Completed Collection Thoughts: MST3K XXXV
The back of the latest official Mystery Science Theater 3000 DVD collection is already anticipating the new series. Until then, and however it turns out (I'm still concerned "using cheesy movies as an excuse to put down familiar targets" will be all too easy for the new creators to fall into), I can keep revisiting episodes I've seen before. I can be conscious that these days I use the time in between the collections for other things, but the whole deal with not necessarily going back to the same "favourites" all the time has something to it too. I'm also conscious, though, that as much I'd like to keep finding new things in existing works, the possibility of "wearing them out" also exists.
I started off with "Teenage Caveman" and its accompanying shorts, one rather more infamous than the other. The movie itself was hokily entertaining (even if I did have a sense of just how many possible digressions drag out its rather brief running time), and there was a little documentary about it too. "Being From Another Planet" dragged me up to the 1980s (and the tag-end of the "ancient astronaut" craze, even if this was at least different from the conspiracy narratives that swallowed all the imaginative potential of "flying saucers" and congealed into something fixed as the decade wore on). There have been times I fear this episode drags by for me, but this time I was at least taking particular notice of an early-1980s home computer playing a role in the movie. Along with a brief interview with the film's composer, there's a considerable extra feature in the original "Time Walker" movie (in widescreen, no less) Film Ventures International slapped its cheap credits sequences and new name on, but there I do have to face a certain reluctance to take on most of the MST3K films "raw," such that these biggest of all possible extras sort of deflate down to nothing.
In wondering about "Being From Another Planet" dragging for me, I can get to wondering about how others might be ready to downplay "12 to the Moon," at least once its short is past, where I had sort of played it up getting to the end of commenting on all of MST3K's episodes. I did seem to have a pretty good time with it still, though, and the little documentary about the movie made a point or two about some of the good work its crew had done before (even as it didn't mention the moments Mystery Science Theater was quicker to point out...) "Deathstalker and the Warriors From Hell," in any case, seems a general favourite, and there was plenty to enjoy in its medieval-yet-1980s antics. The extra for this episode was an interview with Thom Christopher, who played the villain as distinctively as anything else in the movie. He seemed pretty content with suggesting everyone had known just how "cheesy" things were turning out but were enjoying themselves anyway.
This entry was originally posted at http://krpalmer.dreamwidth.org/260936.html. Comment here or there (using OpenID) as you please.
I started off with "Teenage Caveman" and its accompanying shorts, one rather more infamous than the other. The movie itself was hokily entertaining (even if I did have a sense of just how many possible digressions drag out its rather brief running time), and there was a little documentary about it too. "Being From Another Planet" dragged me up to the 1980s (and the tag-end of the "ancient astronaut" craze, even if this was at least different from the conspiracy narratives that swallowed all the imaginative potential of "flying saucers" and congealed into something fixed as the decade wore on). There have been times I fear this episode drags by for me, but this time I was at least taking particular notice of an early-1980s home computer playing a role in the movie. Along with a brief interview with the film's composer, there's a considerable extra feature in the original "Time Walker" movie (in widescreen, no less) Film Ventures International slapped its cheap credits sequences and new name on, but there I do have to face a certain reluctance to take on most of the MST3K films "raw," such that these biggest of all possible extras sort of deflate down to nothing.
In wondering about "Being From Another Planet" dragging for me, I can get to wondering about how others might be ready to downplay "12 to the Moon," at least once its short is past, where I had sort of played it up getting to the end of commenting on all of MST3K's episodes. I did seem to have a pretty good time with it still, though, and the little documentary about the movie made a point or two about some of the good work its crew had done before (even as it didn't mention the moments Mystery Science Theater was quicker to point out...) "Deathstalker and the Warriors From Hell," in any case, seems a general favourite, and there was plenty to enjoy in its medieval-yet-1980s antics. The extra for this episode was an interview with Thom Christopher, who played the villain as distinctively as anything else in the movie. He seemed pretty content with suggesting everyone had known just how "cheesy" things were turning out but were enjoying themselves anyway.
This entry was originally posted at http://krpalmer.dreamwidth.org/260936.html. Comment here or there (using OpenID) as you please.