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Post by jjb3k on Jun 2, 2006 16:38:29 GMT -5
In the spirit of kernunrex, azwarwilf, and Tarantulas, I too have been on a quest recently to watch every episode of MST3K in order. Only thing is, I haven't been posting my reflections online as I went along, so now I've got a bit of catching up to do. Regardless, let's begin with my reflections of the first two KTMA episodes...
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K04 "Gamera Vs. Barugon" Watched: May 5, 2006
The first available episode is startlingly different from the rest of the show’s run. The Mads have yet to appear, Servo speaks in a high-pitched Kermit the Frog-esque voice, and the riffing is very laid back and sparse. Joel, Crow, and Servo are barely visible in the corner of the screen, improvising all their jokes and sometimes totally missing their mark and cracking each other up. It's fun to see them bounce off one another like that, but it really can get tedious after a while. I found myself kinda trailing off every so often, looking to occupy myself with other things during the frequent dead spots.
Since the MST3K Info Club didn’t exist in 1988, Joel and the ‘bots listen to viewer calls left on the KTMA answering machine. This show, of course, is legendary for two of its calls - the one guy who “enjoyed the movie but really hated the constant disruptions that were on there”, and the other guy who crazily shouts “MORE! MORE! MORE!” into the phone. At least it’s nice to know that, even among the detractors, the show had its rabid MSTies even in this early incarnation. I can imagine what it was like to watch the show back in those early days - if this guy thought that K03 "Star Force: Fugitive Alien II" was funny, he sure had a lot in store for him in the next few years.
Ultimately, what it comes down to is the riffing. Accustomed as I am to the more professional riff methods of the later seasons, I didn’t have too much trouble getting into a different mind-set here (although, as I mentioned before, it does grate on me a little). If you go into the KTMA episodes expecting them to be as drop-dead funny as the rest of the series, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. But if you view them from the historical standpoint that I do, you’ll appreciate them on a much higher level. The guys don’t always score a laugh, but they have fun, and it’s more like a casual night at the movies with a couple of friends. And the movie is pretty entertainingly goofy (despite the fact that Gamera himself almost never appears), so you can focus on that if the thin riffing gets to be too much to bear.
Servo’s early voice is kind of annoying here, but I can rest assured that I won’t have to put up with much more of it - he’s not in the next episode’s theater segments, and his new voice shows up in K06. Already the show is beginning to exhibit signs of improving.
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K05 "Gamera" Watched: May 6, 2006
Trace Beaulieu was out of town this week, so the guys came up with the idea that Crow had been “cryogenetically” frozen to act as the SOL’s Christmas tree (in the clip that show’s him being frozen, it’s pretty obvious that it’s Josh doing the voice). It's actually a pretty clever idea - I give the Brains their props for at least trying to come up with a legitimate excuse for Crow not being in the episode. And for some reason, Servo doesn’t show up in the theater segments, so Joel goes it alone while riffing the first Gamera movie. As a result, the riffing is very, very spare and noticeably weak. Often, almost three minutes go by without any jokes whatsoever. It’s easier to focus on the movie itself, but still, it’s clear why this episode was the Brains’ first subject for the Season 3 run of KTMA remakes.
I will give Joel this, though - he’s one hell of a trooper. Even without any bots, he sticks it out, and there are several times where he really knocks one out of the park. I suppose that, in this case, the minimal amount of riffs actually contributed to the humor - you’re paying more attention to the movie (or at least I was), so when Joel pops up with a smart remark, it comes out of nowhere and catches you off guard. Regardless, it’s still kind of excruciating after a while.
At least the host segments offer some saving grace, with Gypsy imitating Godzilla and a caller saying “sh*t” unbleeped on the air (though Cambot transcribes it as “ship”). The whole answering machine premise of the early KTMAs is a nice touch, even though they still got their share of wackos. Either way, it’s still fun to see how the Brains got their feedback this early on - it’s probably the motivation they needed to keep going with the show.
A decent episode if you're ready for it. It's important to be in the right frame of mind when you watch the KTMAs; otherwise, you're more likely to be disillusioned with them.
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Post by Arizona Warwilf on Jun 2, 2006 16:52:45 GMT -5
Right on, jjb. Out of curiosity, are you doing the one year time limit thing? How far along are you with viewing? Have you seen all the eps already? Sorry if this is an irritating post, I'm a little bit tipsy. ;D
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Post by jjb3k on Jun 2, 2006 16:56:11 GMT -5
I'm hoping to get this all done within the year (I average about two episodes a day, so I should have no trouble). I'm currently between Seasons 1 and 2, but I haven't seen every episode - heck, I don't even own them all. I'm still in the process of getting them all from Skyroniter and Amazon.com, so there may be a bit of lag time between seasons.
