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Post by Shark on Apr 9, 2017 19:45:08 GMT -5
Let's talk about the series at the halfway point!
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Post by Diet Kolos on Apr 12, 2017 19:18:35 GMT -5
This was an...ok episode. The episode quality seems to have leveled off. They've hit a happy medium with host segments, generally. And riffing is ok. They're still not talking over movie dialogue, so they're missing out on some great dialogue-reaction riffs.
Its just...ok. Nothing...terribly memorable.
I've started to notice that Baron's Servo sings a lot. Like, A LOT. Like, every episode there's some extended riff on an 80's song with the film's title mixed in. And it goes on for too long. Every episode. But he's not a great singer. He CAN sing, but its not...I don't know...enjoyable to listen to? It sounds hollow and...unctuous?...is that the word I'm looking for? Its..."try-hard", not "try-well". I don't know, it might just be me. But they obviously told him "Servo sings a whole bunch! You should sing in the theater whenever you can!" But its just annoying because while he's singing like a failed lounge singer, there's golden opportunities for riffs flying by.
It kind of goes into the manufactured feel I'm starting to get with these episodes the more I watch them. They've gotta check off the boxes for each episode: 1. Gypsy needs to come into the theater twice and deliver a line 2. Servo needs to fly around the theater at least twice 3. Servo needs to sing the movie's title or sing about what's happening on screen 4. Crow needs to stand-up at least once Etc.
And then they shoot every host segment with the same set-up, the camera placed and framed in the exact same spot every time, for roughly the same amount of time. Pull out of the theater green screen. Show off newfound puppeteering skills (but not for too long! People will get bored!), then zoom back into the green screen when the doors open back up. Lather, rinse repeat.
I KNOW that there are good ideas in the sketches. Some of them are funny. But THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME! Crow, Jonah and Servo. Same shot. Same angle. Same distance. Same boring bridge set. Over and over and over. Occasionally they'll cut away to a guest star once every 3 episode.
Like, I can't even remember the sketches in this episode. AND I JUST WATCHED IT! No! Wait! There was a sketch with just Jonah and Crow, and the camera was set up in a still shot of SLIGHTLY LEFT of center, AND I SAW THE 3RD CONSOLE BUTTON FOR THE FIRST TIME! ITS YELLOW!
...sorry. Snapped a little there.
It was an ok episode. For this series.
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Torgo
Moderator Emeritus
-segment with Crow?
Posts: 15,420
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Post by Torgo on Apr 14, 2017 22:33:22 GMT -5
I was mostly meh on this one as a whole. Maybe the movie was a bit too "good" for them (well...I liked it), but there just wasn't a lot there. Kind of a bummer, because I remember that this movie was probably the first movie I ever tried to riff myself as a kid. I really sucked at it, so I was looking forward to seeing how the pros did it.
On the other hand, the host segments were pretty great. I loved Jonah and Crow's sketch about "being human," and the big Dino Hotel plug sketch was probably the best product placement I've ever seen outside of Krispy Kreme/Power Rangers (though it runs a bit long). Overall there are laughs, but this is probably the least of all he episodes so far.
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Torgo
Moderator Emeritus
-segment with Crow?
Posts: 15,420
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Post by Torgo on Apr 14, 2017 22:37:23 GMT -5
Also: I'm halfway through the season and I'm starting to really wonder when Waverly comes in. So far we have nada.
Also Synthia's been an anticlimax. She was in the first two episodes then disappeared completely. Was she an idea they had late in he game they just added to early episodes?
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Post by travis on Apr 15, 2017 16:47:12 GMT -5
The "Crow turning human" sketch was wonderful, VERY old-school MST! I'm hoping we'll see this movie's sequel, THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT, in Season 12..
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Post by slainmonkey on Apr 16, 2017 11:07:46 GMT -5
Really not so taken with this one, I kinda found most of this riffs falling flat this time. Oh there were some really funny ones in there but I found them often pretty few and far between. I also found the the Mesozonic Rance Dinosaur BBQ host segment to be painfully weak. Yeah it's has definitely been my least favourite so far and the first one I actually didn't like!
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Post by kidflash on Apr 16, 2017 15:25:24 GMT -5
As a connoisseur of Patton Oswalt's Black Angus routine (AT BLACK ANGUS, YOUR NAME IS PEACHES), the Dinosaur BBQ sketch killed me. (Also, as a regular patron of the real Dinosaur BBQ, pretty popular in Western New York.)
