Time Chasers (1994) – MST3K Review

Summary:

Nick Miller (Matthew Bruch) has just created a time machine using his small plane and a combination of his old Tandy computer and his Nintendo Entertainment System. As a result he can fly through awesome colorful visual effects and land in a futuristic shopping mall. He’s convinced he can make some serious coin doing this so he contacts Lisa Henson (Bonnie Pritchard) a local journalist and corporate big-shot J.K. Robertson (George Woodard).

Well wouldn’t you know it, Robertson is out to turn the time machine into a weapon! So Nick and Lisa must race against time (see, because it’s a time travel movie!) to top Robertson. Prepare yourself for early 90s fashions, time paradoxes and a trip back to the American Revolution as the Time Chasers attempt set things right.

Movie Review:

Also known as Tangents, this is actually a good bit of independent movie making fun. Sure it’s a bit silly and looks dated, but there’s a fun story at the center and the cast and crew are obviously enthusiastic about the project. This is one of those cases where the sum of the parts don’t add up to a stellar whole.

The movie was filmed in 1990, and you get a strong 80s vibe off the whole affair (Lisa’s outfits and hair in particular are very late 80s). But it’s also a movie more inspired by Spielberg than Tarantino. The movie aims for thrills and adventure over snarky dialogue and angst (two trademarks of the mid and late 90s). So the movie was already dated by the time it was released.

Filmed entirely in Vermont by a plucky group of independent filmmakers, you get the feeling that this is a labor of love. Sadly to make a solid sci-fi effort dealing with time travel to the future and the distant past, you need quite a bit of cash. That’s where things fall apart. The time machine itself is ridiculously low tech. One of the benefits of the Back to the Future trilogy (which was obviously a huge inspiration here) is that we never get a good look or understanding of how the time machine works. All the mechanisms and glowing lights are more fantastical than straight up science. Time Chasers makes the mistake of showing us the computers used and the old floppy discs that supposedly store all the time travel technology. Not only does this immediately date the film, but stretches the credibility for anyone vaguely familiar with the limits of 80s computer technology.

The script itself is actually handled pretty well. There are a few plot holes, but the movie breezes by them, so you don’t really notice until you think about it afterward. Unfortunately some of the acting is suspect. Our main character Nick is like a variation on the character Richard Dreyfuss played in Jaws, and Bruch seems to be channeling Dreyfuss any chance he gets. Our main character is the nerdy hero who gets in over his head. But the script has our hero make some boneheaded decisions and Bruch approach can make Nick actually abrasive at times.

Henson is hit or miss, sometimes fitting the part of the dogged journalist with a thing for scientists with huge chins. Other times she seems lost or confused (maybe the patterns on her clothing hypnotized her). Woodard is having a blast as the evil villain, yeah he’s over the top, but he makes the whole thing more fun. The rest of the cast is either over the top or stumbling through lines (friends of the cast and crew I suspect).

The special effects used for the time travel are low budget and silly. You can’t help but laugh. However I have to give them credit for creating as much of a futuristic look to the mall as they could with the budget they probably had. The two future scenes (one attempting the bright Back to the Future Part 2 style future, the other the cruddy post-WWIII future that looks like old Detroit from Robocop) try to do a lot with very little. Sadly it isn't too convincing. For the American Revolution scenes, director David Giancola recruited the local reenactment group and had some fun. Sure some of these guys look as close to minutemen as I would have back in the 90s (hey I had the ponytail!). But its not everyday you get a group of redcoats chasing around a business exec who happens to have an UZI with him.

The movie boasts a few action scenes with Nick and Lisa attempting to escape some corporate goons or maybe some crazed future denizens. The most memorable scenes are when Nick attempts to escape from pursuers in a car while riding a bike (inspired by The Final Sacrifice perhaps?). The other scene has Nick attempting to climb down a tree before his own plane falls down on him. This scene is very close to the similar one in Jurassic Park that would come out a few years later. Was Spielberg inspired by Time Chasers?

What it comes down to is a movie that overstretches its reach. Sci-fi usually relies on special effects, and even if you have a fun and entertaining story to work with, if the surrounding elements look shoddy it can be a deal breaker for some viewers. But not for me. I appreciate the effort the cast and crew put in. It’s a flawed but fun movie. Still it has a lot of material to work with for our favorite riffing crew.

Episode Review:

Time Chasers is the middle episode of the heroic three episode conclusion to season eight. These three episodes are some of my favorite from the entire series run, mostly because they all fit into one my favorite genres: cheesy 80s sci-fi. And while Time Chasers is technically 90s, it is so rooted in 80s style that it fits right in.

Part of me thinks Mike and the bots come down a little too hard on a movie that was obviously made by a group of independent filmmakers who tried their best with the resources they had. But the final result is an episode that is so funny and entertaining in its own right that I think the whole thing works better together: like chocolate and peanut butter.

They pretty much go after everything in the movie from our nerdy hero (Crow quips “I refuse to accept this guy as our hero. You hear that movie?") to the hideous early 90s fashions (Tom says, “I’m a naked robot and even I know you don’t dress like that").

