# This Island Earth - help me make sense of it **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 8, 2004, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-island-earth-help-me-make-sense-of-it/233086 "2004-03-08T05:17:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2004, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-island-earth-help-me-make-sense-of-it/233086/21 "2004-03-08T19:31:49Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I, too, was bothered by them cutting so much from the movie for the MST3K version. I suspect it was part of the deal – they couldn’t use the movie unless it was severely pared down. But they ended up with the MST3K movie being shorter than an episode of the MST3K TV show – even without commercials! It’s the only case of the movie version of a non-serial being _shorter_ than the TV show that inspired it that I know of. And if they left the movie whole there’s a _lot_ more material they coulda riffed on. The MST movie tested appalingly badly before release, and one consequence was that Gramercy Films made BBI cut a lot of material out, including an entire host segment, as well as change a few jokes that were supposedly too hip for Middle America (“It’s Bootsy Collins!” became “It’s Leona Helmsley!”, etc.). The movie cries out for an extended-cut DVD, but unless Rhino buys the rights from whoever owns them now, it’ll probably never happen. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2004, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-island-earth-help-me-make-sense-of-it/233086/22 "2004-03-08T19:37:34Z")
The whole dang show was too hip for middle America, hey waitaminute… I’m middle America! AAAAAhhhh!!!.. _BMalion runs from the room screaming._ ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2004, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-island-earth-help-me-make-sense-of-it/233086/23 "2004-03-08T21:35:00Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Wasn’t Cal working on a way to turn Lead into Uranium?\* That’d be pretty handy for a planet that’s run out of fissile materials. > > \*And no, I have no idea how that could possibly work without expending huge amounts of energy. Maybe he was trading it between universes for “Plutonium 186.” You trade tungsten for plutonium 186, not lead. Which reminds me, always keep your pionizer and interoccitor at least ten feet apart at all times. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2004, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-island-earth-help-me-make-sense-of-it/233086/24 "2004-03-08T23:00:31Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > The MST movie tested appalingly badly before release, and one consequence was that Gramercy Films made BBI cut a lot of material out, including an entire host segment, as well as change a few jokes that were supposedly too hip for Middle America (“It’s Bootsy Collins!” became “It’s Leona Helmsley!”, etc.). The movie cries out for an extended-cut DVD, but unless Rhino buys the rights from whoever owns them now, it’ll probably never happen. ??? Granted I didn’t see the version that tested badly, but I had more fun (well, more fun in the sense of “falling off my chair laughing” than the obsessive sort of fun my mom and I had seeing the LOTR trilogy in December) watching this one in a theater than I’d ever had, and more than I’ve had since. I realized they’d cut the movie dramatically, but I have to wonder just how much they really hurt it, all things considered. I get the feeling it still would have sucked entertainingly. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2004, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-island-earth-help-me-make-sense-of-it/233086/25 "2004-03-08T23:41:31Z")
Yeah, let’s escape under cover of afternoon in the biggest car in the county. Regis and Kathie Lee are…The Fugitive! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2004, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-island-earth-help-me-make-sense-of-it/233086/26 "2004-03-08T23:56:16Z")
“Hey Mike, there’s two woodies in this picture.” ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2004, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-island-earth-help-me-make-sense-of-it/233086/27 "2004-03-09T00:01:38Z")
We must confound Jerry at every turn! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2004, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-island-earth-help-me-make-sense-of-it/233086/28 "2004-03-09T00:11:11Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > We must confound Jerry at every turn! “Don’t leave me alone with the German!” ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2004, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-island-earth-help-me-make-sense-of-it/233086/29 "2004-03-09T01:21:22Z")
> [@whiterabbit](#): > > ??? > > Granted I didn’t see the version that tested badly, but I had more fun (well, more fun in the sense of “falling off my chair laughing” than the obsessive sort of fun my mom and I had seeing the LOTR trilogy in December) watching this one in a theater than I’d ever had, and more than I’ve had since. > > I realized they’d cut the movie dramatically, but I have to wonder just how much they really hurt it, all things considered. I get the feeling it still would have sucked entertainingly. No argument from me. MST3K remains my all-time favorite comedy series, and the experience of seeing the movie in an actual theater (Music Box, Chicago) with scores of other MSTies remains one of the best times I ever had at the show. I think the execs who greenlighted the project probably thought that, with a little massaging, MST could be made palatable to a more mainstream audience. Obviously nothing of the sort would happen; MST is practically designed to be incomprehensible to most people, and when you think of what an odd and demanding show it is, it’s a miracle it ever saw the light of day at all, let alone that it lasted longer than _Seinfeld_ or _Roseanne_ (or just about any other TV comedy, come to think of it). