1st Gen vs. Next Gen MST3K Fans (UPDATED: And 3rd?)

[zombiewhacker]

I'm what you would probably call a next gen MST3K fan... I never watched the show when it was on the air. At the most, I caught a minute or two of Deadly Mantis and Squirm and that was it. The DVDs changed all that, and now I'm a 100% fanboy.

But...

Because I've only become a fan now, I missed out on MST3K when it was at its peak. I'm just getting excited about the show now when the cast itself and even many of its fans have already moved on. Bummer! It's like arriving late for what you realize must have been a great party, most of the guests are already out the door, the band is about to call it a night, and you're wandering in a confused circle muttering, "Is there any cake left?"

Darn, man. MST3K is finito and I missed out!

On the other hand...

Those of us who are newly-branded MSTies have one advantage you first-gens don't have... it's all new to us. Even if the Joel/Mike and the bots never reunite, fans like me who only know the show through the Rhino/Shout releases still have... how many, 50-100 episodes we've never seen to look forward to? To us, it's all brand new.

So whichever side you land on, first gen or second gen, do you sometimes envy the other? Those who were there from KTMA on, do you sometimes wish you could do the Bourne thing and forget everything just so you could experience the show brand new? And if you're next gen, do you wish you'd been there from the onset?

UPDATED: And for those of you joining our show already in progress that is to someone who (shudder) never watched the show until Season 11... what do you make of any of this? Do you wish you'd been there since the beginning, or Joel's crowd too "old school" for you?

[Mod City]

There's nothing like that first realization of discovery. I'd love to be able to go through those days again, getting up early on summer weekdays to catch an episode every morning (sometimes more than one) while manning the VCR. That's more than 18 years ago. Wow.

Incidentally, there are plenty of episodes I've never seen - a few from seasons four, five and six. I was in college at the time, so sue me. I have them left to enjoy but am not in any great hurry to check them off my watched list. I will eventually.

So yeah, you have a great journey ahead of you. I've been happy with my own experiences, though, and regret nothing.

Have fun, and let's see if you like the show so much that you're still here talking about it two decades from now

[mrsphyllistorgo]

Dear sweet vengeful God, it's been TWENTY YEARS?? I wasn't into MST from its inception, being one of those who meandered in about midway and extended backwards and forwards at the same time.

One thing I do envy both people at the front and the newbies at the rear--watching the shows in order. I began, as I said, in the middle, and quite a few of the episodes I cut my teeth on were thrown onto videotapes in random fashion by an uncle who was also a fan (God bless him!) So it's quite a shock to realize, say, that Bride of the Monster was right before Manos, because I'd been watching Manos for YEARS before I got hold of Bride. I keep meaning to start at the beginning and just watch straight through, but with over 200 episodes it's a bit of a time commitment. But better too much MST than no MST at all!


NOW TOR LOOK PRETTY WHEN GO TO CHURCH!

[mrmeadows]

I do kind of envy the "new" generation of MSTies, and I do miss the days of anticipating a brand new episode on Saturday morning, like Mod City mentioned. Like Mod, I religiously taped every installment, and have boxes of them stored in my closet.

At the same time, there are a lot of episodes--particularly from the Sci-Fi era--that I've only seen once, and only way back when they first aired. So when I finally get around to watching them again, they will KIND OF seem like new episodes to me. Even though I'll know more or less what to expect movie-wise, in a show where there are hundreds of jokes going on every episode there's no way I'm going to remember the riffs.

But yeah, there are many Joel-era eps. that I can practically riff along with verbatim, start to finish. The freshness is gone from those eps forever....but I still enjoy them!

[ramasha007]

I remember not watching on Sat. Morning, but catching them late night on CC. I'd jump into bed, put the TV on a sleep timer and fall asleep to MST3K every night for a couple of years. This would have been around season 3-6 time period.

[Bix Dugan]

I started watching around the time of Joel's departure, but they showed so many older episodes, I didn't really figure out the whole Joel/Mike thing till later.
One thing I do remember was making my own episode guide, then hearing there was an Official Episode Guide...D'Oh!
The worst part was that I never thought CC would just stop showing the series completely. I had ample opportunities to tape episodes, but I didn't.
Then I lost the decent collection of Sci-fi episodes I DID manage to tape, and had to start my current collection from scratch again around 2005. That's when I found this Board and fan-copy sellers like Sky.
Now I have them all, and YES, sometimes I hit myself on the head with a hammer, hoping to cause MST-amnesia. Hasn't worked so far...

