Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie

The evil scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester (Trace Beaulieu) locks Mike Nelson (Michael J. Nelson) and two robots in a spacecraft to watch terrible low-budget movies as part of his scheme to conquer the world. He projects 1954 "This Island Earth" (Title (Brazil): "Guerra Entre Planetas") with the intention of driving them crazy. However, the trio laughs and makes funny comments in every scene and dialogs, having good-time instead, and Dr. Forrester's ambitious plan does not work.

The first time I saw "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie" on 01 February 2000 I loved it a lot and I gave a nine. I had watched the cheese "This Island Earth" a few months ago and the comments of Mike Nelson and the two robots made me laugh a lot. Today I have just watched this film again and it is still hilarious, but my rating is lower this time. "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie" was released in Brazil on VHS by CIC-Universal Distributor. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Filme Mais Idiota do Mundo" ("The Most Idiot Movie of the World")

It was a blast! If you, the viewer, are not familiar with Mystery Science Theater 3000, better known as MST3K, I recommend that you rent/buy/borrow, beg, or steal tapes to become a tad familiar with the concept.

The concept is: riffing a B-or-worse-scifi-movie; the victim, er-- subject, in this case, is "This Island Earth", a classic from the 50's. There's this guy (Mike) who's been shot up to an orbiting space station (the Satellite of Love, or SOL) by a Mad Scientist (Dr. Clayton Forrester). Mike is a replacement test subject (Joel, who made the robots for companionship, escaped), and he and Joel's 'bots (short for ro-bots) ease the stress of being test subjects by making wise@$$ remarks while the movie is running. Then there are little interval segments that attempt to tell a coherent narrative.

The catch is that the bots are actually only puppets made from a gumball machine head, salad bowl, Tupperware interlocking set of flower vases, and armatures from folding adjustable desk lamps. The original actor who voices Crow T. Robot is Trace Beaulieu, who also plays Dr. Forrester (ah, the magic of motion pictures!). The guy who voices Tom Servo is Kevin Murphy-- well, if you really want to see him, you'll have to find the episodes on tape and go looking for his appearances as other characters.

This movie is much better than the episodes that have appeared either on Comedy Central or the Sci-Fi Channel, primarily because Best Brains, the production company, had more money to make better sets, props, and better staging of gags. The Hubble was great, as was the amusing and embarrassing segment where Dr. Forrester ends up in the Metalunan guy's shower. [aaagghhh!!!]

The only two things I miss are Joel Hodgson, who was the original host, and Frank Conniff, who played Dr. Forrester's assistant, "TV's Frank". Joel was a much different "test subject" than Mike-- Joel was more introspective, did many more musical bits on the show, was more creative ["Invention Exchange" was Joel's idea; as a comic/magician, he made most of the bizarre and funny inventions on the show.] I feel that Joel's presence, as writer and actor, would have given a tighter, more coherent slant to the experiment (but then, again, I could be biased!).

Frank Conniff, as TV's Frank, was the best inept sidekick an inept Mad Scientist could have, and Frank was the perfect foil for Forrester. Their gags tended to be more physical, slapstick comedy.

But MST3K: The Movie is, I hope, the first in a long line of franchise movies (like Star Trek: The Motion Picture!). I hope that Best Brains, Inc. does another MST3K movie--it's like no-calorie chocolate!!!

Mike and the bots finally get their own movie, and it's a scream! They tackle 'This Island Earth', wreck the Hubble, and use an interociter to talk with some guy in the shower! Some people were upset that they used what is considered a 'classic' sci-fi movie, but fans of the film should give it a try. Fans of the show need no encouragement, and will recognise several elements from the show thrown into the movie (like the Torgo theme in one scene).

I love MST3K. Seeing it for the first time whilst on holiday in the States, back home I vividly recall leaving a long play video recording the sci-fi channel each Saturday night with fingers crossed there would be one on. (These were the days before in channel planners, series linking and even broadband internet connections). Gradually as the years passed, I could import some of the DVD's from the states until eventually the internet could provide a more regular source of them. For a while though, "The Movie" was one of the few episodes that you could reliably see.

In this episode, Mike and the Robots are exposed to the Universal film "This Island Earth" in Dr Forrester's latest attempt to find the ultimate mind destroying movie. Keep in mind, Mike can't control when the movie begins or ends, but he tries to keep his sanity with the help of his robot friends.

"This Island Earth" isn't a great choice for the MST3K treatment. Despite being dated and virtually plotless (in the way it's presented here), it's both coherent and in focus, which puts it way above some of the other movies they've done. Maybe because of that (and the apparent backstage studio issues they were having) it's not a great episode of the show, relative to many of the ones that made up the series. The acting is perhaps less forgiving in this format, than it is on the regular show and though there's extra money for the effects, the skits are less fun than normal - perhaps most damaging is that the commentary is not as funny as an average episode of the show was, although that might have something to do with my familiarity from having seen this movie a few times.

It works as a fine introduction to the show and there are laughs to be had, and any MST3k is better than none. It's just that for an example of the series that has the highest exposure it's not as good as the series highpoints.

As a fan of MST3K, I was very excited to see this film. I was lucky enough to see this in theaters, and it was even more fun than your usual episode of the series. It's a little shorter than an episode, but being that the jabs at the film are hysterically funny, it evens out. Now, I heard that making the film wasn't fun for the crew, as producers made the cast change lines and many other things, but you'd never know it from watching it. It's also very interesting to see more of the ship, and see things in a broader way, due to a bigger budget. This ranks up there with the best episodes, and I've been quoting it repeatedly since seeing it, so many years ago. For me, as a fan, this was worth all the effort and frustrations the crew went through, I truly enjoy it and appreciate it!