Movie: (1956) When the chickeney Phantom of Krankor attacks Japan, a slim-hipped hero arrives to save the day.
First shown: 8/16/97
Opening: Crow and Tom’s “Dog and Bear” game gets out of hand
Intro: Bobo, then the Widowmaker, then the SOL are dragged into a wormhole
Host segment 1: M&tB are unstuck in time
Host segment 2: Mike is transformed into a small robot
Host segment 3: The wormhole deposits M&tB in a rather lovely sylvan glen
End: All seems normal again on the SOL (except for the presense of Krankor), but Pearl and Observer have arrived on Earth in Roman times!
Stinger: The Phantom says: “Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah!”
(334 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)
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• Bridget’s take on this episode is here.
• Of course, with this episode, into the wormhole we go. And while the “Roman times” story arc is, in my view, a mixed bag at best (more on that in the next installment), this episode, which takes place in the wormhole itself, is one of the best of season 8. The movie is profoundly stupid and feels very season-three-ish, the riffing is excellent and the host segments are clever and fun.
• This episode was included in Rhino’s The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 7.
• References.
• Is that “dog and bear” dialog from something? (A commenter suggested it was inspired by Jack London’s “Call of the Wild.”)
• “I like it very much!” became an immediate catchphrase and soon appeared on an MST3k bumper sticker.
• Some fans got a bit fed up with all the Japan bashing in this episode, and while I don’t agree that it was as bad as they made out, I WILL acknowledge that this show has FOUR “cram school” jokes.
• Did you enjoy the “Hardrock and Coco and Joe,” reference. Watch the whole thing here.
• Also: When there is a high-pitched, evil laugh, Crow intones “Rrrrraceway Park!” that’s a reference to radio commercials for this drag racing venue, (which is still in operation at this writing). I assume that riff came from Bill, who at this point replaced Frank as the source of East Coast references.
• Kudos to the Brains on getting the complicated time lag sketch right! That must have been tough to write! After the sketch, Mike and Tom are already in the theater and Crow, still lagging, joins them.
• Robot Mike does a theater segment. I like a nice detail on the Mike puppet in theater — he has a headset!
• Very typical of this show, when Mike returns as himself, he simply announces that he “got better.” Nuff said!
• Callback from the old days: a Gamera reference!
• Note that the door sequence leading to the “sylvan glen” segment ends with a real bone slamming over a wooden door. The segment is a little startling: It reminds you how studio-bound the show was. I don’t remember where I saw this, it may have been one of the Scifi.com IRC chats, but at some point one of the Brains said that the sylvan glen was only a short walk from the studio. I believe that. The area around the studio was definitely a mix of office park and what I presume was as-yet-undeveloped former farm land.
• That’s Bill as Krankor, or course.
• Cast and crew roundup: The producer of the American version, Walter H. Manley, did likewise for “The Green Slime.” Screen writer Shin Morita also wrote — dull surprise — “Invasion of the Neptune Men.”
• Creditwatch. That’s Kevin, of course, as Callipygeas (which roughly means “fat ass”) and Bridget as Favia. Kevin produced and directed. Andrea Ducane did hair and makeup for every season 8 episode except this one, when one Sharon Davis filled in. Mike Parker is back as grip (after two episodes off) and will be for the rest of the season. John Simms, who had an “SFX/foley” credit for six episodes earlier in the season, reappears as “boom operator,” which will continue for the rest of the season.
• Fave riff: “Oh, fer cryin’ out loud … EACH OF YOU…” Honorable mention: “Oh the inanity! Oh the Japanity!” “o/` Isn’t she lovely… o/`”
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One of my favorite episodes.
I’m currently planning to do a Krankor costume for a convention next year. That is if I can convince my friend to dress up as Prince of Space.
Oh the humanity! Oh the Japanity! Good episode,this movie is kind of like the Plan 9 of Japan.
I thought you would skip a week, due to it being Thanksgiving. But then, what’s Thanksgiving without MST3K?
That said, uhh— I don’t have this episode.
D’oh!!
“Ator in Flight” nails it, this is Japan’s version of “Plan 9 from Outer Space”. It really does have an Ed Wood quality to it which makes it so delightfully bad and such tremendous fodder for the Brains.
