K05-Gamera

Film Year:  1965
Genre:  Kaiju, Science Fiction
Director:  Noriaki Yuasa
Starring:  Gamera!  Friend to all children!
MST Season:  KTMA

The Movie

*I HAVE SURVIVED WATCHING THIS MOVIE UNRIFFED*

A gant turtle breaks loose from the arctic and tears crap apart in Tokyo.  A little boy named Kenny runs around and claims it is misunderstood and a friend to mankind…as this turtle is stomping around and killing thousands.  Yeah, we believe you kid.

I had seen this movie several years before I had even known it had been on the show.  As soon as I found out, my instant reaction was “good.”  This is one stupid assed movie.  Gamera as a monster has grown on me over the years, but this movie is just has poor ideas at every turn.  Every new power Gamera showcases makes the viewer flinch and go “really?”  The main character of Kenny isn’t sympathetic in the slightest, or maybe I’m just biased against kids who wander around the military and tell generals what to do.

I don’t get it.  Yeah it’s camp, but it’s kind of insulting camp when you think about it.  We’re supposed to believe Gamera is a good monster, but if we do we have to also believe he’s self aware of the horrible things he’s doing.  Hell, even when in the scene where he saves Kenny from the crumbling lighthouse it needs to be pointed out that the only reason Kenny’s in danger at all is because Gamera purposefully pushed the damn thing over.  This means we’re meant to sympathize with Gamera because he saved one child he almost killed out of the thousands of people he did kill.  It just doesn’t make sense.  Not a lot about Gamera entertains me, even in my youth it didn’t.  Considering I’m usually an apologist for this type of film, that should tell you a lot.

Note:  This is the only black & white film of the KTMA season.

The Episode

Yes, this is the infamous episode where Joel riffs the movie by itself.  Even worse, it’s improvised, so the dead air is aplenty.  One thing that I’ve found in my history with the series and its related shows is that solo riffing just isn’t as fun as riffing with a group.  I’ve noticed that the Rifftrax where there’s only one sole rifer, while can be funny, just don’t have the same vibe as group Rifftrax.  In a group, there are people to bounce off of, people to take what have been said and ride with it, and so on.  On solo, you’re basically just talking to yourself.  And that’s what happened here.

To be fair, Joel makes an admirable effort, but he gives off vibes of awkwardness.  It doesn’t feel as if he likes doing it alone, and he doesn’t really know what to do with the film he’s given.  It’s pretty much a losing battle for the poor fellow.  The end result is pretty much watching the movie by itself.  If they had watched a better movie, that might not have been a bad thing.  That said, the episode sounds worse than it really is.  The riff ratio is low, but I was never bored with it.  Maybe because Japanese behemoths are up my alley, but whatever.  Joel’s reaction when he hears “Gamera’s organs are like a hydroelectric plant” is priceless.

On the host segment end, there’s one segment that made me laugh a great deal, and that’s the Ted Turner Poll.  The questions are absolutely hysterical.  The Barugon fight review is pretty funny too.  The rest of the host segments just feel filler, and the idea of a frozen Crow serving as a Christmas tree is pretty clever, but it really isn’t that funny in execution.

Poopie!:  At the end of the first theater segment, the theater seats disappear after Joel leaves.
Poopie!:  A caller gets away with saying the “S” word on local television!  It looks as if he got away with it because the crew changed the transcript to say “ship” instead.  What the hell?

I’m on the fence about this one as a whole.  On one hand, the solo riffing doesn’t do the episode any favors.  On the other, even still I’d still prefer this episode to several choice scripted episodes with a full riffing staff.  And several of the host segments got good laughs out of me.  I gotta go with my gut and break the hate chain on this episode.  It’s middle of the road, but it has highs that make it worthwhile.

Average