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Weekend Discussion Thread: Most Laughable Props in a MSTed MovieAlert treader “Rowsdower” suggests:
He also had examples that were actually make up and costumes, which I think I will save for another day. I think I’m going to go with the flying pizza monsters in episode (I was on no sleep when I typed that.) What’s your pick? 160 Replies to “Weekend Discussion Thread: Most Laughable Props in a MSTed Movie”Commenting at Satellite News
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The “it does anything we want it to” universal control lever in Fire Maidens of Outer Space. Subtle, yet completely ludicrous upon further consideration.
Sampo, weren’t the flying pizza monsters in “It Conquered the World”?
Anyway, I’m going to say the demonic robot reindeer from “Santa Claus”.
. . . sure, if by “laughable” you mean the deranged laughter of someone driven mad by sheer terror. :b
The Creeping Terror is the King!
While this is more of a foley issue than the actual prop, the fake ringing phone from Monster A-Go Go and the reaction from J&tB make me laugh every time.
Speaking of “ICtW” let us not overlook the maniacal all-powerful three foot tall pickle monster. It was even mentioned on the Frank Zappa album “Roxy and Elsewhere”. Zappa even describes the scene where the diminutive monster comes out of the cave and a 2×4 board was seen pushing it but I don’t see it in the Mystied version.
And the flying oil-filter/Mr. Bill faced mother-ship from “Invasion of the Neptune Men” get a runner-up prize.
The werewolf hand puppet from Werewolf.
I believe it was Manhunt in Space (?) that had the fake door latch on the spaceship. Everyone just pretended to turn it.
The “Gorgon” from Teenagers From Outer Space springs to mind. That may have been the cheapest monster effect ever filmed. Also the radar in Radar Secret Service, though more a premise than a prop, is ridiculous.
‘Robot Monster’ has plenty, but the billion bubble machine is the worst.
The Killer Shrews!!!
I think the Hummel headed androids in “The Human Duplicators” were pretty ridiculous, especially considering that they just loosely filled the empty heads with random junk before they smashed them on the floor. The space capsule from “Monster A Go-Go” is pretty lame too. “Douglas was pair-shaped, very short and stood the whole way!”
And I know it sounds crazy, but I’ve actually grown to kind of like The Creeping Terror monster. Sure it was VERY poorly executed, but I’ve got to give the makers credit for at least attempting to build a truly alien monster rather than just another angry carrot-crab from Venus or a robo-gorilla with a bad case of Pinocchio Syndrome.
All the equipment in Rat Fink’s lab (from Wild Wild World of Batwoman), which was just dial faces painted on what looked like cardboard boxes. Super cheap, super cheesy.
The giant rubber octopus at the end of Mad Monster.
I have to agree with Smoothie GP @5: The ‘ringing phone’ from Monster A Go Go.
When I typed Mad Monster, I meant Bride of the Monster.
I need help with the name of the movie here.
The helicopter and submarine scene, possibly from Agent From HARM?
OWS means Danger Death Ray
re 16. The toy props in the bathtub were from Danger Death Ray. And those might be the tops for cheepnis. Also the hang-glider in Cave Dwellers comes to mind. Not ridiculous by itself, but its illogical appearance in the movie makes it a contender.
How about Bride of the Monster? You have the spaghetti strainer and photo enlarger that Bela Lugosi uses to torture people. Also lab walls that are painted to look somewhat vaguely like stone, the fake snake and even more fake octopus.
The Torg costume from Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, which consists of what looks like a bunch of cardboard boxes and a coffee urn.
Sampo needs to get his morning coffee and proof-read that intro:
alert treader
un-intentional smiley face
wrong movie
Some of the best ones have already made it on here, like the non-turning latch in Rocky Jones. How about the rocket in Rocket Attack USA? There’s even one scene where the prop is non-existent judging by the lack of shadow. When you do see the thing and the props around it that are supposed to look like a missile base it’s not all that convincing.
Just pointing out that at the top here it says, “He also had examples that were actually make up and costumes, which I think I will save for another day.” I already see costumes creeping into the comments here. I’ve learned the hard way in the past to read the fine print on these discussion topics in order to stay within the parameters specified.
@ #12: That’s a good one, one of my favorites too, but it’s “pear-shaped” like the fruit.
The T rex puppets in FUTURE WAR or the go cart floor buffers in SPACE MUTINY.
The brown-painted cereal box used as a news camera in Future War!
Cool! From my personal fav-of-all-time episode Time of the Apes.
Pistol/duck calls! Hahahahaha!
“walk like a duck…wak wak wak wak wak!!!” :D
The geometric nucleus from Cave Dwellers. It was just a mirrored box thingie and they never really explained what it was supposed to be and then it blows up at the end – what?!
How about the “time machine software” (and “hardware”) from Time Chasers? The secret of time travel on 8 floppy disks? Not to mention you could apparently run it on a PC-Compatible AND a Commodore 64. Never mind that those two systems had physically incompatible disk layouts to begin with…
GAAHHH ***NERD RAGE***
I vote for every single one of Henry Krasker’s inventions.
@18
Thank you, Cornbred!
I knew someone would recognize that immediately.
Number 1 – no doubt about – the homemade prop camera in Future War. But there’s also the Chinese dragon / wall-to-wall carpet in The Creeping Terror, the “ray gun” (and microphone) in The Wild Wild World of Bat Woman, and the fabric cave in Eegah.
I’m not sure if this counts, but we might also mention the “ringing” telephone in Monster a-Go-Go….
Here’s one not mentioned yet. The golf carts/whatever the those vehicles were in “Space Munity.” Be sure to put on your helmet! We’ll be exceeding speeds of 3!
The torture table from Warrior of the Lost World springs to mind. Even Bela’s giant-making machine from Bride of the Monster looked like it had more parts to it.
Not to mention all the cardboard spiky stuff used in Warrior of the Lost World, culminating of course in MEGAWEAPON MEGAWEAPON MEGAWEAPON as surely the least fearsome vehicular prop ever seen in a movie. No, I forget the Space Mutiny floor waxers, although no real attempt there was made to kit them out for the cameras except with some post-production sparks.
The Prince of Space‘s barbecue lighter all-purpose weapon, even less impressive a gun than the painted Wham-O Air Blasters used in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians or Klyton’s ray gun in Robot Holocaust.
the grasshoppers on the postcard from “Beginning of the End”
How about the Killer Shrews!!
For me it’s a tie, between the fake ringing phone in “Monster a Go Go” and the cardboard box video camera in “Future War”.
I’d say the fake octopus in “Bride of the Monster” and the creeping terror monster in “The Creeping Terror” don’t qualify as “props”. They should fall under the category of “Most Laughable Movie Monster”, along with the helmeted gorilla in “Robot Monster”, which was neither a robot or a monster.
Lot of good ones covered. Some others to laugh at were the wigs used by Ken and the other Valna Raiders in Fugitive Alien I.
Also Master Ninja I’s silly string device that somehow cut off the wheel of a car. What the?
The postcards were pretty cheesy.
As an umbrella, anytime model cars or planes are used for scale in a monster movie (i.e. the car in The Giant Gila Monster,) gets cheesy.
The deep meaning of the plasma ball in Space Mutiny was pretty bad (unless the meaning meant that they could be bought for a reasonable price at Sharper Image.)
I don’t know if this qualifies as cheesy or just stupid but the hang glider from Ator…errr, Cave Dsellers, has to fit in somewhere (its own category, perhaps???)
I see the golf carts were mentioned, so how about the futuristic “spaceship” in Space Mutiny as well as the Formica monitors?
Creepiest “prop?” Hugo.
It’s not just the cardboard box camera in Future War, but the whole
empty cardboard warehouse. Wouldn’t it be the tennsiest bit more
efficient TO HAVE THE CARDBOARD BOXES FOLDED UP FOR SHIPPING!
Or the Solarite (Richard Keil’s) costume. Not nearly as scary as
his James Bond Jaws (or Eegah’s hair :-)) ). I guess a costume is
a prop.
No, a costume is a costume and Sampo said he’s saving those for another discussion another day.
Don’t forget all the Railings,Balustrades and Banisters for railing kills in SPACE MUTINY!
Sorry about the screwup in the post, folks. I was on zero sleep and zero coffee when I typed that and I mixed up my mid-season 3 classics. Now fixed.
monster a go go’s space capsule and space mutiny’s floor waxers put me into hysterics just thinking about them. The coolest prop I can remember off the top of my head was the mini motorcycle roxanne drives in godzilla vs megalon.
The hobgoblins in, ‘Hobgoblins’. Just stuffed animals which the actors would grab hold off and shake around, as if they were being attacked. Not even an attempt at attaching a hobgoblin to the camera, as an attempt to show the attack from THEIR advantage. sad.
I’d also have to say the worst prop would probably be the cardboard camera from FUTURE WAX, I mean Future War. I know this is asking for props, but I’d feel bad not mentioning one of the worst sets, which is the goofy Library office from Time Chasers.
Maybe next we could do a thread on the worst sets?
Off the top of my head, I have to go with the toy boat and helicopter from Danger: Death Ray!! though I’m quite fond of the intergalactic floor buffers from Space Mutiny. Those lose out only because it had to be so much fun to chase John Philip Law through a boiler room with a fake laser gun.
This entire list could be just Future War and Danger Death Ray, but I’ll award my vote to the “landing legs lowering lever” in the Martian spaceship from SSCtM. Hand-operated pneumatic landing gear on a spaceship? Do the Martians have to start the engine with a handcrank, too?
And the
empty toychest“radar box,” deserves a dishonorable mention. (Radar is a fairly simple concept to grasp, so how come mid-20th century movies assign radar with world-shaking omnipotence the way late-20th century movies treat computers?)It looks like the ones I’d have picked have already been mentioned. Does the “beard” on “Castro” in “Red Zone Cuba” count?
How about those glowing rings from Soultaker, eh? Those were some breathtaking CGI special effects.