Turkey Day 2014 (MST3K Special)

Joel Hodgson and Shout Factory are back for another round of Turkey Day deliciousness and guessing games.  This time Joel hosts from what looks to be a rather generic office location, and he has some pre-recorded voice-over from Trace Beaulieu and J. Elvis Weinstein reprising their roles as Crow and Tom Servo to back him up.  But Joel does most of the talking while the bots wrestle in the background, as he gives out some more puzzles and clues to allow the viewer to guess what's coming up next on our episode rotation.

This Turkey Day is another six episodes from the series, and it's a fairly solid one.  Magic Voyage of Sinbad gets us off to a rousing start, while Giant Spider Invasion, Lost Continent, and Laserblast keep the midsection constantly entertaining.  It's that pesky Pod People episode that brings me down.  I know it's a fan favorite, but man does that episode bum me out.  Luckily, Pumaman is there to save the day in his Turkey Day debut!  The bookends of this Turkey Day are fantastic.

Additionally, Joel filmed four additional bumpers for the episodes featured on the Volume XXXI DVD set from Shout Factory, which was released earlier that month.  Those bumpers didn't feature the guessing games, but were rather trivia intros as Joel talks about the movies and episode memories.  If one wants to beef this Turkey Day up, those episodes are a convenient way to do so, as we have the solid courses in Jungle Goddess and Squirm, a mildly undercooked Painted Hills, and the flavorful deliciousness of The Screaming Skull.  These four episodes don't offset the average, which makes the Turkey Day quite a solid experience.

The Magic Voyage of Sinbad (3rd Turkey Day)
The Giant Spider Invasion (2nd Turkey Day)
Lost Continent (2nd Turkey Day)
Laserblast
Pod People (2nd Turkey Day)
The Pumaman

Average Rating (out of 4):  3

Volume XXXI Episodes
Jungle Goddess (2nd Turkey Day)
The Painted Hills
The Screaming Skull
Squirm

Full Ten Episodes Average Rating (out of 4):  3

2014's Turkey Day experience will grow significantly higher based on how much one appreciates the Pod People episode.  I stubbornly maintain it's one of the worst of the series, so this Turkey Day gets held back a bit for me.  But for most, the Pod People experience will help make this one of the best Turkey Days of all, and that is something to be thankful for.