First Spaceship on Venus
From MST3K
| 211 - First Spaceship on Venus | |
|---|---|
| |
| Air Date | December 29, 1990 |
| MST3K Director | Jim Mallon |
| Running Time | 130 min. |
| AKA | Der Schweigende Stern (East Germany); Milczaca Gwiazda (Poland) |
| Movie Director | Kurt Maetzig |
| Year | 1960 |
| Cast | Yoko Tani, Oldrick Lukes, Ignacy Machowski |
| Preceded by | 210 - King Dinosaur |
| Followed by | 212 - Godzilla vs. Megalon |
Contents |
The Movie
Synopsis
Originally released in East Germany as Der Schweigende Stern ("The Silent Star") and in Poland as Milczaca Gwiazda, First Spaceship on Venus was partially intended as an anti-nuclear tract. In 1985, a strange, extraterrestrial spool is discovered, leading to a manned expedition to Venus. The multinational crew includes American Brinkman (Gunther Simon), African Talua (Juliusz Ongewe), and Japanese Sumiko Ogimura (Tani). After several special-effects setpieces (and reams of dogmatic dialogue later), the crew lands on Venus, only to discover that the planet's population was wiped out by a nuclear error. Some of the crew members die horrifically, and the surviving members of the expedition return to earth with a warning for all mankind. [1]
Information
The film was based on a novel by noted Eastern Bloc sci-fi novelist Stanislaw Lem. [2]
The Episode
Host Segments
Prologue: Joel adjusts Tom Servo's sarcasm sequencer. It might be a bit too high.
Invention Exchange (Segment One): Joel finally puts Servo on the correct setting ("random") which triggers at a mention of Gallagher. The Mads plan on stealing another of Joel's inventions, which turns out to be Junk Drawer Helper, a kit to start a junk drawer. The Mads attempt to present their own invention which is lost in their own junk drawer. They find Abe Vigoda instead.
Segment Two: The Bots create a robot of their own, the XT-5000 Ramjet Super-Configured Limited Edition Lighting Interface, Model L. Joel asks it a difficult question and finds out it only communicates in foam.
Segment Three: The Bots spot a strange ship that is home to a fierce gorilla. Gypsy faints, leaving it up to Crow and Tom to calm it down. Servo lulls it into submission with his fine singing voice.
Segment Four: The Klack Industrial Company presents an ad for festive holiday foods. The edibility of Creamy Clotted Palm Spread, Sir Cheddar Snack-a-Lots, and Creamy Crunchpuppies is pretty debatable.
Closing (Segment Five): A discussion of the film; Crow kind of liked it, it reminds Joel of his childhood, and it leads to Tom's sarcasm sequencer overloading and his head exploding. Letters are read as Tom smolders. Back in Deep 13, Dr. F is busy being ill into the junk drawer (which continues through the credits), forcing Frank to push the button on his own.
Stinger: The alphabet gang bids the astronauts adieu.
Other Notes
Guest Stars
- Abe Vigoda: Michael J. Nelson
- The Gorilla: Crist Ballas
Miscellanea
- Unusual credits: Dr. Forrester can be heard retching and puking over the entire end credit sequence.
Obscure References
- "This is a Schlesinger 9!" -Crow, when they see the big white sphere thing.
From the 007 film Goldfinger. James Bond says it to Goldfinger when they are playing golf. James has caught Goldfinger cheating.
| preceded by: Season 1 | MST3K Season 2 | followed by: Season 3 | ||||||
| 1990 - 1991 | ||||||||
| 201 | Rocketship X-M | 1990-09-22 | 206 | Ring of Terror | 1990-11-03 | 211 | First Spaceship on Venus | 1990-12-29 |
| 202 | The Side Hackers | 1990-09-29 | 207 | Wild Rebels | 1990-11-17 | 212 | Godzilla vs. Megalon | 1991-01-19 |
| 203 | Jungle Goddess | 1990-10-06 | 208 | Lost Continent | 1990-11-24 | 213 | Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster | 1991-02-02 |
| 204 | Catalina Caper | 1990-10-13 | 209 | The Hellcats | 1990-12-08 | |||
| 205 | Rocket Attack U.S.A. | 1990-10-27 | 210 | King Dinosaur | 1990-12-22 | |||
