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Thursday, November 28, 2019

Turkey Day 1992 (MST3K Special)


Oh boy, oh boy!  It's another Thanksgiving and that means another Turkey Day marathon on Comedy Central.  The big allure of this particular Turkey Day is that two episodes received their premiere during the festivities, which gives extra incentive to stay up from beginning to end.

Or, to catch the first one, sleep twenty-six hours, then watch the last one.

The bumpers this year feature Dr. Forrester having Frank tied up in a high chair, forcing him to eat a turkey for every episode shown.  That's pretty much the entire premise this year.  Last year we had something of a storyline that was fun to follow, so by comparison these bumpers are a bit simplistic.  They're so simple that they're also much shorter.  Each bumper usually runs a little less than a minute, which consists of Dr. F saying the episode title, putting a turkey in front of Frank, and cuing Frank's varied reaction.  To be fair, I think the idea behind these segments is funny, but it's mostly just a single joke that they tell for fifteen episodes in a row.  The bumpers do have a little bit of a variable in that Frank plays his reaction to each turkey differently.  Sometimes he'll be enthusiastic, sometimes he'll be tired, sometimes he'll be terrified, ect.  Frank Conniff is our Turkey Day hero this year.

Impressively, they don't repeat any episodes from last year.  Even more impressively, they reward fans with two new episodes, and they're both pretty great!  Beatniks is a pretty solid episode, though the highlight of the night is perhaps the climactic Fire Maidens of Outer Space, which is not only the better of the two episodes, but could possibly be the best episode of the night.  Reruns run a little hot and cold, with some goodies mixed with episodes I am less than enthused about (though if I were to pit weak links like Space Travelers and Unearthly against last year's Ring of Terror and Pod People, I'd take 1992 in a heartbeat).  The greatness of Viking Women and Teenagers from Outer Space hit when we need them to, ensuring we snap back into attention in case we were drifting off.  But our closing round highlights, as Fire Maidens eases out with a grand episode, let's not overlook that it's beautifully set up for success by Gamera vs. Guiron.

The Beatniks (Episode Premiere)
Master Ninja I
Space Travelers
Lost Continent
City Limits
The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent
The Giant Gila Monster
King Dinosaur
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
The Magic Sword
Teenagers from Outer Space
Hercules Unchained
The Unearthly
Gamera vs. Guiron
Fire Maidens of Outer Space (Episode Premiere)
This is MST3K

Average Rating (out of 4):  2.933

The bumpers are worse than last year, but the episode selection averages out a little bit better.  And for desert we round things off with a making of special.  It's another successful Turkey Day for the show, though Frank sounds confused about the idea of closing with a making of special...

"It sounds like you're saying we're some characters on some low budget cable TV show."
::both laugh::then close-up::
"Or are we?"

Turkey Day 1991 (MST3K Special)


Mystery Science Theater was Comedy Central's most talked about show in 1991, so naturally they pushed the show a fair amount back in the early days.  One idea that stuck was a Thanksgiving Marathon, themed "Turkey Day" (you see, because bad movies are sometimes called "turkeys").  It was a bit of an aligning of the stars, as Thanksgiving just happened to be the holiday the show first aired on when it hit KTMA, so it's something of a celebratory day for MSTies.  And thus, the legendary Turkey Day marathon begins.

The first Turkey Day marathon was aired in the middle of the third season on Comedy Central.  Episodes were limited back then, and even more limited considering the channel and showrunners took first season episodes out of airing rotation at the time.  They aired fifteen out of thirty-one available episodes at the time, which is a pretty sizable chunk, let me tell you.

Each Turkey Day (with the exception of one) features exclusive bumpers to introduce the episodes.  The 1991 Turkey Day featured Dr. Forrester plotting to take over the world with a marathon of thirty hours of Mystery Science Theater experiments, planning to make the world burn with the pain he unleashes.  While he's concentrating on his diabolical plan, Frank prepares a Thanksgiving dinner for a group of guests, which include Mike Nelson's Jack Perkins, Kevin Murphy's Plant Man, and Gerry and Silvia the Mole People.  Frank does his best to lure Dr. F away from his experiments and to the festivities, but Dr. F won't budge.  The comedy is very pleasant in these bumpers, and the chemistry between Trace and Frank is in full force.  I would have liked to have seen a more diverse range of dinner guests, but the pleasantries still keep us entertained.

But while the bumpers are the appetizers, the main course comes down to each turkey, or episode.  I think the limited offering may have hurt the line-up a little bit, though it rounds out to be a fairly decent marathon.  Ring of Terror is a slow start, but it aired at midnight, so it's likely some people missed it (I'd be equally impressed and/or terrified if someone watched all thirty hours).  They rebound with the excellence of Cave Dwellers then return to the season two mine for a few hours.  Things mostly stay consistently good throughout dinnertime from Time of the Apes through Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, then my appetite gets spoiled when they offer Pod People up for desert.  Night owls are treated to some uneven MST after dark, as Fugitive Alien rides high, hits a bummer with Catalina Caper, then ends on a solid note with Daddy-O and It Conquered the World.

Time of the Apes

Average Rating (out of 4):  2.866

I do wish I were a fan of the show in 1991 so I could have tuned in.  But I was also seven at the time, and we didn't have cable.  Still this must have been wonderful to behold in real time and it's definitely a tradition worth upholding every year.