Stark Raving Mork

"Stark Raving Mork"
Season 2, Episode #3 (#28) in series (95 episodes)
Mork foolishly picks a fight with Mindy in order to "kiss and make up" in "Stark Raving Mork" in Season 2 (ep.#3).
"Mork & Mindy" episode
Guest Star(s):	Michael W. Schwartz
Network:	ABC-TV
Production code:	203 (2x3)
Writer(s)	April Kelly
Director	Howard Storm
Original airdate	September 23, 1979
IMDB	Stark Raving Mork
Episode chronology
← Previous	Next →
"Mork in Wonderland, Part 2"	"Mork's Baby Blues"
List of Mork & Mindy seasons/episodes

Stark Raving Mork was the third episode of season 2 of Mork & Mindy, also the 28th overall episode in the series. Written by April Kelly, the episode, which was directed by Howard Storm, was shot on June 20, 1979 and made its premiere airing on ABC-TV on September 23, 1979.

Synopsis

On learning from Mindy that one of the reasons people who live together split up is things going stale, Mork goes to lunch at a new NY style deli in Boulder with Mr. Bickley. When both Bickley, and the Deli owner Remo and his sister Jeanie, tell him how fighting and making up can help keep a relationship exciting, Mork resolves to pick a fight with Mindy.

Plot

In her apartment, Mindy emerges from her bedroom to find Mork using his finger like an acetylene torch to slice her toaster in half. Stopping him she asks him why, and he tells her he's preparing for the day she tosses him out, and she looks to see he also has one of her ski's and slippers. He informs her that he's read the papers and watched TV and knows he's entitled to sue her under community property laws for half of what she owns. She reminds him he's entitled to half of what he owns too, which he dismisses until she reminds him that includes half of his three bags of sand, and faced with alimony he begs her not to throw him out.

When she asks why he's so worried she would, he tells her he's been reading about the depressing stats around couples staying together. Mindy agrees that it's sad and conjectures it's probably because the excitement in the relationship, when they start out crazy about each other starts to wear off. When he asks her to promise that things would always stay exciting for them, she tells him she can't, because they won't, but she prefers to think of it as being comfortable rather than humdrum. She invites him to meet her for lunch, but he tells her Mr. Bickley has invited him to lunch at a new restaurant called 'Della Contessa' which she concludes is actually 'Delicatessen". Mindy tells him it's owned by a friend of hers, Jeanie and her brother Remo, and that Bickley took her to lunch there the week before and stuck her for the bill. Going to class, she promises him, to help keep things exciting she'll make them a romantic little dinner for two when she gets home that night.

Mork heads to lunch to The New York Delicatessen to meet Bickley but finds the cook and the waitress, Remo and Jeannie Da Vinci, having a ding dong verbal scrap, insulting each other. When Jeanie approaches Mork to take his order, he asks her about the fight and she explains that Remo forgot to lock up the night before, and it almost feels like he wants them to get robbed so they'll have to sell up and move back to the Bronx. When a chirpy Mr. Bickley arrives he orders his lunch to go. It transpires Bickley's been brining a new customer there every day since they opened, his good mood explained by the fact that he's getting his lunch for free in the process. When Mork tells them Remo & Jeannie are having a terrible fight, it just makes Bickley even happier getting 'a floor show', and when a confused Mork asks shouldn't fighting with someone you care about be considered a bad thing. Bickley tells him no, that it's a great way to keep things fresh and exciting, and reminisces happily over the huge fights he and his wife used to have.

Mork tells him that he and Mindy have never had a fight, and as Bick is heading out, asks him if he thinks that he and Mindy could keep their relationship fresh and exciting the way Bick and his wife did, and Bickley tells him a knock down drag out fight is the best thing they could have. Eating, Mork continues to watch Remo & Jeannie argue like cats and dogs, about the business, or Jeanie's preoccupation with her medical studies right up until the moment Remo hurts himself on a cheese grater. He then watches as Jeanie changes tack entirely, looking after him, and their fight dissipates. When he asks Remo about it afterwards, Remo tells him that fights are a great way to get rid of pent up frustrations, and with a glint in his eye, informs him that in some cases you argue and you 'kiss and make up'. which Mork really likes the sound of, reasoning the bigger the fight, the better the pay off.

