As the Mystery Science Theater 3000 DVD collection grew in size, the idea of shorts compilations started to seem a little bit archaic. Especially by Volume XXV, which was the first volume in which Shout Factory opened the floodgates on licensing episodes from major studios like Universal and MGM, which was an omen that most of the series would indeed be released on DVD, shorts intact. As of today, the only episode featuring a short that hasn't been released on DVD is It Conquered the World, and it's short, Snow Thrills, was never featured on a shorts compilation (though it was featured as a bonus feature on Volume XXIV).
The last shorts compilation was Mr. B's Lost Shorts all the way back in Volume 6, but Shout Factory decided it was time to revive the tradition by releasing a Radar Men from the Moon compilation as a bonus disc (through Shout's website only) with the above mentioned Volume XXV. The selling point this time is that Radar Men from the Moon is a lengthy serial that tells a long form story, so there is something to gain from watching all of these shorts in one go.
But the downside is the same downside that watching a serial from start to finish always had: these chapters weren't meant to be watched in one go. Every Radar Men episode feels similar to the previous, because it was presumed distance between each so the padding wouldn't be so obvious. Stuff like this wasn't made with home media bingewatching in mind. They were only interested in a kid handing over their nickel every week to see a slight momentum in plot, but who cares? JET PACKS!
Likewise, the MST3K versions weren't meant to be sat through in one go either. Due to the similarity between the chapters, a lot of jokes are repeated, which creates some tedium in watching the entire serial in one go. And even still, the serial isn't even complete, which cuts off halfway through chapter nine, leaving three and a half chapters out in limbo. A missed opportunity of this disc is that it might have been interesting to see the unriffed chapters here, so we could at least see some closure. But at least they were more committed to Commando Cody than they were with The Phantom Creeps or Undersea Kingdom.
Is the disc worth owning? Well, I won't lie and say there isn't some interest value in watching the series go through this serial in one go. And watching the evolution of the first season in one go is kind of neat. That being said, if you slog through Radar Men from the Moon in a normal episode setting, this experience isn't a revelation of any kind.
Radar Men from the Moon: Chapter One - Moon Rocket
Original Episode: The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy
Serials. They sound like as delicious as a bowl of Trix, but not quite. Nowadays they’re best known for inspiring George Lucas to make Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark, but the dark reality is they aren’t very interesting or exciting.
The short follows Commando Cody, a super-scientist with a jet-pack (who also may or may not be the inspiration for the 1980’s retro-styled comic character The Rocketeer). He investigates atomic energy on the moon and discovers a plot by the evil civilization of moon men to conquer the Earth.
I don’t think one can adequately review a serial, so I don’t think I should try. Given what serials are, Radar Men from the Moon seems par for the course. My soft spot for superheroics enjoys parts of it, while my enjoyment of storytelling makes me yearn for something more ambitious. Since it’s only the first chapter, I’m not grunting in frustration yet, but I do know that day will come.
The short follows Commando Cody, a super-scientist with a jet-pack (who also may or may not be the inspiration for the 1980’s retro-styled comic character The Rocketeer). He investigates atomic energy on the moon and discovers a plot by the evil civilization of moon men to conquer the Earth.
I don’t think one can adequately review a serial, so I don’t think I should try. Given what serials are, Radar Men from the Moon seems par for the course. My soft spot for superheroics enjoys parts of it, while my enjoyment of storytelling makes me yearn for something more ambitious. Since it’s only the first chapter, I’m not grunting in frustration yet, but I do know that day will come.
Shorts would of course become a mainstay in the series, however they soon discovered industrial and educational films were better suited for the format than serials. However, the idea of riffing a serial is intriguing, offering up sort of mini-cliffhangers to try and keep viewers invested enough to watch each week. But the nature of a serial is that they were catering to a youth culture that’s out of date, and didn’t mind/notice that what they were watching was the same each and every week. Commando Cody is a failed experiment, but you wouldn’t know it here. With the serial so fresh and the production so goofy, the SOL crew is firing on all cylinders. They especially have fun poking at the logic holes at hand (“Isn’t ANY atomic activity on the moon unusual?”). It would definitely seem like a match made in heaven.
Radar Men from the Moon: Chapter Two - Molten Terror
Original Episode: The Mad Monster
After narrowly escaping the Moon Men’s base, Commando Cody immediately goes back because he’s stupid. This time he successfully escapes with the diabolical ray gun that threatens humanity, but the Moon Men are on his tail.
Second verse same as the first. If you’ve seen one serial, you’ve seen them all. There might be little tweaks to the costumes and set design between each, but not in format. And if you’ve seen the first chapter of any serial, you might as well skip to the last because you really aren’t missing much of anything in between. In the case of Molten Terror, it definitely feels as if little plot progression has been made. Cody escapes from the evil aliens, as a brief chat with his comrades, then just waltzes back because they had to fill time for twelve of these suckers. The rest of the short is just small pieces of people punching each other and a prolonged chase scene thrown in for good measure.