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2004, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-island-earth-help-me-make-sense-of-it/233086/30 "2004-03-09T01:36:07Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > I think the execs who greenlighted the project probably thought that, with a little massaging, MST could be made palatable to a more mainstream audience. Obviously nothing of the sort would happen; There were a few suits at the 1994 convention who were there to see if making a movie would a good idea. (Un)fortunately, they saw people from every walk of life, every income bracket, etc. You could almost see the dollar signs popping up in their eyes. The movie cost about $2 million to make, yet returned only half of that. It played at VERY few theaters (I had to drive to Atlanta from Savannah to see it). Joel once said that they didn’t write jokes hoping everyone would get them, but that the right people would get them. Apparently the suits at Grammercy didn’t get the whole joke, although I thank them for trying. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-island-earth-help-me-make-sense-of-it/233086/31 "2004-03-09T02:19:43Z")
I laughed more at this movie than I ever have at any other movie, just about ever. I’ve never seen another movie that’s been more consistanty funny. It’s a bit depressing that no-one, not even the “cult” video store down the road has heard of it. Someone recommended the digital archive project as a way to download episodes (I’ve only seen the move and would love to see an ep) but I can’t get it to work. (cue violins) “Self-cleaning ant monster! Leaves only the fresh scent of pine!” ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2004, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-island-earth-help-me-make-sense-of-it/233086/32 "2004-03-09T03:24:34Z")
Why do they always go for the brain? ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2004, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-island-earth-help-me-make-sense-of-it/233086/33 "2004-03-09T04:59:07Z")
“Should we be seeing this?” \ “then i ram my ovipositor down your throat and lay my eggs in your chest, but i’m not an alien…” the (not quite subtle) Manipulator Arm gag (“Manos”) “Mike broke the Hubble, Mike broke the Hubble…” “Believe me Mike, i calculated the odds of this succeding against the odds i was doing something incredibly stupid and…i went ahead anyway” ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2004, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-island-earth-help-me-make-sense-of-it/233086/34 "2004-03-09T07:15:31Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > You trade tungsten for plutonium 186, not lead. Hey, if the Soft Ones thought _Tungsten_ was great stuff to have, maybe they would have gone freakin’ _nuts_ over Lead. ---
**Author:** ![mkl12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@mkl12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkl12)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2004, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-island-earth-help-me-make-sense-of-it/233086/35 "2004-03-09T13:19:49Z")
May your forehead grow like the mighty oak! ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2004, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-island-earth-help-me-make-sense-of-it/233086/36 "2004-03-09T19:50:28Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Hey, if the Soft Ones thought _Tungsten_ was great stuff to have, maybe they would have gone freakin’ _nuts_ over Lead. The _Hard Ones_ thought tungsten was great stuff. Of the Soft One, only the Rationals (and the occasional Left Em) had any interest in science. BTW “The rocket becomes engorged with scientists.” “It was groovy, and I mean that in a good way. It was groovy, and I mean that in a bad way.” ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2004, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-island-earth-help-me-make-sense-of-it/233086/37 "2004-03-09T23:32:08Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > …as well as change a few jokes that were supposedly too hip for Middle America (“It’s Bootsy Collins!” became “It’s Leona Helmsley!”, etc.). I believe it was in on of Mike’s books that he talks about this experience – about the irony of this group of guys from Backwater, MN having to explain to these hip, with-it, L.A. suits exactly who Bootsy Collins was. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-island-earth-help-me-make-sense-of-it/233086/38 "2004-03-10T12:47:30Z")
Ok, I’ll bite, who’s Bootsy Collins? and why would it be funny? ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-island-earth-help-me-make-sense-of-it/233086/39 "2004-03-10T14:41:24Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > Ok, I’ll bite, who’s Bootsy Collins? and why would it be funny? He was a '70s funk musician, and I guess it would be funny because the character in question looked like him. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-island-earth-help-me-make-sense-of-it/233086/40 "2004-03-10T15:31:59Z")
[Him](http://www.funky-stuff.com/bootsy/Gallery/bootsy017.jpg). You might best know him from Dee-Lite’s _Groove Is In The Heart_ video. He bears more than a passing resemblance to a particular species of alien in the flick. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-island-earth-help-me-make-sense-of-it/233086.md?page=1)