Popular Culture Appearances
Maltin was portrayed in an episode of the animated comedy South Park called "Mecha-Streisand" where he, along with actor Sidney Poitier and singer Robert Smith, fight Barbra Streisand, who has assumed the form of Mecha-Streisand, a giant, Godzilla-like robot version of herself. His own gigantic form was reminiscent of Ultraman with his initials on his chest.
He also appeared as himself in Gremlins 2: The New Batch. In a short segment, he gives a bad review of the first film (Gremlins) as several of the creatures creep up on him and strangle him to death (in his guide, Maltin's three-star review of the movie noted that it contained "gratuitous cameo appearances"). This was further spoofed in the MAD Magazine parody of Gremlins 2, in which Maltin protests that he is going to be eaten by the Gremlins for giving their first film a bad review when Roger Ebert gave an even more scathing review, whereupon the Gremlins reply that they are waiting until Thanksgiving to attack Ebert, as "he will feed a family of fifteen"! He also made an appearance on the cartoon show Freakazoid! where he voiced himself, only to be abducted by monsters. And while he's been a "talking head" in countless documentaries, he also appeared as himself in a faux documentary, Peter Jackson's "Forgotten Silver."
Maltin starred on an episode of Entertainment Tonight, where he was presenting a time machine akin to one in the film The Time Machine. He sits in the machine and then vanishes, as does the character in the film.
Maltin is one of the few people to appear as a "guest star" on Mystery Science Theater 3000; during a Season Nine episode, he was forced by Pearl Forrester to retract his endorsement of the film Gorgo. In an earlier episode featuring The Undead, Mike Nelson impersonates Maltin and apologizes to viewers for his good review, saying he must have been on drugs. Upon this admission, he was awarded the Goatee of the Millennium award. Additionally, his rating of two-and-a-half stars to the film Laserblast is ridiculed in the episode featuring that film.
In The Simpsons episode "A Star is Burns", Marge says "Did you know there are over 600 critics on TV and Leonard Maltin is the best looking of them all?". Lisa replies "Ewwww!" In the 1995 video release of the original Star Wars trilogy, there was an interview with George Lucas conducted by Maltin included before the start of the movies. Maltin is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the world's shortest movie review; his two-star review of the 1948 musical Isn't It Romantic? consists of the word "No". In 1985 he delivered a three-word movie review on Entertainment Tonight for that year's horror film spoof, Transylvania 6-5000. The review begins with a silent Maltin swaying to a recording of the Glenn Miller Orchestra playing "Pennsylvania 6-5000", wherein the instrumental melody is interrupted by the sound of a telephone ringing, after which the band chants the title of the song. In his review, Maltin timed it so that his review began with the phone ringing: "Transylvania 6-5000 ... stinks!" In 2004 he delivered a five-word review for Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. His two-star review consisted of the statement "It is what it is."
Maltin also selected and hosted a compilation of National Film Board of Canada animated shorts, Leonard Maltin's Animation Favorites from the National Film Board of Canada.
Comedian Doug Benson's podcast "Doug Loves Movies" features a segment called The Leonard Maltin Game, in which the guest must guess the name of a movie based on a subset of the cast list in reverse order and a few intentionally vague clues from the capsule review of the movie in Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide. Maltin appeared on the podcast in February 2010 and played the game himself. He appeared on the show again in August 2010. In November 2010 Benson and Maltin played the game on Kevin Pollak's Chat Show. Maltin has repeated his appearances on Doug Loves Movies in September 2011 with Jimmy Pardo and Samm Levine, and in September 2012 with Chris Evans and Adam Scott.
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