Every Episode of MST3KRANKED! (#50 #1) – The Workprint

Its nearly Thanksgiving and were doing something only a couple of websites have done: watch every episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and rank each one.

Id love to sit here and pontificate about the shows history and how great it wasbut 1) youve heard it all before 2) you dont really wanna sit here and read what I think about the shows history when so many other people have said whats already been said and 3) weve gotta get going with this thing.

If you still insist on knowing what the hell Im talking about, feel free to visit the following sites:

The MST3K Wikipedia PageThe MST3k YouTube ChannelTheir Official WebsiteThe MST3K Satellite News Site

And, if you wanna compare lists (though that doesnt sound the LEAST bit healthy for a growing man such as yourself), you can do so here:

Mighty Jacks MST3K ReviewRanking Every MST3K Episode, From Worst to Best Paste Magazine

If you want to watch episodes with other MSTies, you can visit the following sites.

Club MST3K This site compiles a full episode guide for the show along with corresponding streaming video of nearly every single episode available online. It also offers a forum to chat with fellow MSTies while you watch. Where to See MST3K Episodes This site does the same thing.

And last, but not least, if you didnt get to read the previous parts, you can do so here:

Every Episode of MST3KRANKED! (#196 #151)Every Episode of MST3KRANKED! (#150 #101)Every Episode of MST3KRANKED! (#100 #51)

With all that out of the way, WEVE GOT MOVIE SIGN!!!

#50 is

Theres a lot of screaming and a lot of skulls in this film but we dont actually witness a screaming skull, per se, something Mike dutifully points out: I think the title was supposed to be Screaming SEMICOLON Skull. Its actually not a terrible film (if you can get by the abusive, asshole husband angle). Its just marred, somewhat, by the hokey special effects sequences and a sub-plot where the cast endlessly chases Mickey, the crazy gardener, around the property for half the film, something which fuels the riffing engine for the episode. Its preceded by the short, Gumby: Robot Rumpus which is cute and charming, but also borderline creepy, ending with one of the robots heads torn off and placed above Gumbys garage like a trophy, causing Crow and Servo some severe emotional trauma. This is worse than SEVEN! Servo exclaims before he and Crow attempt to engage in therapy involving blocks of clay smashing small likenesses of them on a playset with Mike. Solid episode.

BEST RIFF:

MIKE: The movie that DARES to graphically depictsometimes seeing peacocks and sometimesnot seeing peacocks.

(Available on Netflix)

Weve seen Santa Claus fight martians, work with Merlin, crank up horrifying robotic reindeer and employ children as his labor force. Here, Santas on the rocks and needs some rent money to stay afloat up at the North Pole. Yep. Santa rents his place at the North Pole. AND he has a sniveling evil landlord who looks like the real life embodiment of Snidely Whiplash who will pretty much own Santa, lock, stock, and barrel somehow. So, its only fitting that Santas team assembles like the Avengers to help him! I was GONE when Jonah and the Bots started yelling the kids superhero names as they got out of bed to help Santa, one after the other. Riffs like that make episodes magical. The entire premise is just outrageously silly but, considering the other Christmas films weve gotten on this show, this is par for the course, as unpleasant as the premise sounds. Some of the best bits come from the weird, arbitrary musical numbers and when Jonah and the Bots pick at the fact that Santa seems so strangely unfamiliar with how to actually be Santa Claus. This is good stuff.

BEST RIFF:

SERVO: How did we end up with a Santa with such extreme generalized anxiety disorder?

(Available on Netflix)

RiffTrax (Mike Nelsons off-shoot of MST3K with Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy) did a great job with Sharknado and Sharknado 2. After that, any other Asylum feature RiffTrax covered felt gratuitous. So, I really had mixed feelings about MST3K covering Atlantic Rim. You could almost hear Mike Nelson and company assuring Joel that covering an Asylum feature would be a blast. And I suppose its fun watching Joels company giving it the ol heave-ho. Its not that this movie doesnt deserve the MST3K treatmentits that The Asylum is basically making cheap, shitty movies on purpose and, essentially, this is free advertising for them. Its not that the other five films arent shitty, its that films like Mac and Me and Lords of the Deep had conviction and you could tell some effort was put into the concept of those films. By comparison, the inclusion of Atlantic Rim is a bit too corporate for my taste and goes against the charm MST3K offers. That said, the riffing works, though not every joke hits here. The riffs are the funniest when the action is hot. Jonah and the Bots treatment of Reds machismo and veteran actor Graham Greenes penchant for overusing the phrase get on the horn every ten minutes is a riot. If Mac and Me had pretty nice as the newest addition to MST3Ks ongoing vernacular, you can add Reds Ba-boom and Graham Greenes Bull Butter to the mix. The biggest issue with this episode is that the movie is a brainless, rapid fire mess, something that Crow points out near the end, so the movie really almost ends up making fun of itself and there are moments where the jokes fall flat because theyre less jokes and more casual observations.

