I don’t know for sure. This is the one I always use at night, but I have napped during the day to Danger! Death Ray
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Mothra (1961) is actually the Toho I re-see the most. The comic architecture of the movie, the faith directed towards Mothra, the twins and their synchronized singing. It is an utter delight and the beginning of the commercial direction of the Godzilla series evidenced in Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster (1966) and Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973). Mothra presents distinct aspects absent in Toho’s other creations.
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I’ve seen it riffed by RT, and while I enjoyed the riffing, the movie itself was fun and I didn’t mind it at all.
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My biggest problem with the Godzilla and Gamera movies on MST is that they all come together in the chronology. Makes for a bit of a slog when binging the whole run in order.
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Mothra (1961) is great even unriffed.
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And I love the thinly-disguised America (Rolisica) and New York (New Kirk).
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Rolisica is an amalgamation of Russia and America. The merger of the two superpowers into one indifferent third party that’s complicating the action is a knowing political stab by the filmmakers.
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I would argue 212 and 213 would make for good intro options for newcomers and recruits. You have a very recognizable brand and the episodes feature strong riffing with great host segments. Too bad they aren’t widely available.
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Indeed. Two of the greater episodes of early MST are in rights limbo thanks to the parent company. Oh well, the legend lives on due to us the fans.
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I saw Sea Monster a bunch of times as a kid, on our local Saturday hosted horror movie show, so I’m fond of it.
Favorite bits:
“They know of our love!”
“Just a couple minutes on the thunder bucket here.”
“Salute higher, idiot.”
“In case of plot hole, break glass.”
“Come back! I’m a good guy with a solid future! I want you to see my etchings!”
“Bird lives!”
“We are filled with shame.”
“Forehead moistened, sir.”
“Shag on out there, beanie boys, and fix that whoop whoop noise.”
Voice of God: “FAAAKEY!”
And probably their best-timed joint smoking joke ever.
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"It’s Hayley Mills and Hayley Mills in The Mothra Trap! " is an AMAZING riff.
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I’ll one up you on the sad dork scale. The monster is called Ebirah because it’s a portmanteau of 海老 (えび or “ebi”) - which means “shrimp” - and the ラ (“ra”) from Gojira (aka Godzilla) that came to be a signifier of kaiju-ness, e.g. Mothra or Gamera (which comes from 亀 (かめ or “kame”, which is “turtle”, and then the “k” is voiced to “g” so it’s not the already existing loan word “Kamera”).
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For what it’s worth, the Japanese title translates to: “Godzilla, Ebirah, Mothra: Big Duel in the South Seas“
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A sister thread to Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) now exists. If you’re wanting to talk about the other one.
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100 percent. Building my MST collection on VHS, my recordings of Megalon (1973) and Sea Monster (1966) were used and abused and they heavily were what I thought of when thinking of the show. The larger than life skits, the analysis of everything pop culture, the random flashbacks to obscure bits of fandom. The Godzilla Experiments presented ideal gateways into MST3K. Not too painful, highly infectious, and endlessly playable. They are the best of both worlds. Novelty and enjoyable together forever. The familarity of one helps sell the other. It is a shame Toho has locked the door and thrown away the key.
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Haha. Imagine trying to get both Toho and Universal to agree to letting you riff that. Universal is so weird about it that despite all the other Godzilla movies in the Criterion set being the original Japanese versions, Universal made them put the English version of GvK as the listed version and Criterion had to hide the Japanese version (unadvertised) on an extras disc.
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You speak the truth. I merely voiced what moves me cognizant the Powers That Be won’t ever go for it. “C’est la vie…”
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