Released in 1966, Manos: The Hands of Fate is a D-minus of a B movie: Its plot, about desert-dwelling pagans, makes little sense. Its cast could be out-acted by the stars of a day care holiday pageant. And the film is paced with the urgency and focus of a box turtle on lithium.
MST3K
Luckily, no one has to watch Manos alone. It’s just one of the nearly 200 horror flicks, teensploitation romps, and outer-space oddities to appear on Mystery Science Theater 3000, the cult-stoking comedy series that provided awful films with hilarious, sharp, high-speed detractors’ commentary.
And so—from WIRED Magazine—begins their definitive oral history of a television treasure: Mystery Science Theatre 3000.
Here’s one of my 2,676 favorite exchanges from the show:
Movie: Lost Continent
[A quick shot of a rocket on a launch pad.]
Crow: Oh, look! A V-2!
Tom: Aw, I could’ve had a V8!
[As the American military and science team heads for the mountain on which a radioactive rocket landed, their native guide turns to flee.]
Nolan: Aren’t you coming with us?
Native Girl: [nervously] Nooo!
Crow [as Native Girl]: Me no got lead sarong.
Native Girl: Sacred mountain taboo! No one ever come back from home of god!
Joel [as Native Girl]: Besides, you guys not see woman in long time.