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Episode guide: 318- Star Force — Fugitive Alien II

Movie: (1978 original TV show episodes; 1987 compilation movie) The further adventures of the crew of Earth spaceship Bacchus 3: They try to destroy a super-weapon and Ken finally confronts his former leader.

First shown: 11/16/91
Opening: Tom and Crow discuss the nature of puppets
Invention exchange: Tom and Crow compete in a “name-that-puppet” quiz show, with Joel as quizmaster. In Deep 13, the Mads have invented big noses, while Joel shows off his big head
Host segment 1: Tom Servo is dead! Joel and Crow rush to save him
Host segment 2: J&tB present the Captain Joe action figure
Host segment 3: J&tB sing: “The Fugitive Alien medley
End: Crow and Tom are hoping to influence the Mads’ movie choices; Joel asks the bots how they would designing the ultimate evil person; Joel reads letters; Frank defends Tom T. Hall
Stinger: “Captain, I’ve got it fixed! It’s all working again!”
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (137 votes, average: 4.42 out of 5)

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• I know if they hadn’t done this, fans would be complaining about that “to be continued” at the end of the first one, but did we really need more of this? The first “Fugitive Alien” ep is one of the most beloved episodes of the show, no question. This one, well, it’s more of the same, and it starts to wear a little thin (for me, at least) in the last hour or so. Even Servo sings “We realize you’ve had your fill…” Still, the host segments are great, so overall I’m going to go with a “fair” rating.
• This one was included in Shout!Factory’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Vol XXIV.”
• This is the last of the Sandy Frank KTMA re-dos (though no fan copy of the KTMA riff is known to exist), and the end of this season’s see-saw, back-and-forth pattern — one Japanese outing, one American film, etc. From here the season goes is strange new directions.
• There’s some sort of toy in Crow’s net during the invention exchange segment. Anybody recognize it?
• During the quiz show bit (which is kind of reminiscent of those long season-two segments with the artists renderings) Joel — reading off a card I think — says he wants the bots to guess the “genius” of each puppet. He should have said “genus.” Tom Servo quietly corrects him and they keep going.
I love Joel in full quizmaster mode: “Kukla… Kukla…”
• For a long time, I wondered what that was in Joel’s hand when he’s wearing the Big Head. Then it hit me–it’s his lavaliere mic, which the Big Head would probably have interfered with.
• Trace seems to have more fun with the big noses than Frank. He just loves making waggle ever so slightly.
• Joel wears the big head into the theater, then hurls it aside.
• As soon as the movie starts, all the old riffs come rushing back: “Rocky!” “Again!” “Rita!” “Meter Maid!” And forklifts galore. I don’t think I should call these “call backs.” More like retreads.
• Joel forgets Tom when entering the theater after segment 1. Tom reminds him and he goes back to get him.
• Callbacks: “A girl!?” (Viking Women) “Hikeeba” (Women of the Prehistoric Planet)
• After Joel sings his song in segment 3, Tom quietly comments: “What a lunatic, huh?”
• There’s more Sandy Frank bashing in this one, especially the final verse to the song in segment 3.
• Tom does a lot of singing in this one.
• Then-current reference: “Farfegnugen.”
• Complicated and now-quite-dated riff: “I’m George Bernard Shaw in Baghdad–I’m under a table and I’m writing ‘Candide’.” If this baffles anybody, I’m sure somebody in the comments will explain it.
• This show marks the first reference to Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide, as far as I know. Can anybody think of an earlier one?
• To any adult, that first letter Joel reads is worrisome. I wonder what happened to that kid. It’s also a pretty pristine example of the unintended downside of Joel’s “sleepy” character, which a lot of kids mistook as some sort of endorsement by the show, and by Joel in particular, of being a stoned slacker. You can tell the kid was expecting that his comments would be met with approval, not a concerned suggestion that he get into breakfast.
• There’s no further cast and crew roundup other than what was done in the previous “Fugitive Alien” episode.
• CreditsWatch: Clayton James is back at hair and makeup. Additional Music: Lyrics: Kevin Murphy
• Fave riff: “‘Course it pierced his colon…” Honorable mention: “He’s getting a tattoo with a Busy-Buzz-Buzz.”

