In broadcast order....
Teenagers from Outer Space: This is one goofy film and it is smack in the MST3K wheelhouse. A cheesy, sci-fi movie made on half-a-shoestring budget with actors who fall into one of three categories: Can't act, don't act, or overact. I have to admit that within the first few minutes of sitting down to watch this episode I thought I was going to be in for one of those mediocre slogs but the movie quickly picked up in absurdity and as it did Joel, Trace, and Kevin's riffing also picked up exponentially. The movie -- the story of a group of aliens who come to Earth to find grazing land for their food source (basically a poor lobster probably bought at the local grocery store) only to have one of their number rebel to try to warn the human population that their planet is about to be turned into pasture land -- is unintentionally hilarious in its' own right but when you add the riffing it immediately reaches the level of comedy gold. The riffing team are fast with the jokes and far more of them hit the mark than fall flat. On top of all of that, the host segments are pretty good here -- the third one is a particular favorite of mine as the Satellite of Love is visited by an alien hot rod...
The Magic Sword: To be honest, this movie is almost mediocre. It falls juuuussst under the line. With a little more effort it would have probably missed being a riffing target. As it is though Joel and the bots do a bang-up job tearing apart this story which rips off at least half-a-dozen fairy tales, folk tales, and myths. The host segments for this one are also pretty good but the second one, where Tom Servo gives a mini-lecture on what life in the Middle Ages was really like warms my historian heart. It's pretty spot-on, historically speaking, if a bit superficial. What's even funnier, though, is Joel and Crow's reaction to having their light fantasy ruined by a dose of reality. Check this one out.
Manhunt in Space (with a General Hospital short): *Sigh* in my previous post I covered why I didn't like the addition of chopped up General Hospital episodes as shorts. Despite it's presence here I really dug Manhunt in Space. Little bit of background -- the "movie" is actually several episodes of early sci-fi TV series Rocky Jones: Space Ranger mashed together to form a movie. Unlike the clunky Master Ninja movies of last season though Rocky Jones, like Doctor Who was done serial style -- or story arc style -- with several episodes of the show being pieces of the larger story and often ending on a cliffhanger. Because of this the Rocky Jones episodes actually work pretty well in movie format. Also, this is another one that probably wasn't too fair to riff in all honesty. The show came from the 1950's when almost all TV writing was pretty cheesy and clunky and on top of that the show was made for kids. The worst crime this movie really commits is simply not aging well. Despite my defense of the movie I still love the episode. There are some really funny jokes here that had me laughing out loud and I really get a sense from the riffing team that there was also a certain amount of fondness involved even as they do tear into the film. The host segments really aren't anything to write home about here though -- the feature film is the real... uh.... feature.
Fire Maidens of Outer Space: Oh man, this one... this one is solid gold. Not gold leaf, not gold plated , solid. Gold. The riffing is top notch and in fact is the *only* thing that makes this movie watchable (more on that later) and the host segments are a rarity on a number of levels. Up until close to the end of the show's run the gang rarely did linked host segments which, all together, told a whole story. This is one of those rare occasions. Not only that but the host segments are all genuinely funny and they all work together to present a perfect satire of, of all things, Aliens. Even more rare, the host segment action even spills over into the theatre riffing! All of this is terrific because the movie is epic fail on every level. There are wide swaths of stuff which is not explained and makes no sense, the plot doesn't go anywhere, and worst of all NOTHING HAPPENS! This movie is lethally dull. And I mean that. It should come with biohazard stickers and a Surgeon General's warning. Unriffed this movie could put a person down so hard it would make Sleeping Beauty's 100 year rest look like a nap. It is a testament to the writing and riffing talents of the whole team that they can pull this movie up and shove it over the top. I've seen the host segments alone available on YouTube strung together so you can see the whole 'story' but I'm not linking to it nor embedding it here because everyone should go watch the whole thing and not just the host segments.
Attack of the (the) Eye Creatures: This one is almost too, too, easy. There are movies made on the cheap and then there's THIS thing. Ye gods... Almost the entire film is shot day-for-night -- because it's cheaper. The sets are whatever they could find locally -- with a presumed military base looking like a grade school -- because it was cheaper. The alien costumes are just cheap with industrial zippers clearly visible in the back and wobbly heads and then they're so cheap they don't actually have enough alien costumes to go around and in one scene one of the "aliens" consists of a black turtleneck, black pants, and sneakers. This is yet another one that simply makes fun of itself. Why should we, however, expend the effort since Joel and the bots do such a good job of it? Again, the riffing is great -- but the guys would have had to have been dead to not do a good job when the movie practically gives them the jokes. They still manage to get creative and go places with the riffing that I never would have expected and that makes this one fun. The host segments are... not real great here. In fact, there's only one a truly like -- Tom Servo wants to know what it would be like to "make out". You can zone out during most of the host segments but don't miss the riffing on this movie.
Manos, The Hands of Fate: Yeah, you all just KNEW this one had to be in here, didn't you? This one often is called the best episode of the Joel era and some claim it the best episode of the show period. Others consider it wholly distasteful. It is... well... one for the books. As much as I called Fire Maidens of Outer Space epic fail filmmaking this one is even more so. The difference is that Fire Maidens was made by people who should have known better while Manos was made on a bet (not kidding) by people who had no real clue. In some ways it maybe isn't fair to riff it -- Joel and the gang have long said and still say today that they won't riff on amateur films or student films basically because they're done by people who are still learning or who don't know any better and Manos is pretty much an amateur film. It did have some theatrical release though and did end up in a video syndication package so... yeah... it barely makes it fair game. It's just so completely... bizarre a film -- badly shot, badly edited, badly lit (check out all the moths which swarm around the obvious spotlights), bad dialogue badly delivered, weird characters and a plot that makes little sense -- that it actually might make difficult riffing fodder rather than easy fodder. There are some moments in the film which seem to leave Joel and the bots nearly speechless or else their only reaction is simply to laugh. Despite the movie, maybe because of it, the gang do a great job at the riffing and produce genuinely entertaining host segments and along the way turn Torgo into a star. If you've got the fortitude definitely check this one out -- this time I think the Master would approve...
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