Mystery Science Theater 3000 experiment #701: Night of the Blood Beast (with short, Once Upon a Honeymoon).
Original airdates: November 23, 1995 (Turkey Day marathon version); February 3, 1996 (standard version).
Available as part of the sixteenth MST3K collection here.
The first episode of the very short seventh season of MST3K sees the permanent arrival of Mary Jo Pehl as Pearl Forrester, the bad Doctor's mother. She would become the primary antagonist of Mike Nelson and his robot pals following the move from Comedy Central to Sci-Fi in 1997, but for the moment, she's here to turn Clayton Deborah Susan Forrester back into the true mama's boy he always was, now that there's no longer a TV's Frank to kick around.
In Once Upon a Honeymoon, a guardian angel named Wilbur is sent from Heaven to Earth to aid a young couple. The male has to complete a Broadway show tune in 24 hours; otherwise, there's not going to be a honeymoon...or a show, for that matter. His wife sings about the dream kitchen she always wanted, which Wilbur makes possible with liberal doses of magic dust. Phones also play a major role in the short, as the husband and wife stumble upon the smash Broadway hit song by accident after she dials a number on a rotary phone. Everyone lives happily ever after, I think...
The main feature opens with a rocket crash, and the pilot is dead, but somehow, his body is in perfect condition. It turns out that the pilot, named Steve, is alive, but he's been impregnated somehow by a stowaway alien. Steve's potential offspring all look like large shrimp. There's a lot of sitting around in labratories talking along with appearances from the Blood Beast, which is just another actor in a bad rubber costume. Eventually, the Blood Beast rationally explains his actions for killing an elderly doctor and impregnating Steve, which gets him bombarded with Motolov cocktails. Ah, good old Roger Corman.
Crow and Tom Servo are fearful of their safety on the SOL, so they end up tasing and macing Mike Nelson after he makes a very slight gesture. Down in Deep 13, Mother Forrester would like her son Dr. F to play a recital on the trombone. Clay performs horribly, drawing the ire of his mother. Up in space, Crow plays effortless renditions of "Getting Sentimental Over You" and "Hold That Tiger". After the short, Mike and the 'Bots parody it, complete with lots of plastic phones and appliances, Tom Servo dropping tons of magic dust from the air, and Mike playing a toy piano. Later on, Pearl interrupts Mike and Servo's arm wrestling match to inform them that Dr. Forrester has to confess something to them. After listing off several embarrassing high school incidents, Dr. F loses it and pulls a knife on his mother. Pearl calmly takes out a pistol and shoots her son. Crow later announces that he's pregnant, showing old shrimp fastened to a fake fluoroscope. Mike, Gypsy and Servo all see through this lie, so Crow goes on a long rant, demanding the same attention and courtesies he thinks are extended to pregnant women everywhere. Crow's anger extends into the last second, as he's now ranting about babies "getting a free ride" while Mike desperately tries reading a viewer letter. Downstairs, Pearl is cradling Dr. Forrester like a baby, and insisting that he still is one. Wow.
Recommended episode. The Shout! Factory DVD release also includes the Turkey Day marathon version, with totally different host segments with a Thanksgiving theme. This rendition only aired a handful of times on Comedy Central.
No comments:
Post a Comment