MST3K: Episode 112 - Untamed Youth

Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes. I'm watching 'em. More about that here and here.

Episode 112: Untamed Youth

First aired: The Comedy Channel on 27 January 1990
Availability: MST3KVideos.com

This is another episode that's never been commercially available. The copy of the recording I have is not as good as that of other unavailable episodes. The recording starts late (just barely, but you get tape effects and miss the first snippet of the opening song). The recording is also a little darker than, say, the previous episode, Episode 111 - Moon Zero Two.

Dr. Erhardt demonstrates the Tongue Puppet

The Invention Exchange has to have one of the strangest inventions: the Tongue Puppets. The idea is wonderful in that it makes fun of companies' ability to take two separate things and put them together in a way that produces something really really bad.

This film is the first Season One show that's neither sci-fi nor horror. And, it contains scenes of rock legend Eddie Cochran. C'mon, kids. You know who Eddie Cochran is, right? Summertime Blues? Yeah, that Eddie Cochran. He plays one of the characters in the film, and even gets to sing a song. One song. Mamie Van Doren gets to sing four songs. Of course, it is Mamie Van Doren.

Eddie Cochran gets (but doesn't sing) the summertime blues

Okay, you kids do know who Mamie Van Doren is, right? Unlike Eddie Cochran (who was killed in a car crash in 1960), Mamie Van Doren is still with us. She's more tech-savvy than most people her age (she was born in 1931), and has a Website, a Twitter account, a Facebook page, and such. And she looks pretty good for 81. Heck, she looks good for 41.

The film is a return to black & white after two color films in a row. Like the recent b&w films, it has a blueish tint. There is an actor in the film named "Keith Richards," but it's not guy from the Rolling Stones. I checked.

"Check out the lever action."
"Nice fulcrum."

Speaking of the Rolling Stones, the Bill Wyman riff was hilarious. You do get that one, right? If you need it explained, here goes. Let's see if I can get this right. Bill Wyman (yes, the Rolling Stones bass player, that Bill Wyman) was married to a much younger girl around the time this episode first aired. And Bill's son was dating Bill's wife's mother. Yes, you read that right.

And, one other Rolling Stone reference. One of the songs Van Doren sings is ... "Rolling Stone."

The plot of the film -- yes, it has one -- involves teens being arrested on bogus charges, and made to work on a farm as sentence by a corrupt judge and corrupt farm owner and a corrupt ... okay, all the adults are corrupt and the teens (including 26-year-old Mamie Van Doren) are all innocent. But untamed.

Gypsy makes her first appearance in the theater

Gypsy is featured in two host segments this week, the most screen time she's had. She even make an appearance in the theater.

They do a slightly different take on the whole "Richard Basehart" gag, but that's working out to be a running gag.

I've seen competing information regarding who plays Gypsy during this time. Some references say Josh Weinstein did her voice, as he did in the KTMA season. Others say Jim Mallon took it over for Season One. I suspect the truth is somewhere in the middle for her early Season One appearances, but the closing credits are clear that this is Jim Mallon handling the role for this episode.

I didn't mention it before, but this is the second episode in a row where they do a Falwty Towers riff referencing Manuel: "He's from Barcelona." I also enjoyed the Claude Raines reference in the movie opening.

Overall, a fun movie and riffing experience.

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MST3K: Episode 111 - Moon Zero Two

I've decided to watch all of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes. More about the project can be found here and here.

Episode 111: Moon Zero Two

First aired: The Comedy Channel on 20 January 1990
Availability: MST3KVideos.com

This is another one of those episodes that has never been commercially available. As such, it's only been seen via broadcast or by someone doing what's called for during the closing credits of so many episodes: "keep circulating the tapes." I never saw the broadcast, but I have a "circulating tape." Or DVD.

Joel dances to the music during the animated opening of the film

This episode only aired four times, twice in 1990 (The Comedy Channel) and twice in 1991 (Comedy Central). My copy is from one of the 1991 broadcasts.

The show opens (after the theme song, of course) with Joel explaining the premise. Again. Not sure if this was their idea, or if it was The Comedy Channel that wanted these segments that explain the premise right after the opening song that explains the premise.

Joel and the Bots get another film ... IN COLOR! That's two in a row. Could be a trent.

