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?"
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