Well, I had no real expectations going into this one, except that the ‘Amazing Colossal Episode Guide’ really laid into this one for being sexist. I thought the Brains (the informal name for the MST3k crew) were exaggerating, as they often do in shorts from this era, but it turns out they really weren’t. This movie is occasionally painful to watch because of how openly condescending it is towards its female lead.
Otherwise, the film is a lame, dull, largely plot-less but somewhat interesting look at how the film industry viewed the space program before it really took off (no pun intended). The film starts off showing a sinister foreign organization intent on sabotaging the US Space Program (SPACOM), but this plot point steadily dies away as the film goes on. The whole film is kind of like that; they set up problems and then solve them shortly afterwards (or just forget about them). Anyway, eventually the two main characters land on the moon, become the first moonbase, and are married by the general. And…that’s it. It’s not much of a movie, and I really don't have much to say about it.
Fortunately, it’s preceded by two episodes of Commando Cody. The Brains comment several times in both the episodes and the episode guide that they hate Cody, but I’m liking him better and better with each episode. Like most serials, it’s just so insanely idiotic, yet so earnestly eager to entertain that you really can’t dislike it.
Thoughts while watching;
Opening: Joel is cleaning the bots.’ Nothing much to it, but the bots look cute. Especially Servo in the laundry hamper. Although they don’t say a word.
Invention Exchange: Joel has a new way to juggle water. Unfortunately, the film quality here is too poor for me to really appreciate it. The Mads have the ‘insect-a-sketch.’ Meh, alright. Dr. Earhardt is wearing worse and worse each time. I’m frankly glad he didn’t last that long.
Commando Cody again! Hooray! Ah, serials…
The first time Joel and the Bots acknowledge Clayton Moore’s presence.
Joel continues his ‘little rabbit’ jokes.
And…yup, he just turns on his flying suit. Rather slowly, I might add for someone plummeting off of a cliff which is, at most, a few hundred feet tall.
Servo: “Al’s Café; serving the underworld since 1923.”
Interesting; Cody’s doing some actual investigations. In these things they generally just lay traps and get into fist fights; this ‘Law and Order’ stuff is kind of unusual.
My God, these encounters are contrived! The bad-guys come in at just the time Cody is in the garage too! C’mon, you guys can come up with something better than just ‘they ran into each other and fought’ over and over again.
Joel pulls out ‘Batman’-esque sound-effect cards. Pow! Oof!
Some good puns during the fight. ‘He bench-pressed him!’ ‘he’s getting tired’ (when they hit Cody with a tire).
Joel’s phone comment is actually what the phone person was supposed to have said! (well, to some extent). That’s really unusual.
Well, at least the bad guy is using a rifle, but still, he’s shooting from a moving car at a flying object.
The ‘Who is it?’ ‘It’s me!’ gags are pretty good.
What the…Cody just flies up to the plane and climbs in! Cool!
Crow’s right, those are ridiculously small bombs!
The plane just blows up in mid-air! Of course, need I remind you that Cody has a Flying Suit?
Another episode. I like Servo’s little Cody theme song. Joel joins in, and then Crow. It falls apart a little bit more with each character. Crow forthrightly admits he can’t think of a rhyme.
Joel’s quick news-flash line is pretty funny.
And, yup, Cody and his friend just jump out of the plane.
That shot of Cody coming at the screen is pretty cool.
And they’re going back to the moon.
Joel: “You know, they should invest in a control tower.”
I love how the Space-ship is piloted by a guy who looks like a cross between an airline pilot and a cab-driver. Hank the space-ship pilot.
The Moon-man has more equipment than Cody.
And…they’ve got the moon-man captured…and they’re feeding him! This has got to be one of the more ridiculous things I’ve seen! You’ve got to see it for yourself, it’s unbelievable!
Joel: “These Moon-men have uses for plywood we haven’t even dreamed of yet.”
And Cody and his friend steal the moon-car.
Wait, how do they know how to drive the moon-car?!
And now they know how to fix it? Come on!
First Host Segment: Servo is playing Commando Cody and makes Joel carry him around at arm’s length. Crow is Krog. It’s mildly amusing.
Now the feature. The old future is in effect, as the film is set in far-off 1970.
Interesting, the film opens with the bad guys. I didn’t really expect that.
