Year: 1988

MST3K Story: Joel is happy with the calls he’s gotten recently and has a number for people to use. Joel and the Bots spend a lot of time listening to their messages. Crow and Servo do an Abbot & Costello-like routine, but Joel thinks they’ve gone a bit nutty. Later, based on a caller’s request for “more Chapstick”, Joel applies loads of it to the Bots. Crow, thinking about Chapstick, goes on a long rant on lubricants, culminating in his famous advice to “never stick anything in your ear larger than a pirate”. At the end, the Bots are making crank calls and Crow goes on and on about dog behavior.

Gamera Vs. Barugon Story: Ichiro Hirata, a crippled war veteran, backs a group of men (Onodera, Kawajiri and Ichiro’s brother Keisuke) on a mission to find a giant opal Ichiro discovered during the war. When they find the opal over the objections of the natives, Onodera orchestrates the death of Kawajiri and seals Keisuke in a cave where he is eventually rescued. Repenting against his previous actions, Keisuke joins with a native girl, Karen, to retrieve the opal. They arrive in Japan too late, as Onodera has murdered Ichiro and the opal has turned out to be an egg that has hatched revealing the monster Barugon. It grows to enormous size and destroys the city with its powerful tongue and rainbow beam, even defeating Gamera in a brief battle. After numerous attempts to destroy Barugon fail, Gamera returns and defeats it.

MST3K segments written by Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Josh Weinstein, Jim Mallon & Kevin Murphy
MST3K segments directed by Vince Rodriguez
Gamera Vs. Barugon written by Nisan Takahashi (as Nizo Takahashi)
Gamera Vs. Barugon directed by Shigeo Tanaka
Gamera Vs. Barugon music by Chuji Kinoshita

MST3K Guest Cast: none

Gamera Vs. Barugon Cast: Kojiro Hongo (Keisuke Hirata), Kyôko Enami (Karen), Koji Fujiyama (Onodera), Yoshiro Kitahara (Professor Amano), Akira Natsuki (Ichiro Hirata), Ichirô Sugai (Dr. Matsushita), Yuzo Hayakawa (Kawajiri)

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey

MST3K Story: It’s Christmastime, so Joel has decided to carbon-freeze Crow and use him as a Christmas tree because he’s the most “spindly”. He also contemplates using Servo as a “Frosty the Snowman”. After a caller (whose message gets a Punky Brewster background) asks who cuts Joel’s hair, the credits roll early so Joel can point out that it’s “Mr. Crow of Beverly Hills”. Later, Joel takes another call, then does a poll on movie colorization. Joel also gets calls from competing coalitions, each supporting different giant monsters. A review of the previous movie proves inconclusive. At episode’s close, Joel shows Gypsy how Crow was frozen, followed by a discussion of the Holiday season and a rendition of “O Tanenbot”.

Gamera Story: A scientific expedition to the Arctic led by Dr. Hidaka is disrupted by a dogfight that leads to an airplane crash. The explosion awakens Gamera, a giant monster turtle. Meanwhile, a young boy named Kenny is in trouble in school and at home because of his obsession with turtles. Forced to release his pet turtle to the wild, he comes upon Gamera and feels a kinship with the giant turtle. The humans try many different means of destroying Gamera without success. Kenny, who believes Gamera is good, eventually convinces them to use “Z Plan”, in which Gamera is trapped in a rocket and blasted into space. “Z Plan” is a success and Gamera is peacefully removed from the Earth.

MST3K segments written by Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Josh Weinstein, Jim Mallon & Kevin Murphy
MST3K segments directed by Vince Rodriguez
Gamera written by Nisan Takahashi (as Fumi Takahashi)
Gamera directed by Noriaki Yuasa
Gamera music by Tadashi Yamauchi

MST3K Guest Cast: none

Gamera Cast: Eiji Funakoshi (Hidaka), Bokuzen Hidari (Old Man), Harumi Kiritachi (Kyoke), Yoshio Kitahara (Sakurai), Michiko Sugata (Nobuyo), Jun Hamamura (Dr. Murase), Junichiro Yamashita (Ayagi), Yoshiro Uchida (Toshio), Koji Fujiyama (Engineer)

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey

MST3K Story: Joel is still pleased with the phone calls, but he wants the “scary guys with the low IQs” to stop calling and scaring Gypsy. Joel apologizes for all the giant turtle movies, but states that he doesn’t control what films are shown. He explains that the films are sent up by the mad scientists who shot him into space. Later, Joel puts Servo through puberty by changing his voice, taking it from a squeak to a “great dynamic mighty voice”. It immediately goes to Servo’s head. Gypsy also wants a new voice, but Joel thinks her voice is “kinda deep and sexy” and reminds him of Kim Carnes. A caller wants Crow unfrozen and Gypsy to join Joel in the theater. After showing the freezing of Crow again, Joel scolds Gypsy for eating Crow’s garland thinking it was “shiny spaghetti”. Joel gets an invitation to a young viewer’s birthday party. Since he’s trapped in space and can’t attend, the satellite is decorated in the boy’s honor and Servo gives him some life advice. At the close, Joel announces that they won’t be on during the Christmas holidays, but will return for a special New Years Eve broadcast.

