|
Post by sol-survivor on Nov 7, 2019 22:42:53 GMT -5
My feelings for the show seem to have changed. I still think of it fondly, but I haven't seen an episode since early summer 2017. A hiatus this long was unthinkable after I discovered the show in 1991. I ordered Volume XXXIX a few weeks after it came out and it still sits unopened on my desk though I really like Girls Town. I used to spend lots of time almost every day on this site or on Satellite News. Now I maybe check in here a couple times a month and this is my first post in close to two-and-a-half years. I hardly ever look at SN anymore. I'm pretty sure the reboot is what changed things. The timing is too coincidental. I watched Season 11 through Carnival Magic in roughly June of that year, stopped, and have not seen an episode since, not even any of my favorite and most cherished episodes. I still quote the show and reminisce about my favorite episodes and riffs, but I did not care for what I saw in the reboot and it left a bad taste in my mouth about the show overall. The new cast might have grown on me if I had liked the episodes, although I hated how they changed the Bots. I agreed with the criticism I read where everyone sounded alike and they talked too fast so it was difficult to tell who was saying what. I rarely found anything even mildly amusing about any of the episodes I watched. My favorite episodes have always been the ones where I actually kind of liked the movie, and I did not care for any of the reboot movies at all. To me they were too...shiny, for lack of a better word, and almost like they were all trying to appeal more to a new audience. The movies they chose were certainly crappy enough for the show, but I thought the reboot lacked the flavor and the heart of what I loved about the show and turned it into MST3K: The Video Game. I had mixed feelings when I first heard about the reboot and was on the fence about watching it, but I decided to give it a try and subscribed to Netflix. For contrast, when they were picked up by SciFi I was thrilled and excited and couldn't wait until it started up again. Maybe it was because most of the cast returned or maybe not, but I was fine with all the previous cast changes. I never preferred Joel to Mike and vice versa. Wasn't too thrilled with Jonah because he seemed to be trying too hard, although like I said earlier the new cast could have grown on me, eventually. I didn't watch any of the reboot shows for about a month or so after they dropped, but when I did I dutifully watched an episode a day until I just completely lost interest. Maybe it was watching Mike Bauer from Guiding Light (And I was watching GL when he was on as a very serious lawyer with marriage problems) playing with a talking monkey that finally did it, I don't know. Still have Netflix and all the available episodes they have are still on my Watch List, but I have had not been motivated to watch them, not even the older classic episodes. I mostly watch documentaries and the occasional movie on Netflix. I don't even know what movies they've riffed since Season 11. To get my MST3K mojo back I probably just have to watch one of my favorite classic episodes again, but I haven't been able to pull the trigger. Maybe now with Christmas coming I'll resume my previous ritual of watching a double feature of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and the Mexican Santa Claus again. Haven't done that since before the reboot, either. Sad, really.
|
|
|
Post by jadenh on Nov 8, 2019 8:39:51 GMT -5
Not exactly sure what MST3K: The Video Game is supposed to mean lol.
But I totally get you. As someone who's more familiar with the Netflix episodes than the classic episodes, I think they honestly have left kind of a bad taste in my mouth. They aren't bad episodes by any means, but something about them just doesn't feel right. And Carnival Magic is a terrible episode. So, I don't blame you for stopping there. I've been experiencing a bit of MST3K burnout and I haven't even been enjoying a lot of the classic episodes. I've been recommended a few episodes, but I can only really see them as being average. And that includes Werewolf, often considered one of the best episodes of the series. Honestly, I'm not sure how to get out of this burnout myself.
|
|
|
Post by Mighty Jack on Nov 8, 2019 10:39:34 GMT -5
Carnival Magic is glorious! (there, I said it, and I'm glad I said it)
I cycle through things myself. I'll be into Godzilla, then shift into the Beatles, then it's all about comics, and round and round and round it goes (I'm in film buff mode right now). Some things I come back to, and some things were a part of a time and place and that's it, you can't go home again... and that's okay.
I don't do much MST right now, old or new... and I don't want to keep bashing the new show. I think we as a group have done that ad naseum. I've said my piece, talked about the good and the bad... no need to keep harping on it. (I know you're not doing that sol, as this is your first time speaking about the new crew)
I'm not sure if I'll ever get into MST the way I did way back when. I might, but even if I don't, it was a great and happy time while it lasted and I'm grateful I had that experience and went on that journey with the show and its fans. Nothing can take that away from me.
|
|
|
Post by mylungswereaching on Nov 8, 2019 13:48:44 GMT -5
I can't believe you haven't posted in 2 1/2 years. I know its been a while but it didn't seem like that long.