Home, his mental wheels in full spin, he peeks in to the apartment to see Mindy finalizing their meal. Slamming the door, he startles her, then fires his jacket across the room. To her complete shock, Mork proceeds to throw her food on the floor, knock the rolls from her hands and insult her cooking. Stunned, when she answers she thought he liked her food, he then viciously insults her intelligence, proceeds on to her hair, her looks, feet, perfume. Bewildered and deeply hurt by his words, she understandably starts to cry, only for him to insult how her 'whimpering' makes her look. Stopping dead, he then smiles and tells her it's her turn, only for her to run into her room in tears, slamming the door. Her crying audible, Mork thinks he's managed it perfectly and that the making up portion is 'gonna be great!'.

A little while later he's still outside her bedroom door, trying to get her to come out, praising the fight and saying its time to kiss and make up. At that, the door flies open and an incandescently furious Mindy emerges, with anything *but* kissing and making up on her mind. Giving as good as she got, she tells him if he doesn't like her cooking maybe he should get off his lazy 'face' and do it himself. Relating what its like to live with a 'monster from outerspace' she hammers his Orkan habits around the house including eating the cap off the toothpaste. Alarmed at her ferocity, he tries to stop the fight, but she's having none of it, returning his comments about her hair with a literal snap at his clothes, before she mocks his real voice, calls him a Space Turkey and uses his own laugh against him.

Desperate to get her to stop, he tries to cut himself to get himself to bleed, and gain her sympathy ala Remo and Jeanie, but he can't manage it and she shows no sympathy anyway, remarking they should call the Vet. When he suggests he may have made a mistake, she's adamant that it's her that has made the mistake and that she should have listened to her father and never let him through her door. As he tries to escape up into the attic, she grabs hold of him, yanks the door open and promptly throws him out through it telling him to catch the next Egg off Earth. Slamming the door and putting on the chain she marches back to her room and slams that too...leaving Mork trying to kiss and make up through the safety chain..

Completely panicked and desperate, Mork runs back to The NY Deli, where Remo & Jeanie have closed up, hammering on the door begging them to open it as it's an 'Emergency', Jeanie letting him in telling him she can only help if the person who is hurt was hurt below the knee. When they calm him down, Mork talks about the wonderful, beautiful girl Mindy he lives with who is perfect for him, Jeanie realizing he's the Mork that Mindy has spoken about to her . He explains what he did, following their example, with the aim of getting to the kiss and make up stage. Stopping him, Remo clarifies with Mork that he started a fight with Mindy without being mad at her? Their heads drop when Mork looks mystified, stating that the way it was described to him it just sounded like a great game. Growing even more upset at that piece of information, and understanding that he may have irreparably ruined his relationship with Mindy he begs Jeanie to intervene with Mindy for him. Jeanie calming him again and agreeing to talk to Mindy, getting up to go, and telling Remo to talk to Mork about apologies.

Flowers and candy off the table due to the late hour, Remo advises Mork to just take a deep breath, swallow his pride and tell her he's sorry, having to run through it a couple of times due to Mork's literalness, and then fighting Mork off when he gets it right, and Mork tries to move to practice the kiss and make up stage. Meanwhile, over at the apartment, Jeanie is sitting with Mindy, telling her that everything that happened with Mork was her and Remo's fault, then mostly Remo's fault, then really it was all Remo's fault, Mork picking what he told him up wrong, and he wasn't even mad. Mindy is dubious about that last part, until Jeanie mentions that Mork kept talking about trying to keep things exciting between them. At that the penny drops for Mindy. Sighing, she feels she should have realized as Mork genuinely isn't capable of losing his temper. Jeanie assures her he's out there right now trying to figure out a way to apologize to her.

Unfortunately, however, rather than just sticking with Remo's advice, Mork has also chosen to drop in downstairs to Mr. Bickley's Apartment to speak with Mr. Bickley. Whose advice is virtually the polar opposite of Remo's. Bickley and his wife it's revealed, never once kissed and made up, their marriage just one long fight till the happy day (for him) she threw him out. Bickley sees the apologies that Remo suggested, as a sign of weakness, an admittance that you were wrong, and even if you were wrong, it's all the more reason to lie, advising Mork to do just that. He personally relied on memory lapses and natural disasters, and Mork also cadges an apology card from him, just in case.

