Movie: (1964) A group of scientists create a portal that takes them to a barren, mutant-inhabited Earth.

Opening: J&tB are playing a game of “Never Did I Ever”
Invention exchange: Crow has Dr. Crow’s Old Edible Silica Packets; The Mads have the Afterlife Alert
Segment 1: Gypsy leads a time portal safety drill
Segment 2: Jonah introduces some new robots. Crow and Tom hogpile them
Segment 3: Dr. Varno and Larry visit on Rocket Number 9
Closing: The bots are delighted to have time travel dopplegangers; Kinga is seeking anniversary dollars
Stinger: Danny is diggin’ it.
(48 votes, average: 3.88 out of 5)
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• To me, it’s with this episode that everything seems to fall into place after a couple of episodes that were cute and clever and diverting but not really ha-ha funny. I laughed a lot during this one.
• Note that Max is wearing an amulet on a chain around his neck that looks like the one the little kid wore in the previous episode.
• This movie was made in an interesting era when the writers knew what lasers were, but the actors still didn’t know how to pronounce them.
• Tom pushing the rocket up is probably the best use so far of his flying abilities
• Callbacks: mention of an interociter (“This Island Earth”), “It stinks!” (Pod People).
• With Joel in segment 3 is show writer Elliott Kalan. A very funny guy but, this was not his best performance. More wry than funny, though Joel’s takes to the camera almost save it.
• An interesting tidbit: director Ib Melchior (who co-wrote the movie in episode 1101- REPTILICUS) came up with a comic book series, “Space Family Robinson,” which Melchior believed was the inspiration for “Lost in Space.” Considering that Joel took his character’s surname of Joel Robinson, it’s reasonable to think Ib might have had an influence (consciously or unconsciously) on MST3K’s first test subject’s name.
• This movie was produced by Samuel Z Arkoff, whose other riffed films include “I Was a Teenage Werewolf,” “The Amazing Colossal Man,” “Viking Women,” “War of The Colossal Beast,” “ She-Creature,” “Teenage Caveman,” “Terror from the Year 5000,” “It Conquered the World” and “Viking Women.”
• Cast and crew roundup: Merry Anders was in “Women of the Prehistoric Planet.” John Hoyt was in “Lost Continent.” Forrest Ackerman also appeared in a “Future War.” Steve Franken was in “Avalanche.” Makeup artist Marc Snegoff was also the makeup artist in “Agent of H.A.R.M” and “Catalina Caper” (which he also acted in). Script supervisor Hannah Sheel was also the script supervisor on “The Bat People.” Reynold Brown did the poster art for “The Brain That Wouldn’t Die,” “Teenage Cave Man,” “Viking Women,” “I Was A Teenage Werewolf, “Revenge of the Creature” and “This Island Earth.”
• Fave riff: “And which part of the human centipede do YOU want to be?” Honorable mention: “Bechdel test score: zero” and “I have a slinky and a Dilbert calendar.”