The movie stars James Olson, who played one of the main characters in The Andromeda Strain. You've actually seen him in all kinds of roles over the years. His credits go back to include Have Gun, Will Travel, and go all through The Virginian, Medical Center, Bonanza, Ironside, The Bionic Woman, Hawaii Five-O, Matt Houston, Murder She Wrote, and a whole lot more. Yeah, you've seen him before. In this film, he was the first man on Mars whose career had taken a bad turn and winds up piloting people to and fro.

The opening credits of the film would be perfect for a light-hearted adventure on the moon. The animation and the 60s music didn't seem to fit the film. Had it been a light-hearted affair, then yes. But not a mystery with a James Bond plot set in outer space.

How to dress for travel on the moon

This was a Hammer Films production that didn't star Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee. Yeah, I know, they did lots of other stuff, but you never heard of any of that. Okay, a few.

The movie is almost as 60-ish as an Austin Powers film. It looks exactly like what it is: a sci-fi film from the 60s that tried way too hard, but failed, to be scientific. It's one of those that's not quite done. You don't really care about the characters. You know who the hero is and who the villain is, but you don't really care about them.

I'm one of those people that gets all bothered by poor attempts at demonstrating science. For example, when they turn the gravity off (don't know how you do that on the moon, but apparently you can) people selectively float. And, you can stand on a regular floor in zero G and throw someone without so much as a recoil. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, next time you find yourself in zero G, try throwing someone and see what I mean. I'd be happier if they never addressed the gravity situation, rather than have the rules apply sometimes, and sometimes not, especially during the same scene.

Gypsy appears

Oh, they never addressed this, but apparently, in the future, there are no black people. I don't recall seeing any blacks in this movie. Lots of British, but not too many blacks. Maybe they live on the Earth and all the white people moved to outer space. Which means that Earth in the future is Detroit and the moon is the Hamptons. But I didn't see Dr. Hank Lawson, so he must be back on the clinic on Earth.

Gypsy appears in the final segment. It's the first time in four episodes that she appears, and the fifth time this season, although she was allegedly in the giant hand costume in Episode 106- The Crawling Hand. They repeat the "Richard Basehart" gag from Episode 101- The Crawling Eye. It won't be the last time.

This episode wasn't as strong as some of the other episodes from Season One, but still worth a look. If you can find a copy.

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MST3K: Episode 110 - Robot Holocaust

If you've been paying attention, then you know that watching all of the Mystery Science Theater 3000. If not, more about that can be found here and here.

Episode 110: Robot Holocaust

First aired: The Comedy Channel on 13 January 1990
Availability: MST3KVideos.com

This is only the second episode of Season One that isn't (or wasn't ever) available commercially. This one has never been released commercially in any format.

The end of Commando Cody

This one is a recording from a 1991 rerun (either July 5 or November 29). The commercials are edited out, but the breaks are a little rough or abrupt. There are some odd spots in it that lead me to think this recording has more than one source and they're put together, though it could simply be some issues with how it was transferred to DVD from VHS.

Since they switched to opening with Joel, this is the first episode where he isn't wearing a house robe to start the show. The first four episodes to air opened with the Mad Scientists, usually with one of them running the camera by joystick. The next four episodes to air went down the hallway with the doors closing, finally closing in the main bay with Joel in his robe. Now, this episode continues the hallway opening, but no robe for Joel.

The Bots have joined him in the opening again. The first two Joel openings featured him alone. It looks like they've settled on the standard of J&tB in the opening, which is pretty much as I remember.

"Yew ah doomd!"

Joel again explains the premise of the show again for the fourth time in five episodes, even though the theme song explains the premise. I'm glad Gilligan's Island didn't explain their premise every time.

During the first interaction with the Mad Scientists, Dr. Erhardt mentions that he and Dr. Forrester "have been subterranean for 93 days." In reality, this show aired 56 days after the first episode. Yes, I know: it's just a show, I should really just relax.

I noticed that they really love the Sea Hunt gags, using the "By this time my lungs were aching for air" for the third straight show. I imagine it'll be a Sea Hunt fest when they finally do a Lloyd Bridges movie. There's one coming up on Season Two that I've seen; the actual movie, I mean.

The crew's displeasure (not just on-screen, but behind the scenes, according to The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide, with the Commando Cody shorts comes to a head. The film breaks.

