After checking out The Firesign Theatre Presents Hot Shorts on Tubi recently, I was happy to see that J-Men Forever, their first foray into serial dubbing, was also on the site. I have fond memories of seeing this as a kid on Night Flight and lo and behold, the version of J-men Forever that’s on Tubi even has a Night Flight bumper and watermark!
A rock n’ roll DJ from the moon named “The Lightning Bug” kills off a bunch of old timey musicians and sets out to take over the world using rock music. Later, he plans to flood college campuses with marijuana. It’s up to the square government agents, the J-Men to thwart his evil plans.
J-Men Forever is amusing, clever, and highly entertaining throughout. A lot of fun can be had from seeing old classic Saturday morning serials such as Captain America, Captain Marvel, The Crimson Ghost, and Radar Men from the Moon being redubbed and repurposed for humorous effect. The members of The Firesign Theatre also show up in some brief linking segments, although these are easily the weakest moments of the film.
Admittedly, some of the humor is kind of rough in spots, but that’s all part of its scrappy charm. There are also a few lulls in between the big laughs, although there’s certainly enough here to make it worth watching. Still, it works more often than not, and the draggy parts don’t last too long. One thing is for sure, it definitely plays better late at night (or early in the morning, whichever you prefer).
The funniest line occurs when the villain finds two heroes snooping around his cavern and decides to flood the corridor. After pulling the lever, he says, “I’m gonna wash those J-Men outta my lair!”
A few of the same serial clips appeared in Hot Shorts, but with new (often better) jokes.
AKA: The Day the Earth Got Stoned. AKA: The Secret World War.
No comments:
Post a Comment