They have a lot of fun with Woodard’s villainous performance as well as his office (which looks like it was filmed in a library or mall). Woodard has some odd speech patterns and they pick right up on it, adding lines and mimicking him exactly. Anytime he’s on the screen they have a good time.

They also comment on everything during the actual time travel sequences, from the costumes, sets and especially the Revolutionary War extras. Mike wonders how fast the British would have won if these guys were defending our country.

While there are a few slow spots, they are few and far between. You get one of the best riffing sessions of season eight. And while I prefer Space Mutiny and Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, it’s a strong middle episode in this trilogy of riffing.

The host segments are some of the best of the season taking the time travel element and having some real fun with it. The opening segment has Mike trying to avoid saying the phrase Lost in Space or else something horrible will happen. Then Mike and Pearl have a nice chat in her van. It’s actually a nice little scene with Crow popping in for some laughs.

At the first break Tom decides that the only way to keep Mike from becoming a prisoner on the Satellite of Love is to send Crow back and time and convince him not to take the temp job that would land him in this mess. Well Crow goes back in time all right but things don’t go as planned. When Crow gets back, he discovers that Mike’s brother Eddie (also played by Mike) is now the poor dope on the SOL. And Eddie is a chain smoking, beer swilling jerk who uses Tom Servo as an ashtray! After suffering through a riffing session with Eddie, Crow travels back in time in the next segment to stop himself from convincing Mike to not take the temp job. The final segment has Mike and Pearl discussing the movie and Crow’s time travel adventure. But Pearl points out that somewhere in the 1980s another version of Crow is wandering around. The episode ends with Crow working in a cheese factory in the 80s.

So not only do you get a really fun riffing session, but a solid (if low budget) time travel film and some of the best host segments from the Sci-fi era of the show. This episode easily gets five pink blazers out of five.

This episode is available on the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Volume 5

Top Ten MST3K Movies on Netflix (as of March 2017)

Yeah this is an oddly specific list, but I figured I'd get the word out there. Netflix is going to unleash the new season of Mystery Science Theater 3000 in April. To prep you for it, they've got their hands on 20 episodes of show spanning the second season on Comedy Central to the tenth season on Sci-fi channel.

There ares some really good ones on there, and if you haven't had a chance to check them out, I can give you a recommendation on my ten favorite episodes from this group. I'll rank the remaining 10 as well. I have reviews for a good portion of most of these, but if you'd like further details, feel free to contact me and I'll put a review in the queue for you!

As with anything else MST3K, my personal preferences for cheesy movies influences my picks. I love bad 80s sci-fi and fantasy films. So you'll certainly seen a lean in that direction. And just because I have more Mike episodes on this list just means they don't have some of my favorite Joel episodes like Cave Dwellers, Mitchel, Fugitive Alien and Time of the Apes.

Runners Up

20. Horrors of Spider Island
19. Sidehackers
18. Future War
17. Catalina Caper
16. Teenagers from Outer Space
15. Zombie Nightmare
14. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
13. Laserblast
12. Eegah
11. Hercules Against the Moonmen

Top Ten
10. Werewolf

This episode from the Sci-fi channel era is one of the few 1990s movies they tackled. Not that it makes it any better or worse, just an observation. Archeologists discover a skeleton of a native american werewolf. Some poor schmo gets scratched by the bone and there is a werewolf on the rampage! For some reason, no one able to pronounce the word "werewolf" the same. Yuri's hair changes in each new scene. You've got hilarious werewolf makeup/suits/effects. Then there is an Yosemite Sam guy who lives in the house. This horror movie isn't scary but hilariously incompetent. Mike and the bots have a blast with it. This one is a Halloween staple at my house.

9. The Giant Gila Monster

Don Sullivan! Don't know who Don Sullivan is? Well you will after this hit giant lizard film. Well "hit" is a strong word. It's a hit for MST3K fans for sure. You've got a teen hero who is a mechanic and hot rodder. When a giant gila monster starts devouring folks, he works with the sheriff (who has no jurisdiction over anything according to this movie) to find and stop the beast. There are silly songs, people putting their knees up on things and of course the hilarious "monster" who is just a monster because they put him on a model train set. Joel and bots provide some excellent dialogue for the creature and sing whenever they sing, whenever they sing, whenever they SING!

8. Merlin's Mystical Shop of Wonders

Oh this movie. And it is only a movie in a the loosest sense of the word. It is actually a bunch of cobbled together short films and other footage to pass itself off as a movie. The basic story is that Ernest Borgnine is telling his grandson stories about Merlin the magician. But these stories are hideous! Cat and dogs are murdered. People explode. A kid appears to be stuck in 1983, but the first story clearly happens in the late 80s! Merlin shows people a picture of his little monkey. Toys kill people. A demon speaks from a minor And there is a very angry psychic! Mike and the bots have a great time with all the insanity on display. My favorite episode from season ten.

