365 Films A Year!

This one’s kind of for the fans out there. Most of my thoughts on Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie are inevitably tied to my feelings on the show, so those of you unfamiliar with the series might not get most of the references.

Okay. MST3K: The Movie is the project that made Joel Hodgson leave the show. True, he may have left eventually anyway, but it was the wrangling over the proposed feature film that drove a wedge between creator and original star Hodgson and producer / voice of Gypsy Jim Mallon. Was it worth losing Joel in order to get this? Not really. But it’s still a pretty good example of the series.

First of all, changes were made to the format in order to accomodate a theatrical release. There is a bit of exposition at the beginning as Dr. Clayton Forrester (Trace Beaulieu) explains the setup and it doesn’t fall into the neat segments that the television show does. (In fact, due to the insistance of the studio that the film’s time be trimmed, one whole segment was cut, otherwise it would have been pretty much in line.)

But it goes deeper than that. The film that the guys riff, This Island Earth, is not generally considered to be a bad movie. A bit cheesy by today’s standards, perhaps, but certainly not on the level of what they usually skewer. Of course, this was partly because they wanted a more identifiable film than those they usually covered, but also because the film’s distributor, Universal, wanted one of the films from their library utilized. The result is that some of the riffing seems forced, but overall it shows that *any* film, even a good one, can be effectively sent up in this way.

There are basically two main problems with the film. First, while the writer/performer Michael J. Nelson has proven that he can come across well in many different settings, the character of Mike Nelson didn’t have much about him, especially at this time in the show’s history, when he was still under the shadow of Joel. Later in the series (once it moved to the Sci-Fi channel), Mike becomes much more clearly defined, but here, he seems like just a repository for comments and actions, without seeming to have much of a personality. Even the robots Tom Servo (Kevin Murphy) and Crow (Beaulieu again) seem overly simplified from their television incarnations. It doesn’t help that they basically shot the film as if it was an “episode plus”. It never feels like a movie since it doesn’t do very much that they didn’t do on the show. Sure, we see an extra room or two, but that’s not that big of a deal. Maybe if they had landed on a planet or something it could have broken out of the mold a bit more.

The second problem is the nature of the riffs. For the most part, they are standard fare, but there are some that I felt were inappropriate (Why does Servo have to swear? It felt like they just did it because they could. Never a good reason.) or dumbed down (there really isn’t an esoteric reference in the bunch) or plagued by studio meddling (in particular a joke about John Sununu that would have better fit then-President Clinton - Clinton is even referenced later, making me think they were forced to change it).

A third (but less important) problem is the way This Island Earth has been cut. MST3K would often edit a film to help it fit the time slot, but this is a feature film. Why couldnt they riff the entire movie? I know you’re not supposed to watch these things for the film being riffed, but it’s disconcerting when a film is butchered to the point of incoherence. This is, of course, the studio’s fault. If they had allowed MST3K: The Movie to run longer, the filmmakers could have included more of This Island Earth and that missing segment, thus making an altogether better experience.

Still, there are reasons I love this movie and chief among them is the aforementioned Dr. Clayton Forrester. In the beginning of the series, Dr. Forrester was a true mad scientist/evil genius who did silly things on occasion, but was basically a solid villain. Of course, as time went by he softened a bit, but things really went downhill when Joel left. Joel had a certain amount of respect for Dr. Forrester (he called him “sir”) and went along because he had faith that he would win out in the end. Mike, on the other hand, showed nothing but disrespect for Dr. Forrester and this began to be reflected in the way the writers treated the character. He began to be portrayed as not only disgruntled, but an out-and-out loser. This was highlighted by a visit from Dr. Forrester’s mother, Pearl, who viewed him as a total disaster, completely shattering the fundamental nature of the character. (She would eventually join the cast for its last season on Comedy Central, throwing the whole balance of the show out of whack.)* But here, for one, brief moment we get full on mad scientist Dr. Forrester of old. Still nutty and goofy, but evil underneath it all. I watch this one for that alone.

Plus, as I stated, it’s nice seeing the guys riff on a pretty good film. It shows that even when filmmakers do things right, there are inconsitancies and moments of unintentional humor that can be exploited. (So lighten up, Joe Don Baker!) MST3K: The Movie is getting hard to find even on VHS (and you don’t want to pay what the DVD goes for), but it’s worth seeking out for fans of the show. It’s not a great choice for the uninitiated, but the casual viewer will probably like it too. I just can’t help but think it could have been so much more.

*I want to make it clear that I have nothing against Pearl as a character. In fact, when she returned without Clayton in season eight, she was much improved. It’s just that the Clayton/Pearl team never worked. I’m not surprised Trace decided not to return.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 27th, 2007 at 8:23 am and is filed under Comedy, Sci-Fi, Based on TV Show, 1996. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.