I disagree with Sampo that this is the best episode of Season 8 (The Giant Spider Invasion gets my vote) but this one definitely ranks a close second and is among the best in the show’s history.
As Sampo noted the host segments as they travel through the wormhole are priceless, especially the one where Mike from an alternative universe appears as a puppet and is promptly mocked and bullied by Tom and Crow.
So many memorable riffs in this one too.
“Crank-whore?”
“Krankor nothing to worry about”
“Truman Capote sent to fight Krankor”.
“Go away, unfunny weird man!”
“What’s wrong with boot-blacking? We like it very much!”
“More squid eyes?”
“We have to swing in for some violent porn comics”.
“Ah, the Stanley Cup has invaded Earth, hmmm”.
“I am the lemon zester of destruction!”
“I saw some smoke, it’s time for lunch, look at the street”.
“I’m not afraid, you wearing a tie, go on home”.
“Ah ruff-a-roo, Ah bow-a-wow”.
And of course Tom clucking like a chicken every time Krankor and his henchmen appear on screen. Every “buck-aaa” never fails to make me laugh.
This episode is yet another example why Season 8 was among the best in series history.
Oh, forgot the ranking. Five out of five!
Easily one of the funniest movies and funniest eps of the entire series, let alone this era. The movie is wonderfully goofy, the segnent with the Mike puppet is hilarious and the glen is a nice change of pace. (Is it still there, or has it been replaced by more offices?)
Oh, goodness gracious. An immortal low point in the career of “Mystery Science Theater”. Quite possibly I’ve seen this episode more times than any other because everything and everyone in the movie is so thoroughly, utterly, hopelessly stupid. The “Plan 9” aliens are geniuses compared to the Krankorians.
Not one character in this movie has a scrap of dignity or intelligence or likability to display. The giant infant scientists really do look like they’d wet themselves and run in circles if the Prince weren’t there to shepherd them from room to room. And, for all that, when it looks like he and they are trapped, the ungrateful babies all gather round and stare daggers at him like the Prince had forgotten to get them birthday presents. (“What? What’re you lookin’ at?”) The Phantom alternates between, “He’s finished, a haa haa haa!” and “Well, maybe he survived,” at least as many times as the Prince tells everyone that their guns will have no effect on him. (“Shoot him!” “Brilliant new plan, sir!”)
And then there’s the children. Oh, Lord, the children. Of course the obligatory children that seem to go everywhere in these Japanese movies annoy me, although most of them are tolerable annoyances. But you have exceptions, like the certifiably psychotic Kenny from Gamera, but even he’s more sympathetic than Mickey in Prince of Space. Why does Wally care about saving the snivelling little parasite? Mickey insults Wally multiple times while exhibiting his own boundless courage by screaming every ten seconds for the Prince to save his worthless ass. Given the gift of Jimmy Olson’s watch, Mickey prepares to abuse it at the opportunity by summoning the Prince “even though we’re not in any trouble really.” (Of course, trouble does appear, but he didn’t know it would.) Thankfully the last segment of the movie is almost Mickey-free.
And that poor fighter pilot. It would suck beyond measure if, just before I died, the last human words I ever heard were endless repetitions of, “What? What’s the matter? What’s that? What’d you say?” Why is every single human in this movie unable to grasp simple statements without needing them repeated? Is it just to pad the running time?
It isn’t just the overall plot that makes no sense, even individual scenes and single sentences aren’t consistent with each other! “We’re eating.” “You eat later. What’s with you? EAT I TELL YOU!!” Or there’s Mickey’s bizarre non sequiturs. “Are you afraid of those space men?” “Sure I am!” “What for, you’re not going to be any help if you get frightened easy as that?” So…Wally shouldn’t be afraid because he’s too afraid? Huh?
Of course it’s possible that the original movie (or movies rather) or its characters weren’t quite this moronic. It might have been a hostile editing and dubbing job that’s to blame for all this, although I suspect that the ugly goes right down to the bone.
