It's been well over a year since anything from the Mystery Science Theater 3000 TV show was reviewed and well I thought that with the guys from Rifftrax making four new episodes to be released later this year and the fact that we are close to the thirtieth anniversary of Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie now would be the best time to talk about another episode. With this episode actually being the first classic era episode that i've talked about and so then join me as I review the episode that sees Mike and The Bots learn all about the horrid dangers of cheating with the episode in question being called simply just "The Wild Wild World Of Batwoman" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is when Mike and The Bots decide to write essay's about one of the shorts that they've just watched they discover Crow has cheated on his and have to find a way to punish him whilst also watching a terrible Batman 1966 knock off movie. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot thats actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad as while this episodes plot does get alot more focus then what the typical plots for this show has as nine times out of ten this shows plots are barely there at best with the thin plots just being used as a way to loosely connect the shows host segments here tho there was alot more focus on plot with the plot of the episode technically starting when the characters are watching the short "Discussion Problems In Group Living: Cheating" as it's the questions that the narrator of that show poses to people that helps to inspire the plot of this episode which was a really good idea as it does mean that we get to see the characters live out there own comedic version of what was an oddly serious short and yet while it would have been nice if the episode did have more scenes in it that focused on it's plot that is something that might have stopped the episode from being as enjoyable as it is as there would have been no way to do that without cutting out key scenes from the movie that there meant to be watching in the first place with the episodes plot working just fine as it is with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is one of this episodes writers Michael J. Nelson as Mike Nelson and Trace Beaulieu as the voice of Crow T. Robot and Dr. Clayton Forrester. Also starring in this episode is one of episodes writers Kevin Murphy as the voice of Tom Servo , one of this episodes writers Frank Conniff as the voice of TV's Frank and this episodes producer , one of this episodes writers and director Jim Mallon as the voice of Gypsy.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting thats actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. Which for this show is something that's to be expected as not alot of the actors that are in this episode are trained actors with alot of them just being writers and that's it and therefor it would have been foolish of anyone to expect good or great acting out of this episodes actors as there all they are their for is to tell jokes and make fun of a movie with that being something that doesn't require good acting in it and yet at the same time we do get some really passable acting in this episode with the episodes best actor being Trace Beaulieu as the voice of Crow T. Robot and Dr. Clayton Forrester as he's been playing both of his characters since quite literally the very episode of the show bac when the show was just being broadcast on a local network and played both roles up until season 7 of this thirteen season show and therefor he would of course know how best to perform both of these characters and what kind of performance would best suite both of these characters and while he doesn't get alot of screen time as Dr. Clayton Forrester with him only appearing near the start and at the end of the episode he's pretty much in every single scene as Crow and yet you can't tell that the series main villain is also playing one of the series main heroes with the acting that's in this episode not really being helped by the fact that the script for this episode really doesn't give this episodes actors anything to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
This is a case where it would be pointless to talk about the episodes character as the show by it's very nature doesn't spend alot of time with it's characters as they have to fit in an entire film and in this case a short film for the episodes main characters to riff on. With the short itself being something that is ripe for being made for fun off as to put it bluntly it's a short that shows us the downside of cheating which isn't what makes it bad as what makes it bad s the fact that the main character is caught cheating on one math's exam with all of the characters treating it like it's the end of the world even down the point where the characters math's teachers visits him in his dreams to give him a nightmare look fair enough that short film was made in the fifties and was more then likely made to be shown in schools and therefor it does in that sense make sense that the characters would treat as this very big deal but at the same time tho no one in real life would treat cheating on a random math's exam as being that big of a deal as while yes cheating is wrong and is something that should always be discouraged but at the same time the film does go over board with how it effects the main characters personal life and that is something that is not only hilarious to see but it's also something that makes the short film stand out just for how bad it is with this episode mostly playing the entire short film with the only real thing being cut out being the fact they don't show a character taking a minuet to pick up the phone and that's really it and even then that could be argued was mor due to the fact that the short might have have been damaged over the years but otherwise this episode does what this episode always does and that's let the whole thing play out from start to finish with not cuts made to the short itself.
As you can tell by the name of this review this episode had the characters riffing on the 1966 film The Wild World Of Batwoman. With this film technically having THREE titles as according to the films poster it's called The Wild World Of Batwoman yet according to this episode which shows the films title card it's called The Wild Wild World Of Batwoman and then there's the re-release title of the film which is "She Was A Hippy Vampire" with it being pretty obvious not only from the title of the film but also the films poster that this film was only made due to how popular that the 1966 Batman TV show was with this film not even being made with co-operation of DC Comics who sued this films writer , producer and director Jerry Warren copyright infringement with it being made crystal clear that there was behind the scenes issues with the film something which the star of the film herself Katherine Victor confirmed to be true with her saying that if any actor rubbed Jerry Warren the wrong way then he would either cut their lines entirely or give them to other actors with her confirming that the girl who gets kidnapped at the start of the film was going to be the main character of the film something which is pretty obvious that the film was setting up to be true and yet because he thought that she getting to big for her britches he made the call to change it. This episode does deserve alot of credit as it did dhow the entire film in full as the film in only a little over an hour long and even that seemed to much for this film as even tho this episode was mocking the film you can tell that the film was struggling to reach even that running time with the film being one of those films that is best left forgotten as even tho this episode is really good the film itself is frequently called one of the worst films ever made and quite frankly for a good reason.
