Mystery Science Theater 3000 - The Atomic Brain (1988) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is perhaps not THE best MST3K episode, but it is still absolutely hilarious, and well worth the price of purchase for any MSTie. The host segments are great, and they include Mike's excellent chin-puppet performance (which the 'Bots find more disturbing than amusing), and Magic Voice's creepy run-in with the voice-over guy from the movie. The riffing is, of course, excellent, a personal favorite being the lyrics the SoL guys add to the weird theme music that accompanies some characters ("She's old... she creaks... she goes... downstairs...").
"The Atomic Brain" does feature lots of brains - human brains, dog brains, cat brains - though I'm not quite sure where the "atomic" part came from. The basic plot consists of a crazy old rich woman (Mrs. March) who has decided she wants to live forever, and the way to do this is to have her brain transplanted into the body of a young woman. Her wishes mesh perfectly with those of a mad scientist (Dr. Frank) who is working on the development of brain transplants. He's (rightly) been drummed out of respectable medicine for being a nutjob, and needs a patron to support his work. Thus, a strained partnership is forged, as Dr. Frank's work is supported and carried out in Mrs. March's mansion, with the understanding that he will eventually perform the transplant on her.
As potential recipients of her brain, Mrs. March hires three attractive 20-something women - from Mexico, Austria and England, if they're to be believed; Mike suspects they're all from Nebraska, which seems likely, given how poor their accents are. The Mexican girl is ruled out right away, as she has a West-Virginia-shaped birthmark that Mrs. March finds unappealing. She's handed over to Dr. Frank to be used as he sees fit.
Poor Dr. Frank's early experiments don't go so well. A dog's brain in a human man proved to be a mistake ("In hindsight, an obvious mistake," to quote Servo), and now his implantation of a cat's brain into the Mexican girl (whose name I've forgotten), only results in a birthmarked young woman who eats live mice and meows.
The cat-girl mistakes the English lass (whom Mrs. March prefers as her future body) for a catnip toy, and scratches out her eyeball, so Mrs. March is forced to settle for the Austrian by default (she warms to the idea, though it does take her a few scenes to get over the disappointment of losing the English woman, who by her own admission has "the same measurements as Marilyn Monroe").
The movie continues in a similarly silly vein, with brains being exchanged like scented candles at a Yankee Swap. I won't spoil the ending for you; suffice to say, it is ambiguous and goofy (which is to be expected).
All in all, a very funny episode, and one I'd recommend to both seasoned MSTies and newcomers. Buy it, watch it, love it!

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