1312 - The Bubble
#57 in Mighty Jack's Top 100
Premiere Date: Friday, November 11, 2022, 5:00 PM PST
Host: Joel Robinson
Special Guests: None beyond the usual folks
Writers: Tim Ryder, Harold Buchholtz, Mary Christen, Devon Coleman, Tammy Golden, Jenny Jaffe, Drew Jansen, Kevin Sciretta
The movie's been described as the Manos of season 13, but I can't agree with that assessment. Oh, it leaves us with more questions than answers, and it meanders and is repetitive, which is a quality the gang take note of (eventually Crow cracks and leaves the theater), but there's also a genuine spookiness to it and it's more competently filmed than some of worst of the worst MST has covered. During the livestream it was described as "no plot, just vibes" which sums it up smartly.
The riffing is a riot, especially at the start (most of my listed quips are heard early on) and while it levels off a bit by the final act, I was still getting laughs. On the comedy... there are cute puns ("You Hippocratic oaf" said to a doctor), movie inspired running gags (The town of "Cab Mister") and I got some old school MST vibes from Joel mentioning The Mod Squad, or briefly cautioning Crow for saying "Tit for Tat" during a breast-feeding scene; he even pulls out a prop, and squeegee's the spotty bubble.
Joel makes like Dr. Tongue with his 3D Paddle Ball
Sketches were frequently funny - the opening salvo, "Star fl-Eats", was punny but amusing; the SOL invention offers up unique popcorn flavoring, which includes Crow's hilarious "tears of my enemies" (we also learn that Joel cries in his sleep, ha ha), and for the Mads, "Lens-Be-Safe", which are blinding cans on your eyes. Host segments also see the three hosts continue with their rhyming scheme (they convince Pearl it was all her idea), and my favorite of the bunch, the 3D discussion (the movie was shown in that format in theaters), with Waverly as radio.
Livestream? Tom (with a scratch on his globe) reads a letter, backer thankers are Emily, Crow and Servo. The after-show guests are Devon Coleman, Mary Jo Pehl, Tim Ryder, and Joel Hodgson, who talk about bad movies and share tales of how they came to riffing on The Bubble (which really scarred these folks), and how backers helped out with Joel's invention and gave voice to Waverly's DJ's.
The conversation then turns to the worst films seen on MST... Tim's is Monster A-Go-Go, Devon's is Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, Matt and Mary Jo went with Red Zone Cuba (she asserts that Coleman Francis smelled funny, even through the screen, lmao) while Joel sticks with good old Manos. Matt's second choice was Fu Manchu (which was one the fans brought up). The piece closes with Joel declaring this the worst after-show ever, which cracks up the others - and sure, the topics were downers, but it was actually quite informative and funny.
Favorite Riffs: "We angered God with our hubris again" - Joel | "In case of emergency, break glass" - Servo (on baby in incubator) | "Sir, bad news, we've removed a small naked boy from your wife" - Crow | "What's with him?" - "Postpartum depression by proxy?" - Mark/Crow on doctor | "This whole film feels like a cutting room floor" - Crow | "Remember when this song was everywhere?" - Crow, on non-music | "You know, the 3Ds so good you can almost reach out and touch the strings" - Crow | "When Tony's drunk, he becomes a Thunderbird's puppet" - Servo | "Hey this town has a street trampoline" - Crow | "My son grows up to be Dr. Manhattan you know" - Joel | "It's Moe Larry and Trotsky" - Crow | "I pity the fool having hallucinations" - Crow as Mr. T-like mask floats on by | "See you later" - "Incubator" - Mom/Servo | "He acted sort of funny, like a happy idiot" - "A Packers fan" - Mom/Crow | "Damn it all to hell, why?" - Joel whenever old woman drops purse | "It's a duel between the Marlborough Man and the Music Man" - Servo
Favorite Host Segment: Radio Waverly, 3D talk on the SOL, Joel's paddle ball slayed me.
Amazing Colossal Grade: 4 - all around entertaining, with an uproarious first half in the theater (had it kept to that pace I would have crowned this King or Queen of season 13)
The plan is hatched
Turkey Day 2022
While Kinga and Synthia were hilarious hosts, it was their A.I. Flat-imation abomination, Turkules who was the star of the marathon ("I was given the body of a God, with the head and voice of a turkey" he explains). The seasons Turkey Day mascot offered up many a laugh out loud moment, from lamenting his hellish existence to bonding with Synthia (a fellow mad experiment, who likes to say "Bizzactually").
For this marathon the older experiments were surgically enhanced, and something about the makeup on the sci-fi years, makes Mike look odd when upgraded (it appears as if he has light circles around his eyes in Party Beach) - as for the movies, Starfighters benefited the most from the process (those jets were shiny), eps like Catalina Caper and The Horror of Party Beach were more detailed, while Clonus wasn't half bad to begin with, and City Limits was too drenched in darkness for it to matter much. Overall, I'm a fan of the process, it added to my enjoyment. Update: Someone who worked on the upgrades spoke to the process, and a member of the MST3K discourse forum posted those thoughts, you can read them here... About surgical enhancements
For this marathon the older experiments were surgically enhanced, and something about the makeup on the sci-fi years, makes Mike look odd when upgraded (it appears as if he has light circles around his eyes in Party Beach) - as for the movies, Starfighters benefited the most from the process (those jets were shiny), eps like Catalina Caper and The Horror of Party Beach were more detailed, while Clonus wasn't half bad to begin with, and City Limits was too drenched in darkness for it to matter much. Overall, I'm a fan of the process, it added to my enjoyment. Update: Someone who worked on the upgrades spoke to the process, and a member of the MST3K discourse forum posted those thoughts, you can read them here... About surgical enhancements
A few screengrabs from the event...
Turkules in all his glory + Synthia gives an elaborate Flat-imation presentation to explain the process of enhancement, before Kinga butts in and gives a simple side-by-side comparison
Max's head suddenly springs giant dust mites, while Kinga reveals Turkules' cruel and horrifying fate
The schedule (which is missing the short, Sleep for Health) - BTW, Horror of Party Beach was crowned king of 2022 by defeating Catalina Caper in the final round, 52% to 48% as voted by the fans. (In 2021 Prince of Space toppled Magic Voyage of Sinbad 57% to 43% to take the top spot)
November's lineup for Nothing as It Seems Month