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Post by jjb3k on Jun 3, 2006 16:55:56 GMT -5
Next up...
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K06 "Gamera Vs. Gaos" Watched: May 6, 2006
Trace is still gone, so Crow is still frozen, but at least Servo’s back in the theater for this goofy Gamera film. Memorable moments in this one include the pointy and bat-like Gaos, the little kid named Itchy, and the grandpa who apparently moos like a cow (I loved what the guys did with this one). But more noteworthy are the host segments, which feature two defining moments for the show. First, Joel establishes that the Mads are the ones who send him the movies (contrary to his allusions in previous episodes that he picked them himself); second, Servo’s voice changes from the annoying high-pitched squeak to his more familiar “dynamic mighty voice” that he’d have for the remainder of the time that Josh Weinstein was on the show. It’s a nice change, although it’s pretty tame compared to the boisterous effervescence that Kevin Murphy will bring to the role in Season 2. The Servo voice here is more like a radio DJ, and Josh takes the opportunity to play the character like a Casanova wannabe. It’s a cute gag, but Josh starts running it into the ground before the end of the episode. This is nothing against Josh, mind you - he is a pretty good actor, but his personality for Servo doesn't really allow for much. I prefer Kevin's take on the character, though I still enjoy Josh's work to a lesser extent. I will acknowledge that Josh is a very talented improviser - his riffs are usually the ones that make me laugh the hardest, and there are times in this episode where he even gets Joel to lose his composure and crack up, which I can't help but chortle at.
The guys seem to have fun with the Gamera movies, but as one caller orates, they are getting pretty tedious when they’re all aired in a row. Fortunately, the Brains won’t make this same mistake when they redo the Gamera series later. Another caller tells them to unfreeze Crow (or Servo or Gypsy, since he can’t remember which robot is which) and get all three of the bots in the theater. I can’t help but roll my eyes at these early fans who don’t fully grasp the concept of the show...but then again, I’m not sure if the Brains ever spelled out in the KTMA years that Gypsy’s purpose is to work the higher functions of the SOL. I really liked that kid who called in and asked if Joel and the bots could come to his birthday party - Servo's birthday advice is hilarious ("Fill your head with candy...")
In all, an admirable effort, with a nicely ridiculous film as fodder. Oh, and it’s a good thing that Trace comes back in the next episode - I’m really getting sick of the line “Joel, I looked up suspended animation in the dictionary and I don’t think this is gonna be any good at - oh, oh, AAAAHHHHH!!!”
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K07 "Gamera Vs. Zigra" Watched: May 7, 2006
At long last, we’re introduced to the Mads...and boy, have they come a long way. Clad in casual attire, and with completely different voices (Erhardt’s is particularly annoying here), they seem almost nothing like the Dr. Clayton Forrester and Dr. Laurence Erhardt of Season 1. But in spite of that, it’s still pretty evident that they’re destined to be great characters - purely mad here, they’ll soon be evolving into the more pathetic characters we all know. It's also good to see that Dr. F's been coming up with embarrassing nicknames for Joel right off the bat.
Joel, Servo, and Crow are all back in the theater for this one, another out-of-order Gamera movie. We’ve got a spaceship that turns into a parrot, a little girl who acts as the Japanese spokesperson for Coca-Cola, and an undeniably good-looking villainess...not to mention Gamera jamming on the xylophone. What’s not to hate and love at the same time? And the guys riff it pretty well, as Servo inaugurates the Gamera Fight Song into the MST3K lexicon (I just about fell over laughing when Joel put his arms around the bots and began dancing with them).
More phone calls from people who don’t get it - one woman thinks that Gypsy is a guy and asks if “he” has a speech impediment (which makes Gypsy cry hysterically). It’s also worth noting that this episode originally aired on New Year’s Eve of 1988, so the guys count down to 1989 during segment 3 and are promptly interrupted by Movie Sign. They’re getting more creative with the show, and that trademark MST3K humor is rearing its head more frequently.
Even though the Gamera movies are compounding like mad, at least we’re almost done with them. Still, the riffing seems to keep getting better and better as they go on.
