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Post by TV's Cowboy on Apr 14, 2017 13:59:29 GMT -5
It's weird watching this and seeing Servo just walk into the theater without someone carrying him even with his new improved flight.
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Torgo
Moderator Emeritus
-segment with Crow?
Posts: 15,420
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Post by Torgo on Apr 14, 2017 14:14:26 GMT -5
My advice for anybody with a negative reaction to the first episode is maybe give episode four a shot before they consider dropping it (not necessarily watching the episodes in between). Chances are if you don't like that episode, you're not going to like the rest of the show.
I'm only six episodes in and so far that's the episode that feels the most "good old days" to me.
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Post by Mr. Atari on Apr 14, 2017 15:45:04 GMT -5
First the bad: There's a feeling, understandably, that this is a show made by people who were fans of the original, and they're trying to reproduce what they remember and love. But it comes off like a tribute band. The idiosyncrasies that can't be copied aren't there. Like others have said, the pace seems wrong, and the timing of the riffs feels off. Plus, the analog nature of the original doesn't convert well to a digital look. It reminds me of how I felt watching Other Space. Like, I know this is funny, but it's not how funny TV is supposed to look or feel to me. There's not a looseness or an easygoing goofiness. Everything feels starchy and stiff in the visuals and the performances.
Now the good: For what it is, I very much enjoyed it. I laughed out loud several times at the riffs, and the movie itself was a hoot. The monster song was amazing, and I really liked the bumpers with the house band playing classic MST songs. Wil Wheaton and Erin Gray made me smile just by being there. I also liked the occasional fan-service riff like, "diarrhea is like a storm...", and that they stayed away from the low-hanging fruit of political, gay, or penis jokes that populate Trace & Frank's tour and newer Rifftrax stuff. Overall, I'm thrilled that the show is back, even in B- form.
Other random thoughts: I don't think flying Servo works in the theater, but the Pink Floyd's Animals riff made me laugh.
One area it felt far too scripted and not spontaneous was when all 3 riffers would sing a song-riff together. This happened way too many times in this episode.
In the bubble-fan host segment, Crow was in the middle of a joke when the crash edit went to Moon 13. I get the abruptness of the cut for humor's sake, but it seemed like a bad edit to me. Another area where the pacing seemed weird.
I liked the updated Gypsy. I don't know what she was dropping and picking up in the theater, but I enjoyed her changes.
Like MJ, I was confused by how similar their voices and personalities were. But I was very happy with how funny Baron and Hampton obviously are.
I'm going to watch these slowly, like maybe one a week (if I can hold out). That way, I can really get to know each episode instead of racing through them and letting my first impression become my lifelong opinion.
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Torgo
Moderator Emeritus
-segment with Crow?
Posts: 15,420
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Post by Torgo on Apr 14, 2017 15:52:51 GMT -5
I've always said that the riffers sound too alike, but after a while I started telling them a part a bit easier.
Also I can assure you that the flying Servo works better in subsequent episodes. They overused the hell out of him in Reptilicus, and it felt just like they were showing off a new toy (because they were). From now on it's used for Joel-like visual gags of interacting with he movie. Some of them are pretty funny.
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Post by BilLumberg on Apr 14, 2017 16:29:18 GMT -5
I like the fact that Baron and Hampton are not trying to imitate Kevin and Trace/Bill, but are doing their own version of Servo and Crow, just like when Kevin and Bill took on the characters. It's one thing to remove one host and replace them with another. It's easier to accept the differences because it is a different character. Replacing an existing character with another actor is much more difficult because there will always be comparisons made to the original. I remember when Bill first replaced Trace. Some people hated him as crow. I could not imagine trying to take over Servo after Mr. Murphy. Talk about owning the character. Sure, because of the way shows are made now they have not had months throughout the season to grow into the roll, but the show simply isn't going to be made the way it was.
All I know is I've watched two episodes and have enjoyed them both. I'm not expecting it to be exactly the same, and frankly am glad it isn't.
*Crap, Meant to post this in the general thread.
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Post by brandonakaxerxes on Apr 14, 2017 17:38:51 GMT -5
Finally saw 1101.
Kinda mixed feeling all around, like everyone else here. But, I think the perfect analogy I can make is, seeing MST3K back is like seeing CW reboot "Whose Line is it, Anyway?" The show is till hilarious, and i still find myself laughing a lot, BUT there's still a few quibbles that make me go, "They really should have done that differently".
