 310 - FUGITIVE ALIEN
Genre: Japanese Sci-Fi (1978/1986, Color)
Synopsis: As this film starts out, Wolf Raider spaceships
piloted by wigged-helmet wearing Star Wolves are attacking
some planet, to be later identified. One of the Wolf Raider
spaceships lands and the pilot, Ken, and co-pilot, Ken, get out.
Ken and Ken then shoot at people on the ground when Ken sees a little boy, also named Ken.
Ken takes aim but can’t shoot Ken because he’s just a boy. So Ken orders Ken to shoot Ken, but Ken refuses.
Then Ken decides he’ll shoot Ken himself, but Ken stops him, they wrestle with a weapon and, in the struggle, it accidentally goes off, killing Ken.
Now, Ken is viewed as a traitor by his own people for killing Ken, so Ken escapes in his Spacecraft because his own people are trying to kill him
– he is now a fugitive alien.
After getting away, his spacecraft is so badly damaged, that he has to eject.
Luckily, another spacecraft was nearby and it rescues him. This spacecraft, named
the Backus-3, is from Earth’s Star Force, which we then find out is at war with the Wolf
Raiders’
planet of Valnastar and
we also find out that the planet that Ken attacked at the beginning was
actually Earth! Captain Joe, the constantly drinking captain of
the Backus-3, suspects Ken is a Wolf Raider because he has the
strength of ten men. But when Captain Joe hears Ken’s story about refusing to kill the kid named Ken,
he invites Ken to join his crew, an offer that Ken immediately accepts.
This news doesn’t sit well with the Backus-3 crew because, with the exception of the
cute and spunky crewmate Tammy, the rest of the crew
– Rocky and two other unimportant guys – don’t trust
or like Ken, him being a Wolf Raider and all. Rocky even tries to kill Ken with a forklift,
but Ken – with the strength of ten men – is able to escape.
Despite the problems he causes with the crew, Captain Joe still insists
Ken joins the crew so eventually Rocky backs down from trying to
kill him. Meanwhile, the leader of the Wolf Raiders (who looks like a Kabuki Darth Vader) sends out the dead
Ken’s sister, Rita, who is also Ken’s girlfriend, to find and kill Ken.
The Backus-3 and its crew then take off to go negotiate with another planet
called Kararan where everyone wears watermelons on their heads, but Ken gets himself thrown in prison there.
Captain Joe orders Ken to find a Colonel from the planet Sayzar in the same prison and break him out. Ken
then breaks the Colonel out by using explosive buttons and
crawling under some Christmas lights. But, once outside the
prison, Ken runs into his old girlfriend, Rita, the dead Ken’s sister (how she found him on this distant planet is a complete mystery).
But Rita still loves Ken, so she can’t bring herself to kill him.
And Rita is
then killed when they are attacked by some watermelon-headed guards.
Ken and the Colonel make it back to the Backus-3 and Ken is finally accepted by the rest of the crew (even
Rocky, who now won’t try to kill him anymore). Next, the words
“To Be Continued” pop up on the screen and we find out that we’ll have to watch another movie
(ep #318) to see the end of this
story.
Don’s Review: This Japanese Star Wars
rip-off from Sandy Frank is best known as the movie in which everyone is named
Ken. There’s some very good riffing by Joel and the ’Bots to this
cheesy sci-fi movie. And the host segment are also good,
especially a hilarious visit by Jack Perkins to Deep 13 and a
segment in which everyone tries to figure out the plot using
screenplay diagrams.
So, overall, this is a very fun episode (although I personally have a strong
affinity for these goofy Japanese movies).
Trivia
Notes:
(1) This is the only two-parter ever shown on MST3K (although why did
BBI wait for
eight episodes before finally showing part two?)
(2)
This is the second time that this movie was featured on
MST, the first time was episode K12 during the KTMA days of the
show.
Don’s Rating: 
Related Link:
(1) Mighty Jack’s MST3K Review (Episode Review)
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