"The Itsy-Bitsy Spider..."

According to The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide, they don't show any more Commando Cody shorts. I suppose that's one way to solve a problem. But I'll miss Cody.

The movie was their first color film in Season One. Joel & the Bots played up getting all excited about it. Then got all depressed when the Mads told them it was the "edited for TV" version. They had to cut the movie because of the boobage, from what I remember of the uncut version. Oh, and if you want to see the uncut version, you really don't.

The movie had the occasional narration in order to help explain what was going on. It didn't help. Would hot Japanese she-villains have helped? Maybe. The hot German she-villain would have done better if she was able to speak English better. Or if her lines had been dubbed.

If you see the actual movie, or even watching the MST3K version, you might think, "Is this what it would look like if a porn producer decided to make a post-apocalyptic robot film?" The answer is yes. Now you know why porn makers make porn. It's what they do. They don't need to be making nature documentaries. Or post-apocalyptic robot films.

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MST3K: Episode 109 - Project Moon Base

I've decided to take on the task of watching all of the Mystery Science Theater 3000. More about that here and here.

Episode 109: Project Moon Base

First aired: The Comedy Channel on 6 January 1990
Availability: Amazon Instant Video, Amazon (Volume 20), Shout Factory (Volume 20), Best Brains (Volume 20)

Project Moon Base or Project Moonbase?

Okay, what's the name of the movie in this episode? Is it Project Moon Base or Project Moonbase?

Everything I can find about the movie calls it Project Moonbase. Except the title as shown in the actual movie. That reads Project Moon Base. So, I'm take the attitude that the movie knows it's actual name. Though this movie is so wrong about so many other things that it could be wrong about that, too. Everybody else seems to think so.

The tinting of the black & white shorts and films continues. Perhaps this is the way things will be from here on out. That would mean most of the b&w episodes I've seen were tinted, and I never noticed it until I started watching the episodes in order, and the first several weren't tinted.

Joel & the Bots are getting tired of the Commando Cody shorts. I'm enjoying them. In riffed form, that is. I don't know how I could deal with it if not for the riffing.

"She's absolutely ballistic!"

The movie, though, is truly bad. Some aspects are okay, but not many. Okay, there's nothing good about the movie. Except the hot Japanese she-villain. Only she's not Japanese. Or a villain. But, apart from that...

The lead character, played by Donna Martell, was named ... get this ... Colonel Breiteis. As in "Bright Eyes." And, no, I am not making this up.

At least they didn't name her Colonel Nicetush.

Or Colonel Perkyboobs.

Or Colonel Idhitthat.

"It's a ViewMaster." "Look! The Grand Tetons!"

Yes, they made fun of her a lot because of her looks. Joel and the Bots did, too.

Despite how bad the movie was, the riffing was top-notch. Crow was great. Servo was fantastic. Joel was wonderful. The skits were good. Well, two out of three were. The lame one wasn't really lame, just not as good as the other two.

This was a bad movie and a good episode of MST3K.

The other day, I mentioned how mercilessly J&tB ragged on Alan Hale, Jr. in Episode 106 - The Crawling Hand. I thought they crossed the line beyond good-natured ribbing and being just plain mean. I also mentioned that Hale died 17 days after that episode first aired.

Joel & the Bots remembered, and dedicated the episode to him. Perhaps my criticism was a little harsh.

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MST3K: Episode 108 - The Slime People

I'm trying to watch all of the Mystery Science Theater 3000. Why? Why not? Or, look here and here to find out why.

Episode 108: The Slime People

First aired: The Comedy Channel on 30 December 1989
Availability: MST3KVideos.com

This is the first Season One episode I've covered that has never been made available commercially. While Episode 106 - The Crawling Hand isn't currently available, it was. This one isn't and never had been.

The copy I have, since it's not a DVD or iTunes, is from a VCR recording from 1991. The quality isn't great, but it's good. The sound has some issues, particularly at the start. The color has some issues, particularly the reds. If you decide you want to own a copy, be aware of that.

Though this episode originally aired on The Comedy Channel on December 30, 1989, the recording I have is from the Comedy Central rerun of the episode on June 21, 1991.

The Mads, askew

Again in this episode, the opening has Joel in is house robe, but the Bots are with him this time.

