MovieChat Forums > Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996) Discussion > Why did the MST3K version cut so much of...

Why did the MST3K version cut so much of the original film?

posted 8 years ago by ewmayer
1 reply | jump to latest

Based on my rough timings from watching this, MST3K cut over 20 minutes of the original 1955 movie - and it's not terribly long to begin with at 87 minutes - in their riffed version. Even worse, they cut undoubtedly the best laugh line of the whole film, the one in which Ruth is showing Cal around her underground laboratory at Bigforeheaded Aliens 'R' Us Inc. research plaza and the orange cat runs up and leaps onto the top of the big square plate of metal shielding, to which Ruth says "Oh, that's our lab mascot, Neutron. We call him Neutron because he's always so positive!!!" At that point you realize the Aliens didn't hire Ruth for her atomic physics expertise. :)

Given that - unlike the TV show - in the context of a feature film you don't have to worry about squeezing in a half-hour of commercials, why would they cut so much? They could have done all the same host segments on top of the full-length film and come in at around 100 minutes, not overlong for a feature film. Was this the studio stupidity referred to in some of the other threads, in cutting way too much of the film as originally riffed by the MST3K crew?

I haven't seen the Blu-Ray version - how many minutes' worth of deleted scenes are in the bonus materials there? (And do they have a riffed version of the positive-cat-named-Neutron scene?)

[–] wallacesawyer 8 years ago

I don't think it's ever been confirmed why so much was cut from THIS ISLAND EARTH, unless I'm forgetting something. Many films featured on the show were shortened for numerous reasons like timing, violence, nudity, or the films were simply like that when they got them.

The Shout! Factory DVD/Blu-Ray does contain maybe 20 minutes worth of deleted scenes, but most are of MST3K host segments, for example the alternate ending. There is some extended riffed footage of THIS ISLAND EARTH, but not the rest of the movie.

Roger Ebert once commented that the film may have been shortened because the "novelty wears off after a while." Basically the studio may have been worried the general audience, people who aren't already fans of the show, might get bored and leave. I honestly think this sounds like the most likely reason.

I've seen THIS ISLAND EARTH, uncut and unriffed. And while there is some footage I wish they had kept, when you stop and think about it, a lot of it was kind of just filler anyway so I can't really blame the studio for trimming the fat and giving the MST3K version a faster pace.

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