TORCHA!!!
Ah,
memories. This was about the 4th episodes of MST I ever saw. Those
late middle school nights, staying up until 3 (before it was easy to do as a
teenager and then difficult again as an adult) to wonder what this newly
discovered, glorious show would bring me. And Teenagers From Outer Space is…a movie called “Teenagers From Outer
Space”. It’s one of those quintessentially-titled MST movies. And it lives up
to its promise.
Poor
Derek just doesn’t fit in with the other teenagers from outer space. He doesn’t
enjoy being part of a strictly oppressive society, and doesn’t want to submit
Earth to the horrors of the Gargon, his people’s main food source that are
literally, I’m not kidding, actual lobsters that grow big via unconvincing
special effects. So he escapes from his shipmates and into Anytown, USA, and meets
the lovely Betty. She shows him the joys of a liberated Earth life, like
swimming at a friend’s and renting a room. But thuggish co-spaceman Thor is out
to bring Derek back and leaves a trail of skeletons in his wake, and more of
Derek’s people may be arriving soon with more lobster-based special effects.
Will Derek be able to defend the planet he adopts as home?
A
better question is, “Seriously, lobsters?” And the answer to that is, “yes, as
well as teenage romance, death by death ray, and melodramatic B movie acting
a-plenty.” Teenagers From Outer Space
is about as pitch perfect as a movie gets for MST, and Joel and the bots knock
this one out of the park. I love this episode as much now as I did on my first
viewing 20 years ago (God, I’m old.) The silly jokes like Servo, as the movie’s
music swells, beginning to sing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. The clever ones
like, “Moses, Moses” from Joel when a disintegration ray lights up a tree. And
the ones I just get upon seeing it for the umpteenth time, like the, “It’s
Andrew Wyeth Valley!” from Joel upon one of the million shots of a California
valley. Then there’s the running gags, from using “TORCHA” to Joel and the bots
giving characters random songs in their heads, and maybe my favorite, muffled
screams from help coming from any car trunk in sight.
This
movie is just great, it’s silly as all hell, totally serious, has
entertainingly melodramatic acting (Derek is wonderfully awestruck by Earth,
Betty is wonderfully sincere, and Thor is wonderfully psychopathic.) The pace
is fast, people die by death rays, and hell, the movie even manages to wrap up
the story on earth and the plot threads from Derek’s home planet neatly at the
end. The movie is funny and enjoyably bad on its own, and then Joel and the
Bots get in on it. It’s not quite like what I imagine it would’ve been like seeing
this movie as a kid at a 50’s drive-in and making fun of it with friends all
the while, but it’s damn close.
Episode
in a Riff:
“I’ve
got a headache this big and it’s got this movie written all over it.” - Joel
Random
Asides:
-The history behind the making of Teenagers
from
Outer Space is far more interesting than the movie itself. For starters, the
director/writer/editor/”I really want to grip” Tom Graeff made the movie on an
even-shoestring-for-the-50s $14,000, split town to avoid paying back people who
helped financed the movie, including “Thor” actor Bryan Grant and his wife, “Hilda”
actress and ex-German citizen Ursula Pearson, and later tried to change his
name to “Jesus Christ II”. Oh, and he and “Derek” actor David Love were lovers.
It’s like a sadder version of that episode of Mission Hill “Planet 9 from Mission Hill” and would make a far more
interesting movie than the one that ended up on MST3K.
-Too
bad that the Rhino DVD doesn’t have the MST
Hour wraparound segments. Luckily, my old VHS does!!!
-This
was the first episode I managed to record the full intro to, which included a
scene of Joel and the Bots watching Godzilla
vs. Megalon. Imagine my young mind being blown seeing that in the opening credits for the first time!
-Tom’s
hands are pink. Weird.
-How
many shows begin with two robots being electrocuted? It’s the little things
that make you wonder just what can happen, and make the possibilities of the
show seem infinite.
-I
loved report card invention exchange since I went to a private school (albeit not
a s fancy a one as their report cards). Ugh, report cards… Thank God I’m not a
kid anymore
-There’s
a real playhouse-TV playfulness the Joel era has I love.
-Unfortunately,
ventriloquism would have to wait for Jeff Dunham to make a true comeback
-Ah,
when people referred to the 90s as “The 90s”, like it was the hippest of
present times
-Joel
and the Bots sing the classic Kirk/Spock duel music about 12 minutes in.
-Betty
has to be one of the finest 50s babes to appear in one of their movies.
- There
sure are a lot of hicks in southern Cali.
-I
love the Reel to Real segment, from the points to Joel slowly going crazy. I
think having to be on a fake TV show on a space ship in a TV show is driving
him crazy. The skit reminds me a lot of my first place. Only instead of free
rent and a hot chick, I had cheap rent and depressive loneliness
-After
playing Fallout, all I can think of
seeing the 50s setting is “When do the bombs fall”?
-I
adore the cheesy death special effects! The pool death with the smoking water
is especially memorable.
-So…did
the aliens not notice all the towns and stuff nearby when they landed? And why
didn’t they just take Thor’s gun when he was passed out? And then Derek speaks
English but doesn’t read it and why on earth am I questioning a movie called “Teenagers
from Outer Space’?
-As
the MST3K Info review points out, there’re a lot of characters singing in this
one. “It’s the New Zoo Review”, “Cuz I’m a Sex Shooter”, “Shook Me All Night
Long”, “White Wedding”…Why? Who cares, funny!
- Little
things like Tom leaning in towards Grandpa and whispering to him are great
touches. When the silhouettes physically interact with the movie, it’s a nice
extra spice to an episode.
-Thor
racks up a body count fast!
-We have not one, not two, but three Monty Python references in this one!
-We have not one, not two, but three Monty Python references in this one!
-I
think they did the space snacks thing just to be goofy
-Man,
every performance in this movie is committed, no matter how goofy or cheesy.
-The
tension in the doctor’s office scene is pretty decent.
-Derek’s
“if only there was enough time!” dramatic line reading is great B-movie acting.
-So..
how did they do the lobster effects? Puppet a dead lobster with green
screen/projection?
-The
skull turbo ship bit is kinda weird, but cool. I remember it more for the anticlimax
than anything.
-An
hour or so in, there’s a little moment where Crow mutters to himself, “she’s
cute”. I like little bits like that that slip in as if they’re watching a movie
instead of reciting lines. It’s a little touch that adds to the “hanging out
with friends” aspect of the show I love, and something I think the Joel era
excels at.
-Not
sure if this is one of the ones where they add a tint to the black and white
movie, but it seems a tad blue tinted
I
love the “look to this day, young graduate” ending, ends on a high, positive,
fun note that leaves me wanting more episodes, as opposed to the more bitter
endings like in monster a go go and that one where mike says “yeah and the
children are all insane”. Them finding more goofiness in the duct tape jumpsuit
bit at the end just adds more fun
-The
part in the end where Tom is doing his photo shoot and they say, “dinner, Mr. President,
tonight? Why, sure!”, you can see the phone Tom is talking into is just duct
taped to a stick!
-The
letters, especially ones like this from a little kid, are really more of the
Joel era than the Mike. It’s a nice
touch that I like.
-Contributing writers are Jim Mallon, along with someone named Colleen Henjum. Who?
-Contributing writers are Jim Mallon, along with someone named Colleen Henjum. Who?
-This
episodes ends, leaving me sad it’s over but, happy to have seen it and gotten
to watch more!
6 Favorite Riffs
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