Mystery Science Theater 3000: THE SPACE CHILDREN

December 13, 2017 9:19 PM - Season 9, Episode 6

Kids serve the telepathic bidding of a Blob from Space to sabotage military weapons. The twist: the Blob is a good guy! With short Century 21 Calling: At the Seattle World's Fair, everyone is excited about PHONES. You'll be able to record frequently-called numbers onto little plastic cards! An uncommonly ridiculous movie and short combo. Warning: contains Uncle Fester in shorts! This is another episode that's not on DVD, and probably never will be. Vimeo (1h32m) Premiered June 13, 1998. 20 episodes left.

Episode 906 THE SPACE CHILDREN

Satellite News - Mighty Jack's Episode Review - War of the Colossal Fan Guide (Description here is a great) - TVTropes

Paul Chaplin once again comments in this episode's ACEG entry:

It really is true that the one thing uniting our films is depression. In at least 70 percent of them the characters are just dejected, and they live in brown, stultifying surroundings. The most famous example is perhaps High School Big Shot, a movie we did several years ago on some other cable channel in which the last image is a guy hanging (by a rope, I mean, around his neck) from his dining room chandelier.
The same actor also turns up in I Was A Teenage Werewolf, from Season Eight, where he also plays a depressing dad. And, he's the same guy who plays the taciturn fellow waiting for a bus at the beginning of the cropduster scene in North By Northwest.

Short "Century 21 Calling"
Daddy-O's Drive-In Dirt
IMDB (1962, 2.9 stars)
"Two perky teens explore every inch of the telephone exhibit at Seattle's fair."
Directed by Robert W. Larsen.

Movie "The Space Children"
Daddy-O's Drive-In Dirt
Rotten Tomatoes (Critics N/A, Viewers 17%) - Wikipedia - TVTropes
IMDB (1958, 3.5 stars)
"An alien intelligence aborts the launching of a rocket with the help of a bunch of children."
Directed by Jack Arnold. Written by Tim Filer and Bernard C. Schoenfeld. Starring Michel Ray, Adam Williams, Peggy Webber, and Jackie Coogan as Hank Johnson.

posted by JHarris (7 comments total)

This movie is eh for me, but the short is one of my all-time favorites.

" 'How Do Animals Learn?' Well, as long as they learn to taste good, I don't really care."
posted by Chrysostom at 9:30 PM on December 13, 2017

The movie is okay

the short is PERFECT


I still break up everytime during "With your DRINKING and your PILL-POPPING"
posted by The Whelk at 10:18 PM on December 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

Every week on Thursday, we in MST Club watch that week's episode together over the internet, and another one from the Joel era. You should JOIN US....

It's at https://cytu.be/r/Metafilter_MST3KClub, at 7 and 9 PM Eastern time, which is 4 and 6 PM Pacific time. If you show up late, we might even put the early episode in again for stragglers!

This week:
7 PM: 202 THE SIDEHACKERS
9 PM: 906 THE SPACE CHILDREN
posted by JHarris at 12:40 AM on December 14, 2017

Take him out!

Sir!!!

This is another favorite episode. It's weird to see "The Professor" playing such an unpleasant fellow.
posted by wittgenstein at 8:45 AM on December 14, 2017

I didn't realize till now that Bud's Mom was the new wife in Screaming Skull.
posted by wittgenstein at 8:52 AM on December 14, 2017

It's been a while since I've see it, but I swear one of the kids was later in Lawrence of Arabia. Which is not really something most experiments can claim!
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 8:45 PM on December 15, 2017

We're going to have a showing of Hobgoblins today (the 21st) anyway, if you can make it at 9 PM Eastern/6 Pacific! It'd be a good time to discuss the marathon.
posted by JHarris at 2:21 AM on December 21, 2017