# Twenty Years Ago Today a Man and Two Robots Started Watching Bad Movies... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 24, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-years-ago-today-a-man-and-two-robots-started-watching-bad-movies/474341 "2008-11-24T22:24:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-years-ago-today-a-man-and-two-robots-started-watching-bad-movies/474341/1 "2008-11-24T22:24:47Z")
Geez, has it been twenty years? On November 24, 1988 the tiny Minneapolis UHF station KTMA aired some filler featuring local comedians talking over bad movies and making fun of them. It was not the first time something like this had been done but for whatever reason it got the attention of executives of the just forming Comedy Channel and they went national next year. And so Mystery Science Theater 3000 was born leading to a vast movie riffing empire that continues to this day. In honor of MST3K-day I’m going to watch the Rifftrax of _The Happening_ (I saved a really stinky one for the show’s birthday) and I want to ask what is your favorite MST3K episode? Throwing a dart at the list of episodes I love I have to go with _Squirm_, myself. I have an affinity for those awful 1970’s movies where nature goes crazy and animals attack people and this is the only one they have done. I have seen this movie without Mike and the Bots help. The episode also contains one of the greatest shorts they’ve done, “A Case of Spring Fever”, where a man wishes that there were no springs in the world and a sprite shows up to grant his wish. The bots are quick to point out the disturbing theological ramifications of this. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-years-ago-today-a-man-and-two-robots-started-watching-bad-movies/474341/2 "2008-11-24T22:33:11Z")
You could just sift through The Ultimate MST3K Thread…or let’s start a new one! Yay! My fave: Space Mutiny. ---
**Author:** ![freekalette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@freekalette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freekalette)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-years-ago-today-a-man-and-two-robots-started-watching-bad-movies/474341/3 "2008-11-24T23:28:24Z")
I forget the name of the one I like best. (Yeah yeah, I know. _hands over Geek card in shame_) It had RUSes that were tying to get at the group of terrified people who were trapped in a house. Damn, what was the name of it? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-years-ago-today-a-man-and-two-robots-started-watching-bad-movies/474341/4 "2008-11-24T23:33:06Z")
> [@freekalette](#): > > I forget the name of the one I like best. (Yeah yeah, I know. _hands over Geek card in shame_) It had RUSes that were tying to get at the group of terrified people who were trapped in a house. Damn, what was the name of it? I’ll take a shot at _The Killer Shrews._ They looked like dogs with bad teeth. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-years-ago-today-a-man-and-two-robots-started-watching-bad-movies/474341/5 "2008-11-24T23:35:33Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > I’ll take a shot at _The Killer Shrews._ > > They looked like dogs with bad teeth. That would be my guess as well. I saw this one un-MSTed several times as a kid, and that it was awesome. I was stunned when seeing the MST version at just how \*awful \*a movie it was. (My enjoyment of the MST was lessened somewhat by the terrible sound quality.) ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-years-ago-today-a-man-and-two-robots-started-watching-bad-movies/474341/6 "2008-11-24T23:39:43Z")
My favorite is usually the episode I watched most recently, which today is _Samson vs. the Vampire Women_. Next week I start my Christmas tradition of watching _Santa Claus Conquers the Martians_ and _Santa Claus (Conquers Pitch the Devil with the Help of Lupita)_. I can’t wait until my Cinematic Titanic version of SCCTM comes in the mail so it can join the lineup as well. ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-years-ago-today-a-man-and-two-robots-started-watching-bad-movies/474341/7 "2008-11-24T23:39:46Z")
Puma Man “His head sounds like ruffles.” ---
**Author:** ![tds1273](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@tds1273](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tds1273)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-years-ago-today-a-man-and-two-robots-started-watching-bad-movies/474341/8 "2008-11-24T23:44:16Z")
Cool Post. I think I am going to do the same and order my first Rifftrax tonight. I’m surpised at how few of the movies I actually own(Id like to do LotR but only have the extended versions), so what would you dopers recommend- Harry Potter 1, Harry Potter 2, Independance Day, The Matrix, or Willy Wonka(w/NPH)? The site ratings have them as HP2, HP1/ID4, WW, M; but I trust y’alls judgement better. I _need_ to order that Forbidden Zone(in color!) DVD, though I’m disapointed they are not doing a track for it. As far as favorite MST3Ks go, though I haven’t seen one for a while, I’m always a sucker for any Godzilla/monster movie, bots or not. I can still recall, so must have particularly enjoyed- Jack Frost, Merlin’s Shop, and Hobgoblins. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-years-ago-today-a-man-and-two-robots-started-watching-bad-movies/474341/9 "2008-11-24T23:48:01Z")
> [@tds1273](#): > > Cool Post. > > I think I am going to do the same and order my first Rifftrax tonight. I’m surpised at how few of the movies I actually own(Id like to do LotR but only have the extended versions), so what would you dopers recommend- Harry Potter 1, Harry Potter 2, Independance Day, The Matrix, or Willy Wonka(w/NPH)? The site ratings have them as HP2, HP1/ID4, WW, M; but I trust y’alls judgement better. > I _need_ to order that Forbidden Zone(in color!) DVD, though I’m disapointed they are not doing a track for it. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen the Rifftrax of any of those. But my favorite Rifftrax’s have been LOTR:FOTR, and 300…both are side-splitting hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-years-ago-today-a-man-and-two-robots-started-watching-bad-movies/474341/10 "2008-11-24T23:53:51Z")