In the Invention Exchange, when we first see the Mad Scientists, they've gone back to the skewed camera angle they used in the KTMA season. They actually did the skewed camera in the previous episode (Episode 107 - Robot Monster), but I didn't make a note of that. This is the second consecutive to use the tilted camera angle on the Mads.

I don't recall the tilted camera being the norm for the episodes. I don't remember it, and noticed it in particular during the KTMA season. Of course, if it's done right, it achieves the effect without being noticed. But then, making it noticeable seems to be the way they'd want to do it.

Black & white scene from the previous episode

Black & white scene from this episode

They seem to have tinted the black & white short and movie with a slight blue or purple tint. At least they aren't screwing around with the color of the seats and silhouettes. The Shadowrama effect has gone from various shades of gray to various shades of green. Now, for this episode, the shadows are black and the movie is tinted.

Reality court

I found the 2nd host segment, where the Bots propose a show very similar to MST3K, to be particularly funny.

The reality court skit from the 1st segment was funny, too. I really enjoy when they take a segment and talk about the silly or impossible in a movie. Yes, there's the urge to say to Joel & the Bots, "It's just a show, you should really just relax." But I don't.

The movie itself was kinda weird. Maybe odd is a better term. The constant fog made it hard to see. Remember that John Carpenter movie, The Fog? This movie had more fog.

It almost made it Mystery Science Radio Presents. Oh, well, the riffs are all audio anyway, though they do often relate to action on the screen. And, this was still the case, though you often couldn't see anything during the outdoor scenes. Which explains why so many of the riffs during outdoor scenes where you couldn't see were about your not being able to see.

One riff that made me laugh out loud:

Servo: It is sort of hypnotic, isn't it?
Crow: Hip? Not. Ick!

Another didn't happen. I heard the line in the movie, and they said nothing. Which either means they missed it, or they decided to let it go.

Cal Johnson: One minute there was just a fog, and the next it got thick, and hard.
Professor Galbraith: Well did you touch it? Was it hot or cold or rough, smooth or what?

I had to rewind it to make sure I heard what I heard, then couldn't believe they let that line pass. Probably for the best, though.

I don't think I could sit and watch The Slime People by itself, if I tried. I won't try. But watching it with J&tB makes it's bearable. Almost.

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BCS Champions or BS Champions?

Former LSU coach Nick Saban holds the National Championship trophy

For the first time since they started the BCS, a non-conference champion won the title game. And, unless you count the Bowl Alliance (1995-1997 seasons), it was the first time the SEC champion lost the "title game."

But was it really a title game?

A lot of people seemed to be upset that Alabama, which didn't win its conference -- heck, it didn't even win its division -- was even in the title game.

Of course, I don't remember hearing all those people piss and moan when Oklahoma played in the title game in 2004 (2003 season) even though they got beat by Kansas State in the Big 12 title game. LSU ended up beating the Sooners in the National Championship Game.

I also don't remember a bunch of whining when Nebraska was in the title game in 2002 (2001 season) when they didn't qualify for the Big 12 title game. Miami beat the Huskers in the National Championship Game.

But, this time, the non-conference champ beat the team that "deserved" to be there, unlike the two Big 12 teams from the 2001 & 2002 seasons.

Of course, this was a rematch from a game played earlier in the year. That's never happened before. Unless you count the 1997 Bowl Alliance title game (1996 season) between Florida and Florida State. FSU won the regular season finale, but Florida won the rematch in the National Championship Game.

So what happened -- a non-conference champ in the game and a rematch in the game -- has happened before. All this whining should have happened the first time one of these things happened. Or the second. Or the third. Waiting until the fourth is a little late.

What should have happened? There should have been a playoff. The 11 conference champions and the top five non-conference champions should have been placed in a pool of 16. Like I wrote about here. Then, the two teams that are still standing after that have shown they deserve to be there. Who knows what would have happened? We may have had an Alabama-LSU rematch. Or, a game between Oklahoma State and Boise State.

Will a playoff happen? No, because a true championship isn't the goal of the people in charge.

So, we're stuck with a very imperfect system. Sort of like how we pick presidential candidates.

MST3K: Episode 107 - Robot Monster

I have decided to watch all of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes that are available, as well as those that aren't. More about that can be found here and here.