The episode also takes a slight step down in quality in terms of the sketches which, while funny, are not as well-conceived as the ones we saw in the first episode: in the first sketch, we get Kinga and Max forcing Jonah and the Bots to produce an impromptu song thats on par with Season 11s Every Country Has a Monster. What follows is a mess of impromptu lyrics reminiscent of Joel and the Bots attempt at the mockery of the song from Pod People. The self-deprecation is quite good. The second sketch has the boys on the SOL comparing medal stories in true Broski fashion, ala the films main character Red, and its cute but nothing terribly special. I might get beat up for this, but Atlantic Rim is not as good as the Season 12 opener, Mac and Me. Where the last episode was more composted, Atlantic Rim is controlled chaos. though dont let that fool you. Its just a SLIGHT step down from the last episode. The show is still amusing and I had to stop recording some of the best lines purely because there were so many.

BEST RIFF:

(A robot suit fights a CGI monster.)JONAH: Fun fact: Andy Serkis is playing BOTH of those characters.

(Available on Netflix)

The cast and crew of MST3K has always had balls in that they constantly strive to top themselves. In Season 3, they topped Santa Claus Conquers the Martians with Season 5s Santa Claus only to falter when attempting to top the brilliant Mitchell with Final Justice in Season 10. MST3K alumni Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett have attempted to cover some of their older material with new riffs and mixed results. When Joel Hodgson and company announced they were going to riff the Ator film that came before Season 3s immortal Cave Dwellers, I was excitedbut only cautiously. Im not saying I am disappointed in sequel riffing or attempts at riffing similar material. Its just that the sophomore efforts are rarely as good as the first attempts.The verdict for Ator, the Fighting Eagle? I can tell you that the riffs are spot on. If Jonah and the Bots were boxers, they come out of the first round, swinging and hitting so many riffs, I actually had to stop recording gems. The humor does have a slight lull near the middle but picks up again moments later. The riffing centers on the ludicrous plotting and tiny budget the filmmakers were working with. The first third of the film is an A+ riff session, especially with the treatment of the weird angle where Ator marries his sister who really isnt his sister. The whole thing is creepy especially the way Miles OKeefe leers at the actress playing Sunya. It makes your skin crawl. Anyway, I cannot and will not spoil the rest of the riffing. The absolute classic is Crows riff on the Spider God puppet which he dubs Snufflelantula, a line so hilarious, I had to pause the show a couple minutes so that I could stop laughing. Ator, the Fighting Eagle is a joy to watch. The riffing is on par with Cave Dwellers (come at me, bros) and proves that the show is timeless.

BEST RIFF:

(A woman breast feeds her baby.)CROW: Ehwe shouldnt be watching thisJONAH: You mean the movie?CROW: YES!

(Available here.)