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Post by Mighty Jack on Apr 18, 2017 16:19:05 GMT -5
I had the opposite reaction from Torgo’s, the skits left me cold. The BBQ bit for example, while watching I found myself curling up into a ball - it was cringe-worthy, poorly executed, unfunny. My mind began to turn to thoughts of the hilarious Ricochet BBQ skit from Starfighters and for the first time this season I said to myself... “This isn’t MST3K, this is nothing but a glorified fanvid!” I then went mad; mad I say, and spit out an angry tirade... “I HATE Max and Kinga! I HATE the immobile camera, I HATE Crow’s cold dead eyes and Jonah’s stupid unshaven face and the plastic set design and the lack of rapport and personality on the SOL and Moon 13, and I HATE...” And then they went into the theater and I laughed and calmed down. “It’s dirty Debbie Harry!” tickled me pink. The sequence where the cave-dude is trying to explain how he hopes to one day be like the crew of the Sub had me in stitches. The callback to an old (Gamera vs. Zigra?) quip, “We all die in a Yellow Submarine” gave me the warm fuzzies. And “The original Far Side cartoon” line was a hoot (to name a few highlights) Oh and I remember seeing this movie at the Drive-in with the family back in the day. And felt it was a good choice. My own riff? When the guy at the start finds the message, I quipped... "It's Paddle to the Sea!" (yeah I know, lame
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Post by foreign object on Apr 20, 2017 19:25:44 GMT -5
The only MST3K episode I've ever turned off before the end. Couldn't scare up more than a twitter here and there. BTW do these guys have to riff absolutely EVERYTHING? Sad 'cause I loved the first 4 but 5,6, and now 7 just don't cut it for me. I'm really hoping there are some gems in the remaining 7.
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Post by said43 on Apr 20, 2017 19:54:08 GMT -5
The only MST3K episode I've ever turned off before the end. Couldn't scare up more than a twitter here and there. BTW do these guys have to riff absolutely EVERYTHING? Sad 'cause I loved the first 4 but 5,6, and now 7 just don't cut it for me. I'm really hoping there are some gems in the remaining 7. 10 is one of the best of the season. I personally like 8, but it seems to have a mixed reaction among others.
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Post by fathermushroom on Apr 23, 2017 11:26:07 GMT -5
I enjoyed 7 better than 6, which I shut off the first time without finishing--something I rarely if ever did before. I had to go back and give 6 another shot after I read that Seinfeld shows up in there somewhere. 6 is still not my favorite by a long shot, so I enjoyed 7 better.
Personally, I enjoyed the BBQ sequence. It felt like MST4K, or something like it.
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Post by thebutcher on May 1, 2017 8:38:05 GMT -5
I'm in the same boat (U-boat) as some of you. I enjoyed the skits a lot, but I had to watch this one in about 3 or 4 chunks because the high density of riffs was dizzying and not many of them landed for me... Some of them actually got ruined because they went too long! This one in particular:
I found it clever and I laughed. But then he went on:
And there is more after that!! He just. Kept. Going!
It feels like because they don't want to talk over the dialogue anymore, they cram all their run-on jokes in the silent spaces between lines. It makes for a very stop-and-go pace.
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Post by dudehitscar on May 1, 2017 13:05:33 GMT -5
I thought this was a great episode with only a bit of a lull in the last portion (stupid cavemen ruining things). It was nice to see a semi competent movie and the riffing was hilarious. Loved the Dino BBQ sketch. I've been really surprised how much I am liking a lot of these. In the old series if the movie was listed as a 'adventure or Kaiju' movie I would tend to move on but they are consistently great episodes in the new season.
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Post by gorncaptain on May 3, 2017 0:45:30 GMT -5
I guess something got cut early on, as the Germans take back control of the sub, and then suddenly the captain is locked in his cabin? I liked the BBQ skit, and the constant Doug McClure riffs kept me chuckling often enough. Hope they can get the sequel "The People That Time Forgot" for Season 12! Bonus points if you spotted the actor who played human Jabba The Hutt in that "lost" scene from Star Wars that they pasted the CGI Jabba over for the special edition. The actor who played the Master in 1980's Doctor Who was in this too, but I couldn't spot him without his evil goatee.
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Post by CrowTrobotfan92 on May 4, 2017 12:51:10 GMT -5
Okay, I'll admit. I am getting a little sick of the cold openings JUST for the sake of putting in an intro theme.
But putting that aside, this is another really funny episode! I loved all the jokes they made with the German accents, and this one had some really nice music jokes (I liked the Police references with Roxanne and Message in a Bottle). I also liked the throw-backs to Eegah and Bride of the Monster. The host segments in this one were really funny (happy birthday, Gypsy!). The fast food chain restaurant song and Jonah and the bots dressed as the Germans were my favorite (the segment after the 2 previously described with Crow wondering if he was human was a little ehh). But overall, a really funny episode! (Oh, and Crow vomiting in the opening credits felt like a nice throwback to Beginning of the End).
On another note, this movie feels like Legends of the Dinosaurs taking place in World War 2.
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