It always helps when the MST3K movie is a little entertaining to begin with

In the case of Corman and Deathsport, not a whole lot. This episode, which feels to me like a step up Sting Of Death’s exercise in shaking off the rust, finds the RiffTrax guys sticking it to the movie’s producer just as they would’ve in 1997 or 2009. But even when he’s bankrolling a production where the original director reportedly quit after his verbal abuse of the female lead put him on the receiving end of the male lead’s foot, you have to admit: Corman knew how to get more bang for his buck. And bang. And bang. And bang. And bang. (There are a lot of gigantic, practical explosions in this weird, inelegantly prepared post-Star Wars stew of sword-and-sandal movies, dystopian sci-fi, action spectacle, and David Carradine’s signature TV role!)

It makes a difference when an MST’ed movie would be entertaining even without a host and ’bots. The riffs aren’t in conflict with Deathsport; they’re complementary. You can marvel at the portions of the film where the poorly explained and executed conflict between statemen and Range Guides gives way to displays of the pyrotechnic and stunt teams’ prowess. You can then delight in the jokes about those pyrotechnics and stunts, like this pitch-perfect Deathsport-in-a-nutshell riff: “They spent all their money on blowing up the movie instead of the movie itself.”

The ’70s is my favorite decade for MST3K movies—source of Sci-Fi-era gems like Riding With Death and Parts: The Clonus Horror—so I’m predisposed to like this episode. And for all their expressed distaste for Corman, you can hear the crew having fun with Deathsport, too. At some points, they treat it like a scene partner, filling in the gaps of the post-apocalyptic world-building by grafting Muppet-y personalities and voices onto the cave-dwelling mutants. At others, it’s like a writing prompt: The movie’s characters have only the most elementary relationships, wants, and desires, so Mike and the ’bots improve on that by voicing the gripes of the Helix guard who always has to be face-to-crotch with Carradine.

It probably also helps that the cut of Deathsport being riffed is all of 66 minutes long, necessitating the inclusion of a short to get it up to feature length. This is where the vintage MST3K spirit really syncs up with the RiffTrax way of doing things—educational films have remained a steady part of Corbett, Kevin Murphy, and Mike Nelson’s diet the past 20 years, and they’re right at home zinging a dry one-reeler about hygiene. (I died at Crow greeting the narrator’s sudden arrival with “Excuse me sir, we have not yet been introduced!”) Personal Hygiene For Boys is no Shake Hands With Danger, but institutional voices offering tortured metaphors and prescribing methods of daily physical upkeep still provide an inspiring canvas. I know I won’t soon forget that overhead depiction of a “balanced diet” anytime soon.

To bring it back to Brain Guy’s rant, and my revelation all those years ago, there’s one thing going unaccounted for among the merits of Corman’s filmography. Yes, being prolific isn’t automatically a bad thing—and without that prolificness, there’s considerably less MST3K. Particularly in the revival era: Corman productions accounted for more than a quarter of season 11 alone. There’s no love lost between these two parties, and it’s a stretch to say that they ever needed one another. Corman’s output would’ve stayed in circulation during the video-store era with or without a basic-cable show’s boost; the basic-cable comedy show just barely scratched the surface with other schlockmeisters. (Charles Band, for example.) But despite their individual protestations, I think Corman and MST3K are each better because the other one was around. 

Stray observations

• • I’m still getting used to the reduced number of host segments. Only having the intermission to work with seems to have put a premium on original songs (episode two’s ode to the loincloth follows “Do The Tardigrade” from the premiere); with no thread to string through a series of sketches, this week’s transmission from the Mads goes heavy on tying Pearl’s latest scheme into the movie.
• • The extremely morbid riffs about David Carradine’s death feel like they’d be a better fit for the more mischievous Crow, but I think they ultimately work in Servo’s voice. That guy has some darkness in him. (See also: “A Child’s Christmas In Space.”
• • Fun tangential MST3K connection in Deathsports’ out-of-control score: Composer Andy Stein was a member of Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen, the country-rock outfit named, in a sideways manner, after the main character of Radar Men From The Moon, the serial the Mads foist on Joel and the ’bots in season one. And featured Deathsport guitarist Jerry Garcia, of course, inspired Crow’s endless guitar solo from The Dead Talk Back. (Though based on what we hear in Deathsport, Crow says “turns out the music was by Jerry Garcia the periodontist”)
• • Favorite riff: “Man is like a candle.” Crow: “And can is like a mandle”    
• • Short narrator: “That’s especially important if you have an acne problem.” Crow: “Like Wile E. Coyote” Mike: “No, that’s an Acme problem.”
• • “Are you Donkey Lips from Salute Your Shorts?” It’s wild to hear Servo allude to a show that was on cable at the same time as MST3K’s original run, but aimed at a younger audience.
• • “And why do they call it Spencer’s Gifts when I only shop there for myself?”
• • Evergreen dystopian riff: “Hey look guys: Another place that sucks!”