This was the debut of MST3K on The SyFy Channel and its a decent start to that era, if a little awkward due to the massive amount of changes. First, the Brains had to deal with the loss of Trace Beaulieu who had moved on after the final episode on Comedy Central. This means that there was no more Dr. Forrester and that the voice of Crow had to be re-cast. As such, Mary Jo Pehl became the new villain, reprising the role of Pearl Forrester, Claytons mother, who vows to continue her sons cheesy movie experiment. Pearl was thankfully (and deservedly) more fleshed out here. Rather than the whiny, annoying mother figure we saw in Season 7, her character was funnier, even sweet at times but no less evil. She was also given a more sarcastic bite, too, which was most welcome. The Brains also dubbed writer Bill Corbett the new voice of Crow. Corbett played Crow as more intense, sarcastic, and gruff and, in the beginning, theres a noticeable lack of puppeteering skills in that the dialogue doesnt match his mouth movements and hes a lot more stiff. The color scheme on the SOL stayed largely the same except that the bridge was given a slightly more industrial look. Ambient blue lighting now flooded down onto the performers and a reddish accent was added. Kevin Murphy was cast as Professor Bobo, a sentient ape ala Planet of the Apes and Pearls second banana. The Nanites, microscopic beings who perform various tasks and maintenance on the ship also make their debut here. As for the storyline, its revealed that 500 years have passed since Laserblast. Mike and the Bots have returned to the SOL from the Edge of the Universe. Crow has changed and doesnt recognize Mike, yet knows Servo and Gypsy, and Pearl Forrester runs things on Earth with Bobo and his ape colleagues. Its all very strangebut, then, the show was always aloof in some way. It was also weird that SyFy demanded two things: that Season 8 have a soap opera-esque running storyline (something that was ditched by the beginning of Season 9) and that every single film had to fall within the sci-fi/fantasy genre (something that had been ditched by Season 10). Gone, at this point, were the shorts. We didnt see another one until Season 9 and, even at that point, we only saw two the entire SyFy run. No more fan letters were read, either, which took away part of the homespun charm of the show. Riff-wise, its like old times. While Revenge of the Creature (the sequel to the far superior Creature From the Black Lagoon) may not be the greatest experiment the show has seen, watching Mike and the Bots take on the movie is like slipping into an old pair of shoes. It does take awhile to get going and doesnt get truly great until about the middle of the film when the Creature escapes and goes after the woman he adores. The bits about Chris the Dog are hilarious and I laughed heartily during a sequence where the Creature tosses an adult man ten feet into a tree which draws genuine laughter from the guys and makes Crow remark that the Creature has a nice rising fastball. Its a fun film to start with and it would get better from here.

BEST RIFF:

(During the films climax)CROW: The disorganized, short-lived, badly-botched, and thoroughly ineffectual Revenge of the Creature!

I had never seen The Brute Man up until this project and Id seen most of the episodes in this series. I thought it would just be another standard episode but its far funnier than that. Starting with Chicken of Tomorrow, a short about raising chickens so that they can lay eggs or be cooked and put on a dinner plate for your enjoyment. The bit where one of the female chickens suddenly talks to the shorts narrator is laugh-out-loud hilarious because its so unexpected and arbitrary and it produces some genuine laughter from the guys who cant seem to understand the placement of it, either. This leads right into The Brute Man which is about a man named The Creeper. Hes huge and deformed and kills people but has a soft spot for a blind girl who cant see who he is. Again, theres more genuine laughter to be had here as the guys have a field day with the creeper and creeping jokes as well as Brutes own mental thoughts. The general store sequence with the angry old man is priceless. Theres greatness to be had in Season 7 and this is one of the great ones.

BEST RIFF:

(The Brute Man smiles and barely has a mouth opening.)CROW: Whoa! Does he strain KRILL through his mouth?!

An Ed Wood-scripted film about a gang of females who terrorize their community. It includes a fairly famous implied rape scene where the gang of girls takes a guy into the woods after tying up his girlfriend and then attempts to have their way with him. All the mayhem (which includes an unintentionally laugh-out-loud hilarious scene where after one of the female gang members shoots at the cops, she actually expresses surprise when the cops actually shoot back to which Servo remarks, Those BASTARDS!) culminates in an extremely hypocritical message about the degradation of societal morals. Its the perfect companion to the episodes opening short, A Young Mans Fancy which oozes with subtle undercurrents of sex. The riffing is spot on with both the short and feature even if the sketches arent great (Servos imitation of Barbra Streisand in A Star Is Born is painful to watch, as artsy as it tries to be) but the episode, overall, is a blast.

BEST RIFF:

(Women surround a guy and tie up his girlfriend with the intent on having their way with him.)CROW: Dr. Forrester has sent us a truly GREAT movie!

When The Skydivers was first advertised on MST3K, Trace Beaulieu said that it was worse than Manos. Its not that, really. Manos was an entity of sheer filmmaking evil. This is like The Amazing Colossal Man without Glenn. Its a Coleman Francis film and probably the best of the few that were showcased on the show, involving murderous happenings at a skydiving school. The guys spend a ton of time making fun of the impossibly dweeby Frankie, the weird promiscuous Suzy and the coffee-happy Beth as well as the cute little prop plane Beth owns, who Mike and the Bots dub Petey the Plane and make up a goofy voice for him. The film is wildly uneven and horribly dark and edited shoddily (Somebody with Attention Deficit Disorder edited this film! says Crow) and its just a strange little movie but not the worst of all-time. The Industrial Arts short that comes before it results in some fantastic riffing as well. The sketches are near perfection (the opening Uranus jokes are funny despite the sophomoric nature of them) and this is just a great episode.

BEST RIFF:

MIKE (as Frankie): I feel like a cheesburgerwould you go have sex with the guy at the Jack-in-the-Box?