So yeah, that’s about twenty minutes of my time I’ll never get back. It must have been boring being a kid in the 40s and 50s if this was considered entertainment. I can only imagine paying my hard earned allowance to see a serial and realizing walking out that nothing really happened. Sure, I got my repetitive plot lines out of shows like Transformers and Power Rangers, but at least on television those were free.
Second verse same as the first. If you’ve seen one serial, you’ve seen them all. There might be little tweaks to the costumes and set design between each, but not in format. And if you’ve seen the first chapter of any serial, you might as well skip to the last because you really aren’t missing much of anything in between. In the case of Molten Terror, it definitely feels as if little plot progression has been made. Cody escapes from the evil aliens, as a brief chat with his comrades, then just waltzes back because they had to fill time for twelve of these suckers. The rest of the short is just small pieces of people punching each other and a prolonged chase scene thrown in for good measure.
So yeah, that’s about twenty minutes of my time I’ll never get back. It must have been boring being a kid in the 40s and 50s if this was considered entertainment. I can only imagine paying my hard earned allowance to see a serial and realizing walking out that nothing really happened. Sure, I got my repetitive plot lines out of shows like Transformers and Power Rangers, but at least on television those were free.
Unfortunately the riffing on Commando Cody is a brick wall. There’s so little happening combining with similar beats with the first chapter that they seem utterly lost with it. They do introduce the “Nipple tweak” joke, which they run on throughout the serial, though the rest of the short is a bummer.
Radar Men from the Moon: Chapter Three - Bridge of Death
Original Episode: The Corpse Vanishes
In one of the cooler Commando Cody cliffhanger payoffs, Cody rockets out of the cavern above the molten lava that threatened to trap him. After that it’s business as usual as Cody is threatened by the Moon Men thugs’ ambush, leading up to an exploding bridge.
Three episodes into Commando Cody and probably the best thing that can be said for it is that I’m not sick of it yet. Don’t worry, that’ll change. The repetition is annoying but the pulp flavor isn’t quite worn down yet. This chapter at least has the awesome lava sequence.
Commando Cody will be taking the next episode off, but don’t worry, he’ll be back.
Three episodes into Commando Cody and probably the best thing that can be said for it is that I’m not sick of it yet. Don’t worry, that’ll change. The repetition is annoying but the pulp flavor isn’t quite worn down yet. This chapter at least has the awesome lava sequence.
Commando Cody will be taking the next episode off, but don’t worry, he’ll be back.
While they usually struggle with Commando Cody, this week’s isn’t too bad. There’s some solid flow with the line delivery, and the zingers land on target more often than not.
Radar Men from the Moon: Chapter Four - Flight to Destruction
Original Episode: Robot Monster
For the first time ever our show tackles two shorts in a single episode. This rare practice would only be duplicated three more times, with Project Moon Base, Teenage Cave Man, and The Beast of Yucca Flats.
Jumping just in time from his car in footage that was conveniently left out of the previous chapter, Commando Cody lives! However thugs working for the moon men kidnap his Girl Friday Joan, and take her for a plane ride. Cody pursues only to have the pilot bail out…
Jumping just in time from his car in footage that was conveniently left out of the previous chapter, Commando Cody lives! However thugs working for the moon men kidnap his Girl Friday Joan, and take her for a plane ride. Cody pursues only to have the pilot bail out…
INTERMISSION
Radar Men from the Moon: Chapter Five - Murder Car
Original Episode: Robot Monster
Of course just like last time Cody gets Joan to bail out at the last minute. But we trade in a murder plane for a MURDER CAR in this instalment. The thugs execute another heist and make a getaway. That’s pretty much all there is to this one.
Two Cody shorts is twice as hard to swallow as one. Neither of these are exciting and both are padded beyond belief. The first short however is clearly the better of the two because it at least has a “chase to save the girl” storyline and more action. The second one is all road chase and not much else.
We really paid a nickel for each of these? I could have saved that money for a soda instead.
Two Cody shorts is twice as hard to swallow as one. Neither of these are exciting and both are padded beyond belief. The first short however is clearly the better of the two because it at least has a “chase to save the girl” storyline and more action. The second one is all road chase and not much else.
We really paid a nickel for each of these? I could have saved that money for a soda instead.
Two Commando Cody shorts means we’re in for some hurting today. And yet while I anticipated these to be more tiresome as they went on, I actually found that the riffing improved a lot in the second short over the first. They start out with par for the course “we’ve seen this all before” riffs but it somewhat evolves into something more playful, like mistaking an ambulance for an ice cream truck or an amusing intro where the Bots try to escape the theater (which is repeated many years later in Hobgoblins). I’d dare say that Murder Car might be the funniest of the Commando Cody shorts.
Radar Men from the Moon: Chapter Six - Hills of Death
Original Episode: The Slime People
Jumping out of their cars before the fake-out quick cut, we are flung into this week’s single serving of Commando Cody. This one features Cody’s pal Ted being kidnapped and escaping, anticlimactic padding this may be, it sends Cody pursuing the bad guys and getting into a gunfight.
