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K05 - GAMERA
Genre: Japanese Monster
(1965, B&W)
Synopsis:
This movie is riffed again on the show during its cable
run, so read the write-up for ep #302
– Gamera for a plot synopsis.
Don’s Review:
This, the second extant KTMA episode, features the
Japanese Monster movie Gamera, about a giant
mutated flying turtle and his undying love for a young
boy named Kenny. In this earlier version, Crow is
frozen as a Christmas Tree (done because Trace Beaulieu
was out of town) and Tom Servo is only available during
some of the host segments, so Joel riffs the movie
alone. And that really hurts this episode, because
Joel’s solo riffs are very, very sparse (although he
does say some pretty funny lines here and there).
In fact, watching it was almost like watching the
original movie unriffed: the movie isn’t edited
down here (unlike in ep #302),
and Joel’s infrequent comments let the movie (mostly)
stand on its own. As for the host segments, this
was when the show still had a phone number, so viewer
audio messages are played on the air with a text
transcript (that translated a certain four-letter word
said in a message into the word “ship”).
I liked the host segment in which the fight between
Gamera and Barugon (from ep #K04)
is officiated to see if Gamera cheated, and I also liked
one in which a phone-in quiz is given on Ted Turner and
colorization (quiz reprinted below). But the
Comedy Central episode featuring this same movie is
much, much better, so this episode is really only of
interest to completest MSTies.
Trivia Note:
Here is Joel’s Ted Turner Quiz
(Only “Yes/No” Answers Presumably):
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Is
Ted Turner dumb enough to colorize the beginning of
“The Wizard of Oz”?
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Does
it bother Ted Turner that people watch his colorized
films on black & white TV?
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Given
Ted’s obsession with colorizing things, is it
possible he’s the unwanted love child of Ike and
Tina Turner?
Don’s Rating: 
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