The classic series 1990 to 1999 was the best - film crew and cinematic titanic too
I will say that I liked the original run the best and those are the episodes that I go back and rewatch the most, but while season 11 started off a bit iffy for me, there were some really good parts to it and I took to Jonah as a host right away.
If there’s one thing that I don’t like as much about season 13, it’s all the switching around of the bots and the hosts. The different hosts are fine. The different bots are fine, but it’s like the use of a multiverse in other movies. If it’s not done just right, it removes a lot of the genuine interest. It’s easy to say that this is a puppet show where they make fun of movies, but the framing to that is a story and by jumping around to different groups, that framing is no longer as real as it would be if there was just one host and one set of bots. That being said, I think the riffing is good and they’ve settled down on the riffing rates and such that were an issue at the beginning of season 11.
I do wish there had been more Film Crew episodes. I thought that was a really fun continuation of the concept.
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I really liked the Film Crew. I thought it was more MST3K-like than the previous 3 seasons of MST3K back at that time. I think I understand why they weren’t able to continue it, but I wish they had.
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While the Film Crew did essentially morph into Rifftrax, I much preferred Film Crew to RT. But maybe that’s just because at only 4 movies, FC doesn’t have the oversaturation that RT has.
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The style was different. Maybe it’s because they were only doing older movies, but it seemed much less juvenile and hostile than Rifftrax became, and also less juvenile and hostile than the Sci-Fi years of MST3K.
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This may not make sense, but in my mind, Film Crew is an extension of MST3K, not a precursor to Rifftrax. I like Rifftrax, by and large, but it’s not the same as MST3K. Rifftrax is the guys riffing on a movie. Film Crew tells a story that is centered around three guys being paid to put DVD commentaries on old movies. I’ve always thought that Film Crew was basically what Mike did for a job after the SOL crashed on Earth. He has to pay for that 1 bedroom, garden level apartment somehow. 
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I think I know what you mean. Film Crew didn’t feel like an extension to me, more like a brilliant successor. MST’s concept is pretty abstract; coming up with an equivalent had to be quite a challenge, and I think they nailed it.
I also understand Film Crew’s demise, in the sense that I comprehend what happened, but I’m still bitter about it. It was a dumb and shortsighted decision, strong-arming the guys into killing it. MST was dead at that point and they were no threat to it; quite the opposite really, they were keeping the spirit alive.
I’d love to see more of it. Maybe a new Film Crew can step in one day and revive it? There’s enough room in the world for MST, Film Crew, RiffTrax and CT.
(This thread’s premise seems like a low-effort attempt to generate controversy, glad no one’s biting on that. I moved it to Extended World of Riffing, but won’t be surprised if the mods kill it.)
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I still watch episodes on Pluto, which include Titanic and film crew on occasion - I just can’t get into the new stuff
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What does that even mean?
I def agree - I’m old school with respect to the orig. cast - having Mike Bill and Kevin on the review was underrated, and def terrific
I agree Teri - it was as if the Film Crew was an extension of the orig series - same characters, minus Trace, but Bill and Kevin do rule
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I guess the reason why Film Crew seems closer to RiffTrax than to MST3K to me is because in FC, Bill and Kevin are playing Bill and Kevin, not Crow & Tom. It is just that through line of playing themselves between the two franchises that ties them closer together to me.
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I can totally see that. The difference in my mind is that, even though their names are the same, they’re playing characters (three guys hired by a weird old man to make DVD commentaries) rather than actually themselves riffing for an audience.
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My personal hot take is that, when it’s funny, it doesn’t matter if it’s the old stuff or the new stuff. Both are variable, but I don’t hold much with nostalgia for its own sake. Not all the original experiments were brilliant.
BTW, in case anyone missed it, this was a Film Crew bonus riff in all but name.
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OMG what was this from? She’s not even in the right key?
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I agree with that, but overall, I find more rewatchability with the original run than the new run. There probably is a nostalgia factor, but overall, I came to the show very late in the game so it’s not about childhood memories for me.
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If I remember correctly (I have seen this before), it’s a real beauty pageant and this is a real contestant.
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But the strange creeping around and looking in different directions, it totally makes it!
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They have actually - check out rifftrax
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