MST3K (106)

106 - The Crawling Hand - Ah, official DVDs are so nice. No glitched DVD-Rs to worry about. No bad editing of commercials. No VHS artifacts from 17-year-old tapes. I can see why this was, until recently, the only season 1 episode Rhino had released. It's a better introductory episode than 101 is, with Joel introducing the premise and the Mads in the first host segment. They also, finally, complete the bridge set by adding the long-missing button console. No more table slappin' for Joel.

We get another KTMA repeat with the bowling / robot free will host segment. I wonder if there are any KTMA repeats in season 2, or if seasons 1 and 3 are the only ones affected? And, was the giant hand that spooked Crow the same that grabbed Joel in K21? I did like JatB's imitations of Bill Shatner being strangled. They also throw in the very first "I thought you were Dale?" jokes to boot in that one.

This is the first episode that someone else has watched all the way through with me. This one was recommended over 102-105 as the best to watch with a friend. Not torturing someone else with the tedious 103 or 105 was definitely the correct move, but 102 -- with its extremely goofy story -- might've worked out OK as well. At any rate, my friend laughed at the jokes in this ep even more than I did. He did have to ask what was wrong with Servo's voice, though. (6/10)

film d. Herbert L. Strock (1963)
mst p. Jim Mallon (30 Dec 1989?)

[watched with Chef Gregory Jay]