83 Replies to “Episode guide: 318- Star Force — Fugitive Alien II”

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  1. Dan in WI says:

    I need to start out by checking the tenperature.

    Believe it or not, though Joel would go on to do 42 more episodes after Fugitive Alien 2, this was his final Japanese film.

    I think I have to give this episode’s invention exchange the nod for lamest ever on both sides. Neither the big noses nor heads do anything for me.

    Some may say that the Rocky, Again riff was run into the ground. Not me. I’m a big fan of Rocky and Bullwinkle.

    What are they using as a Captain Joe action figure? It looks to be altered; yet at the same time it really does look like him, especially the cheeks of the action figure.

    Very near the end Joel makes a riff “There goes Old Main. The whole campus is gone now.” I remember when seeing Cinematic Titanic live in Milwaukee, Joel listed several of the places he’s lived in Wisconsin prior to high school in Ashwabanon. One place he lived was Stevens Point home of the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point. I went to college there myself. There the administrative building was named Old Main. I’m going to assume that was a riff on that.

    The Fugitive Alien Medley is my all time favorite MST song. It changes tempo and hits on all the important themes of these films. It also features prominently the Forklift song. Finally consequences be damned, I can’t agree more: I too want to sit on Sandy Frank’s chest, gob on his face and make him cry.

    Favorite Riffs:
    Crow “We did it, we killed twenty minutes of movie.”

    Cesar controller “Urulan?” Crow “Yup, we’re number one.”

    Joel “Oh, where have I seen this before.” Tom “Oh I don’t know, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.” (My all time favorite Star Wars riff.)

       4 likes

  2. eegah says:

    This one was a lot better than I remembered. I really enjoyed it.

    Loved the Marathon Man reference during the torture scene (“Is it safe?”). I just watched that for the first time (good movie, btw).

    Almost did a spit-take at the movie dialogue that went something like:
    “It’s not going to be easy to get inside”
    “How will we get in there?”
    “Easy!”

       6 likes

  3. Spalanzani says:

    I think this one’s a nice follow-up to the first. It’s interesting to see two episodes like this that are basically Part 1 and Part 2, since we don’t really get that anywhere else in the series. The Master Ninja episodes are sequels but self-contained, with two complete plots apiece, while the Gamera and Hercules movies are also each self-contained. But Fugitive Alien ends in a “to be continued” way, and this one picks up right where the last one left off. Makes it harder to watch this one on its own, and it’s weird to see Tom filling in the audience about Captain Joe’s drinking habits so that they can make jokes about that which would otherwise seem random to people not familiar with the previous episode. I can’t imagine why they did these “movies” out of order in the KTMA era.

    With the last Sandy Frank film comes the final “Ken”. These two quasi-movies were made from the Japanese TV show Star Wolf, but that show was itself based on the three Star Wolf books by influential sci-fi writer Edmond Hamilton. The main character in the books is named Morgan Chane, while in the TV show he’s “Morgan Ken”. This is actually only a single letter’s difference in Japanese, “Chane” being written there as “Kein”. For some reason the TV hero is listed on Wikipedia as having “Ken Shinsei” as an alternate name (“Ken” is written with the character for “fist” here, while Shinsei means “new star/planet”). I’ve only seen what few random clips of the series I managed to find online, so I’m not sure what the deal with these two sets of names is. Maybe “Ken Shinsei” is the name he takes on Earth? Is he ever called anything but “Ken” in the Sandy Frank version?

    Captain Joe is named “Captain Jou” in the Japanese version (they use the actual English word “captain”). Jou is a Japanese given name pronounced the same as “Joe”, and the actor who plays the captain is in fact named Jou Shishido, so the character might actually be named after him. The equivalent character in the books is named “Dilullo” and is a mercenary leader.

