MST3K: Episode 804 - The Deadly Mantis

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

Episode 804: The Deadly Mantis

First aired: Sci-Fi Channel on 22 February 1997
Availability: MST3KVideos.com fan copy

It mates, and it kills. So, it's only half-bad.

The movie shown in this episode was one I saw many, many years ago. The Deadly Mantis is one of those that stuck with me.

I enjoyed it when I saw it on TV as a child, and I enjoyed it when Mike & the Bots gave it the treatment.

Maybe it's giant critter movies I like. Maybe.

Maybe it's just bad movies I like, but I really kinda sorta don't think so.

Maybe it's just being a kid, I wasn't too discriminating in what I watched on TV. Based on seeing today some of the stuff I enjoyed as a child, I'm inclined to go with that.

Professor Bobo read the instructions on the nuclear weapon.

Whatever the reason, though, I still kinda enjoyed this movie. Not just the episode -- I enjoyed it to be sure -- but the movie in the episode. It was fun.

We also got a little Planet Of The Apes thrown in this episode.

Okay, the whole plot for the Host Segments in the first four episodes of Season Eight have all involved the Satellite of Love being brought back from the edge of the universe to earth in the year 2525 where apes rule the planet. Well, that story arc ends with this episode, with the bomb worshipers getting the apes to fix their nuclear warhead, which then explodes, killing everybody.

Well, not everybody.

Our first view of The Deadly Mantis.

Pearl saw what was happening and made a quick exit. Professor Bobo accidentally stowed away on her space van and was saved, too.

Of course, Pearl's survival kinda threw a damper on the memorial service M&tB had for her.

So, this episode sets up the whole "in her rocket ship she hunts them all across the universe" thing. I wondered about that after the last episode. Turns out I didn't have to wait too long.

Except... there's still someone missing. And, we'll meet the next member of the cast of characters soon enough.

This movie, though, needs watching, since Pearl sent it on auto-play or something before the planet blew up.

It flies!

A volcano on an island in the South Atlantic erupts, so, according to Newton or something, that means ice will met at the North Pole and cause a giant prehistoric mantis to be unleashed upon the world, which it is, so it kills a bunch of eskimos and Air Force personnel before heading south to wreak havoc on the eastern seaboard of the Unites States, since Tokyo was busy with Gojira based on other movies from around this time, so they kill the mantis, or think they do, but it eats a bus and a train and climbs the Washington Monument before heading to the nearby Manhattan Tunnel where scientists use a bunch of Raid Yard Guard or something to gas it to death, causing the photographer lady to quit her job and run off with Colonel Craig Stevens.

Fun episode, and the story arc with Pearl hunting Mike & the Bots finally moves along.

This one was a winner.

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