405-Being from Another Planet

Film Year:  1982
Genre:  Horror, Science Fiction
Director:  Tom Kennedy
Starring:  Ben Murphy, Nina Axelrod, Kevin Brophy, James Karen, Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston, Atoinette Bower, Sam Chew Jr., Shari Belafonte, Jack Olson
MST Season:  4

The Movie

*I HAVE SURVIVED WATCHING THIS MOVIE UNRIFFED*

I think we've all had that moment where we're watching The Mummy (Karloff, Lee, Fraser, Cruise...your pick) and we all think to ourselves "Yeah, a mummy is pretty scary.  But if it were an ALIEN it would be scarier!"  Being from Another Planet is the movie that dares to follow that thought that was likely made under the influence of alcohol and/or cannabis and make an actual movie out of it.

Originally titled Time Walker upon release, this film has scientist Ben Murphy finding a hidden mummy in the tomb of King Tut.  The mummy is brought back to the States, where a student steals gems hidden with the mummy and sells them to other students for profit.  Soon after, radiation from an X-ray examination awakens the mummy from his slumber.  Actually an extraterrestrial from another world, the mummy seeks his gems and kills everyone in his way, in an attempt to use them to get back home.

If that sounds interesting at all it's probably because I abridged it quite a bit.  It's a fairly slow, casually paced movie.  It builds up a little bit of good will with its intrigue, but often it feels like it's taking forever to get anywhere.  Our scientific characters are boring, yet our student characters are obnoxious, making it not very appealing to follow just about anybody in this movie.  And even if it were, the acting just isn't that great.

When our mummy is on his rampage the movie starts to becomes slightly entertaining in a very primal Friday the 13th sort of way.  But there are better mummy movies than this.  There are also better alien movies than this.  There might not be better alien mummy movies than this, that might depend on your opinion on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but still as a film it can't help but fall a little flat.

The Episode

I always find myself watching this episode with a fair bit of optimism.  I always remember the movie being a bit more goofy fun than it actually is, even though the riffing never really leaves all that much of an impression on me.  The appeal of an MST episode with an alien mummy at its core always makes me a little giddy if nothing else, and I find myself popping it in for fun.  The movie isn't really that fun though, so I'm always a tad disappointed.  The riffing doesn't really save it either.  I can understand why they thought this movie would make a good episode but it's slow pacing tends to be a hindrance and the material thrown at it feels weak.  They never really get a feel for the movie and it always just seems to push them off balance in some way or another.  For example there is a scene featuring a girl running away from the mummy and she starts pounding on a door, Crow then sarcastically points out she should be using the door knob or handle seemingly unaware that she's pounding on an elevator door, which wouldn't have one.  This is kind of an extreme example though, because the riff plays fine overall.  There are chuckles, no big laughs, and it's an easy watch.

If nothing else, the host segments are pretty solid.  The subject of a mummy degrading into the subject of Bill Mumy made me laugh.  I also enjoyed the spooky blindfold sketch, the Frank Shopping Network, and 20 Questions.  There is also a sketch where Joel tries to cheer Servo and Crow up with a lot of fun party cliches, which is fairly hollow but leads into a pretty funny sketch in next week's episode, Attack of the Giant Leeches.  The Invention Exchange offers us one of the Mads' greatest inventions, the Tragic Moments Figurines, which are dark and hysterical.  Joel's Jack Palance mask is okay, but it just doesn't live up to that high note.

Being from Another Planet overall feels like it should be a better episode than it is.  There are so many elements here that feel like they should be make a classic episode of the series but nothing really gels together.  It's just an episode that just kind of plays out and you accept it for what it is.  Unfortunately by the time you get to next weeks episode you probably will be wondering "Wait...what was the last episode again?"

Average

The DVD

Being from Another Planet time walked its way onto DVD on Shout Factory's Volume XXXV release.  Audio and video were both really good, and as an added bonus Shout provided an uncut version of the original film, Time Walker.  The video and audio is amazingly better for the film in this version, presented in a crisp animorphic widescreen.  Be warned that the film isn't exactly family friendly and contains both violence and brief nudity.  Interestingly enough the nudity is actually present in the MST version, but the video print of the movie in the episode is so dark and low-res that you can barely make it out.

There is also an interview with composer Richard Band, who composed a fairly decent score for the film.  I recommend watching the unedited Time Walker film for a better feel for the music, not the butchered VCI version on the show.  He discusses certain people from the film he worked with, his opinion of the movie (he thinks it was silly), and how his career in low budget films led to bigger things.

A trailer for Time Walker concludes the disc.