For those of you unfamiliar with the television program "Mystery Science Theater 3000" (MST3K), here's a bit of background. This is an American TV show which consists of a man and two robots seen in silhouette, making fun of some god-awful old movie playing on the screen before them. These rag sessions are divided with little vignettes about the man (named Mike Nelson) and the robots and their life on this space station.

Wait a second. This is the Internet. Everyone is familiar with MST3K.

So let's cut to the chase. The question is, "How do you make a movie out of MST3K?" And the answer: "Just show it in theaters on a really big screen."

And the next question is, "Is this any good?" The answer: "It's hilarious."

The movie of ridicule is THIS ISLAND EARTH - that 50s flick with the famous bug-eyed, brain-headed alien. As soon as the film started and the wisecracks began, I was laughing. They were clever, well-timed and one, after another, after another. I was in stitches right up to the first vignette. After the break, I had settled into the pattern of the humor and thus didn't laugh as hard. But I still laughed a lot - a snort or "tu-HA!" every 30 seconds or so.

I had feared the filmmakers might have tried to justify their big-screen debut with some goofy storyline involving the robots and Mike. Not the case. While the vignettes in the space station seemed to have slightly better production values than the TV show, they had little pretension toward developing a plot. No more than 5 minutes into the film, Mike and the robots settle in to watch THIS ISLAND EARTH. There they remain, for the bulk of the movie.

While this movie may simply be an overgrown episode of MST3K, it's the best episode I've ever seen... although I can't call myself a fan. The bits and pieces I've seen since I first channel-surfed into "Mystery Science Theater" years ago, probably total no more than four or five full episodes. But if you don't credit my assessment, believe the audience. There were more than a few MST3K nuts in there and they were dying with laughter.

Do you need to see MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000: THE MOVIE on the big screen? Of course not. But if you love MST3K, you'll see it in the theater. I know you will. Just be sure to stick around for the credits; they rag on them, too.

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