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DVD Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Mitchell
This farewell episode for Joel Hodgson is a sentimental favorite but even more worth it for the hilarity spawned by our captured Satellite of Love friends. The movie centers on the hapless, big lug cop named Mitchell (Joe Don Baker), who fights the rich and powerful drug-dealing bad guys. Along the way, Mitchell finds himself investigating murder, falling "in sex" with Linda Evans, helping an elderly woman like a good son, and telling a bothersome wisecracking kid to buzz off. Match that with clothing and music from 1975 and you've got prime fodder for the biting remarks of Joel, Crow, and Tom Servo--which, of course, they take advantage of handily and in abundance. Mitchell has a few quiet areas but these are spotty, and when Joel and his mechanical friends start wisecracking, it's all hilariously worth the wait. Mitchell: So '70s, you'd swear Kris Kristofferson was moaning the theme song in the background. --Karen Karleski
Review(s): DVD Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Mitchell
Another Average Episode
I'm a fan of MST3K but I just thought that Mitchell was just a decent movie, at some points very boring. I actually caught myself almost falling asleep at some points. The only good thing about this episode is that this is when Mike took over as host and the episode when Joel left.
It was cute how Gypsy was trying hard to save her maker when she overheard that the Mads would kill him. But the movie is a snoozer. I prefered Mike's last episode with Diobolick. The in-between story is good, but they should have picked a much better movie.
You guys get to watch Joe Don Baker films ?
Oh thank god for the jump cut !!
What can I say about this MST3K episode that has not already been said ? This is the episode I pop in when I've had a REALLY bad day. The wacca-chica-wacca starts and I'm in the MST3K zone. The crew is brutal to Joe Don Baker.... but he and everyone involved deserves it.
Along with "I Accuse My Parents" and "Manos..The Hands of Faith" this is an MST3K essential. Don't miss it !!
Just don't touch the baby oil.
My, my, my, MY GOD!!!
If ever there was a bad movie for original MST3K host Joel "Joel Robinson" Hodgson to say his farewells to... well, I think they coulda' done a little better than goofing on "Mitchell". Now don't get me wrong, the soon-to-be-departed Gizmonics refugee and his robotic cohorts did a pretty good job cuttin' this flick up in their usual style, but I've seen better from 'em. Still, I don't think I've ever seen the boys react to a boink scene like the one shown here between the slightly bloated titular character (played by Joe Don Baker) and co-star Linda Evans. The voice in my mind echoed Crow's sentiment when he uttered, "MY GO-O-O-O-O-D!!! Why would anybody want to do this with Mitchell, Joel?!?!" as the scene played on. As disturbing as this scene was, it's also the funniest moment in MST3K history; I laughed so hard I blew Diet Coke outta my nose! Which was odd, 'cuz I was drinkin' orange juice at the time...
Aside from Mitchell's, er, extracurricular activities, there are several other laughs to be had here. Some are a bit dated (e.g. Tom's Darryl Gates crack), which still has good comedic impact if you're familiar with the period the gag came from. This show also contains a few of those weird non-sequitir-type jokes. You know, one of the 'bots blurts out something that makes no sense at all, yet the statement is funny in a weird way. You're laughing while your mind says, "huh?", you know what I mean? Eh, maybe not...
Anyhoo, this is one of the few single-DVD MST3K releases that doesn't include the original, uncut version of the movie. Which is kinda sad, `cuz the uncut version of `Mitchell' is R-rated, which means you know they hadda cut some of the edgier stuff out to make it suitable for basic-cable viewing. Which has gotten me curious to see what the cut-out stuff looks like. Personally, however, I think they should simply revive MST3K for HBO or Showtime, and pull out all the stops in the way of, shall we say, "blue" material, like the goofing AND the movies being goofed on. I can just see Joel or Mike and the droids letting it all hang out (so to speak) whilst working their magic on such naughty or ultraviolent flops as "Showgirls" and "Judge Dredd", without worrying about what the sponsors will think of their performance. Sure there's the somewhat edgy PG-13-rated "MST3K The Movie", but that's a church sermon compared to what I'm envisioning here-- if that makes any freakin' sense at all...
Anyhoo, the intermission sketches aren't all that hilarious, but they do help the audience keep up with Gypsy's efforts to spring Joel from the Satellite of Love, as well as introduce `em the show's new host. Who I've found not to be quite as funny as his predecessor... but he has his moments. Besides, the funniest commentators have ALWAYS been the `bots, anyway...
`Late
Related DVD's Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Mitchell
"Joel, don't you have anything better to do than psychoanalyze a bunch of robots?" Apparently not in this hilarious installment of MST3K, in which Joel Hodgson and the robots of the Satellite of Love deconstruct this starched and stiff juvenile delinquent drama with everything from art projects to a giant mobile representing the hero's roiling subconscious. Square high school kid Jimmy is on trial for murder in this cautionary drama told in flashback, in which we learn all about this nice boy driven to lies, crime, and the arms of a nightclub floozy by a negligent father, an alcoholic mother, and his own utter stupidity. The film's cheesy nightclub number inspires Joel and the bots to put on their own version: Gypsy lip-synchs the lyrics while the other three pop in and out of... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Sam Newfield DVD Release Date: Released the 26 March 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Mystery Science Theater 3000 experienced a changing of the guard with this fifth-season episode. Departed series creator and lead Joel Hodgson was replaced by head writer Mike Nelson, playing a hapless temp named... Mike Nelson, who was sent into space to cover for Hodgson's escape. The opening credit sequence and title theme (warbled by Nelson) were also new, but the show's basic premise--poking fun at atrocious B movies--remained the same.
If Coleman Francis had never existed, he would have been invented by the writers of MST3K just for the perverse enjoyment of ridiculing him. Here the director of the jaw-droppingly inept The Beast of Yucca Flats tries his hand at a jailbreak film, which takes a surreal veer into an American invasion of Cuba apparently hampered by military budget cuts ("Once all seven of them are in place, the invasion really begins") before ending up in an American tungsten mine. Why? Who knows, but the bots have a ball skewering the film with some of their funniest comments ("I want to hurt this movie but I can never hurt it the way it hurt me") and Mike Nelson becomes so disturbed he turns into Carol Channing. Believe it or not, costar John Carradine rasps out the theme song "Night Train... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Michael J. Nelson - Joel Hodgson - Trace Beaulieu - Kevin Murphy (II) Director(s): Michael J. Nelson - Joel Hodgson - Vince Rodriguez - Trace Beaulieu - Kevin Murphy (II) DVD Release Date: Released the 26 March 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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A classic episode of the cult television series (in which an amiable space janitor and his metallic pals are forced to watch and deliver a sardonic running commentary on terrible movies), "Eegah" stars the gargantuan Richard Kiel (who would later become known for his sensitive portrayal of Jaws in a couple of the Bond films) in the title role as a still-kickin' Neanderthal looking for a little love in swinging 1960s California. One of the worst (or best, depending on your point of view) films ever to be featured on the show, this excruciating waste of celluloid provides ample fuel for Joel and the 'bots to deliver a wildly diverse, sustained barrage of hilarity (including an in-depth discussion of the widowed dad dichotomy of '60s sitcoms) at the source material's full expense. Enjoy, and... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Michael J. Nelson - Joel Hodgson - Trace Beaulieu - Kevin Murphy (II) Director(s): Michael J. Nelson - Joel Hodgson - Vince Rodriguez - Trace Beaulieu - Kevin Murphy (II) DVD Release Date: Released the 25 April 2000 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Nothing captures the peculiar pastiche of the pop-cultural zeitgeist like Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K to fans). The formula is simple: subject a hapless temp worker, Mike Nelson, and his robot friends, Tom Servo and Crow, marooned in space to the worst B, C, even Z-grade movies imaginable and record the results. On The Wild World of Batwoman, they quip through a movie summed up best by Crow: "It looks like they just put a whole lotta movies in a blender and turned it on really fast!" The plot of the movie is hapless at best, inexplicably puncuated by bikini-clad "Batgirls" go-go dancing with guns (Mike quips: "That's 40 pounds of butt in pants with a 30-pound capacity."). The episode starts with a '50s educational short on student cheating that is so dour in... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Jerry Warren DVD Release Date: Released the 30 January 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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