MST3K Review

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107 - ROBOT MONSTER with shorts: COMMANDO CODY PTS 4 & 5

Genre: Ultra-low Budget ’50s Sci-Fi (1953, B&W)

Shorts: This experiment opens with not one, but two Commando Cody shorts. And like the other episodes in this serial, they are extremely dated, action-packed little shorts. The riffing on them here is still a little weak, but it is definitely getting better as the show matures.

Synopsis: The movie is one of the classic no-budget, Z-grade, so-bad-its-good movies – up there with Ed Wood’s notorious films. And alone, this film is a riot – it is just too cheesy to believe and really doesn’t need MSTing to be funny, so what Joel & the ’Bots add to this is really just gravy. What plot there is has this alien named Ro-Man, who’s really just a guy in a gorilla suit with a deep diving helmet on, kill off everyone in the world except for one family. This family lives in a dilapidated shack just around the corner from Ro-Man’s cave (how convenient). Eventually, Ro-Man gets the hots for the young woman of the family and carries her off to his cave. Then something happens and some dinosaurs that look like lizards with rubber fins glued to them fight it out.

Don’s Review: This classic bad movie, picked frequently as one of the worst ever, has to be seen just to believe that someone actually made it. The riffing by Joel and the ’Bots is decent, but not really needed to make this movie funny. So, due to the movie featured, this episode is one of the highlights of Season One.

Don’s Rating: [ S1: S2: F: ]

Josh’s Review: Robot Monster is probably one of the best movies ever selected for show on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Featuring some of the most ridiculous monsters, special effects, and dialogue ever to be recorded on film, I can understand why some might rank this as the worst movie of all time. However, it is impossible for me to agree with this assessment because you can’t help but be entertained by watching this strange mess of a film. The movie is almost non-stop humor whether Joel and the bots are riffing along or not, but because of their presence, that humor is elevated to a riotous level.
      One might initially think that it’s almost a waste to use such an excellent movie so early in the show’s run. Season One is considered by many to be the weakest of the show’s national run, but Robot Monster is a huge exception. While the riffing is certainly more sparse than it would be in later seasons of the MST3K, this does not hurt Robot Monster. Joel and the bots allow the movie to play itself out so that the viewers can absorb the joyful awfulness on screen. When they do speak up it’s usually very funny, and this is by any standards the show ever set, not typically low Season One standards.
      The Season One charm really shines through brilliantly in this episode of the show. Cute, cheesy riffs from Crow, uncharacteristically long, cynical comments from Joel, and that odd Josh Weinstein trademark dance that Tom Servo does during slow musical segments. Of particular note is Joel’s translation of an embarrassingly silly dialogue scene between the movie’s two lovers. The dialogue is muted, and as such the two actors use exaggerated hand gestures for the audience to interpret which Joel translates for the viewers. This probably wasn’t difficult to write, but the delivery from Joel was hilarious.
      The Commando Cody serials featured before the film were fun enough to watch, but the theater presentation was fairly standard, and as such little is worth noting. The riffing was entertaining, and there was a humorous bit where Tom and Crow tried to escape the theater between the two shorts. Even so, two Commando Cody eps in a row are a little much to stomach, and it was nice to actually get the movie going.

Josh’s Rating: [ S1: S2: F: ]