Customer Reviews

Mystery Science Theater 3000: Catalina Caper [VHS]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

One of my favorites; this Season 2 episode is worth every penny.
The movie itself is painfully unfunny - a teen beach movie that is trying very, very hard to be a comedy, but is just embarrassing. Fortunately, we have Joel and the 'Bots to help "Catalina Caper" realize it's true comic potential - as the butt of some seriously good riffing.

The movie features a dorky teenager and his dorky friend, who is an inexplicable chick-magnet. The pair head to the beach for their summer vacation, where they are entangled in, and foil, a criminal plot (masterminded by a character whom Joel and the 'Bots refer to as "lockjaw Jim Backus") to steal a really old scroll and sell a counterfeit copy of it to a Greek collector.

But the scroll thing is really only a subplot. What was the real point of this movie? The point seems to have been to have lots of young, white Americans frolicking in their bathing suits, and several catchy musical numbers - including one sung by Little Richard himself (Joel observes that he seems to be "hopped up on goofballs").

But there's more music than just the dippy dance tunes in "Catalina Caper." In one of the most stirring performances in his illustrious musical career, Tom Servo treats us to a very touching, love-struck ode to the film's fish-loving Creepy Girl. The song is truly adorable, and for me is the highlight of this very good episode. I can't see how any creepy girl could fail to be moved by the sweet, clever song, or by Servo's sensitive rendition of it.

You want this episode. Trust me, you do.

It's not 'mystery' or 'science,' and it's harder to be funny with a movie that's itself trying to be funny, but 'Catalina Caper,' show 204, is one of my two or three favorite MST3K episodes ever. Oh bite me. It's fun!

These Season Two episodes seem to me to have an exuberance that was sometimes lacking in later years -- a spirit that obviously says, 'We can't believe we're getting paid to do this.' All of the host segments are top-notch, from the tank tops in the Invention Exchange, to Joel's explanation of the Sixties, to Tom Servo's famous 'Creepy Girl Song,' which I still to this day find myself singing from time to time.

The movie itself is a Sixties fever-dream of talented actors poorly used, untalented actors poorly cast, well-known musicians mysteriously appearing and disappearing, and a plot that Joel and The Bots (J&TB) couldn't decipher, even with a complex flow chart. J&TB's riffing, needless to say, is excellent.

If you're looking for MST3K at its best, this is one of the episodes you need to own.

This is my favorite episode ever. This is Mystery Science Theater 3000 at it's best. This is an episode from season 2 (episode #204) so the jokes are kind of old but it's still great. If your a Mystery Science Theater 3000 fan then you must have this video. If your new to MST3K then this is a great episode to learn about it's old days. Anyway I suggest this video for any fan of MST3K, or even if your not a fan of MST3K it's still funny video to introduce you to the great world of MST3K. The reasons why this video is so great is This video has the "Tank Tops" segment and the "Creepy Girl" song that Tom Servo sings. The movie has "little Richard" and "Tommy Kirk" in it so you know the bots are going to make use of that. So get this episode, now! You will like it VERY much.

A tip for anyone spacing out over the complete absence of any definable plot: don't worry about it. True, MST3K has done movies with actual plots that can be figured out. In the end though, it doesn't matter. One must not think about the movie and instead think about the riffs on it. As far as the jokes go, this isn't their best. But hearing Joel (it's mostly Joel for this particular part) point out what was intended to be comedy is worthwhile. And just seeing the only movie they ever did that was intended to be a comedy is worth it for the novelty. So buy it, watch it, and laugh.

It's not one of the great ones, but it's good. It's worth it just for the Little Richard song and also to hear Servo sing "Creepy Girl" while Joel and Crow dance.

"Put on your eye-protection folks, because there are a lot of plot threads flying around......"

The best "first-timer" -- to introduce friends to the whole MST3K concept (not to mention the "creepy girl" and other concepts that Joel and the 'Bots riffed on for years afterwards.

"Thank YOU, Tommie Kirk, for teaching us to laugh about love again," says it all.

Big fan of MST3000 but there is just not enough in this movie to crack the jokes about. Also for some reason the volume is set to low in as far as the movie itself goe's. You will do much better with another MST3000...but not the Shakephere one !

Don't get me wrong, the first 45 minuntes of this movie is great. Funny as heck, and it even has Little Richard ("the only talent in this movie") in it, but I just can't stick with the movie after that. Sorry. But rest assured, that this is the only MST3K that I have seen that is like this.

Could it be the weather? Something in me yearns for dumb movies, old music and scenes of an old and perfect USA before PC-ness. If on top of this, you yearn for snide remarks, then this is the film for you.

Catalina Caper may be woodenly acted and its skimpily-clad teenagers, so wholesome and cute in 1960's style, may seem completely fake, yet the film can send a wave of nostalgia over you if you were born 1950's or before. There's a lack of fear, complete confidence and boldness, in these young folks on the beach - something that seems lost today in modern California.

Meanwhile, MST3000 adds its truly goofy commentary down at the bottom of the screen. The go-go dancing of the girls in particular is addicting to watch - what energy and spirit in it! The one dark-skinned girl of the whole teenaged bunch acts foreign, strange, hence the name "Creepy Girl", who murmurs about fish and her sea dreams...getting Tommy Kirk, gay boy-wonder in real life, interested in her rather than the other blonde bombshells.

Meanwhile, there's more to this film than a nonstop beach party and dance-a-thon, oh yes! There's serious adult criminal activity going on, with a yacht owner financing his lifestyle by stealing big-ticket antiquities from museums, copying them (in this case, an Egyptian scroll), then pawning off the copy to a gullible millionaire, while having the original returned to its museum frame. Incredible? Well, it does work out with nutso twists and turns, all wonderful cannonfodder for the MST3K commentators. Also, it leads to underwater scubadivers wrestling, teenager boys fighting off Mafia-style bad guys, and a goofy detective following all of them around.

I disagree with their comments about the Cascades, the group of male singers whose biggest hit was "The Rhythm of the Rain". The 'bots kept saying how horrible they were, singing "There's a New World" (actually a Kinks song, check youtube to hear the smooth original version). I was convinced that even in a silly film, the directors would not put a lousy singing group, so I flipped the DVD over to hear them sing without the overvoices. Maybe I am the ONLY one to think so, but I LIKED this song and their way of harmonizing. Yes, I still laughed as the bots tried to harmonize with the group, changing the words to "Can't sing, can't sing, can't siiiiiiiiing!"

Plot is not what you should be after here, just a feel-good old beach movie with old music, including Little Richard shaking like "he's puffed up on goofballs".

Well, as the winter weather sets in, enjoy old and goofy films with ridiculous commentary to boot. I did, age 50!

The plot in this 60's beach flick was generally unidentifiable. It had something to do with stolen artwork that is to be handed off at Catalina Island. The video sleeve depicted a skin-diving scene, but that was just given a brief lick in the film. Mostly visual of a lot of bikini girls and helmet hair guys "having fun". Kind of dorky. The music was kind of cool in a 60ish sort of way, with a neat cameo by Little Richard singing "Scuba Party". I don't see myself buying the soundtrack to this flick but the music was entertaining (sometimes), including Tom Servo's solo of "Creepy Girl". I agree with a fellow reviewer that Joel and the 'bots talked over the music too much, and probably ad-libbed a little too much . . . some of it just didn't come off. A 60's dork-fest, given a little help by MST3K.