Some fans point to what they see as a difference in tone that began during Mike’s tenure, a shift from the kind of detached whimsy of Joel’s era to a more acerbic and “mean” style. I’m not altogether sure I see it, and Mike was recently asked about it and he didn’t think he saw it either. I do think the show got a little punchier and more rapid-fire as it went on, but I think that was a mix of Bill Corbett’s influence and overall growth among the writers—I think the same would’ve likely happened if Joel had stayed.
The amazing thing about the two of them is that they’re perfect contrasts. Joel is Joel and only Joel—he can’t act for shit, but his personality and outlook are absolutely unique. Mike, by contrast, lacks that one-of-a-kind spark, but he’s an amazingly versatile performer; he pulled off routines that Joel never could’ve done (like that “My name is Mike Nelson … or at least … it used to be!” bit—one of my favorites).
To be fair though, they did an excellent job with it. I think that’s my favorite experiment.
“Only love…pads this film…”
“That magnificant bastard.”
“For those playing at home, his girlfriend has been brutually murdered.”
(Walking through a field of oil pumps) “I can’t imagine why this would remind me of her.”
My God, that’s a hoot! The guy who brought us “Time of the Apes” and “Fugitive Alien I and II” is telling us that the MST3K guys messed them up?
<gasping with laughter>
Back to the OP: My top five are:
Space Mutiny (Big McLargeHuge!)
Mitchell
Fugitive Alien I (“He tried to kill me with a forklift… OLE!”)
Time of the Apes
Outlaw (“Get out of here… you disgusting woooorm.” )
And Honorable mentions (because they’re not real episodes) go to:
A. The outtakes- the way the bots stay in character is pretty hysterical, especially in the one where Crow’s eyes catch fire.
B. The song specials. I haven’t laughed that hard in a while.
Mike is my favorite, since I started watching when it came to Sci-Fi. Although I love Joel too. I see Joel as more the ‘Bots’ “father”, as you will, while Mike is more like the substitute teacher they try to torment. Joel would probably, in the end, get them to listen, whereas Mike is only in charge on the surface.
BTW, did anyone else ever find that the episodes are generally funnier the second time around? Sometimes, I think, the movies are SOOOOO bad, I tend to get distracted, whereas the next time, I know what to expect, so I’m prepared for the pain. That was definitely the case when I watched Space Mutiny. Other favorites:
Boggy Creek II…and the Legend Continues Jack Frost Final Justice Overdrawn at the Memory Bank Touch of Satan Eegah Girl in Gold Boots (especially the end, where Brain Guy is a go-go dancer)
“Everybody knows smoking kills, but it’s cool! What are you gonna do? Everybody loves tar, sure, who doesn’t? But doctors have known for well over a year that it’s bad for you. That’s why you should DO WHAT I DO.”
You just catch more jokes a second time through- you don’t laugh through quite as many and sometimes you laugh in different places… and the shows are so long that you could probably do it more than twice and still have the same thing happen.
I’d like to add a vote for Werewolf and Final Sacrifice, and I don’t think anyone has mentioned The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed up Zombies yet.
Also, The Creeping Terror and The Beast of Yucca Flats.
I am impressed that so many of you remember specific titles and details. I saw so many of them so long ago, it’s all a blur. I’m laughing to tears just reading the quotes. I think my favorite (and thusly the only title I remember) is Santa Clause Goes To Mars.
What’s the one with the bad 70’s soundtrack where Tom’s like “Any movie with a good ‘wacka chicka waa’ in it is ok by me!”?
And on the “to this day” note, to this day whenever there’s a helecopter shot of a city or whatever, I still shout “God Cam!”
My vote goes to Manos, I think, though there are SO many good ones…“Hands: The Hands of Fate!”
And I can’t remember which one this is from, but it makes me die laughing every time I think of it. There’s a scene where, while somebody is briefing somebody else on somethingorother, this one guy is continually cleaning his glasses, throughout the whole scene. And every time he does it, the guys do an “ee-ee ee-ee” kind of squeaky noise…“Damned dirty glasses!”…and repeat. It’s just brilliant to watch…anybody know what I’m talking about?
Another bit that I love is from…again I forget the title, some post-apocalyptic kind of thing. There are several shots of a quickly-approaching menacing bad guy, and every time it cuts to him he’s a bit closer. With each shot, one of the guys (Servo I think) goes: “Do you have any fruit to declare?”…closer…“Do you have any fruit to declare?”…closer…“DO YOU HAVE ANY FRUIT TO DECLARE!!!”
I mentioned Incredible Zombies back in post 41 (mixed up the title, I did, though )
Join us!
Trivia: The member of the band whom the Bots thinks looks like Roy Acuff is Ron Elliot, who was the lead singer and writer for the group, and eventually went on to write and record (with the Beau Brummels) a record called Triangle, which is difficult to find but received good reviews next to some of the other innovative rock records of the 60s; he went on to be very successful in country western music, I believe. The one ‘who’s sporting an Al Pacino look’ is Sal Valentino, who got the Beau Brummels their first recording contract on Autumn Records (which went out of business almost immediately – a coincidence, but crikey that must have been demoralising!); his mum owned a recording studio but refused to allow them to record there! Also, despite Mike and the Bots speaking about the band in sloppy Scouse accents, they are all from San Francisco (although there was a member from Ireland originally, but he left the band very early on.) They chose the name deliberately to sound British, and also so that they would follow the Beatles in record store bins.
I cannot believe I know all this off the top of my head.
BornOfStardust – you’re thinking of Warrior of the Lost World (with that guy from the Paper Chase, the one who kisses Persis Khambetta much in the same manner of a large mouthed bass.
gah! The Roy Acuff doppelganger is the Irish guy, a thousand pardons. Ron Elliot is the other guitarist (not the one who looks like Al Pacino, and not the bassist who looks like Keanu Reeves. Everyone in this band looks like someone else!)
Oh, and I have to add the drummer went on to form the group who did the cover of ‘59th Street Bridge (Feeling’ Groovy)’…you know the one.
Er…right…
Hey! Look over there! Isn’t that TV’s Frank?
runs away from the thread whilst everyone is distracted