7. Manos: The Hands of Fate

Infamous. Has been called one of the worst films of all time. It is not hard to see why. Attempting to be a horror film, but creepy for all the wrong reasons. The film follows a family lost in Texas and encountering a mysterious house. When they ask for shelter for the night the strange and hilarious Torgo (and his HUGE HUGE knees) stammers that "the master won't be pleased". Soon enough you find out what The Master is, and there are women wandering around in white gowns, and Torgo paws at people in a creepy manner and a little girl is probably traumatized after filming this. Joel and the bots give us a master class in riffing a z-grade movie, but you may need to shower after watching this one.

6. Time Chasers

Inspired by Back the Future more than H.G. Wells this movie follows an amateur scientist who makes a time machine out of a small plane. But soon evil forces lead by a huge corporation (that appears to be in a mall or library) attempt to take the time machine and use it as a weapon. Our hero must travel to the future and the past to try to stop them. You get revolutionary war reenactments, future mall action, a guy in a pink suit, a chase between a bike and a car, and of course lots of our hero's chin which is very prominent. Part of the 3 part 80s sci-fi punch at the end of season eight, Mike and the bots deliver the comedy with this one.

5. Pod People
I love this horrible horrible movie. Another one that doesn't know what the hell it is trying to do. One moment you have a cute kid meeting a friendly alien, E.T. style. Next you have a teen pop band being slapped to death by a less then friendly alien, becoming a feeble slasher movie of sorts. There are also egg poachers, and a grumpy guy who drinks a metric ton of alcohol, not mention unbelievable visual effects as Trumpy (the alien star) does "magic things". You get the hit single "Idiot Control Now" and did I mention everyone is dubbed and the movie is edited by a spastic box turtle? No. Well, there I just did. A real classic of the series with Joel and the bots knocking it out of the park early in season three.

4. Puma Man

So many super hero films, so little time. But Mike and the bots found this wonderfully bad movie about a paleontologist who gets a suit from an Aztec priest and becomes the Puma Man. This means he can see in red vision, jump around on trampolines hidden behind objects, claw threw tin foil, and "fly" like he's dangling from wires attached from his rear end. And the music, dear sweet Muses, the music is so so bad. Donald Pleasance plays the villain and wears some super funky 70s disco outfits. There are some masks and alien overlords and... look, just watch Puma Man. It will change your life. Mike and the bots unleash the riffs and this movie earns each one.

3. Jack Frost

Mystery Science Theater 3000 tackled their share of dubbed films over the years, but the fantasy films from Russia are some of my favorites. This one takes the cake in my book. It is essentially a bunch of Russian fairy tales and fables thrown into a blender, set on high speed and then dumped all over the screen. It is bright, colorful, energetic and completely bonkers. There is a young man who turns into a bear headed creature. There is the cutest little girl in all of Russia tormented by a wicked stepmother and stepsister. There are magical mushroom wizards. There is a pig sled. A man obsessed with goose livers and of course Jack Frost, who looks like Santa Claus in blue and the ability to coat everything with ice and snow. Mike and the bots are hand again to give this movie the riffing treatment. The movie is so much goofy fun, and the riffing works perfectly with it. A favorite winter time treat.

2. I Accuse My Parents

I would never have thought that a silly melodrama about a young man who somehow gets involved in organized crime would become one of my favorite episodes of all time. But here it is. This morality tale follows Jimmy ("don't forget he's kind of stupid, Joel") who is neglected by his parents, even when he wins an essay contest. He ends up selling shoes to a lovely lounge singer and falling for her. Trouble is, she is dating a crime boss. The crime boss hires Jimmy to "run shadowy errands" and it all goes wrong. The movie isn't horrible, with solid acting and camera work. No it is the story and dialogue that is so silly. Joel and the bots just run with it and it works beautifully. You also get them riffing a short film on farming, which is as odd as it sounds. This is an endlessly quotable episode and one that we often return to when we've had a bad day. It never fails to make us laugh or just sing along with the songs.

1. Space Mutiny

Cheesy 80s sci-fi with no budget, hilarious acting and one of the most idiotic screenplays I've ever seen put to film. Yes! Sign me up! The Southern Sun is traveling through space to find a new world to colonize. But angry, grumpy people on board are sick of space travel and want to join forces with space pirates (I think, it is all very unclear). What I do know is that there is a mutiny in space. Laser guns are shot, people fall off railings, lots of 80s "future" outfits are worn, our muscly hero blows lines and shouts in a high pitch scream, the villain chews so much scenery he's nearly foaming at the mouth. You get some alien women dancing in a shadowy room. There is a sequence in a club that will leave you speechless. And the car chase. Yes a car chase on a space ship. The movie feels like it is gift wrapping the riffs for Mike and the bots. So bad was never so good.

MST3K - Season 8 Overview

Season 8 was a time of wonder and whimsy, when Mystery Science Theater 3000 returned from the grave to give us more laughs on a new network. Now on the Sci-fi Channel (renamed the SyFy Channel?) our favorite movie mocking show was ready and raring to go. But there were a few changes in store for us old timers.

