30 May 2008

50 Sci-Fi "Classics"

For Christmas 2007, someone who shall remain nameless gave me a box set of 12 DVDs that contain 50 movies labeled Sci-Fi "Classics." The quotation marks in the title are very necessary due to the stunningly low quality of these films. I have attempted to watch several of them. With one possible exception, I concluded that they were all worthy of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K).

For those who do not know, MST3K was a television series that feature a human and several robots trapped on a satellite and forced to watch bad movies. The human (Joel or Mike depending on the season) and two of the robots mock the movies as the view sees their silhouettes in front of the theater screen. Since the cancellation of MST3K, the creators and actors have launched several similar projects: The Film Crew, Cinematic Titanic, and RiffTrax.

I have done enough research to prove that my claim about these films is not hyperbole. Sixteen of them have been featured on MST3K or one of its progeny, as you can see in the table below.





















Title Commentary
The Wasp Woman Cinematic Titanic (rumor)
First Space Ship on Venus MST3K #211
Gamera the Invincible MST3K #302
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians MST3K #321
Teenagers From Outer space MST3K #404
Hercules Unchained MST3K #408
Hercules Against the Moonmen MST3K #410
Hercules and the Captive Women MST3K #412
Crash of the Moons MST3K #417
Eegah MST3K #506
The Atomic Brain MST3K #518
The Amazing Transparent Man MST3K #623
The Phantom Planet MST3K #902
Horrors of Spider Island MST3K #1011
Killers From Space The Film Crew
The Wild Women Of Wongo The Film Crew


The remaining films are listed below. If the MST3K alumni need any suggestions for new films to redeem with their humor, here are 34.

Assignment: Outer Space
Attack of the Monsters
Battle Of the Worlds
Blood Tide
Bride Of The Gorilla
Colossus and the Amazon Queen
Cosmos: War of the Planets
Destroy All Planets
Devil of The Desert vs. Son Of Hercules
Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon
Kong Island
Laser Mission
Lost Jungle
Menace From Outer Space
Mesa of Lost Women
Moon of the Wolf
Phantom From Space
Planet Outlaws
Prehistoric Women
Queen of the Amazons
She Gods of Shark Reef
Son Of Hercules: The Land Of Darkness
The Astral Factor
The Brain Machine
The Galaxy Invader
The Incredible Petrified World
The Snow Creature
They Came From Beyond Space
Unknown World
Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women
Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet
Warning From Space
White Pongo
Zontar, The Thing From Venus

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