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Post by Troy's Dad on Jan 8, 2019 11:50:33 GMT -5
It oddly wasn't until this season, specifically when Erhardt showed up, that it clicked in my mind that Kinga and Max are the respective daughter and son of Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank. I know it has been known since season 11's cast announcement, but I guess they just didn't really play it up until Erhardt appeared with the ashes. I suddenly realized that season 12 ended with the biggest throwback cameo they could possibly do, and that Erhardt is (aside from Joel) the earliest (in-universe) surviving character to return.
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Post by Megalon on Apr 14, 2019 22:47:07 GMT -5
I didn't care for this one very much. The sketches all fell flat, and the riffing was unremarkable. Hopefully this is NOT the end of the whole series!
Final rankings for Season 12:
1. Mac and Me (A+) 2. Lords of the Deep (A-) 3. The Day Time Ended (B+) 4. Killer Fish (B-) 5. Ator (C-) 6. Atlantic Rim (F)
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Post by Rhedosaurus on Apr 25, 2019 23:29:19 GMT -5
Didn't pay alot of attention to this one to be honest. Maybe it's because I've never really cared for the fantasy/sword-and-sandal flicks they've done in the past.
Or maybe it's just the fact that I was working on a course project at the same time.
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Post by Diet Kolos on Oct 7, 2019 20:03:23 GMT -5
I was bored and found the Rifftrax version of this film on Amazon Prime. It was ok, but while watching it I kept trying to remember the riffing in 1206, or even the skits, and I kept drawing a blank. I watched the 1206 version twice and I didn't remember a damned thing. Not a great note to go out on if this is indeed the last Revival episode.
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Post by jadenh on Oct 8, 2019 17:03:57 GMT -5
All of season 12 is pretty forgettable honestly. Even though Ator is my favorite of the season, I still have trouble remembering jokes and segments from it.
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Post by Megalon on Oct 8, 2019 21:03:27 GMT -5
I remember the movie very well, but nothing about the riffing. I'm not sure that's entirely the show's fault, though. I remember thinking when I watched this episode that the movie didn't have much riff potential. Compared to the totally zany and ridiculous Wizards of the Lost Kingdom movies (not to mention Cave Dwellers), this is pretty ho-hum. A bad movie for sure, but not really in a delightful, so-bad-it's-good way.
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Post by dudehitscar on May 8, 2021 17:44:09 GMT -5
As far as the season on the whole, well, it was better than last season, that's for damn sure. It could've stood to be longer. Another 2 episodes would've been ideal. The riffing pace is 100% better, and the fact that they're riffing at the same time, even if it's still pre-recorded, helps a lot. The riffing itself is still pretty thin, substance-wise. Lots of repetition, fart jokes and "easy" pop culture references (like Star Wars), and they still over-explain riffs occasionally. But they're starting to learn how to write riffs properly, the run-on joke riffs from last season are nearly gone. The riffers themselves sound more natural. Hampton was a natural from the beginning, but Jonah finally sounds comfortable. And I WASN'T horribly annoyed by Baron's Servo this season, he toned it WAY down. Though his Servo voice is still totally nondescript and blends into the background. About 90% of the sketches are actual, fleshed-out ideas! With camera movement! The SOL set is still drab and boring, but at least we get to pan around a little on it. Overall, it was good. Serviceable. More even than last season. I ask this respectfully sir.. I am just curious what changed between the first time you watched all these and your opinion here and your opinion now that Season 12 sucked completely.
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Post by Diet Kolos on May 8, 2021 18:57:15 GMT -5
And I'll answer respectfully.
In the intervening years since writing that, upon watching Season 11 and Season 12 again, back to back, I realized a few things.
1. The movies aren't as chopped up in Season 11. I think I've referenced Killer Fish as the prime example with how trimmed the movies were to the point of distraction and incoherence. The shortened format in Season 12 made no sense and made the movies unfollowable and the whatever riffing there was suffered for it.
2. The riffing was drawing from a deeper well of talent in Season 11 than 12 and was better overall. This may have been the guest writers in Season 11's doing. But Season 12 leaned VERY heavily on fart jokes and lowest common denominator "nerd culture" jokes. Anything approaching esoteric was more often than not over-explained. Like my oft-referenced Diogenes and Myst jokes in The Day Time Ended. See that thread for specifics. Overall, the riffing was better* in Season 11. I can easily recall lines from Season 11 that make me laugh ("He's Sasquatch-ing them" "I'm not high but my dog is and I am" "The kitchen cheerleader!" Etc).