First off the host segments now had an overarching story. Mike (Michael J. Nelson), Tom Servo (Kevin Murphy) and Crow (now played by Bill Corbett) return to the Satellite of Love sometime in the distant future. After coming to grips that Crow is different, they find that they are still going to be subjected to watching bad movies, but instead of dealing with Dr. Forrester (Trace Beaulieu), they were now subjected to the whims of his mother Pearl Forrester (Mary Jo Pehl)! Pearl had undergone a transformation of sorts, going from the abrasive whiny old woman into a younger aggressive and frazzled woman. She starts chasing Mike and the bots around the universe subjecting them to bad movies and picking up henchmen along the way. First Professor Bobo (Kevin Murphy) who is an ape evolved from men. And later the Observer aka Brain Guy (Bill Corbett) a hooded being who holds his brain in a pan and insists he has no body.

The host segments take aim at all kinds of silly sci-fi clichés and conventions like time travel, dimensional doorways, pod people, parasitic aliens and space children. These add a new dimension to the show, but at the same time make it difficult to watch out of order, because you feel like you’re missing something. Rumor has it that the cast and crew at Best Brains weren’t too jazzed about the situation and struggled to write new material for the segments.

As for the movies, we get a bit of a mixed bag. Sci-fi Channel actually put restrictions’ on the type of films the show could tackle and were very strict about that rule for a while. They only wanted science fiction, horror and the occasional fantasy film. No short films were allowed. It even seems that they wanted to use back catalog Universal films for a bulk of the season. The result is lack of variety in the beginning of the season with nine episodes composed of nothing but black and white science fiction and horror. There are some great episodes in there, but some fans found it to be too much (I was one of them). But the second half of the season was a goldmine of classic episodes, and it makes this perhaps the strongest season of the new era of the show.

The following is a list of all the episodes in Season 10 and my ratings:

• 801 – Revenge of the Creature
• 802 – Leech Woman
• 803 – The Mole People
• 804 – The Deadly Mantis
• 805 – The Thing that Wouldn’t Die
• 806 – The Undead
• 807 – Terror from the Year 5000!
• 808 – The She Creature
• 809 – I Was a Teenage Werewolf
• 810 – Giant Spider Invasion
• 811 – parts: the clonus horror
• 812 – The Incredibly Strange Creatures who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-up Zombies
• 813 – Jack Frost
• 814 – Riding with Death
• 815 – Agent for H.A.R.M.
• 816 – Prince of Space
• 817 – Horrors of Party Beach
• 818 – Devil Doll
• 819 – Invasion of the Neptune Men
• 820 – Space Mutiny
• 821 – Time Chasers
• 822 – Overdrawn at the Memory Bank

Overdrawn at the Memory Bank (1985) - MST3K Review

Summary:

In the not too distant future the giant company Novicorp dominates all of society. The huge Chairman (Donald Moore) controls all our lives, for profit. Most folks seem content with this, everyone except for Aram Fingal (Raul Julia). Fingal just wants to have some fun in his life. But even classic films like Casablanca are outlawed, and his days are spent in endless drudgery in a giant computer bank. Fingal eventually gets caught watching Casablanca at his workstation and this causes him to be flagged for a compulsory vacation.

This means that his consciousness will be placed into the body of baboon for some R&R. I’m not kidding. While this is happening a mishap causes Fingal’s body to be misplaced. The computech responsible for the safety of Fingal’s consciousness, Apollonia James (Linda Griffiths) does what she can to preserve his consciousness as the search for his body drags on. She ends up putting his consciousness into the Novicorp computer for safekeeping… and that is when Fingal starts to create his own reality. At first it’s all fun and games, including scenes inspired by his favorite classic films. But eventually Fingal figures that if he is in the main computer at Novicorp, why not make some changes. But the chairman isn’t going to take that lying down, and soon virtual Fingal is running for is virtual life, and Apollonia must decide if she wants to help the corporation or help the rebel.

Movie Review:

Great names in cyberpunk: Neo, Flynn, Kusanagi ...
and Fingle?

Based on a short story by John Varley, Overdrawn at the Memory Bank is like a prototype for The Matrix, but inspired by 1980s technology. It takes some of the concepts introduced in Tron but molds them into a science fiction dystopia environment. In fact it reminds me a bit of William Gibson’s Neuromancer, but without the dark edge, and delving a bit more into the corporate world of bureaucracy and control (shades of Tron again).  And much like Tron I’m not sure if this film would appeal to anyone outside of the computer industry when it was released in the 1985.

While, Overdrawn at the Memory Bank is ahead of it’s time, it also has the sense of fun that seemed to be a requisite of 1980s science fiction adventures. There’s a lot of humor built into the story, especially dealing with Fingal’s increasingly frustrated attempts to fight the system from the outside and then his joy at discovering the freedom of creating his own world within the computer. The use of Casablanca seems contradictory to the futuristic setting, but it creates a fun disconnect. Then you have the whole concept that people’s minds being put into the bodies of animals as some kind of therapy is just so goofy it makes sense.

