MST3K: Episode 819 - Invasion of the Neptune Men

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

Episode 819: Invasion of the Neptune Men

First aired: Sci-Fi Channel on 11 October 1997
Availability: MST3KVideos.com fan copy

Not to be confused with any other film.

There's no connection between this episode and Episode 816: Prince of Space, but it sorta seems like there should be.

There is the idea of aliens looking to take over the earth and some lonely bachelor who's really a space hero defeating the bad guys, so there's that.

The same company made the two films; Prince of Space was made two years before Invasion of the Neptune Men.

Though the films aren't related, you can find them together in a Prince of Space/Invasion of the Neptune Men 2-movie DVD pack.

Oh noes! They be blowing up the Hitler Building!

Oh, and there's one other connection. The villain from Prince of Space shows up in one of the Host Segments. They don't really explain why, but it works.

So, what about this actual movie?

A bunch of aliens who move in slow motion and dress up as suppositories invade the earth, but a bachelor scientist dresses up as Space Chief and drives his little flying space car to the rescue and runs the aliens off but they come back and he runs them off again and they come back and Space Chief runs them off again, and then the aliens blow up the Hitler Building and a big dogfight ensues and Space Chief runs them off for good, making the world safe, except for all the Japanese kids in funny shorts that have free run of all kinds of top military and government installations. The end.

The spaceship that's most like mother herself.

"Come on guys, has anybody seen my record?"

This isn't the worst movie that's come out of Japan. The plot is similar to that of Prince of Space, as mentioned, but it has one little thing that's ... well, just not quite right. This is a kids movie, and, rather than build some models to blow up as part of the space aliens' attack, they used actual war footage. World War II footage. Which includes a brief shot of what M&tB called "The Hitler Building."

There are some funny moments in the Host Segments. I'm not a fan of the Ancient Rome storyline, but at least they are moving it along, setting up an ending to it.

Mike prefers Noh theater to Kabuki theater.

Krankor shows up, much to the delight of M&tB.

And, somewhere, Abbott and Costello are smiling over Mike's screwing with the robots about Noh theater.

Despite the tasteless usage of war footage, it is mostly watchable. Mostly. It does drag in some places, but M&tB more than make up for it.

Oh, one other thing I'm not clear on. This movie, though made by the same company that made Prince of Space, hasn't been released on video. Prince of Space has.

Maybe the Hitler family is holding it up.

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