What episode do you love, but everyone else hates?

“Oh I hate to shoot a butt like that!”

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Did somebody say ‘Ken’?

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it’s cool man. We can agree to disagree.

but imdb says she was a writer for Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II as well. Wondering what you thought of that one?

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if anything we need more Bull Butter…

lol.

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Excited School GIF

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Sometimes repetition works for me. Sometimes not.

I think the “Rocky!” “Again?!” thing from Fugitive Alien is a hoot. Why? Well, I’ve always loved me some Jay Ward cartoons. Also, it has the build-up to Joel losing his temper and tearing off Crow’s arm.

On the other hand, the constant yelling of “Load!” at the old guy in The Mole People basically ruins the episode for me. He’s dull, and mostly noteworthy for cementing what a bad story this is, because why would you bring such a frail old coot on such a dangerous mission in the first place? But then again his buddies are all dull, too. So I just get impatient with the riff more than the character it’s supposed to be taking down. It’s like they brought dozens of little dull knives to Bingo Night at the nursing home. Or something.

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A running gag works best when it has some sort of payoff. Again, I’m bringing up Indestructible Man because it has a great running gag. The joke itself is lame, just associating cops with donuts. But what makes it funny is the bots getting more and more pissed off at Joel, to the point where they make him sign the “No Cops & Doughnuts Joke Accord”. Even in Space Mutiny, there’s a little payoff to the running gag. After hearing all the fake super macho buff sounding names for Dave Ryder, it’s funny to hear Servo say a relatively normal name like Bob Johnson. It subverts expectations.

From what I can recall of the Netflix episodes, there’s not a lot flavor added to the running jokes there. And I don’t wanna dog on seasons 11 and 12 too much because there are some great episodes there. Avalanche is one of my favorite episodes of the entire series. Yongary is a great one too, but I have to admit they got carried away with the repeated “Capsule” riff. It just doesn’t work for me.

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Actually, to get things back on a more positive track, I want to bring up an episode that nobody else has mentioned in this thread. Ator: The Fighting Eagle. That is a very solid episode from season 12, and I personally prefer to it Cave Dwellers. (I know it’s a classic, but I found it kinda boring.)

There are some really funny riffs in that one, and it showed just how good new MST3K could be. I don’t know if anyone out there really hates this episode, but it’s not one that’s brought up a lot. Then again, season 12 in general isn’t discussed that much. But Ator is a very solid episode and one I always enjoy rewatching.

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Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II (1989) displays a larger in your face directness of the joking which does speak to her and is similar to Starcrash (1978). I stand corrected. Great catch. I somehow missed her name. I hopped onto IMDB and her page is missing the normal list of credits. I rescreened Wiz II’s end titles to confirm. During my last watchthrough of Season 11 and 12, I made a conscious effort to scan every writer mentioned and that slipped by. Figures…

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Funny. I have the opposite sense. Ator: The Fighting Eagle (1982) is “kinda boring” compared to Cave Dwellers (1984). Personal preference I guess. That and Dwellers is my formative MST experience and it casts a very big reflection. On initial glance, Ator disappointed. Reason? Expectations I think and I had seen it unriffed in my teens not long after watching the Cave episode. Reevaluating Seasons 11 and 12 not that long ago, Killer Fish (1978) and Ator grabbed me on second glance and I viewed each again. After three times, I’m now with you Ator is worth seeing and improves the more you do.

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no worries man. Just wondering if the riffing on Wizards of the lost kingdom 2 stood out in a good way for you as well?

I really enjoyed starcrash but for the wizards of the lost kingdom II episode was one of my top favs of the season.

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there is nothing in Ator that is batshit insanely hilarious as the final section of cave dwellers… from the hangglider to the nuclear bomb going off it’s some peak MST3K greatness. Cave Dwellers is one of the best episodes of all time. so yeah I agree that Ator was a bit of a disappointment compared to that and that it was the final episode of the gauntlet. I feel S12 really needed to have a high level of consistency and a strong finish to work with just 6 episodes. That didn’t happen IMO.

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Hmm… Older MST possesses several aspects not encountered as much in Netflix shows. Blunt insults of characters but nicely (Minnesota Nice to be exact), bodily humor done curtly (Minnesota Nice again), politically incorrect frankness to the joking, and an older sensibility to the puns. My bead is Mary Jo supplied much of the Minnesota Nice stylings to the writers’s room in the day along with Mike and Bridget. Starcrash (1978) glimmers with politically incorrect and an older style and Kingdom II (1989) the blunt nice insults and body humor. Both shows personify the breadth of Mary Jo’s contributions fully. Were I to choose? Starcrash’s qualities appeal to me over Kingdom II’s. Either is stellar and a time capsule of earlier riffing.

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interesting breakdown! thanks.

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I have a cat named Puma in honor of him. He’ s black and white.

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I swear to Gawd that autocorrect today suggested ‘Pumaman’.

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Teenage Caveman, you say?!

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I would argue that they helped Rick Sloane become a more well known film maker and point folks to his other work by mentioning him specifically but yeah they were too harsh on him…

Coleman Francis though… They truly can not be mean enough to that ‘filmmaker’…

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lol. So long as it doesn’t break any laws, I don’t think there’s any such thing as being too mean to Rick “Oh, Mr. Zookeeper help me to hide this cockatoo on my body” Sloane.

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“Women of the Prehistoric Planet”. Yes, it may be Season 1, but:

-“Clay and Lar’s Flesh Barn” jingle
-“Doomsday Machine” subplot
-The debut of HI-KEEBA!
-The HI-KEEBA actor’s epic pratfall
-Doomsday Machine turns Joel & Bots into ISAAC ASIMOVS
-Very underrated riffing overall

The only drawback are some racially insensitive riffs that don’t hold up well today, as is the case with quite a few of the earlier episodes. But I’ll put “Women…” right there along “Moon Zero Two” as one of my favorite Season 1 episodes overall. It’s honestly a lot of fun in spite of how bland the film itself can get.

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