    I don’t know if the other supporting characters even have equivalents in the books. Anyway, Rocky is named “Ryu” in Japanese, while Tammy is “Hime”. The alien characters all seem to have the same names in both versions, except Rita was originally “Rija”. The Star Wolves’ planet is “Planet Varna” in both the books and TV show, but this gets mistranslated as “Valna Star” in the Sandy Frank version. Yet more confusion sparked by Japanese not distinguishing between L and R sounds, and sei and hoshi referring to both planets and stars.

       11 likes

  4. Spalanzani says:

    Some more information on the Star Wolf books versus the TV show. In the books, Morgan Chane, is the son of Welsh missionaries to Planet Varna, home of the Star Wolves, a marauding Viking-style society. Despite their name, the Star Wolves actually resemble humanoid tigers with golden fur. Chane’s parents wanted to convert the Star Wolves to a more peaceful life, but the planet’s high gravity killed them. But for whatever reason Chane apparently gets along in the high gravity just fine, grows up to be as strong as the Star Wolves themselves, and lives like one of them. Then one day he gets into a fight with another Star Wolf over the plunder from one of their raids, and ends up killing the guy in self-defense. This causes that particular Star Wolf’s clan to seek revenge on Chane, so he flees to Earth and joins up with a band of mercenaries (Earth is now a bit of a dump and the universe’s main source for mercenaries), with only the group’s leader knowing he came from the Star Wolves.

    So right there in the initial set-up, you can see some major differences between the original story and the TV version. First, the book Star Wolves look like tigers while the TV ones are identical to humans. Maybe those goofy blonde wigs are supposed to represent the golden fur the Star Wolves had in the books? Next, Chane/Ken’s motives for leaving the Star Wolves are a lot more noble in the TV version, where he kills his fellow Star Wolf to save an innocent kid, as opposed to arguing over their loot. Also, in the books this murder results in only one Star Wolf clan turning against Chane, while on TV he violates universal Star Wolf law and pisses off the dictator of the entire Star Wolf race. That’s another thing: in the TV show we’ve got Halcan as supreme ruler of the Star Wolves, and it’s implied that it’s largely his bad influence that makes them all act like evil space Vikings. There doesn’t seem to be any equivalent figure in the books. In the books Chane/Ken joins mercenaries, while in the show he joins “Star Command”, which is…some sort of government star fleet, I guess? So again, a lot more heroic than in the original. Chane’s whole backstory about being the son of missionaries to Varna actually is mentioned in the TV show (it’s easy to miss in the MST3K version though), but his parents being Welsh is left out, for obvious reasons.

    This handy review includes summaries of the three books. The TV series only really adapts the first one, and this only amounts to the first 5 or so episodes of 24. But it’s these episodes that make up most of both the Sandy Frank “movies”:

    The first novel, The Weapon from Beyond, touches briefly on Chane’s origins. Most of it involves the mercenary band he’s joined and their mission. A planet with vast mineral wealth has hired the mercenaries to seek out and destroy a weapon of vast power which they believe possessed by a rival planetary system. The mercenaries do find the weapon, but it turns out to be a star ship left over by an ancient intergalactic race. Chane earns respect from his new brothers-in-arms as the Varnan gravity of his youth has conditioned him to be far more powerful than the average human.

    The next novel, The Closed Worlds, has Chane and the mercenaries traveling to a planet in search of a missing scientist. The brother of a rich star freight owner has disappeared on the planet Arkuun while searching for traces of another ancient Interstellar civilization. Their mission is ultimately successful, but not before Chane has encountered the radiantly beautiful Arkuun woman Vreya.

