1004-Future War

Film Year:  1997
Genre:  Science Fiction, Action
Director:  Anthony Doublin
Starring:  Daniel Bernhardt, Robert Z'Dar, Travis Brooks Stewart, Mel Novak, Kazja
MST Season:  10

The Movie

“I could point out that this isn’t the future and it’s not a war, but…you know me, I don’t like to complain.”

This unapologetic crapstserpiece is one of my FAVORITE movies ever featured on the show.  Bad movie lovers will surely be in heaven with Future War with it’s shoddy production values, bad acting, and utterly ambitious storyline.

Daniel Bernhardt, best known for bit fight scenes in the Keanu Reeves movies John Wick and The Matrix Reloaded, plays the Runaway, a man bred in space by aliens as a slave.  He steals a spaceship and lands on Earth where he meets a prostitute-turned-nun and the go on the run from the cyborgs and dinosaurs that are tracking him.

I get giddy just describing this movie!

The star of the show is the ineptitude of the production.  Sure, films like Manos have absolutely nothing at their disposal and it shows, but Future War takes its lack of resources and gets creative.  Can’t afford a camera for the movie’s news team?  Nope, don’t bother dusting off camera two and using it in the shot (assuming this movie had a second camera), just scotch tape a cardboard box with a lens and PRETEND it’s a camera.  No sets?  Make paper backdrops on the fly and post them behind the actors.  The audience will figure it out.  I’m amazed that they actually had money to spend on force perspective puppets for the dinosaurs, let alone getting actors to star in this thing.

Future War had an immensely troubled production and it shows.  But whether or not one appreciates the film one has to respect that it took sheer determination to see this thing through to the end.  To an extent, that gives this movie more heart than most.  It’s just not beating.

The Episode

I’ll admit to being biased with this one.  The movie is so hilarious on it’s own that there is no way this episode wasn’t going to be funny.  Mike and the Bots didn’t even have to say anything.  Luckily the do, and it’s pretty solid material.  The production values fuel a lot of their commentary, with many observations of sets and props leading to belly laughs a plenty.  The fight choreography is also a gas, with more “YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” exclamations than even Bruce Lee would think was necessary.  Going through the journey of Future War is a fun ride, and taking it with the SOL crew just makes it more enjoyable.

The host segments are mostly good.  Pearl’s hallucinogen experiment on the bots is a favorite of mine, while how many “Times a lady” is Gypsy (and Mike) always makes me smile.  More middling,  Servo’s kickboxing segment is silly but cute, and “Thanks for not killing us” is a one-note gag decently executed.  The host segments kinda dwindle for the final batch where Droppy the Water Droplet and Mike’s big chin fail to deliver.

Future War is worthwhile MST, with equal parts movie and riffing picking up the slack.  Is it a classic?  Maybe not in the strictest sense, but I find myself rewatching it just as much as my favorites.

Good

The DVD

Future War was one of the lucky episodes presented by Shout Factory on the 20th Anniversary Edition DVD collection.  Video quality was good, audio was great as well.

The centerpiece of the extras is the 20th Anniversary panel from Comic Con in 2008, hosted by future MST star (blissfully unaware) Patton Oswalt.  Almost every notable name in MST lore (at the time) is present:  Joel Hodgson, Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, Bill Corbett, Mary Jo Pehl, J. Elvis Weinstein, Jim Mallon, Bridget (Jones) Nelson, and Paul Chaplin (and Patton, but we didn’t know that at the time).  It’s a glorious piece, as the chemistry we love between these people is in full force.  Discussions go in predictable routes, but almost everyone gets a chance to speak and mouth off.  Surprisingly the one who doesn’t really say much is Bill, who gets a few laughs but mostly let’s everyone else do the talking.

Also featured is a trailer for the film, and all six iterations (at the time) of the theme song presented in order.