Turkey Day Part 4- Pod People

And now we come to one of my favorite episodes of not just Mystery Science Theater 3000, but of anything EVER- Pod People. Strap in, because this movie is all over the place.

Some poachers are out in the woods poaching when a meteor crashes to earth. One of the poachers investigates and discovers a rookery of sorts for alien eggs. He decides to start smashing eggs like a teenager on Mischief Night. However the mama alien shows up and kills him.

Meanwhile, young Tommy, friend to animals, finds said cave and the last remaining egg. He takes the egg home to raise.

Meanwhile, a terrible pop group is laying track for their latest single. Their music is so awful, it makes me long for the mellow, feel good sound of the Insane Clown Posse. Anyway, they wrap up and leave to go camping in the woods.

Meanwhile, the two alive poachers are still poaching.

Meanwhile, the egg hatches and Tommy names the little alien baby Trumpy. Trumpy quickly grows to be as large as Tommy.

Meanwhile, terrible pop group is in the words. Problems arise when lead singer Rick's girlfriend Shari is mean to Rick's other girlfriend Laura. Laura runs off in a huff. She runs into the poachers, who make her run more, then runs into Trumpy's mom, who makes her run off of a cliff. Terrible pop group finds Laura and rushes to the nearest location- Tommy's house.

Meanwhile, the poachers- ARGHH! I can't take this anymore! Just sitting here trying to write a plot synopsis is causing a sharp, needle-like pain in my right arm. Short version, 75% of the cast gets killed, Trumpy's mom gets killed in turn, and a sad Tommy sends Trumpy away.

This movie's never sure what film it wants to be. It vacillates from horror to charming family fare and back again. It doesn't help that the monsters look absolutely ridiculous. Take a gander.

AHH! Hideous! ... And I suppose the aliens are bad too.

At least Ro-Man the Ro-Man was large. These things look barely able to throttle a sick cat, let alone all the people in this movie.

Anyway, this movie brings gets the cast firing on all cylinders. The sketches are all good (and oddly enough, all but the very first have some sort of musical element) and the riffing is sublime. Seriously. My buddies and I still regularly quote the jokes in this movie to each other. I think it's even surpassed The Simpsons in how much it gets referenced.

And then there's the stinger. Starting in Season 2, MST3K would have a clip of the movie at the end of the show's credits; said clip would usually be the most ridiculous or weird scene. The stinger of this episode, to me, embodies everything a stinger should be- short, sweet, and summing up the theme of the film. In Pod People, the stinger features Rick, holding up the A-OK sign and proclaiming "It Stinks!" A truer statement of the film simply cannot be provided. "It Stinks" became one of the shows running gags, and was used multiple times in this episode and many thereafter. Hell, I myself have used it many times, usually with the picture of Joel. I remember when I was writing my review for S*** My Dad Says and was looking for a picture of Shatner. I found one of Bill making the A-OK sign and new what joke to make. It's like God himself reached into the internet and said, "Do it. Make the Pod People reference." And I did.

Pod People is easily, EASILY one of the greatest episodes of the series. And if you think it's not that good, well then there's only one way to describe your opinion....

IT STINKS!