The Starfighters is nothing more than a commercial for the Air Force, starring such dazzling actors as Sentaor Bob Dornan. Remember Crash of Moons and the endless sequences of rockets taking off and landing? Get ready for endless sequences of stock footage of planes bombing objects in the desert and planes re-fueling in mid-flight along with puzzling, surreal sequences of the pilots dating lives which actually features an in-depth conversation about the benefits of corn de-tasseling. Many of the jokes revolve around sex and its not difficult to see why. The constant shots of fuel hoses trying to enter fueling baskets (and premature shots of fuel shooting out when a hose doesnt make it) is so unintentionally funny, one might make the same comparison. The real genius is in the sketch work, which features Crow attempting to get his brand-new PC on the Internet, only to have it fight him every single step of the way, the great sketch where Mike and the Bots try to sell Cowboy Mikes Own Original Red Hot Ricochet BBQ Sauce and the supremely beautiful Servo Academy Mens Choir featuring a half dozen Tom Servos singing a gorgeous song that, even as gibberish, is something to behold.

BEST RIFF:

COLONEL: Did you know that flying a plane is like making love?CROW: Uh, you have to pay?

I didnt honestly think it was possible for things to get weirder than the first Santa Claus episode we saw on MST3K. The Brains found a way to prove me wrong. Santa faces off against the Devil. The ACTUAL DEVIL. Santa also has a spy network that rivals Russia in terms of complexity. And Merlin (Yes, THAT Merlin) is one of Santas allies. This is as weird as it sounds. Yeah, this is gonna draw comparisons to Santa Claus Conquers the Martians but that episode, despite the fame associated with its name and its popularity which is generally associated to the legendary Patrick Swayze Christmas sketch. Santa Claus has what Martians didnt: consistently funny riffing. Its not difficult when the guys are given this much ammunition, from Santas weird underage (and racist) toy factory to his creepy, wind-up reindeer to the fact that Santa employs child labor to spy on people whenever he wants (with weird-looking gadgets to boot; a giant eye on an extending metal tube?!) to the weird nightmares Pitch, the Devil, makes children have. This movie makes Martians look normal.

BEST RIFF:

MIKE: Why does he have an Air Force Star above his door?!SERVO: Well, Santa flew 23 missions over North Korea.MIKE: You dont say

(Available on Netflix)

Like Cry Wilderness before it, Carnival Magic is just one of those films that makes you wonder how far down the IMDB rabbit hole the producers of MST3K are willing to go. Its not the strangest film the shows ever featured but its certainly an odd film about a carnival in the middle of nowhere and the people who run it and the story revolves around a monkey who can talk and drive and nearly undergoes a procedure where hes ripped open by a weird doctor who looks like your English professor but sounds like Thurl Ravenscroft. Its just a goofy production and one that the guys seem at home with. Its pretty much summed up by Jonah when he sees the director credit during the films opening: a great opening joke from Jonah: Al Adamson is the name Alan Smithee uses when he doesnt want his name on a film.

BEST RIFF:

JONAH: Is it me or is this scene supposed to feel like a hopeful autopsy?

In a way, MST3Ks 9th season felt like they were choosing some low-hanging fruit with films like The Pumaman, Hobgoblins, and Werewolf. That isnt to say Werewolf isnt howlingly funny (see what I did there?), its just so ridiculous (a man with the werewolf curse inside him drives WHILE hes a wolf in a scene where you just laugh your ass off), one almost wonders if it was made this bad on purpose. Its the story of the discovery of a werewolf skull and the absolute chaos it manages to create with the small Arizona town where this is supposed to take place. Mike and the Bots have a field day with actress Adrianna Miles who has a thick accent and says things like, Paulyou is a war-wilf? and it doesnt even need to be riffed. It wouldnt be so bad if she would put some conviction behind her lines but she plays Natalie like a wide-eyed zombie who occasionally says something dull. The sketch work is decent with a great opening where Mike think hes James Lipton from Inside the Actors Studio and culiminates with Where O Werewolf, a song where Mike and the Bots dress in 50s drag and sing about Mike (or Suzies) werewolf beau. It hearkens back to the old MST3K days and thats most welcome.

BEST RIFF:

SERVO: This is very movingin that I want to MOVE out of the theater IMMEDIATELY.

