I’d go with Gamera from the Joel era
Final Sacrifice from Mike Era
Mac and me from the Jonah Era
Have them watch the livestream riff with Emily
So they can experience each host and puppeteers and what makes them great.
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I’ve had great success with Starcrash. Hooked a couple with that one. Hobgoblins has also been a success story. And Mitchell’s a decent go to if you’ve got a non sci-fi person on your hands.
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I had one of my close friends watch “Killer Shrews” right after high school. She was terrified and held it against me for years. lol…
I usually start with Gamera with other friends now. It’s goofy enough, and the jokes are hilarious.
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My introduction was Cave Dwellers and well, here I am 30 years later…
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Kinda depends on the person but here are my go-to’s:
Space Mutiny
Mitchell
Hobgoblins
Werewolf
Horrors of Spider Island
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I’ve had success with recommending “Terror From The Year 5000”.
In general I suggest that people start with 1950s, early 60s monster movies such as “The Horror of Party Beach”
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Eegah was the first episode I ever saw! One of my dad’s friends lent it to us (the 2007 version of “circulate the tapes” — episodes burned onto CDs haha.) Then later when my friend showed me MST3K was on Netflix I was like “Wait, I’ve seen this before!”
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I would show someone Cry Wilderness or Mac n Me. Even though I love classic mst3k the new episodes are definitely more engaging for a new watcher
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Me personally, I always try to start new potential viewers with some of the Shorts. I’ve had good luck that way.
This gives them the flavor of what to expect, then I lead them into a full blown movie.
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Time Chasers is a good one! It’s corny and funny. And who doesn’t like a time travel type movie.
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Good pick with Operation Double 007! Coupled with Danger! Death Ray! it’d make a great pair.
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My go-to for introducing new people to the show has been Cave Dwelers. The movie is intrinsically silly, to begin with. And just get’s more absurd as it goes on. But the riffing really keeps up and is just spot on for the length of the film.
All this combined with an easy-going adventure romp with Miles of O’Keef. And classic riffing to bring the new viewer into the fun without dragging them down like some of the really “bad” films.
That and I use the origional Gammera somtimes. Again a fairly decent film, and…you get to see a robot sing a love song to a turtle.
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Gotta be Mitchell. Some friends have a hard time with the sci fi stuff but for some reason the lazy slob cop movie = instant crowd pleaser.
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I’ve recently introduced a couple people, one with Reptillicus and the other with Atlantic Rim. My go-tos though are
- Reptillicus
- Mac and Me
- The Final Sacrifice
- Manos
- Werewolf
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Manos, Space Munity, Tormented, The Beast of Hollow Mountain, any of the Gamera movies, Hobgoblins, Santa Claus, and Cry Wilderness.
The Final Countdown is definitely the one I’ve had the most success with. My friend and I still occasionally quote that one to each other.
Other than that, Mitchell is a great one because the movie is just so easy to laugh at. Space Mutiny is another great example for similar reasons.
Final Justice!
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So if you are going to introduce someone to it I guess I would have to go by what movies they like rather than the episode.
My wife for example doesn’t really care for MST3K but LOVES Gamera so I showed those to her first.
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Yeah, I find The Movie is good. It’s a little shorter, it introduces the concept, This Island Earth is pretty watchable on its own, the riffing is good, the sketches are fun, etc.
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Getting ready for a visit from my nephew so queuing up some things to watch including MST - Space Mutiny and Cry Wilderness were the first two that came to mind 