I…frankly can’t follow this. It looks like the bad guys are right outside the good-guys room.
The tracking is really messed up here.
Crow: “Sitting sir. Taking it easy sir.”
And the colonel they’ve been talking about turns out to be…a woman! Accompanied by a ‘full-figured’ reporter.
In the Amazing Collossal Episode Guide they call the movie sexist. I thought they were exaggerating, but they weren’t; the scene with the Colonel and the General is genuinely unpleasant. He specifically belittles her accomplishments and threatens to spank her.
Second Host Segment: The Ties of the Future. It’s pretty good. Servo: “Don’t talk to me, I’m a high-fashioned model from the future.”
General: “Now that we have a space-station.”
All: “Or Frisbee.”
Naked exposition about the space station.
Standard old ‘G-Force’ scene, where the characters act all tortured as they take off.
Joel makes porno music as the spaceships dock.
The colonel is the most professional person in the film! This makes everyone’s belittling of her all the more annoying.
Rather interesting set design; the characters walk around on the walls and ceiling and even sit down on the walls. It’s obvious how it’s done, and it’s pretty cheesy, but kind of cool. (plus there are rather funny signs everywhere saying ‘please don’t walk on the walls’
Crow: “The technical term ‘shoving off’”
Yeah, really!
So he knows the guy is a spy because he doesn’t follow baseball.
Well, this movie is really just kind of going through the motions; they just keep moving, which gives the plot a pretty inconsequential feel.
Third host Segment: SPACOM. It has some really remarkable production values, particularly for an episode this early; the way the SPACOM goo changes color is really well done. It’s pretty amusing in a typically random way.
The girl immediately blames herself. Then the guy tells her to powder her nose. C’mon, you just crashed on the moon! Can you be serious for one minute!
Crow: “Hey, look, a walk-in trash can!”
Servo: “Meanwhile, back at Frisbee-Four.”
And he takes the spy with him to help. Right.
The Astronaut falling off the Moon-cliff is pretty funny in its execution. By the way, since they’ve established that he’ll be low on oxygen on the way back, why doesn’t he take the dead guy’s oxygen?
Hey! I think that was the first ‘My lungs were aching for air’ line by Crow!
And now the good-guy can’t get back to the ship. Frankly, it’s less ‘oh my god, will he make it?’ and more ‘god, this guy is a puss.’
And, of course, the colonel is portrayed as more or less incompetent. Again, this isn’t the sort of thing I tend to be sensitive to, but this is indeed a painfully sexist movie.
‘Shirty?’
So, the general orders (or ‘advises’) the colonel and the guy to get married. And he sends her out of the room to give him the message.
Guy: “The General is through,”
Crow: “and so are my wild bachelor days.”
I like the guys prompting the hero to ‘ask her.’
What the…what are we seeing?
Hah! The rocket landing is hilariously bad!
Crow: “Remember, never try to remove the bees from the hive without the proper protective gear.”
Crow does part of the ‘emergency supplies’ speech from ‘Dr. Strangelove.
And they get married.
Minister: “Til’ death do you part?”
Crow: “Or until the oxygen runs out.”
Female President. Perhaps one of the earliest examples of this. And for some reason, she’s British.
Lame ending; they just kiss and that’s it. You know, now that I think about it, there’s really no plot to this movie; no problem-resolution. It just kind of…goes on and then stops.
Final host segment; Crow’s walking upside down like in the movie. So is Servo.
It’s kind of interesting; in these early episodes they just call it the ‘Fan Club,’ but they soon will rename it the ‘Information Club.’
There’s some complaints about there not being any color movies so far, which, if you don’t count ‘Women of the Prehistoric Planet,’ is true. The very next film, though, will be in color.
Movie Quality Rating:
1. The Crawling Eye
2. Mad Monster
3. The Crawling Hand
4. The Corpse Vanishes
5. The Slime People
6. Project Moonbase
7. Women of the Prehistoric Planet
8. Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy
9. Robot Monster
Conclusion: A mildly interesting old sci-fi flick marred by unabashed sexism, some amusing, but not brilliant host segments, and okay riffing. A very middle-of-the-road episode, at least for Season 1.
Final Rating: 6/10 (mostly just because serials are awesome).
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