|
Post by Arizona Warwilf on Apr 29, 2006 15:34:56 GMT -5
K21 - Legend of the Dinosaur
A good episode. They certainly could've done worse! I'm glad they didn't tackle this movie earlier in the season, it would've been tough to sit through. Well, the last 20 minutes or so would've been tough to sit through. Even with J&tBs the last part was a bit difficult to stand. For the last 20 minutes there's a whole lot of dinosaur wrestling and an earthquake. It is incredibly boring and I was quite impressed by the guys' ability to just keep riffing nonstop. Not their best jokes ever, a lot of dinosaur and lava puns, but it was enough to get me through.
Lots of good stuff in the rest of the episode though. A few of my favorite riffs:
(They're talking about water torture because of water dripping on someone's face) Joel: It's one of Japan's chief exports. Tom: Torture? Joel: Yeah, how do you think we got this movie?
(Two guys are debating the existence of a living dinosaur) Guy: Like the dinosaur your father (Tom: He's dead!) kept searching for . . . After a thousand years of hibernation . . . Joel: Hey, don't bring my mother into this!
(Later in the same scene) Guy: The reason your father's theory of a living dinosaur wasn't accepted . . . Joel: Was because it wasn't double-spaced!
(At many many points in the movie) All: Mount Fuji!
The music is very odd. I think they told the director of music that this was gonna be a soul cinema kind of thing. "Just give us lots of funky grooves and some of that Philly sound!" Then, "Oh yeah, we're gonna have a scene with a country band too. So whip something up, okay?" The funky music really isn't bad, it just doesn't fit. The country music, though. I think I'll post about that in the "bad music in MSTed movies" thread. The songs are not good but mostly unremarkable, it's the clapping that's horrendous. Some of the time it's on, but a lot of the time it's way off and there's even a part where the clapping is out of sync with the music and the image on screen. It made me dizzy. Also, after the fake dinosaur sighting, to introduce their next song, the singer says, "When the weather gets bad, some people go mad! So Let's have fun! Here we go!" Wha? Um, huh? Did I miss a catastrophic weather event?
The host segments were good, especially the first one with Joel and the Mads. This is the segment in which they discuss starting a "Joel is dead" conspiracy. Some great lines/jokes: "But we always feel bad inside!" "Six Flags over Ten to the Twelfth" and (of Sandy Frank) "Well, you know what I say: never trust a man with two first names. Especially when one of them is a woman's." Somebody goofed and got a pair of the segments switched. The "giant child" and the "miniature Kentucky Fried Chicken" segments got swapped. The TV sitcom simulator was also fun.
I'm going to post the following curiosities in the esoteric references as well, but thought I'd mention them here and report back on any solutions.
Does anyone know where "That's gotta hurt, no matter what your background is" comes from?
And during the scene in which the guy is emptying an air tank, telling the girl not to go diving and slapping her, Joel says, "Finish the job, man. Open the tank. . . . I meant open the (inaudible/cracking up) Oh man, I'm sorry." Then Tom says, "After twenty weeks Joel Hodgson finally snaps!" And I have not the slightest clue what is going on. What was Joel trying to say? Why was it so funny that he said "tank" instead? What is the big deal?
So if you know the answers to these and other questions, please do not post your solutions here. Please use the Esoteric references thread.
KTMA now becomes smaller and smaller behind me and Comedy Central now looms before me. When I get there, I will wring my hands and moan. I don't really know why. I never really figured out the lyrics to that one.
|
|
|
Post by satanicsprite on May 1, 2006 22:08:29 GMT -5
az, think of it this way, you will actually be moving from KTMA to the Comedy Channel! Remember, the station didn't change their name until, I forget, either about halfway through Season 2 or beginning of Season 3? But anyway, it was called the Comedy Channel during the first season; that's why there is an occasional reference to the "Ha! Network" in Season 1!