I'm still not sure how getting "doppled" into a drunk
baboon is supposed to help any body.

It is the inherent goofiness that makes the whole movie entertaining. Unfortunately there are a few things working against it. The movie was made for public television, and therefore didn’t have a very large budget. But I think a considerable amount of the budget did make it onto the screen. There are a lot of blue screen and computer image effects. Sure this was done in the 1985, so it looks pretty crude to modern eyes, but I think it adds a charm to the movie. Now this movie was all shot on 1980s video, so it has a look that has been known to cause blindness in hard-core film fans. But it gets the job done and the interesting futuristic costumes and props show up well enough.

Probably the most interesting performance in Overdrawn at the Memory Bank is by Raul Julia as Fingal. He gets to have some fun playing the frustrated computer programmer, a virtual reality rebel, and the suave Casablanca version of himself, Rick Blaine. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if Julia quite understood all the technical aspects of the story. He seems a bit lost at times and it causes his performance to be wooden. Other times, he’s completely into the part and brings a lot of energy to the table

Apollonia spends half the movie in this same pose.

The rest of the cast is pretty average all the way around. Griffiths plays the nerdy heroine Apollonia well. We get that she’s clever and resourceful, but also not keen to lose her job. Unfortunately she gets saddled with some really bad voice over and some painful exposition lines. Lots of her dialogue is filled with really silly “futuristic” sounding words. For any actor these would be difficult to spout out, but when you have a whole set of “techno-dopple the positronic helio-graphic interlocking thing-a-majiggy” well you’ve got your work cut out for you.

Some of the other cast members play things broadly, but in many cases it works out fine. Many of these are virtual characters, so they don’t behave in a realistic way anyway. It kind of reminded me of eXistenZ in that way.

Even the fun 80s synth music adds that extra special addition of cheesiness to the whole affair. Where things break down is in the script explanations near the end of the film. A bunch of stuff happens, and I’m still not sure how everything resolves itself. But by this point Overdrawn at the Memory Bank is chugging along with lots of odd visuals, hilarious dialogue and Raul Julia spinning in front of a computer animated background that could be cribbed from an Atari game. And while you’d have a good time riffing along with this one yourself, let Mike and bots lend a hand with one of the funniest episodes of the eighth season of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Episode Review:  

Julia seems to be having a good time playing this
duel role.

When it came time to wrap up the first season of episodes for the Sci-fi Channel, the crew decided to knock out a trilogy of 1980s science fiction films. I’ve mentioned it before, but it bears repeating, that may be my favorite genre for the crew to tackle. To follow the uproarious Space Mutiny and the silly chronologically impaired Time Chasers we get this virtual reality gem Overdrawn at the Memory Bank.

This is another case where it seems the film was created just for the MST3K treatment. It is filled with images, dialogue, performances and plot elements that just lend themselves to riffing. And the boys unleash with a steady stream of commentary that make the whole thing hilarious.

One of the biggest gifts comes with our protagonists name, Fingle. The boys go to town working Fingle’s name into all kinds of amusing word play. During a scene that is filmed in soft light, soft filter and has Fingle and Apollonia close together Crow says “This is filmed in soap opera vision”, to which Mike adds, “It’s Days of our Fingle”. During a scene where Apollonia spouts out a bunch of techno jargon involving the “doppling process”. Mike adds, “I don’t want to bungle or bobble the Fingle dopple.” But my favorite take on his name is when Tom speaks for Apollonia with the modified slogan, “I’ve got a fever for a flavor of a Fingle.”

"I'll see you on the dark side of Raul!"

They crew also used Raul Julia to their best advantage. Not only do they riff on his mixed performance here, but they make sure to reference his roles in The Adams Family as well a hilarious Kiss of the Spider Woman reference. One of my favorite bits is during the opening credits, where Julia’s face is superimposed over a spinning cube. Crow declares it a “Raul-bics cube.” Tom says, “Hey I thought he was Puerto Rican, I didn’t know he was…” Mike shouts, “Oh no, don’t go there.” But Tom finishes with “Cuban!” and bursts out laughing.

But Overdrawn at the Memory Bank has plenty of other oddities that provide fodder. Since Fingle is so hung up on Casablanca we keep seeing parts of the film as well as a virtual bar and characters from the film. Crow finally declares, “You know, never show a good movie in the middle of your crappy movie!” There is also an odd thing about people being threatened with being doppled into the body of an anteater. It comes up several times and the boys have a field day with it. Throwing in mock-repulsed lines about “filthy disgusting anteaters”.

The Fat Man and his huge huge face make for a lot
of the riffing.

And if you wanted to brush up on your fat jokes, this is the episode to watch. The character called “The Fat Man” provides the boys with ample opportunities to mock his weight, his out of breath wheezing and the fact that he looks a little bit like TV’s Frank! I think they get a bit too mean with these, but it’s par the course with an episode from this era.

