Episode 14: 201 - "Rocketship X-M"

20 October 2011 Ryan Speck

14-rocketship-x-m Things finally get good. I thought I might be imagining it and setting myself up for eventual disappointment; the past season had been so bad, perhaps I was fooling myself in remembering "Rocketship X-M" being funny and on par with many of the later episodes of MST3K. It couldn't have possibly shifted so drastically in quality so quickly, could it?

But it did. That long break in between the seasons, the loss of Josh Weinstein, the addition of Frank Conniff, the more structured writing... It all added up to a smoother, better experience. The riffs came faster and harder than ever before. There were barely any moments of silence throughout the movie that weren't filled with a joke. Mike Nelson claimed that this was the perfect movie for MST3K and it definitely proved to be perfect for showing what they could do with the concept.

As far as movies went, it was surprisingly decent and was one of the higher-quality films that they'd show for quite some time. Lloyd Bridges made a good target for a variety of "Sea Hunt" jokes and no one can forget the Texas-related material throughout the movie.

Going back and watching it again after several years, the good lines are a little fewer and farther between than I remember, but there was a real quantum leap forward in the production value, writing, and sense of humor of MST3K in the span between this episode and the last (which was really "Women Of The Prehistoric Planet").

The viewing of this episode completely renewed my faith in this little endeavor and reignited my interest in continuing on. Woe to the poor bastards who watched the first season when it originally aired. I'm left to wonder if they even came back for the second. Kudos for The Comedy Channel for sticking with it, though. Perhaps we have a lack of good programming to thank for MST3K having the chance to grow into something great.