Mystery Science Theater 3000 - The Crawling Hand
by Herbert L. Strock
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Actor: Alan Hale Jr., Allison Hayes, Kent Taylor, Peter Breck, Rod LaurenDirector: Herbert L. Strock
Brand: WEA DES Moines Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Black & White, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 89 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-06-11
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Rhino Theatrical
DVD Reviews of Mystery Science Theater 3000 - The Crawling Hand
DVD Review: One of the lesser representatives from the underappreciated Season One
Summary: 2 Stars
Many casual MSTies, particularly those who are unfamiliar with the complex licensing process that Best Brains used to originally secure the *temporary* rights to use films for MST3K, often complain about the selection of shows available on DVD. What they may not realize is that for the most part these choices are dictated by what Rhino can get or afford to pay for, which is why many fan favorites like will never see the light of day on MST DVD. For example: you'll never see any of the Season Three Sandy Frank/Gamera/Japanese movies on DVD, since Rhino would have to persuade both the original studio (Daiei) and Frank (who made the English-language dubs) to allow a re-release, and that's not gonna happen.
I mention this because it explains why, of all the Season One episodes Best Brains/Rhino could have released, they chose "The Crawling Hand": it's what they could get. This was only the fifth episode that Best Brains filmed during their national cable run (though it's labelled episode #106; see note below), and it *really* shows. It shows not merely in the cheaper-looking sets, or in the comically large piece of twine dangling from Crow's mouth during the host segments, or in Servo's clunkier body and different voice, or in the presence of Dr. Erhardt. No, it shows most of all in the flat-out lameness of the riffing: I'm a big fan of the Season One episodes, but even I won't dispute that the first five shows were among the most boring and slow-moving ones they ever cranked out. The lightning-quick interplay and sixth-sense comic timing that Joel and the Bots would become legendary for is nowhere to be found. In fact, "The Crawling Hand," coincidentally enough, marks the END of the truly sub-par period of MST3K: immediately after this episode, with the movie "Robot Monster," the show's writing, riffing, and delivery became considerably more focused. By the end of the season, on classics like "The Black Scorpion" and "Moon Zero Two," MST was beginning to resemble the show we all know and love.
Which is all the more reason why it's sad that this episode is the most easily available representative from Season One. The movie itself is actually a pretty interesting piece of bizarro filmmaking, featuring a truly insane premise (severed, murderous arm of an exploding astronaut can possess those nearby through use of psychic space germs? WTF??) and tons of great openings for Joel & The Bots to make hilarious wisecracks. The vast majority of those opportunities are missed, however, and what we get instead are an unamusing sequence of "hand" puns (folks, puns are the lowest form of humor), grating repetition, long periods of silence, and a general sense that the writers were struggling at this point. Season One could be so much better than this (try "The Black Scorpion," "Project Moonbase," "Moon Zero Two," "Untamed Youth," or "Robot Holocaust"), and I hope people will make an effort to seek out some of those episodes instead.
(Note: recently Rhino released a FAR better Season One episode, "Women Of The Prehistoric Planet," in the MST3K Collection Vol. 9. It's labelled show #104 but it's actually the last episode that was written/recorded that season, and it's therefore a great deal more mature and fast-paced in terms of riffing. It's still not the best Season One episode, but it's a far better representative of the promise that we first perceived in this goofy, quixotic DIY cable TV show back in 1989.)
Description of Mystery Science Theater 3000 - The Crawling Hand
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