I always find this one a bit dull for a movie about giant grasshoppers attacking postcards Chicago. Maybe I’m just too distracted thinking about what Peter Graves got up to at the University of Minnesota to appreciate it. Well, that and wondering what awesome adventures the cool reporter lady got up to while the boys were playing army.
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I should say I really love this episode. It’s exactly the sort of movie that MST3K was made for and the sort of movie that drew me into the show in the first place. 1950s sci-fi and Japanese monsters are MST3K’s meat and potatoes.
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Giant bugs or animals! Usually mutated by radiation! They make for awesome Mst episodes, especially the b&w ones. This one has alot going for it. Peter Graves, Peggy Castle, and lots of postcards of the windy city. Oh, and a crap load of grasshoppers! I read somewhere that the grasshoppers kept cannibalizing each other during the shoot, and only a handful were left by the time they were done!
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If I recall correctly, they started with 200 flightless grasshoppers, and ended up with about a dozen.
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I guess their budget didn’t permit just offering their extras some grass…?
(Or corn.)
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Have you ever tried working with a stoned grasshopper?
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And Then There Were None?
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I’m assuming there was a Highlander scenario that eventually played out, with one grasshopper left to claim the power of all the others.
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I thought that was what was going to happen to whoever beheaded Queen Elizabeth, but then she turned out not to be immortal.
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If we’re counting the Peter Graves narration from Attack of the the Eye Creatures, then I have to give it to that one.
If not, then Beginning of the End comes across as the best of the Peter Graves bunch.
I’m a sucker for Bert I. Gordon cheapness, and the gang finds great inspiration in those postcard special effects and those projection tricks of his.
There’s wonderful dark humor all throughout, such as Mike’s “Frank, that’s filthy, I should wash your hands out with soap” riff and all the content that came out of the whole captive grasshopper subplot.
The only thing that holds this back from the level of Attack of the the Eye Creatures is that the front half of this movie can be a bit too chattery, meaning that we have to wade through the movie’s verbal muckery to get to the good stuff, all that beginning of the end jazz (this seems to be a thing with Bert I. Gordon, no?). That’s not to say that the first half isn’t good, that’s not my contention at all.
It’s just that the second half is THAT much stronger (that “I’m hiding from a lion, it’s got these women scared stiff” joke is BRILLIANT).
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A good, reliable vintage Creature Feature! This one is fun and with a very familiar name, this would be a fine choice to show to a newcomer!
“You guys, this so not Illinois!” is an all-timer!
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Such an amazing riff! It grabbed my attention as I went through the episode. God Tier comment.
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Note: What other thread is wall to wall grasshopper photos? ONLY THIS ONE!!! 
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Strongest for me is Parts, The Clonus Horror. But, as I’ve stated often, season eight is my favorite.
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I won’t disagree. Those two are the Graves experiments I frequently dust off. The sadness of Clonus (1979) probably gives this an edge. The cheesiness of Graves is best served breezy I feel. Either one is high end MST3K.
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I find Graves more saleable as a bad guy. I like him better in Clonus than in any of his other works. Because he has such a chilly, remote vibe rolling off him in every film. Though it’s nowhere near as bad as Agar’s. Sometimes when I’m re-watching It Conquered The World, I think to myself how that movie would’ve been more powerful if he and Van Cleef switched roles.
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Is this is the Beginning of the End or the End of the Beginning?
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Good question. 
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Which reminds me- this movie did not live up to the premise in its title.
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