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Post by mrmeadows on Nov 21, 2010 4:24:25 GMT -5
Okay, maybe I'm reaching for new thread topics here, but what were some of the best--and worst--"clusters" of episodes during the series run? Not necessarily full seasons, but rather a string of 5 or 6 consecutive episodes where they really hit it out of the park. . .or fell below expectations. High points vs. low points, basically.
For the Joel era, I'd put the best cluster right around the end of Season 4:
418- ATTACK OF THE THE EYE CREATURES
419- THE REBEL SET
420- THE HUMAN DUPLICATORS
421- MONSTER A-GO-GO
422- THE DAY THE EARTH FROZE
423- BRIDE OF THE MONSTER
424- "MANOS": THE HANDS OF FATE
Not a mediocre episode in the bunch. All stellar. (In my opinion, obviously.)
In contrast to, say, this cluster:
314- MIGHTY JACK
315- TEENAGE CAVEMAN
316- GAMERA VS. ZIGRA
317- VIKING WOMEN VS. THE SEA SERPENT
318- STAR FORCE - FUGITIVE ALIEN II
Again, my opinion, but I rarely return to the these episodes. Some classic shorts in there ("Catching Trouble" and "Home Economics" among them), but far from my favorite episodes. If it weren't for War of the Colossal Beast (a pretty good episode) coming after Star Force, I would have extended the list to include The Unearthly.
In the Mike era, both clusters can be found in Season 8. My picks for best?
816- PRINCE OF SPACE
817- HORROR OF PARTY BEACH
818- DEVIL DOLL
819- INVASION OF THE NEPTUNE MEN
820- SPACE MUTINY
821- TIME CHASERS
822- OVERDRAWN AT THE MEMORY BANK
And worst?
801- REVENGE OF THE CREATURE
802- THE LEECH WOMAN
803- THE MOLE PEOPLE
804- THE DEADLY MANTIS
805- THE THING THAT COULDN'T DIE
What say you?
Oh, and I'm going by production order, not air order.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2010 15:31:49 GMT -5
latter 4 really is good. Season 5's first five, and season 6 is just all good throughout but they really up their riffing somewhere with San Francisco Intl onward.
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Post by Justin T on Nov 21, 2010 22:36:22 GMT -5
I agree with both the best Joel and Mike stretches you listed
mrmeadows. Good choices.
The first half of Season 5 also has some good clusters.
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Torgo
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-segment with Crow?
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Post by Torgo on Nov 22, 2010 12:34:15 GMT -5
I thought season 8's second half with Jack Frost through Overdrawn at the Memory Bank was pretty stellar. Having a season 8-o-thon is a breeze when you look forward to those episodes.
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Post by Father Mannix on Nov 22, 2010 15:13:50 GMT -5
314- MIGHTY JACK 315- TEENAGE CAVEMAN 316- GAMERA VS. ZIGRA 317- VIKING WOMEN VS. THE SEA SERPENT 318- STAR FORCE - FUGITIVE ALIEN II That's funny, 4 out of those 5 are some of my favorites from the Joel era. The one that isn't (Teenage Caveman) is still good, but the other 4 are classics to me. |
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Post by mrmeadows on Nov 22, 2010 16:16:53 GMT -5
I thought season 8's second half with Jack Frost through Overdrawn at the Memory Bank was pretty stellar. Having a season 8-o-thon is a breeze when you look forward to those episodes. You are correct that this is a very strong season overall. The reason my cluster began at Prince of Space is because Agent for HARM was kind of an average episode to me. Not bad, but not on the same classic level as, say, Riding with Death which preceded it. |
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Post by continosbuckle on Nov 22, 2010 17:16:57 GMT -5
Season Five, Joel's episodes from, if I'm feeling generous, Secret Agent Super Dragon all the way to Mitchell, is a generally great run. Here's the full list:
504: Secret Agent Super Dragon
505: Magic Voyage of Sinbad
506: Eegah!
507: I Accuse My Parents
508: Operation Double 007
509: The Girl in Lover's Lane
510: The Painted Hills
511: Gunslinger
512: Mitchell
Some real solid episodes there.
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Post by fathermushroom on Nov 22, 2010 20:00:19 GMT -5
I agree with continosbuckle. But this is oh-so-subjective.
My least favorite, least-returned-to run might actually include 301-306, and I know that includes a lot of everyone's favorites. But not mine!
But I have to say, this is a good thread, inasmuch as it got me searching for loooong runs of dud episodes, and that was harder to find than I expected (speaking amongst MSTies, you understand, "dud" is a strictly relative term). For every episode that I'm not totally nuts about, there's a great string of favorites right alongside it.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Nov 23, 2010 3:10:06 GMT -5
Using my grading system and top 50
The greatest, Best In Show streaks
813 Jack Frost #1 out of 50
814 Riding With Death #13
815 Agent For Harm #20
and even better, 3 from my top 10...
505 Magic Voyage of Sinbad #7
506 Eegah #9
507 I Accuse My Parents #4
But if I expand it to include plantinum and gold awards
504 Secret Agent Super Dragon #85 - gold
505 Magic Voyage of Sinbad #7 - best
506 Eegah #9 - best
507 I Accuse My Parents #4 - best
508 Operation Double 007 #35 - platinum
509 Girl in Lovers Lane #19 - best
510 Painted Hills #8 – best
511 Gunslinger #64 - gold
512 Mitchell #26 - best
513 Brain that Wouldn’t Die #91 - gold
514 Teenage Strangler #59 - gold
and later...
