Post by General Tom Servo on Oct 14, 2007 11:52:59 GMT -5
This may or may not be something I do regularly. THANKS TO YOUTUBE! I've been able to watch a lot of episodes I've missed before, and it's a lot less expensive than buying the DVDs for sure.
These are the MST3K episodes I've watched this week. I'll give a brief commentary and a rating on a scale of 1 to 10.
Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders - This movie completely baffles me. How was this film made in 1994? I don't get how they promote it as a mystical magical fantasy film when it's really a Goosebumps-type horror film for kids. Merlin was an impotent figurehead, which leaves one wondering why his name is in the title. Couldn't he have simply used some kind of power to track down that monkey? Maybe he could have... if the whole killer monkey plot hadn't been lifted intact from another movie!
The ridiculously inept nature of the film made it ideal MST3K material. 80-90% of the riffs worked, some of them were gut-bustingly funny. The best part occurred whenever one of the guys impersonated Ernest Borgnine: "Remember the cat Billy? At least he died quick!" and "So a guy puttered around the kitchen and poured himself a cold drink!" I also loved the Ernest Borgnine children's books ("Dr. Blood's Orgy of Gore!"), I think it's a pretty solid 9/10.
The Final Sacrifice - I love this episode, if only for Zap Rowsdower! What a great name! This is a really terrible film (although I've learned it was made on a budget of like $1,500), the story's all over the place, the acting is horrible, and the music makes you want to gouge your eyes out. In other words, it's perfect MST3K fodder.
This episode features a lot of great riffing by Mike and the Bots, and the host segments are reasonably funny. Servo's Canada-bashing song remains one of the funniest MST3K segments I've seen. Another 9/10.
Puma Man - This episode has a special place in my heart because it's the first MST3K I ever saw, and by accident at that. I hadn't seen it since my first viewing of it (late 2001 I think, don't quote me on that), and although YouTube was crappy with the loading, I still enjoyed it.
It's a not-terribly-impressive, yet very funny episode. I give it an 8/10. I don't have a great deal to say, it's a good episode in general.
The Mole People - This was a pretty typical '50s sci-fi piece of crap movie, reminded me a lot of Phantom Planet for some reason. John Agar isn't much of an actor (I guess he was tolerable in the John Ford films but then he had LOTS of help). I thought that the lecture about the Hollow Earth theories by the Professor at the beginning was ridiculous, do we really need a ten minute long lecture about the history of cranks at the beginning of a stupid Grade-Z movie?
This episode was decent, nothing special. I think I'll give it a 7/10. The host segments were mediocre and the riffing was hit and miss.
Gorgo - This movie, as I said on another thread, wasn't too bad. It actually seems kinda interesting for a B-Movie, a British cross between Godzilla and King Kong, with an okay B-List cast (and cinematography by Freddie Young!). I think that this was an excellent episode, the cast got to unload a lot of British jokes which were mostly on-target. And Waiting for Gorgo was hysterical! 8/10
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians - I was not prepared for how hysterical this film was! This movie is definitely one of the worst pieces of crap God ever created, but fortunately it provided GREAT fodder for Joel and the Bots. The polar bear, the killer robot who shows up and does nothing, and Santa being on crack ("Nixen and Vixen...") - and that DAMNED SONG - Hurray for Santy Claus! The funniest part of the whole episode was the "custume designer" - THAT floored me, I couldn't believe that was actually in the movie!
GREAT riffing, although this was perhaps too easy a target, I can live with it. The host segments were brilliant, like the crappy Christmas gifts and a Patrick Swayze Christmas!!! One of my top three episodes ever, a hearty 10/10 (or maybe 11/10).
Santa Claus - Continuing with our holiday theme... why do Mexicans think that Santa lives in outer space, hangs out with Merlin, and employs slave-labor children instead of elves? And I'm guessing that he's on a par with God, since Jesus is only mentioned in the most oblique manner and he fights the agents of Satan. This is one messed-up film all around.
