Space Mutiny (1988)

I first saw this in college, when my uncle made me a bunch of VHS tapes of MST3K episodes he'd taped off the Sci-Fi (now SyFy) Channel. It was an instant hit among my friends, and it propelled Reb Brown into star status for us, along with greats like Miles O'Keeffe and Wings Hauser. At the time I had no idea what blogging was, let alone that I'd have a blog about DTV movies where I'd come across this again in this capacity, but here we are.

Space Mutiny takes place on board a vast space ship with an enormous basement and boiler room called The Southern Sun. A group of people, led by police chief John Phillip Law, want to mutiny and steer the ship into pirate territory so they can live on an actual planet, and they would've gotten away with it too, if space pilot David Ryder hadn't escaped death when his ship crashed into the Southern Sun's docking bay. But he did survive, and now it's curtains for the mutineers.

It's funny how, after doing this blog for four years, and the larger knowledge base I have now as opposed to when I was in college in 2002, I'm not exactly more forgiving, but I see things now that I didn't see then that change my opinion. For instance, that this is an Action International Picture, meaning I know better the context that it was coming from. I know who Reb Brown is, and John Phillip Law and Cameron Mitchell. That being said, we're still talking about a bad movie that hits all the so bad it's good notes, from the floor buffing devices that pass for high-speed vehicles, to the dead girl who shows up two scenes later, to Red Brown's screaming and Cameron Mitchell looking like Santa Claus, all the way down to the major factory basement that passes for the inside of a space ship. It's no Deadly Prey in the A.I.P. context, but it's no slouch either.

As far as the MST3K episode goes, for the actual riffing on the film aspect, this is one of the best ever. The sketches, especially the stuff with Pearl Forrester in a Roman dungeon, left quite a bit to be desired, so if you have this on DVD or VHS, you might want to fast forward past those. Another thing to note, there are a few scenes that are cut that you'll see if you watch this sans Mike and the 'Bots, including an action sequence and a few parts that might make the story work better, but it's not really anything that diminished from the high quality of their complete dismantling. It's like a gold standard for you and your buddies to follow when you tackle it yourselves.

This is the second John Phillip Law film we've done, the first being Alienator. I would say, after the absolute silliness of Reb Brown, Law was what made this film great. You could tell he was totally having fun with it, and I think he relished the opportunity to play a diabolical baddie in such a low-budget sci-fi flick. He passed away in 2008 at the age of 70, but his last film was something he did with Lorenzo Lamas, among many others, called Chinaman's Chance, which was supposed to come out in 2008, but as of right now is still in limbo. Law's most known film is probably Barbarella.

Slab Bulkhead. Tank Concrete. Thick McRunfast. Lump Beefbroth. Reb Brown. Yes, we know him affectionately as Reb Brown, and when, in the opening credits the word "starring" pops up and Crow remarks "I doubt this film is 'starring' anyone," we know better. He's a star to us, right? While I freely admit that it was watching Space Mutiny on their episode that introduced me to the awesomeness that is Reb Brown, based on gems like Robowar and Strike Commando (which as of this writing I have yet to review), I would've come across him sooner or later. Here's to you Reb Brown, you're one of the good ones.

Action International Pictures is that tier or two below Cannon and PM Entertainment, instead of B or C, it's like F or something. They both made their own in-house no-budget productions, like this bad boy, and they distributed similar films from abroad, like low-budget Italian flicks. So far this is only the third AIP flick we've done, the others being the aforementioned Deadly Prey, and the Wings Hauser great Mind, Body, and Soul. It's material we've only begun to mine, but rife with so much potential, I can't wait to do more.

Based on its popularity through MST3K, you can actually rent this from Netflix. I believe it is for that reason as well that the MST3K version is no longer available from them. I don't know if that's a smart move, if that was the move that was made, because in my mind, MST3K only helps sell these schlockfests. Unless you're a die hard bad movie honk who loves him or herself some Reb Brown, I'd stick with the MST3K version, even if it becomes harder to find. Also of note, on the image page I uploaded a couple videos, the "ooh!" scene when Reb Brown runs down some stairs, and the end credits, which is my personal fave.

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096149/

Looking for more action? Check out my short action novel, Bainbridge, and all my other novels, over at my author's page! Click on the image below, go to https://www.matthewpoirierauthor.com/