*** (out of ****)
Starring Michael J. Nelson, Trace Beaulieu, Jim Mallon, Kevin Murphy, John Brady.
Directed by Jim Mallon, written by Joel Hodgson, Nelson, Beaulieu, Mallon, Murphy, Mary Jo Pehl, Paul Chaplin, and Bridget Jones.
1995 PG13
Features extensive footage from “This Island Earth”
Starring Rex Reason, Faith Domergue, Jeff Morrow, and Lance Fuller.
Directed by Joseph M. Newman & written by Franklin Coen and Edward G. O’Callaghan, from the story “The Alien Machine” by Raymond F. Jones.
1954 NR
The premise of the “Mystery Science Theater 3000” film is identical to the “MST3K” television program: a guy (Michael J. Nelson) and his three robot friends watch crummy science-fiction films from the 1950s and 1960s and make fun of them. Even the most dogmatic film lover will resort to this same thing when saddled with enough like-minded friends. The advantage of “MST3K” is that Mike and his robot pals—seen in shadowed silhouettes at the bottom of the screen—are funnier than we are.
The film to which Mike & co. are subjected is “This Island Earth,” which, like most sci-fi films of ‘50s and ‘60s is not without an unpromising premise but has absolutely no idea how to carry it out. There’s ominous music, to which Our Guys make up words and sing along, there’s clumsy acting, there are aliens disguised as humans but doing a really bad job of it, there are lousy special effects, and the hero has a truly deep voice. The hero, an Air Force scientist named Cal (played by an actor named Rex Reason, I’m not making this up), is courted by a secret society of scientists into joining them at a secluded mansion where they are hard at work trying to put an end to war. Not surprisingly the leaders turn out to be aliens who want the scientists to help them put a stop to devastation on their homeworld. Cal and his fellow scientist/love interest Ruth (Faith Domergue) are eventually taken to the alien world and fight a giant ant. There’s no sense in my making fun of any of this because Mike and the robots do it much better.
Obviously most of us can’t watch something like “MST3K” for more than ninety minutes, and the filmmakers know that, so they shave off the less crucial bits of “This Island Earth.” The jokes come at a brisk pace and include pointing out how badly the aliens disguise themselves, what a stupid voice Cal has, and just about everything else on the screen. A German scientist walks on screen with a little mustache and tiny glasses and one of the robots chimes in “Heil Hitler!” Cal wakes up after a long flight and Mike implies that he urinated or vomited in his hat because the airplane has no bathroom. Two scientists stand on a fog-covered airstrip and a robot begins saying “the lives of two scientists don’t amount to a hill of beans in this world.” Between stretches of mocking the filmmaking Mike and his robot friends wander about their spaceship—oh yeah, did I mention they’re on a spaceship called the Satellite of Love, complete with cardboard-looking props, circa 1955?—and take part in little vignettes that refer back to the film they’ve just watched.
Audiences that are aware of the conventions of science-fiction are more likely to be amused and devotees of the “MST3K” television series will recognize recurring gags. Neither of those are requirements to having a good time though with “MST3K: The Movie,” and fans of the television program will find the movie comparable to a good-but-not-great episode. I seem to remember laughing more at the episodes with “The Dead Will Speak” and “Space Chief,” although “The Movie” is certainly funnier than the episode that featured a film starring Gene Hackman in space. Mike and his robots are jovial, good-natured dopes, with plans of digging to Earth through the floor of their spaceship. I laughed or snickered every two or three seconds, and fell out of my chair once, maybe twice during the course of the really great gags. That’s more than enough to qualify for a three-star rating.
Finished April 28, 2002
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