During this past summer, I have dipped into my Mystery Science Theater 3000 archives to help combat the rerun blues. I had feared that the sheen would have dulled a bit, but, thankfully, I was wrong. It’s still as funny and innovative as the day it was first broadcast. So, fellow MSTies, vote for your favorite experiments by season.
You know, I would love to be able to participate in a thread like this. The problem is, lacking a VCR and/or cable for much of my youth, and the “recent” cancellation of the series, I haven’t seen many episodes, and for the ones I have seen, I couldn’t tell you which season they are from.
I have recently begun to acquire the Rhino VHSs and DVDs (I currently have the four available DVDs, and 5 of the VHS tapes), but even using this method, I fear my collection will be very much lacking, since apparently Rhino doesn’t plan to release all of the episodes.
So, I can only say that of the ones which I currently have, “Manos” is easily my favorite, both because of the sheer suck-factor of the movie itself, and the working-over it received at the hands of J&TB. “Prince of Space” is another favorite, even though I haven’t seen it in a long time (if, for no other reason, because of Crow’s and Tom’s “Dog and Bear” segment )
I think it’s the MOLE MEN that I love. I was only able to tape a few episodes, but the Mole Men, with Ward Cleaver is sooo funny. There a solioquy attributed to the guy who talks to much as he’s climbing the rope. Then there’s a skit with Tom Servo playing the guitar with his new strings, Ernie Super Slinkies. He totaly sucks, but CamBot tells Crow to stop making the wise cracks, “That sounds really good Tom.”
Bring it back. Bring it back.
From ‘the corpse that wouldn’t die’
Evil thread, Evil sig, Evil post, Evil reply.
I’m hoping they get together and do MST3K and “BattleField Earth”
I have something of the same problem. I taped a few episodes when they appeared on late-night television (“Stranded in Space” “Pod People” the Hercules movies) and I’ve seen them more than I have better movies.
Lately, I’ve been supplimenting them with sound bites downloaded from fannish Web sites. There’s quite a collection of them out there, most of them a few seconds long, except for the Bot Bits (“Pants!” “Have A Patrick Swayze Christmas”).
What amazes me from listening to all this is just the sheer amount of great material that they put out. Granted, they had a lot of support from all the crappy movies, but I think I could be entertained by the stuff for the rest of my life.
That said, I have to give a shout out for "Mitchell (“Mitchell! / Heart’s pounding / Mitchell! / Veins clogging”), with the comely Linda Evans as the dope-smoking hooker with a heart as big as all outdoors.
Well, I have almost every episode on tape. I’m missing 6 or 7 episodes from the first season, and I only have a couple KTMA (pre-Comedy Central) eps.
My favourites by season:
1 - Robot Holocaust (of the ones I’ve seen, anyway.)
2 - Godzilla vs. Megalon (of course!)
3 - It Conquered the World
4 - The Day the Earth Froze
5 - Santa Claus
6 - Invasion USA
7 - Laserblast
8 - Prince of Space
9 - Puma Man
10 - Diabolik
Of all of these, It Conquered the World is my all-time favourite. He learned too late that man is a feeling creature…
I just watched that episode a few weeks ago, and I remember that as one of my favorite lines. I think Mike and the bots used that same joke in another movie, too. It might have been “The Leech Woman,” but I’m not sure.
I always kinda liked “Space Mutiny,” especially the parts with the chase scenes on the floor waxers (I’m laughing just thinking about those). Plus it has some of the worst editing ever, e.g., when the crew member gets killed and then appears in the next scene. It cracks me up when Mike says, “OK, look alive everyone – ooo, sorry, Susan.”
As far as the shorts, my all-time favorite has to be “Mr. B Natural.” I hurt myself laughing the first time I saw that.
Before it was showing in my area, a friend taped a ton of episodes and sent them to me. I have all these videos full of MST3K that I’ve never watched. It turns out, when I like it, I think it’s hilarious: Outlaw, Manos, Time of the Apes, Pod People, Warrior of the Lost World, all of those I really enjoy. But many of them I just couldn’t get into. I once, long ago, tried to post a list of what I had to a newsgroup, asking which of them were worth watching and got the usual “OMG THEY ALL ARE WORTH WATCHING LMAO THEY’RE ALL HILARIOUS!! AHAHAHAH ROFL FDHJSDFGHDFGJDFGdfgjhdf” I tried a couple at random and didn’t get more than a half-hour into them.
1 - Robot Monster (because it nearly killed me. Explanation below)
2 - Godzilla vs. Megalon
3 - A tie. Time of the Apes and Teenage Caveman
4 - Manos: The Hands Of Fate
5 - Joel: Magic Voyage of Sinbad Mike: Santa Claus
6 - The Dead Talk Back, narrowly. Tough choice, great season.
7 - The Incredible Melting Man
8 - Prince of Space
9 - Quest for the Lost City, aka The Final Sacrifice
10 - Boggy Creek II: Return to Boggy Creek
And now, How MST3K Nearly Killed Me: I had just popped a Butter Rum Life Saver into my mouth while watching MST mocking Robot Monster. The film cut to a wide shot of a field of waving grain. Servo, in his best documentary narrator voice, said, “Sorghum! Nature’s bounty!” I laughed so hard I swallowed that Life Saver whole and nearly choked to death. I’ve been hooked ever since.
I chose Boggy Creek for a few reasons, the biggest being how hostile they were to the skinny shirtless kid (“Do a pushup! Jeez!”) and for a joke that just killed me: they walk into a store/bait shop to get some supplies. The clerk says, “Can I help you?” Crow replies, “Yes, do you sell turquoise plastic pith helmets?” because there’s one hanging in plain view in the background. Makes me laugh just thinking about it.
Yes, I have tons of episode tapes. No, I still haven’t cataloged them. Soon, my pretties, soon.
Any of the Coleman Francis movies are fine with me, particularly “Red Zone Cuba” and “The Skydivers.” Also, “The Creeper” with Rondo Hatton (Crow: “Hey, Pete Sampras!”)
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