With most of the world staying at home (regardless of what our President says), we’re all in need of some viewing suggestions. Here, then, are some recommendations from the Drunk Monkeys crew.
I can’t help but love low-budget Japanese TV shows from the 50s and 60s. There is a gentle strangeness to them, combined with the formulaic nature of TV in that era, that makes them strangely compelling. They are also ideal for riffing, obviously when they’re dubbed. Mystery Science Theater 3000 used several of these shows through the years, which were movies that consisted of someone slamming together a few random episodes. This was done in the hope of pretending this would create a plot by accident.
Or it didn’t matter to them at all, since things like Prince of Space were really just designed to fill air time and distract children by merely existing. Still, people worked hard on this show, in which the nightmarishly dressed alien The Phantom of Krankor attempts to wrest the world away from a masked hero. You can see the effort to do something creative with very little resources. It doesn’t amount to much, but we are still left with something that is deeply stern and hysterically silly at the exact same time. From start to finish.
Not surprisingly, this is perfect for the Sci-Fi era cast of MST3K. This included Bill Corbett as Crow, Kevin Murphy as Tom Servo, and Michael J. Nelson as hapless human Mike. The three, along with the show’s writers, find a considerable amount of delight in Krankor’s appearance and voice. This culminates in a brilliant host segment, shown between segments of the film, in which Corbett as Krankor visits Mike and the bots. It doesn’t go well. Nothing goes particularly well for Krankor, really. It works out well for anyone who likes aged Japanese super hero dramas for children, combined with extremely pointed remarks on the effectiveness of said drama.
