314 - MIGHTY JACK

Synopsis:  An evil criminal organization called Q has plans for world domination, so a high-tech crime-fighting unit is formed to fight Q, and this unit is called Mighty Jack (or just MJ for short).  Q, lead by a laughing guy with a white cat (is this guy Blofeld’s cousin?), wants to destroy MJ, which operates out of a secret base where they can launch their super-duper submarine/jet hybrid vehicle.  So Q kidnaps a man named Mr. Atari because they want the secret of Pong... I mean, the secret of Mighty Jack.  The MJ unit is sent out by some old guy to rescue him, so Mr. Atari must use the buttons from his jacket and something from his shoe to somehow build a transmitter beacon.  From his transmission, and using their advanced technology, Mighty Jack is able to pinpoint his location: somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.  With this pinpoint knowledge, they find the secret island on which Q is holding Mr. Atari, so they launch a rescue mission that instantly results in another member of MJ being imprisoned.  Another rescue mission is launched and this one succeeds in retrieving both men.  So the super-duper MJ jet-sub takes off and bombs the island, destroying it.  And, once back at MJ HQ, the team finds out that the man they rescued, Mr. Atari, is their new commander.  Now on to the second episode – I mean second half – of the movie.  Using stolen research plans, Q has developed a new ice that stays solid at high temperatures and also an instant-freeze gun that uses this “hot ice.”  So Q destroys an artificial island with its instant-freezing weapons and then uses a fake iceberg made of hot ice as their new base.  Mighty Jack is called in to fight Q again and so the hunt is on to find Q, while Q is still trying to destroy Mighty Jack.  A lot of double-crossing happens, such as by the ice scientist’s German son Fritz, but eventually Mighty Jack finds the secret iceberg and by making a lot of banked turns, they are able to destroys Q’s base, causing the laughing guy to shoot himself.  (Was it due to being defeated by Mighty Jack or just being in this movie?)

Stinger:  A guy puts down his metal briefcase and then cowers over it

Don’s Review:  Yet another Sandy Frank product, this one is a James Bond rip-off / Superhero Movie poorly edited from a couple of episodes of an old ’60s-era Japanese TV show.  So while the first “part” of the movie makes a little sense (especially in the uncut KTMA version), the second “part” really gets pretty confusing.  One goofy aspect of the plot is that all Q thinks about is destroying Mighty Jack and all Mighty Jack thinks about is destroying Q, so neither one is much of a threat to anyone else!  And the special effects of Mighty Jack’s large jet-submarine vehicle (that also has a smaller version docked inside, a miniature miniature, so to speak) are the typical fake-looking model effects that seem to be used in all of these cheesy Japanese sci-fi movies.  As for this experiment, how the mighty have fallen – I saw this episode on its first broadcast and it used to be one of my favorites.  But, now seeing it again, I see that, aside from some hilarious riffs here and there (in particular, Joel’s “herbal” riffs), the riffing in this experiment often falls a bit flat (such as in far too many “he looks like” lines).  The host segments, though, have some very funny skits, in particular, the segment that spoofs a deadly dome scene from the movie and the hilarious pirate song “Slow the Plot Down.”  So an episode that hasn’t held up that well for me over the years, but it still has some great parts (I’ll definitely watch the smoking scene many more times).
Trivia Note:  This is the second time that this movie was featured on MST; the first time was episode K14 during the KTMA days of the show.

Don’s Rating: 

Forrest’s Review:  Yes, Mighty Jack.  One of the very worst movies ever made.  There’s nothing to talk about when it comes to Mighty Jack because nothing in the movie makes sense.  I’m not even going to do into details about the movie, so I’m going to just talk about the SOL crew.  I thought the riffing was good, and the host segments were good.  So, in your mind, you may be thinking that the episode should get the 3.5-CROW rating that Don gave it, because the 3.5 rating is known as a “good episode.”  Well, instead, I’m going to give it 4.5-CROWS for a “great episode.”  Although the riffing is the best they can do for such a horrific movie and there aren’t many laugh out loud moments, there is one scene, one great scene in this that made me laugh more than in any MST3K experiment ever... the infamous smoking scene.  It seems this scene had effected me and Don the same way.  I laughed so hard I think I may have died. [ed: quick, check your pulse!]   Tears were shooting out of my eyes, my stomach hurt, I couldn’t stop laughing, I was almost dead, I was gasping for air, never had my stomach been in so much pain... yes, the smoking scene, though on repeat viewings it never makes you laugh as much as the first time, it still makes me laugh.  The episode has only good riffing all the way through, nothing truly great, and the host segments are average at best with the exception of the excellent pirate song “Slow the plot down.”  So, naturally, I was going to give this experiment 3.5 CROWS for a good episode, but that smoking scene has won the most hilarious moment ever on an MST3K episode for me, and I’ll gladly move up the episode to a great rating. “I am SO high.”

Forrest’s Rating: 

Related Link:
   (1) Mighty Jack’s MST3K Review (Episode Review)