[tobleroneeffect]

For me, the whole getting up on Saturday mornings to watch MST is a missed ritual in my life. Of course, those times coincide with more carefree days: high school and college, dating, wondering which job to go to next. At least I have most of these episodes to remember what it was like.

[Space Teens]

Yep, I definitely associate MST with a certain time in my life. I was in college (1992-1996), and during the summers I had a late night job making sandwiches at Subway. I would work at Subway every night from 5 to midnight, and then I'd lock up and race home and pop in a VCR tape and record whatever MST episode was airing that night at midnight. MST was a very dear friend of mine during a very, very lonely time in my life. Seriously, you try working from 5 to midnight, and then sleeping in until 2 PM the next day. It's a hard way to meet or interact with people. MST was my best friend in the world for about 3 months every year.

The first episode I ever saw was the Giant Gila Monster. I loved it. It took me about 3 or 4 viewings to catch all the jokes. I remember thinking that the Munsters theme song they sang whenever an old black car would pull into frame was the funniest thing I had ever seen. Not everyone would catch the joke either, you had to sort of be an old TV junkie to get it, and to me that was even funnier than the joke itself. I remember watching it and thinking, "Man, I wish I had people to watch this show with. It's the funniest thing I have ever seen. I bet it would be even funnier if you watched it in a big group."

I spent all summer in 1992 collecting MST episodes on VHS, and then when I went back to college I tried to convert all my dormmates to MST3k. Some of them it, but it was a lot harder sell than I imagined. Some people (it seemed like females mostly) just couldn't stand it. But I kept trying, and kept trying, and by 1994 I would say maybe half my dorm were big MST3k fans. The most popular episode I had was probably Teenagers from Outer Space. That one and Eegah always got a good reaction out of people.

It was a fun time to be a MST fan back in the day. Of course it would have been even more fun if there had been an "internet" where we could "chat" about it with other people, but oh well. It was fun to enjoy it for what it was.

When I found out that MST was a popular show in colleges all around the country, it blew my mind. I thought I was the only one who was watching it back in those days! I thought I had discovered something!



P.S. I eventually grew up and became a comedy writer. I always tell people it is because of MST3k. It's the one show I wish I had been old enough to write for.

[cityofvoltz]

only thing i envied- a friend of mine I lent him the CT santa claus conquers the martins- He had never seen the mst3k version- i was jealous only that everytime he saw the martins jolt in their seats with the air noise...he wasn't thinking "lentils" if there was one riff ct could have stole;)

[mummifiedstalin]

All you younguns and your first experience in "college." It started when I was in middle school, and I've got fond memories of bonding with my high school girlfriend's dad while watching one of the Turkey Day marathons.

As for any "versus" between the generations, I hope there isn't. The younguns keep the spirit alive, while us old folk remain a steady source of income for anything the former-Brains put out.

[candidgamera]

I got into MST3K only three years ago, although the first time I actually saw the show was just before they stopped showing reruns on Sci-fi Channel, around December 03', I think. (Don't ask me what episode it was) I initially started watching episodes online. Although I'm not as into it as I was back then, I still watch it (obviously.) It's also started my love of bad movies.

[Commander Kalgan]

I'm a "next generation" fan. I didn't start watching until late 2002, and didn't start taping until early 2003. The first episode I ever watched was Hamlet. You won't believe this, but at the time it was the funniest thing in the world to me. Imagine how I reacted when I saw a really funny show! There are still many, many episodes I haven't seen, and I love the experience of watching a fresh MST3K.

[ramasha007]

You started with Hamlet and STILL became a fan? Man you are hardcore.

[Gripweed]

I'm a next genner. I suppose MST and I were going to collide, what with me being born the day after Last of the Wild Horses premiered. It's nice to go on Youtube and see all these episodes available to watch whenever, instead of waiting for TV airings. But at the same time, I wish I could have experienced the thrill of watching a new episode on a Saturday morning.

[Continuing Legend]

I got into MST because I read some MSTing of bad Star Wars fanfic, and began to wonder who these Mike, Tom, and Crow fellows were. I started watching Sci-Fi reruns a few years after cancellation, I think.

So my exposure to CC-era episodes is limited to what Rhino and Shout have put out, plus a few I've watched on youtube/google video. Also I'm not exactly made of money, so I don't own all of the DVD sets, either, and the Rhino sets are becoming increasingly harder to find, dammit.

Sometimes I feel like I'm missing out because I haven't seen a lot of what are considered "classics." Sometimes I feel like a "bad" fan for liking the Sci-Fi era episodes as much as I do, but they're what I started with.

The thrill of watching a new episode, though... pretty great.