MST3K 405 - Being from Another Planet

The Movie

Synopsis

While California University of the Sciences professor Douglas McCadden (Ben Murphy) explores the tomb of the ancient Egyptian king Tutankhamen, an earthquake causes a wall in the tomb to collapse, revealing a hidden chamber. Inside, McCadden finds a mummy in a sarcophagus. Unbeknownst to McCadden, the "mummy" is not the body of a dead Egyptian, but an extraterrestrial alien in suspended animation, being wrapped up and buried alive thousands of years before and covered with a dormant, green fungus.

The body is brought back to California and McCadden has it examined by Dr. Ken Melrose (Austin Stoker) and X-rayed by student Peter Sharpe (Kevin Brophy) before a big press conference about the discovery. While reviewing the X-rays, Sharpe notices there are five crystals around the "mummy's" head. Sharpe steals the crystals and makes new X-rays to cover up his theft. He sells four of the crystals to students who are unaware of their origin.

The second set of X-rays overdose the body with radiation. This causes the fungus to re-activate and the alien to awaken from suspended animation.At the press conference the next day, one of the students touches the fungus on the sarcophagus, which eats away one of his fingers. The sarcophagus is then opened in front of the press to reveal that the mummy is gone. Melrose and his colleague Dr. Hayworth (Antoinette Bower) attempt to identify the fungus and destroy it.

At first, everyone assumes that the mummy's disappearance is because of a fraternity prank. However, University President Wendell Rossmore (James Karen) wants to pin the "theft" on McCadden, so that he can give the Egyptian department's directorship to his subordinate, Bruce Serrano (Sam Chew Jr).

Meanwhile, the "mummy" tracks down the students who have the stolen crystals. The crystals are crucial components of an intergalactic transportation device that will allow the alien to return to its home planet. The alien violently reclaims its crystals. When the alien brutally attacks a female student, police Lt. Plummer (Darwin Joston) is called in to investigate the crime. As more students turn up dead or injured, Plummer believes that he is on the trail of a serial killer.

While Plummer conducts his investigation, McCadden translates the hieroglyphic text from the sarcophagus. He hopes it will reveal the identity of the mummy. The text reveals that Tutankhamen found the alien in a coma-like state. Thinking that the unconscious alien was a god, Tutankhamen and his attendants touched it and were killed by its infectious fungus. The king and the alien were then buried together in the king's tomb. McCadden, having figured out that the "mummy" is an alien, makes the connection between the alien and the crystals. He then traces the stolen crystals back to Sharpe, who admits to the theft and gives McCadden the one crystal he kept for himself.

In the end McCadden, Rossmore, Serrano, two students, a security guard and the alien all end up in a boiler room where the alien has set up its transportation device. The alien activates the device by placing the last recovered crystal on it; his mummy wrappings disintegrate, revealing his true form. The security guard shoots at the alien, but McCadden leaps in front of the alien to protect it. As McCadden lies injured the alien takes McCadden's hand, and the two disappear. A single crystal is left where the alien stood. Serrano grabs the crystal, and the fungus begins to destroy his hand.

Information

• This is the last film distributed by Film Ventures International to be riffed on the show. A third Master Ninja "movie" assembled by FVI was scheduled for the Season 6 finale, but was replaced by Samson vs. the Vampire Women as a going-away gesture to Frank Conniff after he decided to leave the show.
• Original title: Time Walker. Film Ventures International's title change to "Being from Another Planet" wrecked the film's twist ending.

The Episode

Host Segments

Prologue: Joel and the Bots play Movie Slogan 20 Questions.

Segment One / Invention Exchange: Crow makes a weird guess and Servo pulls a joke on the Mads. Dr. F wants a piece of the "Precious Moments" profits, and so comes up with their own "Tragic Moments" figurines, such as "Sparky's Last Romp", "By The Fire's Glow", and "I'll Get It!". On the Satellite of Love, Joel and the Bots express their outrage before presenting the Jack Palance Impersonator Kit.

Segment Two: Bad jokey wordplay by the TP'ed Bots leads to Joel declaring and explaining his fondness for Bill Mumy.

Segment Three: The bots welcome Joel to their Haunted Boiler Room, hoping to make a profit. Included are eyeballs, guts, worms of hate, and brains. It turns out Joel loves brains!

Segment Four: Tom and Crow are down, and so Joel and Gypsy arrange for some fun, including the Hexfield Viewscreen Fun Time Holo-clowns! It leaves them feeling kind of hollow.

Segment Five: Joel and the bots present the TV’s Frank Shopping Network, selling a V-shaped Diamond-Encrusted Mummy Communicator Type Thing and a letter from a viewer, all for the low, low price of bringing down the Satellite of Love! Dr. F ends up very displeased.

Stinger: Sleazy admin guy screams hysterically as his hand is fungussed.

