Movie: (1964) A group of scientists create a portal that takes them to a barren, mutant-inhabited Earth.
Opening: J&tB are playing a game of “Never Did I Ever”
Invention exchange: Crow has Dr. Crow’s Old Edible Silica Packets; The Mads have the Afterlife Alert
Segment 1: Gypsy leads a time portal safety drill
Segment 2: Jonah introduces some new robots. Crow and Tom hogpile them
Segment 3: Dr. Varno and Larry visit on Rocket Number 9
Closing: The bots are delighted to have time travel dopplegangers; Kinga is seeking anniversary dollars
Stinger: Danny is diggin’ it.
(44 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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• To me, it’s with this episode that everything seems to fall into place after a couple of episodes that were cute and clever and diverting but not really ha-ha funny. I laughed a lot during this one.
• Note that Max is wearing an amulet on a chain around his neck that looks like the one the little kid wore in the previous episode.
• This movie was made in an interesting era when the writers knew what lasers were, but the actors still didn’t know how to pronounce them.
• Tom pushing the rocket up is probably the best use so far of his flying abilities
• Callbacks: mention of an interociter (“This Island Earth”), “It stinks!” (Pod People).
• With Joel in segment 3 is show writer Elliott Kalan. A very funny guy but, this was not his best performance. More wry than funny, though Joel’s takes to the camera almost save it.
• An interesting tidbit: director Ib Melchior (who co-wrote the movie in episode 1101- REPTILICUS) came up with a comic book series, “Space Family Robinson,” which Melchior believed was the inspiration for “Lost in Space.” Considering that Joel took his character’s surname of Joel Robinson, it’s reasonable to think Ib might have had an influence (consciously or unconsciously) on MST3K’s first test subject’s name.
• This movie was produced by Samuel Z Arkoff, whose other riffed films include “I Was a Teenage Werewolf,” “The Amazing Colossal Man,” “Viking Women,” “War of The Colossal Beast,” “ She-Creature,” “Teenage Caveman,” “Terror from the Year 5000,” “It Conquered the World” and “Viking Women.”
• Cast and crew roundup: Merry Anders was in “Women of the Prehistoric Planet.” John Hoyt was in “Lost Continent.” Forrest Ackerman also appeared in a “Future War.” Steve Franken was in “Avalanche.” Makeup artist Marc Snegoff was also the makeup artist in “Agent of H.A.R.M” and “Catalina Caper” (which he also acted in). Script supervisor Hannah Sheel was also the script supervisor on “The Bat People.” Reynold Brown did the poster art for “The Brain That Wouldn’t Die,” “Teenage Cave Man,” “Viking Women,” “I Was A Teenage Werewolf, “Revenge of the Creature” and “This Island Earth.”
• Fave riff: “And which part of the human centipede do YOU want to be?” Honorable mention: “Bechdel test score: zero” and “I have a slinky and a Dilbert calendar.”
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Hey guys, they cut the ending of the movie !!!
What the heck.
Why the slave to time constraints ???
I understand the idea of someday putting this on commercial TV, but worry about that later.
The end was one of the most creative parts of an otherwise pedestrian Drive-In feature.
Otherwise a great episode.
I always love when they riff A film I grew up with.
This was a Saturday Afternoon TV staple.
Well that is a load of hooie.
Given the respect we are suppose to have for these “classics.”
It is like the MST3K movie being shorter that “This Island Earth” original run time.
Come on guys, this wasn’t Spartacus.
I commented last week about the differences between goof-fests like “Cry Wilderness” and brain-workout movies like this one. Some MST3K features were actually pretty good, of which my list includes “First Spaceship on Venus”. Sure, you can punch holes in them all day long (like, if time was semi-frozen at the end of the movie, then how did they get the university doors open to even make it into the lab?!), but the combination of the rigors of mental stimulation and the pleasure of MST3K riffing humor usually cause movies like these to be very, VERY high on my all-time lists.
“Cry Wilderness” is a great weekend movie that involves total freedom, libations, and snacks.
“Time Travelers” is a Tuesday night movie that involves post-dinner coffee and goatee-stroking, keeping my brain alive for Wednesday.
I’m betting it’s when he gets all worked up over the androids getting ripped apart, and he proclaimed that Jonah couldn’t make it better by offering ice cream (although he would like some).