When there's a knock on the door in the apartment, both Mindy and Jeanie realize it must be Mork with Jeanie going to bat for Mork again having seen so contrite he was, asking Mindy to give him a chance. When they open the door, however, Mork hobbles in on a makeshift crutch, to which Jeanie gives him an eyerolling thumbs up and leaves them to it. Mindy goes to say she knows what's happened, but before she can actually get anything out, Mork launches into his Bickley inspired routine, claiming amnesia around the whole event, but she tells him she's not buying it, so he goes for the natural disaster route, unfortunately picking the onset of a tidal wave, before Mindy points out they're living in a city 1,000 miles away from the nearest ocean. Caught out on that he subsequently lays the blame on the full moon, and his being transformed into a WereMork pointing to his hairy arms. Having enough of his fantastical lies, Mindy calls him on it, feeling their friendship was built on honesty, and wanting to know if he doesn't feel bad for making up stupid stories. Sagging, he nods suggesting he should get a house in San Clemente, alongside Richard Nixon. Amused by that, she tells him to just tell her what he feels in his heart, and if he does she may accept and...maybe...then they can kiss and make up.

This invigorates him as he has a lot of ways to apologize and starts by presenting her chocolate kisses, which is enough for her, but he goes on. He reads out the card Bickley gave him, which turns out to be a get well card for cirrhosis of the liver. He then, finally, properly apologizes, telling her he truly misunderstood about fighting, that he didn't know the things he said would be so awful and didn't mean any of them and will never say any of them again. Touched, Mindy forgives him, but makes the mistake of asking if he's gone through all his ways of apologizing, which he confirms he has...for Earth. And then informs her there's 83 Orkan methods, and to her exasperation starts listing them off, following her around the apartment, while she pleads with him to stop. Finally, to put an end to it, she turns, grabs his face and kisses him, tells him again that she forgives him, then slaps her hand over his mouth as he starts again, warning him not to push his luck.

The episode end with Mork's report to Orson, where Orson tells him the committee want him to study 'The Nuclear Family' which Orson understands to mean, Father, Mother, Sister and Brother. Mork informs him he's met a sister and brother, who run a deli, and he's sending him a pastrami on rye with mayo. Mork understands why Orson calls them Nuclear, as they blew up when he met them, causing a chain reaction with him and Mindy, where both of them got hurt. Orson asks whether Mindy knocked the stuffing out of him, but Mork relays that fights don't have to be physical. That people can throw words, and that the result can be much more painful and more protracted to get over.

Goofs

• When Mork suggests Mindy should get a Mohawk haircut, the shadow of a microphone dips along the wall of the kitchen.
• There's a zoom in on the window of The New York Delicatessen revealing a bunch of people inside as Remo's voice-over says, "We're closed."
• There is a take continuity gaffe, between the end of Mork's Richard Nixon inspired 'House in San Clemente' line and the next line. Sitting with Mindy on the couch, he is about a foot and a half away from her when he says the line, and when Mindy says the line right after that, there is no gap between them at all.

Trivia

Orkan 'Facts'

• Mork reveals that the Orkan National Anthem has no words and is just 'Three minutes of sucking through your teeth.' This may have to be taken with another large grain of salt, as we will later learn in There's a New Mork in Town the Orkan Anthem was composed by Xerko, who claimed he wrote the song that made his 'whole world sing'...pretty much indicating there are words.

General

• This is the first episode featuring the New York Delicatessen, Remo and Jeannie. Jeanie's credit begins with her reading a "Gray's Anatomy" book, setting it on the counter and putting the knife to the chicken. The portion with the book was cut in the next episode when Jim Staahl was inserted into the opening credits.
• The scene with Mork knocking the biscuits out of Mindy's hand was featured in the sequence of Mork in Wonderland, Part 1, but it was cut from this episode's credits to make room for Remo's and Jeanie's credits.
• The show begins with Mork slicing through the toaster with his finger. This clip was prominently featured in the opening credits sequence.
• Mork says he can't get his lips through a little lock in the door, however in Putting the Ork Back in Mork, Part 2, Mindy reveals that he once stuck his tongue through the keyhole.
• The moment Mr. Bickley tells Mork that fighting is a great way to keep a relationship fresh and exciting you can hear the studio audience react in trepidation, seeing what is coming.
• Shiksa gets a mention with Mork calling her nose 'Shiksa City!' during the fight
• The kiss Mindy gives Mork to shut him up at the end of this episode, would be the last kiss the actual characters share until Season 3's Mork the Prankster. The one in Invasion of the Mork Snatchers towards the end of the season, being part of a nightmare and not actually Mindy.
• Mork & Mindy's fight is featured in the best-of episode The Way Mork Were.