I recently watched the MSTied _Attack of the the Eye Creatures_, which was far better than what we watched in September – _Manos_. I hadn’t seen it before. Now I know why. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-years-ago-today-a-man-and-two-robots-started-watching-bad-movies/474341/11 "2008-11-24T23:58:53Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > That would be my guess as well. I saw this one un-MSTed several times as a kid, and that it was awesome. I was stunned when seeing the MST version at just how \*awful \*a movie it was. (My enjoyment of the MST was lessened somewhat by the terrible sound quality.) _Attack of the Killer Shrews_ was probably the first film I saw in an actual movie theater. (Grew up in a tiny town with no cinema) I was maybe five years old. The shrews in the movie were clearly nothing but dogs, and for the next five years I just assumed that a shrew was some kind of wild dog. _Shrews_ was shown as a double feature with _The Giant Gila Monster_. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-years-ago-today-a-man-and-two-robots-started-watching-bad-movies/474341/12 "2008-11-24T23:59:12Z")
> [@tds1273](#): > > I think I am going to do the same and order my first Rifftrax tonight. I’m surpised at how few of the movies I actually own(Id like to do LotR but only have the extended versions), so what would you dopers recommend- Harry Potter 1, Harry Potter 2, Independance Day, The Matrix, or Willy Wonka(w/NPH)? The site ratings have them as HP2, HP1/ID4, WW, M; but I trust y’alls judgement better. > I _need_ to order that Forbidden Zone(in color!) DVD, though I’m disapointed they are not doing a track for it. I have all of the Rifftrax (or at least the ones featuring one of the MST3k crew, I’m not sold on their affiliated projects yet) and the ones you listed are good. My preference runs HP, WW, ID, and then the Matrix which is easily the weakest of the ones you mentioned. Neil Patrick Harris is a funnier riffer than I expected and the Harry Potter riffs hit every note you could hope for in making fun of Harry Potter. ---
**Author:** ![freekalette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@freekalette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freekalette)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-years-ago-today-a-man-and-two-robots-started-watching-bad-movies/474341/13 "2008-11-25T01:41:55Z")
Yep, _Killer Shrews_ it was. Thanks! Off to look for it on YouTube now. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-years-ago-today-a-man-and-two-robots-started-watching-bad-movies/474341/14 "2008-11-25T02:16:02Z")
“He tried to kill me with a forklift” Never did figure out the name of that episode, but I think there was a Japanese Wolf Raider (or something) named “Ken” ETA - “Fugitive Alien”, maybe ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-years-ago-today-a-man-and-two-robots-started-watching-bad-movies/474341/15 "2008-11-25T02:29:44Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > _Attack of the Killer Shrews_ was probably the first film I saw in an actual movie theater. (Grew up in a tiny town with no cinema) I was maybe five years old. > > The shrews in the movie were clearly nothing but dogs, and for the next five years I just assumed that a shrew was some kind of wild dog. > > _Shrews_ was shown as a double feature with _The Giant Gila Monster_. Actually, _The Giant Gila Monster_ is one of my favorite MST3K movies, although that may be simply because it was one of the few that I taped and watched repeatedly. Most of the others that I’ve seen, I can barely remember. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-years-ago-today-a-man-and-two-robots-started-watching-bad-movies/474341/16 "2008-11-25T02:43:57Z")
> [@Bobotheoptimist](#): > > “He tried to kill me with a forklift” > > Never did figure out the name of that episode, but I think there was a Japanese Wolf Raider (or something) named “Ken” > ETA - “Fugitive Alien”, maybe [Fugitive Alien 1](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeMHN2r0yqA) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-years-ago-today-a-man-and-two-robots-started-watching-bad-movies/474341/17 "2008-11-25T03:15:58Z")
“I Accuse My Parents”, with the short “Truck Farming”. I like those sorts of bad attempts at film noir morality tales anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-years-ago-today-a-man-and-two-robots-started-watching-bad-movies/474341/18 "2008-11-25T03:24:59Z")
Who can pick just one? Werewolf(Wahr-wilf?): (Deadpan Eastern European woman) “That is absolutely fascinating” (/Deadpan Eastern European woman) Mitchell: "Even his name says, “Is that a beer?” Final Justice: “You think you can take me? Go ahead on.” ETA: Short: Mr B Natural “Mr. B, you’re hot!” ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-years-ago-today-a-man-and-two-robots-started-watching-bad-movies/474341/19 "2008-11-25T03:39:48Z")
_I. Can. Not. Choose._ But if I had to, I’d probably go with _Manos: The Hands of Fate._ It really takes very little effort to inspire laughter with a typically pompous '50s genre B-movie featuring giant grasshoppers or the like; but to confront a film like _Manos_… that takes moxie. No human being should ever be required to watch _Manos_, and yet the enigmatic and hypnotically engaging character of Torgo, complete with peculiar signature theme, emerges unexpectedly from the wreckage like some tottering, lymphedematous phoenix. No other experiment so neatly captures the show’s overall ‘found object’ aesthetic, in my opinion. I am particularly fond of the experiments which take on truly unwatchable films and make them entertaining almost against their will, like magically spinning straw into gold. The Coleman Francis movies, _Bride of the Monster_; _Attack of The The Eye Creatures_; _Castle of Fu Manchu_; _Monster A Go-Go;__Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues;_ \*The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who… \* and so on. Stuff you’d never, ever see on TV except at 1 AM Sunday morning right before the infomercials kick in. Films that were never regarded as entertainment except in the eyes of their creators, and sometimes not even then. Of course the movie riffing _This Island Earth_ was also pretty good. Oh god, then there was _Operation Double 007…_ _Attack of the Mole People…_ The “Catching Trouble” short… “Assignment: Venezuela…” **I. can. not. choose.** ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-years-ago-today-a-man-and-two-robots-started-watching-bad-movies/474341/20 "2008-11-25T03:53:31Z")
“In the future, geese will be rocket powered!”… but more importantly, robots will make fun of movies! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-years-ago-today-a-man-and-two-robots-started-watching-bad-movies/474341.md?page=2)