517 The Beginning of the End - platinum
518 The Atomic Brain - gold
519 Outlaw - gold
520 Radar Secret Service - platinum
521 Santa Claus - best in show
522 Teenage Crime Wave - gold
523 Village of the Giants - platinum
524 12 to the Moon - platinum
and...
419 The Rebel Set #55 - gold
420 The Human Duplicators #27 - platinum
421 Monster A-Go Go #14 – best in show
422 The Day the Earth Froze #57 - gold
423 Bride of the Monster #56 - gold
424 Manos: The Hands of Fate #17 – best in show
as for worse? Discounting KTMA and season 1 - They only strung together 3 Bronze or lower eps in a row once...
1009 Hamlet
1010 It Lives By Night
1011 Horror's of Spider Island
and that's stretching it because I don't mind It Lives By Night.
so no major bad streaks for me. This was a pretty steady show IMHO.
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Post by frankenforcer on Nov 23, 2010 11:29:32 GMT -5
For the best Joel stretch. For me it's:
309-THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN
310 - FUGITIVE ALIEN
311 - IT CONQUERED THE WORLD
312 - GAMERA VS. GUIRON
313 - EARTH VS. THE SPIDER
314- MIGHTY JACK
315- TEENAGE CAVEMAN
316- GAMERA VS. ZIGRA
317- VIKING WOMEN AND THE SEA SERPENT
318- STAR FORCE: FUGITIVE ALIEN 2
319- WAR OF THE COLLOSSAL BEAST
320- THE UNEARTHLY
321- SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS
322- MASTER NINJA
For the Worse stretch its:
410- HERCULES AGAINST THE MOON MEN
411 - THE MAGIC SWORD
412 - HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN
413 - MANHUNT IN SPACE
and that's a stretch for me. And only because the Hercules are hard to watch. The Magic Sword just bugs me and the Rocky Jones adventures are intolerable. That and General Hospital. ugh.
For Mike's Best:
812-THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES WHO STOPPED LIVING AND BECAME MIXED-UP ZOMBIES
813 - JACK FROST
814 - RIDING WITH DEATH
815 - AGENT FOR H.A.R.M.
816 - PRINCE OF SPACE
817 - THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH
818 - DEVIL DOLL
would have continued to the rest of the season. But Invasion the Neptune Men is not watchable to me. Aside from Tom losing it, the movie is impossible to get through in one sitting.
The worse stretch:
I honestly can't find a stretch. There are some bad episodes but they tend to be sandwiched in between 2 really good episodes.
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Post by mrmeadows on Nov 23, 2010 11:53:53 GMT -5
These are great. Glad TPMJ was able to get his picks in, too. And to be clear, when I say "worst", I agree with most of you that bad MST3K is like bad pizza or sex. . .it's still pretty good. I was judging "worst" eps as more of a contrast against the really super-uber good eps. Also, if a slightly above-average episode was stuck in the middle of a truly stellar run, I considered that as breaking up the cluster. (See my Agent for HARM note above.)
Not that there is anything remotely scientific about the way I'm doing this. I'll leave you alone now. :-)
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2010 15:42:25 GMT -5
Agent for HARM is one of the best of the season are you kidding me.
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Post by mrmeadows on Nov 23, 2010 19:24:54 GMT -5
Agent for HARM is one of the best of the season are you kidding me. Hey, how many times do I have to use the phrase "in my opinion"? :-) HARM is a good ep. . .but for me it's a middling "spy movie" ep, compared to Secret Agent Super Dragon or Danger!! Death Ray. |
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Post by inlovewithcrow on Nov 29, 2010 12:18:02 GMT -5
you say tomato... I think this is one of the best:
801- REVENGE OF THE CREATURE
802- THE LEECH WOMAN
803- THE MOLE PEOPLE
804- THE DEADLY MANTIS
805- THE THING THAT COULDN'T DIE
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Post by continosbuckle on Nov 29, 2010 18:35:37 GMT -5
you say tomato... I think this is one of the best: 801- REVENGE OF THE CREATURE 802- THE LEECH WOMAN 803- THE MOLE PEOPLE 804- THE DEADLY MANTIS 805- THE THING THAT COULDN'T DIE Yeah, I've got to admit that I'd never list a "Bad Cluster" because so often I've revisited episodes that I originally thought were lackluster only to find I really enjoyed them. I'd never want to write off an episode entirely as mediocre or worse. Sometimes it might be because I missed something, sometimes it's because my tastes have changed just enough, and sometimes it's something entirely different, but often it has been something. Just as an example, I would frequently rate old black and white episodes down because low-budget black and white movies are often painful to watch. But there are many episodes where once I got over that, I found some real favorites. In a similar vein, there are some where the riffing itself makes a dreary perfunctory movie quite amusing, where at first the dreariness overcame me because even though the movies aren't very good, I always want to know what's going on in them. Once I figure out the plot and why things are happening (or often, I realize that it's just that ludicrous that there's no explanation for what's happening) I can enjoy the riffing a lot more. |
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