Guest MST3K: 409
The Indestructible Man. Who The Indestructible Man. Who eventually got destructed. But I get ahead of myself. First, something about the Undersea Kingdom or some such. I didn't see the first installment, but that's ok, I think I picked up on it pretty fast. I kinda liked the low rent robots that were firing on Our Heroes at the start. I was making "sea horses" riffs to myself before JatBs got around to it, though.
The main event actually seemed like a fairly decent flick, well, compared to some other MST3K offerings. The opening exposition explaining how Lon Chaney Jr was Going to Get His Revenge was a bit heavy handed. Still, there was a recognizable, if predictable, plot. And the acting wasn't all that bad either. I don't know that I'd be in any big hurry to watch it straight, but for what it was, it didn't seem that bad.
What I learned: Getting the body of a newly executed criminal for one's medical experiments isn't really that big of a hassle.
Host segments: Started off strong, with the robots and Magic Voice banding together to make Joel think he's going crazy. Maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to induce paranoid delusions in the only human around who could repair them, but perhaps they weren't programmed to think of this. I don't know what the Mads invented, but I want to buy some! The cereal novels didn't do much for me, however. Nor did the parade skit, though it always nice when one of the bots explode. The indestructible fantasies were snappy. I was laughing out loud when Joel tried to do the Chaney "Eye thing". He seemed like he was getting it, till those pesky bots ruined it (someone's licking me!) And the donut contract did seem like a fitting way to end. Mike makes a good hard assed cop (I don't like you).
Overall impressions: A solid episode. The part where JatBs go a bit nuts over what they feel is an overly long scene was one of the highlights. The scene didn't seem that tedious to me, but their over the top reaction to it captures the the essence of the MST3K magic for me. Other good moments came when they were pleading with the never blinking woman, and when the false end tricked them.
My 3 favorite Riffs:
(A herd of horsemen ride out of a low ceiling'ed cave)
Thunk! Ow! My head! (Repeated several times by all the riffers)
(Cop walks in to talk to Cabaret Star, after narrating in his head next to her cardboard cutout outside)
I just met your sister, you know, the quiet one.
(Narrator: Who in their right mind would believe that a man could come back from the dead?")
Only millions of Christians.