Pop Culture

• Mork refers to getting half of everything Mindy owns as 'The Marvin Syndrome'. This is a really clever play on words incorporating both the famous Marvin vs Marvin California palimony case in 1976 (involving the actor Lee Marvin and his long term girlfriend) involving community property rights for couples just living together, and Marfan Syndrome which is a condition infecting the body where the connective tissue that 'holds things together' fails.
• When they debate about sharing property, Mindy threatens to take half of Mork's Billy Barty poster, and Mork replies, "If you just take the top half, I still have a poster." Barty was the most prominent dwarf actor in movies and tv for decades, and a famous dwarf. activist and campaigner.
• Mork references Old Spice and 'Indian Leather' a play on 'English Leather', both popular men's colognes at the time, taking a dig at Mindy's 'perfume'.
• The Kings X that Mork calls to try and stop Mindy's furious retaliation is a typical 'Not it' used by American kids during games.
• Mindy tells him his real voice sounds like Truman Capote on helium, referring to the diminutive Southern writer's distinctive nasal accent.
• When Mork tries to elicit Jeanie's help to rectify the damage he's done with Mindy, he casts her in the role of Henry Kissinger, he'll be Anwar Sadat (Egypt) and Mindy will be Menachem Begin (Israel), referring to the peace talks between Egypt and Israel that the U.S. via Kissinger had helped on.
• When Mindy calls him on lying to her about why he did what he did rather than telling the truth, Mork admits it and states he should buy a house in San Clemente. San Clemente in California was home to Richard Nixon's La Casa Pacifica mansion, which he retired to after the Watergate Scandal

Quotes

• Mork: I looked at the figures on divorce, and the odds are against any couple staying together forever.
  Mindy: Yeah, I know, I think that's kind of sad. It prob'ly because when people first get together, they're just crazy about each other, and then as time wears on, the excitement kind of wears off.
  Mork: Well, I'm still crazy about you.
  Mindy: And I'm still crazy about you too.
  Mork: Ah, good, then we have nothing to fear but sanity itself.
  Mindy: You've got nothing to worry about!

________________

• Mindy: Hey listen, you want to meet me for lunch, this afternoon?
• Mork: Well, no see Mr. Bickley invited me down to the Mall? To this new Italian restaurant called Della Contessa!
• Mindy: I think that's 'Delicatessen.'
• Mork: *Italian accent* That doesn't sound very Italian to me!
• Mindy: It's owned by my girlfriend Jeanie and her brother. Bickley took me there to lunch last week, and would you believe he stuck me with lunch?!
• Mork: Hope you didn't have shish kabob, Ahrr Ahrr!

________________

• Mindy: Hey Mork, I tell you what, I'll do my part to keep this relationship exciting. Tonight I will make us a romantic little Italian dinner for two.
• Mork: Well...I'll do my part and try and keep the relationship exciting, and tonight I'll put a bomb in your cannoli.

________________

• Jeanie: What would you like to eat?
• Mork: Well I'd like a squealer on a honky, no goyim and a side of Jeanne d'Arcs.
• Jeanie: What?
• Mork: That's a ham on white, no mayo and lots of French fries.

________________

• Jeanie: Hey Mr. Bickley what'll be today?
• Bickley: I think I'll have the Fried Chicken and a bowl of chilli, all to go.
• Jeanie: *goes to order* Okay...
• Mork: I'll get it! *calls out* Chirp and a burp, hotshot! Fire one!

________________

• Mork: *panicking* Okay! Fight's Over! King's X!
• Mindy: Fight's over my foot! So you don't like my hairstyle, huh?! Well Mr Taste?! Where'd you get these rags?! *pulls out his suspenders and violently snaps them back* A fire sale at DisneyWorld?

________________

• Mindy: Mork I accept your apology!
• Mork: Wait I'm not finished yet! I still have more ways to apologize! Here's a little card that Mr. Bickley wrote me *clears throat* Hearing you were sickly sailor, made my timbers shiver. Hope you're getting over, cirrhosis of the liver.

Filming Footage

Super 8 film clip - Mork & Mindy filming in Boulder

Footage of Pam Dawber, Robin Williams, Jay Thomas & Gina Hecht filming exterior shots on the Pearl Street Mall, Boulder and outside the 'New York Deli' for the new Season 2 credit sequence, kicking off with Stark Raving Mork.

Image Gallery

Cast

Starring

• Robin Williams as Mork
• Pam Dawber as Mindy McConnell
• Jay Thomas as Remo DaVinci
• Gina Hecht as Jeannie DaVinci
• Tom Poston as Mr. Bickley
• Ralph James as Orson

Guest starring

• Michael W. Schwartz as Deli Customer