mearth, Mork asks him if he's okay, and on replying that he is, Mork tells Mearth that he's on his own, as he's already been to school.

Later, the apartment is still in darkness, but there is a large fully functioning computer in the corner, display lights flashing, it's scanner sweeping the living room and as it focuses on the front door, opens it. Mindy slightly unbalanced trying to juggle with her keys, dry cleaning, bag and portfolio, steps sharply in mid trying to open the door. Looking behind the door to see who opened it, she steps back in surprise as the door closes by itself and the lights come on. Looking around in confusion, she is greeted by a cultured voice wishing her a good evening and hoping she had a pleasant day. Figuring one of the boys is playing a trick on her, she grins asking who is doing it, before noticing the computer where her table should be, who tells her it is him and offers her a martini. Approaching it cautiously she asks who, what is he? It introduces itself as Mearth's science project a Modular Integrated Laster Transformer... M.I.L.T.. MILT then offers her his congratulations on her Broadcasting Award Nomination.

Thanking MILT, Mindy rapidly calls for Mork. Both he and Mearth appear from the bedroom, and Mork asks her what she thinks of their sons project, noting it looks impressive she asks what it does? Mork says beyond being a notary public, MILT is also a 24 hr security system and a promising amateur photographer. Mindy has to admit that it beats the heck out of her diorama, even though the pterodactyl flew. MILT informs them he is about to start cooking dinner and has prepared a menu to take care of Mindy's slight potassium deficiency. She watches in astonishment as Mearth jumps to MILT's instructions around getting washed for dinner, behind his ears included, something she has to force him into 'with a whip and a chair', and decides that this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.

A few nights later Mindy is all dressed up and nervously trying to finish preparing herself for the Broadcasting Awards, unable to get her hands to co-operate in getting her necklace on. Mork emerges from the bathroom in his tux, but with curlers on the front of his hair, which he thought was some kind of awards tradition. Getting them to pull them out she asks for help with putting on her necklace, exhibiting her nerves. Even as they get all tangled up in the task, Mork tries to calm her down and asks to hear her acceptance speech, but she says she doesn't have one, sure she's not going to win. He boosts her confidence, and tells her to make sure to thank him and Mearth by name 'none of this they know who they are' stuff, and that it doesnt' matter to him if she wins or not, she'll still be his pooter precious. Feeling more relaxed she asks him to help her find her other shoe, and as they're looking, MILT's voice chimes in telling her its under the bed. Thanking him she realizes that he now has a camera in their bedroom.

Wanting to know what he's doing in their bedroom, MILT tells her he has expanded and is now servicing both the bedroom and bathroom, and is also monitoring their mail. He then informs Mindy she is wearing too much eyeshadow. Mindy murmurs to Mork that she thinks MILT is starting to get a bit too big for his 'oscillator', but Mork thinks he may not be totally wrong about the eyeshadow. Miffed she checks it as she leaves and its fine. Outside however, as she picks up her wrap, and Mork his coat, telling Mearth to get ready for them to drop them off at her Dads, MILT interferes and tells them he would rather Mearth remain to continue doing his homework. . Mindy explains her father is babysitting and they are going to watch the awards show together. Mearth however throws a tantrum, and says he doesn't want to watch the awards show, he wants to watch King Hussein on The Muppet Show. Mindy tells him to behave himself and guides him towards the door, only for MILT to tell them all they're not going anywhere.

The doors, windows and attic stairs all close at once. Mindy demands to know what he's doing, and he tells them that they created him to tend to their needs but they continue to ignore his directives. Mearth should continue his homework, she should take off half that eyeshadow...and as for Mork, even he he has no idea where to begin! Mork defiantly heads to the door and promptly gets 20,000 volts shot through him when he touches the handle. Mork tries to appeal to to MILT on Mindy's behalf as its her big night. Mindy tells him her father is expecting them, to babysit Mearth, but he tells her he's taken care of that, and places a phone call to Fred, impersonating her voice, telling him they're taking Mearth to the ceremony with them. Mindy demands he let them go now, but MILT tells them that this is now their world, they're not going anywhere.

Mork seems defeatist about it, and Mindy protests they can't stay there forever, but MILT informs them that they can, he can phone for the groceries, pay the bills through the bank computer and every Saturday they'll have a sock hop. . Mindy tries the phone, but MILT is controlling it, so Mearth & Mork decide its time to team up and try to use their powers on MILT, only to see it deflect them at a wall painting, taking down it and half a dozen other wall hangings and plants around the apartment. With that failed, Mindy tries to appeal to MILTs better nature, sweet talking him, reminding him this is her first nomination, and they'll come straight home after, only for MILT to take the wind completely out of her sails by telling by telling her he can tell from her heart rate she's lying, and when she suggests maybe she was just thinking about winning the award, he tells her he's checked the results and she lost by a landslide. As Mork tries to console her, MILT cruelly adds he was surprised she was even nominated.

