MST3K (K05)

K05 - Gamera - Joel goes it alone! The man makes a very valiant effort, but even during the parts where the jokes are frequent, it's just weird to see only one silhouette in the theater. Instead of a man quipping to his friends beside him -- something we all do -- we've got a guy talking to himself -- something the crazy homeless guy downtown does. Of the three trapped on the SOL, Joel is easily the funniest at this point, so we are lucky on that.

The explanation for why Joel is alone is a good example of the classiness of the program. Being an ultra-low budget show on an ultrahigh frequency channel few were probably watching, they could've not bothered to explain anything. Instead, they shot a small scene with Trace before he left for wherever he had to go which explained Crow's absence from the theater. Crow makes a fine Christmas tree. Although, I suppose Servo's absence from the theater is never explained. He makes appearances in the host segments -- non-frozen and talkative, even -- but inexplicably never follows Joel into the theater. I wonder if someone called the voicemail line asking about that? Maybe K06 will reveal all.

One thing I've found myself doing during both K04 and this episode is cracking mental MST-style jokes during the frequent silent sections. I guess my brain's already on MST-autopilot and is attempting to raise the joke quota to normal levels. I've never seen the season 3 versions of these episodes, so I have no reference for what the cable versions are like. It'll be interesting to compare the pairs of repeats. (4/10)

film d. Noriaki Yuasa (1965)
mst d. Vince Rodriguez (11 Dec 1988)

[watched at Brother-in-Law's house using an Xbox 360]