MST3K Episode 1011: "Horrors of Spider Island
November 1, 2007
Mystery Science Theater 3000, Episode 1011, "Horrors of Spider Island."
First aired 7/25/99
The seasons during which "Mystery Science Theater 3000" was on the Sci-Fi Channel don't get a lot of respect from the hardcore Misties. It's easy to see why. The way the channel treated the show was similar to the way MGM treated the Marx Bros. when they jumped their from Paramount. Insisting on more plot-driven host sessions and a strict regiment of films that fell under the channel's broad definition of science fiction until the show's last season, when they were unceremoniously dumped, The Sci-Fi Channel never really seemed to understand why people watch the show. That some of the actors and voice talent jumped ship during the move didn't help endure the final few seasons to the long-termers. But the series was never about the host segments, and the writing was spot on during the theater segments right up until the show's demise. This 10th season episode is a classic example of how good the Sci-Fi Channel years could be. A painfully awful, sexist, boring German-Yugoslavian co-production from 1962, "Horrors of Spider Island" starts with some nightclub dancers crash landing in the ocean and washing up on an a deserted island, where their manager is bitten by a radioactive spider. He becomes a monster, of course, and spends the rest of the film hunting down the bevy of beauties (I'll be you the phrase "bevy of beauties" was used more than once during the marketing of this film, if there was any). The MST3K gang turn it into comic gold with pointed barbs at the many plot loopholes and despicable characters. This gem got its first DVD release on Vol. 11 of the Rhino Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection box sets. As of this writing it's still in print.
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