MST3K: Episode 417 - Crash of Moons

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

Episode 417: Crash of Moons

First aired: Comedy Central on 28 November 1992
Availability: iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Amazon DVD (Volume 18), Shout Factory (Volume 18), Best Brains (Volume 18)

Where could the "the" have gone? You'll find out soon!

This one's fun. It's made up of parts of a 1950s TV show stitched together to make a movie. Remember Episode 413: Manhunt in Space? Well, this another Rocky Jones, Space Ranger thingy.

I've seen this episode more than the other, and probably enjoy it more. Not sure why. Perhaps familiarity, since, well, I've seen it more times.

The name of the movie in this episode? The DVD, iTunes, and Amazon Instant Video releases all call it Crash of the Moons. But if you look at the title card, there is no "the" there.

Or, maybe I just enjoyed the obscure references more. Like the lyrics from Windmills of Your Mind. You don't hear that often.

Hot Japanese She-Villain

The plot? A couple of moons orbit each other and are going to crash into the planet ruled by the evening dress and tiara-wearing evil queen Cleolanthe. One of the moons is ruled by a really nice Austrian-kinda guy; the other isn't. Rocky saves the day, but not both moons. The end.

The evil queen is the same one from the earlier episode. Yeah, she's kinda hot. Evil, but kinda hot. The nice Austrian-kinda fellow is played by John Banner, who was Sgt. Schultz on Hogan's Heroes. Really nice. Way too nice.

The movie is short, meaning that something needs to pad out the episode. Like, say ... another clip from General Hospital! The clip features long-suffering Nurse Jessie hosting a dinner with her low-life husband's girlfriend or something.

Nurse Jessie (R) bites her tongue.

I never go into General Hospital. Or any soap opera, to be honest.

Well, okay, I did watch One Life to Live for a while, but I got over it.

But General Hospital? Never got into it. Not during the Nurse Jessie days, not during the whole Luke and Laura thing. Not during ... well, whatever came next. Never.

Of course, I knew about some of the stuff going on. You see, just because I didn't watch the show doesn't mean that others didn't. And I'd hear about it. Such joy.

Dr. Forrester promotes cavities.

The movie, though, was fun. Like Episode 413: Manhunt in Space, it's silly and goofy and lots of fun. Easy to follow plot. Well, okay, it was a little hard to follow which planet or moon they were talking about, but the idea that a crash was going to destroy a couple of them was pretty clear. And, like I mentioned, the riffing was fun.

The Invention Exchange was fun. Well, Joel's guitar was sorta lame, but I loved Dr. Forrester's toothpaste. Mmmm. Chocolate.

The Gypsy Moon song was a great send-up of those type of songs from the 1930s. And the Banner-grams were funny. Then, the final segment, where Mike appeared as John Banner was great. Mike is wonderful in all of his roles where he appears as a star from the movie.

A fun episode I've seen several times. I'll see it again.

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