I feel as if I’ve said my peace on Commando Cody many times over by now. Serials are tiresome even when they’re spaced far apart like this. When this chapter ends, I feel a bit irritated because nothing really happened. And what’s worse is that I’m wise to it, because a serial is nothing more than thirty minutes of story padded out to twelve or fifteen chapters that last fifteen minutes each. Now that we’re halfway through Commando Cody we’re getting to the most tedious chapters of the bunch, and they can get infuriating.
I feel as if I’ve said my peace on Commando Cody many times over by now. Serials are tiresome even when they’re spaced far apart like this. When this chapter ends, I feel a bit irritated because nothing really happened. And what’s worse is that I’m wise to it, because a serial is nothing more than thirty minutes of story padded out to twelve or fifteen chapters that last fifteen minutes each. Now that we’re halfway through Commando Cody we’re getting to the most tedious chapters of the bunch, and they can get infuriating.
There are a lot of gags we’ve heard before, and a lot of lesser gags that we haven’t. We’re further cementing that Commando Cody was far too ambitious a project for this early in MST’s run. The monotonous stories and similar footage are really causing our boys to struggle.
Radar Men from the Moon: Chapter Seven - Camouflaged Destruction
Original Episode: Project Moon Base
As if the double trouble from Robot Monster wasn’t enough, here is another Commando Cody double feature to assault us!
When we last left Commando Cody he was flung off of a cliff! Talk about an actual CLIFFHANGER! Stupid us forgot he has a rocket pack, which he just turns on and flies to safety! He soon discovers the bad guys have a new ray gun and goes in pursuit with his pilot Ted. But the bad guys shoot down their plane with said ray gun.
TO BE CONTINUED…RIGHT NOW!
When we last left Commando Cody he was flung off of a cliff! Talk about an actual CLIFFHANGER! Stupid us forgot he has a rocket pack, which he just turns on and flies to safety! He soon discovers the bad guys have a new ray gun and goes in pursuit with his pilot Ted. But the bad guys shoot down their plane with said ray gun.
TO BE CONTINUED…RIGHT NOW!
Radar Men from the Moon: Chapter Eight - The Enemy Planet
Original Episode: Project Moon Base
Commando Cody and Ted eject in the nick of time. In the aftermath Cody returns to the moon and disguises himself as one of the Radar Men guards, and drives off in one of their lunarmobiles.
Two Cody shorts, and mostly they kind of blend in together. At least the second has some outer space action in it, but that’s about all I can do to set them apart. There’s not much that’s stimulating in watching two of these in a row. I’m just kind of numb right now.
Two Cody shorts, and mostly they kind of blend in together. At least the second has some outer space action in it, but that’s about all I can do to set them apart. There’s not much that’s stimulating in watching two of these in a row. I’m just kind of numb right now.
I don’t really know how they managed to riff more than one per episode not once but twice on MST. In season one no less. They deserve some form of applause for that alone. These shorts are a bit funnier than usual, due to the cast’s increased confidence in the format, but that doesn’t stop them from slipping into familiar riffs along the way. The second short is the better of the two, with the moon setting giving them more material to work with. We have a fun and creative “Theme Song” they sing during the opening credits, and the climax is a gas, with the cliffhanger showcasing someone’s oxygen tank getting hit only to have Joel make the claim that the helium valve was released instead! Servo exits the theater with high-pitched screams of “Help me!” that had me giggling quite a bit.
Radar Men from the Moon: Chapter Nine - Battle in the Stratosphere
Original Episode: Robot Holocaust
Commando Cody rescues his comrades from suffocation in space, and they take off for a thrilling BATTLE IN THE STRATOSPHERE! Except we don’t get to see it because the film breaks. Something tells me we didn’t miss much.
With this we say goodbye to Commando Cody. We don’t get much closure on his storyline, or what passes for a storyline. In addition to what we didn’t see in this short, there are three more chapters to this serial. Maybe one day I’ll be curious enough to watch the rest, but that probably won’t be anytime soon.
With this we say goodbye to Commando Cody. We don’t get much closure on his storyline, or what passes for a storyline. In addition to what we didn’t see in this short, there are three more chapters to this serial. Maybe one day I’ll be curious enough to watch the rest, but that probably won’t be anytime soon.
There’s not a lot you can say. It only lasts a few minutes and the riffing is more workmanlike than anything. They feel like they’re pushing through it with the desire to never watch Commando Cody again. I guess they succeeded.
The DVD
Radar Men from the Moon was compiled as Shout Factory website exclusive bonus disc on their Volume XXV collection (which also saw chapter nine featured during the episode Robot Holocaust, released in the same collection). Audio and video were excellent. There was an introduction by J. Elvis Weinstein, who talks about the appeal of serials being featured on the show and why it didn't work out in the end.
No comments:
Post a Comment