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Weekend Discussion Thread: Stock Footage

Our episode guide discussion focused on a movie with LOTS of stock footage and that’s a topic we’ve never gotten into, so let’s do it.

Let’s hear about your favorite/most memorable use of stock footage in a MSTed movie.

And while we’re at it, are there any movies that didn’t stock footage where it might have helped? Discuss.

For my favorite use of stock footage, I need only say two words: Hitler building.

Have at it!

66 Replies to “Weekend Discussion Thread: Stock Footage”

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  1. Kensington Chubb says:

    There’s the heaps, gobs, and reams of stock footage from prior Toho spectaculars in “Godzilla Vs. Megalon”… a lot of it from “Godzilla Vs. Gigan”, released only the year before! In fact, when Megalon swipes at the attacking planes, every cut of the planes being hit is actually Gigan’s arms hitting the planes. In fact, some of the stock footage of the military being rolled out (culled from “Monster Zero”, “War Of The Gargantuas”, “Destroy All Monsters”, and even a single shot from “The Mysterians”) is cut together in the exact same sequence in “Gigan”… making the stock footage in “Megalon” second-hand on top of second-hand!

       2 likes

  2. Nick Miller says:

    Do the Film Ventures credit sequences count? I’ve always found myself more interested in that footage than the movies themselves.

       1 likes

  3. Robert L Lippert Jr says:

    Space Travelers $20 million dollars and they’re still using stock footage!

       2 likes

  4. Danzilla "Cornjob" McLargehuge, Student of Kaijuology says:

    Great topic!!!! For me, my favorite is in Gamera vs. Guiron when Flobella and Barbella hack little Akio’s mind and playback footage from previous Gamera films to explain his origins to the aliens. We are (re) treated to footage of Gamera saving Kenny from “Gamera”, Gamera saving Ichy from “Gamera vs. Gyaos”, and Gamera saving the two boy scouts from “Gamera vs. Viras” (which was never shown on MST… oh, if only… that film had a TEN MINUTE STOCK FOOTAGE SEQUENCE!!!!). For Gamera fans, by the time Guiron came around, we’d seen that footage too many times already! It really is a shame the guys never got around to riffing the final “original series” Gamera film, “Gamera: Super Monster”! That film was ALL stock footage! I still maintain that if Dr. Forester had sent Joel that one, he would have found the perfect world conquering film and the Earth would have been HIS!!!! HIS, HIS I SAY!!!! HIIIISSSS!!!!!!!!

    Ahem, well anyway… maybe RT or CT will riff that one (along with “Viras” and “Gamera vs. Jiger”) one day! :)

       2 likes

  5. MikeH says:

    Fire Maidens in Outer Space. I know the flying scenes in the beginning were also in another movie, I think Wild World of Batwoman, plus them landing on Jupiter’s 13th moon. 12 to the moon, when the two scientists in the end sacrificed themselves to save the earth. Creeping Terror when the alien landed on earth (reversed this time!!)and the atom bomb explosion in Beast of Yucca Flats.

    I think for Starfighters, the entire movie is just stock footage edited to look like a real movie!! :-D

       2 likes

  6. Creeping-Death says:

    Starfighters is probably 75% stock footage. In Deadly Mantis, the first 15 minutes was mostly stock footage and a good part of the later portion, like the whole scene with the Eskimos, was stock footage.

       2 likes

  7. Zor Prime says:

    For anyone that doesn’t know, the animal footage in “Overdrawn” is from a documentary called “Animals are Beautiful People”. I’m pretty sure Netflix still has it. It’s probably on YouTube also.

       4 likes

  8. GaryMSTy says:

    Hmm Starfighters,King Dinosaur,Lost Continent, Space Mutiny but honestly I think almost every single episode has a little bit of stock footage ha :-((

       2 likes

  9. Machete Bug says:

    Someone already mentioned Invasion USA, but the one riff about that stock footage that always makes me chuckle:

    “So, World War III is going to be a lot like World War II.”

    Hey, didn’t those fighting lizards show up again in Teenage Caveman? Or were those other giant fighting lizards?

    All of my favorites have already been mentioned, but some more notables I can think of:

    Sinister Urge – pizza joint footage from the movie Hellborn

    Terror From the Year 5000 – I love the process shot constructed out of the statue and the stock footage plane flying over the city.

    The Mole People – Avalanche footage! Run!

    Radar Secret Service – sure, not as lengthy as The Deadly Mantis opening sequence, but a healthy dose of stock footage and narration for a movie to open with. And they DO riff about A Night to Remember during the shot of of the ship in icy waters.

    Horrors of Spider Island – Casting the dance troup in what appears to be LA, but the plane taking off to take them to Singapore is very obviously flying over New York. Too funny. Top it off with the plane crash, and it’s unintentional comedy gold.

    I’m drawing a blank here on one. There was some footage of a speeding car that had no police markings whatsoever, but siren FX were put on the soundtrack to pass it off as a cop car. Too funny.

       2 likes

  10. clamstie says:

    A lot of movies have car crash stock footage (usually car falls down a hill and explodes)

    One of my favorites is from Hobgloblins where they said the car crashed and turned into a Lincoln

       3 likes

  11. huggybear says:

    I agree with the last thread. “Hobgoblins” where the car actually changes make is a good one. Also liked when Dirk goes over the hill in “The Sinister Urge”. Especially how he grabs his arm at the last second. Oops, forgot that I’m hurt! “Invasion USA” must have been like 90% stock footage. And there’s my all time favorite, “The Skydivers”. Lots of skydiving footage!

       3 likes

  12. georgel949 says:

    STOP THE PRESSES!! I have just thought of the single most important need for Stock Footage in the history of MST3K. It’s the Super Model segment from ALIEN FROM L.A. And no I don’t mean I want to see She Who Must Not Be Named in her underwear!

    But think of the possibilities. Mike recites the list of models in his attempt to discover just who it is that Tom and Crow are thinking of. Stock Footage of each could be displayed.

    Lions and tigers and models – Oh My.

    Now if you’ll excuse me I’ll be over in the corner, SITTING ON A PARK BENCH!!

       3 likes

  13. Depressing Aunt says:

    Did I imagine it, or did the She Creature show up in Teenage Caveman, too, for about a second at the end there? Hmmm…

       0 likes

  14. SOL Daria says:

    @59 Re “Take our word for it, a police car” (I think that was the riff), sounds like Brute Man, but it could have been Racket Girls.

    @63 She Creature did show up as an example of the mutations during the astronaut’s dying speech.

       1 likes

  15. MikeH says:

    One other mention, Film Crew’s “Killer’s from Space” About the first third of the movie is stock footage galore. I think William Wilder (the director) used the film equipment used to make the stock footage to film the movie. Just has that graininess of old stock films.

       0 likes

  16. ANGMEM says:

    Deadly Mantis:

    The airplanes keep taking off and Servo sings “Highway to the..cheap stock footage” (from Top Gun).

       0 likes

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