Other Notes

• At the conclusion of the film Servo declares that it was the worst film they'd ever watched, steadfastly declaring it worse than (in order) The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy, The Side Hackers, Cave Dwellers, Catalina Caper, Pod People, The Hellcats, Daddy-O, Rocket Attack U.S.A., Earth vs the Spider, Ring of Terror, It Conquered the World, Lost Continent, Moon Zero Two, Women of the Prehistoric Planet, Time of the Apes, Wild Rebels, Stranded in Space, King Dinosaur, Mighty Jack, Rocketship X-M, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, The Unearthly, Teenage Cave Man, First Spaceship on Venus, Space Travelers, The Giant Gila Monster, City Limits, War of the Colossal Beast, The Amazing Colossal Man, Fugitive Alien, Star Force: Fugitive Alien II, Master Ninja I, Gamera, Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, Gamera vs Zigra, Gamera vs Barugon, and Gamera vs Guiron, before admitting it was "just as bad" as The Castle of Fu Manchu. However, it should be noted that this was before Dr. F and Frank sent up Monster A-Go Go or "Manos" The Hands of Fate.
• Here are the slogans from the "20 questions" sketch:
  • "Fueled by imagination" – Radio Flyer (1992)
  • "Be afraid. Be very afraid." – The Fly (1986)
  • "The most exciting undersea odyssey ever filmed." – The Neptune Factor (1973)
  • "100% pure adrenaline." – Point Break (1991)
  • "It’s not only his nose that grows!" – The Erotic Adventures of Pinocchio (1971)
  • "This time, it’s personal." – Jaws: The Revenge (1987)
  • "Dudley Moore juggles two women in an attempt to save his sanity" – Micki & Maude (1984)
  • "A sassy brassy musical humdinger." – Funny Lady (1975)
  • "A new high in adventure when they go thrill-deep in danger."
  • "A bikini-clad romp through summer’s fun."
  • "A shocking expose of souls in bondage."

• Best Brains has said in the Amazing Colossal Episode Guide that the Admin guy screaming into the camera as his hand is covered in fungus is one their all-time favorite moments. They also said that everyone in this movie is on their list of the most disgusting things they've ever seen.

Guest Stars

• Holo-clown #1: Michael J. Nelson
• Holo-clown #2: Paul Chaplin

Callbacks

• "Trumpy! You can do magic things!" (Pod People)
• "Laurence, would you put that down please!" (Catalina Caper)

Goofs

• The boom shadow on Frank’s face as Dr. F says "Clayton Stonewall Forrester."
• Joel says "we’ve came up" and they just keep going.
• When it's Movie Sign in the First Segment, the hall bleeds through Servo's mask.

Obscure References

• "Ladies and gentlemen, Jam Productions is proud to present the Black Moses of Soul!"

A reference to the Isaac Hayes album Black Moses.

• "Now, was I Smith or Jones? I can't remember, it's been so long..."

A reference to the early 1970s western TV series Alias Smith and Jones in which actor Ben Murphy co-starred (as Jones).

• "Oedipus, no!"

A reference to the classic Greek drama Oedipus Rex. At the play's climax, Oedipus gouges his own eyes out due to his shame and regret at his actions. Similar references were made throughout the series during eye-related scenes.

• Holoclowns background music

From the "Trumpy you can do magic things" sequence in MST3K 303 - Pod People.

• "Suzie Creamcheese, what's got into ya?"

This is a line from Frank Zappa's first album, Freak Out. Suzie Creamcheese is a recurring character on several of Zappa's subsequent albums. Zappa was a fan of MST3K (see stinger for Episode 523).

• "I meant Butch Patrick!" "Oh why didn't you say so? You know I thought The Phantom Tollbooth was so overrated..."

The Phantom Tollbooth is a 1970 film adaptation of the novel by the same name featuring child star Butch Patrick and animation produced by animator Chuck Jones. Joel's statement on the film being overrated refers to the amount of praise critics gave the film upon it's release. However it was not a commercial success and the author of the book, Norton Juster reportedly disliked the film.

• "I'm gonna find those strawberries!"

Line from Humphrey Bogart's portrayal of Lt. Commander Queeg from the film The Caine Mutiny. Queeg becomes obsessed with finding who has taken some strawberries from the Officer's mess hall, which other officers interpret as an indicator of his paranoia and unfitness for command.

• "Can I go back to my game? I was on the third level of Metroid."

This refers to the classic Nintendo Entertainment System sci-fi adventure game Metroid, although it is comprised of rooms in one elaborate maze and not levels.

• "...and the snake knives Mrs. Presky"

From Firesign Theatre's Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers.

• "Mork calling Orson..."

Reference to the TV comedy Mork & Mindy. At the end of each episode, Mork (a human-looking alien) calls his superior (named Orson) to tell him what he learned about the human race that particular week.

• "Norton, you down here?"

Referencing The Honeymooners character Ed Norton who worked underground in New York City's sewer system.

Video releases

• Commercially released on DVD by Shout! Factory in March 2016 as part of Volume XXXV, a 4-disc set along with Teenage Cave Man, 12 to the Moon, and Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell.
  • The DVD includes the original Time Walker, the Ballyhoo Motion Pictures feature Richard Band Remembers, and a theatrical trailer.