#42. Village of the Giants
42. Village of
the Giants (1965) - Season 5, episode 523
"Tommy Kirk discussing 'goo' makes me very uncomfortable."
Plot: A
gang of juvenile delinquents discovers a substance that turns them into
giants. So they grow super big and they terrorize a town.
Famous for:
Bad teen actors pretending to be giants by just moving slow and
talking slow. Oh, and also a young Ron Howard.
Hi, we're huge
My favorite riff: Just pick any of the riffs during the famous "breast ride" sequence. They're all great.
"First base is larger than I remember!"
"BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR!"
"Urban cowboob."
Comments:
Oh man, this is a fun one. Because there's a LOT going on in this
movie. And it starts with one of the greatest cast lists you are
ever going to see in a Mystery Science Theater episode.
First off, we have Jeff
Bridges' less successful brother Beau Bridges. Who plays the leader
of the delinquent gang, Fred.
Beau knows acting!
Then we have Tommy Kirk, who was a big Disney star back when
he
was a kid.
And who was... uh... mostly known for being
fired
by Disney because he was openly gay.
"Take me, you savage mouseketeer."
Then, of course, there's Ron Howard.
Who shows up as Genius, the little kid who
creates the goo.
"Look at him, the little kid plotting against us with Willow."
You also have Toni Basil, the famous choreographer, dancer, and singer of the famous 80s song, "Mickey."
She not only shows up here as a member of the teen gang, she also served as the movie's choreographer.
Toni Basil, being taken by the heart, not the hand
All
in all, this has got to be one of the greatest casts I have ever seen
in a Mystery Science Theater movie. I would say it is either this
or Girls Town, you decide. And the fun of having a cast like this is
that you get a lot of fun little inside jokes that you might not
get unless
you know all the backstory...
"Wow. This is Tommy Kirk REALLY acting."
Take
a great cast, some great riffing, a fun soundtrack, some of the worst
special effects
you are ever going to see, and a movie that is, surprisingly, quite
watchable, and you have one of those episodes that
has always been a personal favorite of mine. And to be honest, I'm
actually kind of surprised it doesn't show up on
EVERYONE'S list of personal favorites. It's not one of the more
popular MST3k episodes, but it's one of those episodes that
has a little bit of everything.
It's also a great first episode if you want to introduce someone new to the show, because the movie itself is not that bad.
"Jesus was run down by a Thunderbird."
Trivia:
The song at the start of Village of the Giants is called "The
Last
Race." And if it sounds familiar to you, it should. Quentin Tarantino later used it as the theme for
his movie, Death Proof.
You can listen to the full version of "The Last Race" here.
