Mystery Science Theater 3000: OUTLAW
August 17, 2016 10:03 PM - Season 5, Episode 19 - Subscribe

aka "Outlaw of Gor," "Gor II." "The Adventure of a Thousand Lifetimes Continues!" "Fuera de la Ley de GOR" While John Carter fell asleep in a cave and woke up on Mars, one thing author John Norman's creation Gor has over Burroughs' Barsoom books is that at least Tarl Cabot has a magic ring to explain his ridiculous translocation to Barbarian Planet. You know Barbarian Planet, it's a world based on one of those oft-written-about fantasy times that never really existed historically, but all kinds of folk like to imagine, from Howard to Gygax. Well, at least this version has Jack Palance! When this episode aired, the movie was just four years old! I'm not sure it ever got a release in theaters in the US. Although he did it under a pseudonym, the main screenwriter is the same Harry Alan Towers who did the screenplay for 323 THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU. Fortunately this movie is tons more watchable, thanks to massive amounts of flesh (both male and female, it's an equal opportunity exhibitor) and excellent riffing. One of the host segments refers to all the skin, one of the best sketches and songs MST ever did: Tubular Boobular Joy. Notes on Gor itself are after the break. Official YouTube, with annotations! (1h32m) Premiered December 11, 1993. If you want to fill in the blanks with the movie this is a sequel to (may god have mercy on your soul), here it is! (1h30m)

Episode 519 OUTLAW
Satellite News - MST3K Wikia - Mighty Jack's MST3K Review - War of the Colossal Fan Guide - Annotated MST3K (text)

Movie
Daddy-O's Drive-In Dirt - Rotten Tomatoes (Critics N/A, Audience 9%) - Wikipedia
IMDB, as "Gor II" (1988, 1.9 stars)
"An Earthman returns to the planet Gor, and fights against tyranny."
Directed by John "Bud" Cardos. Written by John Norman (novel), Harry Alan Towers and Rick Marx. Starring Urbano Barberini, Rebecca Ferratti and Jack Palance.

Extra:
Why do I keep accidently writing John Norman's name as "John Normal?"

On the movie "Gor": I've seen this one, and it's just as worthy of mockery as the sequel. The beginning of the movie is actually Cabot lecturing a college class on the subject of his magic ring! Since it's on YouTube I'm going to put it in as preroll material, so show up a couple of hours early if you want an extra dose of movie stinkery.

The "Chronicles of Gor" is a series of fantasy novels by John Norman. It's the kind of thing you'd expect to find on the back shelves of used paperback stores, beside 29th editions of Asimov and Tolkien wannabes barely remembered nowadays. It would be a footnote today, if it weren't for these movies, and....

If you've bumbled around the internet for a few years, you've probably run into pages about the "Gorean subculture," folks who get a sexual kick out of roleplaying (with varying degrees of seriousness) the master/slave dynamics that are apparently such big parts of the books as to be VERY CREEPY, and which thankfully are not elaborated much upon in the movie.

It's not my place to dismiss anyone's kink, and what people do in the privacy of their houses (or castles, or whatever they call them) is their own bidness. Isn't it weird, though, that this subculture arose from out of such a two-bit Barsoom ripoff? It's almost like someone decided to give the TV series treatment to Shannara or somethi... oh, er, nevermind.
posted by JHarris (6 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Ah! It turns out I linked to an Italian? language version of Gor. The English version is here.

This is as good as time as any to remind everyone about MST3K's weekly episode showings! This week it's Thursday (today) at 9 PM ET (6 PM PT), at https://cytu.be/r/Metafilter_MST3KClub.
posted by JHarris at 11:27 PM on August 17, 2016


And for a taste of what Gor novels are like, there is the satirical fanfiction classic Houseplants of Gor.
posted by JHarris at 12:01 AM on August 18, 2016 [1 favorite]


Four hours of Gor? Who could ask for anything more?
posted by valkane at 5:26 AM on August 18, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'm not sure I made it all the way through this episode, but the whole time I was watching I had such a hard time wrapping my head around Jack Palance having appeared in this before his excellent performances in Burton's Batman, and City Slickers. That's some genuine cognitive dissonance right there.
posted by usonian at 8:13 AM on August 18, 2016 [1 favorite]


CABOT?!
posted by SansPoint at 1:07 PM on August 18, 2016 [1 favorite]


It is so fun to do Jack Palance's voice. Day three. Missed call. I bought a shovel today. It's price? 3 dollars.

They aired Toobular Boobular Joy during the last live Rifftrax (not the one tonight, the one a month or so ago) and it was fun to hear other people singing along. A callipagilical ball, if you will.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 7:26 PM on August 18, 2016 [1 favorite]


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