The Crawling Hand [1963] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

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You will believe a hand can crawl!.......2004-06-28

Ah, MST3K Season One. I can see how some people, even MST3K fans, might be disappointed by this video. Instead of TV's Frank, Dr. Forrester has Dr. Larry Erhardt (John Weinstein) for a sidekick, and it is Weinstein rather than Kevin Murphy supplying the voice of Tom Servo. The set looks as cheap as it really was, the silhouettes in the theater are sort of green-looking, Joel sometimes seems to forget which bot is which, and the jokes are sometimes rather lame. However, the show is still hilarious. If you've never seen a Season One episode before, cut Weinstein's Servo voice some slack. Initially, I hated it, but being fortunate enough to have the whole first season on tape, I found that this initial Servo incarnation was actually pretty funny in his own right after I got used to him. This one video probably won't make you a Weinstein fan, but give him a chance.

As for the movie itself, The Crawling Hand was perfect MST3K material--there's a silly plot, an annoying teenager, and some incredibly bad acting. America's space program is apparently run in a little warehouse somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and the scientists there are in a tizzy. On two occasions, a guy has been sent to the moon, landing successfully, then being lost on his way back to earth. This second time, communication is reestablished with the astronaut 20 minutes after he has run out of oxygen. He begs the men in the control room (actually, it's really just a desk) to blow him up before he reenters the atmosphere. The doctor-type guy finally hits the red button. Meanwhile, a supposedly smart slacker goes swimming in the ocean with his Swedish girlfriend, and while they are frolicking around they run across a human hand lying on the beach. Naturally, our hero decides he must have that hand; he sneaks back that night (apparently this is the one beach in California that no one whatsoever goes to) and makes the wonderful hand his own, lovingly placing it in his landlady's storage room behind some relish. Soon, the hand (which does crawl, just like the title says) begins strangling people (that's gonna happen, you know). At this point, the sheriff, AKA Alan Hale (Skipper!), commences an investigation. One print found on the body of the first victim is matched to the fingerprint of the blown-up astronaut, and that's when the Space Boys come out to try and clean up a little of their mess. To complicate matters, our boy who found the hand begins having episodes wherein he turns into an "Elvis zombie" with heavy mascara under his eyes and feels compelled to strangle people himself. As you may have guessed, it all comes down to some hand to hand combat in the end.

I think this is one of the best Season One episodes. I particularly enjoyed one skit in which the guys all pretend to be William Shatner being choked by a disembodied hand. Joel and the bots are still developing the real spirit and style of the show, but the genius is already unmistakably there. Most importantly, I can assure you that this show is very funny.

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