Great work on the thread and the posts, it has been fun to read so far. I only own 3 KTMA episodes so far, and your thread will most likely help me pick the next one. Until about 3 months ago, I had never seen a KTMA episode. They are fun to watch, not nearly as bad as many make them out to be, but I can only do them in small doses. However, I'm sure I'll eventually own all of them someday, since I am obsessive just like most MST fans!
I can't wait until you get to Riding With Death, one of my faves! Cheers
|
|
|
Post by Cleolanta on May 2, 2006 22:50:45 GMT -5
That movie made _very_ little sense and hurt my brain. And like you, I really wish I could hear what the heck Joel said that was evidently proof that he had "finally snapped a twig"...but I tried several times and eventually gave up. If anybody else out there can interpret it, let BOTH of us know, will you? :P
The riff about exporting torture is great, though. Heh...
I know what you mean about looking forward to the next thing, but at the same time kind of being sad that the first thing is all gone. I did that way, too. I mean, I'm like...eager to see the next episode that I haven't seen before, and yet I also know that after that there'll be one less "new" episode to discover, one less mystery about the show left for me. And when you're going from one whole era to another... Especially with me. I _like_ the KTMA episodes, after all. Well, I do realise that they're not that riff-heavy or funny compared to a lot of the later stuff, but I like them for my own reasons.
Azwarwilf, I have to ask at this point: Have you ever read my MST3K fanfic, "Transmission Difficulties"? It takes place around the time period of the crossover from the KTMA era to Season One, and, well...now you'd get what I was talking about, is all. :P (You can still find it on page 1 of Crow's Art.) Yeah, it's a shameless plug, I know, but I just thought I'd leap on this opportunity, since the timing is right at the moment. Heh.
...Notorious
|
|
|
Post by Arizona Warwilf on May 3, 2006 2:46:04 GMT -5
Oh yeah, I knew about the Channel/Central thing, and I was thinking of it and wrongly thinking I had it right for some reason. "That's just how he ADD-do!" -Dubya (No, not that Dubya) Thanks for the support and stuff (I love feedback / conversation y'all). And I was already thinking of doing a sort of top five of KTMA for folks wondering which are most worthwhile, so I'll do that right now. Well, right after I tell Cleo, can I call you Cleo? Tell me if you hate being called Cleo. Right after I tell Cleo that I'll read her thing. I'll shamelessly unplug it, let's say.
So here's my top five, desert island recommendations for the season. If you're only going to get a few or are going to start with only a few, I'd recommend these as the best and most representative of the season. Season zero top five:
K07 - Gamera vs. Zigra A good ep, good as an early example, first Mads segment, best of the Gameras. K12 - Fugitive Alien A fun ep that's good as a comparison to season 3 version, best of the Sandy Frank TV shows. K16 - City on Fire Good ep, good example of the "TV-thriller" type of KTMA ep. K18 - The Million Eyes of Su-Muru K19 - Hangar 18 Two good later eps that also provide some variety in movie types.
I enjoyed season zero. It certainly stands apart from all the other seasons because it's different. It's different in quality as well as in style. And now, more sentences without any decent flow between them: I can understand why the KTMAs are not for everyone, not for every mistie even. I like these eps and their style. I think their historic importance and inherant excitement as a grass roots creation add to the charm. Ultimately, I'm glad the Brains went on to a different style and a higher quality, and I like these eps as something on a slightly different plain. I'm very glad they exist and that they've been preserved. I love you, KTMA. Night, night.
Hello Comedy Channel!
101 - The Crawling Eye
How exciting this episode must have been for fan club members of the time. This show you love just went national! There's so much that's new! They redid the theme song! They revamped the bots! Gypsy is a whole new woman. Tom Servo is way different! He's a fire hydrant, by golly! It's so easy to wonder if you'll still like the show as much . . . How puzzling this episode must've been for the cold national viewer! What's going on? Who're these guys and what are those funny looking puppets all about? But soon it sinks in, and the theme song helped a little . . .