Ah, one more thing. The host segment where everyone’s a few seconds ahead of or behind everyone else is one of the cleverest time-travel bits I’ve ever seen. Mike &c. must have rehearsed it meticulously to ensure everyone hit their cues as smoothly as they did.
I understand Beaver Falls, Japan, is lovely this time of year.
Also, who wants to watch the world championship?
5 stars! This episode is great. All of the host segments are well done. Crow’s narrative of his game of “Dog and Bear” with Servo is great. The time lag sketch is well timed. I really respect them for pulling that off. Robo-Mike was very funny. One thing I noticed about that sketch is that Mike’s voice seems to be separate from the puppet’s mouth movements. Perhaps Mike dubbed in his lines in post-production? Bill was good as Krankor, but I never thought of Krankor’s costume as being yellow. I like the Roman times sketches.
As for the movie, it is truly awful. The movie is so damned repetitive and stupid. So this is what passed for entertainment for Japanese children in the 1950s? What is with Dr. Makken’s assumption as to why Krankor wanted the rocket fuel he invented? All they did was see a simple TV broadcast from Krankor and he comes to that conclusion?
I wish, just for once, that the Prince of Space would have been injured by Krankor’s weapons. “You’re weapons are useless against me!” It’s my opinion that something was lost in the translation and there must be some other reason why the Prince is invulnerable.
I like Krankor. He seems like a good boss. He certainly treats his henchmen well.
Fave riffs:
“Somebody left a perfectly good refrigerator over there.”
“What a handsome woman.”
Now, lets look at something we’d rather not look at, areas. This movie has largest (and ironically smallest :wink: ) amount of disturbing areas, batches, or whatever you want to call them, in a MSTed movie. The costume designer for this movie failed to consider what thin fabric might reveal when clothing Krankor and his men.
What is with Dr. Makken’s assumption as to why Krankor wanted the rocket fuel he invented?
Especially since the reporter’s asking him, “But don’t they already have space travel?” actually seemed to floor him for a second, as though it hadn’t occurred to him before? “Uh…seems like you’re right.”
Is it Makken, Mackin, Mockin, Macon, Mackey…I’m pretty sure I heard all of those. Hostile dubbing, I tell you.
Has anyone seen my chicken puppet?
You know how some movies inspire you to make your own movie? This one does so more than any other SOL experiment. Specifically, bits of the never-to-be sequel, “Prince of Space Saves Christmas” start running through my head whenever I watch this. Why, what with just having watched Santa receive the key to Detroit mere hours ago (tragically, for even less than the cost of the Silverdome), I can see more clearly than ever the Phantom of Krankor donning similar garb and declaring…
“So by impersonating this deity to which the Earth children refer as ‘SANTA CLAUS’, I can gain their trust and use it as the first step in my conquest of this puny insignificant world!”
(Cut to Krankor seated in mall with henchmen dressed like elves and child on lap)
“Why, ‘Merry Christmas’ my good child and (leans head down directly into child’s face) HHAAAAHNHHHH! HAAAAAHHHHH! HAAAAAHHHH! HAAAAHHHH! HAAAAHH! HAAHH! HAAAAAANHhhhhh…”
(Suddenly, a familiar figure crashes down through the mall skylight)
“(GASP) Prince of Space!”
And…that’s about as far as I ever get. Yet this vision has only gotten stronger since learning that this “movie” was cobbled together from different installments, as I wonder just what was cut for time. Was this originally a serial? More like a TV series? How long was each episode? I’m almost interested enough to want to buy this epic saga in its original form.
Almost.
Since this was among Rhino’s first SciFi era releases (THE first in a set with CC eps?), I assumed “Invasion of the Neptune Men” couldn’t be far behind. Yet still we wait, possibly out of fear of angering mighty and unpredictable Toei, who produced IOTNM, but not this, right? It appears at a glance to be an even shoddier rip off of POS, but it’s probably more accurate to say they’re both in the same genre. I imagine Japan produced lots of stuff like this in the ’50s and ’60s as their take on our space-opera serials evolved into Sentai-ish fare in the ’70s (Ultraman, Dynamen), but please correct me if you know different.
