Weasley's Guide to MST3K 5 Essential Episodes

Everyone who knows me knows I just love, love, love Mystery Science Theatre 3000.  The 90s cult show about a guy in space forced to watch bad movies with his robot palls.

It combined to  of my absolute favorite things vintage (in the form of cheesy old movies) and sci-fi, in one cute and quirky package.   In fact I'm so crazy about MST3K that for Weasley's 5th birthday one of his gifts was a Gizmonic jump suit like the one MST3K host Joel wears. 

Deb from Pug Possessed made it and she did an amazing job.  I decided Weasley's jumpsuit is the perfect segue way into an MST3K essential episodes post.  Now as you can see I have a lot of MST3K box sets:

and would you believe I don't even have all of them!  Some are really hard to find.  So it wasn't easy picking 5 essential episodes and these aren't even necessarily my favorites, they are just 5 I really like (this blog feature may have to be ongoing).  Here they are in no particular order:

1) Manos The Hand's Fate: The uninitiated bad movie viewer who asks the questions How bad can a movie really get? and How funny can a bad movie be?  Needs to watch this crazy thing.  It was made on a bet by an insurance and fertilizer sales man, he also plays father in the film.  I guess he won the best because the movie is pretty famous now..   The resulting film is completely incoherent and totally hilarious.  It also features a black toy poodle though he comes to a tragic end.

This episode also features the hilarious Chevrolet short, Hired!  Manos The Hands of Fate is available on Amazon for $12.99.

2) Cave Dwellers  This 1984 Italian fantasy film was featured in the first episode of the third season of MST3K.   It is a swords and sandals type film and a pretty dreadful rip off of Conan the Barbarian, but boy is it funny.  Along with a brain dead hero, a mute side kick, and heroine that looks like she is on the way to the mall, it features a snake that growls.  That alone makes it worth watching.  Here is Joel introducing the episode for a Turkey Day special he did in 2013.

Cave Dwellers is part of the volume 2 set of MST3K and is now horrifyingly expensive, but you can rent it from Amazon prime for a reasonable price.  Also Cave Dwellers is part two of a trilogy, yes there are three of these dreadful things, and part 1: Ator, The Fighting Eagle is now available on the Riff trax website.  It does not disappoint.


3) Laser Blast-This 1978 sci-fi film was aired during the 7th season of MST3K.  It has Roddy McDowell of Planet of the Apes fame in it and some seriously awful clay mation effects.  The bots and Mike make plenty of jokes about the fact that revered film critic Leonard Matlin gave this turkey two stars.   Mike also has a fun segment where he pretends to be Star Trek Voyager's Captain Janeway

Laser Blast is available as part of the MST3K 20th anniversary pack 
and it can be streamed on Netflix.

4) The Giant Gila Monster- This cheesy 1959 monster flick was shown during the shows 4th season.  Unsurprisingly there are a lot of giant (insert animal) movies shown on MST3K but this is my favorite.  The plot is typical 50s monster fodder, peppy teens are plagued by a giant Gila lizard (a very obviously normal sized Lizard walking past toy cars).  The songs and doofy dialogue make this a classic episode.

The Giant Gila monster is available as part of Volume 10.2 (now rare and pricey) or you can stream it on Netflix. 

5) Teenage Strangler-This 1968 teen murder mystery was aired during the shows 5th season.   Basically teenage couples are being viciously murdered and the prime suspect is Jimmy a high school student with an incredibly dweeby younger brother.  Then surprise!  It was the school janitor all along.  Hi-light's include the bots tricking Mike into wearing a pair of glasses that turn him into Mikey Jimmy's whiny younger brother from the movie:


  and Mike's hilarious closing song about janitors.

If you want a funny, silly, vintagey show you just cant  go wrong with MST3K it's like watching cheesy movies with your friends, if your friends where incredibly funny. 

Spot's New Collar and Third Cross Stitch

Little Spot

Is not so little anymore.  In fact he grew to big for his collar.   I kept finding his grey break away collar around the house and when I went to put it back on him I realized it was a bit tight on his neck, so he was rubbing against thing's to get it off.  (Of course we only use break away collars on our cat's for safety.)  All our cat's are strictly indoor only, but Spot is the only one of the four to show any curiosity about the outside world.   He has gone out the door a few times and of course we always bring him back immediately, but I still feel he must wear a collar in case he escapes.  

15 years ago our now 16 year old cat Baby opened a screen in our Brooklyn basement apartment and was missing a week.  We papered Bay Ridge in fliers and miraculously found her but the experience has made me a maniac about preventing cat escapes.  (Interestingly it has also made Baby terrified of the outside world and she never even goes near the door.)   I never open windows, even with screen's, and I'm very careful about the door.  If a delivery person is coming the cat's get locked in a room.   I'm constantly checking on the cats, particularly, Spot, to make sure they are inside.  So the second I realized Spot's collar wasn't working I knew he needed another one.

