Mystery Science Theater 3000: THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT

May 24, 2017 9:55 AM - Season 11, Episode 7

"The Adventure You Will Never Forget!" A cramped German U-Boat (which nonethless houses a spacious captain's cabin and dining table!) in WWI sinks a passenger ship but the survivors make it aboard and take it over, then not. But the crewmen and survivors form a truce for survival when they find a mysterious land where live primitive men, dinosaurs, and volcanoes. An okay episode overall, but it does have the "Moon 14 Mesozoic Ranch Dinosaur BBQ" sketch, and one where Crow frets about turning into a human. Episode 1107 can be viewed on Netflix. Unriffed, the movie is on YouTube.

Episode 1107 THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT
MST3K Wikia - MST3K Discussion Board thread

Movie
Rotten Tomatoes (Critics 50%, Viewers 40%) - Wikipedia
IMDB (1974, 5.7 stars)
"During World War I, a German U-boat sinks a British ship and takes the survivors on board. After it takes a wrong turn, the submarine takes them to the unknown land of Caprona, where they find dinosaurs and neanderthals."
Directed by Kevin Connor. Written by Edgar Rice Burroughs (original novel), James Cawthorn and Michael Moorcock (yes, author of the Elric fantasy novels). Starring Doug McClure, John McEnery and Susan Penhaligon.

posted by JHarris (12 comments total)

How many times can a U-boat change hands in one movie? Crimson Tide had less "who's in charge of this submarine now?" drama than this thing did.
posted by tobascodagama at 7:55 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Ah, Doug McClure, who inspired 64% of this Simpsons character... (I may remember him from that)
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:06 PM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

This is always the episode I have a hard time remembering, maybe because it comes right after the magic that is Starcrash.

Loved the "Moon 14 Mesozoic Ranch Dinosaur BBQ" sketch, one of the highlights of the season. I see some asshats are selling t-shirts of it online, would love for it to be an actual product of Joel and crew instead of a knockoff because I would totally get one.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 8:23 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Show details:
This week's show begins, again, at Thursday (tonight) at 7 PM ET/4 PM PT, at https://www.rabb.it/rodneylives. This week's episodes are:
7/4 PM : 1107 THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT
9/6 PM: 706 LASERBLAST
posted by JHarris at 3:33 AM on May 25, 2017

After they took over the submarine I was confused about why Ardy had said submarine-takeover footage got spilled on the floor. As the movie went on I was less confused. About that bit, I mean. Still confused overall.
posted by ckape at 1:41 PM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

This is a movie where, with some serious re-writing, you could take the story and make something really cool.

My kids loved the Dinosaur BBQ bit.
posted by drezdn at 3:59 PM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

As a kid, I loved the novel the movie was based on (but I hesitate to re-read it, since it likely contains the horribly racism that permeates many of ERB's other works), and this is the only MST episode I can think of where I had previously seen the movie and kind of enjoyed it. I think that made it harder to like the MST episode. The movie isn't great--not at all--but it's just not horrible enough to make for good MST. (Or maybe I, old person that I am becoming, just have too much sentimental attachment to mid-70's schlock.)
posted by Pater Aletheias at 7:44 PM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

Favorite running gag: "Up microscope!"
posted by drezdn at 5:30 AM on May 26, 2017 [6 favorites]

In the lead-up to the launch of this series, a podcast called Mystery Science Theater Revival League discussed the show, reviewed classic episodes and interviewed pretty much the whole cast. It was a decent podcast, not great but fine, but the reason I mention it is that it was broadcast from the Dino Hotel in Lakewood, CO, so when they mentioned it in the Dinosaur BBQ sketch, it gave me the warm fuzzies.
posted by cottoncandybeard at 6:22 AM on May 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

With apologies to Edgar Rice Burroughs, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Jules Verne, Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, H.G. Wells, Orson Welles, the Wells Fargo Wagon, and you, the viewing audience.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 6:33 PM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

this is the only MST episode I can think of where I had previously seen the movie and kind of enjoyed it. I think that made it harder to like the MST episode. The movie isn't great--not at all--but it's just not horrible enough to make for good MST.

I've watched the whole series by now and I have to rank this one near the bottom because the movie is too... well... competent. Their riffing hearts don't seem to be in it even with the dinosaurs. When the caveman shows up halfway through, you can almost sense Jonah and the bots grab on to him like a life raft as something goofy enough to make fun of.

Now as for the other Doug McClure film they riff, ahhhhhhhh. Patience, dear hearts. Patience.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 7:43 AM on May 28, 2017

this is the only MST episode I can think of where I had previously seen the movie and kind of enjoyed it.

Me too! I remember seeing this on TV when I was around 13. Probably a couple of years after it came out in theatres.

I took it 100% seriously at the time.

This is my second-favorite episode of the new MST3K, though. I find I like it best when I'm enjoying the movie a bit. Also enjoyed seeing all of the ridiculous things I missed before.

Still, it's no Starcrash...
posted by mmoncur at 4:02 AM on May 29, 2017 [5 favorites]