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Post by Cleolanta on Jun 4, 2006 16:48:22 GMT -5
Well, you had pretty much the same thoughts I did. (With one exception, perhaps--I don't know about the personality, but I rather like that more...dry, undertoned style of sarcasm that Josh did with Servo's voice (more in Season 1 than here, admittedly)--probably because it's so similar to the way _I_ do sarcasm.)
But anyway, yeah. The flashbacks to when Crow got "frozen" do get old, I love the phone calls...I just love the whole interactiveness and down-home, in-your-face _realness_ of the KTMA episodes. It really does feel like they're right there with you, suffering through the movies like good friends. There's...and I know this is going to sound corny, but since when has that ever stopped me?--kind of a..._coziness_ about the really early episodes. It's there for me on Season 1 and some of 2, as well, but really strong during the KTMA's. These are the episodes that most make me want to bundle up with a blanket and a mug of hot cocoa on a rainy day, with my cat sleeping on my lap. I don't know why, but they do. Something about the total lack of fourth wall and the funky low-budget sets just makes them seem more..familiar. I really feel like the audience is being included, not just entertained.
Anyway. K06, "Gamera Vs. Gaos", was the first of these I saw (and I liked it enough so that I chose "Gaos" as my username on IMDB--I wanted something unlikely to be already taken, but which _I_ would be able to remember). The "birthday party" for the kid is just too adorable. Even this early, the bots' natural loveable qualities are coming out. Awww. (And I also loved Servo's birthday advice. Heh. "Me, I'm a gumball machine! I accept that about myself and my friends respect me for it.")
Then there's K07, Gamera Vs. Zigra. With that one, I honestly can't decide which version do I like better, this one or Season 3's...so I just _don't_ choose. ;) I love getting to meet the Mads for the first time, the countdown to New Year's Eve in real time (_too_ cool), the beginnings of the Gamera Song (including Joel making the 'bots "dance" with him!), and the movie itself is beyond goofy. Is it just me, or does Joel sort of sound like he has a cold/look a little under-the-weather, during the host segments? And he had to drive across the icy streets of a Minnesota winter to get there, possibly when it was dark. I'd say he earned his Trouper Points that time!
Anyway.
...Notorious
*And indeed, that happened a few times. I recall a day just like that, with me watching my newly-accquired from another MSTie copy of "Cosmic Princess"), and my cat instantly came over and had to sit on me. He had this thing where he'd always sit on one of us if we were watching science-fiction or fantasy--but, oddly, _only_ those. So the instant he did that for MST3K, I knew that it had been "officially accepted" as All Right by the whole household. ;) (The humans already liked it...)
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Post by jjb3k on Jun 4, 2006 19:59:37 GMT -5
Yeah, I have two cats of my own, and it's nice when they watch MST3K with me - since nobody else in my family can really get into it. At least I try, though...
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K08 "Gamera Vs. Guiron" Watched: May 7, 2006
To borrow a phrase from fellow MST3K reviewer Mighty Jack, I’m all turtled out. Thankfully, this is the last Gamera movie of the KTMA era, and the marathon concludes on a delightfully goofy note. This one’s got space women who shave kids bald, a knife-headed monster who carves up Gaos (or a spraypainted fascimile thereof) like a Thanksgiving turkey, stilted line reads by the truckload, and a cop named Cornjob. I can't help but think that the guys could have done a little more with this one, though; given how looney it is, you'd think they'd be tearing into all the opportunities they're given. However, I did laugh it up during the guys' commentary on Gamera's little gymnastics routine.
This episode also marks the first instance in which no answering machine messages are played on the air, and from what I understand, they won't be back. I’m guessing that it was getting difficult to write host segments around them - either that, or they were getting too many calls from “scary guys with low IQs”. Instead, we get an early example of a theme that continues over the host segments in an arc; in this case, the gang discusses their dreams. It commences with a very funny sequence that sows the seeds for Season 6's “Last of the Wild Horses”, in which Crow dreams that he controls the experiment and that Dr. Forrester and Dr. Erhardt are his captives on the “Satellite of Loathe”. Features the memorable line “You forgot to call us ‘dickweed’!” It's fun to see the Brains toying with the show's premise even at this early date. In fact, the other host segments seem kind of weak in comparison to this one.
Generally, it's a nice farewell to the Gamera series for the first time, even though there were a good mass of blown opportunities during this go-round...but don’t worry, the turtle will be back.