I've always been kind of a binge watcher for MST3k. I don't watch it for a few months and then watch a few episodes a week for a while. The thing is that I've been losing interest in television. I used to watch TV a few hours a day. Now I find that I watch TV a few hours a month. There just isn't that much on that's worth watching. When I'm in the mood to watch TV, I'm usually in the mood to watch drama rather than comedy. But TV plots have been recycling the same bunch of plots, mixing and matching, for decades. It's rare that I find something interesting.
Entertainment changes every twenty years or thirty years or so. When I was a kid in the 1960's, I found it difficult to watch many of the movies made in the 1930's and 1940's. There were many exceptions that were good but the run of the mill movies were so predictable. I think that now we've slipped into the next phase and MST3k followed. Everything must be fast, fast, fast. They must push as many jokes in as possible.
There is also the problem of teamwork. When I was a kid most bands played together for years before they made it big. Now that is very uncommon. The old MST3k team worked as a team for years. They had a culture. They worked as a team. The new MST3k is a bunch of individuals. They do their thing all by themselves and get together for a few weeks and do all the work. There are 10 times as many people working on it and no teamwork. It's feels corporate rather than a group of friends getting together to watch a movie. It's still pretty funny but not as warm. I'd rate the new MST3k as a B. It's better than most TV but that's a pretty low bar.
|
|
|
Post by sol-survivor on Nov 8, 2019 19:44:23 GMT -5
Well, I went for it. My confession must have meant I was ready to watch again. I put the Netflix app on my phone and decided to listen to at least one episode to prime the pump, so to speak. I used to listen to episodes on YouTube all the time but decided to try Netflix because, well, just because. Listening at work was always good because I can "see" the episodes in my mind since I've seen most of them so often I know what's happening. So, I just finished with The Day the Earth Froze and let it go automatically into Hobgoblins. I was smiling most of the way through TDTEF and I'm already smiling as Hobgoblins starts. Don't know if I'll ever try the reboot again but I'll try to keep an open mind. As for the MST3K: The Video Game, the Bots moving around the theater like they do now made me want to use them for target practice.
|
|
|
Post by jadenh on Nov 8, 2019 20:41:55 GMT -5
Okay, that's a fair point. I think especially in season 12, there are way too many gimmicks with the theatre scenes. But I'm not gonna make try to make this all about the new seasons. I think I might try doing what you're doing and rewatch some episodes. There are a few episodes that I haven't watched in a long time, like Screaming Skull and Manos. I was going to wait to watch Screaming Skull for my season 9 review, but maybe I can do that early. Also, I might rewatch a couple season one episodes to see what I still think of them. I know season 1 isn't for everybody, but I think the season has a lot going for it and I really enjoy episodes like Crawling Eye, Corpse Vanishes, and Moon Zero Two.
|
|
|
Post by sol-survivor on Nov 8, 2019 22:33:40 GMT -5
I like most of Season 1. There, I said it and I'm glad. When I first started taping it back in the dim and distant preDVR days (3 to a tape because I didn't know any better) they had pretty much stopped airing Season 1. The only ones I had were The Corpse Vanishes, Moon Zero Two, Women of the Prehistoric Planet, and Robot Monster. I watched them all a lot. I didn't get online until 2001 so I got a late start into tape trading which filled in the rest, but I did eventually get them all on the Rhino/Shout releases. The only one that's pretty much a slog for me to get through is Mad Monster. Uffda.
Come to think of it, the only episode from the CC/SciFi years that I haven't seen all the way through at least once is Blood Waters of Dr Z. When it first aired I started watching it while I was taping it, fell asleep almost immediately, and for some reason never watched it again.
|
|
|
Post by hike'em'up on Nov 9, 2019 13:49:11 GMT -5
I never got through all of season 11 and probably wont ever. Dont think there is any more to it than to say the reboot is nowhere near as good, for whatever reasons they're going for. Bottom line is I dont think the jokes are as good, their execution (there is almost no sense of timing whatsoever, just get the line out) is well short of the standard, and as others have pointed out, the feel or the aesthetic is missing completely. Basically all the major components that compelled me love the show in the first place. They're simply absent here.
