Through its first two seasons, “Twisted Metal” has turned nostalgic Easter eggs into an art form. The Peacock show’s writers always seem to find ways to cram as many pre-apocalypse references into their episodes as possible, but it’s not as easy as they make it look. One such reference involved one of “Saturday Night Live” legend Dana Carvey’s least memorable movies, “Master of Disguise.”
In Season 1 of “Twisted Metal” during a rather intense scene, Quiet (Stephanie Beatriz) throws a knife at a cardboard cut-out of Carvey wearing a full-body turtle costume. The knife triggers a recording of Carvey’s character speaking in his inane turtle voice. Turns out that three-second sight-gag wouldn’t have been possible unless Carvey himself gave the go-ahead. Showrunner Michael Jonathan Smith told SyFy Wire that the producers had to reach out to Carvey personally to get his approval. However, while they were able to secure Carvey’s likeness, the same couldn’t be said for his voice, which ended up recorded by someone else entirely.
Twisted Metal delights in the cringiest parts of the ’90s and early ’00s
“Twisted Metal” is based on a video game series of the same name and takes place in a universe where the apocalypse hits somewhere in the early 2000s, leaving behind countless memories from the time period. Michael Jonathan Smith told SyFy Wire that he wanted viewers to feel like they were going back in time. “I watched a lot of YouTube [play-throughs of “Twisted Metal”]. It brought me back to not only what it felt like to play the game, but also what I was doing at the time I was playing the game. What was the music playing in the background? What were the movies I was seeing?”
Pay attention and you’ll start to notice plenty of nods to that particular time period, from Quiet and John (Anthony Mackie) bonding over Hanson’s “MMMBop” to a copy of the original video game ending up on John’s hood. Some of the references, like Dave (Johnno Wilson) and Mike (Tahj Vaughans) dressed up in the iconic “Dumb and Dumber” tuxedos in Season 2, highlight top moments from the era. More often than not, however, “Twisted Metal” loves referencing the more cringe-worthy aspects of the time period, and “Master of Disguise” is no exception.