I liked the way they did the intro. I was worried it was going to be rushed, which it kinda was, but it was interesting that we saw Jonah's entire capture as the theme song is playing.
I was surprised to see Tim Blaney is one of the robot operators. Someone might wanna check for me, but I swear there's an episode where the film "Short Circuit" is referenced.
Yeah the whole "let's cram a bunch of riffs" kinda bothered me. But thankfully there were several moments where they allowed the film to unspool uninterrupted.
About Crow and Tom not having any explanation as to how they got on the SOL. My WMG is the 'Bots were on the ship Jonah was on (they were just in the back), and all of them were captured together, hence Jonah's comment that they've known each other for awhile. Maybe they were all working the same job.
I am *so* disappointed that Joel didn't use my suggestion of Patton Oswalt's Frank wig falling off at some point.
The return of the letter-reading is pretty cool, but i almost felt like those letters were fake. And, what little kid is going to be happy about the "return" of MST3K? From that kid's POV, he has access to a crapload of Joel/Mike episodes, so how does it feel like a "return" to him?
I'm guessing Waverly will be with the Mads. Not entirely sure how his character would fit on the SOL.
There were plenty of riffs I loved. Just to name a few. "It's a shame he doesn't have wings, then he could fly away."
One of the scientists opens their mouth to scream, and one of them (not sure who) does an opera scream.
"Stan Lee's in this?!"
The film goes out of focus for a few moments, and Jonah speculates this part is in 3-D (he then gives some 3-D glasses to Crow and Tom to wear). Servo mumbling that he has "no eyes" kind of bothered me, as it kills the ambiguity Servo has has over the years as to whether or not he has any kind of optic parts (I guess maybe he uses radar?)
Jonah and the Bots freaking out over some lab equipment right in front of the camera.
"There's more slime in this film than the Kid's Choice Awards!"
"Reptile Dysfunction".
"How about Shut-Upticus Reportercus?"
Servo seems to teleport at one point. He hovers up to the ceiling, then almost immediately reappears in his theater seat. Okay, yeah we've seen Servo do things like that before (511- The Gunslinger for example), but it's still odd.
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Post by TV's Cowboy on Apr 14, 2017 18:45:08 GMT -5
"There's a feeling, understandably, that this is a show made by people who were fans of the original, and they're trying to reproduce what they remember and love. But it comes off like a tribute band. The idiosyncrasies that can't be copied aren't there."
True, in a way it does feel like a fanvid....mind you a good fanvid.
I do think the host segments were a little rushed(aside from the song which reminded me of the Godzilla Genealogy Bop so that's good). Movie riffing lacked some chemistry at first but when the monster came on screen it got better and got into the groove.
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Post by majorjoe23 on Apr 14, 2017 19:13:00 GMT -5
Finally saw 1101. Kinda mixed feeling all around, like everyone else here. But, I think the perfect analogy I can make is, seeing MST3K back is like seeing CW reboot "Whose Line is it, Anyway?" The show is till hilarious, and i still find myself laughing a lot, BUT there's still a few quibbles that make me go, "They really should have done that differently". I liked the way they did the intro. I was worried it was going to be rushed, which it kinda was, but it was interesting that we saw Jonah's entire capture as the theme song is playing. I was surprised to see Tim Blaney is one of the robot operators. Someone might wanna check for me, but I swear there's an episode where the film "Short Circuit" is referenced. Yeah the whole "let's cram a bunch of riffs" kinda bothered me. But thankfully there were several moments where they allowed the film to unspool uninterrupted. About Crow and Tom not having any explanation as to how they got on the SOL. My WMG is the 'Bots were on the ship Jonah was on (they were just in the back), and all of them were captured together, hence Jonah's comment that they've known each other for awhile. Maybe they were all working the same job. I am *so* disappointed that Joel didn't use my suggestion of Patton Oswalt's Frank wig falling off at some point. The return of the letter-reading is pretty cool, but i almost felt like those letters were fake. And, what little kid is going to be happy about the "return" of MST3K? From that kid's POV, he has access to a crapload of Joel/Mike episodes, so how does it feel like a "return" to him? I'm guessing Waverly will be with the Mads. Not entirely sure how his character would fit on the SOL. There were plenty of riffs I loved. Just to name a few. "It's a shame he doesn't have wings, then he could fly away." One of the scientists opens their mouth to scream, and one of them (not sure who) does an opera scream. "Stan Lee's in this?!" The film goes out of focus for a few moments, and Jonah speculates this part is in 3-D (he then gives some 3-D glasses to Crow and Tom to wear). Servo mumbling that he has "no eyes" kind of bothered me, as it kills the ambiguity Servo has has over the years as to whether or not he has any kind of optic parts (I guess maybe he uses radar?) Jonah and the Bots freaking out over some lab equipment right in front of the camera. "There's more slime in this film than the Kid's Choice Awards!" "Reptile Dysfunction". "How about Shut-Upticus Reportercus?" Servo seems to teleport at one point. He hovers up to the ceiling, then almost immediately reappears in his theater seat. Okay, yeah we've seen Servo do things like that before (511- The Gunslinger for example), but it's still odd. I'm pretty sure one of the duplicate Tom's showed up to take the floating Tom's place.
