MST3K 901: The Projected Man
My experiment of watching the first episode of each season of Mystery Science Theater 3000 is taking a certain amount of time, but I'm one step closer to being finished after watching the first episode of the ninth season, "The Projected Man." The frame has changed a little once more; after a full season of tripping through time and space spoofing a variety of science fiction situations, the Satellite of Love has returned to Earth and the present time. Unfortunately, so has Pearl Forrester, who's located the ancestral "Castle Forrester" and moved in, now intent not just on tormenting Mike and his robot companions but on ruling the world. Delving through the annals of the Forresters, Pearl locates information on a variety of female ancestors (Dr. Clayton Forrester himself isn't mentioned, though), who trapped people in a variety of places and subjected them to a variety of bad media. All of it actually reminded me a little of the various "non-standard MSTings" cooked up over the years, where a vast variety of people found themselves in a vast variety of situations to face cheesy text files. I've wondered at times if all those non-standard MSTings fragmented the MSTing fandom and contributed to its slow extinction, but I suppose that can't be helped that much. As for the movie itself...
"The Projected Man" is a British movie, one of quite a few tackled in the ninth season. (They'd done one the season before as well, which happened to feature one of the actors also in "The Projected Man".) As you might expect, much twitting of England both in the 1960s and in general ensues. As for the plot, a scientist is trying to perfect a device that will "project" objects. ("Imagine sending your watch three feet across the room!") However, for some reason I'm not quite able to figure out from the movie, his superiors want him to fail and his crucial demonstration is sabotaged. In anger, the scientist tries to project himself, and (again) for some reason I'm not quite able to figure out from the movie, things go wrong and the scientist materialises with half his face covered in icky makeup ("The Projected Haggis is more like it") and a stiff, immovable hand he can burn through doors and kill people with. He sets out to take revenge, and the question of whether he's a victim or he's just gone insane winds up kind of blurry by the end.
In any case, there's just one season left. What episodes I'll watch afterwards I haven't quite figured out yet, but having the chance to choose is interesting enough...
"The Projected Man" is a British movie, one of quite a few tackled in the ninth season. (They'd done one the season before as well, which happened to feature one of the actors also in "The Projected Man".) As you might expect, much twitting of England both in the 1960s and in general ensues. As for the plot, a scientist is trying to perfect a device that will "project" objects. ("Imagine sending your watch three feet across the room!") However, for some reason I'm not quite able to figure out from the movie, his superiors want him to fail and his crucial demonstration is sabotaged. In anger, the scientist tries to project himself, and (again) for some reason I'm not quite able to figure out from the movie, things go wrong and the scientist materialises with half his face covered in icky makeup ("The Projected Haggis is more like it") and a stiff, immovable hand he can burn through doors and kill people with. He sets out to take revenge, and the question of whether he's a victim or he's just gone insane winds up kind of blurry by the end.
In any case, there's just one season left. What episodes I'll watch afterwards I haven't quite figured out yet, but having the chance to choose is interesting enough...