And truly, if you imagine that you've never heard of the show and haven't the first notion of what you're about to see, and you watch the opening segment, you'll probably feel confused. The mad scientists and their test subject are straightforward enough. But those puppety toy things, what are they for? The theme song doesn't really tell you what they're all about and in the first segment they aren't introduced and have almost no lines. For all you know, they're part of the decor; they're lamps that occasionally say, "Yeah." And what an oddly fully-formed concept seems to be enacting itself and quite suddenly so. Then you're in a movie theater with the guy and the toys and finally, over a few minutes, things have a chance to start sinking in.
I encourage you to really do this. I think you could even do it with any episode from any era of the show. Just mentally place yourself in a world in which you've never received exposure to MST3K, none whatsoever, and start an episode and you'll see how truly foreign the whole thing is. With most TV shows that you've no prior knowledge of, you can watch an episode and it plays out like a small movie, the characters and concepts are established and a logical plot proceeds (well, if it's a decent show). With this show, things seem to have started without you; you are very suddenly in an alternate reality that is strange and silly yet clever, funny and above all fascinating. Cognition is gradual, but it doesn't take long for you to understand the two basic concepts of the show (mads vs. captives in space and the mocking of bad movies), and you're in the middle of something totally different, purely awesome, somehow overdue and just what you always wanted.
But anyway, I would've suggested that the Brains write in a little better introduction to the premise and characters of the show in the (more or less) first breath of the show. Like I said, the mads and Joel are established well enough, but the bots are very mysterious and when everything is interrupted by a sudden rush into a theater, a little more back story or preparation would probably have been nice. I know that in later shows Joel lays out the premise in plain language, so perhaps the Brains realized in retrospect how the first show started with a sort of glass of cold water in the face.
This is a good episode though. And really exciting if you've placed yourself in the shoes of a KTMA fan watching since the fourth show. I'd have been an instant fan of the new incarnation of the show. There are more jokes, and better jokes. No one is stepping on another's lines. You might notice a "planned" feel to it, but it's minimal and the superior humor and performance are worth it.
It's fitting that the series begins with an archetypical, black and white, B-feature sci-fi flick. It's the sort of movie people think of when they think of "the kind of movies Mystery Science Theater would do".
The first riffs that gave me a good chuckle were these:
Crow: Mountain flossing repels me!
Joel: Oh, he stole that hat from Mike Nesmith.
I have another mysterious riff. Several times, when the Pilgrim sisters are introduced, Crow says, "They'll drink anything!" Were the pilgrims notorious alcoholics? Were there some legendary alcoholics by the name of Pilgrim? Again, I'll post this in esoteric references. I've had no luck with the questions about Legend of the Dinosaur.
Okay, I've said enough! Good night! I'll be here all week! No, really!
|
|
|
Post by Arizona Warwilf on May 4, 2006 16:30:18 GMT -5
102 - Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy with Commando Cody 1
Oh, good gracious. This was definitely a bad episode. This movie is just so so so BORING. And Joel and the bots don't do much to help. The jokes aren't funny enough and just don't pull the weight of this horrid movie. When it comes to bad movies, there are good bad movies and there are bad bad movies. Bad bad bad? Good bad movies are entertaining because they're bad. Bad bad movies are just totally uninteresting. RVAM is almost all talking and walking. For example, there's a scene in which the investigator guy is talking about how mysterious things are and he's talking and talking and talking, but what's really going on is he's recapping every detail of the previous scene. He's going on about what he thinks The Bat may be doing and why he's doing it, and we know that Sherlock is right because we just saw The Bat do all that stuff! Awesome! Shoot me.
