The promise of Dr. Clayton Forrester (Trace Beaulieu) was simple: This Island Earth, made in 1955, is among “the worst movies ever.” And so, as the subject of ridicule in the movie version of the famous Mystery Science Theater 3000 in 1996, the “classic” This Island Earth gained a bizarre reputation: a kind of symbol of what was easy to mock about sci-fi films of old. Here, we have bug-eyed monsters, absurd characters, stiff performances, and corny special effects. Surely, Dr. Forrester was right, this movie has got to be a stinker, right?
Well, yes and no. For one thing, not all MST3K movies are actually bad. Instead, the ability to provide a jokey running commentary about any given old sci-fi movie doesn’t necessarily reveal that the movie sucks, but instead, is rich enough to provide multiple readings. You could, for example, easily do an MST3K take on Zardoz (and many fans have), but that doesn’t mean Zardoz is bad per se. Instead, many bonkers sci-fi movies live in a liminal space between good and bad, and ask a different question in terms of their legacy — is this movie important?
