Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #74910 in VHS
• Released on: 1993-09-08
• Rating: Unrated
• Formats: Black & White, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 98 minutes

Customer Reviews

You will believe a hand can crawl!
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.

Thank goodness for Kevin Murphy!
I've been a rabid MSTie ever since I accidentally caught an airing of "Cave Dwellers" on the Comedy Channel many many moons ago (and for those of you who remember the pre Comedy Central era, that should tell you just how many moons that is.) While I can appreciate the fact that these guys were still in their experimental/formative stages at the time of this episode -- let's face it, they had just graduated from local access -- I still can't help but label this one as a dud. MST3K was (is) a show with riffs and snags at the core, and when the rimshots are as slow-coming and uninspired as the ones featured in "The Crawling Hand," the focus of the show shifts rather unhealthily to the actual film itself. I barely managed a chuckle for the majority of the episode -- the fact that Servo (brought to "life" by Weinstein) sounds narcoleptic didn't help much either. If it weren't for the Shatner-ripping in the bumpers and a few moments of life toward the end, I'd have laid a one-star review on this one. Still, it is useful to have in a collection to show how far the cast had come by the time of such third season opuses as "Cave Dwellers" and "Pod People." Also, it will make you appreciate Kevin Murphy, who took over Servo after Weinstein departed, pretty much on the same level as oxygen.

More spontaneous
Joel Hodgson has always been embarrassed by his early work. After a few seasons on Comedy Central MST and CO asked that their first year work not be rerun or used for all day marathons. They are the best judges of their work, and if you're not a huge MST3K fan I'd recommend taking their advice.

However, I personally enjoy the early years of MST3K. My personal collection includes taped episodes of the original KTMA channel 23 episodes where Joel and Co got their start.

The jokes are spontaneous, by not having a heavily scripted show one can almost relax a little bit, and see for themselves the .... in all its glory. "The Crawling Hand" is also one of my favorites from the first season due to the epic amount of word play and puns. There are several solid groups of bellyaching laughter when one pun after another after another are delivered by Servo and Crow. I also like the more homey feeling of the visual aspects of the film. I grew up watching MST3K on television with poorer picture quality and I get a bit nostalgic. But like I said earlier, Joel is the best judge of his own work, and if he is unhappy with the earlier episodes, I recommend you take his advice