When the jokes are so thick itâs hard to understand whatâs going on in the movie, itâs a problem. Reptilicus definitely suffered from that, but they slowed down as the season progressed.
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I thought that Reptilicus was the only movie where the super-fast riffing was a problem. Iâm not sure if it was the first episode they filmed, but they were like, âWeâve got so much great material we have to get it all in!â
I didnât like it because a) you couldnât process one joke before the next one was on you, and b) it made it seem like theyâd prepared the riffs beforehand and werenât just making them up on the spot, and c) Jonah seemed to be having way too much fun for someone who had just been kidnapped and imprisoned.
But like I said, that was the only episode where the speed riffing was too over-the-top IMO.
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The speed riffing and the similarity of the voices were (and still are for me at least) a problem. I couldnât tell the difference between any of them most of the time. With that said, the bigger issue for me with the NetFlix seasons was the songs. To me, many of those segments just went on too long and the joke was long since flat by the time they were done.
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Ah, but there were alternatives eventually, we only had to wait about 6-7 years for the Film Crew, which became Rifftrax, and Cinematic Titanic started up around the same time. Of course CT only ran until 2012, but anyone who has followed Rifftrax over the years will be used to the new pop culture references. Some of the Rifftrax output is just as good as MST3K, as long as you are not overly attached to the host segments. And I am straying off topic, but there is another thread around here somewhere dedicated to our favorite Rifftrax movies.
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I agree 110%. Itâs not just the voices either. I really havenât gotten a sense of the personalities of these new versions of Crow and Tom Servo. It took a while for the characters to develop the personalities we came to know and love in the original series, so Iâm willing to give them time to grow.
It seemed like they were so eager to put in every single riff they could think of just to prove that this new crew was up to the task that they gave lines to anybody. In the old show, there were definitely Crow type riffs and Servo type riffs because of their established personalities. The new crew should spend less time on trying to cram in every joke possible (relax you guys, we already like you and are rooting for you) and maybe a little more time on the interactions between the host and bots â not just in the host segments, but in the theater too â to establish their unique personalities and quirks again, even if those personalities and quirks may now be somewhat different from the bots we remember.
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Yeah, I agree that working to re-establish the bot personalites and learn that less is more should be a priority.
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I never watched any of that. Not till recently. Iâm not alone. To a section of the audience, MST3K is the face of this kind of entertainment. Rifftrax eventually grew large enough to be noticed and yet it nor Cinematic Titanic ever filled that void entirely and to have Mystery Science Theater 3000 waist deep in 2017âs modern references hit some people. It did me. The remaining choices couldnât eliminate that entirely.
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P.S.
Rifftrax is a different animal. Bill, Kevin, and Mike are looser, crasser, and a bit more obvious. It turns some people off and giving out Rifftrax and MST3K to friends MST pulls larger weight and conversation generally. Rifftrax represents an option in riffing though it could never replace MST3K. As the first to popularize the practice, MST formed the blueprint, appealed to all audiences, and created a bond post-MSTs havenât really matched. No disrespect to them, it goes into having the original and most beloved version modernized and that would be a trip to those who havenât engaged riffing since 1999.
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It is cool to have modern references after only hearing 90s jokes since the 90s 
Thatâs a lot longer ago than it used to be!
Someday people in the not-so-distant future will be researching these âso currentâ jokes like younger folks googling âwho the hell is Richard Basehart?â nowadays.
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Well said, I couldnât agree more. The pacing of the original generally led to the feeling of hanging out with people watching the movie. The pacing of the reboot (granted, some episodes more than others) feels like everyone is waiting for their scheduled joke, then racing to get it out before the next one is due.
And yes, I had a terrible time distinguishing the voices at first. It got better, but not great. Bill and Trace werenât identical, and did Crow in different styles, but neither of them sounded anything at all like Kevin, Mike, or Joel.
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It also took time to get used to Kevin and Billsâ voices. I didnât discover the show until season 8 so Crow, to me, was Bill Corbett. I didnât hear Trace as Crow until I saw The Movie.
