[ Post a Response | EVEN DeepER Blurting! ]
Posted by Kenneth Morgan
on 6/15/2009, 8:57 pm, in reply to "DBNS: Philly 'er Up! (Pt. 1)"
AND NOW, THE AMAZING CLIMAX TO OUR TALE!
Well, the warm-up was pretty much a replay of the same bits used during the Minneapolis show. It started up with Dave “Gruber” Allen again, with Josh/J. Elvis and Frank following. The repeated bits included the anti-clown “Tears in the Greasepaint” song from Gruber & J/J.E., the latter’s “KADD” bit (renamed “WADD” for the East Coast audience), and Frank’s “Convoluted Man” theme. Now, don’t get me wrong; I’m not complaining. The bits were funny then and remain so now. They did, though, put in some new bits, like comparing the Pennsylvania state flag (great) and the California state flag (lame).
After that, Joel, looking very natty in a gray suit & tie, came out did some Q&A, working from cards audience members had submitted earlier. The questions included “What was the weirdest gift you got from a fan?” (box of toenail clippings), “May I work in your country?” (written on a green response card), and a question asking if Frank based his hairstyle on Brando’s in “Superman, the Movie”. (Frank said Brando inspired both his hair and eating habits.) Then, Joel introduced fellow Cinematic Titans Trace, Mary Jo, Frank & J/J.E., and they got to work on the movie for the evening.
Said movie was “The Alien Factor”, a low-budget flick made in and around Baltimore in 1977. The plot, such as it is, involves a small group of alien creatures who menace a small town, knocking off several citizens who really should’ve known better. (Oddly bucking the trend, several female citizens are menaced, but I saw none killed. The victims are all rather dumb men.) The local sheriff (Tom Griffith) is perplexed, the local newspaper reporter (I think it’s Edie Martin, played by Mary Mertens) is out to get the truth, and the mayor (Richard Dyszel) just wants it all hushed up so as not to endanger the new (and unseen) amusement complex being built nearby. Suddenly, mysterious and ultra-smug scientist Zachary (Don Leifert) arrives and sets out to trap and stop the aliens on his own. Still, townsfolk blunder into trouble rather than let him deal with it. Near the big finish, though, we learn the pretty unsurprising truth behind Zachary (besides his being a real jerk), which leads to the equally-unsurprising climax.
Reportedly, this movie was made for less than $5,000 and it shows. It looks like it was filmed in a nearby wooded area and a couple of crewmember’s houses. The visual effects are very low grade (including a “Future War”-style forced-perspective bit), except for one surprise bit of stop-motion animation at the end. The script is not particularly good, with the previously-noted recurring theme of victims all but daring the aliens to kill them, and the actors tried, but didn’t really do all that well. The two most annoying problems were the pretty atonal Moog synthesizer musical score, and the constant, overlong sequences of people just walking through the woods. (The latter makes up at least a total of fifteen minutes of screen time.) Throw in an out-of-place musical number with a local trio and a slow-mo bit with kids just playing outside and you’ve got a very acceptable riffing target. Yeah, the movie is pretty bad, but it’s just the sort of thing that, once upon a time, you’d see on a rainy Saturday afternoon on “Chiller Theater” on Channel 11.
The riffing by the Titans was spot-on and absolutely hilarious. I know I’m not alone in my contention that, even if the riffs are the same, the presentation seems funnier in a live show amongst other MSTies than on a DVD at home. As for individual riffs, I’d say that two that got the biggest laughs were for one scene where the mayor, in full ACTING mode, tells the sheriff what they’re going to do about the alien threat (TRACE: Okay, put the Oscar back in the box.), or when smug Zachary shows up at the Mayor’s house and asks to speak to him (JOEL: Well, I was in the middle of my Chevy Chase lessons…). And, perhaps, the biggest laugh of all was gotten by the appearance of the second murderous alien, who looks so ridiculous that jokes weren’t even needed. I’m sure they did a couple of riffs (at least one had to have a Torgo reference), but I couldn’t hear them over the audience. And, of course, there were jabs at the movie’s budget, the synthesizer score, and the overwhelming 70’s atmosphere.
Well, after the movie proper, there was a brief encore involving some of the better riffs from previous CT productions. Bri and I could’ve stayed for the meet & greet with the Titans after the show (where the stars were reportedly very friendly and gracious to all), but we were tired and had to get home. Traffic was lighter back to NJ so it went a lot faster, in spite of a bit of rain. All in all, things went OK, with the experience marred by the very hefty parking fee. (We forgot to get our ticket stamped at the theater.) Still, quite a show and quite an evening.
Well, there you have it. I’m not sure if CT is doing any more manageable performances this year, or if the trio from Rifftrax will be performing. And I haven’t seen anything else interesting upcoming. So, except for my yearly retreat to the ancestral home, I won’t be doing much more traveling for a while. At least until the all-but-inevitable TESB 30th Anniversary celebration in 2010.
Of course, if RT or CT gets within, say, fifty miles of the Garden State, that could change.
CONTENT NOTE: Even though you may have missed the live show, I’m including this in expectation of the inevitable DVD release from CT. “The Alien Factor” itself doesn’t appear to be rated, but is comparable to a PG for mild violence & gore. CT’s production, though, probably rates closer to a PG-13 for language.
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