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A Few Nights with Cinematic Titanic
10 years ago
General
MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 (1988 - 1999), television's original movie-riffing puppet show, was reincarnated, minus the 'bots, in two projects by its cast members: CINEMATIC TITANIC (2007 - 2013), with Joel, Trace, Josh, Frank, and Mary Jo; and RIFFTRAX (2006 - ), with Mike, Kevin, and Bill.
While RiffTrax is a successful, ongoing business, Cinematic Titanic went on indefinite hiatus at the end of 2013. I've been watching some of the earlier CT releases, and jotted down a few thoughts, along with links to the Amazon video downloads; ten episodes are also available at Hulu.
#1: THE OOZING SKULL
http://www.amazon.com/Cinematic-Tit.....f=cm_cr-mr-img
Mad scientist? Check. Evil dwarf assistant? Check. Dying dictator ordering his brain to be transplanted into a younger body? Check. Platinum-haired female impersonator as dictator's main squeeze? Check. This movie has all the ingredients for some great riffing, so why did Joel and his crew feel compelled to stop the film four or five times to perform some tedious comedy skits?
Y'know, I should really just relax. With CT on indefinite hiatus since 2014, and twelve of the fifteen movies they've riffed available online and on disc, there's plenty more to watch, but it may be awhile before we get another serving of this quintet's brand of well-roasted cinematic cheese.
#2: DOOMSDAY MACHINE
http://www.amazon.com/Cinematic-Tit.....f=cm_cr-mr-img
Man, was this one hard to sit through! If ever a movie deserved to be made fun of, it's this staggeringly incompetent 1972 no-budget "thriller" about the end of the world. It comes complete with tons of stock footage; a spaceship (apparently steam powered) that keeps changing its shape; characters played by two different actors, hoping that the audience won't notice; and very long, static scenes of characters doing absolutely nothing.
Joel's quintet comes not to praise this turkey, but to bury it. That they do, but without quite alleviating the pain and boredom of watching a cast of idiots struggle towards the movie's pointless, unsatisfying ending.
#3: THE WASP WOMAN
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0....._sim_mov_aiv_4
You could overanalyze "The Wasp Woman" as a period piece about a cosmetics company owner who sees no difference between saving her business and saving her looks, but let's just enjoy the cheese factor of this slapdash Roger Corman monsterpiece about the high price of drinking from the fountain of youth.
It stars B-movie actress Susan Cabot, in her last feature film (she would die at the hands of her mentally ill son many years later), and offers goofy-looking monster makeup, consistently sharp riffing by Joel and company, and only two annoying comedy skits this time around, one of which is kinda sorta funny if you're a Buddy Rich fan.
#5: SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0....._sim_mov_aiv_5
For a professional smartass, Joel Hodgson has a sentimental streak a mile wide. That he chose to revisit "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" nearly twenty years after the MST3K version shouldn't be surprising: it's a movie that, for all its sad, ludicrous, no-budget faults (and I don't just mean you, Droppo), has a warmth and gentleness that's quite genuine. Watching John Call's impossibly optimistic, reality-challenged Santa is like watching Captain Kangaroo getting sloshed on whiskey-spiced eggnog: jovial, if a little disturbing.
So which version is funnier: MST3K (1992) or Cinematic Titanic (2008)? I'd call it a draw. Some of the jokes in the earlier version can't be topped, but the newer material is very strong, and in some cases an improvement over the '92 version. The "Chochem" scene, truncated for MST3K, is seen in its entirety in the CT version, and the latter has the advantage of a better quality, more colorful print, for what it's worth.
(À propos of nothing, ever notice that the MST3K theme song is as catchy as the theme from GILLIGAN'S ISLAND?)
While RiffTrax is a successful, ongoing business, Cinematic Titanic went on indefinite hiatus at the end of 2013. I've been watching some of the earlier CT releases, and jotted down a few thoughts, along with links to the Amazon video downloads; ten episodes are also available at Hulu.
#1: THE OOZING SKULL
http://www.amazon.com/Cinematic-Tit.....f=cm_cr-mr-img
Mad scientist? Check. Evil dwarf assistant? Check. Dying dictator ordering his brain to be transplanted into a younger body? Check. Platinum-haired female impersonator as dictator's main squeeze? Check. This movie has all the ingredients for some great riffing, so why did Joel and his crew feel compelled to stop the film four or five times to perform some tedious comedy skits?
Y'know, I should really just relax. With CT on indefinite hiatus since 2014, and twelve of the fifteen movies they've riffed available online and on disc, there's plenty more to watch, but it may be awhile before we get another serving of this quintet's brand of well-roasted cinematic cheese.
#2: DOOMSDAY MACHINE
http://www.amazon.com/Cinematic-Tit.....f=cm_cr-mr-img
Man, was this one hard to sit through! If ever a movie deserved to be made fun of, it's this staggeringly incompetent 1972 no-budget "thriller" about the end of the world. It comes complete with tons of stock footage; a spaceship (apparently steam powered) that keeps changing its shape; characters played by two different actors, hoping that the audience won't notice; and very long, static scenes of characters doing absolutely nothing.
Joel's quintet comes not to praise this turkey, but to bury it. That they do, but without quite alleviating the pain and boredom of watching a cast of idiots struggle towards the movie's pointless, unsatisfying ending.
#3: THE WASP WOMAN
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0....._sim_mov_aiv_4
You could overanalyze "The Wasp Woman" as a period piece about a cosmetics company owner who sees no difference between saving her business and saving her looks, but let's just enjoy the cheese factor of this slapdash Roger Corman monsterpiece about the high price of drinking from the fountain of youth.
It stars B-movie actress Susan Cabot, in her last feature film (she would die at the hands of her mentally ill son many years later), and offers goofy-looking monster makeup, consistently sharp riffing by Joel and company, and only two annoying comedy skits this time around, one of which is kinda sorta funny if you're a Buddy Rich fan.
#5: SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0....._sim_mov_aiv_5
For a professional smartass, Joel Hodgson has a sentimental streak a mile wide. That he chose to revisit "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" nearly twenty years after the MST3K version shouldn't be surprising: it's a movie that, for all its sad, ludicrous, no-budget faults (and I don't just mean you, Droppo), has a warmth and gentleness that's quite genuine. Watching John Call's impossibly optimistic, reality-challenged Santa is like watching Captain Kangaroo getting sloshed on whiskey-spiced eggnog: jovial, if a little disturbing.
So which version is funnier: MST3K (1992) or Cinematic Titanic (2008)? I'd call it a draw. Some of the jokes in the earlier version can't be topped, but the newer material is very strong, and in some cases an improvement over the '92 version. The "Chochem" scene, truncated for MST3K, is seen in its entirety in the CT version, and the latter has the advantage of a better quality, more colorful print, for what it's worth.
(À propos of nothing, ever notice that the MST3K theme song is as catchy as the theme from GILLIGAN'S ISLAND?)
