MST3K (413)

413 - Manhunt in Space (w/ General Hospital [segment 1]) - (aka Rocky Jones, Space Ranger: "Pirates of Prah, Part 1" + Rocky Jones, Space Ranger: "Pirates of Prah, Part 2" + Rocky Jones, Space Ranger: "Pirates of Prah, Part 3") "Here comes Nurseferatu." A segment from an old soap opera seems like an odd choice as a short for the show. I would guess that, generally, the overlap between the soap opera fanbase and the MST3K fanbase would be pretty small (unlike, say, the bad sci-fi movie fanbase). On the other hand, I bet a lot of MiSTies, like me, remember their moms watching certain soaps. My mom was a Days of Our Lives gal, herself. Their choice of soap segment wasn't terribly exciting. I was hoping for more ORGAN STINGS for MELODRAMATIC MOMENTS, kind of like the host segment that followed. Instead, it was just a scene of a doctor revealing a tough hernia diagnosis to a rival doctor's wife. But, I'm game for the experimentation. We'll see how segment 2 in 415 works.

This is one of the rare episodes in which the riffing gets better as it progresses. Maybe this has something to do with the fact that the movie is actually three TV episodes. Perhaps episode three was better for riffing? Some of my favorites were the riffs about the traitorous Ken in that part of the movie. "Stop accusing me!"

Crow: "...and all that 'Try to kill him with a forklift'..." Joel: "Crow, listen, that was like 20 episodes ago." Twenty-seven episodes ago, Joel. Time flies when you're in space, eh?

Mike's back in the hexfield viewscreen. Always good news. This time he's Winky, Rocky's geeky sidekick. Hilarity ensues as the conversation devolves into a shouting match between Winky and Servo. "I'm the swinger and you're nothing! You're nothing!" His hometown doesn't look like a bad place to live, though.

The final host segment with Crow transformed into an electric guitar and Servo serving as his amp was one of the funniest in recent memory. Crow-as-a-guitar looked utterly bizarre and Kevin Murphy did a fantastic job of keeping up with Joel's strumming. I also loved Servo singing this week's letter in a rock-and-roll voice. This is the kind of goofy stuff that makes me a fan. Very fun.

"Your pockets are speaking to you. They're trying to tell you something!" (7/10)

film d. Hollingsworth Morse (1953)
short d. ?? (1963)
mst d. Jim Mallon (19 Sep 1992)