We've got movie sign for yet another revival of MST3K and does it work? Well, if the first episode is any indication, then the answer is an absolute "yes!" Mike and the Bots take to the stage once again as Pearl Forrester and her goons are back in a lower budget version of the movie experiment, brought to you by Syd's Olive Loaf (Oh Boy!) and all kinds of other very strange and MARVELOUS features. There is a lot to cover.
Well, the skits are back with a bang, even if there are very few of them. They come back with a new song too, and they have not lost their edge in doing so. The Tardigrade is a very simple song, especially for MST3K, but our favorite Scifi team bring it with a classic style that we love. I'm sorry, but the Jonah era just did not do it with the same spirit, as good as their songs were.
The new theater hallway is absolutely amazing. The twins going "Come play with us, Mike. Forever and ever" was a stroke of genius, as was the 2001 Space Astronaut that either gives encouragement and consolement to Mike or is too busy hissing in pain. Then, of course, they come at us with the Laserblast aliens at absolute random. We're here for it.
Pearl is probably the one part of this revival that didn't seem to have a great deal of energy to provide to the episode. She does a few good jokes here and there, but overall, she just seemed a little tired. I don't want to go into how the cast has grown a bit toward their twilight years, but she seems to be the only one that is lacking in real status. For Pearl, though, that's not a good thing. We love Mary Jo, and we only want what's best for her. Hopefully, she is in good health.
The Sting of Death
Some scientist guy brings some kids to an island place that is obviously a suburban area. They party, beat up a guy they don't understand, and then get killed by a jellyfish monster!
What makes this movie bad?
Someone thought that they knew what was hip and cool for the era. This is what the young kids think is hip and out of sight. Nope! The writing was horrid, the kids were 30 to 40 years old, and the villain was about as obvious as a missing brain. Everything from the writing to the actiing to the scenes of partying can be used as torture devices. Anytime the kids are out doing the jellyfish or the kongaline, the movie drags like a fork across your face.
Egon cannot be helped as a character. The actor and the director obviously had one direction for him and that was "Kids will make fun of me" or "People just didn't listen to me". His scenes are awkward and his logic is flawed all around. As pointed out, he has a house on an island paradise island and he's doing a job right around his passion of fish and sea life. Seriously, staying away from troublesome 37 year old teenagers shouldn't be a huge ask.
There's a ton of stuff wrong with this movie. Instead of a big, fake looking bruise on that shorty short guy's head, they could have put a bandage over it with less hastle and more budget friendliness. The endless dancing scenes, swimming scenes and boring talking sequences drag this movie straight to the depths, along with the jella jella jella jellyfish!
The Riffs
The riffs are absolute gold standard for both MST3K and Rifftrax. They obviously brought their A material and stuck to the winning formula of riffs. They have a few newstyle riffs of current things, but mostly it's just their normal, timeless jokes that stab this horrifically awful movie into being hilarious. Their riffs on Egon and the bruise-head guy's disturbing shorts were just a hilarious return to form. They wanted a terrible monster movie with an awful costume and they got the absolute greatest of the worst.
The feeling of this movie fit so perfectly with the show that their riffs mingled into masterful stupidity. The stupid characters in this movie and the sheer atrociousness of the special effects are practically begging to be riffed! How easily the people die and how awful lines are delivered, I could go on forever about how TERRIBLE this film is and how it lends itself to every bit of the humor.
The Episode
Please, please let this work and please let us get at least one more good collection of episodes. Thirty, maybe forty episodes shouldn't be a huge thing to ask for but we will be ever so grateful if all four of this new season is a hit. Will that be absolute? No, every season has its weak episode and we cannot put too much pressure to perform. They threw these episodes out like wildfire. It seems like only yesterday, we were funding this new season, and we've already seen a return! Rifftrax having such a good track record and expertise in the field certainly helped.
Whatever happens with this, just this one golden episode is enough to tide us real MST3K fans over. If you haven't seen it and only need a small bit of encouragement, consider it given. This is absolutely a Best in Show rating episode. On to the second episode!
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