Movie: (1955) Sequel to “Creature from the Black Lagoon,” in which the creature is at last captured and taken to a Florida aquarium for “study.”

First shown: 2/1/97
Opening: Mike, Tom and Gypsy reappear on the bridge of the SOL. They find Crow already there, but he seems different. As they are about to crash into Earth, Mike saves the ship but cripples it. They contact the planet, and it’s NOT Dr. Forrester who responds
Intro: After a good scream, Prof. Bobo and Dr. Peanut explain just what’s been happening on Earth lately. Bobo sends a bad movie because it’s “Ape Law”
Host segment 1: Servo tries to repair the SOL’s engines with a little help from the nanites. Crow still seems different
Host segment 2: An irate Phil the alien demands to speak to Servo
Host segment 3: Crow may be different, but he makes a great espresso
End: The bots make an embarrassing discovery about the love lives of Mike’s descendants. Then they learn who The Lawgiver is
Stinger: John Agar swims softly and carries a big stick
(261 votes, average: 4.31 out of 5)
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• When the show was canceled (by Sci-Fi), we learned that Sci-Fi was simply going to delete the MST3K section of their web site including the episode guide entries the cast had written. We asked if we could have them. They agreed, as long as we designed new web pages for the text. We took the stuff and ran. The upshot is that you can still read the episode guide entries they did for seasons eight through ten here. You’re welcome. Bill offers his thoughts on this episode here.
• This episode is included in Shout! Factory’s Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Vol XXV.
•The stretch between the end of season 7 and the beginning of season 8 was 259 days, the longest amount of time MSTies had to wait between episodes (not counting wait between seasons 10 and 11, of course),
• I was incredibly nervous about this episode. I guess I should have had more confidence in them, but, at the time, I really didn’t know what to expect. All that long summer, fall and winter I began to wonder if maybe MST3K was just a ridiculous chance thing, and whether they could catch lightning in a bottle again. And it seemed to me that in the last CC episode the writers had painted themselves into a pretty tight corner. Could they get out of it with their usual aplomb? Sci-Fi Channel sent me a preview tape of the first show, and on the day it arrived I practically dashed to the TV and shoved it into the VCR. I was pleasantly surprised and hugely relieved.
Using the narrative economy this show is known for, it took them less than five minutes to extricate themselves from that corner, set the premise back up and get back into the theater. Was the opening bit terribly funny? No, but it was silly, and that was enough. I think that segment was much more about pushing the reset button than about the big yuks. And once they were back in the theater again, everything started to click into place. Almost immediately the riffs got funnier and funnier, and when Crow sings: “Egrets, I’ve had a few…” I cracked up and said to myself: “They’re back.”
• Of course, with this episode, we have another new version (or verse, as I prefer to say) of the theme song, and all-new visuals. But the new lyrics were a bit of a problem. They set out the new “endless chase” premise, including the Widowmaker space ship, etc. The problem is that in this episode, the “endless chase” has not yet begun, and after coming to grips with that premise, viewers then have to re-adjust to the whole “Planet of the Apes” thing that we are introduced to here. When this show first aired, more than a few viewers expressed confusion at this, wondering which premise the show was going with — the endless chase or the ape business. It would take several episodes before they figured out that the Ape premise was only a temporary sub-plot to the larger endless chase scenario.
• And, of course, with this episode Bill Corbett took over as Crow. Erhardt and I visited the studio the week before the show aired. See our report here.
It was there that Bill forthrightly said to us: “Crow has had a stroke.” And, yes, there definitely was a settling-in period for Bill’s Crow (those with long memories will recall that it also took several episodes for Kevin to settle into the Tom Servo character and voice). But the process was already under way by the end of this episode.
• And there are an array of new characters: Drs. Bobo and Peanut, the nanites and a completely revamped Pearl. I really do give Mary Jo a lot of credit for finding the funny in her character. Even when she was essentially a straight woman, setting up punch lines for Kevin or Bill, she did it well.
• Younger fans may perhaps wonder why one of the apes is playing with a suitcase in the background. That’s a reference to an old American Tourister commercial, in which they demonstrated their suitcases’ strength by throwing it into a cage with an angry gorilla.
• Gone, of course, is Deep 13. In its place (for now) is a set the cast called “Deep Ape” though it was never called that on the show.
• On the SOL, things are, well, darker. Gone for good is the brightly lit SOL of, say, season three. It’s just part of the look of this later period, largely the creation of Jeff Stonehouse, who liked it better. It took some getting used to.
• I have to say that I was never really comfortable with the whole “Crow doesn’t remember Mike” concept and I was glad when it only lasted a few episodes.
• In the opening, Crow is reading George Magazine, a “politics-as-lifestyle” glossy co-founded by John F. Kennedy Jr. It folded in 2001.
• Mike is almost unrecognizable in the ape makeup as Peanut, but the voice is a dead giveaway. That’s Jim and Bill in the background in the ape costumes — the first time Jim actually appeared in a sketch in several seasons.
• Bobo says he is descended from Godo. Unfortunately Godo is a character in “Time of the Apes” who was NOT an ape. Oops.
• There were some complaints, I remember, following Mike’s line: “Crow, this is what we’ve been doing for seven years!” That’s certainly not true of Mike’s character, but then again, it’s just a show, I should really just relax.
• Callback: During segment one, Tom says, “jerking around must have cause a flameout,” a line from “This Island Earth.” I also thought it was interesting that one of Mike’s first segments when he started as host had him on the floor helping the bots who were digging around in the wiring below the deck, and that’s again what he’s doing in one of his first segments on the new channel. Coincidence? Possibly.
• Segment 1, in which the nanites are introduced, is a lot of fun. Of course that’s Kevin and Paul as Wade and Ned, respectively. It’s another tightly written, very funny, spot.
• Segment 2 introduces yet another running gag — the notion that Tom has had all sorts of wild adventures out in the galaxy. They kind of toy with the idea but it never really pays off. That’s Bill, of course, as Phil the alien.
• Again and again in this episode, all sorts of odd fish float into view and the riffers give them all sorts of weird and silly voices. Funny stuff.
• Segment 3 is kinda silly but doesn’t go much of anywhere.
• The final bit is carried entirely by Mary Jo’s energy. Her explanations make no sense, but she makes them with such bravada that it works.
• Cast and crew roundup: Okay, now begins a stretch of Universal B-movies, most of which were created by the same bunch of people. So strap in: producer William Alland also produced “The Mole People,” “The Deadly Mantis” (for which he also got a story credit) “The Space Children” and “This Island Earth.” Director Jack Arnold also directed “The Space Children.” Scriptwriter Martin Berkeley also wrote “The Deadly Mantis.” Somebody whip up some gowns! Jay A. Morley Jr. did for this movie and also did for “The Mole People” and “The Deadly Mantis.” Makeup guy Bud Westmore also worked on “The Mole People,” “The Deadly Mantis,” “The Leech Woman,” “San Francisco International,” “The Thing That Couldn’t Die and “This Island Earth.” Hair stylist Joan St. Oegger also worked on “The Mole People,” “The Amazing Colossal Man” and “This Island Earth.” Art director Alexander Golitzen also worked on “The Leech Woman,” “The Mole People,” “The Deadly Mantis,” “The Thing that Couldn’t Die,” “Kitten With A Whip” and “This Island Earth.” Set designer Russell A. Gausman also worked on “The Leech Woman,” “The Mole People,” “The Deadly Mantis,” “The Thing that Couldn’t Die,” “The Brute Man” and “This Island Earth.” Set designer Julia Heron also worked “The Thing that Couldn’t Die” and “This Island Earth.” Sound person Leslie I. Carey also worked on “The Leech Woman,” “The Mole People,” “The Deadly Mantis,” “The Thing that Couldn’t Die” and “This Island Earth.” Music director Joseph Gershenson also worked on “The Mole People,” “The Deadly Mantis,” “The Thing that Couldn’t Die,” “Kitten with a Whip,” “This Island Earth” and he produced “The Leech Woman.” Score composer Herman Stein also worked on “The Mole People” and “This Island Earth.” Score composer Henry Mancini also worked on “The Mole People,” “The Deadly Mantis,” “The Thing that Couldn’t Die” and “This Island Earth.”
In front of the camera: John Agar also appears in “The Mole People,” and “Women of the Prehistoric Planet.” Nestor Paiva also appeared in “The Mole People.” Robert B. Williams appeared in “This Island Earth.” Brett Halsey also appeared in “Girl in Lovers Lane.” Ned LeFevre also appeared in “The Deadly Mantis.” Don C. Harvey also appeared in “Beginning of the End.” Bob Wehling wrote the script for “Eegah.” Robert Hoy also appeared in “The Mole People” and “Master Ninja II.” Sidney Mason also appeared in “Teenage Crime Wave.” Lori Nelson also appeared in “Untamed Youth.”
• CreditsWatch: The “produced and directed by,” “directed by” and “produced by” credits will change hands all season. This week the show was produced and directed by Jim, with Kevin listed as “associate producer.” Jim is also listed as a contributing writer. Something called “Blue Thumb Scenic” gets a set design credit. Patrick Brantseg — intern in season 4 and “utility infielder” in seasons 5 and 6 (he doesn’t seem to have worked on season 7) — now takes over as “art director.” Brad Keely returns as “technical supervisor.” Beth “Beez” McKeever takes the place of Jef Maynard, taking the title of “prop diva.” Barb Tebben takes the place of Julie Walker as “Info Club poobah.” We say hello to production manager Jill Roozenboom, grip Mike Parker and interns Elliot Cobb and Mytch Parks.
• Fave riff: “Of course, a couple of the chimps drowned…” Honorable mention: “Does he got a thing?”