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| The emotions of a hero. |
RRRRAAAAAGGGHH!
In a 2011 entry in its “Gateways to Geekry” series, the AV Club recommended Space Mutiny as an ideal place to begin for first time MST3K viewers. This episode also appears on numerous “Top 10” and “Favorite Episode” lists across the web. With it the movie’s cheesy 80s-ness, and the show running in its hilarious prime, it’s easy to see why. And while it’s probably not in my top 10, I can’t argue, this one is a classic for a reason.
Where to even begin? The host segments are all around great. The episode takes place during the “Great Chase” plot, with Pearl, Bobo and Brain Guy captured by the deliciously evil Flavia (Bridget Jones) in Roman times, and Brain Guy, his brain-in-a-bowl taken away, at sub-Bobo intelligence. Seeing Mary Jo Pehl and Bridget Jones bounce off one another as Pearl and Flavia is fantastic. The host segments revolving around Mike and the Bots are also great, especially the space-battle scene, and later when, inspired by the railings of the movie’s industrial plant setting and the many railing kills resulting, installs dozens of needless railings, balustrades and handrails across the ship, tripping Mike and Crow all over the place.
The riffing, as befitting Season 8, is rapid-fire and hilarious. Topics covered: Servo yelling “I wish I had Jesse’s Girl!” when a Rick Springfield look-alike is killed; Mike saying, “We’ve got an infestation of Benedictine monks” when people walk into a room accompanied by chanting; and the plain-ol’ childish, when a character tells another, “Take a chair”, to which Crow replies “And ram it.”And of course, this episodes features one of the single best running gags ever done on the show: the many names they give main character David Ryder, which range from "Dirk Hardpeck" to "Blast Hardcheese" to "Big McLargeHuge". That alone makes this episode legendary.
But the bright, shining North Star all jokes and glory for this episode follow is the movie itself. Shot in South Africa in the 80s, Space Mutiny is about a totally peaceful rebellion that happens aboard the Southern Sun, a generational ship crawling across space. Villainous Kalgan (John Phillip Law, of Barbarella, Diabolik and countless other cult classics), has a tight-grip of the police-like Enforcers and wants the ship to land on the nearest planet (why the ship won’t just land on the nearest habitable world, the movie doesn’t explain, at least the MST cut doesn’t). The only thing stopping him is rugged space hero David Ryder (one time Captain America and 80s actioneer Reb Brown), a blond hunk with arms Chris Redfield would be jealous of. It’s a veritable cheese platter; of 80s action cheese, thanks to Reb Brown and explosions throwing extras everywhere; sci-fi cheese, thanks to shiny pastel and tinfoil costumes, laser blasts, and sets that vary from “pastel space dance club” to “industrial building in the role of space ship”; and cheapo cheese thanks to the movie unceremoniously starring special effects lifted from the original Battlestar Galactica. With a set up like that, stars like those, and a decade such as this, it would’ve been a challenge for the people at Best Brains to have not made this one a classic.
Episode in a Riff
Too many, here are a few:
“If we pretend we k now what’s going on this is actually kind of exciting.” -Crow
“That scene really made me stop and think…about how much better a root canal would be than this movie!” – Servo
“A retarded jellyfish could make a better movie “– Servo
“Yknow, give a box turtle a camera and a week, he’d come up with a better movie than this one.” -Crow
Random Asides
-This movie was relatively new for them at the time, only 9 years old at the episode’s airing in 1997. But oh, how quickly the 80s aged.
-It sucks sometimes that the writers of the show weren’t actually bigger B-movie fans, as there’s some great B-movie talent in this. Reb Brown made a ton of action flicks in the 80s, John Phillip Law deserves an honorary medal for all the movies he’s made, and Cameron Mitchell was, according to Lee Strasberg to be a founding member of the Actor’s Studio.
-The episode guide points out they didn’t make fun of the BSG effects. They did make a BSG effect joke in a later episode, tho that one didn’t have BSG effects
-The Bellerians don’t do a damn thing other than look scrawny and writhe around on those electrobe ball things.
Love the encyclopedia bit. The show was well into its prime mike time here, and the bots ridicule of mike, including crow’s “you never finished college” show the chemistry and differences from the Joel era.
-Do they even make physical encyclopedias anymore?
-I like the Bots’ little reading glasses
-I loved Pearl and Flavia in this episode, and their bitter hatred for one another. Little things like Pearl saying, after mention them torturing Bobo, “Ugh, I broke a nail,” is classic, as is the ecstatic way Flavia tells them, “You die at dawn tomorrow” like they’re getting a pop quiz.
-Dumb Observer is a riot, especially his insulting Mike.
-It’s really funny seeing Mike Nelson fail to seduce a character played by his real life wife.
-The Enforcers’ biggest crime, aside from trying to overthrow Captain Santa, is allowing so many mullets on their men.
-David Winters would later go on to direct, among other things, Dancin’: It’s On!
-My girlfriend Gina while watching this with me: “Bumper Cars: The Movie! But they’re future bumper cars, so it’s okay.”
-Crow, Servo, I’m sorry, but the existence of the 80s can’t be blamed on just any generic white guy. At least, not 100% blamed on them.
-Reb Brown was in fact 6 years older than Cisse Cameron during the making of this movie. In fact, she was only 34 at the time it was made. Which is how old I am…*runs sobbing out of the room to repent life misspent on cult TV show*
-Also, THEY GOT MARRIED AND ARE STILL MARRIED TO THIS DAY!
6 Favorite Riffs
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