MST3K: Episode 407 - The Killer Shrews

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

Episode 407: The Killer Shrews

First aired: Comedy Central on 25 July 1992
Availability: iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Amazon (Volume 7), Rhino (Volume 7/out of print), Best Brains (Volume 7)

Thereby hangs a tale.

This episode is funny. Of course, every episode is supposed to be funny. This one made it.

The movie? It's bad. Really bad. But not unwatchably bad. It's ... watchably bad.

It's Gunsmoke second banana bumpkin vs Dukes of Hazzard second banana bumpkin in this effort. The hero is played by James Best, who, despite a long career and appearances in many early classic TV shows, is best known as Sheriff Roscoe P. Coletrane in The Dukes of Hazzard. The primary antagonist -- other than the title critters -- is played by Ken Curtis, who gained everlasting fame as Festus Hagan on Gunsmoke.

It's Festus vs Roscoe.

A supply captain and his first mate are stranded on a research island by bad weather. The professor has mutated shrews so big, they look like dogs with carpet glued onto their backs. The killer shrew-puppies trap everyone and eat all but the captain, the professor who created them, and the professor's hot daughter who dumps her drunkard boyfriend for the captain. The couple kiss as they decide to overpopulate the world all by themselves. The end.

Oh, there's a short feature, too. Junior Rodeo Daredevils features the fun side of getting thrown around by bulls.

The riffing was great, and the Host Segments were fun. My favorite was when Joel handed out presents. It played well, even though it would seem to be more appropriate for a Christmas episode. The disappointing give for Crow was ... familiar to everyone.

The dogs' handler made a shrew decision instead of a shrewd decision.

Frank ODs on "Killer Shrew"

Frank and Dr. Forrester were hilarious when they realized their evil invention was indeed evil, but not very beneficial to the forces of evil. And we find out what happens when Frank drinks too much. Fortunately, there was no alcohol involved.

I've seen this episode before. I own the DVD four-pack, and the iTunes download. Of course, just because I own an episode, even multiple versions of an episode, doesn't mean I've seen it. There are some I have on DVD, on iTunes download, or both, that I've not watched. This, though, isn't one of those. I've seen this one more than once.

I don't know if it's because I'd seen this episode before that when I watched it this week, I enjoyed it, or if it's just a fun episode. I'm beginning to suspect it's the former. Which means that for all those episodes I didn't care for, I need to watch them again.

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