Posted on 10/28/2004 7:35:04 PM PDT by WestVirginiaRebel
i just saw plan 9 from outerspace on the svengoolie show out of chicago and i dont think it wastheworst film ever made either ive seen a lot worse recently and from major studios recently i mean come on farenhiet 9/11 hello peopl e lots worse then plan 9 and just as far fetched :-)
I totally agree i liked it when i saw it on tv recently
Cinematographically, the film made sense. It effectively told its story. To be sure, the story was incredibly silly and made little sense, but the film held together well enough to tell it.
When the aliens flew to the mothership, the set where they talked to their leader didn't really look anything like the inside of a space ship, but since it was preceded by an establishing model shot, it was clear that's what it was supposed to be.
Plus, as someone else noted, the film had a certain charm to it many other films lack. Perhaps it's the fact that so much in the film was so exaggerated, much like Christopher Guest's role in Little Shop of Horrors. But more likely it's the fact that the film's humor comes across as unintentional.
A key aspect of a lot of comedy is the straight man--someone who acts totally oblivious to the humor of his situation. In Plan 9, Ed Wood is the straight man. One perceives, watching the film, that Ed Wood believes in it. When the action cuts between some nifty stock footage of artillery firing and a couple of military men talking in front of a blank wall that would be about the right shade of grey to be sky (if there weren't clouds in the real stock-footage sky) one imagines that Ed Wood probably thought the shots matched well enough that nobody would notice that they don't match perfectly (never mind that they don't really match at all).
Something like Plan 9 is hardly a good movie, but it's at least watchable. Unlike some films, I didn't find myself wondering "what was he thinking!?", since it seemed pretty clear what Ed Wood was thinking. I may have wondered "How could he possibly think ___?" [e.g. that the military studio shots matched the stock footage] but it was clear that he did. By contrast, if Manos is as described, things like the driving scenes would leave me wondering "What was he thinking!? Why is this footage here?" A much worse question.
I haven't seen Manos, but I would consider Plan 9 to be exceptionally pretentious. But it manages to be pretentious and self-effacing at the same time, which is a pretty unusual trick. One might analogize it to someone who walks around wearing a $5000 suit whose pants have a small hole that's patched with duct tape and who acts as though the suit is perfect. If the guy acted as though he knew the suit's flaw was obvious, it wouldn't be funny, and if the suit were repaired competently but imperfectly it wouldn't be funny. What becomes funny is when the flaw is so obvious the person couldn't help but believe it to be so, and yet he does not.
And yet, Manos bore the Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment to hilarious effect, while Plan 9 (in the opinion of the MST3K creators) would not, because not enough action takes place.
A movie like Plan 9 doesn't lack action. Rather, the problem with doing an MST3K treatment would be that the film is sufficiently outrageous that there's not much for Tom Servo et al. to add. When a character says "Atomospheric disturbances in outer space often interfere with transmitting", what more can one say that wouldn't seem lame by comparison.
There was one movie I saw on MST3K where some characters drove through the "squealing swamp", so called because of the squealing noises whenever the car's tires skidded on the dirt road. To be sure, it's pretty clear that tires can't squeal on dirt, but I wouldn't have noticed it were it not for the comment. But Plan 9's quirks are sufficiently glaring obvious that there's no purpose to pointing them out.
People hate those who sit in theaters and talk to the screen or their cell phones, whatever, and nowadays some find it entertaining to watch a bunch of adolescents talk over a movie ( no matter how bad it is?). Let me watch it in all it's "splendor". 
Is Rich Koz still doing Son of Svengoolie in Chicago? I loved that show when I was a kid.
yes he is he also host a saturday night show on channel 69 out of south bend called stoogapalooza its all three stooges all the time he appears as himself on that show though not as svengoolie
I'm in the Chicago area, too and Svengoolie used to make appearances at malls, supermarkets and different places in the area. Years ago when I worked at a mall and around Halloween he was going to be making an appearance.
One of my co-workers who had been there for past appearences was telling me that Koz has to have security guards with him because people threaten him when he is in the Svengoolie get up! People who aren't familiar with his show have threatened him and yell insults at him. I always thought that was really strange.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.