Howdy! Reading through some topics lately and what caught my eye was the different attitudes and receptions to the Host Segments in each episode.
I myself love them and find they are integral to the MST 3K experience. They allow for the mythos behind the show and create a world for what we’re watching. That’s what creates the characters we know and love.
Now some people might love certain segments more than others- I love invention exchanges, some people don’t. I love the musical numbers, some people don’t, etc.
That’s not my question.
My question is how do you feel about them on the whole?
YES- it’s not MST without the host segments.
NO- they aren’t really necessary, I just like the riffing.
The host segments are integral to the MST3K experience. They are not integral to movie riffing, but are vital to this show. It brings together movie riffing with the cheesy fun of old horror host shows. Other riffing fare is fine without, but none of them are MST3K.
The only ones I recall trying to retain the hosts segments are the pre-recorded episodes of Cinematic Titanic and the proto-RiffTrax effort The Film Crew. Neither had host segments anywhere as good as MST3K’s, and those segments were wisely dropped in later iterations (CT Live and RiffTrax).
How could anyone say the host segments are a con? I love the host segments! They are what make MST3K what it is. MST3K is a puppet show after all, and the host segments show off the puppets in the best way possible. Even when they’re not particularly funny (they usually are funny though), I love how they show the characters interacting with each other. And during the Comedy Central era, Forrester and Frank were perfect as a comedy duo. And even during the Sci Fi, the antics that Bobo and Brain Guy get up to are pretty funny. I love the invention exchanges and how creative and wacky they are. I love the musical moments. The host segments are essential to the MST3K experience.
The host segments are what take Joel/Mike/Jonah and the bots from joke tellers to real characters. I enjoy Rifftrax but I’ve never given them hundreds of dollars on the hope of getting more episodes made.
One of my biggest regrets is missing registering for Joel’s riff class at my local community college like 10 years ago. I knew a guy who took the class and picked his brain a little bit and he said that Joel felt that you needed to care about the characters and their reason for riffing in order for it to work. If that’s indeed what he felt, that would help to explain the Cinematic Titanic storyline in the early days. I think, though, that it wasn’t necessary once you already cared about the people and since most MST fans are fans of the performers themselves, that made it possible for the live shows to land the way they did in the latter days of CT.
But I do think that the host segments elevate the show from random jokes to something else. It helps give it literal character.
I can’t imagine why anybody would say the host segments are an out-and-out con. What sad little world do you live in inside your head? It must be so boring Though I can understand not liking certain skits or the characters in them.
But I have never once approached any mst3k movie or stage show with anything close to a critical eye. Even if the host bits are groan-inducing, to me it all adds to it Then again, I am embarrassingly easy to entertain
I saw Emily and the the gang live on tour. I am really excited at how good they will be this season. They really sing well. How about a duet with Jonah and Emily of Jonah’s “Every country has a monster” btw he and the bots did that great,.
So yes for hosts. There are other shows but MST3K is unique.
I find it hard to trust anyone who declares something like I just fast-forward through those silly skits, etc.
I also liked the CT sketches, especially when they took full advantage of the fact that we were only watching the actors’ silhouettes. The Xmas gift bit, for instance, is priceless.
Most of the Film Crew ones were decent, except for the one where they spent like an hour assuring us that men in skimpy drag are the worst thing on Earth you’ll ever see. [yawn] Have a little more self-esteem than that, Guys. Or don’t even bother with the skit at all.
Before I saw any episodes of MST3K, I caught transcripts and WAVs of host segments off of MST3K websites in the real early days of the Internet.
I loved those. Aside from the central premise of movie riffing, the host segments felt like the thing that made MST3K what it was.
I couldn’t imagine MST3K without host segments. Heck, when Season 12 made the rounds, the only thing I didn’t like about those episodes was that we lost an entire host segment per episode.
It’s tough for me to really articulate it. The host segments give MST3K that certain atmosphere, that warm feeling. They make the show feel like home, like you’re a part of the action. It wasn’t a random decision to have Joel repeatedly say “I’m the subject of a movie-watching experiment, and I guess so are you” during Season 1.
So… the host segments are all pros, no cons, and certainly not unnecessary.
Yes to this right here. I really enjoy RT. I have too many of their offerings, but I like the break that the host segments bring. Even when I don’t enjoy them (Joey the Lemur, I’m looking at you), they’re still a needed break.
Yeah. It’s entirely possible that I could brave the relentless pain of something like Rollergator or Zindy a second time if only there were host segments to look forward to.
Maybe I just need to steal a bunch of money from somewhere and commission fan-made host segments.
Though I can understand not liking certain skits or the characters in them.
Then again, I am embarrassingly easy to entertain