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Post by Dave Walker on Apr 14, 2017 21:14:33 GMT -5
Now that we've had a few days, I'm willing to entertain a few deficiencies. My feeling on early release was to just enjoy the return and nitpick or full-pick later. I stand by that opinion.
Now that I've rewatched it and gone onto the next, I will agree with some of the faults. Some of those include too rapid fire riffing (I'm good), short host segments mostly (iffy, but I can deal), too similar voices (sorta, kinda) and a "tribute band feel" (eh). The set issues are far too esoteric for me. Seems like a waste of energy but been a staple since 1993 or so.
Either way, I'm personally thrilled it's back and have not been let down. I had reasonable expectations and they have been exceeded.
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Post by brandonakaxerxes on Apr 14, 2017 22:32:42 GMT -5
Another slight nitpick I had was Servo's rather random comment, 'I can fly now..... but, only in the theater." That bothered me for two reasons.
1. Nobody was going to notice or care if he only hovered in the theater (actually, people WOULD pick up on it, but I doubt anyone would make a big deal over it).
2. It's apparently a special effects issue that they can't have Servo hover during host segments, EXCEPT for the fact that we saw Servo actually do that TWICE before! Briefly in MST3K: The Movie, and also in the "Godzilla Vs. Megalon" replacement disc sketch.
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Post by BoB3K on Apr 15, 2017 0:02:11 GMT -5
I also liked the occasional fan-service riff like, "diarrhea is like a storm...", and that they stayed away from the low-hanging fruit of political, gay, or penis jokes that populate Trace & Frank's tour and newer Rifftrax stuff. ... I'm going to watch these slowly, like maybe one a week (if I can hold out). That way, I can really get to know each episode instead of racing through them and letting my first impression become my lifelong opinion. yes and yes. I've actually done the math, and I'm going to go for 1 every 3 weeks which will put me watching the xmas episode at the beginning of xmas season and the last episode during xmas break. And, I'm glad I'm not the only one that has noticed RiffTrax slow slide to the bottom of the joke barrel.
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Post by mrsphyllistorgo on Apr 15, 2017 1:42:48 GMT -5
So finally watched!
Agreed with everybody, pretty much: Good first try! The voices are a little too similar, and I miss old Gypsy, but altogether a noble effort. And a lot of the riffs were truly inspired, old-school stuff. My favorite was "vroom, I'm driving the freezer!"
I am looking forward to seeing my name in the Kickstarter credits but since it starts with J I'll be waiting a while.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Apr 15, 2017 5:11:55 GMT -5
To the frequency of viewing: I'm only planing to stick with 'Flix for the month, so I'll finish with them within that time span. Don't have any set rule on when... I'll just watch 'em when I feel like it. Which is what I did in the past when I'd get a set from Rhino or placed an order with Sky.
To this ep, I did like the Stan Lee quip and the nod to Animals.
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Post by GizmonicInstitute on Apr 15, 2017 10:15:41 GMT -5
I didn't hate it, and I laughed a lot and found it enjoyable. Considering I had some fears of "What if it's immediately so bad that it taints the MST3K brand" in the back of my head, I consider the first episode back a success.
I'm surprised that Jonah is the one I immediately most feel comfortable with in the segments and riffing. I guess he wasn't lying about wanting to do this his whole life, he immediately dives right into it and is comfortable in the host role.
One thing I'm really hopeful for is that the bots develop distinct personalities over the season like we saw in the original run. At least in the first episode you could switch Servo's and Crow's jokes and lines around and it wouldn't have felt any different.
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Post by satmorning91 on Apr 15, 2017 14:39:18 GMT -5
How would you compare the new riffing style of the show vs the old show, cinematic titanic and rifftrax? Also the new style being influenced by newer riff styles products? (That were influenced by the show ).
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