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K09 "Phase IV" Watched: May 8, 2006
Finally, we get to a non-Gamera movie, not to mention a movie that wasn't redone on Comedy Central. Going into an episode like that is a little different, though - with the Gamera movies, I knew in the back of my mind that if the guys didn't fire on all cylinders, then the Season 3 remakes would make up for it. Here, though, Joel and the bots only get one crack at the film, so I was kind of apprehensive. It’s the story of ants - lots and lots of ants - who wage war on humankind or something. It’s one of those really depressing ‘70s movies with really bad lighting and awful music, but at least Lynne Frederick is quite easy on the eyes. Still, it's hard to get over the dark cloud of gloom that hangs over this movie - you've got three people trapped in a stifling hot laboratory threatened by a horde of ants outside. Trying to relate to that situation is quite a downer, and it kinda brings the riffing down with it. There’s some hinting that the Brains are starting to write their riffs in advance now, even though there’s still a whole lot of improvising. Poorly timed ant puns run rampant in this episode, but they’re still good for a chuckle. Overall, though, the guys can't do much to save this one.
This is also the episode in which the Mads start to come into their own. It begins the KTMA tradition of starting off the episode in the lab (which hasn’t yet been identified as the Gizmonic Institute and probably won’t be until Season 1), and here, they’re talking about how they sold Joel’s car for funds (“Not the Slant-6 Swinger!” Joel laments, in a moment that I found rather humorous). The host segments also include some simple humor, like when the guys discuss what they want to do when they get back to Earth (Crow wants to kill Sandy Frank; Joel wants to turn off the water he left running in his apartment), as well as some goofy throwaway stuff, such as Joel and Servo doing an impromptu rendition of “Wipeout” on the table. It may have been kinda stupid, but just try not to giggle at Josh trying to stifle his laughter in this segment.
In all, the episode isn’t quite as high-flying as most...but then again, the thoroughly downtrodden movie doesn’t give the guys much to work with.
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Post by jjb3k on Jun 7, 2006 11:48:15 GMT -5
Time for more KTMA goodness!
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K10 "Cosmic Princess" Watched: May 8, 2006
Was “Space: 1999” ever a successful show? If all the episodes were like the two showcased in this movie, I’m guessing it wasn’t. Lots of stuff happens, but frankly I have no idea what any of it is or why it's relevant to the plot. In fact, I'm not even sure what the plot was. There's a girl and she goes crazy with the thing and it's all a dream or something...ah, screw it. It doesn't help that the acting in this flick is more wooden than the Petrified Forest. This is the earliest available episode with a movie spliced together from old TV shows, and it’s always easy to pick these things apart because they’re always so disjointed. Don't the distribution companies realize that these things always have two completely unrelated plots? Regardless, J&tB have a heck of a time tearing it to shreds. The riffs were tighter and more upbeat than in the previous episode, with more cultural references than before (like the bad guy who looks like Mr. French from "Family Affair", or the planet that looks like the Land of Dairy Queen).
The invention exchanges have yet to appear, but the Mads present an invention of their own in this episode, the No-D Glasses (“I can only see length!...Or width!” exclaims Larry). Since it'll still be a while before the exchanges start showing up, it's fun to see these weird little inventions spring up every so often with little or no provocation (I just wish I could have seen Joel's "nun-clucks" skit that's showcased in the opening sequence). Elsewhere in the host segments, we get another MST3K first - the initial detachment of Servo’s head from his body. Like pretty much every time that Servo’s head falls off, it’s unintentional, but Josh, Trace, and Joel just go along with it, and it’s hilarious. "Remind me to never again let the bots write a segment..."
With an underlying football theme to some of the host segments (this episode premiered on Super Bowl Sunday 1989) and some pretty solid riff work, it’s an all-around winning example from KTMA.
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K11 "Humanoid Woman" Watched: May 8, 2006
Sandy Frank branches out this week and subjects us to a movie not from Japan, but from Czechoslovakia. It’s not as if that makes it any better - in fact, it’s just as goofy and incomprehensible as any other Sandy Frank film to appear on MST3K - but it does have the incredible ability to last twice as long as its actual running time. This episode wasn’t any longer than the average KTMA episode (around 100 minutes), but it seemed to drag on forever, with a ridiculously overdrawn climax (I couldn’t get the line “Go to the Astra” out of my head for hours). The "humaniod woman" of the movie's title is a creepy little bug-eyed chick with bad hair and all kinds of weird powers that don't do much aside from making her look even weirder. The bad guys are strange men with beards on only one side of their faces who employ an amorphous blob of white foam with a murderous appetite. It's all irrefutable proof that Czecholslovakia should never make a movie again. Despite all the bizarre psychedelic imagery, the riffs don’t really go for the gold - I’m surprised the guys didn’t whale on that robot that looked like a wedding cake with legs. Perhaps the Brains should have remade this one in Season 3 too.