Luckily I found a cute larger collar in the adorable etsy shop Furocious Kitty  and bonus!  It's a Star Trek collar, Spot is named after Commander Data's cat on Star Trek The Next Generation:

so this collar is perfect.   Spot and I both love this collar.  He has been wearing it three week's and hasn't tried to get it off yet.  

I love how the retro Star Trek fabric look's against his white fur and the live long and prosper tag is too cute.

I really recommend Furocious Kitty if you are in the market for a cat collar.  They have ton's of collar's with adorable charms in lot's of different themes Holidays, animals, food, etc.  I can already see myself purchasing some Holiday collars.  It's also nice that the shop caters exclusively to cats.  I think that's partly why the collar fits so well.   The collars are very reasonably prices, between $10 and $12, Spot's collar was $10 and the seller was very nice about answering my questions.  

In other news I finished my third geeky cross stitch.  This one is Fry and Leela from Futurama and I'm really happy with how it came out.   

I'm working on Twin Peak's themed cross stitch next.  

Star Trek New York

Labor day weekend New York hosted a large 50th anniversary Star Trek convention and I was able to attend on Sunday.   

This was a big convention put on by CBS, at the Javits center in Manhattan and it was packed to the gills with vendors, photos, and displays for the new CBS show Star Trek Discovery.

          

                               

I bought a collar for Mr. Tuvok and a cat collar, I haven't decided which cat to give it too!  Both where a good price, ten dollars each.

Still I thought this convention was too focused on selling stuff, and that was after you paid fifty dollars to get in!  There where some displays about the characters and episodes:

and some props from the Original Series like Scotty's Engineering tools, and a medical kit, and some glasses and plates:

A model of the famous Alien head from the ending sequence was also there:

And the costume crafting book Make it Sew was on sale and they where displaying  a Skant uniform, a sort of short dress for men that was shown of the first season of Star Trek The Next Generation:

 

I still thought there was far too much stuff for sale, and far too little actual Star Trek stuff for fans to interact with or look at, especially considering the fifty dollar ticket price.  I really felt the Philadelphia convention was better, and for half the price!

Most of the panels where on Saturday but I did see a panel with some of the actors and writers from Voyager which was entertaining.

Best of all I got my picture taken with Levar Burton, who I really admire,  I loved his character, Geordie LaForge on the Next Generation and I appreciate everything he has done for children's literacy.  Another odd thing about this convention was the celebrities where behind curtains so you couldn't even glimpse them without a ticket.  I only had a second with Levar Burton but he was very nice, (and handsome), and I got to tell him that my late father who was a librarian and introduced me to Star Trek was a big fan of his.


The picture came out ok, Levar looks great, but I'm not so sure about me!

As you can see my hair is black, the semi permanent blue would not come out and was turning green, so my hair stylist dyed it this color to cover it for my return to work.   I hated it at first but, I'm adjusting.   

So overall it was a fun event but there was lots that could have been improved on.  Live long and prosper!

Reader I Met Him-The Cherry Hill Star Trek Convention

A more accurate title for this post would be "Reader I glimpsed him for 1 second and Took an Akward Picture" but I couldn't resist using using a play on the Charlotte Bronte quote.

Last Sunday I attended the Creation Entertainment  Star Trek convention in Cherry Hill, NJ.  It was my second convention and the first time I went alone, which I was nervous about at first, but I had a great time.  I wore favorite vintage sci-fi outfit.  My rocket skirt from Girl in  A Whirl

 and I used the Star Trek lunch box a friend game me as a purse.

A few of the convention attendees asked me in a confused way if I was dressed as a character from the show, many people where, and I had to explain I always dress like this.  One women told me I was very brave which I found interesting since I don't think of myself that way at all.   I'm shy!  

The main reason I went to the convention was to hear William Shatner.  He gave a talk that I really enjoyed even if I could barely see.  I bought a ticket to have my picture taken with him and along with tons of other people I lined up for a picture.  You only get one second, he looks at you, says thank you and snap, picture taken.  I think a little akward in the picture, and Shatner may look like a card board cut out, but I'm still happy I did it and the picture is now hanging prominently on my living room wall.

I had fun walking around the convention too.  Trekkies are usually very friendly people so I had nice conversations with several people.  I bought a Star Trek wobbler cat toy:

Its a Klingon warrior and I love the little beard.  I already have a few Star Trek dog toys but this was the first Star Trek cat toy I've ever seen.

I also bought a Gorn ornmanent.  

The Gorn episode is one of my favorites:

I saw a lot of the same vendors from last year:

There was also a model of the Nomad probe from the famous The Changeling episode.

In one of the rooms you can talk to some of the actors, and I got the autograph of Max Grodenchick who played Rom on Deep Space Nine, my favorite character on the show.   

The Cherry Hill convention was just the beginning of the my adventures for Star Trek's 50th anniversary.  Yesterday, I got my fifth tattoo.   

It's the Enterprise from the Original Series and its on my right arm so I can wear my geekdom on my sleeve.  I'm not gonna lie it hurt a bit.  My last tattoo, a  dog on my left wrist didn't hurt at all, which made me think this wouldn't hurt.  I was wrong!  I really like it though.

On Sunday, I'm going to the Star Trek Mission New York convention.  Live Long and Prosper!





 

Throwback Thursday-Ping as Mothra

Today Rifftrax, a comedy company from the makers of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 which I wrote about here is having a live event, streaming a riff of the Japanse sci-fi film, Mothra, to theatres ascross the country.  

I won't be seeing it until the encore show on Tuesday, but it reminded me of one of my favorite pet Halloween costumes.  Ping's Mothra outfit from maybe 6 or 7 years ago. Is she not the cutest?

Sci Fi Saturday-Star Trek: The Starfleet Academy Experience at The Intrepid Air and Space Museum

As every trekkie knows this year marks the 50th anniversary of the greatest Sci-Fi franchise of all time.

There are many things in the entertainment world I'm passionate about (Harry Potter, Dr. Who, Mystery Science Theatre Three Thousand, Futurama,etc.) but my love for Star Trek surpasses everything else.  This probably sounds completely ridiculous to a non-fan but for me Star Trek goes way beyond a television show, its an entire fictional world that has had a major influence on my life.   

I really love the philosophy behind Star Trek, the idea that humanity can better itself through science and exploration, that isolationism and fear of the unknown is destructive and limiting, and that people from different backgrounds can work together.  It might sound hokey, but that is a message that we are sorely in need of today.   The world is in turmoil, just as it was in 1966 and  Gene Rodenberry's message is more relevant today then ever before.   

Now I'll step down of my Star Trek soap box and get to the point of this post.  Last Saturday I attended the Star Fleet Academy Experience at the Intrepid Air and Space Museum.  This is an interactive exhibit that allows fans of the show to have many hands on experiences.   I really thought it was a lot of fun.

There were plenty of attendees in Star Trek uniforms, but I wore my Trashy Diva sci-fi rockets dress and a small Star Trek pin.  This dress is one of the first vintage style things I bought about 4 years ago and it remains one of my favorites.  My purse is a metal Star Trek lunch box that a friend of mine whose brother owns a hobby shop gave me.  It contained a plastic Spock model but I'm not a model builder so I  use it as a purse.

The exhibit wasn't actually inside the Intrepid museum, it had a separate entrance. The fee was twenty five dollars which I think was pretty reasonable.

The first thing you see going in is a model of the original Enterprise ship

and a fictional time line of Star Trek history.

There are different uniforms and costumes displayed which I really liked since Im a huge fan of Star Trek style.

A Ferenghi costume for the Grand Nagus.

 One of the sexy 60s looks from the Original Series.

 Comander Tuvok's uniform from Voyager.  Of course I loved this one since he is the name sake for my own Mr. Tuvok.

Captain Kirk's uniform from the Original Series!

A uniform from Voyager and Captain Picard's Robin Hood outfit from a Next Generation episode.


There where also plenty of props on display:

What I loved about this exhibit though was that it went beyond costumes and props, it was set up like the ship with different sections for the different areas of Star Fleet: Engineering, Medical, Science, Tactical, Communications, and Command.  In each section there were interactive displays and games and at the end of the exhibit they told you what area of Star Fleet you were best suited for, I got communications.

Each section had a hall of fame with pictures of characters who worked in that area:

I'm one of the few Trekkies who love the Wesley Crusher character, he had the best sweaters, so I had to take my picture next to his hall of fame  section.

There were also different games and tests for each section:

In  command you watch videos of different captains from the show and read about how they make decisions.

Engineering had quizzes and displays about parts of the ship.

Another section had a planet you could scan so you could see where to land during an emergency.

I particularly liked sick bay where you scanned and diagnosed an injured Klingon.

And of course there was a transporter

The last and best part was the bridge.   

You could take the  Kobayashi Maru.  The famous no win Star Fleet test Kirk won by reprograming (I lost twice)

Sit in the science, tactical, and navigation stations:

and of course the Captain's Chair:

All  in All I really thought this was a great exhibit and a must for any Trekkie who can attend.  Live long and prosper.