(Available on Netflix)

The last time we saw a Charles Band production was the 7th Season Finale, Laserblast. And, despite throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the audience If you want evidence that the riffing is a little tighter, look no further than this experiment. The entire light switch sequence is beautifully riffed with Jonah and the Bots taking the pain in stride, sarcastically clapping at the end of the scene, one that, appropriate to the film, has gone absolutely nowhere. Servos line about the films seemingly lazy nature just before the cut sums it up beautifully: This whole movie is like the cold open to a Columbo episode. It is that and more. Other riffs play on Grants gruff, somewhat grizzled nature, inventing a running joke in his imaginary love of Steak Milk (Grant loves grilling steaks and the joke is that he craves it all the time, infusing it into his night-time glass of milk; its funnier than it sounds) and several jokes are made about Jenny, the annoying kid who knows everything but who the adults ignore all the time despite the fact that she keeps saving their butts at every turn. This episode is notable for revealing the fate of Dr. Erhardt who, we were told, went missing at the beginning of Season 2. Hes back to scatter the ashes of (and close the door on) TVs Frank and Dr. Clayton Forrester, Maxs dad and Kingas dad, respectively. Season 12 (and the modern era) really found its rhythm here.

BEST RIFF:

SERVO: This whole movie is like the cold open of a Columbo episode.

The first time I heard the Brains were going to take this movie on, I knew nothing about it other than it sounded like absolute garbage. The funny thing was, in my mind, I pictured some guy in a lame puma costume. How in the hell do you come in below even THOSE expectations? The actual Puma Man (pronounced pew-muh man by just about everyone in the cast which wimps it down even further) is a dweeby-looking guy wearing a black shirt and Jim Harbaugh-style khaki slacks with a short red cape that only goes down to the middle of his back because I guess they didnt have the budget for a full cape. Not that it matters anyhow. Theres no improving on the costume, like, at all. And whats even more amusing are his powers which includes things pumas can do likeflyand walk through walls. That first one is just tragic because its obviously Puma Man against a rear projection screen showing city scapes that move back and forth and not in one specific direction. Picture a child toying around with the dial and you have an idea of what watching it is like. The riffing is strong throughout the episode but gets better by the second half, especially when Puma Mans hero theme (which sounds like background music for a cable access TV commercial) begins playing and the guys begin singing random things like Wehave gotselection and savings or Ifyou lovethe great taste of bacon. Its just awesome stuff.

BEST RIFF:

CROW: You know, I have almost no respect for pumas now. I now know that if I ever run into a puma, I could just push it the hell over.

Ah, Soultaker. Not to go Joe Buck on everyone, but HERES an episode where you had it all. The SOL is in trouble. Mechanical systems are failing all over the place, Gypsys behavior chip is bad and the ship is on its way to burn up in Earths atmosphereall while a mysterious ship monitors the SOLs status from afar. Things down at Castle Forrester are just as bad: an evil, soul-stealing wraith has descended upon Pearl and her minions and all hope seems lost. How fitting is it that the film in question is Soultaker, an 80s fantasy/horror romp written by the star of the film, Vivian Schilling? Its not too terrible, but its not very good and most of the jokes seem to come at Vivians expense. One of my favorite moments is where Zack questions the logic of one of the characters and Natalie (Schilling, in character) acts shocked. Mikes response is perfect: Hey, look, you WROTE this crap! Its a decently-riffed film, though not wholly memorable in terms of the jokes and there isnt really a line that produces a good belly laugh. The main attraction is the set of sketchesthe ship monitoring the SOL is piloted by none other than Joel Robinson, the original host of the show. And the wraith is none other than TVs Frank. The banter between Pearl and Frank is wonderful and the first meeting between Mike and Joel warms your heart and feels like a handshake between two enemy superpowers. It just doesnt get any better than that. My ONLY gripe is that this wasnt the series finale on SyFy with an ending which saw Joel rescuing Mike and the Bots from their captivity. But you cant have it all.

BEST RIFF:

SERVO (as Vivian/Natalie writing this moment in the script): INT: Bedroom. ME, draped across the bed, tousled and tawny. I lay there, hand on my taut tummy, still pretty in a worried sort of way.

If The Hallmark Channel began airing flicks about witchcraft and Satan instead of 1000 Christmas flicks, youd probably have Merlins Shop of Mystical Wonders, a film about a grandfather who tells bedtime stories to his grandson that involve horrible, evil toy monkeys that spread death and destruction across whole suburban areas. Im not kidding. The thing kills flies, starts garage fires and then murders the family petand this story is something a child should hear? This is something Mike and the Bots point out throughout the film and they SHOULD, for crying outloud. This is one dark story. I mean, a severly depressed and powerless Merlin walking around the city asking people if theyve seen his monkey doesnt even bring comfort to the proceedings. I couldnt even make up that last bit if I were on shrooms. A hilarious episode, though. Quite underrated.