    The series concludes with World of the Starwolves, easily the best one of the series. In this novel, Chane is forced to return to the Starwolve home planet of Varna and deal with the blood feud which cast him out. Searching for a missing work of art known as “The Singing Suns”, Chane has led the other mercenaries into a trap. Although Chane manages to escape, the only way to free the other mercs is by leading the Starwolves to the very treasure planet where the stolen Singing Suns are kept. As before, Chane escapes with his strength and guile.

       10 likes

  5. Sitting Duck says:

    Then-current reference: “Farfegnugen.”

    Someone care to offer an explanation?

       0 likes

  6. briizilla says:

    I freaking love both Fugitve Alien episodes and honestly think the actual show looks really fun in a screwy Japanese sci-fi kind of way. Of course I also have an extensive godzilla collection and a tattoo of the big guy on my arm so maybe I’m just deranged.
    5 stars…

       2 likes

  7. I'm not a medium, I'm a petite says:

    Sitting Duck @5: Farfegnugen was a VW catchphrase used extensively in their advertizing and on bumberstickers.. it means something along the lines of “The Pleasure of Driving”. It spawned a number of parodies.. farfromgrovvin etc etc etc.

       4 likes

  8. I'm not a medium, I'm a petite says:

    I will pick up Sampo’s riffpunt.

    George Bernard Shaw under a desk writing Candide is a ( slightly mistaken ) riff on journalist Bernard Shaw sheltering and broadcasting under a desk in Baghdad during Gulf War 1. But GBS wrote Cadida, not Candide ( which was written by Voltaire ).

       5 likes

  9. jjb3k says:

    I believe Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide was first mentioned not in this episode, but in “Ring of Terror”, when Servo consults it during the opening credits to see how good the movie is. (Or that may have been the Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film, I’m not sure. I don’t have the episode in front of me to check.)

    As I mentioned in the talkback for “Fugitive Alien”, I made the serious mistake of watching both that episode and this one back-to-back not too long ago. Three straight hours with the Bacchus III crew is enough to drive anybody insane. Less than 30 minutes into this one, I was walking out of the room to do other things without even bothering to pause the DVD.

       4 likes

  10. I'm not a medium, I'm a petite says:

    ( must apologize, numerous misspellings in my last two posts.. should be farfromgroovin and Candida. )

       0 likes

  11. Stressfactor says:

    I have to admit I thought Trace was overusing the “Again?” riff at one point where he was saying it like three or four times in a row but beyond that I thought it was pretty funny.

    Also, color me crazy but I rather liked the “Fugitive Alien Medley”.

    As for the “movie” — really, it’s biggest failing is that it tacks on what was obviously meant to be the big ending for the TV series in the last ten minutes of the film. It gives pretty short shrift to what was, I imagine, a big, action packed, series finale.

    Not an episode that leaves me laughing uncontrollably but better than some which take me days to finish.

       4 likes

  12. bad wolf says:

    @5 and 7–According to wikipedia the spelling is “Fahrvergnügen” if that helps. After all these years i’ve finally learned some German and it is still amusing to see the origin of these ubiquitous advertising words from so long ago.

       1 likes

  13. Fred Burroughs says:

    The riffing is playful in this one, since they’ve already seen it all the first time, now they can just coast. Which results in creativity. RE: forrester and his Big Nose, he “waggles it ever so slightly, but it was a stunning effect.” This does look like a fun TV series, but even with machete editing it still has huge chunks of useless padding (walking scenes, parking scenes, and the whole ‘overheating’ subplot). So I imagine the series, like most of us were used to in the 70s, was mostly filler to kill time and make sure we were not bugging our parents. We got used to it, but it sure doesn’t make you feel important.

    The first section has an actual plot, continuing the Cesar colonel story from FA1, infiltrating their planet and sabotaging their secret weapon. (it can blow up the universe.) Makes sense. The we get the new uniforms, new assignment (protecting the NEW secret weapon which can blow up THE UNIVERSE) and within 10 minutes weve had two shootouts, multiple Ken’s mother subplots, traveled to the enemy planet and had 2 dogfights in ‘space’ trenches. (“Puppet ships to the rescue!”) And poor Crow shrieks in desperation “WHAT IS GOING ON?” It then becomes obvious they are taking 6 months of plot and trying to edit it into 20 minutes, ouch.