Whilst the episode is on the whole really good there are some things about it that don't work as well as they could have done. Like for example we only focus on the main heroes this episode which is fine as they do get to do some pretty entertaining stuff but at the same time the villains of this show are more often then not the more entertaining characters and yet they only appear in two of the episodes multiple host segments which does seem odd as given that the crew are meant to be making fun of a very poorly done superhero film it would have made sense for the makers of this episode to do a more worse version of that film rather then a version of the short film as then they could have used there evil characters in more entertaining ways as while showing Dr. Clayton Forrester get a haircut via a nuclear powered hairdryer is funny to see and it does give is a really funny visual it would have been more entertaining if the episode kept on cutting back to them and making that sort of like a subplot for the episode with him trying to get Frank to reveal just what his new hair cut looks like only for Frank to find new and creative ways to avoid showing him something which they then could tie up at the end of the episode yes it's not much but it doesn't need to be as it would only need to be subplot anyway and therefor it could be this more fun and goofy little plot that doesn't effect the main plot of the episode and while the main plot of the episode with Mike , Tom and Gypsy trying to essentially teach Crow about cheating is a sold plot it's also not as fun and as goofy as it could have been either as those characters are characters that work there best when there in these more fun and goofy plots and having them be in a plot that is alot of the time played straight just doesn't work and while that might be the point as it's meant to be a parody it still needs to be something that work for those characters.
The host segments in this episode worked fine for what they were as there always meant to be silly little sketches that sometimes continue on a plot or that are sometimes just there to make us laugh and nothing more then that. With the ones in this episode trying to do both and while they do succeed in advancing a plot that plot is one that didn't need to have multiple sketches dedicated to it as you could have had one or two sketches spread out throughout the episode and it would have worked just as well and yet for one reason or another the makers of hie episode thought that they needed to have all but the opening sketch for this episode be about this cheating plot line and while yes that plot line is meant to be a parody of the short film it's also one that does hold the episode back from being this fun and wacky show that alot of us know that it can be due to the fact that the characters are playing it all straight when this show is one that should have these more wacky plot lines as this is a show that doesn't take itself far to seriously and shouldn't take it self far to seriously as it's meant to be a comedy and that's really all there is to it and while yes the show on the whole does have scenes that they do take seriously they only happen when the plot of the show is being advanced like when a host leaves or joins the show for example and yet here the whole cheating plot line is given that same amount of grandeur and while that does help to make those segments be all the more funny as we the audience know exactly what it is there spoofing and can therefor get behind it a little bit more it does cause the episode to loose some of that extra special something that has made the show be as fondly remembered as it is.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and thirty three minuets and fifteen seconds. With this being the bogstandard running time for the rest of the show as well which is something that dis make sense when you take into account that they have to fit in an entire film and in this case an entire short film plus the host segments into the episode as well with the episode itself having just about the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place and while the fact that the episode doesn't take the time to fully develop it's plot this is something that does make sense in this episode as the episode can't of course devote alot of it's time to it's plot due to the fact that it is has to fit in a film and short film with both of those things being the things that people come to this show to watch be made fun of and therefor of course the film is going to devote as much as time as is humanly possible to getting as many jokes about those two in the episode with this also meaning that the characters can't get any kind of character development with this also being something that could be argued happens in both the later seasons of the show and the shows only movie and yet the episode doesn't feel like it's being short changed because of it as it's something that you notice is missing from the episode due to how to fun that the episode is and while yes it would have been nice if the plot and characters got some development that would take away screen time from one of the episodes jokes and would thus make the episode be alot less fun to watch but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With the characters making some really good jokes about both the short and the film itself like for example when the teacher shows up in the kids bedroom in the short film the characters comment on how creepy it is that she would do that or there's the opening scenes with the episodes villains where every single time that Frank gets near Dr. Clayton Forrester het gets scared because of the fact that he gave him a bad haircut only for it to be revealed that he actually likes his new haircut which is a funny joke in it's own right and yet the best joke in the whole entire episode is when Tom is just yelling for the movie to end with him slowly loosing his mind each time that he says it as you can feel his frustration due to the fact that we the audience are also watching the film and possibly also begging for the film to end as well with the episode making lots of really funny jokes about the film like for example that make fun of the fact that this film was really only made because of how popular that the 1966 Batman TV show was just by saying to one of the movies stars that the film also stars Adam West and even if the episode does tell a bad joke it doesn't really matter as by the time you've heard it they've already told two of three really good jokes with the bad joke being long forgotten about in the process with the episode giving us alot more funny jokes then it does bad ones as that's just how funny that this episodes jokes really are in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall while this episode might not be one of the best episodes that this show has done it is a good example of just how good that this show could be something which the movie itself would also do as this is show is one that should be remembered and this episode is one that should be watched due to how funny that it can be in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that his very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally sued in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.
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