Mystery Science Theater 3000 (TV Series) Operation Double 007 (1993) User Reviews

It's always great!

[ericstevenson · 10/10 · 21 July 2016]

This is another classic episode and it's great to see how well it holds up. Some of it does look a bit dated. It's weird to see them talking about converting old home movies to VHS when those things don't even exist anymore! They still have a lot of great jokes that hold relevance to today. I remember seeing the part from TV's Frank in a later episode that served as a brief clip show. The best part out of the theater was probably them showing Sean and Neil Connery's success. I'm glad they mentioned "Highlander II: The Quickening".

The riffing itself was seriously some of the funniest I'd ever seen. It takes a little while to really get good, but boy is it worth it! The best part may have been when the fake nun with the huge pole like gun and the line, "Time for his catheter!". I also loved when it showed the women in the furry black and white costumes with, "We gotta go by Le Pew's place!". For third place might have been when it showed a bunch of guns coming through the ceiling and simply saying, "Licorice!". We also see a knifed girl with saying, "Who's been there?" followed by, "Some guy with a knife". They even say, "Terrorists were more fun back then", which holds up well today! ****

Operation Impersonator

[hellraiser7 · 10/10 · 29 November 2023]

Warning don't read unless seen episode.

This is another of my favorite episodes of the show. The film is pretty much another James Bond rip-off, no surprise for every successful franchise there are bound to be numerous impersonators that spring up. Though a couple things that make this wild and ironic are the facts that the actor that played the main villain from "Thunderball" is the main villain in this film. And the actor playing the discount James Bond is Seans brother.

There are a lot of memorable moments, from the skits from Joel showing the chart on the contrast of both Sean and Neil Connery; seeing that scene made me wonder if both have watched this episode and are laughing along with us right now. Another that is one of my favorites skits from the show is seeing Joel whom I feel is just at his best, imitating a Bond villain as he is in a Hugh Hefner robe, smoking what looks like a Tootie Roll bar and probably is, and is just walking around doing random things while the villain music is playing; one of those random things just made me crack up with laughter as it's something I never thought I would see in a million years, what that is you'll have to see for yourself. But overall that scene was just funny because of just the crazy and random nature of it all, which could be said about most villains.

The film is an odd rip indeed as there are certain plot points that make no sense. But one of the main problems is the James Bond wanabe protagonist himself, who is almost a bit of a Mary Sue as he's made just a little too powerful. Mainly it's in his hypnotism ability, not a bad idea but the execution is all wrong as he does it way too easily and is practically by its nature a deus ex machina device, much like the character Cecil/Virtue from the latter seasons of the show "The Flash" (2014 version). Though sidenote I'll take the James Bond wanabe over her anytime because at least he's not annoying.

But forget all that as there is just almost not one dull moment watching this wonderfully bad rip-off with Joel and the bots as there are plenty of memorable riffs. Like that shoot out which was decent as we see the bad guys with guns and good guys shooting arrows which is something different. It's just funny hearing each riff as someone in that fight gets hit which in turn makes the riff a hit.

Another is this final conflict and bow standoff scene which well let's just say almost reminds me of that same one from the Season 1 finale of "Arrow" only difference is the one from "Arrow" is good the one in this film not so much. As we see, discount Bond and the main villain point their bows at each other. Whoever's aim will meet its mark, you'll just have to wait and see.

As an old saying goes "if you're going to rip, rip from the best" which makes this rip off one of the best episodes in my book.

Rating: 4 stars.