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AKA Marooned. American astronauts become stranded in space when their ship suffers a malfunction, and their wives on Earth are put through the dramatic wringer worrying about them. The surprise heroes turn out to be the Russians. Here it is: the first episode of Season Four, the only MST3K movie to have Gene Hackman, and -- yes! -- the only Oscar-winning movie covered by Mystery Science Theater 3000, although not in the form in which it won, and for Effects. This is another Film Ventures International production, a company that specialized in low-budget knockoffs of better-known films. FVI puttered along for a while, but when it failed in 1984 boss Edward Montoro disappeared with a million dollars of company money and his whereabouts remain unknown to this day. YouTube (1h34m) Premiered June 6, 1992. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Oct 7, 2015 - 2 comments

(1963, B&W, Horror, Sci-Fi) The capsule of an astronaut returning from the moon is detonated. While he doesn't survive, his weird mutated hand does, and it and a teen it "manually controls" go around fulfilling the ambition of all disembodied hands: strangling everyone it can. Its reign terror is ended when it gets eaten by a kitty-cat. "Jolting Space Shocker! Astronaut Ordered Blown-Up! Terrifying Menace from the Moon!" YouTube video. Original airdate: probably December 16, 1989. One of the better first season episodes, this was the first first season episode to get released on DVD. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Jun 20, 2014 - 10 comments