Mystery Science Theater 3000: Girl In Gold Boots and The Wild World Of Batwoman DVD Reviews
“Girl In Gold Boots” is an underrated Sci-Fi era episode.
“The Wild World Of Batwoman” has its fair share of laughs, but the movie itself is hard to endure.
For those that are unaware, “Girl In Gold Boots” and “The Wild World Of Batwoman” have been previously released in past MST3K DVD sets by Rhino Entertainment. Those sets are now out of print as Shout! Factory now has the rights to home entertainment releases of “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” As a result, Shout! is now re-releasing previously released titles as single discs that are only available on Shout! Factory’s website.
“Girl In Gold Boots” may seem like a strange choice for a Sci-Fi channel era episode, but I’m glad they decided to go with it as it’s a hilarious episode that doesn’t get the credit it derserves. The plot of this stinker involves a wannabe dancer (Michelle) who road trips to L.A. with a slimey, criminal, Casey Kasem lookalike (Buzz) and a kind hearted drifter named Critter. Once in L.A., Michelle hopes Buzz can get his sister to help him land a job as a Go-go dancer at a club. There are other subplots involving music, drug peddling, and a heist as well.
There’s nary a scene in ‘Girl’ that doesn’t offer up perfect riffing material for Mike and the bots. Whether it’s Buzz appearing out of thin air, the horrific dancing, the corny Critter song, or the cheesy title theme song, you’ll be guaranteed to laugh at the jokes Mike Nelson and his robot pals come up with. Naturally, there are plenty of clever pop culture cracks about everything from Wolfgang Puck to the “Batman” TV show as well.
As an added bonus, ‘Girl’ has some fantastic host segments to boot. I’m quite fond of the giant legged Crow dancing bit, Mike’s guitar scene parody, and even Brain Guy’s Go-go dance.
Much like “The Castle Of Fu Manchu,” “The Wild World Of Batwoman” can be extremely tough to sit through. With the exception of the final 20 or so minutes of near perfect riffing, the rest of the movie is an absolute bore (and a chore) to sit through thanks to a mind numbingly sloppy and slow paced plot about a masked hero (Bat Woman) and her team trying to stop the evil Rat Fink from stealing a powerful listening device.
Thankfully, I’m not the only one completely disinterested in the film as Mike and the bots loathe the film just as much as I do. This is especially evident in their conversations about death and suicide and in lines such as “The music’s terrible, but at least it’s drowning out the dialogue” and “End!!! End!!!!”
On the plus side, there are several unbelievably bad moments of the film that are just perfect for cracking jokes about such as the offensive Chinese talking bit, the table chase, the hideous music, the “Mole People,” and the dopey Heathcliff character.
I should note that ‘Wild’ is also accompanied by a forgettable short called “Cheating” in which a student is caught cheating on a math test. It’s not really worth talking about though.
Summary: My advice? Buy “Girl In Gold Boots” and only buy “The Wild World Of Batwoman” if you are a MST3K completist who doesn’t already own this episode.
Video/Audio:
Picture quality wise, both ‘Girl’ and ‘Bat Woman’ look fairly solid. ‘Girl’ has a good amount of dirt specs, faded colors, and scratches, but that’s common amongst films featured on MST3K. ‘Bat Woman’s’ B&W print is in very good shape compared to most B&W episodes on MST3K.
On the audio front, the riffs are naturally crystal clear on both films, but the audio on the films is hit-and-miss. The dialogue in ‘Girl’ is generally clear and audible while the dialogue in ‘Bat Woman’ is a bit on the scratchy side.
No extras on either disc.
Both titles are available at the Shout! Factory website store. Links here:
http://www.shoutfactorystore.com/prod.aspx?pfid=5257669&sid=0A9065C81001488F9B587D79539D4616
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Robert Ham
dmanderson
Andrea
nicklyons1
DVD Corner 
“Critter” always looked like a 1960s Paul Rudd.
“I should note that ‘Wild’ is also accompanied by a forgettable short called “Cheating” in which a student is caught cheating on a math test. It’s not really worth talking about though.”
Just want to go on record as saying I COMPLETELY disagree with your assessment of this short. This has to be one of their most memorable short riffs ever. With opening riffs like “Cheating: How to Make it Work for You at Home and On the Job!” and “A Centron Production, although we got the idea from somewhere else…cause we’re cheating!” it’s a personal favorite and one I rewatch constantly, even if I’m not in the mood for the particular feature.