MST3K: Season 4 wrapup

As much as I loved Season Three of Mystery Science Theater 3000, Season Four is just as good. Or better.

Yeah, better.

How Crow became "Art."

Season Four began with an Academy Award-winning film, Marooned, although it was called by its FVI distribution name of Space Travelers. Its Oscar was for visual effects, not for acting, directing, or script.

There were two other episodes that featured FVI films during Season Four: Episode 403: City Limits and Episode 405: Being from Another Planet.

There were four episodes featuring films with oversize creatures:

• Episode 402: The Giant Gila Monster
• Episode 406: Attack of the Giant Leeches
• Episode 407: The Killer Shrews
• Episode 411: The Magic Sword
• Episode 420: The Human Duplicators
• Episode 421: Monster A-Go Go

Now, maybe I'm cheating a little on the oversize thing with the last two. Still, Richard Kiel is oversize, so I'm counting Episode 420: The Human Duplicators. And the mutant in Episode 421: Monster A-Go Go is large. Only,,, there was no monster. But before there was no monster, there was a large monster. So, I'm counting.

There were three episodes with Hercules:

• Episode 408: Hercules Unchained
• Episode 410: Hercules Against the Moon Men
• Episode 412: Hercules and the Captive Women

This isn't the end of the Hercules movies. You've been warned.

Hot Japanese She-Villain from the Rocky Jones serials.

We saw a couple of Rocky Jones movies in Episode 413: Manhunt in Space and Episode 417: Crash of Moons. At least the Hot Japanese She-Villain was hot, even if she wasn't Japanese.

We also got to see my first episode of MST3K. Okay, I don't know for certain that it was the first episode I ever saw, but it is the first one that I can remember seeing. It was Episode 411: The Magic Sword. I loved it then, and I love it now.

We also got to see an Ed Wood movie, the classic Bride of the Monster. And the worst movie ever made, Manos: The Hands of Fate. Okay, maybe the worst was actually Monster A-Go Go. Either way, we saw the worst movie ever made.

TV's Frank, at last!

Frank officially became TV's Frank. It was hard to remember that he used to be just plain old Frank before Season Four. Yes, he called himself "TV's Frank" a couple of times in Season Three, but the end credits listed his character as just plain Frank.

Mary Jo Pehl joined the crew as a writer, and took over the role of the Magic Voice.

Season Four was wonderful. And Season Five will be something. Big changes in store.

I am looking forward to it. A little. But I'll be sad, too.