Best line out of the season--

"Oh, no, Data's been hit!!!"

Just watched this one again on video. This is one of my favorite MSTs of the Sci-Fi channel era. It has all the classic features any MST episode/movie should have, including the silly intro where the professor tries to convince us the whole thing is based on a realistic scientific premise. And any MST movie with Ward Cleaver in it is destined to be a good MST episode. But the line that endeared me most to this one comes where the guys are hiking across the desert and one of them has a really loaded-down back-pack. Crow asks "Does he have to take along all his Uriah Heep albums?" I laughed out loud because Uriah Heep happens to be my favorite band of all time. A later episode, "The Projected Man", also makes a reference to them.

My favorite line was something like "Look! Its a pack of Dr. Smiths!"

"Quick! Build a door frame and hide under it!"
"This is where you appreciate really good music supervision."
"Avalanche footage! Run!"
"Just do it."
"Ooh, light that's slightly brighter than we're used to, no!"
"They killed Fozzie Bear!"
"Oh, she's Catholic."
"Forget it! Cancel the revolution!"
"Don't go chasing waterfalls!"

Todd Pence: It has all the classic features any MST episode/movie should have, including the silly intro where the professor tries to convince us the whole thing is based on a realistic scientific premise.

I respectfully disagree with that assessment. The impression I got when I watched it was that he was just explaining the nature of the beliefs of underground civilizations and how they managed to persist more recently than you might think (including John Quincy Adams attempting to fund an expedition to discover such while he was president).

Executive Meddling played a part in why Adad was suddenly killed off at the end.

Apparently, originally she was going to hook up with John Agar's character. However, the 1956 movie executive mindset would not have a white American man hook up with a Sumerian (read Middle Eastern) woman. So, Adad had to go.

Never mind that her actor, Cynthia Patrick, was white.

Considering that she would have been paired off with a lead character portrayed by John Agar, it could be argued that death was the preferable option for Adad. :P

I'm guessing that you're not a member of the John Agar Fan Club

Agar was okay in supporting roles. But whenever he was the lead, he always played it as a condescending and smug chauvinist. I'm not certain if it's because he always got typecast in such roles or if he chose to perform them in that fashion. Regardless, if his name gets top billing in a movie, it’s not a good sign.

Playing the Sumerian high priest is Alan Napier, years before his signature role as Alfred on the 1960's Batman show.

The Sumerians make numerous references to Ishtar. Except Ishtar was a Babylonian deity, not Sumerian.

The symbols seen in the Sumerian city are actually Egyptian.