The only things I remember from the riffing in Season 12 are the previously mentioned over-explained jokes from Day Time Ended, that they said "steak milk" and "pretty nice" about 40 times each in lieu of actual jokes, and that there was a very distracting song in Killer Fish.
3. Most importantly. Season 11, to me, had real honest-to-god classic episodes, Avalanche the foremost example. But I'll throw Cry Wilderness, Beast of Hollow Mountain and Wizards of the Lost Kingdom I in that category, too. They're very good episodes. Along with some pretty good episodes as well, like Time Travelers. And while Season 11 did have some of my least favorite episodes ever (Loves of Hercules, Christmas That Almost Wasn't, Land That Time Forgot, Wizards II, Carnival Magic), on average it averaged out to an okay season because the highs were really high. Season 12, meanwhile, never had anything out of 6 episodes I personally found memorable or anywhere near the highs of Season 11. Or even near the middle of Season 11. Only 1 episode, Mac and Me I would consider re-watchable and even then it's barely making it.
It all boils down to that I liked probably 5 or 6 episodes of Season 11 (about 40+%) vs MAYBE 1 of Season 12 (16%).
And upon further reinspection over the years I realized, oh yeah, Season 11 had a higher hit rate.
In summary: -Season 11: Wildly inconsistent, really high highs with some pretty low lows, that averages out to a just okay season. -Season 12: Small sample size that ranged from boring to forgettable to downright bad. Averaging out to a below-average-to-bad season.
*Better being a relative term used in reference to quality not quantity; as much of Season 11's riffing could've used a good editor to eliminate a third of it.
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Post by dudehitscar on May 9, 2021 2:23:48 GMT -5
And I'll answer respectfully. In the intervening years since writing that, upon watching Season 11 and Season 12 again, back to back, I realized a few things. 1. The movies aren't as chopped up in Season 11. I think I've referenced Killer Fish as the prime example with how trimmed the movies were to the point of distraction and incoherence. The shortened format in Season 12 made no sense and made the movies unfollowable and the whatever riffing there was suffered for it. 2. The riffing was drawing from a deeper well of talent in Season 11 than 12 and was better overall. This may have been the guest writers in Season 11's doing. But Season 12 leaned VERY heavily on fart jokes and lowest common denominator "nerd culture" jokes. Anything approaching esoteric was more often than not over-explained. Like my oft-referenced Diogenes and Myst jokes in The Day Time Ended. See that thread for specifics. Overall, the riffing was better* in Season 11. I can easily recall lines from Season 11 that make me laugh ("He's Sasquatch-ing them" "I'm not high but my dog is and I am" "The kitchen cheerleader!" Etc). The only things I remember from the riffing in Season 12 are the previously mentioned over-explained jokes from Day Time Ended, that they said "steak milk" and "pretty nice" about 40 times each in lieu of actual jokes, and that there was a very distracting song in Killer Fish. 3. Most importantly. Season 11, to me, had real honest-to-god classic episodes, Avalanche the foremost example. But I'll throw Cry Wilderness, Beast of Hollow Mountain and Wizards of the Lost Kingdom I in that category, too. They're very good episodes. Along with some pretty good episodes as well, like Time Travelers. And while Season 11 did have some of my least favorite episodes ever (Loves of Hercules, Christmas That Almost Wasn't, Land That Time Forgot, Wizards II, Carnival Magic), on average it averaged out to an okay season because the highs were really high. Season 12, meanwhile, never had anything out of 6 episodes I personally found memorable or anywhere near the highs of Season 11. Or even near the middle of Season 11. Only 1 episode, Mac and Me I would consider re-watchable and even then it's barely making it. It all boils down to that I liked probably 5 or 6 episodes of Season 11 (about 40+%) vs MAYBE 1 of Season 12 (16%). And upon further reinspection over the years I realized, oh yeah, Season 11 had a higher hit rate. In summary: -Season 11: Wildly inconsistent, really high highs with some pretty low lows, that averages out to a just okay season. -Season 12: Small sample size that ranged from boring to forgettable to downright bad. Averaging out to a below-average-to-bad season. *Better being a relative term used in reference to quality not quantity; as much of Season 11's riffing could've used a good editor to eliminate a third of it. I appreciate the detailed response. Any chance you would care to update your letter grades you gave for each episode?
