Not the best episode of MST3K, which anyone with the intelligence of a half-eaten Hamdinger knows was Mangos: Cans of Fruit. I mean, what movie do you think you would enjoy the most without the addition of sarcastic puppets?
My vote is Attack of the Killer Shrews. Despite the unfortunate name, this seems to actually be a tight little thriller. Science experiment gone horribly wrong, a disparate group of people trapped on a deserted island, surrounded by thousands of ravenous, flesh eating beasts. The monsters didn’t look too hokey, the plot was coherent, the characters weren’t all total morons. Mind you, I’ve never seen Killer Shrews without the MSTie edit, and it’s one of the episodes I don’t have on tape, so I haven’t seen it in a while, but this was actually a decent flick.
This Island Earth, the movie featured in the big-screen version of MST3K, is something of a sci-fi classic. Not a personal fave by any means, but it’s certainly a far better film than, say, Soultaker.
Pod People is one of their few films that wouldn’t put me to sleep if there wasn’t a running commentary from J&TB, And it has a killer ALF!!! what more do you want?
Another vote for This Island Earth, though it’s nowhere near the top of SF films of the 50s. In addition to Forbidden Planet, just about every Jack Arnold film is better (It Came from Outer Space, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Tarantula, The Creature from the Black Lagoon etc.), as was War of the Worlds, Them!, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers).
Still, it’s much better than the usual MST3K fare and can be enjoyed without the commentary. Using it for the movie was a poor choice.
I have to totally disagree regarding This Island Earth. This movie so deserved to be heckled. It’s as corny, stupid and pretentious as any MST flick. It has plot holes a mile wide, actors chewing the scenery and a bug-eyed monster thrown in for good measure.
My vote would be for Space Travelers (real title Marooned). It’s probably the best of the worst (any film with Gene Hackman can’t be all bad!)
As an aside, I have no problem with MST3K-ingany film. Even the most serious dramas can be mocked this way (in the privacy of your own home of course).
My vote goes to Kitten With a Whip. Aside from the goofy title, it wasn’t too bad. It starred…I want to say Ann Margaret, but I don’t know why. Anyway, it was one of the better old films I’ve seen.
I kind of liked Touch of Satan, because I like movies about witches, and ones where there’s a back story and flashbacks to historical events. I know, that doesn’t make any sense, does it?
When a friend of mine took Intro to Film at UW-Madison the professor showed Diabolik, the last film to be MST-ified. While the supposed “hero” of the movie is a wretched psychopath, it does have some fun '60’s pop visuals I suppose. This was a few years before it ended up on MST3K.
I was lucky, I got all good films when I took the class.
I’m rather fond of Prince of Space. Not that it’s actually a good movie by any means, but to me it’s bad in an endearing sort of way, rather than just offensively, irritatingly bad like most of the movies they do.
The same can be said of Pumaman and a few others, but Prince of Space holds a special place in my heart.
Heh, Crow’s first comment when Hackman appeared for the first time was, “Oh, he’s good in anything.” Marooned is the obvious answer to this question, considering it is the only MSTied movie to win an Acedemy Award (unless one of the ones from the Sci-Fi years did). According to the Amazing Colossal Episode Guide, the first time the writers met Dennis Miller he dissed them because of this movie, claiming that it was too good to be made fun of.
I kind of like those goofy Finnish films they did (The Day the Earth Froze, Jack Frost, The Magic Voyage of Sinbad). They are beautifully produced, even if they are surreal as hell.
As I understand it, This Island Earth was selected for the MST3K movie precisley because it didn’t suck as badly as many of their other victims. There was a big fear amongst the studio execs that people (as in, the common Joe, not those who were already fans) wouldn’t “get” the concept, so they wanted at least a half-way decent film as the subject…just in case.
…and what’s the deal with reruns of MST3K appearing on the SciFi channel?
I remember the big brou-ha-ha on the boards last year over the impending cancellation of the series effective December 2001. One of the reasons given was that the rights to many of the films had expired. Does anyone have any information as to why the powers-that-be decided to continue showing it? I suppose that an outpouring of fan outrage might have something to do with it. But did anyone read anything giving the concrete reasons for its reprieve?
i do enjoy catalina caper for it’s white bread campiness and the random appearance of little richard doing that “we’ll have a party” (tom servo: the nazi party!) haha
party beach is a horrible film but has amazing commentary that was so funny i almost choked.
what about best commentary (hijack)? i think mitchell may be a winner.
Girl’s Town: with Mamie Van Hooters as the tough-as-nails girl with the heart of gold and Mel Torme as the tough guy
The Girl In Lover’s Lane: (with Jack Elan, not Jack Lalane!) Except for the totally botched ending, it was actually pretty good.
And those weird Finnish fantasy movies are pretty good “Sampo”? in their own bizzare way.
The best episode of MST3K, however, is either Santa Claus (Santa’s growing paranoia begins to hamper operations in the heart of the might Kla[sym]ü[/sym]s organiztion…"
or “Puma-Man”
or…oh, crap… What’s that Ed Wood one, where a girl goes bad, robs gas stations and becomes a commie :eek: because her parents give her a nice birthday present?
The best short (outside of “Mr. B Natural” of course) is “Circus on Ice”
