401-Space Travelers

Film Year:  1969
Genre:  Science Fiction, Drama
Director:  John Sturges
Starring:  Gregory Peck, Gene Hackman, James Franciscus, Richard Crenna, David Jannsen
MST Season:  4

The Movie

Previously on Mystery Science Theater 3000:

"Why didn't you just show us Marooned?"

Dun-dun-DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Marooned you want, and Marooned you shall have.  Albeit a chopped up version by Film Ventures, who got their grubby mitts on it through a deal with Columbia in the early 90's.  With the title changed to the almost irrelevant Space Travelers, this movie tells of three astronauts, played by Gene Hackman, James Franciscus, and Richard Crenna, who are orbiting the Earth from a space station who are trapped in space following engine failure.  NASA Administrator Gregory Peck troubleshoots ways of getting them back home safely.

As slow and casual as this movie it, believe it or not it's supposed to be much, much longer.  The full cut runs over two hours, which is jammed into this ninety minute episode (complete with host segments).  By some miracle the film still feels somewhat complete, and the set-up, plight, and conclusion don't feel too shortchanged.  I'm not entirely sure what's missing here, but I might have to give the unaltered film a looksee at some point to see what all is cut out.

With a star-studded cast that also includes David Jannsen of The Fugitive fame, Space Travelers/Marooned is directed by John Sturges, who helmed such films as Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, The Magnificent Seven, and The Great Escape.  Space Travelers may not be one of his more remembered efforts (if Wikipedia's budget to box office ratio is to be believed, it was quite the bomb), but it's not without its good qualities.  The film lacks good pacing (might be an editing problem with this particular version), but the film is a well-acted portrayal of a scary scenario.  Once the film reaches it's third act it really becomes something compelling, with moral dilemmas, life or death decisions, and last minute danger.  Whether it's worth taking the journey to get there might be up to the viewer.

Space Travelers is the only film ever featured on MST3K to have ever won an Academy Award, of which it won for special effects.  These effects might not hold up to the likes of Gravity or the like, but of the time they're pretty solid (though some blue screen work can be rough).  It's a well-realized movie, with a game cast, and a talented crew.  The movie feels like it's so close to being a genre classic, but misses by just a few inches.  Of course, my opinion could change should I ever see it uncut, which I hope to do some day.

The Episode

In the midst of all those low budget Italian movies and edited together TV episodes, the Film Ventures catalog throws us a curve ball with Space Travelers, which is a big budget movie with genuine talent at the helm.  There is something of a debate as to whether or not the movie is "too good" for MST, though personally I think film quality is beside the point.  While the opening credits definitely say "We'll send him cheesy movies, the worst we can find," that to me is an excuse to set up the premise that allows the format.  Film in general is subjective, and there are quite a few films featured on the show that I think are actually pretty decent, movies that I enjoy more than Space Travelers if I were to add a side point.  But to me watching a movie and watching a riff are two separate experiences.  It's not how bad the movie is that determines whether or not a riff can be made out of it, but rather whether or not you can make something out of it.  Can you make a new experience that is just as enjoyable if not more so than watching the movie by itself?  If the guys who run the show came across this movie and thought maybe they could create something out of it, I'd like to trust them enough to give them a shot.

Unfortunately, it's a swing and a miss.

The problem with Space Travelers isn't that it's too good for MST3K, not to take anything away from the solid production of the film, but rather it doesn't offer much to comment on.  This movie is a lot of people sitting in place, looking angry at computer screens.  As a drama it's interesting, but there are only so many ways you can make that funny.  If Space Travelers were about fifteen minutes long and they squeezed all their best jokes into that, there might be something worth seeing here, but this riff is a very monotonous affair full of pretty good Gregory Peck impersonations but not a lot done with them.  I'd even say that those who get the most out of this episode would probably be MSTies who like the movie itself and have probably seen it several times at their leisure.  If they're familiar with the film and willing to embrace a humorous commentary for it, then they will probably get a kick out of this episode more than most.

The host segments are generally pretty good, offering up some space travel inspiration from the movie.  They discuss space race advancement, let Crow do his Peck impression, and discuss what to do in the case of limited air, just like in the movie (hint:  there is only one person on the Satellite of Love that breathes oxygen).  The Invention Exchange is cute, offering up the Dollaroid (a Polaroid camera that prints your face on a dollar bill) and Facial Tissue (where you can blow your nose on some blowhard).

Space Travelers is something of an interesting side step for the series, as it's not a B-picture by any means and is slower paced and more dramatically inclined than most films on the series.  It feels like an experiment in pushing the format into a new direction, though they feel uncertain and unenthusiastic about the opportunity in front of them.  Could there be a funny riff made out of this movie?  That's hard to say.  What I can plainly see is that this wasn't it.

Not Recommended

The DVD

Shout Factory offered Space Travelers on their Volume XXXII set, with decent audio and video and a batch of bonuses.  First up is an introduction by Frank Conniff, who claims an admiration for the talent involved in the film, though it seems he's not a fan of the film in general but still was uneasy about riffing it.  He claims that they might have riffed it because it was just something different to do.  Following this we have Marooned:  A Forgotten Odyssey, where director/historian Jeff Burr (Leatherface:  Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, Pumpkinhead II:  Blood Wings) discusses the history and making of the film Marooned, which was re-edited into Space Travelers.  Burr gives the film credit where credit is due while questioning whether the film deserved the MST treatment (it probably didn't).  Concluding the disc is a trailer for the film under the Marooned title.