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Oh, for sure. I count myself as one of the lucky ones, having found out about both Rifftrax and CT right after they got started. I did miss the very brief run of The Film Crew, but picked up a few of the episodes after they had to become Rifftrax instead.
I think The Film Crew was a bit closer in tone to MST3K, but I am not sure they would have survived as long as they have if they had not gone the Rifftrax route. They hit on the right model at the right time with Rifftrax, even though they kind of had their hand forced.
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Iâve seen the live show, and Nate and Connor are SO GOOD. If Iâm completely honest, and I mean no offense to Hampton and Baron, I prefer their versions of our beloved bots. Theyâre just so good. And Connor brings that Kevin level of singing back to the character. Itâs fantastic!
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I agree about the Botsâ voices. It gets convoluted and you canât keep track of who is saying what. I have the original classic series on a backup hard drive for those times that the Netflix seasons get too aggravating. Hopefully, the new stuff will grow more like a tree than a fungus in the future.
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I agree that the riff-pacing of the NF episodes is too fast. They could have cut out half the riffs (presumably the less funny ones) and left some âbreathing roomâ for the audience to both 1. follow the movie and 2. add some riffs of our own. More is not always better. Iâm hoping for adjustments in the upcoming seaon.
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The Netflix seasons are just fine. Theyâre solid outings and thereâs some really good stuff in there. The only real âissuesâ (if you can call them that) which I experienced were theseâŚ
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The 1st Netflix season was definitely riffing at a pretty breakneck pace but it can be adapted to. The 2nd Netflix season obviously ratcheted it back, which was a good thing â˘.
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The bubble-wipe solution they used in NF1 was not a very good solution. I understand that it allowed them to cut costs, save time, and other things. However, the end result left a bit to be desired.
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The sets had a bit too much spit and polish ⌠IMO. Part of MSTâs appeal is the found-item, out-of-a-garage feel and I found there was a lack of personality to the SOL set itself (though the theater countdown was pretty good). I hope they tack back a bit more into the found-item / Goodwill set design.
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The NF remote puppetry was inferior to the lollipop puppetry. The bots seemed slow, sluggish, off-time, and generally lacked the snap and zip of the CC/SF seasons. Crow in particular suffered because his eyes no longer look around. Itâs not BAD puppetry. But itâs nowhere near as good as the old puppetry was and so it suffers by comparison. The Live Tourâs puppetry is better by far as well. They need to go back to the lollipop sticks and ditch the tech approach. T his extends to the theater as well because the bots heads donât move around as much and so itâs harder to tell who is talking (see #5).
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Maybe some people can tell the difference between Crow and Tom easily, but for me it was always difficult and only got marginally easier in the NF2 season not because of the voices but because they slowed down the riffing and gave me a little more time to process.
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Some âThings happening for no good reasonâ vibes in the host segments ⌠especially the Max/Kinga/Jonah thing. It wasnât huge, but sometimes it left a bit to be desired. The lack of explanation and context is just sloppy writing and so not telling the audience why Gypsy was leaving baskets ⌠not explaining at all where Growler or Waverly came from ⌠etc came off as more jarring than anything else.
None of this makes the shows âbadâ. Just makes them, âNot as good as it could have beenâ.
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I was rewatching most of The Gauntlet over the weekend. Coming to them somewhat fresh, in that I hadnât watched any in a good while, I have a new appreciation for how good they are. The host segments are so much better, too, than the first season (The Return). If the Gizmoplex seasons are as good, Iâll be very contented, though of course we all hope theyâll be the best episodes yet!
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âYou snauced and you LOSTâ has become part of my vernacular
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My âITâS BACKâ moment was in the beginning of Cry Wilderness:
(the slow pull out from the sasquatch display at the âmuseumâ) âAustralopithecus Gallifinakisâ
perfect MST3K
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Like when Jonah explained the concept of radio as âitâs like a podcast that you canât controlâ⌠awesomeness.
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