And speaking of old serials, a college roommate I watched this with had a theory that the appearance of Krankor’s chickenmen was a characature of how Asians stereotypically see westerners. If so, should Americans who grew up on Flash Gordon view Krankor as logical payback for our idea of Ming the Merciless? I’m not that well-versed in old serials/adventure comic strips, but his theory does make more sense the more I think about it…
This episode has the single best opening segment of any episode of MST3K.
One of my favorite riffs from this episode is when they show the establishing shot of the apartment building, and Crow goes into this extremely Japanese rendition of The Bob Newhart Show’s theme.
One of the all-time greats. The Mike robot, the sylvan glen(weird and cool at the same time), and of course, my favorite Bill/Crow sketch, “Dog and Bear”. I find it interesting that everyone refers to the villain as Krankor, when Krankor is the planet and the bad guy’s name is Phantom. Oh well. Krankor sounds goofier, anyway. 5 stars.
Oh, and get me a copy of “Baby Sun Hat Monthly”, will you?
I can’t believe I forgot why this is such an appropriate ep to discuss today: May the Krankorian Space-Turkey-Craft bless us all with its barrage of deadly giblets this Thanksgiving!
Think the producers honestly didn’t realize that’s what the tapering rear thrusters made the “Black-Dragon-Ship” look like, or was it conscious continuity with the aliens intentionally resembling chickens?
Count “dog and bear” as one of my favorite sketches as well. I love the line, “Then Servo took it too far.”
The movie is chocked full of stupidity and provides great riffing material.
Exactly what were caustic vapors supposed to do in space?
And why not just shoot the stupid scientists instead of the whole space capsule thing?
And did you notice how easy it was to travel back and forth to Krankor? They make the trip like what, three times? I think they have plenty of rocket fuel.
Huh? What? Huh? Ooooh! Huh? What? All those silly exclamations can only mean Prince of Space is upon us!
This may be my favorite Sci-Fi era episode. Best Brains and the Japanese were both at their comedic best.
Unintentional or not, the movie itself is extremely funny on its own. Evil chicken men from outer space. A giant Ross Perot monster. Plus an ancient ancestor of the Power Rangers who shines shoes for a living as the hero who wears a costume his mom made him for Halloween (as do the villains). The riffs really write themselves here. Or maybe I just find Japanese kids’ films entertaining.
The Phantom Dictator of Krankor is the best villain ever seen on MST3K. The costume. The iconic evil laugh. Trading impotent threats back and forth between the Prince. Desiring to kill “differen”. He’s a hoot.
The riffs hit their mark every time for me in this episode. Pretty much all the jokes inside the theater were hilarious.
The only knock on this episode were really just some of the off-topic season 8 storyline host segments, but I did enjoy Mike’s ventriloquist dummy robot and Krankor’s guest appearance. In fact both times Krankor shows up it makes for some of the best host segment material from the Sci-Fi era.
I haven’t watched this in quite a while but I do remember the helpless scientists, Krankor and hid idiotic laugh (I think decribed once by the brains as a old Buick trying to start on a cold morning) and the friggin annoying kids. I would have not been sad if one of the kids got hit in any of the battles.
As for the Japan bashing, it was a little harsh here, but we still a couple episodes away from the heavy, venom-drenched attacks and tirades that await the tiny island nation.
Show-spanning foreign country attacks appear to become the norm from here on in. The last person, place, or thing to get so much abuse to my memory was Joe Don Baker in Mitchell. But the Brains haven’t even started on the bashing they’ll soon be getting into. And of course Joe Don hasn’t seen the last of it either.
Was the Japan bashing really that much worse than in the 3rd season episodes? While they saved their real venom for Sandy Frank, they threw in a lot of specifically Japanese remarks as well, e.g. cram school jokes, “We are filled withshame,” making fun of the foreign names (“Itchy”, “Cornjob”, &c.) and I’m sure there’s more.
>>>What is with Dr. Makken’s assumption as to why Krankor wanted the rocket fuel he invented? All they did was see a simple TV broadcast from Krankor and he comes to that conclusion?
IIRC he prefaced his announcement with something like “Based on classified information I cannot share at this time.” So, you know, at least they TRIED to cover it.
