MST3K: Episode 1004 - Future War

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

Episode 1004: Future War

First aired: Sci-Fi Channel on 25 April 1999
Availability: iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Amazon DVD (20th Anniversary/Volume 13), Shout Factory (20th Anniversary/Volume 13), Best Brains (20th Anniversary/Volume 13)

Not set in the future.

When I began this long project of watching all of the MST3K episodes, I started watching them in the order the episodes aired. The only time I've varied from that was when we covered Mystery Science Theater 3000 - The Movie ... and that wasn't really an episode.

During the Sci-Fi Channel years, the production number order of the shows has matched the air-date order. Until now.

Episode 1003, which would be next one, was, as I understand it, planned to air after Episode 1002: Girl in Gold Boots, but something happened.

Attack of the killer dinosaur puppets.

Supposedly, there was a question over the rights to the content of the movie, with one party claiming the plot was stolen from another's work. Or something. Anyway, it was pulled, but did eventually air. We'll cover more about that when we get to that episode.

Right now, though, we're going to cover the next episode to air. And that one contained the movie Future War.

The movie isn't set in the future. In fact, it's told in flashback format. And, it's not so much a war as it is one guy hunting down another guy. So, it's Future War, but not in the future and not a war. Other than that, the title sums it up perfectly.

Soultaker vs Jean Claude van Darn

Maybe it's the dinosaurs that make it futuristic. Let me think. They all died out 65-million years ago, so ... nope, that's not it.

Maybe I should really just relax. I'll just accept that the movie is what it is.

A fellow captured from Earth's past escapes a space ship in a snow monkey pod and lands on present-day Earth and hooks up with a nun who used to be a drug dealer and a hooker but who now runs a halfway house for fat people, but the cyborgs on the space ship are hunting him with little tiny dinosaur puppets, but he eludes them and kills all the puppets, but the lead cyborg tracker, who used to be a giant-faced Soultaker, brings big dinosaur puppets to track the runaway, but the police think Runaway is the bad guy, but the real bad guy and his puppets show up, and there's a big old fight in a church, but the good guys win, and everyone who isn't dead lives happily ever after. The end.

How Servo sees the world.

How Crow sees the world.

The Host Segments were most memorable to me for us getting to see the world through the eyes of Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot. Crow's seeing Mike as a clown, as well as his freaking out over a Milky Way becoming a Snickers were, to me, hilarious. Then, Servo's seeing the world as a jumbled mess resembling a bad trip ... funny stuff.

This is one of those episodes I saw a lot. It only aired 8 times, and I must have seen them every one. And enjoyed them all.

Funny episode, including a bad, but mostly watchable, movie, great riffing, and some inspired Host Segments. Another winner.

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