MST3K Review

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515 - THE WILD, WILD WORLD OF BATWOMAN with short: CHEATING (RHINO DVD & VHS)

Genre: Ultra-low Budget Superhero/Bikini movie (1966, B&W)

Short: The short is one of those dated old educational thingies about how bad it is to cheat. It depict a particularly dimwitted boy who gets his friend to show him her answers on an Algebra test. They get caught and he is ostracized by his school’s social circles. The riffing on this episode is top-notched and one of reasons why this short is on the first Shorts video from Rhino.

Synopsis: The feature is... I don’t know... something about a superheroine called Batwoman and her army of Batgirls as they fight evildoers, in particular, one nasty bad guy named Rat Fink. There’s also something about a mad scientist and his idiot assistant who have designed some sort of drug that causes people to be happy and jump around a lot.... but, really, it’s all just an excuse to get the hot-looking Batgirls to dance... and dance... and dance! The filmmakers obviously didn’t care about the plot (if there is one) because they constantly put the hot-looking batgirls in the background of most scenes, either horsing around or just dancing, even though it doesn’t make any sense. If looking at hot chicks dancing around a lot doesn’t bother you (it didn’t bother me) then this bad movie is surprisingly watchable – but it’s still an awful film.

Host Segments:

Prologue: M&tBs are playing Blackjack, but the Bots aren’t quite sure how to play
Segment One (Invention Exchange): Mike is still hitting Crow with more cards; Frank invents the “Atomic Powered Hair Dryer”, giving Dr. F a mushroom cloud shaped hairdo; M&tBs invent “Razor Back” for shaving off back hair
Segment Two: M&tBs talk about the Cheating short, so Mike tells the Bots to all write essays on the lessons from the short
Segment Three: The Bots read their essays, but it becomes obvious that Crow cheated and copied Gypsy’s essay
Segment Four: Meeting of everyone on the SOL, except for Crow, to discuss what punishment Crow should get for cheating
Segment Five (End): Crow is allowed to defend himself before the SOL court, but he rambles on without ever really apologizing; the court finds him guilty, but just hands down a snowball sentence; a letter (from a law student); Frank is trying to fix Dr. F’s bad hairdo

Stinger: Two guys in a car are laughing, when one of them discovers that a Batgirl bites

Don’s Review: This is a very, very bad movie, with no discernible plot, no discernible acting, no discernible directing, well, no discernible anything! However, the riffing by Mike and the Bots is pretty good, much better than in the previous episode, and the running-gag host segments about “cheating” in which Crow copied Gypsy’s essay are all very funny. So, all-in-all, this is a pretty enjoyable episode... unless watching the hot Batgirls dance a lot doesn’t do it for you – in that case, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!

Don’s Rating: [ S: F: ]

Forrest’s Review: I never, ever thought I would ever praise The Wild World of Batwoman. But here it goes. I originally gave WWOBW a very lousy review... but now, after a second viewing, I laughed my butt off! I LOVE the Crow cheating-related host segments! I absolutely adore the short, and the movie is easily made watchable by Mike and the bots. I guess I was overwhelmed by the movie the first time around, but the second time, it was great, because I really, really enjoyed this episode! (However, my feelings won’t change on The Hellcats, I’ve already given that one numerous chances.) Here’s an example of my original review:

I HATE this episode! Rhino must have been smoking crack to release this one, especially considering any of the great episodes that could’ve been released instead!! Oh this movie! Watching this was like was like being strapped to a chair while demons thrust needles into my eyes and crushed my balls with two bricks. This is my least favorite episode ever, just beating The Hellcats by a hair.

As you can see, the second viewing is great! I especially love the part with the Chinese psychic thing (I never understood that part, but hey, it was funny as hell! So if you were overwhelmed by WWOBW the first time, try it out again, if not satisfied return this review for a full refund.

Forrest’s Rating: [ S: F: ]