MST3K: Episode 104 - Women of the Prehistoric Planet

I'm watching all of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes in order. More about that can be found here and here.

Episode 104: Women of the Prehistoric Planet

First aired: The Comedy Channel on 10 February 1990
Availability: Amazon (Volume 9), Rhino (Volume 9/out of print), MST3KVideos.com

Joel gets a couch.

This is the one that's numbered funny. According to The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide, the movie wasn't available when they got around to production number 104, so they skipped to number 105. After they finished production number 113, they finally did number 104. They never bothered to change the numbers, so while this episode is numbered 104, indicating season 1, episode 4, it's really just a number.

This episode was the last one produced and the last one aired in Season One. And, since I'm covering the episodes in order, it's appearing here, at the end of Season One.

Joel opens the show with a redecorated Satellite of Love -- he added a couch -- but doesn't repeat the premise of the show. I've not been a fan of that whole "Joel covers the premise" thing.

Not going around.

The dinosaur scenes feature not only close-ups of lizards playing dinosaurs, but a soundtrack playing Creature from the Black Lagoon music.

There is one particularly silly ... or maybe it's just stupid ... scene where the explorers walk across a log to avoid falling into a boiling acid water pool. They did that rather than take two steps to the left and walk around the pool.

J&tB also made fun of Wendell Cory, who played the Admiral. a lot. A lot. Cory slurred lots of his lines, possibly due to his alcoholism, which lead to his death two years after this film was released.

The Host Segments are totally unrelated to the movie. An Isaac Asimov Literary Doomsday Device is the common theme. I've read a lot of Asimov fiction and essays, and they seemed to have nailed him. Asimov was still an active writer at the time, though he had been slowed somewhat by AIDS, which he contracted during his 1983 heart bypass surgery, and that would kill him two years after this episode first aired.

Outside the Satellite of Love.

The Asimov Literary Doomsday Device goes off.

Michael J. Nelson makes his first appearance of sorts on the show during this episode. He's the voice of the Doomsday Device.

Joel does interactions with the screen again. I don't think I've mentioned this, but he does that a lot. I don't recall Mike doing that. Not much, anyway.

One scene that will come back to haunt us happens in this episode. A character ... the comic relief who, surprisingly, isn't Stuart Margolin, says "Hai Kiba!" during a karate exhibition. "Hai Kiba" would become a catchphrase.

Hai Kiba!

This episode was available for sale in May 2006 as part of the Volume 9 four-pack, but has since gone out of production. Often that's because of rights issues with one or more of the films, rather than poor sales. One of the movies in the four-pack (not this one) has since been released as a stand-alone DVD, and for streaming via Amazon and iTunes, so it is probably a rights issue with one or more of the movies. Possibly this one.

For whatever reason, though, this episode isn't currently available for sale in any way, shape, or form. If you own the four-pack, you have an item that is valuable, since used packs are running over $100, and new boxes are running around $400.

My copy is an original Volume 9 four-pack I purchased. I suppose I could get $100 for it, but I won't. My MST3K. I think I'll keep it.

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