MST3K (524)

524 - 12 to the Moon (w/ Design for Dreaming) - Though as a piece of cinema it isn't fit to shine Rocketship X-M's shoes, I have to admire the progressive -- for the era -- ideas in this flick. Seven years before Star Trek, it features a diverse crew exploring space with the intent of declaring the Moon international territory. Even more impressive than this, just three years after the Red Scare, the film features a sympathetic character from the Soviet Union who soundly rejects the evil Frenchman's treacherous offer. Plus, they accurately guessed the name of the first manned craft to land on the Moon. None of this is enough to save the movie, but it's interesting nevertheless.

Now, why in the hell did the Moon People freeze Earth? We'd just given them a pair of cats (and a pair of humans) and taken off for home just like they asked. What's the problem, guys? I suspect that, in an ill-advised effort to feel useful, the Asian lady just pretended to know how to read the Moon People language and made up everything. Their script really didn't look like any earthbound oriental language. Even if it were related, given language's ability to mutate into mutual unintelligible dialects within even one little country on Earth, I sincerely doubt she'd be able to understand the Moon People's version of Chinese. Or am I reading too much into this?

As far as the MST3K crew's contribution to this episode, I wasn't impressed with that either. I feel like they're on autopilot lately. Technically, everything seems to be executed just fine. The riffing is plentiful and appears to be cleverly written. They're just not pushing the humor button in my brain as much with the past few episodes.

The host segments from this episode just had to be shown at Mike Nelson and Bridget Jones' wedding. Bridget dancing around the bridge like a spaz in her Nuveena costume with Mike singing to her in a deep, operatic voice is just the thing for the family to pull out in order to embarrass the couple. I can imagine the DJ at the reception, imagining that he's clever, shouting into his mic during the couple's first dance: "Do the Nuveena, Bridget!"

"Clown suit by Bargin Clown® of Hollywood." (6/10)

film d. David Bradley (1960)
short d. William Beaudine (1956)
mst d. Jim Mallon (5 Feb 1994)