Anyway, the people who dubbed this movie — actually, also the people who MADE this movie — could never have imagined that 40+ years later it would be readily available for anyone to pick apart at whim. Well, maybe a couple of them could have, but I guess no one listened to them.
At first I thought it was a major gap that we were given no idea how Wally had become Prince of Space (or vice versa; I mean, seriously, is he a human dressed as an alien or an alien working as a bootblack?). Then I found out that “Prince of Space” is actually a compilation of TWO movies about a character who had a pre-existing continuity in Japan thanks to his TV series, “Planet Prince.” So it’s still a major gap, but it’s more explicable. It’s possible that neither the two movies nor the TV series provided an origin either, of course.
In the scene where Krankor sends his men back to Earth to see if Prince of Space survived, he tells them not to come back unless they find him. So he’s just PRESUMING he failed? Admittedly, that’s not much of a leap in context, but Evil Overlords should have more self-confidence.
Another stand out Season 8 episode, and I like it very much!!!
“Allow me to reference my earlier commentary on how your weapons are ineffective!”
HAAR-HAR-HAAR-HAR-HAAR!!
Sampo:
Read Call of the Wild by Jack London and you’ll get the inspiration for Dog and Bear.
This and Invasion of the Neptune Men, in my opinion, define and propel Season 8 to the best in the run. The host segments are classics, better written than 99% of most TV shows, and make me laugh time and time again.
Randy
PS Has anyone seen my chicken puppet?
“Are you ever going to stop farting? Is that even a remote possibility?”
This is the first Japanese film they did since the Season Three overdose of Gamera/Sandy Frank productions. Then just a few weeks later they did 819 Invasion of the Neptune Men, which is like a lo-res Xerox copy of this film. Honestly, I used to confuse the two, swearing that Neptune Men was also on a Rhino DVD.
PoS is funny as hell, a Season 8 classic, despite me not knowing what “cram school” was. Some random notes:
• When Phantom of Krankor has the five scientists held captive on his ship, he only introduces 3 of them to Prof. Makken. Despite the full-frame cropping, one can see there is another man there. We later see the Michael Palin-looking guy with mutton chops (“I’m from the 19th century, what does he want with me?”). Was this omission created by the Brains or is it in the original dub?
• My latest theory is that our Prince/Wally is from Krankor himself, a “Fugitive Alien” if you will. This is how he is able to develop a technology that renders their weapons useless against him.
• For the Adult Swim literate: The Phantom and his henchman remind me a lot of The Monarch and his crew from “The Venture Brothers”, surely one of the best shows on television today. Also, one episode (SGC2C – 84 – Kentucky Nightmare, viewable on YouTube) of the old “Space Ghost Coast to Coast” ends with SG, Zorak and Moltarr stranded in a real-life forest, kinda like this MST episode.
• “Do you want to go faster? Raise your hand if you want to go faster!” said when the vaguely carousel-ish thing on the Krankor ship’s bridge is shown. I’ve heard this riff explained before, but I can’t recall if it’s to anything particular or just a generic carnival ride reference. One online source says it’s a quote from “Something Wicked This Way Comes” by Ray Bradbury. Anyone know for sure?
Happy Turkey Day!
As I recall, the reason everyone’s weapons are useless against Prince of Space is totally due to the dubbing. In the original, the Prince actually has the power to dodge the rays. The dub crew noticed that, well, he didn’t really make much effort to dodge anything and just decided to have him say that all the weapons were powerless against him.
Anyway, this is also one of my favorites, which is why the callback in The Dark Knight Rifftrax is so awesome (you could say I like it very much). Probably my favorite part is the first appearance of Krankor’s guardian; Bill genuinely sounds completely amazed.
“Wha? Look at that! Look at that!”
“It’s a trip into Mike’s subconsicous.”
“It’s pretty accurate, I gotta admit.”
You know, I always felt that one thing that might have been interesting, in keeping with the whole bizarro theme of the time warping, would have been if when Mike became a robot, Servo and Crow became human, played by Kevin and Bill.