The short is better than the movie, but not by a lot. The jokes are a bit better. What I find funny is how stupid the logic of the dialog and course of events are. Try listening to what the scientists are saying about their theories behind all the explosions that have been happening: "Well, our rocket can go to the moon, so maybe there's someone up there causing all this!" Oh, well, yeah! How come I didn't see that! Shoot me. Then when Cody gets to the moon, the king of the moon brings him in so he can lay out all his plans for his invasion of the earth just for Cody, then they try to kill him! Yes! No wonder Ed Wood thought he was a good writer, he grew up on stuff like this!
A few points of interest: the short features the first Oh I hate to shoot a butt like that. Apperently Josh has said that this riff was something he made up during KTMA, but I never remember hearing it. He says it just cracked Joel up and became a standard, and I can believe that, but I think it originates here. The thugs quietly enter the lab with guns drawn and the scientsists are in the foreground with their rears facing the thugs, and there's the highlight of the whole episode.
Crow sees one of the Aztec headresses and says, "They had a mad posh for hats!" If we figure out where that line is from, maybe we'll figure out where the whole hat party thing comes from (I don't buy the kids book explanation that's in esoteric refs).
You know the lady that Joel mutes while she's singing? I'm pretty sure that's Yma Sumac, the amazing Peruvian singer. I don't know if the ACEG tells you anything about it. I like Yma Sumac a whole lot, but it is a pretty funny moment, especially considering the rest of the ep.
The guys' Jerry Lewis impressions in this ep are really bad. Trace's Dean sounds good, but none of them hit the mark on their Jerries.
So, I hope that The Mad Monster will blow this one away! I hope that 'cause I want RVAM to be cleared from my pallette, but I also hope that Mad Monster, which I've never seen, is good 'cause last time (Cosmic Princess) I was really disappointed with my "new" episode. But I may need a nap first.
|
|
|
Post by Arizona Warwilf on May 5, 2006 2:53:05 GMT -5
Here are a few comments I forgot to put in the previous post.
I liked the inventions. The chalkman and the motorcycle airbag helmet. I think Joel wins.
The demon dog segments aren't super funny, but those things take me back to my boyhood days. If you don't know, the demon dogs were actually action figure carriers. They're Masters of the Universe (He-Man) carriers called "Battle Bones", to be specific. For the show, ears were added and they were painted red-orange, but they were originally a bone color. At the end of each rib is a fork shape that would hold a figure at the waist, and in the mouth one could store the weapons.
I also wanted to mention this early example of Tom Servo's fascination with underwear. When Commando Cody comes on, Joel is having to explain the concept of serials to Tom. Crow says, "Agh, there's always a boring short." To which Tom replies, "My shorts are never boring!" And Joel finishes with, "Thank you, Tom." So, there you go, Servo's been getting into shorts for a long time!
I was thinking that I wish the Brains had chosen The Brainiac (a.k.a. El Baron de Terror) instead of this film. It's also Mexican, black and white, and bad. But The Brainiac is good bad. It's about a guy who reincarnates to eat the brains of the descendents of the people who burned him at the stake. It features a monster mask with lots of crepe hair and bags that inflate and deflate inside it to make it look like this huge pulsating head. Then there's all these shots of the bad guy sneaking into his den to eat brains with a spoon. It rocks/stinks!
103 - The Mad Monster
Well, not a super duper episode, but better than the previous. The movie is better, a little more good bad, but still pretty boring. The guys do a better job of making jokes so it's more entertaining. In RVAM, I'd call what they did "commenting" as opposed to riffing. Here, they do more riffing, more joke telling.
I'm glad the Brains didn't use any other films with George Zucco, the mad scientist here. I've seen a couple other films with him in them, and I don't like him much. It's like he breathes smug. I don't mean he breathes smugly, I mean he doesn't use air, he inhales and exhales smug, or smugness. His being is infused with it. Though his name does suggest George Sucko, which is fun.