There is one thing I’m not too fond of with this episode. The boys go on and on about how bad the movie is. But I think it is actually a pretty creative film, with a lot of interesting and fun concepts. Yeah it gets confusing, and I’m with them when they have no clue what is happening at the end with “I am interfaced!” But they get a little too angry at the film, and I think they may have been a bit too riled up at it.

The host segments are actually quite a bit of fun. The episode starts with Crow selling shirts for his catchphrase, “You know you want me, baby!”. Mike points out that Crow has never said that, and that selling shirts is kind of stupid. Crow offers Mike a catalogue filled with catchphrases that Mike can order shirts for. Mike is rather fond of “We’re all out of toner”. The bots aren’t impressed. The rich irony, you can still get shirts with Crow and his catchphrase on them (as well as your favorite MST3K riffs over at Satellite News). Pearl is inspired by the fact that Overdrawn at the Memory Bank  was made for public television. So she creates her own pledge drive, with Ortega from The Incredibly Strange Creatures who Stopped Living and Became Mixed up Zombies manning the phones. One of her featured shows is “The Nature of Bobo” where Brain Guy does a killer National Geographic voiceover as Bobo does what Bobo normally does.  Tom is so impressed he calls the telethon so he can receive his free tote bag. His declaration, “There’s so many things to tote!” is frequently quoted around my house.

"Your love gives me wings to fly." "I really do like pie."

At the first break, the robots were inspired by the baboon in the movie to order their own monkey from instantmonkeysonline.com. The monkey arrives instantly, and immediately hates Mike. At the next break Mike is still being tormented by the monkey, even excessive drooling won’t save him (don’t ask). Meanwhile the pledge drive is in full swing as Pearl stops for a touching musical number called, “When Loving Lovers Love”, a duet with Brain Guy. The lyrics are hilarious and it is one of my favorite songs during a host segment. Gotta give Mary Jo props for belting this sucker out. At the next break, Tom decides to use doppling technology to go down to the Nanites virtual world. It goes very badly for him. The next break features Bobo trying to talk the monkey down, but then he joins in tormenting Mike. When the movie ends, Mike takes tranquelizes Bobo and the monkey, and Pearl is counting her massive amount of cash from her pledge drive.

Overdrawn at the Memory Bank was a great way to end the inagural season of the show on the Sci Fi Channel. It’s got plenty of laughs, a very watchable movie and some of the best riffing the show has to offer.

I give it five flavo-fibes out of five.

If anything, this movie gives you a chance to throw
your arms to the side and yell, "I am interfaced!"

This episode is available on the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection Volume 4.

The Projected Man (1966) - MST3K Review

Summary:

Dr. Patricia Hill arrives at a laboratory and meets Dr. Mitchell and Dr. Paul Steiner. Turns out these scientists are working on a transporting device, or projector, that zaps matter, stores it as light (?!?) and beams it somewhere else. Well, the mean old head of research, Dr. Blanchard wants Paul’s project shut down and even goes so far as to sabotage it. Paul, determined to prove his success, uses the projector on himself – and promptly turns into a monster. Now, Dr. Hill and Dr. Mitchell must find Paul before he goes around killing everyone who opposes him. Oh and secretary Sheila gets to strip down to her underwear because her eyes hurt.

Movie Review:

The Projected Man itself isn’t horribly executed, but very dull. The plot makes sense most of the time. But we are never clear why the head of research wants Paul to fail. Some kind of blackmail is implied but never fully revealed. The acting is pretty solid. There are attempts at tension and even a tepid romance, but mostly the movie just sits there.

Dr. Hill may be the main character, but she is relegated to the concerned female role and love interested for the incredibly bland Dr. Mitchell. This leaves us with the only slightly more interesting Paul. Still, Bryant Haliday doesn’t do much with the character to make him a credible threat. He’s better as the orange haired scientist. The supporting cast does what they need to do. Dr. Blanchard is annoying in a very proper British way, and Sheila looks good in her underwear.

As for the horror, not too much of that either. Monster Paul ends up looking kinda lumpy with crusty hands, and a permanent sneer. He’s not scary and when he puts the cloth over his disfigured half of his face (Mike and bots call it his face diaper) he just looks silly. The projection machine looks like the spawn of a bubble blower and a hair drier. It also makes one of the most annoying sounds I’ve heard in a MST3K film… and that’s saying a lot.

All in all, not really much to work with riffing wise, and pretty dull as a stand alone.

The MST3K episode:

Not the best way to start out a season, especially after the glorious triple threat of Space Mutiny, Time Chasers and Overdrawn at the Memory Bank. But this was the season 9 premier (and second season on Sci-fi).

Of all the elements to have in a MST3K film, dullness can be the hardest to overcome. Energy and wit are needed. Mike and the bots are filled with energy and attack the movie as best they can. They have some fun with Haliday, who also appeared in the horrible Devil Doll. And since the movie is English they get in some very good zingers about the Brits as well as Monty Python and Pink Floyd. But the movie doesn’t give them enough to work with.