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Post by Diet Kolos on May 9, 2021 8:49:02 GMT -5
I have a long-running and highly neglected review thread here (I think the 10 year anniversary was a few years ago). Once I eventually get around to these seasons in that thread, sit down and really dig into them, I'll have some updated, more definitive ratings. But it'll take awhile. I'm still on Season 5 in that thread.
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Post by Mighty Jack on May 31, 2021 2:18:25 GMT -5
I re-watched this one about a month ago, and it's held up well. It's easily my top experiment of the season (yup, even more than fan-favorite Mac and Me).
So I tried the Rifftrax edition tonight, and wasn't as impressed - While there are some great Trax, overall I find them a bit cruder than other riffers, when something shocks them or the movie angers them, they can lean on shouting and screaming in lieu of actual joke-telling.
Not that MST can't do crude or lowbrow. But for example - when we find out Ator wants to marry his sister, MST says "Record scratch" (funny), whereas Trax shout "WOOOA" and throw in some frat-boy style comments. MSTs was cuter, upbeat, more about engaging the fun of the film, rather than yelling at it when things get dumb or making the characters sound angry with one another.
The scene when Roon first appears is so much funnier in MSTs take, for example. While the two can share the same joke idea, the phrasing was sharper, more clever with MST. Whereas Trax (again) sounds grumpy, like the movie annoys them - by contrast when MST voices a character as upset, it's lighter in tone.
Rifftrax overall was fair, but I prefer MST-Ator, the tone of it, the riff style put me in a better, happier mood.
(maybe that's why I like Bridget and Mary Jo's Rifftrax, there's an upbeat energy to them. Like they are actually having a good time hanging out together, watching a bad movie)
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Post by slainmonkey on May 31, 2021 3:13:40 GMT -5
Ator was easily my favourite episode from the Gauntlet, and it’s pretty strong episode in general. However I also feel it fell short of the best episodes from season 11. Honestly I would be a lot kinder to the Gauntlet episodes if the episode standards were more like this!
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Post by Mighty Jack on May 31, 2021 3:29:44 GMT -5
I'd rank it 6th overall on my list of Netflix era faves, the first 5 are all season 11
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Post by dudehitscar on May 31, 2021 11:46:51 GMT -5
I re-watched this one about a month ago, and it's held up well. It's easily my top experiment of the season (yup, even more than fan-favorite Mac and Me). So I tried the Rifftrax edition tonight, and wasn't as impressed - While there are some great Trax, overall I find them a bit cruder than other riffers, when something shocks them or the movie angers them, they can lean on shouting and screaming in lieu of actual joke-telling. Not that MST can't do crude or lowbrow. But for example - when we find out Ator wants to marry his sister, MST says "Record scratch", Trax shout "WOOOA" and throw in some frat-boy style comments. MSTs was cuter, upbeat, more about engaging the fun of the film, rather than yelling at it when things get dumb or making the characters sound angry with one another. The scene when Roon first appears is so much funnier in MSTs take, for example. while the two can share the same joke idea, the phrasing was sharper, more clever with MST. Whereas Trax (again) sounds grumpy, like the movie annoys them - by contrast when MST voices a character as upset, it's lighter in tone. Rifftrax overall was fair, but I prefer MST-Ator, the tone of it, the riff style put me in a better, happier mood. (maybe that's why I like Bridget and Mary Jo's Rifftrax, there's an upbeat energy to them. Like they are actually having a good time hanging out together, watching a bad movie) I felt the same way about the rifftrax version. Not a strong effort. Cave dwellers is a top 5 Joel episode for me and it largely has to do with the insanity of the movie and how it goes into total wtf land in the last 15 mins. Ator really lacks a lot of that wtf magic and definitely doesn't have a strong final 15 mins. So the riffing has to carry the day. I found the big laughs came early and died off by the end. The host segments were ok. Very middling effort but hope to rewatch it soon. Maybe I'll have a change of opinion.
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Post by Mighty Jack on May 31, 2021 12:30:08 GMT -5
Ator doesn't offer the giddy joy of watching a guy run off and quickly invent a hand glider, that's for sure. But I still enjoyed the flick and got laughs in the final act, so no riff death to my ears.
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