After weathering through a Star Wars knockoff, the MST3K gang deals with an adventure movie which could be misinterpreted as a movie slightly based on the song “Message In A Bottle” by the Police.
The Land That Time Forgot is based on an Edgar Rice Burroughs novel and stars Doug McClure, who you may remember from The Virginian and a bunch of other TV shows and movies. The movie starts with someone tossing a sealed can into the ocean. Someone eventually finds it washed ashore, and reads the story that’s inside. The narrator is an American named Tyler whose boat is sunk by a U-Boat. There are survivors including some Brits (including a female biologist), and they eventually take over the submarine. They wind up lost and find themselves on an uncharted island that has dinosaurs and even some cavemen. Nothing much happens aside from the occasional guy getting eaten by the local deadly fauna. They do have problems with cavemen, including a guy named Ahm.
The movie ends with the U-boat getting blown up, and Tyler and the girl the only two survivors who go on to see what else is on the island.
The cast also includes Anthony Ainley, who was The Master on Doctor Who during the 80’s. He does get a riff, though: “Burt Reynolds is Sean Connery as Mark Ruffalo in Foxcatcher.”
The Invention Exchange reveals something the Mads had been doing all season: make something based on a riff Jonah and the Bots made the episode before. Their luck ran out when they made an “Elder Pump”, but didn’t know what it does. Of course, they don’t apologize. Their dads did the same thing.
The host segments include Jonah and the bots as the U-boat crew, as they deal with a big robo-octopus with a head that looks a little too much like Servo.
Meanwhile, the Mads plug a restaurant that serves dinosaur meat, which at least has a great logo and jingle. It’s probably one of their funniest bits.
RIFFS:
McClure and the U-boat crew arrive in the middle of the island
They drifted onto the set of Avatar
Some cavemen see they have company
Jim Henson’s Lou Ferrigno Babies
Tyler and the female scientist are about to toss their story into the ocean
Cruella DeVil and Jon Snow lived happily ever after.
Next: the traditional Hercules movie on the MST3K schedule, but a bit unusual