To compare, take Red Zone Cuba a very dull film, but also badly acted, edited, and executed. So the dullness is just one factor to the bad film. In a way The Projected Man reminds me of the slog episodes early in season 8 where the Universal movies made their appearance, but even those had some wacky sets or costumes. The most interesting things about The Projected Man are the diaper on Paul’s face and Sheila in her underwear.

The host segments are fun, but fairly light. Even the discovery of Castle Forrester as a new home for Pearl, Dr. Bobo and Observer isn’t enough to energize things much. They provide a few laughs, but mostly just act as filler. I actually enjoy the Castle Forrester setting. It works well enough. But the endless chase element seemed like it could have been a fun thread to keep. To bad the MST3K cast and crew didn’t enjoy the concept.

The end result is a below average episode. I can only project two stars out of five for this one.

This episode is available on the Digital Archive Project.

MST3K Introduction can be found here.

Space Mutiny (1988) – MST3K Review

Summary:

Hurtling through the cosmos is the spaceship, the Southern Sun. Captained by the bearded and wise Alex Jansen (Cameron Mitchell) the ship is looking for a habitable planet to colonize. But not everyone aboard the Southern Sun is willing to wait to find the perfect planet. They want off this tin can and they want it now! Lead by the scowling Commander Kalgan (John Phillip Law) they stage a mutiny and capture Jansen’s daughter Lea (Cisse Cameron).

But help is on the way in the form of big beefy Dave Ryder (Reb Brown). This fearless pilot to takes a shine to Lea and wants to help the Southern Sun in any way he can. This translates into punching people, shooting laser guns, driving a armored golf cart and screaming in a high pitched voice. Added to the mix are the half naked writhing Bellerians, who may help or hinder our hero in his quest to quell the Space Mutiny.

Movie Review:

Holy guacamole is this a huge slab of hilarious low budget 80s sci-fi cheese. If you love bad 80s movies, then you really need to see Space Mutiny. It is an amazing mish mash of corny dialogue, poor acting, ridiculous plot and borrowed footage from the 70s version of Battlestar Galactica the result is a movie that is pure comic gold.

Lets start with the visuals. The special effects for nearly all the space scenes including the battle sequences comes directly from Battlestar Galactica. These effects were done by several of the folks who worked on the original Star Wars and didn’t join Industrial Light and Magic. As a result, this stuff looks pretty good, maybe a little out of date when Space Mutiny appeared in 1988 (by this time Star Trek: The Next Generation was already using computer graphics for the visual effects). But the detailed models used in those scenes clashes horribly with the low budget costumes, props, and sets used for all the interior shots of the film.

The bulk of the action scenes look like they were filmed in an industrial building somewhere, with all the railings, metal stairways and heavy machinery around. Oddly this same approach was used with greater realism in the update of Star Trek in 2009. But here, they just aren’t able to make the transition convincing. These folks are obviously running around a boiler room, not the high tech innards of a space ship. The scenes that don’t take place in the industrial settings look like typical spaceship interiors, not bad for the budget actually.

But the costumes, especially for the ladies are pretty horrible. Most of these aren’t flattering in the least, and have such garish colors (but so very 80s) that your eyes might burn out their sockets. Lea is the worst offender, but nearly everyone in the disco scene will is dressed, well, I’m at a loss for words. These are up there with the outfits used in Warrior of the Lost World. I also loved Ryder’s flight helmet, which I swear was something a neighbor of mine bought at Toys R Us, with its blinking LEDs and faceplate. You’ve also got some serious hair in this film. From Mohawks to mullets, nothing is left without hairspray.

Perhaps the silliest element of the interior scenes are the Enforcers, little golf carts covered with some kind of metal to make them look armored. The villains drive around in these and they look so comical that they lose all credibility. But the real cherry on the sundae occurs during the chase scenes with these little guys. It has to be seen to be believed.

You know on the face of it, the plot to Space Mutiny isn’t half bad. The struggles of the faithful crew against the mutineers could provide some tense moments, plenty of action and danger in the right hands. But we got two directors here, and rumor has it that neither of them liked the final result (and tried to get Alan Smithee credit). While action ends up being the main focus of the film in the second half, the poor dialogue ends up scuttling most of the tension (the acting choices don’t help either). Then you’ve got the Bellarians, half naked women writhing around who supposedly have some kind of supernatural power that comes into play at the end. But really it’s just an excuse to have half naked women writhing around. Sadly all their scenes are pointless and destroy the pacing by removing any tension present in the story.

But the real joy here is the acting. You’ve got some folks going all out, and others who are there for the paycheck. In the later is Cameron Mitchell as Commander Jansen. Saddled with a ridiculous looking beard and a silly looking robe, you get the feeling that Mitchell was counting the days till the shoot was over. He’s not wooden, but he doesn’t seem to put in much effort, or really grasp what his role in the story is.

