MST3K (902)

902 - The Phantom Planet - I wish this had been directed by the cool Bill Marshall. This Bill managed to take some interesting ideas -- an asteroid floating around Earth's neighborhood with tiny people on them is kind of neat -- and turn it into a yawnfest. Take out the dog aliens and next to nothing happens in the movie outside of people yakking about technobabble, goodness and beauty.

Three sections of the riffing got me to laugh a little. The dog jokes during the attack of the Solarites were fun. The Solarites were at once a freaky design and a completely ridiculous rubber suit monster. I liked the various food items the guys came up with to compare to the chicken nuggetish phantom planet. My stomach is growling just recalling them. My favorite bit was during Frank's first fainting spell after he crashes on the planet. As he flashes back to things that happened in the movie just ten seconds ago, the guys provide him with a sadder back story. "Wake up Frank, you wet the bed." "Frank, you're the worst party clown we ever had."

Other than this, the episode was just not great. Most of the riffing failed to get me to even smile. The host segments were especially non-special this time out. Season nine's off to a poor start. Hopefully, the next two infamous episodes will liven things up.

"I'm just gonna beat up his left eye." (6/10)

film d. William Marshall (1961)
mst d. Kevin Murphy (21 Mar 1998)