Wednesday, March 21, 2012

MST3K: Episode 403 - City Limits

I'm watching all of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes in order. More about that here and here.

Episode 403: City Limits

First aired: Comedy Central on 20 June 1992
Availability: MST3KVideos.com

"Sounds like a clothing store for high school girls."
Another episode that's never been released on video. And, another episode that I hadn't seen before I watched it as part of this project.

I have a fan copy that I got recently. The quality is okay. Part of the reason is that it's a VHS recording of a cable broadcast. Part of the reason is the transfer to DVD is not the best.

I plan to get a better dub soon from MST3KVideos.com. But, for now, this is what I have.

This movie is ... bad. Really bad. It's one of those that needs some really good riffing and some good Host Segments. I enjoyed the Captain Kangaroo opening. The Kim Cattrall song was ... odd. But she liked it. She even sent flowers to Crow T. Robot after seeing the broadcast.

Kim Cattrall is the girl on the right.
Here's the plot of the movie: It's 15 years in the future and it's after the apocalypse. Most of the characters would have been teens or pre-teens when the apocalypse occurred. Like that Star Trek episode. Kim Cattrall -- who played Valeris in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country -- and Robbie Benson -- who didn't -- work for a company that wants to rebuild society. A bunch of bikers don't want them to. And the bikers are the heroes. Kim Cattrall joins them and they win. Civilization stays destroyed. The only thing missing is an #OWS hashtag. The end.

The two host segments about comic books? Yeah, I didn't care much for those. If I was into comics, I'd probably appreciate the humor so much more. But, I'm not, so I don't. And didn't. Or something.

Good morning, Captain!
And, the Mads had Morrissey (played by MST3K Head Writer Michael J. Nelson) in a Pop Star Tupperware container, in an attempt to keep him fresh. It didn't work, obviously.

The riffing was good, but not great. So, no, this wasn't a great episode. Of course, any episode that includes the line "smells like Pussy Nibbles" can't be all bad.

Oh, don't get me wrong. Some bits of the riffing were good. But just some of it. And, there were some clever bits. Joel just happening to open an umbrella when girlie parts are shown on the screen, for instance. And, there were a lot of music references. My favorite was when they started singing the lyrics to Pink Floyd's The Happiest Days of our Lives. I thought the music sounded a lot like that, and, sure enough, they started up with the song. Or their version of it.
Clever use of an umbrellaClever use of Michael J. Nelson
But, like I said, despite some fun parts, the overall experience of this episode just isn't quite like some other ones.



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