Starring: Lloyd Bridges, Noah Beery, Jr., Osa Massen, Hugh O’Brian, John Emery. Writer: Kurt Neumann. Producers: Robert Lippert and Murray Lerner. Director: Kurt Neumann. Released in 1950.
Original air date: September 22, 1990
Here we are. Second season. Round two. Over the next 13 episodes, we’ll get adventures to forgotten lands, clunky space quests, Grindhouse ‘60s films, and a double shot of Godzilla. Let’s go!
Mystery Science Theater 3000 underwent a lot of changes in its second season on the Comedy Channel, soon to become Comedy Central. The team redesigned the interior of the Satellite of Love, Deep 13 received a makeover, Joel decides to sport a blue jumpsuit, and two cast additions made a significant impact. Josh Weinstein left after the first season, leading to associate producer Kevin Murphy taking over Tom Servo. Murphy’s Servo is far more intense that Weinstein’s laid back character, although that doesn’t yet come across in the season debut here. Murphy sticks with the character until the show’s end, so most fans are familiar to his robot handling and personality.
In replacing Dr. Erhardt at Deep 13, comedian Frank Coniff joins the cast as TV’s Frank, Dr. Forrester’s bumbling assistant. Immediately apparent in this episode is the hilarious interplay between Coniff and Trace Beaulieu. The new Mads instantly become fan favorites.
In a related note, we also get to meet the Mole People, Jerry and Sylvia. They apparently work the cameras and controls on Deep 13, although we don’t see them or hear about them at all after a few episodes. The show will eventually riff on “The Mole People” in Season 8.
Also worth mentioning is the increase and quality of the riffs during the film. The first season was punctuated by long, quiet stretches from Joel and the robots, along with jokes that often missed the mark. This improved by the end of the season, but Season Two picks up dramatically in the jokes department – several pointed riffs can be heard each minute of the film. And in the case with the Robert Lippert-produced “Rocketship X-M,” they’re often hilarious.
The film is a typical “gee-whiz” space adventure that takes itself a little too seriously. When “Rocketship X-M” was released in 1950, it was a big deal – a big budget space adventure aimed at adults. But that doesn’t stop it from being terribly cheesy. Not to mention “Rocketship X-M” is blatantly misogynistic with some really cheap shots directed at the one woman on the mission. Thankfully, Joel and the bots really let the film have it.
In the near future (the 1950s?), a space mission crew is assembled to visit the Moon and study what they find. Led by Dr. Karl Eckstrom (John Emery), the crew includes the pilot, Maj. Floyd Graham (Lloyd Bridges), the navigator, Harry Chamberlin (Hugh O’Brian), the woman professor, Dr. Lisa Van Horn (Osa Massen), and the comic relief, Maj. William Corrigan (Noah Beery, Jr.). Together, they take off for the Moon, where Dr. Eckstrom speaks in long soliloquys, Graham tells pointless stories from his past, Corrigan compares anything and everything to Texas, and everyone busts on Dr. Van Horn because she’s a woman. “Chauvinist detector just went off,” Joel says after Graham says something particularly stupid and an alarm sounds.
Due to some mistake, the Rocketship X-M travels super-fast to Mars instead of the Moon. Dr. Eckstrom says some sort of divine intervention brought them to the red planet, but more likely it’s the film’s clunky science. To make the most of an opportunity, the crew lands in Death Valley, I mean, Mars, and begin exploring (“Hey look guys, it’s the Statue of Liberty, and there’s James Fransiscus and Charlton Heston!” Joel says in response to the desert views
The crew finds a long dead advanced civilization, as well as a bunch of crazy cavemen (“It's an entire race of mimes! We've got to get back and warn Earth!” Joel says). Let’s just say the crew runs into trouble and the film does not end well. In fact, it’s downright depressing, even with its moral message. Joel asks the Mads why they didn’t just send them “Marooned” if they wanted to show a depressing space movie. “We couldn’t get it,” Dr. F says. Funny, because they will get it for Season 4.
“Rocketship X-M” takes itself so seriously that the writers have an easy time ripping this film a new one. First, they have great fun with the overtly gay subtext between Dr. Eckstrom and head of the space program on Earth.
Second, each character has enough of their own stupid quirks that allows for a lot of material. Corrigan, or “Tex,” goes on and on about Texas and, like many of the other characters, tells boring tales from his own state. “What’s next? Stories about this guy’s uncle in Milwaukee?” Crow asks. O’Brian’s character earns the funny moniker of “Dirk Sqaurejaw,” the first of many hilarious names the crew will come up with for beefy guys over the show’s run. Dr. Van Horn spends a lot of time dreamily staring out the ship’s window, which allows for the gang to imitate her asking questions like, “What are you dreaming?” and “Where do you want to be in two years?” And then there’s Lloyd Bridges, of which Beaulieu does a great imitation. We get treated to several Sea Hunt gags, most memorably “By this time, my lungs were aching for air” by Crow. In fact, he’d been saying that joke even in the last season. All in all, there are some classically funny moments here.
And the show’s sketches are good, too. The invention exchange remains from the first season, and Joel develops the BGC-19, a drum set for rock drummers who want to be frontmen. It’s modeled after the walking forklifts from “Aliens.” TV’s Frank, working on his first invention, blatantly steals Joel’s idea, much to Dr. Forrester’s chagrin.
In mocking the old white guys playing journalists who pepper the beginning of the film, Joel and the bots offer a funny tribute to them, of sorts. The gang later stares out at the stars saying random phrases in dreamy voices before being interrupted by a visit from Valeria from “Robot Holocaust,” played by Mike Nelson of all people. It’s a sketch that starts nowhere and ends nowhere.
But the best part is the “funny-not funny” bit they do in regards to things floating in space. The stuff they come up with is hilarious and Gallagher is never funny, even if he’s floating in space, as we learn.
“Rocketship X-M” turns out to be one of the better episodes of the second season and it’s a “good” film to kick off the show’s sophomore year. The upgrade in quality with this new season promises good things to come.
Rating: ***1/2
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