Turkey Day 1993 (MST3K Special)

Comedy Central wanted to stick with the Turkey Day marathon for another year, but they didn't want to pay for it.  Oh dear!  Apparently money issues hampered this Turkey Day marathon, which saw the channel offer the folks on the show too little money to produce bumpers, leading the MST crew to walk.  One has to wonder how low this offer was, since I imagine the money they were getting was pretty low in the first place, since the previous year saw Trace and Frank being shot with a single camera angle and using the same Turkey prop over and over again.

Comedy Central's solution was to celebrate the MSTies at Turkey Day, so they sent a camera crew to a MSTie party at the house of a lady named Debbie Tobin, who was hosting a Halloween costume party viewing of the original airing of Mike's first episode, The Brain that Wouldn't Die, on October 30th, 1993.  The celebration was filmed with cameras floating around and being shoved in people's faces, where they ask someone to introduce the next episode on the Turkey Day schedule.  Some of them look very uncomfortable with it (there is one point where the editor cuts away late and you get a mildly irritated look from a lady in a Joel costume saying "How was THAT one?") while some seem very enthusiastic in discussing their favorite show (Like, I've never seen such joy in describing the plot of Crash of Moons in my entire life).  The people there love this show, and it seems putting up with a camera crew is worth it just to mingle with other MSTies.

The edit of the segments used is a bit of a killer.  The segments are very fast, and the people wouldn't leave much of an imprint once the episode starts.  Previous Turkey Days were a treat in that you'd get some extra footage of Dr. Forrester and Frank to give you a quick laugh, while these are mostly people being awkwardly followed around and there isn't anything memorable to that.  I mean a lot of these segments are introduced with a shot of Debbie Tobin dancing by herself in front of the house, which is very strange and awkward and makes the place empty rather than hosting a party.  The people who put these segments together likely knew this would be the case, because there are certain things done to try and spice it up, complete with a non-edible Turkey Day "feast" that is being played with a prestigious tune that doesn't match the tone of the party at all, likely evoking an ironic sense of pompousness that doesn't match the series (or the guests).  And they throw in then-Comedy Central announcer Penn Jillette to throw in a joke or two for completeness sake.

But the experience of any given Turkey Day marathon relies on the episodes featured.  This particular Turkey Day features sixteen episodes, thirteen featuring Joel and three featuring Mike, including the debut of Beginning of the End (which was arguably the best Mike episode to date at that point).  The Mike era had only three episodes under its belt before this Turkey Day, meaning the sole exclusion from the line-up was The Wild Wild World of Batwoman, which may have been left to the wayside because either it was too fresh in audience memory or because they were trying to spare the audience from that movie.  At any rate, Mike hadn't really had a bad episode at the time (I think the following week's Atomic Brain was probably the first swing-and-a-miss), so his trilogy closes the marathon with a bang.

Minor ponderous note:  I do wonder what the people at the party thought about plugging episodes that hadn't aired yet.  In a way, these people were given a sneak preview of what was to come, if only just movie titles.  Was MSTie culture of 1993 upset about spoilers?

But most of the marathon is made up of Joel offerings, and what a feast to dig into!  The first five courses are just exquisite, with a rapid fire selection of riffing goodness featuring Russo-Finnish fantasy, Ed Wood, Japanese sci-fi, and, of course, Manos.  We hit a minor lull as we get a lesser Gamera feature as the marathon tries to continue "the Japanity," but there is a quality bounce back with Bert I. Gordon's Earth vs. the Spider.  I would have preferred Amazing Colossal Man over War of the Colossal Beast, but Mr. B Natural is popular enough that it earns a place here.  After that is a mostly solid run from I Accuse My Parents to Mitchell, with only a minor Hercules effort being a hurdle of enjoyment.  But the truth of the matter is that none of these episodes are duds.  The least of them are still just average at worst, which makes this a quality Tukey Day meal.

The Magic Voyage of Sinbad
Bride of the Monster
"Manos" The Hands of Fate
The Day the Earth Froze
Star Force:  Fugitive Alien II
Gamera vs. Gaos
Earth vs. the Spider
War of the Colossal Beast
I Accuse My Parents
Crash of Moons
Hercules and the Captive Women
The Human Duplicators
Mitchell
The Brain That Wouldn't Die
Beginning of the End (Episode Premiere)
Teen-Age Strangler

Average Rating (out of 4):  3.25

The bumpers get praise for their effort, but don't quite live up to Turkey Day standards.  Luckily the experience is saved with the greatest episode selection yet for the holiday, meaning this would be one worth recreating.  Even the bumpers themselves are so slight that it's hard to really be too annoyed by them, and Turkey Day '93 winds up being one for the books in spite of them.