FanFare

Rewatch! We return to the life and times of our favorite flying giant turtle monster. Gamera protects Expo '70, held in Japan that year, from a monster attack. This is the longest MST3K episode of all, since they were required by the licensor not to cut it. It's also been less than a year since the first time we saw it. It's one of a small number of the first generation of Gamera films that the original run of the show didn't cover. (Another is Vs. Viras.) Previously.
posted by JHarris on Jun 22, 2023 - 1 comment

Rewatch! Joel Robinson returns to the SOL to riff this movie about a private paranormal investigator who works the seedy demonic underworld of Mobile, Alabama. It's a bit like Constantine, and while it's very low budget it's a fun movie! Released in 2019, at the moment this is the most recent movie MST3K has done. Of particular note, a couple of months ago the makers held a Kickstarter to make a sequel and appealed to MSTies to help fund it, and they were successful! Previously.
posted by JHarris on Jun 15, 2023 - 0 comments

Rewatch! Emily and her bots are handed this Doctor Strange knockoff (word is it was originally written as a Strange movie), where an occult wizard guy, who also owns an apartment building in New York, fights evil by the behest of a pair of giant eyes. Not actually too bad, this is one of a genre of MST movie I like to call a very indie film, although not nearly as indie as something like Manos or Carnival Magic. Previously.
posted by JHarris on Jun 8, 2023 - 2 comments

Rewatch! While a sequel to the horror movie Munchies, Munchie has little to do with it, and isn't even a horror movie, but a fantasy comedy about a kid who gets a magic gremlin-like pal, voiced by Dom DeLuise, who tries to help him out but keeps messing things up. This is a notably bad movie, compounded by terrible special effects for Munchie. Good luck with this one. Previously.
posted by JHarris on Jun 1, 2023 - 1 comment

Rewatch! Some ne'er-do-wells seek to steal a fortune in priceless pearls from a island tribe who are the last remnants of an undersea race. Things don't go well, but at least everyone is laughing in the end! A highlight of the season, the movie starring Sid Haig as archetypal scumbag East Eddie. Previously.
posted by JHarris on May 25, 2023 - 0 comments

Rewatch! One of a dwindling number to go at this point. It's one of those sci-fi movies whose grand vision of the future is largely today but like with multinational consortiums and giant robots. There's even a major location that's just a normal town circa the movie's making, passed off as a preserved ghost town and tourist location. Warning, there's an appallingly misogynistic character who's intended by the movie to be seen as a lovable scamp. Feh, meh, pleh, bleah. Previously. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on May 17, 2023 - 0 comments

Rewatch! When Dracula threatens to revive and threaten the world of the living, who can stand against him? That's right, El Santo, the famed luchador, and his time machine. Roughly half of the movie is an extended flashback that could almost work as a Hammer-style horror movie, but then we return to the present and a wrestling match plays a pivotal role in the plot, of course. Episode 1301 is the first episode of the Gizmoplex era. It's only been a year since the original Fanfare post on this episode. Previously. We have gotten word that there will be a Season 14, but we have no details at this point.
posted by JHarris on May 11, 2023 - 4 comments

Rewatch! Remember Cave Dwellers? Before Cave Dwellers there was Ator: The Fighting Eagle. This movie. The only character the films have in common is Ator, played by a sizable quantity of O'Keefe. The generic fantasy setting seems to be mostly different too, similar, but modulated differently. Ator's love interest/sister gets newted in a flashback in Cave Dwellers, so don't get too wrapped up in her fate here. Other than that it's standard barbarian-type shlock, a bit more skin and pseudo-Conan lore on display than in Cave Dwellers, and it moves a little faster. It's the last episode of (beat) The Gauntlet, the end of Season 12, and the end of the Netflix era. Previously.
posted by JHarris on May 4, 2023 - 0 comments

Rewatch! The penultimate episode of "The Gauntlet," MST3K's abbreviated 12th season, and second Netflix season. It's jewel thieves vs piranhas this time. In the episode's plot (there kind of is one), Dr. Erhardt is back and seeks to scatter the ashes of Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank in outer space. Previously.
posted by JHarris on Apr 27, 2023 - 1 comment

Rewatch! Some things happen, or do they? One of the most nonsensical movies in Mystery Science Theater 3000's ancient pantheon of nonsense. As oneswellfoop wrote, "It's like all the temporal paradoxes over the entire run of Doctor Who, Quantum Leap, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Irwin Allen's Time Tunnel, the Back to the Future movies and the episode of Babylon 5 where Babylon 4 reappeared all converged on one isolated location and didn't have clue what to do next so they ordered pizza." The episode has the return of J. Elvis Weinstein as Dr. Erhardt! Previously.
posted by JHarris on Apr 20, 2023 - 1 comment

