504-Secret Agent Super Dragon

Film Year:  1966
Genre:  Spy, Adventure
Director:  Giorgio Ferroni
Starring:  Ray Danton, Marissa Mell
MST Season:  5

The Movie

The name’s Bland, James Bland.

After a fellow agent is killed, agent Super Dragon returns from retirement to look smug and douchey like most James Bond knock-offs (and James Bond himself, incidentally).  His mission:  To seek out dastardly villains smuggling drugs.

This message will self destruct in five seconds.

Spy movies are not always my bag.  James Bond in particular is a Mary Sue with very little interesting about him, and his movies are usually action scenes posing as plots (good thing the action scenes are usually damn good).  Give me a good old fashioned intriguing episode of Mission:  Impossible any day, or the on-target parody of Get Smart.

When it comes to these foreign Bond wannabes, if they can’t replicate the action then they’re left with what’s left in a Bond movie:  An unlikable main character, nonsensical exposition, and pretty women.  Only the women are worth staying for.  Secret Agent Super Dragon is definitely one of those flicks that wants the Bond audience but isn’t spending the dime to recreate a Bond experience.

The Episode

I've never been a big fan of spy episodes, even though there are one or two good ones in the bunch (Danger!! Death Ray is tops).  Maybe it’s because a bad spy movie doesn’t have personality (because it’s too busy copying that of a more popular spy movie), but these movies are real slogs in my opinion.  The riffing needs to go an extra mile to make Secret Agent Super Dragon keep my attention, but unfortunately the majority of the theater work stays dry in tone, and is a bit of a drone.  Occasionally the movie will do something silly to snap the boys into attention (the mask auction/party scene gets some great laughs) but it feels like they’re as bored with the movie selection as I am.

Host segments put some pep in their step, though.  They play with some fun spy movie tropes, with Crow’s latest script “The Spy Who Hugged Me” being a golden moment in the episode (a spy movie catering to modern 90’s sensibilities).  We also get a fun discussion on one-liners and Dr. Forrester’s lecture on supervillainy.  As for the Invention Exchange, Joel’s Micro Golf wins out while Frank’s is just mildly amusing.  We also see Crow and Servo building their own robot…

“I am the atomic powered robot!  Please give my best wishes to everybody!”

Secret Agent Super Dragon is not an episode I watch often and it’s easy to see why.  It’s low-energy riffing on a bland movie, and it just doesn’t have any flavor.  This one is not a must-see by any definition of the word.

Not Recommended

The DVD

Rhino released Super Dragon on DVD with Volume 12.    Picture and audio are both top notch, and the extras include more wraps from the MST Hour, featuring Mike as Jack Perkins, who has a case of secret agent envy.  Also included is a very Bond-ian trailer for the film.