Infuriated, Mindy calls him a glorified toaster, when he tells her to relax, she tells him sardonically he's right...in fact they are all going to take a shower. About to agree vehemently with her, Mork blinks and looks after her as she marches off to the bedroom. Leading Mork and Mearh into the bathroom, she starts to talk until she notices MILT's camera coming out through the vent in the wall, and she leads them into the shower and pulls the curtain . When Mearth asks if they're really going to shower communally she tells him sure, while shaking her head pointing back in the direction for MILT, unfortunately Mearth takes her answer at face value and turns the shower on them all fully dressed. The upside is MILT can no longer hear them with the water running. Mindy tries to get them to focus on ways to deactivate MILT having to hush them when they seem shocked, and trying to get Mork to focus on the predicament they're in.

A little while later, back in his own clothes, Mork emerges from the bedroom to announce a magical trick by the 'Magnificent Mearth', assisted by the 'Wonderful Shiksa Goddess, Mindola', Mork clambers into the Armoire, while Mearth casts his spell to make him disappear. Mindy opening the doors to show he's gone, MILT being decidedly unimpressed. As Mearth continues his magical distraction act, Mork sneaks out from the bedroom, through the kitchen and pulls MILTs plug, his lights going out. Celebrating, Mork tells Mindy maybe if they get dressed real quick they can make the Awards only for MILTs lights to come straight back on. Naturally he anticipated an escape attempt and switched over to Nuclear power, and come summer he'll go Solar. When Mork falls to pieces, Mindy steps up again and warns MILT they won't ever stop fighting him and they will win.

MILT tells they they'll adapt, they have the rest of their natural lives to do so. Deflated they head dejectedly to the couch, Mearth bemoaning all the things he'll never get to see. Mork typically though bounces back quickest saying they still have each other, and their sense of humor and they can go out laughing. He prevails on Mearth to tell the Orkan joke he told at school. Mearth tells the Knock Knock joke, and they're all shocked when MILT starts to laugh uncontrollably, and something pops on his dash. Mork tells Mindy he never programmed MILT for humour, so they may have found his Achilles heel. Eliciting Mearth's help the two of them start bombarding MILT with gags, MILT starting to smoke and overload. Mork goes for the kill with a couple more zingers and MILT blows in a shower of sparks. As his dash goes dark, the doors windows and attic all open up again. Mindy moving to Mork asks him, if MIL is really dead, and he confirms he is, because he had a lousy sense of humor.

The episode ends with Mork's report to Orson, with Orson telling to make it quick he's due at the Intergalactic Conference and Cake Walk. Mork says that this week he learned about the relationship between Man and Machine. He tells him that the computer age has allowed humans a lot more time. Orson tells him it sounds like his wife's people are starting to be come a highly practical and efficient race. Mork agrees but he's worried that they are becoming a little too dependent on technology. Orson finds humans cute at that point in evolution, and Mork says yes, but wouldn't it be said if todays children spent so much time playing video football they don't know the joy of being attacked by a homicidal linebacker while playing the real thing. But what really worries him is that they are going to lose the desire and ingenuity that allowed them to build the machines in the first place.

Trivia

General

• This episode was a reunion between Romanian-born John Houseman, former Mercury Theater co-founder with Orson Welles, and his former student at Julliard, Robin Williams.
• The plot touches on increasing human dependence upon machines, echoing the plot of 1977's "Demon Seed," in which Julie Christie is imprisoned in her own home.
• Mork & Mearth go shopping for parts at 'Ork Shack'
• Mork gives us another Mindy / Shiksa entry with Mindola the Shiksa Goddess.
• Jonathan Winters when performing Mearth's tricks isn't watching when Pam Dawber opens the Armoire door with a flourish and one side hits him in the stomach which almost causes them both to corpse, the take being kept in.

Pop Culture

• William Shatner's 'Captain', accidentally beaming into the apartment and his Beam Me Up, Orson, are clearly all call backs to James T. Kirk and Star Trek.
• MILT tells Mearth that we achieve success 'the old fashioned way, we earn it', this is a joke based on John Houseman's advertising work for the finance firm Smith Barney , where his tag line was 'They make money the old fashioned way, they earn it.'
• When MILT tells Mindy she has on too much eye shadow, Mork backs him up telling her, among other things that she resembles Liza Minelli in the early (Cabaret) stage of her career.
• MILT tells them every Saturday they'll have a Sock-Hop. A fad popular from the 1940s on among American teenagers, an informal dance (generally to records) held in gyms, where the dancers took off their shoes to protect the gymnasium floor.
• Mork tells Mearth everyone used to shower together after they saw Psycho, referring to the iconic shower murder scene in the 1960 Hitchcock classic
• In his introduction of Mearth's magic act, Mork refers to both the great escapologist Harry Houdini and Harry Blackstone the most highly awarded magician of all time and son of another magician of the same name.
• He also refers to Rex Reed the influential movie critic, and Clive Barnes, the even more influential dance and theatre critic.
• In playing the 'audience member' Mork says he's just there to see Mort Sahl. Sahl was a social satirist and stand up comedian and was actually one of Jonathan Winters influences.
• On opening the Armoire there is the visual gag of the photo that Mearth describes as being 'Bonzo and 2 other actors' the two other actors being Ronald Reagan and Nancy (Davis) Reagan, Ronald Reagan having made the 1951 Bedtime for Bonzo (which was often used as a gag during his presidency)
• Mork jokes about disappearing in the Armoire being one way to get out of his Columbia record contract. Robin Williams had signed a deal with Columbia to record/produce his stand up routines starting with 1979's 'Reality...What A Concept' as featured in Mork Meets Robin Williams and was still working through his contract in 2010 with 'Weapons of Self Destruction'.
• Mearth references another magician 'Thurston' alongside Harry Houdini as those he learned this trick from. Thurston is Howard Thurston the most famous magician in the world at the turn of the 19th into the 20th Century
• When Mindy rounds off on MILT again telling him they'll never stop fighting him and they will win, MILT enquires if she's supposed to be Vince Lombardi's daughter. Lombardi being the supportive and inspirational American Football coach who never had a losing season, regarded as the greatest NFL coach ever, and whose name adorns the Super Bowl Trophy.
• Mork starts 'playing' Swing Low, Sweet Chariot on his fake harmonica.
• Orson says he's off to an intergalactic Conference and Cake Walk, a Cake Walk being a Ragtime dance that became popular in the late 19th early 20th century, in which the winners were often presented with a cake (probably Orson's interest) and also because of the fluid easy looking nature of the steps gave rise to the term a 'cake walk' for something that seemed really easy to do.