    I do like the Lord Halkon in FA2 , looks at little like Sergeant Kabukiman. He like the rest of the show is an obvious rip-off of Darth Vader, but darth vader himself was already an obvious rip-off of old Samurai villains from Kurosawe (his helmet and uniform, at least). So some Lucas irony coming home to roost, there.

       4 likes

  14. touches no one's life, then leaves says:

    IIRC variations of the Bernard Shaw riff were used at least twice during the Sci-Fi Channel, so it’s not as dated as all that.

       1 likes

  15. Zee says:

    I remember watching this at my Aunt’s house the night it first aired. She liked it and approved of the show’s lack of swearing.

    I like the big head invention, but I liked it even more when it kept returning throughout the rest of the season. When coming up with these inventions the writers really had a kooky screw loose!

    I wonder how they made Tom Servo’s head disintegrate in the theater right before segment 1?

    Sampo says this is “the end of this season’s see-saw, back-and-forth pattern” but it actually continues next episode with THE WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST. The spell is broken with THE UNEARTHLY.

    Re: #9: In RING OF TERROR Servo doesn’t say what book he’s using, although the entry does not match the one in the Psychotronic Encyclopedia.

    Crossing my fingers for the 2 FUGITIVE ALIENS to be on the next next boxed set!

       2 likes

  16. monoceros4 says:

    Another of my favorite episodes to replay. Heaven help me, I actually think Sandy Frank’s hack job mostly holds together until the last twenty minutes or so, when it completely disintegrates (“filmed in Convolutionvision!” ). As #13 says, it’s utterly preposterous that we go from one secret weapon that can blow up the universe immediately to a NEW secret weapon which can blow up THE UNIVERSE!

    Rocky, already something of a tool in the first Fugitive Alien, is an utter waste of space here. His precipitant threat to kill Col. Yurulen for no reason is bad enough, but then there’s that stunt with the “knockout dart”. Rocky’s shown no evidence of superior strength or competence to Capt. Joe–rather the opposite in fact–but he treats his captain like he’s a doddering old man. So he declares that since Capt. Joe couldn’t possibly survive on Cesar, he’s going to…kill him first? Huh? Rocky accomplishes nothing on Cesar anyway; as far as I can remember, Col. Yurulen and Ken do all the work.

    The Captain Joe Action Figure is one of the show’s best host segments. You’ll be in a constant state of excitement while he’s in a state of denial! I love how Joel casually pushes all the props to the floor when he’s done with them. But, funny as that all is, it’s not as hilarious as Tom’s head bursting. I’ve learned so much from that segment. Apparently, for example, Tom’s subconscious is formed partly of Harry Caray broadcasts. Also, death means a trip to “the bone orchard” and “the badlands”.

       4 likes

  17. Droppo says:

    “Did we really need more of this?”

    Yes. Yes, we did. I adore this episode…even more than Fugitive Alien I. The FA medley is up there with my all-time favorite host segments. I always loved when they did sequels to eps that I loved (ex: Master Ninja)….it gives you even more time with the characters and actors. For me, that always made the jokes hit harder. They got to explore that particular world a bit more and it was great.

    Master Ninja I and II will always be my favorite eps and favorite original/sequel combo…..but, the next ones on the list are:

    FA I and Star Force: FA II

    and

    Gamera vs. Guiron and Gamera vs. Zigra

       4 likes

  18. Zee says:

    Captain Joe, I’m not going to sit here and watch you Cowabungle your life!

       6 likes

  19. Luke says:

    Simply put, this is a top three episode of the series. Unlike many other Japanese films they did, the riffing isn’t virulently racist, which is certainly a plus. But I’m saying its top three because 99.9% of the riffs are funny AND every host segment is great- how often has that happened?

       2 likes

  20. Stressfactor says:

    Forgot to mention, for the first host segment, Joel’s left cross to Crow’s beak is definitely not a punch he should lead with… : >

       1 likes

  21. Greasyfries says:

    My only comment is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTxJG-wvMWY

    Ole!

       2 likes

  22. Cheapskate Crow says:

    This episode got off to a good start but lost me in the overheating sequence, I just couldn’t bear anymore and pushed the stop button. I love the Rocky “Again!” riffs since I love Rocky and Bullwinkle and Servo’s Harry Caray was pretty good.

       1 likes

  23. Fred Burroughs says:

    I think the Rocky “Again?” repeating riff was funnier after I noticed that Crow took over after Tom stopped doing it IIRC, and watching Crow’s reaction each time as he anticipates being disciplined by Joel; flinching, or ducking or being throttled. Puppetry!

       4 likes

  24. lancecorbain says:

    I will also throw in my support for the Fugitive Alien medley. I remember losing it on first viewing when Tom started singing “I saw three ships come sailing in, on Christmas day, on Christmas day…” Too funny.

       6 likes

  25. Smirkboy says:

    When it comes to MST3K I always throw continuity out the window and go with the movie scene to scene.
    After the third host segment the crew has changed from orange and white plether to silver mylar. And Tammy’s carrying around a baby R2D2. And all of the sudden Baccus III has a hanger deck with Ken’s own X-wing fighter on board. I love that kind of stuph!

    That’s why I love the foreign movies the best, they just make sh!t up as they go along.
    And you never see normality or the mundane world. I’ts fantasy or “Out there” sci-fi.

    and one of my favorite lines:
    “They blewed it up before knew what it was!”

       0 likes

  26. robot rump! says:

    first off i’d like to say that this little slice of sunshine was well produced and infinitly easier to understand than the initial Star Force adventure. i’d also like to say that gnomes dance around my back yard during a full moon leaving a bounty of gold coins in the morning…neither is unfortunatly true. you have one race of aliens that’s blue part of the time and not blue the other. the bomb that can destroy a galaxy sometimes and destroy a planet the other. of course i generally black out before they fly through the black hole so i can’t say my memories of the movie are to be fully trusted. in closing, i would just like to say..Sandy Frank, shame. on. you…

       3 likes

  27. Miss Mary says:

    #9 – Servo is using Leonard Maltin’s film guide.

       0 likes

  28. Mr. B(ob) says:

    I really enjoyed this episode a lot, though it is a bit “more of the same” as the first Fugitive Alien episode which was absolutely brilliantly funny. So I’m a bit ambivalent, I enjoyed it because it was more of something that was really funny, but it did seem less genius this time around due to the repetitive nature of the material. I think BBI did their best the first time around with this material and it does seem like they had to work extra hard to come up with more new jokes about it for Fugitive Alien II. Overall I think they were successful and there’s still plenty of big laughs here even if this episode isn’t the sparklingly fresh “classic” that is the first Fugitive Alien.

       1 likes

  29. dsman71 says:

    That Fahrvergnügen sounds like something for a Brett Favre product- the former Packers QB rides a VW ! That went a long way including jokes like (I am quoting this) “what do you call a constipated German?”
    Farfrompoopin !
    And so forth
    I love this ep for some good cheesy Japanese sci fi..
    After this they started to do a different direction – technically it was after the next episode which is another AIP wonder called War of the Colossal Beast which fits into that USA, Corman , Gordon order..from there they went to independent studios schlock and then back to FVI for their intros to films using stock footage or something unrelated to what we, the viewer would watch which would be the Master (bate ng) Ninja series !
    Joels Hair,
    Joels Knees
    Fromfrompoopin
    Schlock
    That therapy sure hasnt worked
    well time for some more then ! :)

       2 likes

  30. Alex says:

    WEEEEEEE WANT TO STICK IT TO SANDY FRAAAAAAAANK.

    The riffing, while not as good as Fugetive Alien, is decent, and the host segments are good. Makes you wonder though – after this Sandy Frank movie, how come the never bothered doing “Humanoid Woman” or “Legend of the Dinosaurs” again?

       1 likes

  31. Ralph C. says:

    I like this episode a lot. Everytime I watch Fugitive Alien & Fugitive Alien II I laugh.

       2 likes

  32. snowdog says:

    Hey Sampo, I noticed that all the episodes in each season of the guide have the same star-rating/vote count. Is this some kind of average for the season or a glitch er….?

       0 likes

  33. Gorn Captain says:

    @19 I have a hard time recalling any riffs on the other Japanese films they did that could be considered “virulently racist”?

       5 likes

  34. Kali says:

    Far Fig Newton? Hmm, what commercials we watched in the 80s…

       1 likes

  35. Kali says:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOnne-90CLI

    And we still don’t know what a Far Fig Newton is…

    :-)

       0 likes

  36. losingmydignity says:

    This ep is a lot of fun. I’m not sure which FA I like the most. I always mix them up. In fact, this review is oddly just like my review for FA I.

    AGAIN!

    B+

       1 likes

  37. Jbagels says:

    This premiered on my 9th birthday (apparently). This was one of my favorites as a kid since I probably didn’t notice how convoluted and crazy the “movie” was back then. Still a good one though.

       0 likes

  38. Wilford B. Wolf says:

    I wouldn’t say that the rest of 3rd season broke the pattern; Master Ninja 1 and 2 continue the Japanese theme for even number episodes (even if they are retreads of a lame 80s action TV series…)

       1 likes

  39. MiqelDotCom says:

    One continuity error that always bugged me:
    There’s the scene where the imposter Mom explains to the crew that she was forced to impersonate Ken’s mom. 5 minutes later, Ken is fighting with Lord Halkon, who throws a sword and kills the woman. Ken cries out “Mother!” and as she dies she tells him “Ken, i’m not really your mother”

    WHAT? This must be some error in the editing, even the writers wouldn’t mess it up that bad!

       2 likes

  40. JLH says:

    I think the toy in Crow’s net might be the Captain Joe figure, making an ahead-of-time cameo.

       0 likes

  41. Watch-out-for-Snakes says:

    This might just be my least favorite episode of Season 3 (so far; I recall not liking The Unearthly or Castle of Fu Manchu very much, but we’re not there yet, so we’ll review then) as the movie just ricochets violently from scene to scene while maintaining optimum levels of tedium and boredom and the riffing sort of meanders around and just lies there, not doing much for me.

    Luckily all the Host Segments and the intro are all really good. The Invention Exchange is enjoyable if you release yourself to the simplistic absurdity of big noses and Joel’s big head (which cracks me up) and just go with it. In HS#2, does Joel say “cowabunga” or “cowabungle?” Either way, the line “Captain Joe, I’m not going to sit here and watch you Cowabunga your life away!” is hilarious. Made me chuckle.

    Okay,
    the repetition of the “Rocky, AGAIN?” riff that Crow does really, really, REALLY got on my nerves. I wanted Joel to tear his arms off sooooo bad. Or at least mess with his circuitry or something. . I don’t like the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons, never have; I’m 31 and I suspect I never will.

    I suspect the “Rocky? Again!?” riff is a big reason why this is my least favorite of Season 3 (so far) but the strong Host Segments keep this one in the “good” range, lands it right at 3/5.

    RIFFS:

    Joel: “UHhooo, that’s good blow!”

    Joel: “I wanna be torn apart by animals!”

    Crow: “Do you find me pleasing?” ——CALLBACK, to short SPEECH: USING YOUR VOICE in ep.#313

    beeping in movie,
    Joel, in squeaky voice: “Uh, curly fries are up, sir.”