On the other end is John Phillip Law, a veteran of these types of movies (he’s a darn good Sinbad in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad). He plays the evil Kalgan as a completely arrogant, megalomaniacal madman. This comes complete with an evil laugh, deranged eye popping and straining with so much fury that you’re afraid his neck cords are going to pop right out. It’s wonderfully over the top and more than a match for the protagonists.

Yes Reb Brown has also done his share of cheesy action films, and Space Mutiny is no exception. As Dave Ryder he pretty much has to look buff, throw people around and shout a lot. He does all of these with gusto, Whenever Brown is moving around kicking ass, he looks at home. But in the dialogue scenes we start to see some limitations. He flubs lines, gets a bit incoherent and shows little chemistry with Cisse Cameron (who he ended up marrying after the film).

Cisse Cameron as Lea seems to be having a blast. She gets into the role, from playing the outraged daughter to blasting away at mutineers with abandon. Her unfortunate wardrobe and dialogue doesn’t stop her either. You can tell she decided to just go for it, no matter how stupid the whole thing was. Go Cisse.

The whole movie is a mess, a big wonderful mess. Even without Mike and bots around to riff it, Space Mutiny would be a bad movie lover’s heaven. But the bad movie gods decreed that MST3K would tackle the film, and it was good.

Episode Review:  

Season eight of Mystery Science Theater 3000 ended with the three best episodes of the season. This is possibly one of the best episodes of the entire series run. I know, that’s saying a lot, but Mike and bots really make this already hilarious movie a whole lot funnier.

As the opening titles for Space Mutiny blaze across the screen looking like rejects from an old Atari game Tempest, the guys know they are in for a good one. They get on a roll with some of the names in the credits and the pace never slacks from there. The movie keeps gift-wrapping ludicrous moment upon ludicrous moment for them.

Perhaps the most memorable set of riffs comes when Dave Ryder first appears on screen. Mike and bots start coming up all kinds of outrageous names for the character including (but not exclusive to): Blast Hardcheese, Stump Chunkman, Slab Squatthrust and Big McLargehuge. Not only are the names creative but the timing of the delivery just makes each one funnier than the last. When the finale hits with Dave running around blasting away at villains and tossing them over railings, the nicknames come fast and furious.

Kalgan’s ranting and raving followed by his evil laugh cause the boys to snicker enough. But they really go to town on his lackeys, one who is dressed in red armor and they dub lobster boy. When Kalgan tries to lead his army of badly coifed evil doers in a final battle, the laughs really kick in. Kalgan screams, and strains and laughs so much that Mike and bots are pretty sure that the actor has flipped his lid.

Lea is pretty much a walking punch line. Her hideous wardrobe, which makes her look more like a space-whore instead of the daughter of the noble commander is the first big problem. Tom dubs her a “sexy senior citizen” because she looks quite a bit older than our protagonist (unfortunate make up and hair don’t help). Her first scenes have her coming across as shrill and annoying, but once she falls for our big rubbery hero, she starts vamping it up. The amazingly garish disco scene has her dancing provocatively or as Crow points out “presenting like a baboon”.

It would be impossible to really cover all the great riffing going on in Space Mutiny. The overwhelming 80s atmosphere to the whole film causing all kinds of jokes related to the Regan years. A continuity issue featuring a character killed appearing in the background of later scene causes quite a bit of confusion for Mike and the bots. There’s even a running gag with one of the bridge bunnies wandering around “collecting signatures for Sherry’s birthday card”, that delivers a pretty hilarious payoff. Then there’s all the jokes provided by the Bellarians and their writhing. When you boil it down, Space Mutiny is one of the best-riffed flicks the boys did.

The host segments are part of the Roman Empire world storyline. But things kick off with the bots complaining about Mike's archaic encyclopedias, which contain factoids like “Someday man may walk on the moon” and “In the future we may learn to harness fire, instead of hide in our caves from it”. On the planet Pearl, Observer and Professor Bobo are imprisoned by the angry empress Flavia. Pearl hatches a plan to have Mike distract Flavia (played by Mike’s wife Bridget). During the first break Mike attempts to enjoy some quiet time when the bots have a full blown space battle – with the only remaining escape pods! At the next break Crow is convinced he is a Bellarian. Turns out he’s just a freak. At the next break, Tom is inspired by all the railing kills to put up a bunch of railings around the ship. My favorite is the whisper quiet spinning spiked railing. When the movie ends, Pearl has Mike attempt to distract Flavia with a fake seduction. Mike fails utterly, but it’s enough for Pearl, Observer and Bobo to make their escape – but not before Bobo starts the famous fire of Rome.

Space Mutiny kicks off the triple threat. Followed by Time Chasers and the hilariously riffed Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, you have three of the best episodes of the series back to back. It is easily one of my favorites. And one of my favorite Internet reviewers, Alison Pregler (Obscurus Lupa) declares it her favorite episode of the series. So take it from folks who know cheesy good fun, Space Mutiny is one to watch.

I give it 5 Blast Hardcheeses out of five.

Here’s a treat,:  the final chase scene un-riffed. It gives you a taste of the wonders in store.

This episode is available on the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection Volume 4.