29 July 2006

MST3K (208)

208 - Lost Continent - Hey, the proportion of "rock climbing" to "cool dinosaur action" was messed up! I think some saboteur must have switched this film's secret formula during filming. Eddie Haskell? Well, it was that or the producers didn't want to spend the bread.

Forget the blink-or-you'll-miss-it dinosaur stuff. My favorite scene is where Cesar Romero is hanging out with his lady before going off the find the rocket. In addition to the amusing '50s movie sexuality, JatB's references to jimmy hats had me cracking up loudly.

I will give the movie one point. The earthquake at the end was actually pretty good. Sure, none of the falling rocks ever hit anyone in a streak of unrealistic luck, but the stage hands did an excellent job of shaking the plastic jungle trees on set.

Mike shines again as the guest alien in the hexfield viewscreen. This time he does a completely hilarious interpretation of a deeply evil version of Hugh Beaumont-as-Ward Cleaver- but-call-me-Dad. He has the laid back, '50s TV dad voice cadence perfected. Who knew Ward was such concentrated evil? I love the flaming dad-pipe, too.

What is the green button on the desk for? The red one signals a call from the Mads. The yellow one signals a commercial sign, and also seems to be the one Joel hits during movie sign. The green one sits all alone, unloved. This has been bugging me for a couple episodes since I noticed it. Am I missing something?

The seasonal contests are great. Just like the "name the vegetable guy" contest from season 1, we now get a "name that Cool Thing we never showed flying outside of the SOL" contest. Let’s see. I think my Cool Thing would be an intergalactic Disney Electric Parade, except all of the floats are formed into the glowing visage of Dr. Erhardt's head and all speak in Servo's old voice. That might solve a mystery or two. (7/10)

film d. Sam Newfield (1951)
mst d. Jim Mallon (24 Nov 1990)

[I'm selling some MST3K stuff on eBay this week, including the hard-to-find DVD for MST3K: The Movie. Check out my auctions if you're interested.]