Still, it’s not a lost cause. The host segments are admirable - so much so that the Brains reused most of them in Season 1. The game of tag that extends into the doorway sequence shows up again in 105 “The Corpse Vanishes”; Servo puts the moves on a blender again in 103 “Mad Monster”; and another tribute to surrealism appears in 107 “Robot Monster”. It comes as a bit of a surprise to me that the Brains lifted so much from the KTMA era, a year that they're not too proud of (although this was probably before they started holding that grudge). While I’m hard-pressed to say which episodes did these skits better, I can at least confirm that seeing Joel and the bots “run” through the door sequence always has me in stitches.
A middle-of-the-road episode on all accounts. Given the guys’ relationship with Sandy Frank films, I expected a little better from this. No matter, there's still plenty more Sandy Frank badness to go 'round this season.
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Post by jjb3k on Jun 8, 2006 23:05:35 GMT -5
K12 "Fugitive Alien" Watched: May 8, 2006
Trace is out of town again this week, but it’s twice as hard to cover it up now, because the Brains had to write both Crow and Dr. Forrester out of this episode. So while Dr. F is at the Mad Scientists’ Convention in Las Vegas (and dates a man, apparently), Servo and Gypsy take Crow apart for fun. This leaves Joel and Servo as the sole riffers on this movie, another Japanese mess from Sandy Frank. What is it about these movies that makes me love them and hate them so much at the same time? I'm guessing the high factor of cheese mixed with the thoroughly indecipherable plot has something to do with it. Pieced together from two episodes of a Japanese TV show, this Far Eastern turkey tells the story of a bunch of guys named Ken. I’m still not sure what happens in this movie, but I know there are at least two characters who aren’t named Ken - the puffy-faced Captain Joe and the confused and vengeful Rita (who follows in the Zigra girl's footsteps as a pretty good-looking antagonist). It's really just a lot of stuff that happens for a while, and then it stops. Naturally, Joel and Servo have lots to work with here, and it helps that Joel and Josh have a real chemistry together in the theater. They get a lot of running bits going that prove to be pretty funny, although they don't always seem to know when to give it a rest. Probably just a side effect of the addictive nature of improv. Just the same, I really felt Crow's absence - having him gone from the theater for three episodes is a little hard to take.
The Crow-less host segments are still pretty funny, with a looney dance contest set to the tune of “YMCA” and the first of several KTMA-era slams on “Punky Brewster” - early proof that when the Brains don’t like something, they let the world know about it (Gallagher, anyone?). This episode also puts an end to the days of the answering machine with the inauguration of the MST3K Fan Club. It’s a neat little slice of the show’s history, and a lot of fun to watch the guys as they eagerly announce the club. The knowledge of just how much it’ll grow in the coming years is great to think about.
A ridiculous movie and some fun interstitial segments make for a fine episode indeed. Still, it’s worthy of its Season 3 revival - it’s not quite the same without Crow in the theater.
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K13 "SST Death Flight" Watched: May 9, 2006
This might very well be the most star-studded film ever to appear on MST3K, with the likes of Robert Reed, Burt Convy, Doug McClure, Burgess Meredith, Peter Graves, and even small parts from Billy Crystal and Regis Philbin. But then again, it’s a made-for-TV movie from the 1970s, so what do you expect? It’s also your typical disaster movie with a million boring subplots, so right away you know what you’re in for. Everything goes wrong, and there's a whole lot of drama between insipid people that we're apparently supposed to care about (I must have missed the part of the movie where they endear these characters to us). Didn't Hollywood learn anything from "Airport"? In spite of the tedium, Joel and the bots have fun lampooning it, though odds are pretty good that they could have really laid the celebrity bashing on thick had this movie been done in a later season...then again, I have my doubts that this movie even would have appeared in a later season at all. It's definitely one of those films that says "Well, it was sitting around in the KTMA library, so we figured we'd take it".