Rewatch! People find a hyperintelligent lifeform in the ocean, and it's turning people into blobs! The opinions from MeFites the last time this one came up ran the gamut. Some were happy that it was a genuinely bad movie instead of a knockoff like 1201 and 2; someone mention that is a knockoff, of The Abyss; some liked it; some found it DULL. There's a fun during-movie song in this one, with a psychedelic tone.Previously.
posted by JHarris on Apr 13, 2023 - 1 comment

Rewatch! The Asylum is an infamous studio I'm a bit conflicted about. It's true, I've seen a lot of their films, despite finding it challenging to make it through a lot of them. Many of them aren't what I'd call good. But they continue to make movie after movie, even after all this time, despite it being a difficult craft, doggedly doing what they want no matter what people tell them. I admire that. And they made Z Nation, which people generally liked. Well, this is more typical of their output: a movie based loosely upon, and named similarly to, a big-budget movie, released straight to disk. This one has pretty unlikable characters. It's the second movie of "The Gauntlet," MST3K's short 12th season. Previously.
posted by JHarris on Apr 6, 2023 - 1 comment

Rewatch! A disturbingly malleable, bubble-gum-like alien and their family get stuck on Earth and befriend a wheelchair-riding boy in this notable box-office failure. Chris Pratt seems to like it though! Season 12 ties Season 7 for the shortest season of MST3K. This is the first episode of "The Gauntlet," a series of MST3K episodes designed to be binged, although that'd be over nine hours of riffed film, so good luch surviving that. Unlike the previous episodes, I only posted each MST3K episode from Season 12 once, so less of a retread this time! Previously.
posted by JHarris on Mar 30, 2023 - 8 comments

Re-rewatch! Once again, it's the last episode of Season 11, the first Netflix season. People go to the center of Edgar Rice Burroughs Earth and meet dinos and cavefolk. It's Growler's first episode, and the episode of Kinga's ratings-stunt marriage that never ends up happening. It ends on a kind of cliffhanger, but Jonah's okay, he's outside the SOL in a space suit. Previously and again.
posted by JHarris on Mar 23, 2023 - 1 comment

Re-rewatch! Santa is gonna be put out on the streets (floes?) by his landlord, a Mr. Prune, unless Mr. Whipple can save him. Don't squeeze the Charmin! Previously and again.
posted by JHarris on Mar 16, 2023 - 2 comments

Re-resuffer! Welcome back to the "Manos" of Season 11: Carnival Magic. Alex the chimp can talk, sorta-kinda, but not about anything interesting. His owner Markov is a cut-rate magician and hypnotist that for some reason everyone seems to deeply respect or despise. Probably the worst movie of Season 11, and one of the worst ever made. But at least Mark Hamill appears in this episode in a host segment! Previously and (ugh) again.
posted by JHarris on Mar 8, 2023 - 4 comments

Re-rewatch! In contrast to the movie of the previous episode, which was quirky and had interesting characters, this movie is sometimes cited as one of the worst of Season 11. It's a meandering fantasy that reused footage from four other fantasy movies, into a plot that doesn't make much sense. Despite the title and an attempt to tie it in with the previous movie at the start, it really has nothing to do with the first Wizards of the Lost Kingdom except it also had Roger Corman as an executive producer. Previously and again.
posted by JHarris on Mar 2, 2023 - 1 comment

Re-rewatch! A wizard apprentice searches for warriors to help him retake the castle from Thom Christopher (he has a habit, he's trying to quit) and his minion Apelua. Ends up finding a walking pile of shag carpeting and Dadbod the Barbarian. Features a moonshining gnome and a cyclops in a wedding dress. One of the best episodes of Season 11!
posted by JHarris on Feb 22, 2023 - 1 comment

Re-rewatch! A petroleum-eating monster and an itch-ray inventing kid. Previously and again.
posted by JHarris on Feb 16, 2023 - 1 comment

Re-rewatch! Continuing with the first streaming season, some scientists are trapped in the future because of Danny. Thanks, Danny. Previously and again.
posted by JHarris on Dec 15, 2022 - 1 comment

Re-rewatch! One of the best episodes of the streaming era of the show, Cry Wilderness is an absolute classic and proved to many that MST3K was back. It's an incredibly strange film combined with brilliant riffing. Parents, please don't get your information on how to raise kids from this bizarre bigfoot movie, please. Bang! Previously and again.
posted by JHarris on Dec 8, 2022 - 4 comments

Re-rewatch! It's the beginning of the streaming era, and it's Denmark's turn to get attacked by those darn kaiju. Previously and again.
posted by JHarris on Dec 1, 2022 - 1 comment