BEST RIFF:

SERVO (as little kid): No, Grandpa Borgnine, leave light and hope for me, please!CROW (as Borgnine): Get out from behind that cushion, Billy, it gets worse!

The Comedy Central era of MST3K comes to an end with Laserblast, a terrible piece of science fiction about a kid who finds an alien gun because the aliens who own it are too stupid to simply retrieve it for some reason. Like every other episode in the reduced Season 7, the riffing is solid, taking multiple shots at the fat sheriff with a resemblance to Hank Williams, Jr. (they take turns shouting variations of ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL nearly every single time hes on screen) as well as the pacing of the film which is so unbelievably lazy and apathetic, Servo declares that the endless shots of Kathy waiting for Billy is like watching an aquarium. But, of course, the reason to watch the episode is to see how the show almost ended. At the time, this was considered the end of MST3K as SyFy hadnt stepped in to save the show just yet. The sketches arent wonderful. Mike and the Bots escape burning up in Earths atmosphere after Dr. Forrester disconnects the Umbilicus. Due to the ships lack of directional capabilities, the SOL is shot into deep space. Along the way, they confront an angry, sentient satellite, run into a field of Space Children (and change one of their diapers) and nearly meet their ends due to a black holeuntil Mike, dressed as Captain Janeway, saves them in a hilarious sketch (in which Mike declares that hes responsible for the 148 crew members aboard this ship144 of which, we never see). The show ultimately ends with Mike and the Bots arriving at The Edge of the Universe and becoming pure energy while, on Earth, in a homage to 2001: a space odyssey, Clayton grows older and older and becomes a star child who Pearl has to raise. This would be Trace Beaulieus last show as he wouldnt make the leap to SyFy. From here on out, Bill Corbett, a writer with the show, became the new Crow,

BEST RIFF:

MIKE: These credits give you a chance to finish your popcorn, talk a littledecide to see another movie

Easily, one of the most goofy films MST3K ever did. The Wild Wild World of Batwoman attempted to hack off a piece of that sweet Adam West Batman money. Theres some sort of plot involving a hearing aid that will allow Ratfink (thats actually the villains name; I guess they didnt want to be TOO subtle here) to listen in on every conversation on the planet. Only Batwoman stands in his way. Batwoman, by the way, looks like someones tried soccer mom (wearing a really weird Dracula/Batperson hybrid costume with a late 80s Cher-at-the-Oscars peacock headdress) who (VERY) passively makes strange, calm diplomatic deals with her enemies instead of fighting. Be prepared for endless sequences where her Batgirls dance, beyond their control, because of a formula which has been specifically invented by the villains to make girls go-go dance. It makes the Cheating short that comes before the film look normal. Im really trying to avoid writing large capsules for each episodefor this one, that isnt possible. The movie is batshit insane and it drives Mike and the Bots batshit insane the longer it goes. Most of the humor comes from their weariness and impatience with the film, an act we rarely see because theyre usually not THIS affected by a movie. Servo finally snapping and screaming EEEEEEEEND!!! at the movie during the umpteenth go-go dancing scene is as therapeutic as it is well-deserved. What a movie

BEST RIFF:

CROW: Oh, stop pretending theres a PLOT! Dont cheapen yourself further!

This is, without a doubt, the dumbest film ever shown on MST3K. I know the shows concept is to show bad movies but did we have to get into USA Up All Night territory? I mean, watching this film (a bunch of Gremlin/Critter hybrids escape a film set and make idiot teenagerss fantasies come to life in murderous ways), its easy to see that its schlock cinema and that he wasnt into making a serious film here. The riffing is near-perfect as Mike and the Bots range anywhere from complete exasperation (Servo counts at least 30 parking scenes throughout the film) to free-wheeling and relaxed to the point of directly insulting a cardboard cut-out of director Rick Sloane during the end credits. Apparently, Sloane was mostly pleased with the shows treatment of his film but didnt like them personally attacking him. To me, the insults directed at him are about as aggressive as a roast and come with the territory. When you produce a film this bad, what else would you expect? Its all in good fun.

BEST RIFF:

CROW: Can we have a law, that in the future, films have to be made by filmmakers?!

More here:
Every Episode of MST3KRANKED! (#50 #1) - The Workprint

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero