Mighty Jacks MST3K Review: Season 13 - Episode 11 & Special Event 07 with Short

1311 - The Mask in 3D

Premiere Date: Friday, October 28, 2022, 5:00 PM PST

Host: Jonah Heston

Special Guests: Max's Landlady Mrs. Kelly (Rebecca Hanson), The Skull (Yvonne Freese)

Writers: Jonah Ray, Nate Begel, Ross Bryant, Gabe Castro, Danny Gallagher, Rebecca Hanson, Conor McGiffin, Opus Moreschi, Matt Oswalt, Paul Sabourin

The spirit of the season is in full bloom, with the SOL decked out in Halloween cheer, and most everyone in costume (I had to look up Jonah's, the one nobody gets... and okay, yeah, I've seen that actor in a lot of things). Max's made me laugh, and Rebecca's Mrs. Kelly (from the picture) played off him hilariously. Speaking of which, the sketches are movie or holiday-related, including an end segment that sees the SOL bridge and hosts and skull in 3D, cool! There's also a terrific song in the mix, and noir therapy ("Her tube went all the way to heaven where even angels don't dare to fly" says Crow on femme fatale GPC).

The flick (in B&W, our first in the modern era) looks fantastic, and while the primary storyline is watchable and noirishly lit, it's the freaky 3D montage sequences by the great Slavko Vorkapić that makes the movie special. As for the MST-3D experience, I enjoyed it - the effect can be iffy in spots (the flying eyeballs), but the environments and the layers found there are nicely rendered, there's an outstretched hand that seems to reach through the screen, and it's overall eye-catching and contributes to the spooky, but entertaining vibe of the episode.

Mad Max Headroom and Mrs. Kelly

The riffing's patchy (the scene with Dr. Soames was mostly laugh-free, and the Frasier stuff didn't land for me... of the running gags, "Doodad" was the best). There's a lot that draws from music, and plenty of holiday-appropriate movie references (a Munchie callback, and of course the Carrey film is brought up several times), though the funniest among those was the nod to Cocteau (if Beez had written on this one, I would have credited her with that riff, as it's one of her favorite films). In addition: I like cats and cat quips in general, and we get a few of those, Crow's lengthy "Zoning Board" bit was my favorite line of the night. Another thing I found amusing was that I started singing "Eyes Without a Face" at the same time Crow did (hey, you had to do it, the woman's mask recalled the mask in that other flick of the same name)

Livestream? Crow reads viewer mail. Servo, Growler and M. Waverly thank Kickstarter backers, and fan art is shown during intermission - for the after show Matt as Perico, Jonah as the keymaster, Joel as Buffett fan, Rebecca as Subaru Forrester, Yvonne as Beaker, and Emily as Muriel share Halloween memories, then discuss the episode and -best of all- show behind the scenes photos and video - I hope they do more of this type of thing in the future as having a visual guide to go with the stories are a huge plus. The show closes with them revealing the costume winners, of those shown I voted for Jan in the Pan, Cave Dwellers, Movie Theater Floor, and Kid Kinga.

Crow references this scene... and shows off his killer Caine impression

Favorite Riffs: "We've all gotten drunk and shaved with a cat, sure" - Jonah | "Should I call his parents - "Yes call that grown man's parents right away" - Secretary/Jonah | "He blamed it (the mask) for visions and nightmares" - "Incontinence" - Doctor/Crow | "My boyfriend is operating a medical practice out of a residential building! To the Zoning Board!" - Crow as Pam to a taxi driver | "I've got late onset Abe Lincoln face" - Jonah | "Another victim of fun sized Wolverine" - Servo | "Wow, a literal 5 O'clock shadow" - Crow | "Did he have any friends or relatives?" - "Does a Sailor Moon body pillow count?" - Detective/Crow as Mrs. Kelly | "He can't stay mad at me after he sees one of my apology caricatures" - Jonah | "Wall sconces by Jean Cocteau" - Crow | "Somebody turn on the subtext titles" - Servo | "I can't hear you, I'm a book now!" - Crow | "Somewhere a Pizza Hut table stands naked" - Servo, commenting on Pam's dress

Favorite Host Segment: Mrs. Kelly and the doodads, Rebecca was pitch perfect - how nice to get back to 'cast member plays a movie character', which was such a staple of the classic era.

Amazing Colossal Grade: 3-ish - The riffing wasn't the best part of the episode, that was the sketches, the ambiance, and 3D experience.

Special Event: A Tribute to Devil Doll + Short: Balance Beam for Girls

Premiere Date: Friday, October 14, 2022, 5:00 PM PST

The special event opens with a randomly selected short given a workover by the randomly selected Emily, and Co. The production is a dry instructional piece, but the crew brighten it up with silly observations ("Well, this is an unfortunate angle" - Crow), puckish digs ("Please watch 'Math for Girls' to understand these numbers" - Servo) or by aiding the narrator by giving cute names to various moves. Vocal inflection is equally important (no duh, right) and in this they are spot on, I don't know if the line "Don't break my ribs again, Cathy" is as funny on the page, but the way Conor delivers the riff, the annoyance in the voice, gave me one of my biggest laughs. Rate this as another goodie from the group.

The episode held in tribute is the sci-fi favorite Devil Doll, and -thinking of a complaint I had with the last release (The Shape of Things to Come) - it was nice to re-discover that references to an actor's past or future work, didn't end with Frank's departure - we get one here when Servo notes... "You know, Kubrick saw this scene and said, “We’ve found our Heywood Floyd.”" -chefs kiss-

Sketch wise - there's some fun with the intros - (Pearl schools Synthia on how to introduce an episode, Emily and Bots talk about soul transference). Later, Emily the skeptic mocks hypnotism, however the bots get the last laugh, which includes making her believe she's misplaced her butt... it's a childish routine, but the bots are like naughty kids, so, what can you do. (And it leads to callbacks at the close, "Where'd you go, you cheeky devil!" - Synthia).

Jonah, Servo (Baron) and Crow (Hampton) handle the thank you's, and return for a segment on Baseball vampires, which continues the trend of the bots pranking, or in this case, bashing the host.

For the after show, Tim, Jonah, Rebecca and Hampton talk about Halloweeny stuff, tease the next episode, then play a scary game (Trivia Murder Party), which wasn't as focused or funny as the last month's spy play. Plus, I wish the trivia had been more Halloween related and focused on movies, books, creatures, candy, stuff like that.

The stream closes with a Shout/Ballyhoo documentary.

All told I liked the short and the tribute ep, the sketches were alright, the after-show game, mmm, honestly, I lost interest in it and checked out.