Mystery Science Theater 3000: WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST Rewatch
September 26, 2018 4:58 PM - Season 3, Episode 19 - Subscribe
Rewatch! With short Mr. B Natural. This is a case where the short overwhelms the feature. How can the Mexican stereotype-laden continuation of Glenn Manning's tale of tragic bigness possibly compete with 20 minutes of a shrill psychotic ballerina-elf hawking band equipment to unsuspecting schoolkids? Anyway, this is continuing with our tour of the decided-by-poll favorite episodes of classic MST. Previously.
This officially begins the 8-week countdown to Season 12's Thanksgiving/TurkeyDay premiere on Netflix...
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:17 PM on September 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:17 PM on September 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
So, some of the Mr B Natural jokes seem like maybe they haven't really aged that well, in an era of more trans awareness?
Yeah, that's true. Mr. B. Natural was coming out of a tradition that started way back in the nineteenth century (if not earlier) of putting women in "breeches parts" where they were playing boys. The last holdout was Peter Pan, and Mary Martin was popular in the role around the time that the short was made, IIRC, so a knockoff was a natural fit for an educational short about performance. Mister B is disturbing enough for his propensity to apparate and gallivant without making any transphobic jokes.
posted by Countess Elena at 8:39 PM on September 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
Yeah, that's true. Mr. B. Natural was coming out of a tradition that started way back in the nineteenth century (if not earlier) of putting women in "breeches parts" where they were playing boys. The last holdout was Peter Pan, and Mary Martin was popular in the role around the time that the short was made, IIRC, so a knockoff was a natural fit for an educational short about performance. Mister B is disturbing enough for his propensity to apparate and gallivant without making any transphobic jokes.
posted by Countess Elena at 8:39 PM on September 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
War of the Colossal Beast
much better than a
Bore of a Colossal Feast
Sorry, don't know why I just did that.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 8:55 AM on September 27, 2018
much better than a
Bore of a Colossal Feast
Sorry, don't know why I just did that.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 8:55 AM on September 27, 2018
I can still collapse a friend of mine into hysterics with "Uh, Mister B, what would you know about dignity?"
posted by Naberius at 9:19 AM on September 27, 2018
posted by Naberius at 9:19 AM on September 27, 2018
I hope you'll be playing all or part of the '95 Turkey Day special featuring Bridget Nelson (nee Jones) as Mr B Natural.
posted by runcibleshaw at 11:42 AM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by runcibleshaw at 11:42 AM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
MST Club's showing, as usual will be tonight (Thursday) at 7 PM Eastern at https://cytu.be/r/Metafilter_MST3KClub, as a double-feature. The episode itself begins at 9 PM Eastern.
posted by JHarris at 1:15 PM on September 27, 2018
posted by JHarris at 1:15 PM on September 27, 2018
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posted by Chrysostom at 7:02 PM on September 26, 2018 [1 favorite]