The inventions are reused KTMA stuff: the fire breathing Godzilla toy and the Hell in a Handbag. I like the KTMA Hell in a Handbag much better, they get into it and do a little skit around it and the punchline is much funnier that way. In this ep, it's just Joel saying "Hey, I invented this to protect ladies against pickpockets, it's the Hell in a Handbag." No skit, in fact, no bots anywhere. In RVAM and this ep, the bots have been totally absent from the opening host/mads segments. And in the Crawling Eye, they might as well not have been there. Another segment from KTMA is reused: the Tom hitting on a blender sketch. I'd have to watch them one after the other to say for sure, but again I feel like the KTMA performance was stronger. It's all forgivable; I figure they're still working kinks out and learning how to be full time national television stars. Plus, I know there's better to come.
A highlight: they make some good jokes about the old lady with the lace bonnet.
Joel: Whistler's mother is stoned!
Tom: Looks like Popeye got the operation he always wanted.
I also enjoyed the "Servo-Crowations" sketch in which Joel does a little head swap on the boys. The pun alone was good enough fer me!
Next up, Women of the Prehistoric Planet!
|
|
|
Post by Cleolanta on May 5, 2006 4:46:51 GMT -5
Heh. Some stuff I should've said earlier...yeah, I know what you mean about trying to place yourself in the shoes of a fan who's just now seeing this stuff, or trying to imagine you've been there from the beginning and then see how you'd react to the "upgrades" in look, theme song, etc. at the beginning of Season One. I do that kind of thinking quite often when watching something (pretending that I'm watching it when it was new), and it definitely does add something to the experience if you can pull it off.
As for "Mad Monster"...is that a _depressing_ movie or what? Poor Pedro... I rather like when the mad scientist is imagining the way his colleages will react, in his head...and he's STILL losing the argument! That makes absolutely no sense, if you think about it. Either that or the guy has low self-esteem, for an evil megalomaniac.
My personal favourite riff from this one? "That felt good. Now I'm gonna go turn my daughter into a woodchuck." :P
And somebody else agrees with me that the KTMA "Hell in a Handbag" was better. Whoo-hoo! Definitely. I loved Trace's "thug" voice, and seeing Joel "pretend to be a woman" was a total hoot.
One thing they have in the Season One theme song, that they don't have in any other version, is a shot of the human character looking frightened and (literally) thrown off balance, as the ship takes off. I wish they had found some way to keep that basic idea (but of course re-do it with the new host/graphics/sets/whatever)...it...I dunno, it kind of gives Joel a bit of pathos, there. He just looks so _scared_...
One last comment: You're in for a treat with Women of the Prehistoric Planet, at least in my opinion. It's one of my personal favourite episodes. Joel is totally _hyper_ in the theater, the host segments are funny ("Joel, must you take EVERYTHING you find in space and put it in the living room?!"), we see the origins of "HI-keeba!" and a device that might well be the prototype for the "Manos" manipulation arm. And then there's "Tang". You can't beat a hero named Tang. (Not to mention, the guy who played him has been in several other things I've seen and is an actor I kinda like.)
Anyway.
...Notorious
|
|
|
Post by Arizona Warwilf on May 5, 2006 10:30:35 GMT -5
Cleo, can I call you Cleo? How do I say this gently . . . Have you seen Star Wait? You have right? Well, my light saber is ::gets out Star Wait dvd and checks:: red. True, I've seen almost all the episodes. But most I've seen only once. And indeed I am trying to create an artificial sense that I'm seeing each episode for the first time. So, right on, rave about eps here, I really dig that, but maybe only after I've seen them this time around. That'd be superawesome. Geez, I hate being a jerk, but I wanted to say that. It's not like you really ruined things for me. I mean I'd already remembered that Prehistoric is the source of Hi-keeba. But yeah. This post is supposed to be really really friendly, not slap-slappy. Thanks!
|
|
|
Post by Arizona Warwilf on May 5, 2006 16:49:10 GMT -5
Aw, man. What I'd forgotten about this episode is that it's actually the final ep of the season. Gagh, I was gonna remember that!
Okay, I did NOT just finish watching that episode, and no one can prove that I did! Ha!