The riffing for the episode was spectacular, although I'm surprised they didn't riff on certain things like Santa's magic powders (too obvious?). My favorite part was the sing-alongs at the beginning and Tom managing to offend everyone on Earth in five minutes. The host segments were a step-down from SCCTM (except the SANTA KLAWS band scene, which was great but too short), but overall, another great Christmas episode. 9.5/10
These are the MST3K episodes I've watched this week. I'll give a brief commentary and a rating on a scale of 1 to 10.
Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders - This movie completely baffles me. How was this film made in 1994? I don't get how they promote it as a mystical magical fantasy film when it's really a Goosebumps-type horror film for kids. Merlin was an impotent figurehead, which leaves one wondering why his name is in the title. Couldn't he have simply used some kind of power to track down that monkey? Maybe he could have... if the whole killer monkey plot hadn't been lifted intact from another movie!
The ridiculously inept nature of the film made it ideal MST3K material. 80-90% of the riffs worked, some of them were gut-bustingly funny. The best part occurred whenever one of the guys impersonated Ernest Borgnine: "Remember the cat Billy? At least he died quick!" and "So a guy puttered around the kitchen and poured himself a cold drink!" I also loved the Ernest Borgnine children's books ("Dr. Blood's Orgy of Gore!"), I think it's a pretty solid 9/10.
The Final Sacrifice - I love this episode, if only for Zap Rowsdower! What a great name! This is a really terrible film (although I've learned it was made on a budget of like $1,500), the story's all over the place, the acting is horrible, and the music makes you want to gouge your eyes out. In other words, it's perfect MST3K fodder.
This episode features a lot of great riffing by Mike and the Bots, and the host segments are reasonably funny. Servo's Canada-bashing song remains one of the funniest MST3K segments I've seen. Another 9/10.
Puma Man - This episode has a special place in my heart because it's the first MST3K I ever saw, and by accident at that. I hadn't seen it since my first viewing of it (late 2001 I think, don't quote me on that), and although YouTube was crappy with the loading, I still enjoyed it.
It's a not-terribly-impressive, yet very funny episode. I give it an 8/10. I don't have a great deal to say, it's a good episode in general.
The Mole People - This was a pretty typical '50s sci-fi piece of crap movie, reminded me a lot of Phantom Planet for some reason. John Agar isn't much of an actor (I guess he was tolerable in the John Ford films but then he had LOTS of help). I thought that the lecture about the Hollow Earth theories by the Professor at the beginning was ridiculous, do we really need a ten minute long lecture about the history of cranks at the beginning of a stupid Grade-Z movie?
This episode was decent, nothing special. I think I'll give it a 7/10. The host segments were mediocre and the riffing was hit and miss.
Gorgo - This movie, as I said on another thread, wasn't too bad. It actually seems kinda interesting for a B-Movie, a British cross between Godzilla and King Kong, with an okay B-List cast (and cinematography by Freddie Young!). I think that this was an excellent episode, the cast got to unload a lot of British jokes which were mostly on-target. And Waiting for Gorgo was hysterical! 8/10
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians - I was not prepared for how hysterical this film was! This movie is definitely one of the worst pieces of crap God ever created, but fortunately it provided GREAT fodder for Joel and the Bots. The polar bear, the killer robot who shows up and does nothing, and Santa being on crack ("Nixen and Vixen...") - and that DAMNED SONG - Hurray for Santy Claus! The funniest part of the whole episode was the "custume designer" - THAT floored me, I couldn't believe that was actually in the movie!
GREAT riffing, although this was perhaps too easy a target, I can live with it. The host segments were brilliant, like the crappy Christmas gifts and a Patrick Swayze Christmas!!! One of my top three episodes ever, a hearty 10/10 (or maybe 11/10).
Santa Claus - Continuing with our holiday theme... why do Mexicans think that Santa lives in outer space, hangs out with Merlin, and employs slave-labor children instead of elves? And I'm guessing that he's on a par with God, since Jesus is only mentioned in the most oblique manner and he fights the agents of Satan. This is one messed-up film all around.
The riffing for the episode was spectacular, although I'm surprised they didn't riff on certain things like Santa's magic powders (too obvious?). My favorite part was the sing-alongs at the beginning and Tom managing to offend everyone on Earth in five minutes. The host segments were a step-down from SCCTM (except the SANTA KLAWS band scene, which was great but too short), but overall, another great Christmas episode. 9.5/10