MST3K: Episode 1005 - Blood Waters of Dr. Z

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

Episode 1005: Blood Waters of Dr. Z

First aired: Sci-Fi Channel on 2 May 1999
Availability: iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Amazon (Volume 17), Shout Factory (Volume 17), Best Brains (Volume 17)

Should have been a lost episode.

Until I bought the Volume 17 DVD pack I had never seen this episode. It only aired three times, and two of those were on back-to-back weekends in May 1999.

So, what did I miss? Not much. Not much at all.

If any episode of MST3K should have been a lost episode, this would have been a good choice.

The movie was gosh-awful, the riffing was okay but not great, and the Host Segments kinda just sat there for me.

Nothing special about this episode.

The fish-monster cops a feel.

Which is kinduva shame. You see, since I missed all three airings, when I got this episode on on DVD, I was a little bit excited. After all, this was like a lost episode to me. I was sorely disappointed.

Oh, sure, it was cool seeing one I had missed. But, beyond that ... nothing.

Crow took up smokeless tobacco in a Host Segment. Kinda disgusting, actually. And, the other Host Segments, well, they kinda just sat there, as I said. Crow copying the voice-over from the movie, Mike fishing ... nothing special.

The movie? Well, there are some interesting (if that's the word) facts about it.

The Blood Waters of Dr. Z was released under a couple of names. Zaat was the alternate title. But, when it was bootlegged in Canada, it was under the name Hydra.

Now, before you start laughing at the Canadians for bootlegging such a turd sandwich as this film, you may want to know that there was a U.S. bootleg, too. It went by the name Attack of the Swamp Creatures. So, the Mexicans win this round.

Dr. Z.

Dr. Z. as a fish.

Ex-Nazi Dr. Kurt Leopold is our title character, Dr. Z., and the waters in Florida become his blood waters, at least I think that's what happens, because Dr. Leopold (abbreviated Dr. Z., of course) wants revenge on those who laughed -- HA! -- at his proposals to turn people into walking catfish or something, so he turns himself into Trumpy from Episode 303: Pod People -- which neither Mike, Crow, or Servo seem to notice -- and goes around killing people and spraying Formula 409 on fish, all the while narrating in a style nothing at all like Orson Welles' until he kidnaps a chick who was swimming in his Blood Waters and tries to turn her into a fish, but he just kills her instead, which can play havoc on one's love life, but then the sheriff and his band of scientist misfits figure it all out and stop Dr. Trumpy, and nobody else gets turned into a walking catfish. The end.

Okay, it doesn't sound that bad when you read it out loud.

And, by that, I mean, as bad as that totally accurate description of the movie is, the actual movie was worse.

Not an episode I particularly cared for. But, at least, it's not a sequel to The Legend of Boggy Creek. Could you imagine if they actually made a sequel to that?

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