Not to say it wasn’t an excellent episode anyway, and totally without any need of my ridiculous meddling. It is always a pleasure (and a pain, in regard to the film itself) to watch.
#26 Finnias Jones:
When Phantom of Krankor has the five scientists held captive on his ship, he only introduces 3 of them to Prof. Makken. Despite the full-frame cropping, one can see there is another man there.
Listen very carefully and you’ll hear whiny Mr. I-forgot-to-water-your-plant say “and his assistant.” It goes by very fast, but it’s there.
You can also hear bits of the original soundtrack through the poor dubbing; during some of the chase scenes, and especially at the end, when even M&tB make a remark about it.
I have to wonder what it was the Japanese Don Knotts was saying in the original film that caused the two reporters to lean in and pay closer attention (“You’re fascinating!”). As it is, it’s just “So… they’re coming, then!” Was that the best they could do?
And boy, the Japanese drove some big boxy American cars in those days, didn’t they?
28
TrumpyCanDoMagicThings says:
November 26th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
“You know, I always felt that one thing that might have been interesting, in keeping with the whole bizarro theme of the time warping, would have been if when Mike became a robot, Servo and Crow became human, played by Kevin and Bill.”
I hadn’t thought of that before that is a very interesting idea. Maybe Mike could have also been a completely different robot as well, not merely a repaint of Charlie McCarthy.
Sampo, if I may finih your fav riff…
“… WILL ENTER A SPACE CAPSEL!”
I’m fond of “My coop! My beautiful, beautiful coop!”
Also, like when the monter shows up and fights PoS, and Mike says, “This is STARTING to become a weird movie.”
I wonder what the origin of the Dog and Bear sketch is. Did it arise from Crow “turning into” a bear for Jack Frost and them not wanting to waste a good puppet mod?
Ah, Prince of Space. This is a good one. Movie’s fun, lots to work with. Host segments are great, especially puppet Mike. Just an all around enjoyable experience.
A five star episode if there ever was one. My favorite riffs:
“Krankor: Nothing To Worry About…Truman Capote Sent To Fight Krankor”
“A Rare Godzilla-free Day”
“Pagoda of the Damned”
“The easily bamboozled Prince of Space!”
I have “more squid eyes?” burned into my brain.
This is one that I looked forward to after first seeing Invasion of the Neptune Men during the Sci-fi era reruns in 2003, but sadly I was out of town during the final airing of Prince of Space and didn’t get the chance to record it. Thank goodness for Vol. 7.
Movie:
* Of course the dubbers Americanized the names of the characters. Heaven forbid American children should learn that people are different from them. This includes Krankor calling one of his henchmen “Mars.”
* No one else has brought it up yet but the fact that Krankor and his men all forgot to wear underpants is far more disturbing than all of the buffalo shots in Outlaw of Gor.
* Mike comments that Krankor’s plan is like a poorly planned bank heist. I think the whole movie was made up as they went along. What makes the least sense is why does Krankor travel back and forth between his home planet and earth no less than half a dozen times after staying at each one no more than five minutes? Also, wasn’t there a rocket formula that figured into the first half of the movie?
* Favorite riffs:
“An alien race too proud to ask for directions.” – Mike
“This! This is the matter!” – Crow
“Oh, for crying… EACH! OF! YOU! WILL! ENTER! A! SPACE! CAPSULE!”
Host Segments:
* I’m not really a big fan of the dog and bear sketch. It just never clicked with me and I usually skip it to get to the movie.
* I will agree that the time lag sketch is one of their all-time best ones.
* While people differ on the Roman times arc, it’s my personal favorite of the season and this is the perfect start for it.
* Favorite line: “Would you just lasso the stupid ship, PLEASE?!”
I love the part (one of many) where Krankor believes the Prince of Space has been defeated, and in triumph, randomly issues the order to “give everyone four hours off”. Something about that just cracks me up; maybe it’s the unaddressed concern of who will be piloting the ship while they all have this little break? And why four hours? Seems like an odd choice of number…
There can never be enough Japan bashing. Never.
I popped in my old homemade videotape of Prince of Space the night before Thanksgiving as a way to unwind after a trying day of food prep for the masses. And lo… it didn’t play! I tried everything & all I got was “They’re here” static & snow. But then you came through with this great episode guide! Thanks guys. Now push the button, Frank.
