Outer Space Jitters

While not totally awful, it's certainly a very far cry from being a good Stooge comedy. And that's really too bad because despite the fact that Joe Besser refused to take any of the traditional pokes and slaps that Moe used to hand out to Curly and Shemp, he was otherwise a fine comedian. Check him out in Abbott & Costello's "Africa Screams" where Joe actually has some screen time with Shemp. At this time Colombia Pictures was obviously trying to "wind up" the Stooges contract so the writing and direction are just not there for them. A sad commentary on the state of affairs for the comics at this time in the late 1950's. If you have absolutely nothing else to do, then do watch this short and you'll see automatically how things had declined for this type of comedy during the "cold war" rock and roll era of the late 50's.

OUTER SPACE JITTERS (1957) is the worst Joe Besser short I have seen so far. It's a totally weird plot. What should a caveman be brought to life on Sunev (Venus spelled backwards) anyway? Besides, the Stooges don't even wear their hair their usual funny way. The "Sunev" gag was already used in SPACE SHIP SAPPY (1957). I don't recommend this short. At least the ending was good.

Rating: D

For a long time I'd heard about how bad all the Joe Besser-era Stooge shorts were. So when I finally got around to seeing some of them, I approached them with low expectations. And for the most part I found that they were better than I expected. I didn't find Joe all that annoying, though I could see why others would.

Now I've seen "Outer Space Jitters", and I have to say... when I heard that the Besser-era shorts were bad, this is EXACTLY what I expected them to be like.

I found this short dumb and almost totally laugh-free (although a couple of the cheap jokes did hit their mark -- barely). In my opinion it's not Joe that ruins this (although his repeated "let's get outta here" lines are unnatural and annoying). This script would not have been helped by the presence of any other third stooge.

I'm happy to report that all Besser-era shorts are not like this one -- not by any means. And I'm glad this was not the first one I saw.

I don't understand why people are so hard on this short, I actually thought this was one of the better Stooge shorts featuring Joe Besser, the short had a good cast (Emil Sitka, Phillip Van Zandt, Gene Roth, Harriette Tarler), a decent script and some funny moments such as the dinner table scene, them freeing Emil Sitka's character, Larry & Joe being scared of the zombie while Moe thought they were playing charades and Larry accidentally hitting Moe in the head with a hammer and then Moe rubbing a wooden sander on Larry's head, watch Larry's facial reactions to him getting his head rubbed by a wooden sander! IMO that scene is up there with some of the best moments in Stooge history.

The short may be a little slow in parts but it does have some funny moments, this short is far more deserving than just 1 out of 10 stars, I give this short a 6 out of 10.

This is one of the worst Besser shorts there is. The jokes are stupid and corny. There was a funny moment or two, but that's it! In this one, Joe is as annoying as ever and only gets hit once, with a waterbag while Moe beats on Larry as much as he pleases! Sci-fi and stooges do not mix well, as proved in this clunker.

Grade: F