The Mystery of Skull Island is the 14th episode of season 6 of Married...With Children, also the 119th overall series episode. Directed by Gerry Cohen, and written by Kevin Curran, the episode premiered on the FOX network, airing on January 5, 1992.
Synopsis[]
Bud dates a hot girl who is only interested in daredevils. Meanwhile, Al, Peggy, Marcy and Jefferson play a relationship board game.
Plot summary[]
As Grandmaster B, Bud does his coolest best while all over a girl named Kara (Bobbie Phillips), who takes him out to non-traditional Bundy things such as rafting and sky diving. When he gets the nerve to take her up on her challenge to him to skydive, she begins to get the hots for Biff, who's the parachute diving instructor, and reneges on her own offer to jump, leaving sad sack Bud to dive, when he his pushed out of the plane by the instructor accidentally while he attempts to get a "last kiss" from Kara! Meanwhile, Al and Peggy invite Marcy and Jefferson over to play a new board game called "Ethical Dilemma."
Recurring cast/Guest stars[]
- Cast Regulars
- Amanda Bearse as Marcy D'Arcy
- Ted McGinley as Jefferson D'Arcy
- Buck the Dog as Buck Bundy
Guest starring[]
Quotes[]
- [playing a board game, Al has to tell what he cares about]
- Al: "I Care", by Al Bundy. When hooters jiggle around and I find nickels on the ground, I care. When a Mustang engine purrs and the bathroom is not hers, I care. When the pitcher's on the mound and the wife is underground, I care. But when I've been playing this for days, I will kill anyone who stays. I swear.
- Biff: S-say Kara, you're cute.
- Kara: Thank you. You're cute too. The second I saw you I knew we were going to have sex.
- Kara: You're so brave Grandmaster B. You're all I ever wanted in a man. My last boyfriend was so boring. All we did was make love.
- Bud: [sarcastically] What a loser. [voice-over] Oh, I'm definitely not doing this. [shakes his head] No way, no how, never. Not for anything [side glances hard at Kara's cleavage and becomes giddy] Oh man! Look at those hooters!... [smiles] I'm doing it!
- Al: Middle-aged woman comes into the shoe store. She's wearing a Blossom hat, you know, the "I'm just a cute young girl of 45" look, and she's looking for something cool to wear to a Crosby, Stills & Nash reunion concert. So I suggest a nice recyclable paper bag to put over her face, you know, so she can save the planet two ways. So she maces me. But as I lash out blindly, I think I clipped her a good one in the teeth. So, from now on it looks like she'll be gumming the words to Teach Your Children
- Bud: I'm totally done with women.
- Al: What? What, did you get married?
- Bud: [sighs] No, Dad!
- Al: Well, don't worry, Son. Remember, it gets better each time, as long as it's never with the same woman.
- Kara: Oh B, thank you for not hurting my father.
- Bud: Well, from the fetal position, I can kill in three different ways.
- Kara: I booked us on a rafting trip down a river the Indians used to call "kiss your white ass goodbye"
- Kelly: There I am at the mall and this guy, some geezer rock star, steps on my foot. You know, that Springsteen guy.
- Al: The Boss?
- Kelly: I don't think so, Daddy. His wife seemed to be the one in charge.
- [A depressed Al is thinking back to his younger years as he is forced to play a board game with Peggy and the D'Arcys called "Ethical Dilemma"]
- Al's Friend: [voice over] Hey, Al, another Friday night and I've got a keg of beer in the back. Let's go beat the hell out of somebody, pick up a couple of private school girls and rock the pleats right off their skirts. Will it always be like this, Al?
- Al: [voice over] You bet. The boys will never die! [the sound of a car speeding off is heard]
- Peg: Al, it's your turn to move your thimble.
- [Al snaps back to reality and spins the wheel before moving his thimble. Al reads the square he lands on.]
- Al: "Get In Touch With Your Feminine Side".
- [Al quickly moves his thimble back to the starting point. Jefferson laughs and pats Al on the back.]
- Jefferson: Yeah, tough break, buddy. Oh, I'll tell ya, Al. It's Friday night, I've got a cup of herb tea, we're with the girls we love... [Al and Jefferson look at Marcy, who is silently weeping after talking about her dog Winkums] And we're playing a game that's sure to become the next middle-age craze. Will it always be like this, Al?
- Al: No, no, one day it'll be just like this, only we'll be wearing Depends undergarments.
- Peg: That's not your feminine side speaking.
- Al: No, my feminine side is on the couch watching Oprah, and occasionally [gestures moving something aside] pushing aside a breast to scratch my knee.
- Peg: [shaking her head and giving Al a dirty look] ...Bitch!
