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I'll catch up...

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The Space Command crew members of the Excaliber from the Tsuburaya television series Star Wolf.

Most folks on this side of the Pacific recognize these folks from the two Sandy Frank films - Fugitive Alien and Star Force: Fugitive Alien ll - that were made from episodes edited together, and then famously broadcast on Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Those films were dubbed into English and the character names were changed, including the ship, which became the Bacchus 3.

BTW, Captain Jou is not storing food in his cheeks. Actor Joe Shishido had implants placed in his cheeks in the 1960s to make himself more attractive and marketable as a leading man.

#Star Wolf #Fugitive Alien #Star Force: Fugitive Alien ll #Space Command #tokusatsu #Tsuburaya Productions #Edmond Hamilton #science fiction #Excaliber #Bacchus 3

Weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth after I realized I would have to rip back almost six inches of knitting in order to make different choices. I'm trying to catch back up as much as I can *cries* while watching this episode of MST3Knitathon, my attempt to finish this blanket in too little time while watching the top 100 episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 from bottom to top

A list of the Top 100 Episodes of MST3K was compiled based on a survey taken of backers of the Bring Back MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 campa

30. Episode 310 Fugitive Alien

Content Warning: One of the alien cultures is a thinly veiled anti-Arab stereotypes

Summary: Mostly, we now get to see what was summed up in a plot recap during Star Force: Fugitive Alien II. Ken was a Star Wolf raider until he disobeyed an order to kill a child (coincidentally also named Ken), and accidentally killed his buddy with his super strength while trying to stop him from taking the shot. He's discovered by the mercurial, hard-drinking Captain Joe of Earth, who blackmails him into joining his ship. Their first mission is to aid an Earth-allied planet in an unrelated war so that the allies will be at full strength to fight off Star Wolf raids. After getting himself thrown in jail, Ken is tasked with both escaping and freeing an also imprisoned enemy colonel so that the crew can use him as bait to sneak onto the enemy planet, catching the plot up with the start of the second film.

Somewhere in there, pilot Rocky tries to prove that Ken is a Star Wolf by driving a forklift straight at him, forcing him to use his super-strength to hold it back, but the Captain covers for him by claiming his super-strength is a result of growing up on a planet with stronger gravity. Also, Ken's girlfriend Rita tracks him down to avenge her brother (the buddy from the beginning), but can't bring herself to shoot him. They are ambushed, and Ken shoots past Rita at unseen-by-her attackers, causing her to die in his arms believing that he has shot her.

MST3K lore or notable moments: We see the original forklift song, which will be a frequent callback! Also, Mike originates his Jack Perkins impression, who will be a recurring guest character on the show.

What do I think about its place on the list? I suspect that the full force of this episode's impact lies in watching it and the sequel in close enough succession to appreciate the set-up in this one and the call-backs in the next. Unfortunately, something's lost watching them out of order and almost 30 episodes apart. It was still fun though! The forklift song is in my head as I'm writing this, and I really enjoyed the riff and seeing Jack Perkins. This is one of their more disorienting movies, what with the slightly complicated plot, the way each character seems to drastically change emotions from moment to moment, the gonzo technology, and the very rapid jumpcuts during intense moments, but a lot of that made for good riffing. (Before starting this project, I had the impression that riffing over the movie's dialogue got worse in the SciFi era where the jokes became increasingly faster paced, but watching all these episodes in succession has proved me wrong. Mike, Bill, and Kevin are very good about timing their riffs around the dialogue - Joel's era is the worst offender, and it's not doing this episode any favors.) Fun, memorable, a little too confusing to be a top-25 all-time great, but the forklift song was one of the show's first memes ... I'd say top 30 is a good place for this one. No change.

#mst3k #mystery science theater 3000 #mst3knitathon #fugitive alien