Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996)

I would be hard pressed to name any movie that disappointed me as much as `MST3K: The Movie'. After being a rabid fan of the show for several years, a feature film version was a mind-blowing possibility that I couldn't wait for. Of course, it only played "major cities" for about two weeks, then quietly plopped onto video store shelves, where I finally got to pay to see it. I've got to admit, I wasn't that crazy about it. In fact, it seems that Best Brains was engulfed and dominated by a overly-elaborate, poorly-planned studio mentality that couldn't grasp the concept of the show.

MST3K is about a good natured temp worker (Michael J. Nelson) who is stranded on a spaceship with witty robots and is forced to watch bizarre and awful movies by a demented scientist. The fact that the bulk of the show is showing movies, translating the concept to a theatrical presentation seems like it should be no problem.

The film they chose to riff, `This Island Earth', was a perfect choice. It has great production values and would look great back on the big screen, with crisp imagery and competent special effects. Despite it's technical competence, though, it's saddled with some ridiculous dialog, rock-stupid heroes, dumb situations, unbelievable plot twists, and a really silly/cool rubber monster. What's not to love?

But for some damn reason, the movie was edited for it's use in `MST3K: The Movie'. Now `This Island Earth' seems rushed and worse than it really is. They delete a scene where Cal (the big, dumb scientist played by Rex Reason) breaks more equipment, making their later jokes about Cal's clumsiness sort of strange, as we only see him break one thing. These cuts also create a continuity gaffe, as Ruth's dress changes from one shot to another. After all the cuts, `MST3K: The Movie' is actually shorter than the un-MSTied `This Island Earth', even shorter than an episode of the MST3K TV show- without commercials! What the Hell?

So the movie segments are disappointing, but still really funny (despite the wisecracks being less esoteric and frequent then on the TV show). Then there's the host segments. There's a good introduction by the great Dr. Forrester (Trace Beaulieu), but the rest of the host segments are overly simple and childish, lacking clever word play and gags. They were able to use different angles and cuts within scenes (unlike the TV show), but this seems to hinder the writer's imaginations rather than embellish it. In these scenes, none of the characters get any good lines or comedic sequences, and Tom Servo (Kevin Murphy) and Crow (Beaulieu again) become interchangeable, colorless characters. What the Hell?

Perhaps I am being overly harsh on this movie because I love the television show so much. I didn't hate the movie, in fact, there is much to recommend. The movie segments are hilarious, and the show's colorful toy-store sets adapt well to the big screen (in theory, I mean, I never got to see it on the big screen).

It's just is distressing to think that many people's introduction to the world of MST3K was this watered down version.

I pray that Universal gets around to releasing a special edition of this movie. There were a few cut host segments, including an alternate ending, that would be interesting to see. Plus, they could show the entire, uncut `This Island Earth', giving the strongest point of `MST3K: The Movie', the movie-mocking, more screen time.

Fmovies: "Mystery Science Theater 3000"(MST3K)is an American program which features Mike Nelson and two funny robots(Tom Servo and Crow T.Robot)seen in silhouette,making fun of some trashy movie playing on the screen before them.This time Mike and the robots settle in to watch truly awful science-fiction film "This Island Earth"(1955,Joseph M.Newman).The wisecracks are clever and really amusing-I laughed a lot during the film.Some of my favourite lines are: Crow T.Robot "The secret government Eggo Project!","Eat my photons,punyheads!" etc. My rating:8 out of 10.Highly recommended.

Now, I will probably get a lot of hate for this but remember, this is really my opinion.

What is it that could get me flamed? Simple, I don't like The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Movie but let me explain before you start to make flaming comments.

The thing is, the main problem I have with this movie is that, it's a toned down family friendly version of the series and this is coming from someone who is a fan of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 television series. I mean, there's barely any profanity, drug references, and such. But the film being toned down was never the intention in the first place. You see, the company Gramercy Pictures simply forced those intentions onto Best Brains, the company that produces the show and the movie itself. In fact, here's some interesting trivia making the film was not a happy experience for the filmmakers, due to frequent studio interference. Years later, at a cast reunion appearance in New York City, Trace Beaulieu was asked what the worst movie featured on MST3K was. His reply was, you guessed it, Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie.

But I'll get back to that later. Anyway, the film is about well as usual that Mike and the Robots are doomed to watch bad movies but something a little different happens. You see, Mike, Tom and Gypsy are startled to find Crow deep in the lower sections of the Satellite of Love (The spaceship) pounding at the hull with various digging instruments. He has convinced himself that he can tunnel back to Earth, he tells them. A hull breach soon follows (Checking his digging calculations, a confused Crow discovers that he already knew this was inevitable: "Look at that, "Breach Hull, All Die." Even had it underlined!"), which Tom Servo remedies in an unexpected way.

But as soon as they get back to the bridge, Dr. Clayton Forrester has them watching a film called This Island Earth. So, they end up "riffing" the film as they always do with other films.

Now I like to point out the good things about the film, it does show for the first time ever other parts of the show (I personally laughed at the Mike on the mouse wheel scene, funny stuff), the characters mocking the film, those are always the best parts and of course, an explanation as to what happened to Dr. Clayton Forrester before Pearl took over as the villain for the rest of the series and the infamous "end credits riffing." But despite those aspects, I still didn't like it. I mean, it wasn't as funny as the TV show as it was toned down to a family friendly level which I despise a lot. I mean, why tone down something that wasn't made to be family friendly in the first place? I'm sorry everyone but the film did not impress me, if anyone is reading this, save your money and buy the TV show on DVD instead of the movie.

Overall Rating: 4/10.

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie fmovies. 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!!!

It was a really boring night and me and my sisters came across this movie. At first I didn't notice the silhouettes at the bottom of the screen. WE had missed the first half unfortunately.

Anyway, it was the best laugh i've had for ages. I just can't describe how blooming funny this film is but we were giggling just about the whole way through!

It's such a clever idea and so well done. I have bought a box set and hope it will be as good.

We had never even heard of the tv series and are not sci-fi fans, but still enjoyed the film very much.

I give it 9 1/2 out of 10, because nothing is perfect!