Sci-fi London Oktoberfest

6th October 2008 – 7.46 am

For the first time since its inception the London Sci-fi Film Festival held a second event this year, separate from its main film festival. Called Oktoberfest, it was a smaller event than the main film festival in May but with all the features expected of the festival. Although I went to the main sci-fi film festival this year to see as much of the programme as I could manage, for Oktoberfest I decided only to attend the popular MST3K all-nighter.

The sci-fi film festival all-nighters are scheduled for the screens to open at around 11.30 pm, with the films starting at midnight, playing until 8 am, and ten minute intervals between each film. It sounds pretty tiring in itself, and trying to stay awake after having already watched twelve hours of films beforehand is almost impossible, hence only booking the all-nighter ticket this time for Oktoberfest.

Before the first feature film was shown, and whilst the festival director was formally introducing the two other all-nighter events—the ever-popular anime all-nighter, as well as a zombie-themed all-nighter this time—a couple of RiffTrax shorts were shown, both informational films. The first was about a Wonder Woman-type heroic safety woman, with some preamble about how aliens gave her power to detect children setting fire to their homes, or something like that. It was quite absurd and amusing. The second concerned the dangers of drugs and was a bit silly but the overall tone of the short, despite its alarmist stance, made it difficult to mock effectively.

The first feature film in the all-nighter was Plan 9 From Outer Space, with a Mike Nelson RiffTrax commentary. I have never seen the film itself and all I know about it is from having watched Tim Burton's Ed Wood, so I was struggling between trying to watch Plan 9 and listening to the commentary. The Nelson commentary was pretty good, although I think there were a few too many cheap shots about technological limitations when there is so much more to be made fun of about the film. It was certainly good to see the film on a big screen, at least.

The rest of the films were all MST3K episodes, with the second feature on the bill being Pumaman, featuring Donald Pleasance of all people. Pumaman is a superhero, and the film is about his origin. There is something about aliens giving someone some powers and there are Aztec priests involved, but first Pumaman has to be discovered. To find out who is destined to be the Pumaman some Aztec chap runs around London throwing people out of high-rise windows to their deaths until one luckily lands on his feet, proving he is cat-like and the chosen one. It's a wonderful system for finding a superhero. Pumaman then denies he is the Pumaman but only until he is trapped on the roof of a building by thugs and has to jump to safety. Donning the belt of the Pumaman he leaps down to the... no, that's not right, he starts flying, just like a real puma.

The rest of Pumaman sees the hero battle his enemies and defeat Donald Pleasance to retrieve the gold mask of domination, before returning to South America in a spaceship. It's just a shame that the aforementioned hero is Pumaman's sidekick Aztec priest, and Pumaman himself merely bounces around in the background during fights, pretends to be dead, and wears a superhero costume that could only be less convincing if his cape had been a bath towel. It was a joy to watch with Mike Nelson and the robots.

One of my favourite MST3K episodes was next, Pod People. Some dubious pop stars, a family living in the woods, and some poachers are all brought together when an Alf-lookalike turns up from space. It sounds like a complete mess and it is, with many hilarious moments either from the MST3K commentary or accidentally included by the filmmakers. Partly because I have seen the episode a dozen times before and partly because it was 4 am I had a bit of a nap during the film, missing about half of it.

I woke up for the intermission and got some fresh air and some ice cream. I was refreshed for the final film of the all-nighter, and it was Diabolik, the final ever MST3K episode created. The film itself can only have been a product of its time, completely absurd and with little technical or theatrical merit seen through contemporary eyes. The police want to catch Diabolik, a master criminal who can steal anything, however well guarded. The police lay a succession of traps to catch the thief, and he foils each one until the end. It's all a bit odd, as we are introduced to the protagonist as being a playboy-type character, but on his second caper of the film he kills guards in cold blood just to get some crappy necklace for his girlfriend.

The film was a mess, but the MST3K episode was rather good. The MST3K segments were actually pretty good as well, and centred around the Satellite of Love returning to Earth, where Nelson and the robots made it back home. And heading home seemed like a good idea to me too, as it was early morning, the Sun was up, and the city was starting to get busy. I hopped on a tube and managed to stay awake long enough to make it to bed, where I dozed for several hours during the day.

Free coffee and tea was available during intermissions throughout the night, along with limited cans of Red Bull and Purbeck ice cream. Red Bull seems a pretty sickly drink to me, partly because of all the stimulants it contains but mostly because it tastes of liquid sherbert, which doesn't go down too well with me. On offer alongside the normal Red Bull this time was Red Bull Cola, and I gave a can a try. I have to admit that Red Bull Cola tastes pretty good, if only because it doesn't taste like normal Red Bull. I have no idea if the drink helps with staying awake, particularly as I dropped off during Pod People, but it was an interesting drink.

There was also a goody bag handed out to everyone attending the all-nighter. The bag contained a pretty good haul. There were some Anchor Bay DVDs, with a Scanners trilogy box set, Children of the Corn trilogy box set, and the first Voltron collection set, along with Command and Conquer III and the Spore creature creator for the PC. Even if the sequels to the films are probably of dubious quality the originals are worth having, and I may be able to get Command and Conquer III running on my Mac using Crossover Games, if I get the urge to try it.

I had a good time at the Sci-fi London Oktoberfest MST3K All-nighter, and am looking forward to next year's main event.

Sorry, comments for this entry are closed.