    Movie: “Sooner or later, one of them is gonna score a hit..”
    Joel: “..off the bong.”
    Servo/Crow: “Woooo!”

    Crow: “A Grimault warrior is supposed to be brave.” ——CALLBACK, to ep.#317

    Crow: “Watch out for the percussionists; they might have tambourines.”


    OH,
    and THANK JEBUS that this is the last Sandy Frank movie seen on MST3K. I. am. not. a. fan.

    Fugitive Alien is my favorite of the Sandy Frank MSTs.
    Star Force: Fugitive Alien II is my least fave,
    3/5.

       3 likes

  42. RockyJones says:

    #39-MiqelDotCom: Thank you for mentioning that! That’s ALWAYS bothered me!

    “Ken…I’m not really your mother!”

    Uh…Yeah…didn’t we already do this scene???

       1 likes

  43. Stressfactor says:

    @Alex,

    While I’ve wondered the same about “Humanoid Woman” and “The Legend of the Dinosaurs” I just figured they couldn’t get the rights… or else they just weren’t that interested in re-riffing them.

    For “Humanoid Woman” I’m not terribly upset that they didn’t take another crack at it since I really don’t consider it a bad film… just a dull one due to being badly edited and dubbed.* But I REALLY wish they’d taken another crack at the “Dinosaurs”. With the experience under their belt they could have really made that one a laugh riot.

    “Dinosaurs”, though, may have been a feature of the movie being a bit violent for their new home on Comedy Central. After all, you get a horse slaughtered, a girl bitten in half, a couple of guys on a raft eaten (“Adam and Eve on a raft… wreck ’em”)… etc.

    *No, really, I don’t think it’s all that bad of a movie. A scientist who creates a race of powerful children to save their damaged and dying world is stabbed in the back and his plan sabotaged by the petty little dictator who wants to keep the people under his thumb. One child survives and eventually tries to find her purpose in life. Along the way she starts to fall in love but in the end she must make a choice between that chance at love or the duty she was born to.

       2 likes

  44. Stressfactor says:

    @Gorn Captain some of the KTMA takes of these same movies get kind of offensive in places. And the KTMA “Million Eyes of Su-Muru”, while not Japanese, is pretty bad.

       1 likes

  45. touches no one's life, then leaves says:

    @39: She got so into her role that she just had to correct him in public ONE LAST TIME before she died.

    “Already…told you I’m…not real mother, can’t you…can’t you for just…once in life just…pay attention? Think…you think I’m talking just to…hear my…my…”

       10 likes

  46. Servotron3000 says:

    “It’s not going to be easy to get inside”
    “How will we get in there?”
    “Easy!”

    I still crack up every time I hear that line.

       4 likes

  47. pablum says:

    For anyone wondering why Yurulin was imprisoned in the ship for a moment there was a long black hole scene cut from the Comedy Central version where Ken and Yurulin mutiny and take over. All done with good intention of saving the rest of the crew. Sort of like Rocky shooting Captain Joe with a tranquilizer dart to keep him out of harm’s way.

    The end of the Sandy Frank eps and the end of the Japanese episodes until Prince of Space in season 8.

    A very fun episode with a hilariously butchered “movie”. If you liked Fugitive Alien 1 you’ll like this one as well.

       1 likes

  48. robot rump! says:

    one other thing to point out, judging from Lord Hauken or Hakken…like it matters… it’s nice to know that in some far and distant part of the galaxy KISS made a big impression on some alien kid.

       2 likes

  49. wotunw5o says:

    >3
    There’s the first few eps on veoh in raw Japanese.

       0 likes

  50. Sharktopus says:

    Raw Japanese? That’s hardcore, man. I need to cut my Starwolf with some ground aspirin to take the edge off. Maybe a little mayonnaise. Yeah, I mix my metaphors. I’m a rebel, baby. It’s how I get my kicks. Captain Jou knows what I’m talking ’bout. He’s hip. Not like that square Rocky. He really bugs me.

       8 likes

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