Starring: Ramon Gay, Rosita Arenas, Luis Aceves Castaneda, Arturo Martinez. Writer: Alfredo Salazar. Producers: Guillermo Calderon, Luis Garcia DeLeon. Director: Rafael Portillo. USA Producer: K. Gordon Murray. Released in 1957.
Commando Cody – Starring: George Wallace, Aline Towne, Roy Barcroft, William Bakewell. Writer: Ronald Davidson. Producer: Franklin Adreon. Director: Fred C. Bannon. Released in 1952.
Original air date: December 5, 1989
“Wow,” you must be saying. “Two reviews in a 24-hour period. What does this guy do all day?” Answer: nothing. I’m unemployed. Find me a job.
At least I have time to devote to this! The second Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode is a Mexican import, a blend of science fiction and horror and terribly, terribly boring. In later seasons, the writers might have been able to work with a movie like this a little better. But not in the first season.
1957’s “The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy” is a bore-fest trying to be exciting. And even when the climactic battle occurs in the film’s last five minutes, it’s so terrible you forget all about it after it happened.
But let’s start from the beginning. Before “Robot” begins, Joel Robinson and his robot friends are subjected to the first chapter in a long-running 1950s serial, “Commando Cody and the Radar Men From the Moon.” This opening bit is a little more interesting than the feature, with a hint of excitement to it. Civilian scientist Commando Cody (George Wallace) learns of a plot by a race of men to take over the Earth. Apparently, the moon’s atmosphere is drying up and its people are dying. Thus, the moon men are looking to Earth as their new home. Is there an ecological message here? Probably not.
The big appeal with Commando Cody is his cool helmet and jet pack. Those who have seen 1991’s”The Rocketeer” know the hero in that film is an homage to Commando Cody: they look virtually identical.
In “Commando Cody’s” first chapter, “Moon Rocket,” the plot is unveiled and Cody travels to the moon, flying around at any chance he gets, attached to wires for safety, I assume. The cliffhanger ends with a fight in the moon palace, which looks suspiciously like a toy model of Athens, Greece. This is the way most of these chapters go – a little of the plot gets unveiled and then the cliffhanger fight. As Season 1 continues, Joel and the bots watch nine chapters of this. Understandably, it gets a little tired at the end.
But they have fun with the first part. They refer to Cody and his cheap-looking helmet in a number of ways: Pumpkin Boy, Trash Can Head and Hershey Kiss. The blatant sexism is hilariously quaint in this serial. Cody’s research assistant, Joan (Aline Towne) tags along and someone remarks how it’s a little strange having a woman on board the spaceship. Joan says he’ll thank her later after she cooks him his meals. Servo adds: “Yeah, pretty soon, I’ll be able to vote!”
It’s important to note that “Commando Cody” was the most recognizable and famous of the old Republic serials. It influenced everyone from George Lucas to Steven Spielberg. Lucas has credited the serials as an inspiration for “Star Wars,” even creating a Commander Cody character for “Revenge of the Sith.” Anyway, we’ll be seeing a lot more of Pumpkin Boy in the coming episodes.
As for the feature, it’s dull. “The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy” is slow and talky with nothing much going on. Whereas “The Crawling Eye” is entertaining on its own, this film is not. Apparently the director never heard the term “show, don’t tell.” There is tons of exposition.
“Robot” is a sequel to “Curse of the Aztec Mummy.” The producers must have figured no one saw it because a full 60 percent of “Robot” is a flashback to the earlier one. It’s confusing; half the time, you don’t know what’s past or present. And you don’t really care. Funny piece of information: both films came out in 1957 within months of each other.
The plot, if you could call it that, revolves around an archeologist, Dr. Edward Almada (Ramon Gay), who discovers an Aztec treasure and mummy that are somehow tied to his wife, Flora’s (Rosita Arenas) reincarnation past. The evil Dr. Krupp, known as “The Bat” (Luis Aceves Castaneda) wants to steal the treasure but can’t defeat the mummy. So he builds a human robot to take on the monster. The robot is hilarious looking, lacking knees with a lumbering walk with an unemotive guy peering out of the suit: “Once that robot really gets into gear, you’re going to see him kick some Aztec,” Crow says. The mummy looks just as cheap: “Oh man! His face looks like cottage cheese, it looks like a diet plate,” quips Servo.
There’s lots of stuff that goes on, but I don’t remember much of it. Much of the time, Joel and the bots sit there and watch, or if they comment, it’s not very interesting. Head writer Mike Nelson once said he wished they knew better what they were doing for Season 1. Nelson even apologized for some of additions they made to the film: at one point Joel covers the mouth of a singing woman, and the voice is muted. Another time, three archeologists are standing against a wall and the writers added in the sound of people taking a piss. Actually, these are some of the funnier bits they have in the film. Sound effects are only added again once or twice in the first season, I think.
One thing to note about the film is the English translation is brought to us by K. Gordon Murray. Murray, a forming casting agent in Hollywood (he casted the dwarves and midgets in “The Wizard of Oz”) brought many Mexican films to the States and made a ton of money doing so. Episode #521 – Santa Claus and Episode #624 – Samson vs. The Vampire Women, are Murray’s pet projects, and much better shows in general.
The episode’s invention exchange is pretty unexciting; Joel develops an airbag helmet for motorcyclists (“Get Ralph Nader on the phone. Then get Gary Busey,” Dr. Forrester says). The Mads create a record that simulates hands on a chalk board. As Dr. Erhardt says, it’ll clear a party. The sketches between the theater segments deal with a pack of demon dogs invading the Satellite of Love. A dog even invades the theater at the end of the feature. But the whole thing doesn’t really go anywhere, although Joel does reveal to Servo he is partly modeled after a fire hydrant (“I’m a public utility!” Servo yells).
Clearly the show is experiencing growing pains and this episode is instantly forgettable and might be the worst of all the 10 seasons.
Rating: *
Side note: This episode is available of the Shout! Factory box set Volume XV
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