Host segments are a blast here. It starts off with a great Mads scene in which Clay shows off all the money he won in Vegas last week (and features some more stuff that'll get reworked in Season 1). My personal favorite is Segment 2, in which Gypsy claims to have “gotten over her cold” and is now endowed with a sexy female voice (actually the voice of MST makeup artist Faye Burkholder) - in the end, it turns out Servo’s just throwing his own voice, but it’s still great fun. Later in the episode, Servo sings “Day-O” while the others limbo, and it turns out that Josh isn’t such a bad singer. But most notable is the final segment, in which the guys read their first fan letter, thus kicking off a string of lovable letters segments that will last for years. Pretty amazing that they started getting fan mail only a week after announcing the creation of the club.
This one is regarded as one of the better offerings from the first year, and I must agree. With all this wasted star power, it’s hard not to make fun of a movie like this.
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Post by jjb3k on Jun 11, 2006 12:54:26 GMT -5
Gosh, it's quiet in here...
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K14 "Mighty Jack" Watched: May 11, 2006
One of the nice things about the KTMA episodes is that the movies were always shown more or less uncut. Thus, this version of the movie has something of an advantage over its Comedy Central remake (which I haven't yet seen but have heard stories about) - the Brains didn’t have to cut it, so it makes a little more sense. That’s “a little more” - it’s still pretty damn screwy, even unaltered. I’m sure that, had I some prior knowledge of the Japanese TV show that this is cobbled together from, I could make some more sense of it, but as it stands, it’s just a plotless mess that’s rife for riffing. Too bad Joel and the bots don’t make the best of it - long stretches of silence are coupled with a bunch of weak puns and a thoroughly perplexing “I 8 the big fat worm” gag that left me scratching my head, wondering “Do these guys remember that they’re supposed to be making fun of this movie and not each other?”
This episode further deepens the characters of Dr. F and Dr. E, with a “lovers’ spat” at the beginning that turns out to be over something as trivial as their stationery letterhead (and Larry’s delivery on “My casserole ” had me on the floor). Host segment 2 brings some dark humor to the show, as the bots contemplate whether or not Joel’s death would be funny. It’s quite a deviation from the simple charm that most of the KTMA host segments have, but to me, that makes it all the funnier. This episode also features yet another segment to be redone in Season 1 - watch for the bowling scene to reappear in 106 “The Crawling Hand”. The episode closes with some more fun fan mail, including the one that alerts Servo to the existence of Amy, the Magnificent Pagan She-Beast (a great reading from Josh).
Though the guys miss a lot of opportunities in the theater, the host segments make up for any laughs to be lost. It’s an uneven episode either way, though, so the Season 3 version is something to look forward to.
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K15 "Superdome" Watched: May 11, 2006
Bad movies fall into two different categories - those that can be MSTed, and those that can’t. Unfortunately, “Superdome” belongs firmly in the latter category. As ludicrous as the idea of a football movie with no football is, there’s just too much heavy-handed drama and not enough laughable performances, bad special effects, or corny dialogue to tear into. Crow’s David Jannsen impression is good for a laugh, and the golf cart chase scene through the halls of the stadium is pretty funny, but other than that, the guys fumble (no pun intended) with this one big time. Heck, there’s even a scene at the hospital where Joel just outright states “I can’t think of anything funny to say about this.” This was the primary problem with the KTMAs - they could only use movies that KTMA owned the rights to, so their selection was limited. This movie isn’t all that great, but it also can’t be improved with the riffs.
The host segments are marginally better. I found myself watching the DVD timer with a keen eye waiting for the twenty, forty-five, and seventy-minute marks to arrive so that I’d have some solace. It’s the show’s first foray into clip show-ism, although there’s only one really long clip in Segment 1 and a sweet little montage in Segment 3 (which even features clips from some of the first three missing episodes, which is a nice bonus). Evil chain-smoking Joel is a hoot in Segment 2.
Of course, this episode’s real saving grace is the last host segment, finally unearthed after being MIA for fifteen years. And it’s quite a nice capper to the episode, with some really good fan-artwork (I just wish I knew which one was done by Amethyst, the fan who held onto this segment for so long - if hers is the first one, then she’s mighty talented).
A serious movie with few riff opportunities that drags the guys down with it, but some solidly entertaining host segments even this episode out to a middle-of-the-roader for me.
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Post by Cleolanta on Jun 13, 2006 7:58:02 GMT -5
I'd _like_ to comment on these, especially since I enjoy talking about the KTMA's (seeing as how the opportunity to talk about specific ones in detail rarely comes up)...but I've been sick lately. Wait until I have more energy and I'll make it somewhat less "quiet" in here.
