The first few episodes of season 1 are really hard to watch, and it’s amazing the show became what it did in later seasons.
The greenscreen set for the SOL is disappointing compared to the CC/Sci-Fi days.
(Let’s hear it!)
9 Likes
I’ve seen The Touch of Satan often praised up and down as one of the best episodes, but it never really wowed me or made me think of it as one of MST3K’s greatest.
That first half is solid, but the second half… oof. The film just has a tad too much darkness that overwhelms the effortful riffing.
8 Likes
Some of the weakest sketches ever are the ones where the bots bully and berate Mike. I get that he’s that era’s “White Male Reality” and theoretically the best target for this. But that’s generally not my school of humor, so most of those segments leave me cold. Though there is the clever upending of that cliche’ in Girl In Gold Boots, with the beer stein and all.
Also, way too much emphasis on shouty aggression in the riffs for Assignment: Venezuela. You need a good balance of “Mean-Mad” vs. “Goofy dancing in the sun” riffs to make a great short. And that one is way out of whack in favor of the former. Sorry.
10 Likes
This is why I liked the host segments where Mike managed to get one over on the bots because that didn’t happen enough. For every Noh Theater or yeah, the beer stein bit from Girl in Gold Boots, there’s multiple segments where Mike’s basically bullied.
8 Likes
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There is no amount or quality of riffing that will make me want to watch a Joe Don Baker movie.
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My 7 least favorite words in the MST3K universe are “Did I tell you my mother’s here?” I love both of those characters individually, but genuinely dislike the relationship written for them.
16 Likes
I don’t think Felicia and Patton have much chemistry in their scenes and make for weak Mads as a result
21 Likes
I hate Tom Servo’s old voice!
5 Likes
I like Castle of Fu Manchu. So there.
9 Likes
I’m not even sure why the show made me into a fan. Possibly because the riffs were so ruthless that I ended up seeking out a few of his other projects and confirmed that, yeah. He can act when the material’s good. Supposedly he said in an interview that he was raised to believe that you never turn down a job. I had to work at Mal-Wart once for three interminable weeks, so I can’t judge him too harshly.
5 Likes
I normally don’t want to cancel people or characters in any shape, form, or words, but here’s what I got.
Growler looked sickly shiny when he debuted. AND WHERE DA HEK WAZ HIZ NEK?!?!
(I’m glad that he got a brighter look, and his neck was shown more when The Gauntlet was released. But now I feel guilty that I just insulted, and tried to cancel my favorite green bot.)
3 Likes
He’s still going through adolescence. We all looked a little odd at that time.
7 Likes
The movie, as good as I was, wasn’t worth the tensions and divisions it caused at BBI.
14 Likes
I think in part it’s because they were both already established personalities when they took the job. They brought along experience and press attention, but also baggage connected to earlier stuff they’d done in front of national audiences. Which isn’t something the first Mads had to deal with.
That being said, once Max’s crush got ditched, I started to like their segments a lot more.
5 Likes
Yeah, I attribute it to the fact that the original cast were all comedians who already knew each other and had time to build a rapport off-camera. Hiring two “outside” pros, talented though they may be, just can’t convey that. I feel Jonah and the bots gel better because they were friends (or at least friendly) before the show- hence Jonah recommending Baron and Hampton to Joel for the parts.
6 Likes
Patton almost feels too “famous” for the show. He’s everywhere! He’s everywhere! He’s everywhere!
13 Likes
There are also times when I can only see Max as Remy, because, well… same actor.
Which finally confirms that TV’s Son of TV’s Frank is just an artificial lab rat.
4 Likes
It’s a bit tough being canonically kin to another Mad. Just like it was for Pearl. Fans are unhappy at losing the original, but then if the newcomer adheres TOO much to what their precursor did, fans don’t like that either.
3 Likes
He is a contemporary and friend of Jonah and Hampton and Baron. They were all in the alt-comedy scene. I wouldn’t hold his fame against him. He’s clearly doing this for the love of the game. It’s not like someone who was a lead in a Disney movie needed to do an independent puppet show, but here we are.
9 Likes
I don’t think I have any MST3K opinions that are worth “cancelling” me over, but here we go.
A lot of the show’s really famous episodes (Cave Dwellers, Pod People, Eegah, Mitchell, Werewolf, The Final Sacrifice, Soultaker) are really boring to me.
I prefer Josh Weinstein’s voice for Servo over Kevin’s. Josh really should have stuck around for at least one or two more seasons.
Season 12 is the show’s worst season. Half of the episodes are decent, while the other half are just plain bad. Episodes like Atlantic Rim and Lords of the Deep prove that it’s possible for riffing to be even LESS entertaining than the movie actually featured.
Honestly, even though both seasons 11 and 12 had good episodes, I think they were kind of a mistake. The production values were set far too high, setting a certain expectation for all future episodes. I think if they went independent from the very start and season 11 looked just how season 13 does right now, nobody would have an issue with it.
MST3K didn’t get really good until around season 4 and 5. Even a great season 3 episode is noticeably weaker than a great season 5 episode to me.
KTMA and season 1 aren’t unwatchable. In fact, they can be pretty funny at times. And visually, I find the KTMA season to be the most appealing.
5 Likes
They may not be at the god-tier level, but those early episodes still have a lot to offer.
11 Likes