210 - KING DINOSAUR with short: X MARKS THE SPOT

Synopsis:  The feature is a dated ’50s sci-fi film, that literally passes the MST baton from Robert L. Lippert to Bert I. Gordon.  The movie begins with the discovery of a new planet, christened “Planet Nova.”  Stock footage and a stodgy narrator then tells us that a V2 rocket with four scientists (two men and two women) will be launched to explore this new world.  And soon these four scientists will become two couples exploring each other’s worlds.  After a 30-second trip through space, the V2 rocket lands on planet Nova, which bears a striking resemblance to a national forest.  The two couples soon encounter exotic alien forms of wildlife: some elk, a bear, a lot of snakes, and a lemur (are they really sure that they left the Earth???).  One of the couples wanders off so that the guy can show off his WWE wrestling moves on an alligator and a cheesily blown-up wasp attacks the scientists at their shabby lean-to (why didn’t they at least pack a tent?).  A couple then decides to take a raft over to a mysterious island on National Forest Nova.  Once on the island, they see giant dinosaurs... okay, okay, they really aren’t dinosaurs, just little reptiles with scales glued to their backs cheesily blown-up to look big (after all, this is a Bert I. Gordon movie, so don’t expect stop-motion animation).  The couple sees the King Dinosaur, incorrectly called Tyrannosaurus Rex, but actually is just a blown-up iguana, so it’s really an... Iguanasaurus!  The Iguanasaurus chases the couple and traps them in a cave.  But fights with other reptile-a-saurs soon distract the Iguanasaurus, and so the scientists and their pet lemur are able to escape the island.  The movie ends as the scientists nuke the island with their handy little portable atomic bomb, which somehow brings civilization to the planet Nova.

Don’s Review:  This was the first, but not the last, bad movie by the Notorious B.I.G. – Mr. Bert I. Gordon – to appear on the show.  And, like most of Mr. B.I.G. movies, it features cheesy special effects of ordinary animals or people blown-up to look big and then poorly super-imposed on the film.  The riffing by Joel and the ’Bots is pretty good, with a lot of great lines, and really enhances the movie a lot.  But the host segments, except for a great invention exchange, are pretty disappointing and really not very funny.  Though not great, this is still a worthwhile episode of the show.

Don’s Rating:     [S:   F: ]

Josh’s Review:  If there is anything in the world better than being told that a giant super-imposed iguana looks just like a Tyrannosaurus Rex, then I don’t know what it is. King Dinosaur has some of the most fun special effects ever seen in any MST3K episode, as long as you don’t mind your intelligence being assaulted. The creators of the film went to an amazingly small amount of effort to make any of the animals look authentic. The entire movie seemed to rely on the hope that not a single audience member was aware of the existence of those animals that are not raised on farms. At least the makers of Robot Monster had the pride and class to glue fins onto their fake dinosaurs.
     The plot and characters of this movie are completely irrelevant. Besides one delightful scene involving the lead male participating in a wrestling match with an alligator that looks more like a pool toy, none of the characters have much to offer. All fun to be had here relies on your ability to enjoy bad special effects, of which there are plenty. My favorite scene involves a giant super-imposed armadillo simply grazing. Apparently the humans see this as a threat and fire their rifles at it. Unfortunately for them, since the armadillo is just super-imposed, the bullets have no affect whatsoever and it just continues grazing. The humans then run away. This scene makes just as little sense as it sounds. 
     The riffing in this episode was quite good, though keep in mind that this was still a fairly early episode of the show and the riffing hadn’t exactly peaked yet. Joel and the bots managed to keep the riffs coming fairly quickly during the first and least exciting half of the movie. The movie itself took over after that. The only sour notes on the riffing are Joel’s impressions of the "lemur" (now known to be a kinkajou) and of the snake. Both of these impressions are about as taxing on the ears as Roseanne’s rendition of the national anthem. 
     The short before the film entitled X Marks the Spot is an ultra cheesy if not blasphemous New Jersey video about cautious driving. If nothing else, you’ll learn that all decisions God makes about your privilege to enter heaven upon death are based on your driving record. Have fun with this one.
     Finally, the host segments in this episode are a mixed bag. While nothing presented in these is "laugh aloud" funny, there is some interesting content. Crows inspirational speech has its moments but I could live without it. The "Joey the Lemur" sketch has earned a degree of infamy since it first aired, and should be seen simply based on that. The odd "emotional scientist" sketch is a lot of fun for the same reason the aforementioned armadillo scene is fun. You’ll find your self asking "....the hell??" Overall, this episode is a blast if you’re into cheesy special effects. Highly recommended.

Josh’s Rating:    [ S:   F: ]

Related Links:
   (1) Mighty Jack’s MST3K Review (Episode Review)
   (2) DVD Savant (Movie Review)