To preserve continuity, I will be watching The Corpse Vanishes next and Women of the Prehistoric Planet will be viewed after The Black Scorpion. That is all.
|
|
|
Post by Cleolanta on May 5, 2006 23:28:33 GMT -5
Well, yeah...I figured that if I only said _bits_, then it was...well, I was thinking more along the lines of "a tantalizing preview" rather than actual _spoilers_. I am STRICTLY anti-spoiler myself and absolutely hate, HATE, anybody who spoils things for me. So the idea that I myself might've just done that...oh, dear...
(hangs head in shame)
But seriously, I didn't think I was saying that much. Going off into a whole paragraph or more about the movie itself and listing a _bunch_ of my specific favourite riffs; that's what _I_ would've considered spoilers. What I did here, is what I personally think of as "saying just enough to whet the person's appetite, while still leaving crucial stuff unsaid for them to discover." But if you think even that is too much, then I'm sorry. I'll try to say NOTHING at all in the future.
...am I allowed to say that I really like "Robot Monster"? (ducks)
Yes, you can call me Cleo, by the way (I meant to answer that a long time ago, when you first asked it, but forgot). EVERYBODY here calls me that, and most of them just automatically started to do so _without_ asking if it was okay first. In fact, I think you're the only one who has asked. So I'd probably let you do that just on account of winning points through politeness, if nothing else. :P
Me, I ended up watching them in the shown order instead of the real one, last time, because I forgot...d'oh! Well, actually, I think The Black Scorpion also works as the last episode of the season, in a way. Because...
...er, how do I put this without causing you to whip out that red lightsaber and threaten me with it again...?
There's a line at the end from one character which sounds sort of closing-ish. Women of the Prehistoric Planet doesn't have that. So do it either way around--Prehistoric last, or Black Scorpion last. Myself I'd do Scorpion last, but that's just me. (shrug)
And (hangs head in shame again) actually, I HAVEN'T seen Star Wait yet. I want to, but I just haven't had the money to buy anything new in the _longest_ time. All I know about red lightsabers is that in the actual Star Wars movies, they usually signal a bad guy. That's it. :P
...Notorious
|
|
|
Post by Arizona Warwilf on May 6, 2006 3:43:58 GMT -5
Well, don't feel SO bad. If it makes you feel any better, my bringing in the whole light saber thing is sort of a Star Wait spoiler for you. Right? So we're even!
By the way, redness of saber does not, in this situation, indicate evilness on the part of the wielder, me. I also wasn't brandishing said saber: no threats. Light sabers were just used to color code the participants according to . . . Ooh, sorry. I, I'll just stop there.
But seriously, it was awesome that you wanted to whet me. . . . Oh, now that didn't sound right. Oh, dear.
But really really, thanks for your intentions, and thanks for understanding where I'm at. And while it's fine that you mentioned your feelings for Robot Monster, um . . . I just wouldn't want to know your feelings for each right before I watch each, but after is fine! Geez, I'm so anal.
::breaks down:: Oh! Just don't stop posting in my thread! You're one of the few indications I have that anyone cares! Oh! ::collects cools calms:: Now, I promised I'd stop begging for approval.
Anyway, I'm having a hell of a time trying not to read all the quote threads and "your favorite _______ riffs" threads!
Okay, as for whether to watch Scorpion before Women of or Women of before Scorpion, what I really need to know is which one was made last. So, if you can tell me that, that'd be great and wouldn't have anything to do with spoilage. One way or the other I might just decide to watch Scorpion last. But that's no promise, y'all know how I waffle.
|
|
|
Post by jjb3k on May 6, 2006 10:53:57 GMT -5
As far as I know, 104 was produced after 113. There's glaring evidence to support this in 104's final host segment.
|
|
|
Post by Cleolanta on May 6, 2006 18:10:22 GMT -5
It's hard to tell...Prehistoric would definitely make sense _after_ "Robot Holocaust", but I'm not sure if it absolutely has to be seen at the end of the whole season. There's a...well, I'm probably making too much of this, it was just one little thing, but I thought it was nice--a little moment at the end of "Scorpion" which _also_ has something to do with ending a season or wrapping something up. It's confusing.