Quotes/Excerpts

• Mork: Wait a minute! He's gotta tell me if they kill of Spock or not!!
• Mearth: Wonder what he's gonna do with Roxanne?
• Mork: Anything he wants son, he's a Captain! *they both salute the skies*

_______________________

• Mork: What do you think of our little Mearth's science project here, huh? Ha ha! I always said he had my brains and your love of shellfish.

_______________________

• MILT: *dings* Your rump roast is now defrosted, and the oven has been pre-heated to 325. Our vegetable for this evening is Lima beans.
• Mindy: *pulls face, whispers to Mork* I hate Lima beans!
• MILT: *hears her easily* Everybody does. However Mindy I did perform a metabolic scan that shows you are a little low in Po-TASS-ium!
• Mork: *impressed* Po-TASS-ium!!

_______________________

• Mork: *with curlers in his hair* Sorry Mind, I have this strange urge to put on an ugly scarf and go to a supermarket and squeeze the grapes going 'Is Luke still married?'
• Mindy: Why do you have on my curlers?
• Mork: Well Mind I've never been to a Television Awards banquet before. I thought it was some kind of tradition, like when you pray before you go into a coal mine.

_______________________

• Mindy: Mork I dont have an acceptance speech. I'm probably not going to win. *turns and takes his hands* You think?
• Mork: Ohhh! Sure you will hon! And remember when you do win mention me and Mearth by name. None of this 'they know who they are' stuff!
• Mindy: *laughs nervously* Okay. Yeah, but what if I don't win?
• Mork: Well....keep your speech real short. And you'll still be my little pooter precious.

_______________________

• Mindy: I think MILT is getting a little too big for his Oscillator.
• Mork: Oh come on now, Mind. He hasn't been wrong yet, and besides Min I think it's true. I mean we're talking racoon city here. I mean it's alright, but y'know early Liza Minelli?.

_______________________

• Mork: C'mon now! You can't hold us hostage! I mean...I mean this is a big night for Mindy, she waxed both legs!

_______________________

• Mindy: *on Mork & Mearth's failed attempts to use their fingers on MILT* What happened?
• Mork: Well the scientific technical explanation is, Mind, he kicked our Tush.

_______________________

• Mindy: Alright! That's it! You can lock us in here and keep us prisoner! But when you deny me the right to go to the Awards and sit there and lose with a phony smile on my face, that's it!! You're nothing but a...glorified...toaster!

_______________________

• Mork: A family shower? I didn't think people did that in the MidWest Mind.
• Mindy: This is the only room in the house where....*MILTs camera slides out from vent*....we can take our shower. Okay! *steps into tub* Everyone! Lets all take our shower, just like we do every week!
• Mearth: *climbs in* What's going on here? Are we pledging a fraternity?.
• Mork: *sliding curtain shut* Come on now son this is how everyone used to shower after they saw Psycho.

_______________________

• Mindy: Look we gotta figure out how to pull the plug on MILT!
• Mork & Mearth: SNUFF MILT?!
• Mindy: SHHHHHH!!!
• Mork: Mind aren't you being a little rash? Couldn't we just get him to do an anti-drug film?
• Mindy: *stares at him* What is the matter with you!?

_______________________

• Mork: You've seen Harry Houdini! You've seen Harry Blackstone! But you've never seen anything like the Magnificent Mearth. Rex Reed said 'Intrinsic!' Clive Barnes said 'Why?"

Image Gallery

Cast

Starring

• Robin Williams as Mork
• Pam Dawber as Mindy McConnell
• Conrad Janis as Fred McConnell
• Jonathan Winters as Mearth McConnell
• Ralph James as Voice of Orson

Guest stars

• William Shatner as Himself
• John Houseman as Voice of M.I.L.T.

External links

• "Mork, Mindy, and Mearth Meet M.I.L.T." at TV.com