Page 1 of 3
A pair of campy favorites get updated reissues....
Shout! Factory / 180 Minutes / 1993/1999 / Street Date: March, 20, 2012
Both of these episodes were previously released by Rhino. Wild World of Batwoman was released as a single episode previously, so it may be in some demand. Girl in Gold Boots was included in MST3K Vol. 4.
The Batwoman episode begins with the good old invention exchange. TV’s Frank has invented an atomic hair perm system, while Mike shows off his invention, the back shaver, which is basically a very large shaving blade and a wall paint roller to roll on the shaving cream.
This isn’t the Batwoman you’re imagining. This is a woman with Don King hair wearing a costume ball mask. Oh, and the acting and directing is horrendous. What? Bad acting in a MST3K movie? No, seriously, this is really bad stuff. We’re given a ridiculously stupid villain who looks like Darkman wearing a ski mask revealing only his eyes and nose. Batwoman has a collection of scantily clad females that train to fight evil. As the batwomen chant their motto Mike and the bots add in “one nation, under Heff,” which seems quite fitting seeing as they’re dressed like Playboy Bunnies.
It’s a good episode, but nothing fantastic – the third episode with Mike in the theater. As the episode progresses though it seems that Mike & the bots are more obsessed with the short film, “Cheating” that preceded the film. Batwoman is maybe just so badly made that it’s tough to follow and make sense out of. That seems to affect the level of the riffing and Mike and the bots try to make sense of the nonsensical.
Girl in Gold Boots is a season 10 episode, so Mike is much more comfortable in Joel’s shoes by then. TV’s Frank and Dr. F are gone and instead we have Mrs. Forester, Brain Guy & Bobo. Starting off Crow & Servo get into the whole “what would… do?” bracelet trend. Mrs. F is torturing Bobo in attempting to get board certified as a mad scientist. She’s in rare form as she introduces the movie to Mike & the bots who are asked to react more horribly to the reveal of the movie that they will be watching. These are hijinks of the lowest order – and I mean that as a compliment.
The theme song to the feature film is like an ice cream headache that won’t go away; it’s maddeningly catchy. The film is one of those “girls gone bad” kind of films (in the 60s b-film kinda way, not the we pay girls to take off their shirts way).
Well Michelle, a girl working at a diner is swayed by a scheemy agent to travel with him to Los Angeles to become a go go dancer. If you’re thinking it sounds somewhat like Showgirls, then you’re right, minus the hard R rating and made on a shoe-string budget.
The tough bikers they run into are riding ridiculously small motorcycles. The parts are written for big cruiser bikes, but it looks like they could only afford to rent 250cc bikes. The bikers are hulking monsters compared to the bikes (and the guys really aren’t that big).
This episode is better (as is the film) than Batwoman. During a host segment as Crow imitates the bikers in the film Mike tricks Crow into making him pour beer into his beer stein and all over Crow’s head. It’s a great little gag, even if it is an old-fashioned one. The riffing is also very solid here with some very funny bits.