Gamera Vs. Gaos Story: A volcanic eruption releases Gaos, a giant, bat-like creature with a laser beam and a taste for human blood. His rampage is delaying the building of an important road, disrupting not only the company, but also the locals who are negotiating the sale of their land for the road’s use. Several different methods are attempted to destroy Gaos, but none prove effective. Only the combined efforts of the Japanese scientific community, Gamera and Ichi (the grandson of the leader of the landowners), proves enough to defeat Gaos.

MST3K segments written by Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Josh Weinstein, Jim Mallon & Kevin Murphy
MST3K segments directed by Vince Rodriguez
Gamera Vs. Gaos written by Nisan Takahashi (as Fumi Takahashi)
Gamera Vs. Gaos directed by Noriaki Yuasa
Gamera Vs. Gaos music by Tadashi Yamauchi

MST3K Guest Cast: none

Gamera Vs. Gaos Cast: Kojiro Hongo (Shiro Tsutsumi), Yoshiro Kitahara (Dr. Aoki), Reiko Kasahara (Sumiko Kanamura), Kichijiro Ueda (Tatsuemon Kanamura), Koji Fujiyama, Kyôko Enami, Eiko Yanami

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey

MST3K Story: Joel thanks everyone for their calls and announces that Crow will soon be unfrozen. Servo wonders what Crow will think of his “dynamic mighty voice”. Finally thawed in time for the New Year, Crow is very annoyed after being shown what was done to him. Later, Joel receives his first transmission from the mad scientists who shot him into space: Dr. Clayton Forrester and Dr. Lawrence Erhardt. Joel wants to know when he can come back to Earth and the Mads say they’ll let him come down if he does a different show for them; one that involves being trapped deep in the transatlantic trench and watching nothing but Jacques Cousteau movies. Joel passes. The movie begins to make Joel very unhappy and the Bots are unable to cheer him up. Even viewer calls fail to do the trick. Just as Joel begins to feel better, they play a message in which the caller thinks Gypsy is a male. This makes her very upset. Late in the movie, midnight approaches and Joel and the Bots take time to discuss their hopes for the New Year. They then try to do a countdown, but are interrupted by Movie Sign. At the conclusion, Crow give the film a “claw up” while Servo thinks it’s “mediocre at best”. Joel wants to know why Japan has the jet planes used in the movie, since they’re supposed to be demilitarized since the war. He then announces next week’s movie before everyone says their goodbyes.

Gamera Vs. Zigra Story: A spaceship appears near the moon and attacks the International base there. Meanwhile, earthquakes are occurring all over the Earth. Two marine biologists and their children are kidnapped and taken aboard the spaceship. It is inhabited by a lone female humanoid. She states that they are from the planet Zigra and that they intend to conquer the Earth. The adults are hypnotized, but the children orchestrate an escape. They return to Earth where Gamera appears and takes them to safety. Gamera engages the alien spacecraft in battle and destroys it. The Zigra monster, a shark-like creature, survives and grows to enormous size. It ultimately defeats Gamera by turning him on his back. Meanwhile, the alien female, who had followed the children to Earth in order to kill them, is captured. She turns out to be a scientist who has been possessed by the Zigra aliens after being captured on the moon. Using her knowledge, along with that of the now-awakened marine biologists, Gamera is successfully revived and the Zigra monster defeated.

MST3K segments written by Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Josh Weinstein, Jim Mallon & Kevin Murphy
MST3K segments directed by Vince Rodriguez
Gamera Vs. Zigra written by Nisan Takahashi (as Fumi Takahashi)
Gamera Vs. Zigra directed by Noriaki Yuasa
Gamera Vs. Zigra music by Shunsuke Kikuchi

MST3K Guest Cast: none

Gamera Vs. Zigra Cast: Eiko Yanami (Space Woman), Reiko Kasahara (Henry’s Sister), Koji Fujiyama (Tom), Isamu Saeki, Shin Minatsu, Yasushi Sakagami, Arlene Zoellner, Gloria Zoellner

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey