Movie: (1961) When robot aliens attack Japan, Space Chief takes to the air to battle them.
First shown: 10/11/97
Opening: Tom and Crow worry about Mike’s eyelash mites.
Intro: The nanites take on the mites; The Mad Goth (Bobo) is getting more attention than goddess Apearlo
Host segment 1: Mike’s love of Noh theater causes confusion
Host segment 2: Tom comes down with Roji Panty complex; Pearl and Observer have no luck with Bobo
Host segment 3: M&tB are near despair, then Krankor visits
End: Crow has some suggestions, while a conk on the head from Pearl restores Bobo’s memory, with unfortunate consequences
Stinger: Little boy faw down
(257 votes, average: 4.43 out of 5)
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• This is one of those movies. There are bad movies like, say, “Revenge of the Creature.” There are VERY bad movies, like, say, “Prince of Space.” And there are the dregs: “Manos,” “Fu Manchu,” “Red Zone Cuba” … and now this “little cockroach of a movie” (as Servo calls it in a fit of rage toward the end) joins that wretched roll call. Segment three works because (in addition to Bill’s hilarious return as Krankor) it so piquantly makes the case that, as Servo noted many seasons ago, “every time I think I’ve seen the worst movie ever made, along comes the worst movie ever made.” The final 20 minutes or so, which feature a solid 10 minutes during which essentially the same four or five shots are repeated again and again and again and again, is easily one of the most punishing bits of film MST3K has ever subjected its viewers to. Because of that, I predicted there would be wide differences of opinions on this one. Some MSTies love these bottom-dwellers; others will retreat to the oft-used line: “even Mike and the bots couldn’t save it.” Pro tip: One way to get through it: stop watching the episode just after segment three and wait a day or so before watching the final half hour.
That said, the riffing is really quite good, all things considered, and, as in the other recent eps, the SOL segments are funny and fun (the wonderful “Noh Theater” sketch, especially) while the “Roman Times” segments are unremarkable, though I think Kevin’s performance is great.
• This episode was included in Shout’s MST3K: Vol. XXXVII.
• Kevin’s take on this one is here, including his wonderful reaction to the Hitler Building shot.
• References.
• That’s Paul as first hapless nanite soldier, and again Paul, Beez and Patrick are “Roman day players.”
• Kudos to Beez or whoever created the tiny garbage around Mike’s eyes.
• Yes, that’s Shinichi “Sonny” Chiba as Space Chief. Chiba would go on to star in many martial arts movies, most notably as Terry Sugury in the “Street Fighter” series.
• Then-current reference: At about the time of this episode the aging Russian space station began to have a series of mechanical failures. The Mir fell from the sky long ago.
• All I can say about The Noh Theater bit is: Somewhere Abbott and Costello are smiling.
• This show had several complicated moments — note that both Tom Servo and Bobo are on camera at the same time, then Callipygeas and Bobo are on screen at the same time, as are Krankor and Crow later on. Patrick was probably running the puppets in all cases.
• Servo has a breakdown, contracting Roji Panty Complex. He sure does break down a lot.
• This show explicitly answered the question that has so often been asked by fans: “why do Mike and the bots put up with these bad movies?” In this show, Mike is so appalled he gets up to leave, only to realize that there is no air in the rest of the ship.
• Callback from the old days: Gooood morning!”
• Cast and crew round up: Scriptwriter Shin Morita also wrote “Prince of Space” (dull surprise).
• Produced by Kevin. Directed by Mike. This was Jill Roozenboom’s last episode as production manager. It was also intern Meshach Weber’s last episode.
• Fave line: “Our quick and pointless plot cul-de-sac is over!” Honorable mention: “Say, has anybody seen my record?”
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It’s surprising that in their wish to help out Mike’s facial health TS and Crow fell victim to one of the classic military blunders.
The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, and only slightly less well
known is this: “Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line” (ha ha ha ha ha :shock: ). But even less well known is “never advocate a police action against eyelash mites when they are well ensconced in someone’s eyelashes (and are actually symbiotically useful)”.
(First fun fact) This week’s movie was so popular in Japan that there were efforts to make it into a kabuki play
but unfortunately NOH ONE liked it! :mrgreen:
(Second fun fact) The Japanese like baseball but being, of course, from Japan their players have some strange names. For example, HU’s on First…..
(Okay, “Hu” is a Chinese surname J , but in
About.com Japanese language
===================================
Q. I was told “fu” was pronounced as “hu,” even for the words like Mount Fuji (Fuji-san). Is it true?
A. There are some Japanese words used as English words today, such as “Mt. Fuji,” “tofu” or “futon”. However, the Japanese “f” is slightly different from the English “f”. The Japanese don’t bite their lips when pronouncing it. It is more like blowing out a candle with your voice. ”
==========================================
Sometimes I run this one up only so I can see Bill as Krankor. Still makes me laugh.
Yes, wretched movie. But the Bill returning as Krankor bit makes it all worthwhile. Another ep where the experiment has them on the run, but they bounce back, like at the end of “Castle of Fu Manchu”. Krankor, you are a breath of fresh air. He would have been a fun returning character, if the show had existed long enough. I would have loved to see him at the next Thanksgiving dinner at Castle Forrester.
Let’s remake prince of space and take out of the goofiness in it. I like the host segments. i can’t imagine what the writing must been like trying to do this film.
Oops. Please ignore that “J” after “Chinese surname.” Wish there was a way I could find to edit posts.
Thank you, won’t you?
What times are it?
ok, the hitler building i can see as a metephore, ‘evil on earth is just as bad as evil from space’ or some crap like that. the kids i can see as evidence for the arguement that some kids SHOULD be locked in a cellar or closet for several years. and rogy panty complex…well that’s just stupid writing. but what’s the deal with the soldiers made up like KISS!?! and why did these bullet heads come to earth anyway!?! why does japan hate us? was it because of the A-bomb? i mean o.k. we’re sorry we had a couple lying around and we used them. it was that or save them for the garage sale, i mean c’mon japan what would you have done?
This is a very special episode for me… it’s the first full episode I ever saw, all the way back when it first aired. I was only 9 at the time, and it opened me up to the wonderful world of “MST3K”. I may be a little sentimental, but this is a personal favorite. The sketches are strong (especially Krankor’s reappearance) and the riffing is just perfect for such a pointless, overlong film (for instance, Crow finding gum under his seat and Mike just leaving the theater during the hours-long spaceship battles). And really, it’s hilarious to see that Sonny Chiba got his start in something this bad.
Watching this and “Prince of Space” one after another is an eye-opening experience. “Prince of Space” is “The Third Man” when compared to “Neptune Men”. “Prince of Space” has some semblance of a story, some motivation for the villain (even though it gets dropped about a third of the way through), some small little semblance of skill behind the camera, an acceptable pace, and hilariously bad set design… it fells like a movie, a bad movie, but a movie nonetheless. “Neptune Men” on the other hand is a turgid, bleak, endless exercise in bad taste. The aforementioned spaceship battles are so pointlessly long, the sound design so atonal and irritating, the action so choppy and slow, the cinematography so needlessly grim and muddled, that it’s a test of patience to sit through, even with Mike and the bots along for the ride. Looking back, I’m surprised I was able to make it through the whole episode at the age of 9. “MST3K” This is truly one of the worst movies they’ve ever done. In fact it might be THE worst. Strap yourselves in for a long-ish story…
When Monsters HD was still around, they showed the English-dubbed version of “Invasion of the Neptune Men” occasionally and I happened to catch around 30 minutes of it. It was damn near intolerable without Mike and the bots, but you could just laugh at how awful it was…until the bit in which the Neptunians disguise themselves as soldiers. There’s a scene where a group of human soldiers realize something’s up as the disguised Neputians walk past them and they order the Neptunians to halt. The Neptunians turn and shoot the soldiers and this is where the “MST3K” version cuts to another scene. The uncut version continues however… the human soldiers freeze, disappear, and their shadows are permanently burned into the wall behind them. For those of you who don’t know, this is exactly what happened to people during the atomic explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki… the light from the explosion was so intense that it burned people’s shadows permanently into whatever was behind them. Not only that, but the extreme heat of the atomic blast caused them to explode after this happened.
Anyone who has seen the “MST3K” version knows that this is a shallow, trivial and tasteless film to begin with, but this is imagery is so horrifying, offensive, and shockingly out of place that it caused me to turn the movie off in disgust. I sat in stunned silence for a full two minutes trying to comprehend what I just saw. A silly science fiction movie obviously tailored to children showed imagery that reflected one of the most grim and tragic events in history. Even though this scene wasn’t in the aired “MST3K” version, I think it easily qualifies as the most disgusting scene in anything “MST3K” ever made fun of. As sensitive as the Japanese are about any imagery having to do with the atomic bombings (not to mention World War II in general), it is simply stunning that this was ever even considered as a scene in the film. I’m also surprised that Kevin Murphy didn’t comment on this in the ACEG, especially since the Brains cut it out of the episode, presumably because it was so horrible.
Murphy did comment on the use of real stock footage of Tokyo being bombed, which only makes the proceedings even more disgusting. I really want to know who on the production team of “Neptune Men” thought these elements were a good idea, and I sincerely hope these wretched, heartless people never came within 20 miles of a film set ever again.
I *love* this one. Again, I think I’m drawn to the ones with inexplicable weirdness. The Hitler Building?! Roji panty complex?!
“Another four-pack please, Mike” “Servo, your body can only absorb so many panties at a time…”
A breakdancing task chair!
“I LOVE THIS MAN!!!”
Worst.Fight.Scenes.Ever. – On land, and air! Close hand-to-hand has never been lamer!
Space Chief’s car looks like it was designed backwards. It’s got the fins and tail lights on the front.
This one really ramps up the uber-clearance children. I like that, at one point, all the reporters are having to hang around outside, while the children stroll in and out, at will, to see what’s up.
So, the teacher… Space Chief? No? Yes? Sort of? If so, I like how he shows up, ‘fights’ with the aliens, then goes back to work, and doesn’t tip anyone off to the invasion, until the kids come to them, but even then, he basically blows them off, and it takes a reporter to get the ball rolling. He’s willing to cover his secret identity at the cost of the Earth’s safety. Nice going.
Bill was great as Krankor. I love how he’s all squinty the whole time.
Great riffs, throughout, but the movie is so, so awful. – 3.5 Stars.
>>>In this show, Mike is so appalled he gets up to leave, only to realize that there is no air in the rest of the ship.
Crow already knew that. When Mike gets up, Crow warns him “There’s no air out there!” If Crow knew that, wouldn’t he have already told Mike BEFORE this episode? I guess Mike was just that desperate…
Of course, lack of air wouldn’t affect Crow and Tom in the first place — it obviously doesn’t affect Gypsy and Cambot — so I guess they just stay out of friendship/camaraderie.
This is one of my favorite Sci-Fi era shows. Its certainly the lesser little brother of Prince of Space, but it still has a lot of that Japanese kids movie goofiness.
The most dominating characters in this movie are the kids. What is with those voices? Do they really have to run everywhere? And why does the Japanese government allow these kids access to all levels of power like in every one of these types of films? No security protocols whatsoever. The Neptune Men might have proven deadlier than the chicken men of Krankor, but they’re certainly a lesser foe. Much like the Neptune Men, Space Chief himself has just about zero screen presence. Mute heroes and villains are pretty much the worst type you could put in a movie of this type.
Its amazing that Sonny Chiba’s career survived this thing.
The riffing here is spot on. Other than the hatred directed at this movie that is coming up in my reply, they display some of MST3K’s greatest material here. The non-Roman Times host segments are good as well. Especially “Noh” theater and Krankor’s return visit.
The hate spewed at this movie by Mike and the ‘bots is the worst that I can remember. Truly a departure from earlier years and takes MST3K to a place I’m not sure all fans like. I’m okay with it, but the savaging the movie and the Japanese themselves take in this film is really the height of all the anger I’ve seen in the show. There is still some foreigner bashing to be seen in future episodes, but none hold quite the candle of hate that is directed at Neptune Men.
Great episode, but it certainly not as good as some other eps due to the poor quality of the film itself.
Do the Japanese practice just-in-time railroad repair…?
Whoawhoawhoa… I just read Kevin’s commentary. They used actual WWII footage in this?! And the Brains edited out aerial bombardment footage? What the..?
I think one of the best indications of how wretched this movie is, besides the interminable and mind-numbing air war, is the scene where the government meets (and “plays Racko”). The world map in the background is hideously rendered and disturbing. As might have been said in an early incarnation of MST, “they just didn’t care.”
The sound is bad; you can always hear dull and muted voices in the background. The music is a parade of canned marches and mazurkas, having nothing to do with what’s on screen. The dialogue veers off into the non-sequitur land quite often. And yet all that makes this film a jaw-dropping experience. Somebody actually spent time putting this together, thinking it would be entertaining for SOME Japanese children. Boy, were they hard up back then.
And yes, “Noh theater” is brilliant, though when I read about it in school, they actually spelled it “no.”
The “Noh theater” routine is brilliant, a classic sketch. I also love Mike’s response when Crow reminds him that there’s no air anywhere else in the ship, a sort of lifeless, fatalistic “I know…” that suggests that he’s really much happier with the thought of agonizing asphyxiation than watching one more loop of Space Chief shooting down an alien ship so that another can be launched. :)
Also, their stunned, bewildered recitation of, “Rojee-Panty Complex,” again and again as they try to parse the words with no luck at all, is absolute comedy gold. I really hope this one comes to DVD sooner rather than later (or God forbid, not at all.)
I used to think that “Prince of space” & “Neptune men” were essentially the same movie and were both equally good episodes, but on closer inspection “Neptune men” is a far worse film and not quite as funny as “Prince of space” Phantom of Krankor really does bring a lot to POS & his visit in the host segment is great.
The Roji Panty complex skit is the high point of this ep for me, and of course the stunned reaction of Mike & the Bots when the Hitler building is blown up!
3.7888 stars
Watching this and “Prince of Space” one after another is an eye-opening experience. “Prince of Space” is “The Third Man” when compared to “Neptune Men”. “Prince of Space” has some semblance of a story, some motivation for the villain (even though it gets dropped about a third of the way through), some small little semblance of skill behind the camera, an acceptable pace, and hilariously bad set design… it fells like a movie, a bad movie, but a movie nonetheless.
You’re right, although in a small way you’re wrong too. Invasion of the Neptune Men does actually manage, where The Prince of Space fails, to convey some idea that the alien invasion is actually a threat and that the scientists are doing everything they can to stop it. The aliens are almost menacing in a couple of scenes and the human characters do convey some illusion of competence. You can’t say either about The Prince of Space, which almost seems like a parody of Invasion of the Neptune Men although it was actually made first.
But, yeah, The Prince of Space actually looks and feels like some effort and energy went into it whereas Invasion of the Neptune Men feels like it was made by people who just didn’t care.
The MST3K episode is hard going for me, which it usually is when the movie is devoid of entertainment value of its own. It’s got some of my favorite bits. Tom Servo melting down is always funny, but when he starts pretending that he’s really watching The Magnificent Ambersons (there’s the sleigh ride, ching ching ching!) only to realize, “It’s not The Magnficent Ambersons, I don’t even like The Magnificent Ambersons!” it’s a special moment.
It’s time for a return to Japan and the excitement that is Prince of Sp… wait a sec, who is this guy? Space Chief? Oh man… why am I suddenly afraid?
“Invasion of the Neptune Men” is another one of the episodes I hadn’t seen since the first airing. I was pretty excited about it too, because “Prince of Space” was such an entertaining episode. But all the problems “Prince of Space” (POS) had are magnified to hideous proportions in this “Invasion of the Neptune Men” (IONM). The kids in POS were kinda annoying, but the New York accents did a lot to make them amusing. The kids in IONM sound like they popped right out of the pits of hell, weaving between shrill to strangely deep. The minions of Krankor were goofy sure, but the Neptune Men are just plain boring. Who knew that the lack of actual faces and voices would render them such a bland menace. Then there is Space Chief who rarely makes an appearance and when he does appear, he’s got no personality. Prince of Space, as cardboard as he is at least had his “Your weapons have no effect on me” catchphrase and actually seemed to be spirited in his fight. The movie is dreadfully dull and lifeless. Anything that makes POS look like a rollercoaster ride is truly abominable.
That means that Mike and bots have got to step up and really let things go. And they really do try. Unfortunately the pain of the movie starts to take it’s toll and they go all Japan bashing on the movie. I don’t mind a little of this – but this stuff gets really mean spirited, and even oozes over into the host segments. But aside from that, the movie is truly inert, that makes things really difficult to riff on. The entire end battle scenes are so boring that they are reduced to leaving the theater in agony. It’s funny in a way, but still it leaves us with only one riffer in the theater and it is overwhelming. I still contend that Mike and the bots were usually excellent when they confronted inert films. I love “Skydivers”, “Red Zone Cuba”, “Starfighters” and “The Undead”. But this one just ends up being as deadly as “Monster A Go-go”. The riffing isn’t enough to stop it’s powerful suckage.
As a result the host segments end up being better than the riffing. The whole Noh vs. Kabuki skit was cute and silly. I also enjoyed the visit by the Phantom of Krankor. Bill nails that character and it was really funny. And of course the classic Rojin-panti complex. “More panties Mike.” But when it comes to Crow’s suggestion box, things get a little too mean for my tastes. It seems that Mike and Tom seem to agree with me. I did like that Bobo came back to the evil trio at the end. He really makes that group of characters click. And I have to put in that Bridget seems to be having a blast as Flavia. She’s really great in her scenes.
“Invasion of the Neptune Men” is really an invasion of pain. The last below average episode of the season, and in a way a disappointment, because I usually love the mocking of the Japanese films. I give it 2 and a half stars – and the half is only because of the valiant effort from our team.
BRUTAL movie! It deserves it’s place along side Manos, Red Zone Cuba and Fu Manchu. The host segments are gold, though. I love the Nanites and they were careful not to bring them in too often. I enjoyed Roman Times segments as well.
“Callipygeas and Bobo are on screen at the same time”
This means that someone else had to don the smelly monkey suit. Who had the courage? Bet it wasn’t one of the girls! :???:
Put me in the hate group. This ep almost never makes it onto my TV. The dreary B&W, and unstoppable repetition negate almost any riffing for me. I remember recording this on VHS to watch later. Took me about five times, seriously, before I sat through all of it without dropping off to sleep. This is at the top of my Episodes to Dream By.
On a side note, I take offense to having this lumped in with RZC and Manos. Manos was trying to be a horror movie (which it ended up being, for all the wrong reasons) while RZC at least had a semi-historic storey to share (and you felt a little better watching the man responsible for it all get gunned down in the end). Fu Manchu is a new ep to me (don’t know why I never taped it), but I’ll let you know once I manage to sit through all of that.
And to appease, I’d still rather watch this ep than 90% of what’s on TV now. Just that there are a mountain of episodes I prefer to this.
Also a case of good timing, seeing as RT’s Prince of Space reference was probably the second biggest laugh of last night’s show. It all comes together now…
Have to agree with Jason:
Yes it’s Prince of Space with the coherent story line and likeable characters.
A very tough episode for me. Which begs the question: What will it take for an episode to get less than 4 stars around here! Thank you, won’t you?
Doh! Should be ‘without’ the coherent story line and likeable characters. :oops:
It hurts. IT HURTS!!!! I do like the break dancing task chair, though.
Who was the other Bobo fangirl in this episode, the one with the piled-up curly hair?
This movie is rough but I think the riffs are funny enough to make up for it. It kills me every time they make fun of the kids’ voices.
Random thoughts:
“Ah, there’s the click,” never fails to make me laugh. Thank you Mrs. Hunter, my high school english teacher, for having Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as part of your curriculum. Also Bill’s delivery of, “Well there you have it,” before creating the noose is fantastic.
I love that even though Bobo doesn’t know who he is, he’s essentially still Bobo.
Bobo: Who’s got it going on?
Crowd: We believe that you do!
and
Bobo: To the blonde what’s got it going on.
The writer for the dubbing of this movie must have been a geriatric lemur as evidenced by the kids yelling, “That’s Space Chief,” then running up to him and asking, “Who are ya, mister?” Then again if that’s the actual dialogue then it just adds to the utter incompitence of the movie. Amazing that such a large space ship could lanch from the surface of the earth and not leave a single scorch mark.
I love the voice Tom uses when he says, “That means lunch won’t be ’till yesterday.”
My brother and I will randomly do the Noh Theater bit.
Durring the repetative air “battle” I thoroughly enjoy when M&tB turn their attention to something under Crow’s seat. I especially like the way Tom exclaims, “Well don’t touch it!”
“Can’t get enough of Super Sugar Crisp!”
My dad has NEVER understood why the “Noh Theater” bit is funny. Even after so many times of trying to explain it to him, he just doesn’t get the joke. To him, it’s just a bunch of “nonsense talking”.
Aside from the annoying stock footage, the other thing I hate about this movie is the TERRIBLE music! Who’s idea was it to play pip organ music during a lame fight scene?
“That guy just fell down!”
Incidentally, I’m pretty sure that the Hitler Building bit is actually the most watched clip on YouTube.
“That great restaurant the Bunker! You sons of…”
“You blew it up!”
Side me in with “even Mike and the bots couldn’t save it.”
It does everything that PoS does, but nearly all of it worse. There’s no ringing endorsement possible from such terms.
‘Noh Theater’ is great because it lets Mike get one over the bots for a change (I also like the skit in another show where his most prized possession is a beer stein for the same reason).
But segement three is inspired, both because Bill is so dead-on as Krankor but also because it really does feel damn good to see the guy. After so much of the turgid drugery of IOTNM it’s genuinely good to see this chicken-beaked cackling idiot again with his Saturday morning cartoon villain scheming. It’s almost even touching to have M&TB cheer Krankor’s Grinch-like evil heart, and I was practically blubbing along with them when he was gone and they still had this dead weight of a movie to finish.
And it’ll always be ‘eye-soaked oil-lahes’ to me.
I enjoy this one.
My two favorite lines are probably:
Crow, “Paul is a dead man. Miss him. Miss him.”
and
Tom, “…now you’re going to take a beating!”
I’ve been meaning to give this one a go for a while now. You have just sealed the deal. :3
Iggy #26: Bobo’s “arm candy” girls were Michelle Genlo and Katy O’Neil. Should have noted that; thanks for mentioning.
This is a good one. The movie’s brutal but still manageable. The Hitler building gets me every time for some reason. The segments are good as well, thoroughly enjoyable all around.
Just reading “…now you’re going to take a beating!” made me LOL.
Yeah, the movie was brutal but there were so many independent special moments that made this episode special to me. Many are previously mentioned-great host skits especially Krankor and Bridget, Hitler Dept store, simply irresistable makeup on the aliens as soldiers, annoying kids, loopy dubbing, “Special” effects and lamelamelame hero.
What was with Space Chiefs landing pattern whereby he does a “Z” flight pattern on landing? Is he just showing off?
One thing I have to say about this ep, other than the obvious, is that the whole eyelash mite bit is a good example of the way the ‘bots treated Mike as opposed to Joel. It seems that the whole thing was just an elaborate prank to get Mike. They would never have done anything like that to Joel because he created them and he could turn them off. Mike, on the other hand, was more genial and and got a lot of abuse from Tom and Crow. This was not the only time, too. They were the ones who blamed Mike for blowing up all the planets, and when Mike bumped into Crow and became a were-Crow in Werewolf, Crow said Mike ‘stupidly’ bumped into him, when it was clear that Crow stopped short and Mike couldn’t stop in time. Of course, I guess I should really just relax. :)
I’m going to say it, Space Chief is better than Prince of Space. Space Chief has got a cooler ship, a cooler costume and a better alter ego.
“To be dead. To be nothing. To watch Neptune Men no more.”
Yes, the movie is bad, and get’s horrible at the end with the constant bombing runs. Aside from that, it’s a better movie than Prince of Space. Prior to the bombing, the only repetitive thing in the movie is the children running, and even those lead to scenes that move the plot forward. Prince of Space gets tired from the start, with the Prince being invulnerable to Krankor’s weapons.
There’s also better scientists and science in this movie. The movie establishes a way for them to track the Neptune Men. The Rohji-Panty Complex helps them identify a way to create weapons against the aliens. Then there is the electro-barrier for defense of cities.
Even the maddening bombing runs at the end of the movie is perked up by “The Hitler Building.”
As for the riffing, it’s very good in a general way but not much stands out to me. The host segments on the SOL are great, though. The Noh Theater sketch is well done. It is the kind of thing that will always put MST3K above any current riffing project by the former MST3K cast. The Roman Times segments, however, are strictly utilitarian.
Movie: “Space Chief!”
Crow: Space Late!
Great episode that culminates in Krankor showing up to cheer up Mike and the Bots. I still wonder where peope will go to get their Hitler memorabilia!
Definitely my vote for most tedious movie to sit through in Season 8 and among the Top 3 worst movies of the Sci-Fi era (#1 in that department comes next season), but not among the worst of the worst over the run of the whole show. Thankfully, the riffing still makes it quite watchable for the majority.
Movie:
* I once did a presentation on how not to make convincing sci-fi movies in a writing class for college. This is the movie that inspired the whole idea and several other MST3K’d movies ended up being included.
* I hadn’t seen any of the Gamera movies prior to seeing this, but after seeing all of them I’m really surprised there were no references given that the “lead” child is renamed Kenny.
** On the other hand, “Space Chief’s off having a couple of supporos with Jet Jaguar and Princes of Space,” works nicely.
* Does anyone else think that just one person did all the voices for the children?
* This episode also seemed to have more Japan-bashing jokes than all of the other Japanese MST3K’d movies I’ve seen combined.
* Favorite Riffs:
“Space Chief is actually Racer X, Speed’s brother.” -Mike
“Hey, c’mon! I want to jump around while you fall down more!” -Crow
“Soldiers are popping up everywhere, asking if the war is over yet.” -Servo
And the classic from all three, “Ha ha ha ha ha! Your costume is ridiculous!”
Host segments:
* Bobo’s statue reminded me of “Hey, a chocolate gorilla foot!” from Gunslinger.
* I still haven’t figured out if Crow is calling Mike or Servo the idiot after Mike spells out N-O-H.
* I saw this before Prince of Space, but segment 3 really piqued my interest in seeing it. Sadly that didn’t happen until after Volume VII came out. It was worth the wait.
* Favorite line: “Uh… I got it too. Apply panties to me!”
Puuuure coincidence- my other machine (the mighty HP P-4) is encoding “Neptune” to XVid for enjoyment on my netbook. BTW in my mind this one is indistinguishable from “Prince of Space”.
I also get a big kick out of Bobo, when he’s signing the autographs; He’s speaking what he’s supposed to be writing, but each time, he’s slowing drawing a big X on each tablet.
Awful movie makes for a so-so episode. The riffs were pretty good, but the movie was just that soul-crushingly terrible (or as Crow said, “To be dead – to watch Neptune Men no more”).
Host segments were decent, though – especially the Return of Krankor (I love it when Krankor gets all emotional toward the end).
And the Roji-Panty complex segment is great. Any excuse to work panties into a segment, right? Or, as Bobo would say, “Panties, panties, panties, panties…”
Fart Bargo says:
What was with Space Chiefs landing pattern whereby he does a “Z” flight pattern on landing? Is he just showing off?
If it were a current movie, I’d say he was using a GPS. (Reference: the stories of people driving into lakes, going into underpasses to low for their vehicle, etc.)
Of course, with the many remakes/reimaginings (another Battlestar Galactica, as a movie, for instance) maybe IotNM will get remade!
That reminds me, does the fact that Crow tries to lie about having Rhoji-Panty Complex, which would require the administration of panties to him, make him a pervert?
I have bu tone thing to say: “AHAHAHAHA! YOUR COSTUME IS RIDICULOUS!!!”
Anyway here are my thoughts on this episode.
1: After reading the statement about what happened to the soldiers who were shot, and became victims of an atomic bom-like exposure to radiation, I am glad to hear that was left out of the movie’s summery on the episode guide let alone the actual episode.
2: I must have a higher pain ratio than most of you guys, as I was able to sit through this episode all at once in one sitting. Angel’s Revenge is the episode that made me almost consider suicide. That and Castle of Fu Manchu. The latter actually gave me a headache from the picture quality of the movie itself.
3: Roji Panty Complex. Need I say more?
4: The suggestion box segment, while a bit dicey (though not on the scale of Servo’s Canada song or Crow’s report on Malta) was great. Crow’s last statement considering Luxembourg was awesome. The jab at Anime can be understood by some folks, though it is based on Japanese traditional art as well as their own cultural beleifs. Plus one can tell the Brains enjoy anime because of a number of jokes throughout the series such as the Speed Racer jokes that go as far back as the Joel years, and then the fact that during the host segment in question, Mike mentions Sailor Moon. Servo also utters that series’ name at the start of the movie.
5: The Hitler Building makes one wonder if the Neptune Men were really as bad as people thought, seeing as how they blew the place up. In reality it was an advertisment for the douche’s book, Mein Kampf (which translated means My Struggle).
6: Krankor’s return was awesome, and Bill does an excellent job playing Krankor.Also, a bit of a tidbit for the gamers out there; doesn;t Krankor look kinda like Wario and Waluigi? Maybe it’s where Shigeru Miyamoto drew inspiration from or their character design.
7: On a final note, in regards to a joke made by Crow about one of the kid’s voices where he said “I dunno, Rocky”, it really does sound like Rocket J. Squirrel, AKA Rocky of Rocky and Bullinkle fame (who I beleive was played by June Foray) was the voice used for some of these kids.
I think Servo sums it up best toward the end of the movie, when he says he’s got a theme song for stock footage: Da-da-da-da-da-daah: EAT IT, MOVIE!
As Jason noted earlier in this thread, it’s like someone decided to re-shoot “Prince of Space” without the endearing goofiness.
Still, it does have its moments, and as usual for this season I enjoyed the host segments. This one isn’t as wonderfully bad as “Manos”, “Monster-a-Go-Go” or “Attack of the the Eye Creatures” (and yes, the double definite articles were intentional on my part).
As Sampo notes, it’s the final twenty minutes that make it really punishing to watch, but at least it’s not dark fare which is when the Brains appear to struggle for good material. 3.5 stars.
Re #43
Wow, I completely forgot about that! Nearly every day I listen to MST3K on my computer at work, having seen all of the episodes I can usually recall any visuals needed to get a joke. But it’s been so long since I’ve actually watched this ep that I entirely forgot about the giant X thing. More brilliance added to the Bobo still being Bobo.
@mikek #39:
“There’s also better scientists and science in this movie.”
NO. Better science is more in line with actual physics. This movie does have better plot consistency, but “sigma band”, the “electro-barrier”, and “roji-panty complex” are pure bunk, and, crucially, would be recognized as pure bunk by any respectable physicist of the time.
Whether this episode is better that Prince of Space, for me, comes down to whether “Have you seen my record?” is a better bit than “Your weapons are useless against me”. :grin:
I’ve watched them both, over and over again, and I’m still not sure. Ah, well, I guess I’ll have to watch them again… :mrgreen: