Nov 07 2008
This is the last I have to say about this. I promise. (More on MST3k)
Okay - one FINAL post on the Mystery Science Theater 3000 set that Mr. Hall bought me. (Yes, yes, I know I’ve gone rather over-board discussing this thing… but I really like it, okay? Also - since I have only discussed the first two movies - I felt rather beholden to mention the last two).
The last two films in the set were, as I mentioned, First Spaceship on Venus and Laserblast; neither of which I had seen before (as MST3K episodes).
First Spaceship on Venus wasn’t the best MST3k episode I’ve ever seen. It was a bit slow in spots, and as a result the movie was hard to watch. (It’s a bizarrely constructed East German 1950’s Sci-Fi piece; admittedly, it would have been hard to watch regardless). It was from Joel’s second season, and I don’t think he’d quite hit his stride yet - which is, of course, to say that the writers hadn’t hit their stride yet. The jokes still had too much space in between them. That said, there were several really good laughs, so it wasn’t a total loss.
I had already seen Laserblast in its un-MSTied form (ouch). It’s a movie about a neglected teen (I assume he’s a teen) who finds an alien weapon in the desert and then kind of turns into an alien and goes around shooting things. It’s a perfect film for mocking with a group of friends. Which is, indeed, what I did with it when I watched the un-MSTied version… and which is also what makes it perfect MST3k fodder. Mike, Tom and Crow tore it up - and it was hilarious. Interestingly, this was the last episode of MST3k for Comedy Central, which at the time was ostensibly the end of the series… So the host segment ends with Mike, Tom and Crow becoming beings of pure energy and going off to live at the edge of the universe, while Dr. Forrester becomes a space baby and gets raised again by his horrible mother, Pearl. I thought it might be kind of a sad ending, but it worked out pretty amusingly. The real last episode of MST3k was a lot more traumatic for me; there’s a moment where it seems as if they have all died. (I don’t want to spoil it for you, so I won’t say what really happened.) Having all the characters die on the last episode of a beloved television show is kind of rough; yes, I’m looking at you, Dinosaurs!
So, to sum up: after having reviewed all the films and special features, I would still say that this is an excellent MST3k set. It’s one weak spot is the film First Spaceship on Venus, which wasn’t even that bad; and regardless was far outweighed by the excellent riffs on the other three films.
And that’s all I have to say about that!
