MST3K: Episode 911 - Devil Fish

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

Episode 911: Devil Fish

First aired: Sci-Fi Channel on 15 August 1998
Availability: iTunes, Mystery Science Theater 3000: Devil Fish, Amazon (Volume 19), Shout Factory (Volume 19), Best Brains (Volume 19)

The original Sharktopus.

Who knew that Florida was so full of Italians?

The movie in this episode is an Italian film -- though the French were also involved. The dubbed version was given a slew of names other than Devil Fish, such as Monster Shark, Shark: Red on the Ocean, and Devouring Waves.

Whatever you call it, you can't call it a good film.

This one was shown 10-12 times on MST3K between August 1998 and May 2003. The uncertainty over the numbers is because: do you count two showings on the same day as one airing, or two? And if it's shown Saturday and Sunday on the same weekend, is that one showing, or two?

The skinny dolphin girl.

It's one that I saw several times before it was released on video. Not that I particularly looked forward to it. Not that it was a bad episode, but it was not up to part with Episode 908: The Touch of Satan. I didn't run away screaming, either.

Remember that SyFy movie Sharktopus? That what the creature in this wonder piece of cinema happens to be. So, now you know where Roger Corman stole the idea.

Of course, I never saw Sharktopus, and never plan to. So, I can't say with certainty the plots are similar. I think I'll look it up, though. In the meantime, let's consider the plot of this film.

Not Sharktopus.

Something is killing people in the region of Italy known as Florida, so some scientists investigate and ask a drunk and an electrician to help them out, since dead tourists just begs for help from drunks and electricians, so anyway they find a tentacles shark-thingy, only it turns out some of the scientists -- probably the evil ones -- created this thing in the lab and now it's out and it's a military secret, so it's imperative that the whole thing be covered up, but the hero and the skinny girl that works with dolphis team up and win out and plan a trip to the mountains and laugh. The end.

In Sharktopus, the creature is a genetically-engineer half shark, half octopus created for the military and it escapes and kills tourists. So, totally different film.

The drunk and the other scientist girl. Yeah, they both die.

The Italian guy with the MST3K logo obscuring Little Italy.

The Host Segments have a dolphin warship, an electrician who is in alliance with the dolphins, and a couple on a cruise on the S.S. Castle Forrester. They're good, but not great. Kinda like this episode.

Still, a good one. Part of the reason that the show hung around as long as it did is because they put out consistently good episodes. Like this one.

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