I mean, I'm pretty sure Prehistoric was MADE last, but you could probably watch either one that you want, last. They'd both work, in a way.
...Notorious
|
|
|
Post by Arizona Warwilf on May 7, 2006 3:39:14 GMT -5
Well, I've some time to think about it. I'm kind of leaning toward watching Women of and then Scorpion. If there is something to the end of Scorpion with a sort of finality to it, I think I'd like that. Besides, if I ended with Women of, it might feel like a stale note to end on. Not because I watched it already and got all the way through before realizing it was out of order, 'cause I didn't. I totally swear.
For my next trick I will write a review while listening to The Feelies!
105 - The Corpse Vanishes with Commando Cody 3
This ep felt . . . averagey. Nothing to really go crazy about, but not a stinker. Maybe along the lines of The Mad Monster. Maybe a little higher considering the good job they do on the short. The movie's kind of not bad for what it is, which is a thriller from the '40s.
The opening segment had no Bots again. I think this is bugging me 'cause I like the bots so much, but also 'cause everything's more fun with a little character. So far, all of Joel's inventions are just laid out there and to be taken at face funniness-value. I can't wait to see the bots gettin' sketchy with it in the opening.
The Chiro-Gyro is recycled, from the sales tape, right? And the Mad Scientist's Gift Set is recycled from KTMA. They did a better job of redoing them than in Mad Monster though.
I like the Tiger Bot segment. It makes me think of a Wired magazine cover which touts their list of the 50 greatest robots ever, fictional or actual. But where are our buddies? Nowhere! Bah!
The barber sketch is not so hot as the others and really drags when Crow gets to the clown parade stuff. There just aren't really any jokes. Maybe the fact that they're often mentioning things like farming accidents is a little humorous, but not much.
The short is a highlight for this ep. They just do a better job on this one in comparison to the previous Cody shorts. I liked this moment: Crow: What's that he's cranking there? Tom: It's his crotch-mounted cordless phone! I also love the fashion show fight scene in which Crow and Tom immitate runway commentators as Cody and a villain fight. It's funny stuff and their performance of it is top notch, their timing and style are right on. Then there's the shot of Earth from space: Crow: Why does the Earth have a shadow? Tom: Why are there clouds in space? It really is a pitiful shot. I suppose they knew a lot less about what Earth look liked from space, but man, that shot is just shameful! I'm wondering about the origin of the "Jim never drinks coffee at home" riff. My guess is that it's from a commercial for coffee, of course. I'll do a little research. . . . Hmm, nothing.
I think the apparently meaningless sillhouette behind the credits in CV looks like Darth Vader.
I like the joke the guys have when a corpse is being wheeled to the hearse from a wedding. Joel: Aw, that's awful, they're takin' the cake back! Crow as Bela: Thank you! I love cake! (Hey, it's funnier on screen and with sound)
Then theres this one: Mother woman: We want more than an assurance! We want protection! Joel: Ma'am, you should've discussed that with your daughter earlier.
And when the demented lady of the house slaps the reporter they all say, "Nice tag!"
When the reporter is telling her boss, "I saw a dead man, too!" Joel and the bots say, "And his hair was perfect!" But I don't get it.
But back to riffidge highlights: Editor: This had better not be another cockeyed nightmare! Crow: Or a nighteyed cockmare!
Guy: In fact, they might not be dead! Reporter lady: Alive, in a cataleptic state? Tom: Iowa?
So, Bela Lugosi's teeth are weird. Well, I suppose that they are since I can't actually see them to say for sure. You can't see them when he speaks. It makes me think that he didn't care for his teeth and that they're discolored and don't show up on old black and white film. So it looks like he's no teeth. Creeps me out.
