MST3K (409)

409 - The Indestructible Man (w/ Undersea Kingdom, Chapter Two: The Undersea City) - There was afternoon daylight when I started this, but I still had to fight the snoozes. The indestructible bore? I was looking forward to this flick, too. I like Lon Chaney Jr. At least, I like him in the 1940s Universal horror movies. Hell, I've got his wolfed-out visage hanging on my wall right now. Outside of hazy memories of Dracula vs. Frankenstein, I've never seen the guy in a movie from this late a period. Boy, he didn't age well (I bet his father aged better).

Even if you muted the prologue host segment, you could still tell that something was off. Trace and Kevin traded robots in order for the bots to appear to have switched voices. They were clearly in unfamiliar territory; Crow and Servo seemed to be ill and didn't move at all like they normally do. It makes you appreciate how much life Trace and Kevin imbue in their own robots.

The "Cereal Novels" invention was not a bad idea at all. It's one of those that I wish was for real. I'd start eating breakfast again with more chapters on the back of the cereal box to read. In the future, maybe I should print some classics from Project Gutenberg for pasting onto breakfast food containers?

"It's Jim Henson's Birth of a Nation Babies!" Gah! Forget the ban on cop-donut jokes. I want a ban on "Jim Henson's --- Babies" riffs. I was hoping the guys had gotten this particular joke out of their system with the terrible "Edgar Winter Babies" invention from 407 (who the hell is Edgar Winter?). Indeed, this joke was absent from 408. But, here it is again, ugly as sin.

Whoo-hoo! No more serials! It only took the guys three years to figure it out that these things just ain't fun for the show. They're so fast-paced and confusing, it's pretty much impossible to keep up with both the plot and the riffing. The poor quality of the audio on the prints of these serials didn't help at all, either. Even if the serials were fun to watch, knowing that the guys could be riffing a goofy educational short from the '50s instead sort of sours the deal.

"Ah, what am I smelling? Did somebody die in here? Oh, I did." (6/10)

film d. Jack Pollexfen (1956)
short d. B. Reeves Eason & Joseph Kane (1936)
mst d. Jim Mallon (15 Aug 1992)