Notes[]
Title[]
- The title of this episode is a reference to Skull Island which is the fictional island home of King Kong.
Trivia[]
- As revealed by Peg in this episode, Al has a birthmark in the shape of Woody Allen on his bottom.
- Marcy tells the group that she had a dog named Winkums and something tragic happened to her dog, as she is sobbing hysterically
- Dan Clark, who plays Biff the Skydiving instructor, is an actor and fitness expert, who at the time of this episode, was best known for his role as Nitro on the show American Gladiators.
- Bobbie Phillips who plays Bud's girlfriend, Kara, previously played Jill, another of Bud's girlfriends who fell for his Grandmaster B persona, in If Al Had a Hammer.
- This episode was both the last episode to be filmed in 1991 and the first to air in 1992.
- Peggy mentioned her old lover Jimmy (as Jim) as an old lover she'd have a sleazy affair with while playing Ethical Dilemma. Jimmy previously appeared in the Season 2 episode "How Do You Spell Revenge?".
- The airplane set and the jumpsuit that Bud wears were previously used in an ABC sitcom called Free Spirit, in the episode "Love and Death".
- The episode features Michael McManus, who played Puggy Weaver as the pilot of the plane. One of the stars of the show was Edan Gross who previously played Carl in "You Better Watch Out" and a young Al Bundy in "He Thought He Could".
- Both episodes also feature similar concepts, in that the teen male lead is forced to go skydiving by an attractive blond woman, the pilot/instructor is not very caring or attentive and in the end, the male leads ends up forced out of the plane.
- The show was produced by ELP Communications and Columbia Pictures Television which also produced MWC in the early seasons. MWC writer and producer Richard Gurman was also the executive producer for Free Spirit.
Cultural References[]
- Kelly appears to be watching the cartoon Dudley Do-Right at the beginning of the episode, as Dudley Do-Right's arch-nemesis, Snidely Whiplash is mentioned and told to "unhand that Nell".
- During Al's "A middle aged woman came into the shoe store" speech, he mentions a Blossom hat, Crosby Stills and Nash reunion and how that woman will be gumming the words to "Teach Your Children".
- A "Blossom Hat" is a reference to the 1990s' NBC sitcom Blossom and the main character's quirky fashion sense, often wearing a novelty hat with a sunflower on it.
- Michael Stoyanov, who played Blossom's oldest brother on the show, previous appeared on MWC as the pizza delivery guy in season 4's "You Gotta Know When to Hold 'Em (Part 1)".
- Crosby, Stills, & Nash was a folk rock supergroup whose songs were often reflective of their liberal, anti-war viewpoints. They were often known for repeatedly taking long breaks between albums, followed by a reunion tour and another long break.
- "Teach Your Children" is a 1970 song by Crosby, Stills & Nash, which encourages parents to teach their children about dealing with war and other social issues.
- A "Blossom Hat" is a reference to the 1990s' NBC sitcom Blossom and the main character's quirky fashion sense, often wearing a novelty hat with a sunflower on it.
- The board game "Ethical Dilemma" is based off a real-life party board game called A Question of Scruples (although the game board seems to be a combination of Monopoly and The Game of Life).
- Kelly mentions almost getting stepped on by "...that Springsteen guy" and Al asks if it was "The Boss", both referring to rock musician Bruce Springsteen.
- Kelly mentions that she almost got a ride from the Swedish Bikini Team, who wanted to take her home and drink beer there, before taking an older guy instead, much to Al's disappointment. The group who would later appear on MWC in season 6's The Gas Station Show and ended up taking Bud for a ride instead of Al.
- Kelly briefly mentions baseball player Ernie Banks during her talk with Al while he stood alone in the corner. He would later appear in the season 8 episode "Dances with Weezie".
- Bud tells Kara "Word to your mother", a phrase made popular by rapper Vanilla Ice in his song, "Ice Ice Baby".
- Jefferson says that he keeps landing on "Date a Kennedy, Lose a Turn", which is likely a reference to the Kennedy family and the Kennedy curse.
- Bud tells Kelly "Yeah, like I'm really going to take the advice from someone who's fooled by every single disguise of the Trix Rabbit.", in reference to Trix cereal and its mascot, Tricks, The Trix rabbit, who often uses a disguise to get the cereal from kids.
Locations[]
- Bundy Residence
- Airplane
- Skies of Illinois
Sets[]
- Bundy Living Room / Kitchen
- Airplane
- Skies of Illinois
Goofs[]
- Bud is shown screaming and then talking while free falling with no issues. In reality, it would be impossible to talk or hear anything due to the accelerated speed. As such, skydivers would normally need to use hand signals to communicate with each other until the parachute is released. [1]