Thursday, April 20, 2006

The Joy of Bad Movies

Lately, Tirithien and I have been on a kick of watching very bad old science fiction movies for the sole purpose of making fun of them. I can now tell you with certainty that radiation can do absolutely anything. It can cause ordinary creatures to grow to many times their original size! It can turn people invisible! It can bring dead dinosaurs back to life and give them radioactive bad breath! It can turn people into radioactive melty monster things!

And sometimes, monsters wear sneakers.

Now, I have taken great glee from horrible sci-fi movies for many years. I remember seeing part of Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster some rainy afternoon when I was a kid, and howling with laughter as Godzilla used his atomic blast breath to cook the sea monster, which was actually a giant lobster. (The movie didn’t specify whether or not Godzilla ate the lobster with butter and lemon afterwards.)

But these movies we’ve been watching aren’t just any bad movies. Oh, no! We have been watching episodes of “Mystery Science Theatre 3000,” an absolutely brilliant show which ran through the 90s. Through the magic of the internet, I’ve been able to obtain copies of many, many episodes. (Woot!) You’ve probably seen it—you know, the clip of a bad movie with a guy and two robots down in the corner?

It’s like watching a movie with extra obnoxious friends to help you make fun of it! And while there are certainly some movies which are too bad even for the MST3K commentary to improve, most of it is just excellent fun.

Keep your reality TV; I’ll take the low budget sci-fi any day!

I think my DVD player might be starting to get irritated with having to play so many horrible movies, though. I might have to let it run a decent movie soon. It’s so picky.

10 comments:

Tirithien said...

All hail the Prince of Space! Long live Puma Man!

Beware of Donald Pleasance... ;-)

Martie said...

Sounds like a lot of fun! I might have to see if I can find some of them to watch too! I could use a good laugh!

Tirithien said...

Then I submit Prince of Space and Puma Man as introductions. They're fantastic. :-)

Michelle said...

This all sounds very Seinfeld-esque.

Beth said...

"(The movie didn’t specify whether or not Godzilla ate the lobster with butter and lemon afterwards.)"

Well of COURSE he used butter and lemon. Just because he's a prehistoric monster doesn't mean he's a complete barbarian.

(p.s. we'll add an MST3K marathon to the agenda for when you come to Austin to visit :) )

clew said...

That's great stuff.

Wasnt there some old movie about a giant brain with glowing eyes (angry looking eyes at that!) that flew around and got people? It was so cheesy! it was run around on a guidewire and would like bounce off things like a clacker ball!

they just dont make quality bad movies like that anymore ...

Bainwen Gilrana said...

Oh, wow, that movie sounds gloriously horrible. I've never seen it, but I think maybe I should!

Anonymous said...

That sounds eerily familiar, Clew. I will check with some of my friends to see if they know what that movie is called.

MST3K Rocks and Rules! I never would have discovered it if it weren't for you, Bainwen! Thank you for adding culture and The Satellite of Love to my life!

P.S. I definately agree with Beth.

Anonymous said...

Okay, here are 4 possible suspects; Clew, if you recognize one of them, let us know!

The Brain From Planet Arous

Evil Brain From Outer Space

They Saved Hitler's Brain

Fiend Without a Face.

So, my friends don't really know, they are just throwing movies at me with the word "Brain" in the title. Someone also said "The Brain that Wouldn't Die" but I'm positive that isn't it. ???

Tirithien said...

It definitely isn't The Brain that Wouldn't Die- that's even shown in the opening sequence, and it's a whole head.