Feeling Strange

For years Marvel was the company searching around for some kind of lucrative movie deal they could strike while DC were the kings of the superhero Box Office. It’s crazy to think that now, of course, with the Marvel Cinematic UniverseWhen it first began in 2008 with a little film called Iron Man no one suspected the empire that would follow. Superhero movies in the past, especially those not featuring either Batman or Superman, were usually terrible. And yet, Iron Man would lead to a long series of successful films, launching the most successful cinema brand in history: the Marvel Cinematic Universe. currently on the ropes (at least at the time of this writing) and Marvel casting around for anything that will bring audiences back to see their big superhero spectacles. But if you go back to the late 1970s through the 1990s, DC had the superheroes people cared about. SupermanThe first big superhero from DC Comics, Superman has survived any number of pretenders to the throne, besting not only other comic titans but even Wolrd War II to remain one of only three comics to continue publishing since the 1940s. and BatmanOne of the longest running, consistently in-print superheroes ever (matched only by Superman and Wonder Woman), Batman has been a force in entertainment for nearly as long as there's been an entertainment industry. It only makes sense, then that he is also the most regularly adapted, and consistently successful, superhero to grace the Silver Screen. ruled the roost and while not every one of their films was a stellar success, DC (and parent company WB) were rolling in the cash. And while that was going on. Marvel was slowly going bankrupt, desperately licensing their various heroes just to try and get enough cash to stay open.

One such hero that was licensed out was Doctor StrangeSometimes thought of as the magical version of Tony Stark, Doctor Strange is the "Sorcerer Supreme", a mystic who was once a brilliant neurosurgeon until an accident robbed him of the use of his hands. But he found a way, in Tibet, to gain back not only his hands, but so much more.... The Sorcerer Supreme was picked up by Charles and Albert Band, the same guys behind Robot Jox and Robot Wars, with the film set to be released by Full Moon Entertainment. However, development took so long that before they could actually put the picture in motion their license for the character had expired. Being the low-budget filmmakers they were, though, they just said, “since we have everything, let’s change the names and details just enough that Marvel can’t sue us, and make the film anyway.” And so they did, putting out their film about a powerful sorcerer set to defend the world named Doctor Mordrid.

Honestly, it’s a miracle that this film even got made at all. It’s low-budget and cheesy and really shouldn’t work on any level. And, well, it doesn’t, for the most part. It’s not even B-movie levels of cheese, falling down into the C- or D-tier of films (which is still high quality cinema for the likes of Mystery Science Theater 3000First aired on the independent TV network KTMA, Mystery Science Theater 3000 grew in popularity when it moved to Comedy Central. Spoofing bad movies, the gang on the show watch the flicks and make jokes about them, entertaining its audience with the same kind of shtick many movies watchers provided on their own (just usually not as funny as the MST3K guys could provide). It became an indelible part of the entertainment landscape from there, and lives on today on Netflix.). But what’s even more interesting is that, somehow, these guys actually thought they could have made a Doctor Strange film with this calibur of filmmaking. Doctor Mordrid is a curiosity, of course, a weird “what if” lark of a film, but just imagine that the Bands had been a little faster getting the film into production. Then we wouldn’t be mocking some off-brand film but, instead, sitting here wondering just what the hell Marvel could have been thinking licensing their character to these clowns at all.

The film focuses on the titular Mordrid (the always fantastic Jeffrey Combs), an immortal wizard who has been defending the Earth against the forces of darkness for millenia and more. He was tasked to defend the Earth by the Monitor, a powerful entity who oversees all of the cosmos. Without Mordrid, the planet would have fallen into darkness centuries before, and then all of humanity would have been lost. And Mordrid must remain ever watchful, in case those forces rise up again.

His main foe is Kabal (Brian Thompson), a fellow brother in the magical arts who has been working to bring down the universe just as Mordrid defends it. Centuries earlier Mordrid defeated Kabal and locked him away in an extra-dimensional prison, but now Kabal has escaped, with the help of followers on Earth, and is working to gather the magical implements he needs to cast a dark incantation and free all the demons Mordrid has locked away over the thousands of years. If Kabal succeeds, all hell will be unleashed on Earth. It’ll take the combined powers of Mordrid, and the smarts of a Police consultant, Samantha Hunt (Yvette Nipar), to stop Kabal and keep the Earth safe once again.

So if you watch Doctor Mordrid and squint your eyes just right, you can see the Doctor Strange movie this would have been. Honestly, you don’t even have to squint that hard because the movie isn’t really that good at hiding the details. Mordrid is a dude that lives in a New York apartment building, where he has his magical sanctum and he watches the events of the world unfold. He wears a red and blue outfit, has a magical gem, fights demons, and battles a foe with powers incredibly similar to his own. He’s Doctor Strange, just with all the VIN numbers filed off.

Really, the biggest change is the character’s backstory, having him be a follower of the Monitor (but not DC’s Monitor) and also a thousands of years being at that. There’s not reference to him being a medical doctor and, in fact, what “doctorate” he has seems to be honorary, and maybe just for his knowledge of the occult. They kept the “doctor” in the name, no doubt, just so they could lure in people with the promise of a Doctor Strange-like adventure, assuming no one would notice that he had the wrong name and didn’t really act the same.

As noted, the movie is bad. Even if this had been a Doctor Strange film, I doubt that would have saved the movie. There’s only so much you can do with a C-movie script, bad sets, keep effects, and generally lackluster production values. The bar was set very low to begin with, and considering the kinds of films Full Moon Entertainment were able to make (watchable trash would be kindest way of putting it), it would have been impossible for this film, properly licensed or not, to overcome its issues and rise to the occasion. Not with these guys in charge.

The best that can be said about the film is that Jeffery Combs is always his impeccable self. You can give Combs the worst crap to say and he’s always able to raise his character and his dialogue up and perform far above the quality of the material. His Mordrid is the best character in the film and, really, the only person you care about. That’s not to say that Brian Thompson is bad as Kabal, it’s just that he’s acting at the level of the movie, giving a hammy, B-movie (at best) performance while Combs came her to play a superhero and, properly named or not, he was going to give it his all. I’m actually sad Combs didn’t get to really play Doctor Strange for this film because I think, bad as the movie would have been, he would have been iconic for the character.

So the movie was bad, but what about the episode? Happily I can confirm that when given good material to riff on (and on the scale of MST3K’s films, Doctor Mordrid is actually on the good side of things) Emily’s crew is actually funny. It’s still pretty clear that she needs more time to get used to performing and filming for television instead of the stage, but here she seems natural, her jokes coming out solidly, and there were plenty of laughs to be had. This isn’t the best episode of the show, or even this season, but it’s far and away better than the crap she had to deal with in Beyond Atlantis. I actually hope they keep giving her good material so she can get better and better in this part.

On the whole this was a fun time for MST3K. Doctor Mordrid is a bad movie, but a fun one to heckle, and the crew does their best with this mediocre movie. I actually think if we can keep getting these kind of cheesy, Full Moon productions for the episodes then MST3K’s 13th season will be on a real upswing. With that said, I’ve already previewed the next episode a little and… man, it’s a real stinker of a movie…