The most interesting thing about the Dog and Bear skit is that it might just hold the record for recycling one-time-only bot-mods from sketches as far apart as possible. While CrowBear was from a mere 3 eps previous, TomDog, if I’m not mistaken, made its sole prior appearance in the “Basil Rath-Bones, from Purina” commercial during the first break in The Magic Suh-Worrrd (I only saw the MST-hour version) half a decade earlier! Did their first Japanese movie in an even longer time make the Brains exceptionally nostalgic? Or did Bill always particularly like dog-costume Servo back when he was just a fan, and demand to have his Crow interact with it just once?
So the Mike puppet was just a repainted Charlie McCarthy with wires jammed in its head? I always thought they made a conscious effort to make it look like a Thunderbird or one of their Supermarionation cousins, out of yet more nostalgia for K-01 and K-02.
And speaking of nostalgia, Toonami’s debut in 1997 had me swimming in it with reruns of Voltron and Thundercats. So I was quick to notice a striking (if not exact) resemblance between Krankor’s 3-barreled gun (used by Phantom in his first showdown with Prince in the abandoned building) and the gun from the back of the Thundertank, almost like he just tore it off. Could these Chickenmen be related to the Mutant Vulturemen of planet Plun-darr? Would Panthro have shown up to mop the floor with them for vandalizing his baby even if PoS hadn’t shown up? These questions may well have been addressed if the Brains had made more new additions to their talent from younger generations over the years. Not complaining, just observing a way the riffing could’ve gone different. It’s likely any experiment could be redone with totally different riffs, ala Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, but I hope CT continues to break new ground and go where the ‘Bots couldn’t instead.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the Rifftrax of Star Wars Episode III has a callback to Prince of Space. When Darth Vader is killing the trade federation members, one of them goes “Ooooohhhhh!” and (I think) Kevin shouts, “Macken!”
Smoothie of Great Power says:
November 26th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
“* No one else has brought it up yet but the fact that Krankor and his men all forgot to wear underpants is far more disturbing than all of the buffalo shots in Outlaw of Gor.”
I wrote about “areas”. It looks like we are the only ones to do so. Even Sampo has forgotten the numerous, disturbing “areas” in Prince of Space. Perhaps rightly so, but it is worth mentioning.
You know, the theme song for “Prince of Space Saves Christmas” keeps rolling through my head as well, to the refrain of “King of Pain”:
I have stared evil chic-,
-ken men right in–the–face,
Though their guns can’t hurt me,
-I still duck in–dis–grace,
And someday by Space Chief,
-I may well be–re–placed,
But ’till then my destiny,
-is to be Prince–of–Spa…AAACE!
Prince of Spa-ace!
I’ll–al–ways–be,
Prince of Spa-ace!
I’ll–al–ways–be…
Love this episode.
Is it true that the guy who plays Prince of Space is in fact Sonny Chiba, who later became a classic Japanese action hero? Hard to believe after watching him prance around in his leotard and cape.
I think you’ve got the wrong “Raceway Park” in your summary. The link points to the one in Englishtown,NJ,while you meant the track in Shakopee (goracewaypark.com).
BigMcLargeHuge: No, but Chiba does play Ironsharp/Space Chief from NEPTUNE MEN.
Just a great episode. Somewhere on the Top 100 list, perhaps. Great stuff.
#13: …well, I guess that’s better than my idea of a fusion crossover movie called “Mitchell vs. Diabolik”.
ANYWAY, back to Prince of Space.
This movie always leaves me with a warm feeling inside that some Sci-Fi era episodes don’t. Goofy characters, even goofier costumes, and bad dubbing.
In other words, “I LIKE IT VERY MUCH.”
And pointless self-plugging now: A few years ago, the website WrestleCrap (http://www.wrestlecrap.com) mentioned they were looking for a laughtrack. I suggested they use Krankor’s laugh as heard in the Stinger for this episode, and lo and behold, they did. …along with a few others, but Krankor was the first one.
So the spirit of Krankor is alive and well!