On the other hand, I love when Tom's head blows up. I don't know why it thrills me so, but I just absolutely love it when Tom's head goes phoom! and fills with smoke. I can always tell when it's coming, but it still makes me laugh when it goes off. I don't have the same reaction to his head falling off, which is fine, but it's not the same. It's not 'cause I hate Tom, 'cause I surely don't. I just think it's really funny to see his head explode. I dunno.
I'll leave off with that. Night!
|
|
|
Post by Cleolanta on May 7, 2006 4:31:39 GMT -5
Yeah, I like that one. A lot of good riffs, and you mentioned some of my favourites (the one about Iowa is one of my all-time favourites...'cos I've LIVED in Iowa, so I know exactly what they mean). The bit with "Why are there clouds in space?" "Why does the Earth have a shadow?" "WHY are we WATCHING this?!" just cracks me up. Also the fashion commentary. A couple of my other favourite Cody-short riffs might have been from this episode, but since I'm not sure and I now know that saying spoilers of any kind will bring down the Wrath of Wolf--er, Wilf--upon me, I guess I shouldn't quote them.
Some other examples, for me...
--The Narnia reference, which I loved because _I_ was thinking it but never in a million years thought THEY would say it. Those are the best riffs. The "Oh my goddess, they actually SAID it!!"--where your reaction is as much surprise as laughter. You know what I mean? Well anyway, as Bela climbs back into the secret passageway in the _wardrobe_, Tom quips out, "I gotta get back in here and talk to the Lion and the Witch" and I just LOST it...
--The 'bots commenting on the heroine's lovely dressing gown (it really _was_ quite pretty) and Crow asking Joel: "How come you never wear nice things like that?" :P
--The bit where the characters (in the movie) are introducing themselves and then the guys chime in and introduce themselves. I don't know, it was just...sort of charming. And so polite and friendly!
--And of course the whole end sequence where Servo's head blows up for the first time, and his rant about the movie that leads to the blow-up. (And Erhardt's reaction..."Wow, it broke one of his little drone-things! We should get more movies _just_ like that one." More amusing since it was "his" little drone thing that blew up...)
Actually, and I know people are gonna shoot me down on this one, I think the movie itself isn't that terrible. Cheesy, but not _bad_ bad. I showed this episode to my family on Christmas (yes, really :P) and my dad's reaction was "Well, you know, that movie wasn't that bad. They were just like that, back in those days." I think I know what he means by that...he means that the writing style and so forth was normal for a something-to-do matinee level movie in the '40s. He may be right...
In case you're wondering why we watched it on _Christmas_, well, I had just recently gotten this episode and a bunch of others, and my family (who are all MSTies along with me) hadn't seen it yet, and they asked me to "pick out something lighthearted" for us to watch. I figured MST would fit the bill, so decided to start from the earliest of the episodes we hadn't yet seen. Which was, at that point, that one. I myself watched it while sipping fancy orange tea that came in a present from my aunt (along with a tin of cocoa and one of coffee), which came from a company IN...St. Paul Minnesota. Appropriate! ;) But seriously, I was mainly drinking it because I was sick as a DOG that day. Not much of a merry Christmas; I had such a hideous cold I could barely taste anything, a sore throat, a _constantly_ running nose, and a fever. Everybody in the house was sick but I got it the worst. (As you can imagine, with a houseful of sickies, the nice hot aromatic orange tea was THE most popular present...)
Considering all that, I think you can see why I'd want some nice MST comfort-food, so to speak, to watch. So hey. :P
I think Women and then Scorpion would probably work. And the ending-ish thing I'm talking about is no big deal, really, and it's only for one character. Of COURSE you know which one, so that's no spoiler. Anyway, I just thought it was kind of a "aww" little moment. In a quiet way. And you have to be watching for it. No big deal, but I like little details like that, so...that's just me. (shrug)
...Notorious
|
|