Mystery Science Theater 3000 has always been one of my favorite shows. From "Agent for H.A.R.M." to "Time Chasers" to "Prince of Space," the boys from the Satellite of Love do an excellent job of what everyone in their right mind has always wanted to do- freely mock horrible movies, and get PAID for it. With the cancellation of the series in 2000, I find myself having to mock bad movies on my own. And I'm not nearly as good at it. MST3k, as I said, was an excellent series. From their actual movie-mocking to the skits they'd put on between segments, the show was straight out hilarious, always constructed in just the right way. The movie version, unfortunately, falls just a bit short of the norm. It's still good, the skits in particular being insanely funny, but it somehow seems a bit off. I find myself thinking that the good folks on the show were a bit too stressed about this being a movie, and were just not up to their usual feel-good level. On the whole, it seems rushed- "This Island Earth," the movie in question, doesn't seem to take as much abuse as most of the films on the tv version of the show, as though the MST3k guys were being too careful, trying to avoid offending anyone that might like the film. A great number of the jokes involve the special effects of the day, something they usually avoid with good reason. After all, many times the special effects are the best that could be done at the time, and the show was made to mock movies that just didn't try, not ones that did. "This Island Earth" is widely regarded as a real classic, and it seems like it really was a step above the usual movies MST3k mocks. While that's not to say that there isn't anything funny in the movie segments, they just aren't as good as they usually are, consisting mainly of the previously mentioned special effects jokes and Star Trek references, with better jokes on the acting or plot coming far less often than in the TV series. The mocking of the MST3k credits is actually funnier than the rest of the movie segments. Still, the MST3k movie is easily worth watching. It's a good introduction to the series, and the skits (particularly "Mike broke the Hubble") are lots of fun. If you're looking for the best they can do, though, this isn't it.
