MST3K: Episode 704 - The Incredible Melting Man

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

Episode 704: The Incredible Melting Man

First aired: Comedy Central on 24 February 1996
Availability: MST3KVideos.com

Not so incredible

They say "two out of three ain't bad." They was even a song that said that.

So, if two out of three ain't bad, three out of four ought to be good, right?

This movie proves otherwise.

The Incredible Melting Man isn't all that incredible. But, yes, he does melt (1 out of 4). And he's a man (2 out of 4). In fact he's the (3 out of 4) man that melts in this film. But incredible? Not so much.

What's this? Melting?

Webster's defines "incredible" as "too extraordinary and improbable to be believed" or as a synonym for "amazing" or "extraordinary." The synonym has a positive connotation, but there's not a lot positive about this film. The other definition indicates "not to be believed" which could be true if you were talking about no believing that somebody actually made this film. But, the film itself? Not so incredible.

But, again, he does melt. And he's a man. The man that melts. So, 3 out of 4.

I don't remember ever having seen this movie when it aired on Comedy Central. There were eight airings total during four weekends. Five of those airings were at 2:00 AM.

He's melting, melting, what a world.

The weekend it premiered, it aired three times (twice at 2:00 AM). When it was rerun the first time, it aired three times that weekend, too (also, twice at 2:00 AM). And, there were two individual (2:00 AM) airings later in the year. And that was it. This episode never aired again, and I missed those airings.

So, what did I miss?

Three astronauts orbiting Saturn are exposed to radiation from the rings, which looks just like solar flares, and two are killed but one isn't and makes it back to earth, though it doesn't seem to take the three years it should take to go the nearly 800,000,000 miles, but anyway, he gets back alive but in pretty bad shape, because he's melting, which makes him quite upset, so he starts killing and eating people, so the police start hunting him, but his buddy from NASA wants to protect him, but they all get killed, the astronaut finally finishes melting, so the janitor throws him away. The end.

The melting man finishes melting...

... and the janitor throws him away.

Best part of the episode? The Host Segments.

Crow's movie, Earth vs Soup, is given the green light by the studio (Dr. Forrester and his mother), but problems develop, so it's going to be made into a trailer. Crow's not happy.

Going over the script.

Filming a scene.

Sounds a little like the whole crew wasn't all that happy with the experience they just had making Mystery Science Theater 3000 - The Movie. They had finished the film and it was awaiting release at the time this episode first aired, so that experience must have been quite fresh in their minds. And, not pleasant, it seems.

Yes, Joel was right, after all.

When M&tB riff on the movie, it's fairly entertaining, but not their best.

A fair episode. Check that. Good episode, but only because of the host segments.

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