It would have been fun riff fodder if it was two minutes, but I could see the writers’ “O-KAY!!” frustration at it being three minutes. (And yes, like @43, I remember the early “The hell?” of first tuning in on just the ending on a local station. Oh, the days when movies on local TV could drive-by at random.)
The episode couldn’t have shown part of it; they would have had to have either shown all of the ending or none of it, and they probably just didn’t want to show all of it.
Just worked my way up through that one myself, and yes, it did feel like one of the more underwhelming so far, but, er, not because of the editing. (Nice that they remembered a Herc epic but this felt more like Giant of Marathon or Colossus & the Headhunters than Unchained or Moon Men)
More on that later, though, when the WDT presents itself.
Yeah, Servo being incredibly emotionally vulnerable has always been a key part of his character for me, and this season’s been light on having him break down.
I think they cut it because it was redundant. We already know that they failed to prevent their past selves from travelling to the future, so there’s no point in reliving what we’ve already seen — and that fast-forward treatment gets nauseating very quickly. Three whole minutes would be torture.
If I had to edit this movie, that would be the first thing I’d cut, as it’s completely unnecessary.
Maybe they can do an episode of shorts next season, or find a shorter movie- some of my favorite riffs and bits are short-based.
I enjoyed to hear a Season 1 callback – “Don’t just do something – STAND THERE!” (Women of Prehistoric Planet)
It’s very strange, so many of these movies in Season 11 are normally show on Comet TV
The title doesn’t ring a bell (same with Reptillicus) but then I see and think “Wait, I’ve seen that recently on Comet”
This is the third episode in a row with a reference to the show “Lost.” I wonder who on the writing staff kept putting those in? Also, the Skeleton Crew breaks with the little bits of trivia remind me of the CC days when they’d play trivia cards before the commercials. Feels like a nod to that.
I appreciate the references to Rocky Horror sprinkled throughout. And it’s good to be able to play the Wizard of Oz/Beatles game with the new episodes. I didn’t catch a Beatles reference (yet), but we got an old-school “how about a little fire, Scarecrow?”.
You can see a split second of the original ending before the credits start. On one hand, I understand why they would cut that part out, but on the other hand it would have been hilarious!
My first post “logged in!” Wow, the future!
The time travel mechanism reminds me of that one time I was doing a pencil sketch of a window and I accidentally installed a real window in the piece of paper.
It wasn’t due to time constraints, rather Joel knew that people would complain about the “rapid-fire delivery” of the riffs just on normal speed, so imagine how much they would complain with Jonah and the bots having to repeat all the riffs they made earlier in the movie but at an inhumanly (and inbotly) fast speed?
Agreed. I always wonder why, when Comedy Central was demanding a shorter version of MST3K to fit into their evolving time schedule, they didn’t consider just doing “short” episodes where all they do is riff shorts. Seems like it would work…which might have given leverage for CC to continue messing with Best Brains and their formula. If so, good on them for resisting. But now, an all-shorts episode would be most appreciated.
On Wednesday, April 12th, I worked a super long 6:30 AM to 6:00 PM day. The good news was, I got a two hour break in the middle. So, the minute part one of my day was over, I rushed out of work, picked up a Hot ‘n Ready pizza from Little Caesar’s, drove home, loaded up my VHX account on my laptop, plugged it into my TV, and, with just enough time to finish it before I had to leave again, started this episode. I swore I’d only watch the first three episodes via my Kickstarter perk (so I could auto play them while I slept on the 14th and start episode 4 when I woke up!), so this was my last episode before the season went live on Netflix.
This is another great one!!!! I had (somehow) never seen the movie, and I must say I’m quite smitten with it! There’s something very Irwin Allen-esque about it, and I adore his 1960’s sci-fi shows, so I felt right at home with the movie. It’s a fun, creative, and engaging film, not bad or seriously cheesy, at least to me. But it’s one heck of a fun episode!
Plus, being a Danny myself, hearing the guys hurling riffs and insults at my name was weird and wonderful. That, combined with all the “Daniel’s” in the credits, made it a tad frustrating that my name wasn’t included in this, the 200th episode of MST3K. I was THIS CLOSE!
Some observations:
-Once again, the Mads are stealing their invention from a previous episode’s riff, and this time it’s poking fun at those ridiculous Life Alert commercials. If only an issue as serious as health crises for the elderly was handled in less embarrassing commercials. I always enjoy send ups of it, and seeing one on MST3K was kind of a dream come true. By the way, whose that doing the voice of the elderly woman?
