plan-9-tcm

Bob Odenkirk, Maria Bamford & more reading 'Plan 9 from Outer Space' script on TCM film fest (watch a clip)

For a second year, Turner Classic Movies’ TCM Classic Film Festival is going to be virtual due to the pandemic, and the 2021 edition runs tonight (5/6) through Sunday (5/9) on cable (TCM) and streaming via HBO Max (Not all programming will be on both, however). There are cast reunions of famous films (West Side Story), documentary premieres (Nichols and May: Take Two), and special tribute events (Martin Short, Ali McGraw, Danny Glover), in addition to showing loads of great, classic films, including On the Waterfront, Bullitt, The Producers, Strangers on a Train, The China Syndrome, Fame, Breathless, and many many more.

Friday night’s programming also includes a few films that are more infamous than good, including Ed Wood’s iconic stinker Plan 9 From Outer Space, and kitschy sequel Grease 2. Before the screening of Plan 9, TCM is going to air SF Sketchfest’s 2021 table read of the Plan 9 script featuring a ton of amazing comedy talent. Ed Wood superfan and TV writer Dana Gould adapted the screenplay for this table read and it also features Maria Bamford, Bobcat Goldthwait, Oscar Nunez, Laraine Newman, Bob Odenkirk, David Koechner, Janet Varney, Jonah Ray, Paul F. Tompkins, Gary Anthony Williams, Baron Vaughn, Deborah Baker Jr. and Kat Aagesen. Here’s a little more about it from SF Sketchfest:

Wry stage directions and narration help pay tribute to the film’s, shall we say, quirkier qualities. Originally titled “Grave Robbers from Outer Space,” Wood’s 1959 science-fiction “masterpiece” follows aliens who utilize a plan to reanimate earth’s dead in order to stop the building of a doomsday weapon. Don’t miss this “so-bad it’s good” staple from the B-movie canon like you’ve never seen it before, recreated for your viewing pleasure by a bunch of people who ought to know better.

The Plan 9 From Outer Space Live Table Read airs Friday, May 7 at 8 PM on TCM, and can watch a trailer and a clip from the table read below. You can check out the full film fest schedule here, as well as what’s going to be available on HBO Max here.