Mystery Science Theater 3000/Recap/S08/E20 Space Mutiny
Film watched: Space Mutiny
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"I have never seen the show. What people do not seem to understand is that the movie was meant to be a spoof on Sci Fi films."
—Cisse Cameron, aka Lea
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The movie landed almost perfectly in that sweet spot for MSTing material: flawed enough to provide hours of enjoyable riffing, but not a completely unwatchable trainwreck, resulting in one of the most popular episodes. Mike and the 'bots had a great time pointing out some cast members' resemblance to certain celebrities, as well as the obvious fact that the actress playing Lea is much older than her character is meant to be (they refer to her as Jansen's "Grandma-daughter").
The copious number of Railing Kills nearly becomes a Drinking Game (and inspires Tom to fill the 'Satellite of Love' with pits and railings), and they also make up numerous fake bodybuilder names for the muscular hero Ryder including Slab Bulkhead, Fridge Largemeat, Bolt van der Huge, Big McLargeHuge, Blast Hardcheese, Smoke Manmuscle, Punch Rockgroin, Roll Fizzlebeef, and Bob Johnson. Kalgan's frequent maniacal laughter is also a source of entertainment, as is the beefy protagonist's oddly girlish battle shouts. Kalgan's red-armored bodyguard ("Lobster Boy") and the death and miraculous "resurrection" of Lt. Lemont round out the riff targets. Oddly enough, the only thing Mike and the Bots don't lampshade is the fact that every single "space" shot in the film is simply a clip from Battlestar Galactica. (Evidently because they didn't know this was the case at the time of filming.)
Space Mutiny was released as part of Vol. 4 of the DVD collections by Rhino Entertainment.
The Mystery Science Theater 3000 presentation has examples of:
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Crow: Slate Fistcrunch! |
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- Also a bit of a Call Back to 12 to the Moon, where they gave similar nicknames to that movie's hero, although here it's taken to the next level.
- Brain Bleach: Lea's seduction of pudgy, balding middle-aged guard Murray, screaming when he takes off his pants.
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Crow: This is supposed to be an ipecac, right? |
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- Call Back: In the host segments, Pearl asks a guard for moisturizer in a manner similar to that used by the prisoners in Red Zone Cuba.
- Canada, Eh?: Servo accuses the film as being made in Canada, claiming there's a "stench of back bacon". (He's wrong.)
- Credits Gag
- Double Entendre
- Historical In-Joke: Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds manages to let Bobo start a fire in Ancient Rome while trying to free Pearl. (Emperor Nero was holding a violin recital shortly beforehand.)
- I Have Many Names: (Dave Ryder)
- With the exception of Bob Johnson, most of these names follow a very strict formula.
- I Uh You Too: One host segment has Crow and Servo engage in a dogfight outside the ship, which they decide to end with a mutual high speed suicide landing:
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Servo: I LOVE YOU CROOOOOOOW! |
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- Long List
- Metaphorgotten: During Crow and Servo's dogfight:
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Crow: Eat death, Servo! |
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- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: We get to see a brief shot of Crow and Servo in their ships at the beginning of the dogfight and another as they're about to crash land, but none of the bombastic fighting overheard for the bulk of the segment.
- Only a Flesh Wound: Again, during the dogfight:
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Crow: Ow! Servo, you just blew a hole through my torso! WHEEEE! |
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- Overly Long Gag: The aforementioned many names of David Ryder.
- The Police
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Servo:De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da, is all I want to say to you.... |
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- Running Gag:
- See Space Mutiny
- Kalgan, blow me away!
- Railing Kill!
- C'mon skull, pop out of my head!
- Jokes refering to Lea's age.
- Sherri's card, and, eventually, Sherri's party.
- Captain Santa.
- Finally, Christmas comes to Santa
- Aw, man, there's a sale on Power Bars!
- Kalgan's surprisingly joyful attitude.
- When do I lift some weights?
- Can I get a spot?
- "RAAAAAAAAAAGH!!" [Stops to carefully climb out of the 3-mph go-cart.]
- Oh, we're going to [X], I must saay!
- Which is ia reference to the Camp Gay character played by Tommy Lee Jones in JFK
- No! They're refrencing Martin Short's SCTV & Saturday Night Live character Ed Grimley, who had hair similar to the guy in question.
- Which is ia reference to the Camp Gay character played by Tommy Lee Jones in JFK
- Rick Springfield
- As the guy in glasses falls to his death:
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Mike: "The death of Rick Springfield" |
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- Soft Water: Subtly done. In a parody of how many railing kills are in this movie, Servo installs railings all over the ship. The sketch ends with Mike tripping over one and falling into a pit. He lets out a good scream on the way down, before we hear him hit water at the end of the fall. He's presumably unharmed.
- Stealth Pun: A person listed in the opening credits is named "Vincent G. Cox".
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Crow: His nickname is "Tiny". |
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