-John Hoyt is a familiar face to MSTies, having appeared in Lost Continent. That was my first episode, so his appearance was pretty special to me!
-Ib Melchior strikes again! If the riffing gods are smiling down on us and MST3K takes on Angry Red Planet next season (Shout! is about to put out a Blu-ray), it’ll be an Ib Melchior Trilogy of Terror!
-I’ll take three “Buluva!” tee shirts, please!
-This episode contains the season’s first of many Back to the Future references. As a huge fan, it’s disappointing (and surprising!) that the original series didn’t reference the trilogy that much. This season fixed that!
-Callbacks: Intericiter (This Island Earth); “[fill in the blank]… OF THE FUTURE! (Time Chasers); IT STINKS! (Pod People); “Did this movie just lap itself?” (Possibly a reference to a riff from Manos: The Hands of Fate)
-Classic MST3K lines: “How about a little fire, Scarecrow?!”; “You just said area.”; mention of an android’s “Ro-batch”; “Industry!”; “I WILL KILL HIM! (a beloved reference to Dune); “You DICKWEED!”; “Does this bug you, universe? I’m not touching you!”
-Star Wars references (there are a lot this season): “This is where you get kidnapped by Jawas!”; Crow’s extended C-3PO impression; “He’s more Polaroid than man now…”
-Segment 1 gives us our first look at the “Jet Screen”, which is apparently this season’s version of the Hexfield Viewscreen. It’s pretty cool, although the added in post smoke seems like it should have been done practically. Again, it’s cool, but I miss the Hexfield.
-As mentioned above, the single shot “tour of the android factory” scene is a brilliantly written stretch of riffing.
-The scene of the android getting his new head is really awesomely done! It took me until my fourth time watching the episode to finally (I think) figure it out. A lost art in filmmaking.
-Again, as noted above, the girl who hits on Danny is REALLY adorable. Really makes me wish THIS Danny had a time machine…
-Was Dennis Patrick in EVERYTHING in the 1960’s?
-Fixy, Slappy, and Quosy are made out of Imaginext Power Rangers Megazords altered with new paint jobs, lower bodies, and added bits and pieces (including a sand castle mold, similar to the ones used for M. Waverly).
-The reference to Kepler 186-F got my space nerd juices flowing.
-The trippy music wall sequence really reminded me of the Lost in Space season 3 episode “The Promised Planet”, in which the Robinson’s land on what is supposedly Alpha Centauri and both Will and Penny are put in cubicles that flash colorful lights and feature go-go dancing silhouettes behind a screen. There’s that Irwin Allen connection again!
-Yes, that’s Forrey Ackerman as square flipping guy. Forrey Ackerman: you never know where he’ll turn up!
-The bots messing around with the girls during the oh so scandalous spa scene is hysterical. It’s one of the saucier scenes in an MST3K movie, and probably only there to be a lil’ something for the parents in the theater, as it were.
-Jonah again does his Frank Nelson impression. His “EEEYYYYEEEEEEEESSSS?!?!?!?!” gets me every time.
-Varno and Larry become the SOL’s first visitors of the season. Elliot Kalan is hilarious as Varno the party animal. Seeing Joel in an episode of MST3K NOT as Joel Robinson is jarring, but his faces in this segment are priceless. Also, it’s the first time this season the SOL crew have talked to non-Moon 13 characters, but like those scenes, they are looking at the camera when they are talking to them. The guest characters appear separately in their own spaceship, a big difference from the days of the Hexfield Viewscreen.
-When Joel waters the oranges, the water is digitally added. Again, this seems unnecessary.
-MST3K finally references the Rocky Horror phenomenon with the riff “Let’s try the Time Warp again”. It’s a great moment.
-By the end of the movie, I was pretty invested in the story. I was on edge, wondering what would happen to the characters if they couldn’t find a way out of their temporal predicament. Again, I’ll argue that this movie isn’t bad at all.
-Right before leaving the theater, the bots react to seeing the words “The End” by saying “or IS it?” Well, as many have noted, it’s not. The movie’s original, dare I say brilliant ending has been cut for this version. If keeping the episode at roughly an hour and a half was so important, I’m sure cuts could have been made somewhere else in the movie to preserve the unique looping ending. It’s absence certainly doesn’t hurt the episode; but it’s one of those “if they’d only…” things that will certainly remain a topic of discussion among MSTies for years to come.
-Wow, the 200th episode of MST3K. There isn’t a lot of ballyhoo surrounding it in this episode, but that’s more than made up for by using this milestone as a way to reference the hyping of things like anniversaries and round numbers for long running IPs. It’s pretty funny, and (if you’re a hardcore MSTie) a wonderfully satisfying acknowledgement of the KTMA episodes that the original cast/crew once frowned upon. Without them, this would have only been the 179th episode! It’s a wonderful little tribute to the nearly 30 year legacy of our little cowtown puppet show.
Happy 200th, MST3K! Now, on to the next 200…
-End credits music: Wild Rebels; Jonah’s new robots segment music; Livin’ in Deep 13
-Favorite riff: “Heh heh, goodbye alimony.”
Honorable mentions: “Just checking to make sure all the androids are Caucasian!”; “Hey, guess what? There was a fly in the chamber too!”; “Now I’ve got the girl, and he’s jumping into screens!”
Not much to add on this, except that I LOVED this ep – the best of the first three, I think.
Plus, this was what I consider absolutely PERFECT MST3K fodder. I somehow missed this one in my years of watching Saturday afternoon sci-fi/monster flicks, but I know I would have loved this back in day (this movie came out the year I was born). And really, the film is not that bad, but is just really cheesy to modern sensibilities, with some great goofy characters. And those androids, how fun…! :)
And wow, posting as an official registered “Satellite News” user just makes feel all squishy! ;-)
Hmmm… an ‘ignore’ button. Should I click it?
Go for the curtain! No, the box!
I saw this one as a kid. Trippy before trippy was cool.
I find this movie’s special effects very charming. It’s the only movie I’ve ever seen where (as I think I pointed out a couple of weeks ago) it feels like a group of stage magicians were hired to design and implement the effects.
Also, our leading man (I guess?) is notable for his, um, ACT-ING! It’s not QUITE up there with TOHTCHA!, but it’s close, particularly the scene where the future wise council reveals that our heroes have been disinvited from the rocket ship.
I like Joel’s cameo as a visiting alien.
Oh gosh, I see now I’m “docskippy” thanks to Disqus instead of just “schippers,” the handle I’ve been using on this site for years. Whatever, not a big deal. I should really just relax.
Never have I ever….
Played Never Have I Ever. Maybe that’s a WDT idea for after the season 11 review: Match the Never Have I Ever response to the MSTed character. Tor Johnson – “Never have I ever… owned a Speedo”.
The beautiful red button? The jolly candy-like button?
And while we’re talking about running jokes through the episode, I’m a few episodes and have to ask:
At least Dr. F could come up with some original intros, but is it intentionally that EVERY episode Kinga sends them is a Nightmare-Fueled World to Enter?
Yep, that’s exactly the moment Servo became Servo again for me! The rocket bit was pretty wonderful for him too. I’m so happy with this new season.
Did the locked out of the time stream bit at the end remind anyone else of The Langoliers? I found it rather creepy. Especially when it looked like they were all just going to walk into a void. And apparently in 100 years the world will irredeemably suck, but if you can wait around 100,000 plus years it’s be OK and even quite pleasant. So, no worries I guess.
Good to know for the next time I am caught in a time lock. I can still walk through the atmosphere, breath air and process the oxygen through my bloodstream. If only I could push buttons and turn dials.
Angry Red Planet was actually a contender for MST3K: The Movie. Per Kevin, it was ultimately rejected because the red filter used for most of the “exterior” footage was just so annoying.
I really like Angry Red Planet. I hope they riff it.
I can only imagine the riffs for the giant spider/mouse creature.
“Mickey, with great power comes great responsibility”
I was dubious about the concept of an Afterlife Alert, but then I heard the phone call and knew it was a winner.
I’d say the SFX elevated the movie to “watchable on a lazy day with nothing to do”.
The riffing is great. Servo “lifting” the rocket is a highlight.
Gypsy’s safety drill is good fun (and it’s good to hear more of her voice), and the bots’ vicious jealousy of the new bots is hilarious. I think Crow’s puppeteer won the duel, as Tom seems more to just flail at empty air. (Or maybe it’s the other way around, I’ve already forgotten.)
This episode contains the first substantial verbal flub I’ve noticed, as Jonah trips over his w’s and r’s in one of the host segments.
Delores Wells was the Playboy Playmate in June 1960.
If they riff Angry Red Planet the ending will provide a perfect opportunity to say, “Do not bring your evil here”.
No one mentioned the Afterlife Alert Max is wearing is based on Bigfoot’s magic necklace from Cry Wilderness.
I was disappointed there was no “Forry Ackerman” shout out, as he appeared in the robot assembly plant. I hadn’t seen this one in years. I mostly remembered how clear and well photographed it was, compared to most of the fuzzy, scratchy looking movies we endured as kids. It still looks great, although the story is much thinner than I had remembered. Good show. It’s starting to grow on me (Something’s growing on me.. I Hope it’s the show…)
Had a good time with this one. My wife really got a kick out it. Reminded her a lot of the type of movie they would tackle in season four or so. Riffing was still a bit too brisk at times, but the movie gave them a lot to work with. One of the most entertaining of the season. Check out my full review here: http://romansreviews.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-time-travelers-1964-mst3k-review.html
On a personal note this is the episode in which my name appears in the Revival League portion of the credits.
My all-time list of favorite episodes are heavily populated by black and white sci-fi movies. So Time Travelers is as close as Season 11 gets to this. It is decent enough but still not quite what it takes to make that top ten list. Personally I don’t see why Joel is avoiding black and whites right now. Yes he wants things with particularly good prints that will transfer well to hi-def. There are black and whites that out there that should meet that criteria. He also wants 16:9 ratios. To that I say so what? So what if an episode had 16:9 host segments but 4:3 theater riffing? Just slide over a few chairs in the theater when doing a 4:3 film. To get my favorite genre of riffing fodder back I’d be more than willing to put up with that. We all got used to Shadowrama 25 odd years ago. I think we could get used to a program that mixes and matches ratios. Please reconsider it.
Max appears in this episode wearing a flashing amulet much like Paul’s from Cry Wilderness.
Kinga opens with a great line to Max. “The only preferences of yours I care about are the ones I sold to Google for data mining.”
I love the Dr. Crow’s Old Time Edible Silica Packets. This one would fit right into prime of Comedy Central invention exchanges. The Afterlife alert holds its own in this category as well.
Kinga really channels Clayton in the introduction of this film. “Your experiment today is about bending time. Namely making 70 minutes feel like forever… Strap in for the nightmare fueled world of the Time Travelers.”
I really loved the time portal safety host segment. This too felt like it had Joel’s creative fingerprints all over it.
Man is Max cruel. He’s changed ALL the preset radio stations in Jonah’s backjack.
The Dr. Varno & Larry host segment fell a little flat. I guess it was Elliot Kahn’s acting style that didn’t work for me but Joel absolutely stole the scene.
While this movie passes the Bechdel Test, the specific scene inspiring the riff definitely illustrates an epic fail of it making the riff funny.
Anyway, I think the moral of this episode is best summed up by Gypsy. “Time portal disasters may seem unlikely, but they can strike at any time.”
Happy 200th episode!
Favorite Riffs
In response to the title card: Crow “I’m actually traveling through time at the rate of one hour per hour.”
The John Hoyt credit appears. Tom “41, 42 Hoyt!”
The portal collapses. Jonah “Now we wait for a future version of ourselves to solve the problem and pop in and rescue us. It’s a snap. Yup. Any minute now.”
The scientists run through a canyon. Jonah “Oh no. This is where you get kidnapped by Jawas.”
An android opens a portal consisting of an iris style special effects wipe. All sing the Looney Tunes theme.
Reena handles android eye balls. Crow “Think about it. iPad, iPhone, eye balls. This is already happening folks.”
Reena “See you at 10?” Danny “Try and stop me.” Crow “That’s what mace is for.”
Dr. Varno introduces the Cosmic Camera Receiver. Jonah “Is General Zod still trapped in there?”
Danny and Reena kiss. Tom “Hey Jonah, it’s you and your pillow.” (Nice channeling of the way the bots used to rip on Mike.) Then transitioning into the next scene: Tom “Welding. Serving as a powerful metaphor for human coupling. Or in a pinch: industry.”
And we. Are. Go!
As much as I enjoy the first two episodes, it feels like suddenly all the kinks have been worked out with this one. My one sticking point is that it still feels silly to me how trimmed for time the episodes are. While I appreciate them trying to replicate the length of the original episodes, sometimes the host segments suffer for it, or they have to cut out too much of the movie. It doesn’t sound like much, but an extra 5 minute can change a whole lot more than you’d expect.
The host segments are all really fun here. GREAT prop designs on the invention exchanges. Crow immediately giving up on how serious he’s taking the time travel presentation the moment he can hunt Nazis while riding a dinosaur. And Joel’s body language and facial expressions as Larry is just perfectly unsettling.
Man do I love earnest, 1960’s sci-fi. This movie is just a whole lot of fun, and then you throw in all their weird excuses to do a whole lot of optical illusion tricks and it becomes something magical. I enjoy how little the future world makes sense, down to I believe the timeline of how it developed being absolutely bonkers.
Fav Riffs:
Jonah: Bechdel test score: Zero. (I know Sampo said this one, too, but contextually it’s REALLY solid)
Jonah: Way to introduce confirmation bias.
Really like this one, more because it’s typical 1960s sci-fi time travel silliness than because of any specifics. The sets, the costumes, the makeup, the cheesy special effects — why, it’s like I’m back in the ’60s watching Saturday afternoon TV. I especially like the giant Etch-a-Sketch portal in the laboratory.
I only watched it once on Netflix and am looking forward to seeing it again on my shiny new Blu-ray set which is supposed to be here today, since for some reason I prefer watching MST3K on discs as opposed to streaming. Still wish they’d slow the riffing down just a tad.
One advantage to streaming episodes (old and new) on Netflix/Hulu: Subtitles.
I’ve caught so many more jokes that way. And also how to spell some references I didn’t quite get, for Google purposes. They’re not always 100% correct, though. Last night I was watching The Indestructible Man, and the subtitles kept referring to “ammo nitrate”.
But for the RPM rate in Season 11, it’s a godsend. Makes singing along to “Every Monster” easier, too.
Oh, and I have all the DVDs, too, for whenever I want them. I can do a thing two different ways. It’s nice.
One of my best friends has developed hearing issues over the last few years so he watches everything with subtitles. So I’ve gotten a chance to watch a good portion of S11 with subtitles and I must say, they are fantastic. Clearly someone put money into it, and bless them for it.
Did a cut scene explain what the purpose of the circle squaring?
Seems rather odd that they didn’t have to open any doors or encounter anyone else on the way to discovering that they had looped.
After a 100,000 years, at the very least the radiation would have died down.
Personally, I thought it had more of a Mike era vibe, with one bot taking something extremely seriously while the host and the other bot behave like a couple of bored, disruptive teenagers.
Favorite riffs
“Setting the time selector back twenty-four hours.”
That should be enough time to save Doc Brown from the Libyans.
“What are we waiting for?”
It’s five o’clock somewhere.
“I’ll only take it to the limit of safety.”
Because you’re all a bunch of wusses.
We only have ten minutes before the real scientists return from lunch.
Eh, hipster scientists with their analog time machines.
Do I get paid overtime for traveling over time?
It’s like a middle school dance. You’ve got scientists on one side, mutants on the other. Everyone’s just too nervous to make the first move.
Who keeps an Armageddon disaster video queued up at all times? Is it common, time travelers needing an orientation to the Earth’s demise?
Oh sorry, something exiting’s happening in another movie.
Dear Time Traveler Forum, I never thought it would happen to me.
Should we be concerned that Larry’s not eating one of these weird oranges, and he’s just laughing and pointing at us?
“You’re leaving us here?”
Abandoning is a better word.
Guess what? There was a fly in the chamber, too.
“How long?”
I beg your pardon?
Right in the ketchup packet!
Don’t just do something, stand there!
Looks like the National Guard cleared out those hippies.
It doesn’t make sense, but it worked!
The future is a nudist colony in Clearwater, Florida.
Oh no, the universe lost reception!
Whatcha guys doin’? Some science?
I don’t know, after ‘Cry Wilderness’ this one was a bit of a come down for me. I enjoyed it, don’t get me wrong, but the movie just didn’t seem to grab me. Maybe it was the techno-babble at the beginning coupled with the flat, plastic lighting that make this look like a TV pilot, who knows. The host segments are fun though. Joel seems to be covering the fact that he can’t just play himself anymore and it looks like he’s having fun doing it.
Fave riffs
Ho ho ho, Merry Anders, everyone!
[open on android lab]
Why does it feel like the music is too chipper for the horror we’re about to witness?
[Robo-hand pinches Danny]
Either that hand is defective or it’s doing EXACTLY what it was programmed to do!
So their super secret sci-fi base has a back alley?
Man, Simon got complicated in the future!
Pillarboxing (black bars on the left and right) would probably be tolerable. I don’t think actually switching aspect ratios would be good.
SAMPO: An interesting tidbit: director Ib Melchior (who co-wrote the movie in episode 1101- REPTILICUS) came up with a comic book series, “Space Family Robinson,” which Melchior believed was the inspiration for “Lost in Space.”
Except that Space Family Robinson itself was obviously “inspired” by Swiss Family Robinson, which is probably better known than Space Family Robinson even today.
BTW, did you know “Melchior” is supposedly the name of one of the Three Wise Men? Didja, didja? I suspect that The Brains didn’t.
“Willard” is also the title of a horror film and its remake, y’know. It’s kind of hard for me to be believe that The Brains don’t know THAT, so I guess they must not have thought the connection strong enough. Or something.
The first thing I recall about John Hoyt is that he played Grandpa Kanisky on “Gimme a Break,” one of the less well-remembered of the longer-running 1980s sitcoms. He had a dry sort of wit, kind of like a cranky George Burns. A line that I found particularly memorable (and I for that reason remember it) is in response to Nell asking him to write her a character reference:
“Certainly, Nell.” (pause) “I have never known a character like you.”
So they should instead have, what, made their servile semi-sentient abominations in the image of “minority” races? Even in 1964, they knew better than that.
And speak whatever language they’re speaking a hundred years from now. Yeah, that’s a thing portals do, physically and mentally adjust you to what’s on the other side. You didn’t know that? That’s a thing they do.
Meh… ~3/5
This whole movie came off like a bad episode of Star Trek TOS, and I’m okay with that
I was watching this with a friend and when they went to the future I blurted out “oh no, they’ve wandered onto a Star Trek set!” a classic riff
Man, knew I’d forget a great riff:
Varno: Time is an anachronism.
Everyone: What?
Just such an earnest line of dialogue.
I thought it was good that the other three travelers never started railing at Danny for “causing” the whole thing. It’s not like he TOLD them to follow him or each other.
They weren’t a particularly stalwart set of movie scientists if they didn’t even consider trying to travel back to their own time until learning Varno and company weren’t going to allow all of their hard work to be for nothing and start all over to figure out how to take them with. It’s scientist-on-scientist smugness on a level rarely seen.
So, that deal with the part-human mutant (or part-mutant human) well, THAT was a cul-de-sac, wasn’t it? IMHO the Brains could have easily edited THAT out. It didn’t advance the plot in the slightest, it just made the plot jump up and down for a minute or two. Oh well.
Danny’s girlfriend said she was looking forward to the “population explosion” after the expedition arrived. Which would mean that every fertile woman in the expedition would be expected (although hopefully not forced) to get pregnant again and again and again, and by a different man each time to cut down on the number of children who’d have the same mother AND the same father and thus minimize future incest. I’m not sure that either Danny or Jonah & the Bots unpacked that one.
One of my favorites from season 11, though I really wish Joel had left in the surreal time-loop sequence at the end of the film. By the way, it’s not mentioned in Sampo’s remarks (as of this writing), but Steve Franken was also in Stranded in Space.
It’s in the cast and crew roundup.
Great episode!
The host segments definitely had that classic Joel feel to them, especially the portal safety bit. :-)
In the theater, Tom’s “little bot that could” pantomime with the rocket had me in stitches! For me, this bit will always be funny.
I know this might sound a bit strange, but the underground society in this movie reminded me of a faction called The Institute from the 2015 video game Fallout 4.
Shared similarities include:
Forced underground due to nuclear attack.
Repopulation within the small group of survivors.
Synthetic beings being assembled for slavery purposes.
A hatred/fear of surface survivors.
And a fatherly type that serves as their leader, although that bare chest look is strictly a Varno thang!
I can only imagine how much Kingachrome was gargled/spilled
to lose that much of the original ending. A hale and hearty bunch indeed!