For a few random comments at the moment...I also loved the "Satellite of Loathe" and Evil Joel host segments (and Larry's casserole cracked me up) and I _totally_ agree with you on "Superdome". GAH! That "movie" is so unwatchable...
..Notorious
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Post by jjb3k on Jun 14, 2006 9:59:50 GMT -5
Ah, I understand. Here's hoping you feel better soon, Cleo. ---------------- K16 "City on Fire"Watched: May 12, 2006 Or, as Servo memorably puts it: “CITY...ON...FIIIIRRREEE!!!” Yet another one of those 1970s atrocities that KTMA got their mitts on (with crap like this on their schedule, it’s no wonder they went bankrupt two months after MST3K left their airwaves). Another one of the quirks to the KTMA era is that they ended up getting a lot of movies with real big-name celebrities - Henry Fonda, Leslie Nielsen, and Shelly Winters all take front and center in this disaster of a disaster movie. This movie seems to fare better than “Superdome” did, given that there’s some genuinely goofy stuff in here. The old guy with the bedpan, the drunk anchorwoman who screams in the shower, the annoying reporter trying to interview a dying fireman, and the unbalanced nut who starts the refinery fire in the first place all gave me a chuckle. And the riffs are getting better, too - the guys feel more confident, it seems, and their humor hits the mark more frequently than it has in previous episodes. Plus, there's an early example of Joel's famous "sight gags" when he and the bots dive out of the way of the wall of fire shooting down the river, which gave me a good laugh. The Mads are continuing their evolution - no longer the sinister baddies that they were in K07, they’re turning into their ruffled and neurotic Comedy Channel selves by this episode (the phrase “mildly peeved researchers” always leaves me in stitches). On an unrelated note, it’s kind of annoying how the Brains kept messing with the structure of the show this early on - this episode goes right from the Mads to the movie, with no action on the SOL and no doorway sequence. This isn’t the last time that this messing with the format happens, and it gets kind of distracting after a while. However, at least the host segments offer up the introduction of Joel’s Hell-in-a-Handbag prop, which is hilarious (and Crow’s thug voice helps in that respect). The gang also shows off the stuff that the fan club members will get for joining. Stuff like that kinda makes me yearn for the opportunity to have been able to join the club back in its heyday, when they were still offering a bi-quarterly newsletter and all kinds of merchandise. Still, I can dream... With a more comfortable movie and some funny host segments, this episode scores higher for me than the previous week’s dud. With only five KTMAs left, and two of them being Sandy Frank films, I doubt that the remainder of this era should have much trouble living up to this standard. ---------------- K17 "Time of the Apes"Watched: May 12, 2006 Joel Hodgson the comedian was in LA this week, so Joel Hodgson the test subject got locked outside the SOL in nothing but his BVDs, leaving Servo and Crow to tackle the movie alone. And quite frankly (or rather, Sandy Frankly) they don’t do such a bad job. As with all KTMA episodes, there’s a missed opportunity or two - I mean, come on, the bad guy’s name is Geybar, and they never touch it - but the movie’s just too dang ridiculous for the bots to not score a few winners. I can only assume that this movie made more sense as a TV show, because just splicing the first and last episodes together like this results in one huge mess (it’s mentioned at the end that Katherine and the kids were out cold for six months, whereas their journey only seems to last about a few hours). It’s more than just a shameless “Planet of the Apes” ripoff - it’s a poorly-done and thoroughly incomprehensible “Planet of the Apes” ripoff. It’s movies like this that make me question my affinity for Japanese culture. Sandy Frank, what’s wrong with you? Do you genuinely consider this to be entertainment? The host segments are primarily spent trying to explain Joel’s absence and covering up for it. This varies from funny (Cambot runs a clip from K01 “Invaders from the Deep” to simulate Joel’s presence, complete with long hair, blue jumpsuit, and red-and-orange theater doors) to painful (note to the Brains: don’t ever use “wah-wah-wah” horns again). And the final segment is noteworthy, considering that it’s the first time in the show that Cambot provides us with an exterior shot of the SOL (aside from the one in the opening sequence, but you know what I mean). ...Well, there’s not much to say about this one. Bad movie, decent riffs, and no Joel. Towards the end of the episode, I really began to feel Joel’s absence - it’s not quite the same without a human in the theater. It's one more Season 3 remake to look forward to.
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Post by jjb3k on Jun 14, 2006 10:06:51 GMT -5
EDIT: Damn, my Internet's been acting screwy all day. Disregard.