Episode 107: Robot Monster

First aired: The Comedy Channel on 23 December 1989
Availability: iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Amazon (Volume 19 Collector's Edition), Shout Factory (Volume 19 Collector's Edition), Best Brains (Volume 19 Autographed Collector's Edition)

Ro-Man, the Robot Monster

This one is a classic. The feature film. More about that in a bit.

Joel, again in his house robe, again does an abbreviated explanation of the plot in the opening. He finishes with an Alfred Hitchcock imitation during the opening.

Joel and the Bots' irritation at another Commando Cody episode rings true. In The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide it says they grew to hate those particular shorts. It's starting to show.

During the short, they repeated the "Oh, I hate to shoot a butt like that" riff. Still funny. Oh, and Josh sneezed during the first short. It seemed real. They covered well.

I suppose if I had to watch so many Commando Cody shorts as many times as the MST3K staff did, I'd hate them, too. But I don't have to, and I don't hate them. I see them as comedy fodder for J&tB.

This episode has more interaction from Cambot than previous episodes. Though we don't see Cambot, we see Cambot interact during two skits. And not the normal, "Move it in closer, Cambot" kind of reaction.

Cambot at KTMA

Cambot from Season One is a reworked KTMA Gypsy

During the discussion on science after the Commando Cody shorts, first Servo, then Crow, and finally Cambot explode their heads over Joel's assertion that bumblebees can't fly, but do. Later, during the surrealism discussion, Cambot gets into the act.

Cambot's logic circuits fail

Cambot gets into the surrealism discussion

The feature film, Robot Monster, is a classic. Not as in "the film is wonderful" but as in "this film is SO bad..." Oh, there are rumors that the producer/director of the film, Phil Tucker, was so despondent over the movie's reception that he tried to commit suicide by shooting himself, but missed (presumably because he was so incompetent). It's true he attempted suicide, but for reason unrelated to the reception of the film.

The film's main antagonist, Ro-Man Extension XJ-2 (his friends call him "Ro-Man"), is a gorilla in the diving helmet, and is one of the oddest-looking creatures I've ever seen. Of course, if you shoot a film in 4 days on a budget of $16,000 then you're gonna take what you can get.

I'm wondering how the sales pitch for this movie went:

Really good lizard glue

"There's this kid, see? And he gets stuck by lightning, causing two lizards with dinosaur parts glued on them to fight. We'll use really good lizard glue so the parts don't fall off, see?

Then the kid wakes up and his pants legs are missing. Oh, and so are all the people on the earth, except for his immediate family and some science guy.

You see, all the people are dead because of a Robot Monster that's actually a gorilla except for his head, which is a diving helmet. And the gorilla-guy uses a bubble machine to talk to the head gorilla-deep sea diver of his planet, see? And he wants all the rest of the people on the earth dead or his plan to kill everybody on earth will fail.

"Cue the deus ex machina"

Then the gorilla-bot falls in love with the kid's older sister, so he doesn't want to kill her. She's like all hot and such.

The big boss gorilla-helmet-guy isn't happy with his horny henchman, so me makes him kill the little boy with the missing pants leg.

Then, the Robot Monster is killed by remote control by the boss gorilla-helmet-guy. By lightning. Naturally, that makes the lizardsauruses fight again. Then the kid wakes up with his pants legs back. It was all a dream, see? Oh, and then at the end, the gorilla-robot guy walks out of the cave three times without walking back in.

We'll make millions!"

Okay, maybe that's not exactly how the sales pitch went, but if it had, it'd have been closer to the truth than whatever was actually said.

"An Armageddon weddin'"

At least they didn't go with the "it was all a dream" ending to the movie. That would've really sucked. Oh, wait.

The 3rd Host Segment, about surrealism, seems to be rework of from Episode K11 - Humanoid Woman. That means that all the in-movie host-segments from that KTMA episode have now appeared in Season One: Playing tag showed up in Episode 105 - The Corpse Vanishes; Servo hitting on the blender reappeared in Episode 103 - The Mad Monster; the surrealism discussion was reworked for this episode.

Again, I'm not being critical of the reuse of skits. It's actually a tribute to the quality of the work during the KTMA season. The crew mentioned in The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide that they didn't think the KTMA season was very good. It may not have been as good as the cable seasons, but it wasn't bad.

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