MST3K (113)

113 - The Black Scorpion - Josh gets done up in some elaborate alien make-up in lieu of real invention exchange. Something different, something new -- neat. But, whoops, he mistakenly credits the movie's stop-motion effects to Ray Harryhausen. There is, presumably, no money or time or energy to re-apply the make-up and re-shoot that scene. Not to worry. The crew sacrifices a host segment further down the line to preserve their title as the "TV Show of Record" (it's really Harryhausen's mentor Willis H. O'Brien's picture). Sorry prop guy. Your repurposed He-Man vehicle never did get to attack the puppet Joel. It was for the honor of the show.

I'm not a fan of the sarcastic clapping thing the guys were doing. Hopefully they weren't either after this. I'm also not a fan of the host segment where the guys pretend to speak Spanish by spewing Mexican food names as they rip off Looney Tunes with the fake subtitle gag. "Fun with ethnocentrism!" the ACEG mockingly remarks.

This has got to be the most boring giant scorpion movie ever. Well, the battle between the granddaddy scorpion and the Mexican military in the stadium at the end was pretty cool. The rest of the film just seemed to be people talking in deserts, houses, offices and caves. I had a hard time paying attention and I wasn't even tired this time. The riffing didn't help much. JatB seemed off their game this week. It's been a while since I didn't laugh this much at an episode. Hopefully, season 1 will go out with a bang with 104. (5/10)

film d. Edward Ludwig (1957)
mst p. Jim Mallon (17 Feb 1990?)