Mystery Science Theater 3000: JUNGLE GODDESS, with THE PHANTOM CREEPS part 1
January 21, 2015 9:25 PM - Season 2, Episode 3 - Subscribe

(1948, B&W, Lippert, Adventure, Short) Pilots land in Africa to search for Greta, an heiress lost in a crash at a young age. Now she's worshiped as a goddess by a native tribe. Greta and Pilot Mike must overcome the machinations of both the tribe witch doctor and the other pilot to make to back safely to hamburger sandwiches and french-fried potatoes. A fairly good episode mocking a movie with some pretty unfortunate racial stereotypes. Also: The Phantom Creeps, part 1: Bela Lugosi is Dr. Zorka, who threatens the world with his inventions: a goofy-looking robot and a collection of explosive walking Ding-Dongs. YouTube (1h38m) First aired October 6, 1990.

Satellite News - Annotated MST3K - Club MST3K - Daddy-O

Jungle Goddess
IMDB (1.7 stars)
Directed by Lewis D. Collins.
Written by Jo Pagano and William Stephens.
Starring George Reeves, Wanda McKay and Ralph Byrd.

The Phantom Creeps
IMDB (4.5 stars)
Directed by Ford Beebe and Saul A. Goodkind. Written by Wyllis Cooper, George H. Plympton, Basil Dickey and Mildred Barish.
posted by JHarris (8 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is up a little late, the showing is Thursday at 7 PM Eastern again, and the URL will show up here that afternoon. I'll get the recap information up later.
posted by JHarris at 9:26 PM on January 21, 2015


Michael Weldon in the essential The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film wrote:
A lost heiress (with a leopardskin outfit) rules a savage empire "against unbelievable odds!" Ex-Dick Tracy Ralph Byrd and future Superman George Reeves star in this laugh-filled adventure with Wanda McKay and Armida.
Mary Jo Pehl wrote in the Amazing Colossal Episode Guide:
George Reeves is the jungle goddess. Oh, no, wait. He's not. Two pilots search for a missing heiress whose plane has crashed in the jungles of Africa. When they find her she's the queen of a jungle tribe and doing quite nicely. This film presents the worldview paradigm that the most whitest and the most blondest gets to be the boss of everything. When one of the pilots, Bob, carelessly shoots a tribe member, the two pilots are imprisoned by the natives (the Zambizis), and Bob is sentenced to hang. Mike implores the jungle goddess, Greta, to release them; she recounts a series of flashbacks for him which she narrates like she's doing the voice-over for a coffee commercial. Mike and Greta fall in love, and not only will she help them escape, she'll leave with them. Bob doesn't like their plan and takes off on his own, only to be speared in the back by one of the tribe members. Mike and Greta find the plane, take off for the good ole U.S. of A., and all Greta can think about is a new hat.
Host Segments:
Pre: Joel and the 'bots play hide and seek with the inelusive and inexplicable forces that control the universe.
Invention: Joel presents the Radio Armsaw, the Mads show Dr. Sax.
1: Bela's Okay Discoveries
2: Joel demonstrates "gobos," those shaped masks they put on lenses to give the impression that the viewer is seeing out of binoculars or some such.
3: The ship is visited by white explorers, who demand the SOL's resources.
Post: The guys stage a sitcom about Greta's life once she gets back home.
posted by JHarris at 12:30 AM on January 22, 2015


So it's like Heart of Darkness but as a Rom Com
posted by hellojed at 12:34 AM on January 22, 2015 [2 favorites]


Fun fact: At the end of Host Segment 3, Joel brings out the cast of their sitcom Jackie Gleason-style, introducing Crow as Art Crow. In a later episode, a fan sends in a drawing of the SOL crew where she identifies Crow as Art, to the confusion of Joel and the bots. This would later become a running gag, when Pearl Forrester would refer to Crow as Art.
Another Fun Fact: this is one of the first episodes of MST I saw. In high school, we didn't have Comedy Central until the success of South Park led to our cable provider adding it to their cable package. I befriended a girl who had moved to DM from Arizona and had taped a bunch of episodes she loaned me, and I quickly became obsessed. It was this one, Monster A-Go Go, and about half of Giant Gila Monster.
posted by cottoncandybeard at 7:17 AM on January 22, 2015 [2 favorites]


Here is the room: http://sync-video.com/r/ruaH4IIe

(Well, it's not THE ROOM. It's the sync-video room. No Tommy Wiseau involved.)
posted by JHarris at 3:35 PM on January 22, 2015


My gods, the second episode you watched was Monster A-Go Go? That's like jumping from algebra to multivariable calculus. Most impressive.
posted by stevis23 at 5:09 PM on January 22, 2015 [2 favorites]


Thanks for dropping by everyone! We got up to 7 people again tonight, mostly regulars but one or two others dropped by.

Here is the schedule for upcoming weeks:
JAN 29: 204 CATALINA CAPER (Creepy girl!)
FEB 5: 205 ROCKET ATTACK USA ("Help me!")
FEB 12: 206 RING OF TERROR ("Puma? Puma!")
FEB 19: 207 WILD REBELS ("We did it for the kicks, man!")
posted by JHarris at 6:46 PM on January 22, 2015


HATS!

(Thanks for setting this up JHarris :)
posted by hobgadling at 6:15 AM on January 23, 2015


« Older Movie: Miller's Crossing...   |  Podcast: Reply All: #10 The Fr... Newer »

You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments