/usr/web/www.marshallindependent.com/wp-content/themes/coreV2/single.php
×

‘Mystery Science Theater 3000’

When it was announced that “Mystery Science Theater 3000” was getting a reboot on Netflix, I was excited. It had been 18 years since the original series ended, and I was looking forward to what Joel Hodgson, the creator of the show, had in store.

Felicia Day of “The Guild” and comedian Patton Oswalt were brought on board as the show’s “villains.” The new host of the show is Jonah Ray, and the bots, Tom Servo and Crow are brought to life by Baron Vaughn and Hampton Yount. I have to admit I’ve never heard of those three, but they have been doing a hilarious job with the three full episodes I’ve seen so far. Ray is an actor and comedian and is known for The Nerdist podcast. Vaughn and Yount are also comedians.

As I was watching the first episode, featuring the Danish flick “Reptilicus,” I caught a brief cameo — “is that Wil Wheaton?” And sure enough at the ending credits, he was listed. The movie itself was typical “MSTK3” fare, miners discover the tail of a frozen prehistoric creature, scientists somehow bring it back to life and chaos ensues. The fakey-looking monster terrorizing the Danish countryside was amusing.

The second episode was “The Time Travelers,” which was written by the same man who gave us “Reptilicus,” Ib Melchior. That was noted in one of the riffs by Jonah and the bots. This movie is about a group of scientists who make a portal that takes them more than 100 years into the future, around 2071. The portal then collapses and they’re basically stuck on a barren planet, which was destroyed by a nuclear war, and being attacked by mutants. The 20th century scientists meet another group of scientists from the future. The future scientists are trying to construct a spaceship to bring them to a new planet, but they can’t include the past scientists. So there’s the race to build a new portal The group of 20th-century scientists are accompanied by a goofy janitor-type sidekick played by Steve Franken, who makes an appearance in the episode I’m currently watching “Avalanche.” I see a pattern here.

Now who thought putting together Rock Hudson and Mia Farrow in a disaster flick was a good idea?

I started “Avalanche” Sunday and haven’t gotten to the disaster portion of it. So far I’ve learned that Hudson portrays a ski resort owner and Farrow plays his ex-wife. Robert Forster plays Farrow’s love interest (haven’t gotten that far yet) and Jeanette Nolan plays Hudson’s mother. There’s also a champion skier and some random skater are thrown into the mix.

The riffs in the new “MST3K” are a little more current, and I was tickled to hear a reference to “Better Off Dead”“Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn.” Now I really want to watch that movie.

Here’s hoping for more new episodes in the future.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

COMMENTS

Starting at $4.38/week.

Subscribe Today