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Bit 1
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What do these two comedies have in common besides Elizabeth Hurley and the
1960s? Hint: My Favourite Martian has a character called Dr. Edward
Coleye, and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me has one called
Number Two.
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Bit 2
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Give up? To save you the strain, let me outline a major sight gag in My
Favourite Martian, a picture squarely pitched at an age group which
would be delighted by a talking space suit and flying ice-creams. Pursued
by agents led by Dr. Coleye (Wallace Shawn), Tim O'Hara (Jeff Daniels) and a
visiting alien posing as his "Uncle Martin" (Christopher Lloyd) drive a
magically miniaturised car into a drain. To their surprise, the exit is via
the S-bend in a toilet bowl. Can you guess what the car looks like when it
emerges?
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(WIPE to The Spy Who Shagged Me.)
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Bit 3
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In the hunt to recover the mojo of Austin Powers
(Mike Myers), stolen by Dr.
Evil (Mike Myers), the trail leads to operative Fat Bastard (Mike Myers).
Basil Exposition (Michael York) tells agent Felicity Shagwell (Heather
Graham) to plant a homing device on FB's person. After the device is
tracked to a toilet bowl in a tube station, the recovered material is
awaiting analysis in a lab beaker, when Austin decides to pour a coffee from
a carafe nearby. From which container does he fill his coffee mug?
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(IRIS OUT to Jeff Daniels dismantling a toilet after suffering
from the effects of a dose of "Turbolax" in Dumb and Dumber.
DISSOLVE to Mike Myers being garrotted in a toilet cubicle in
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.)
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Bit 4
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But back to business -- My Favourite Martian also offers the
ubiquitous Elizabeth Hurley a chance to be very funny, namely when Uncle
Martin takes the shape of her character, spoiled TV presenter Brace
Channing, just as she is to go on camera for the news. As well as the
presence of Hollywood's favourite interpreter of eccentrics, Christopher
Lloyd, the movie has another advantage in the comic performance of Christine
Ebersole, playing a widowed landlady much taken with Uncle Martin.
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Bit 5
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The second instalment of Austin Powers has fewer
Laugh-In-type music breaks, but more music in general. As well as
the obligatory Burt Bacharach number, there's also a dance duo from Dr. Evil
and his tiny clone, Mini-Me (Verne Troyer). Other comic inspirations in The
Spy Who Shagged Me are the revelation of the origins of Dr. Evil's
son Scott (Seth Green), and the involvement of the Evils in a brawl on The
Jerry Springer Show.
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Bit 6
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At bottom, My Favourite Martian is mainly for the primary school
audience, who won't remember the TV series or recognise Ray Walston when he
appears. The school holiday crowd should also go for the more basic comedy
routines in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, but there's
another level of intertextuality which asks viewers to recognise all the
movie, music, setting and costume references packed in by writers Myers and
McCullers and designers Smith and Appel.
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Bit 7
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Details
My Favourite Martian, by Buena Vista Pictures 1999.
Director: Donald Petrie.
Screenplay: Sherri Stoner, Deanna Oliver.
Cinematography: Thomas E. Ackerman.
Production Design: Sandy Veneziano.
Costume Design: Hope Hanafin.
Special Effects: Tippett Studio; Available Light Limited; Station X Studios.
Cast: Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Daniels, Elizabeth Hurley, Daryl Hannah, Wallace Shawn, Christine Ebersole, Michael Lerner, Ray Walston.
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, by New Line Cinema 1999.
Director: Jay Roach.
Screenplay: Mike Myers, Michael McCullers.
Cinematography: Ueli Steiger.
Production Design: Rusty Smith.
Costume Design: Deena Appel.
Choreographer: Marguerite Pomerhn Derricks.
Cast: Mike Myers, Heather Graham, Michael York, Robert Wagner, Rob Lowe, Seth Green, Mindy Sterling, Verne Troyer, Elizabeth Hurley, Kristen Johnston, Gia Carides.
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Bit 8
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Citation reference for this article
MLA style:
Shane Lewis. "When Nature Forgets: 'My Favourite Martian'/'Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me'." M/C Reviews 28 June 99.
[your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews/screen/martian.html>.
Chicago style:
Shane Lewis, "When Nature Forgets: 'My Favourite Martian'/'Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me'," M/C Reviews 28 June 99,
<http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews/screen/martian.html> ([your date of access]).
APA style:
Shane Lewis. (1999) When nature forgets: 'My favourite Martian'/'Austin Powers: the spy who shagged me'. M/C Reviews 28 June 99.
<http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews/screen/martian.html> ([your date of access]).
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![[image]](http://www.austinpowers.com/Images/aus.gif)