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Post by Cleolanta on Jun 16, 2006 1:34:00 GMT -5
I just have to say, I adore your new avatar. :) And that line about "I'm weird, which results in creativity!" has been my e-mail signature line for...forever. (I have a hard time coming up with sig lines that are funny just as one-liners, so once I get one I like, I tend to leave it there for way too long...)
Anyway.
...Notorious
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Post by jjb3k on Jun 16, 2006 12:14:28 GMT -5
[DrErhardt]Thank you![/DrErhardt] I decided that I was sick of my old avatar, and "Stop animated police brutality now" wasn't all that funny, so I just overhauled the whole thing, and I threw a banner into my signature too.
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K18 "The Million Eyes of Su-Muru" Watched: May 12, 2006
Is it wrong that I thought this was a good movie in theory? The idea of a palace full of masochistic women that enslave men seems like it’d make a decent story, but it doesn’t really fly here. And why? Well, the fact that George Nader and Frankie-freakin’-Avalon play it like a Lewis-and-Martin comedy probably has something to do with it. Everything from Nader’s James Bond-wannabe one-liners to Avalon’s disgustingly unfunny antics just annoyed the crap out of me. And it’s not like anyone else can act in this movie (note the drowned girl at the beginning suddenly getting up again during the cross fade). It doesn’t exactly help that the print of this movie looks like it’s been sitting in someone’s trunk for six months. A character like Su-Muru has too much potential to be wasted in a turkey like this, so it’s fair game for Joel and the bots. True to their ever-sharpening form, they tear it a new one. For a while, anyway...
After last week’s episode being devoid of Joel, I was all ready to settle back into the groove of seeing the classic three back in the theater again...and then Servo went and left at the end of the second theater segment. At this point, I figured out the one thing about the KTMA era that really irks me - the inflexibility of the shooting schedule. I may never know where Josh Weinstein had to be that day, but given that he was the best improviser out of the show’s original three cast members, you can’t help but miss him during the latter half of the movie. The riffing kind of drops off there, although Joel and Trace still get in some good ones (I laughed out loud at Joel’s “I wonder how many of Su-Muru’s million eyes they’ve got left to go?”). At least Servo’s still there in the host segments, which are pretty damn fun. I absolutely lost it during the quiz show word games, and I thoroughly enjoyed Joel’s unplugged rendition of the theme song (he plays a mean guitar).
Ultimately, it’s a pretty decent episode, although I spent most of the time thinking about how the movie could have been improved. Surely, killing off Frankie Avalon’s character could have been a step in the right direction.
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K19 "Hangar 18" Watched: May 14, 2006
This is another one of those movies that had a lot going for it and a lot going against it at the same time. It’s the typical “government conspiracy” tale of a spaceship landing on Earth and being kept in the enigmatic Hangar 18 for study. It looks gripping at first, what with the astronaut who literally loses his head, but it nosedives into boredom real quick. Even a high-speed chase with an exploding oil tanker couldn’t keep my attention. The aliens didn’t even look cool. Even with Robert Vaughan in his post-“Teenage Caveman” days and a Darren McGavin who seems to think that he’s still on “Kolchak”, how can anyone take this movie seriously? Fortunately, the riffs saved it all, as Joel and the bots performed at a high level of KTMA improvisation. They really got good at this towards the end of the season, and already it’s pretty apparent that they’re destined for comedic greatness.
This show has what’s probably the shortest host segment ever (“The movie’s called ‘Hangar 18' – MOVIE SIGN!”), and while it seems weird at first, it soon becomes apparent that it was used as an excuse to skip the Mads’ segment and cover up the fact that Josh wasn’t there that week to film the host segments. My only guess is that they were taped at the same time as the latter half of the theater segments for K18. However, even with no Servo (except in Segment 3 where he just kind of sits there), the host segments still score a good deal of laughs. I particularly enjoyed the song that Joel sings during Crow’s flashback to his first memory, and Crow experiencing his first identity crisis when he thinks that his name stands for Cybernetic Remotely Operated Woman - Trace is really having fun with the character here.
The goofy sci-fi film is the genre that MST3K is best known for, and its seedlings are sewn in this episode. A solid success for the SOL crew this week.
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Post by Arizona Warwilf on Jun 16, 2006 17:13:05 GMT -5
I think the spotty attendance is one of the biggest drawbacks to the KTMAs. If only all of them could have been there for the entirety of each show. I think they would have gotten better quicker. Not only from the riffidge practice, but the comedic chemistry could have benefitted as well.
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