The "shiny" movies used for the new episodes? Thats also right on target, and I dont care for it one bit.
|
|
|
Post by foreign object on Nov 9, 2019 16:32:30 GMT -5
Glad you got the MST mojo again sol. It really is such a good show (up to Season 11). I gave most of Season 11 a try, and couldn't make it through some episodes. Tried Season 12 to look for improvements and I know now if there is a 13, I won't watch. What works for me to keep "Classic" MST3K fresh, is to watch one episode with my pizza on Friday nights when I come home from work as a reward for slugging through another work week. It gives me something to look forward to. I go from Season 1 right to the end, in order, and hasn't failed me yet. Glad to see you back sol!
|
|
|
Post by jadenh on Nov 9, 2019 17:31:51 GMT -5
I just watch MST whenever I feel like it. Usually after school, I'm dead tired and don't feel doing anything. However, I think I might try watching the show more on weekends now. And when it comes to picking episodes, I just watch whatever people have recommended to me. I don't watch in order unless I'm planning on reviewing that season.
Mad Monster is kind of a boring episode, but my personal least favorite from season 1 is The Slime People. The movie is so hard to see at times and the riffing and sketches are pretty unremarkable. I wouldn't call it bad, but just not that engaging. And despite Untamed Youth being a more popular season 1 episode, it ended up being one of my least favorites because I hated the movie and didn't find the commentary to be that good. Maybe I'll try revisiting a season 1 episode tonight. I don't have anything better to do lol.
|
|
|
Post by crowschmo on Nov 10, 2019 2:26:16 GMT -5
I watch sporadically. I have to take breaks from it. It's just that I've seen the episodes so many times that I have to distance myself from it for a while to make it "fresh." I haven't watched a lot of the KTMA eps, I have a few that I got from Skyroniter that I STILL haven't watched yet. I will, someday. Season 1 is kind of slow, and then I have some faves from Season 2 onward that I revisit from time to time. Not crazy about the later Psy-Fie episodes. They just started being about "talking over a movie" and less about a bunch of friends making funny observations. And the host segments were terrible. The reboot is kind of like how "The New Monkees" was to The Monkees. Just seems a little too slick and like they are trying too hard to "be" the earlier incarnation and it doesn't work as well. Kinga and Max just aren't "Mads" enough. Don't mind Jonah or the new voices for the 'bots (except Gypsy who isn't "character-y" enough if you get me), but it seems forced at times. I like some aspects of some episodes from Season 11 but the eps don't work as a whole for me as much as the original. It's too, well, BIG. Not charming or folksy like the earlier seasons. There's too much going on and I don't like the whole corporation feel of Moon 13, as opposed to Deep 13 where you had good, old Frank n' Forrester. (Pearl, Brain Guy and Bobo didn't work as well for me either even though I love MaryJo, Bill and Kevin). Too many people involved. They need to stop talking about it like, you know, it's a SHOW. I know they did it in the older eps, with the fan letters and Forrester sometimes talking about it, but it just gets shoved down our throats in the newer eps with Kinga constantly talking about ratings and taking over "media." It just seems too new-fangled and, like I said - too slick and not folksy. I know that's how it is in this day and age, what with all the hula hoops and video cartridge games the kids play with these days but, no sir, I just don't like it. I haven't even sat through an entire episode of anything from Season 12 except the first one - Mac and Me. I skimmed over parts of the other eps to get a gist, but I couldn't sit through a complete one. The jokes don't land as well and it doesn't seem as spontaneous. I smiled through some Season 11 episodes, but there weren't the big laughs like I had when I watched an earlier season ep for the first time. I'll get around to Season 12 in more detail eventually.
|
|
|
Post by mrsphyllistorgo on Nov 11, 2019 13:24:09 GMT -5
Back for my birthday poke-round and yep, you and I are on the same page, guy.
I've tried to like Season 11 but the only one that clicked at all for me was the dinosaur western (and that's because that movie is closest to the old MST take on things.) I haven't watched any of season 12 but Mac and Me.
I saw their first live show of Eegah! and enjoyed it, but the second one I had nosebleed seats where I literally could not fit in the chair and only heard every third line, so...
As for the classic show, I've found cycling between them and Rifftrax seems to keep things fresh. I watch an episode four times a week while exercising, and Rifftrax produces enough new content so that I can find something to keep things fresh, then circle back to the old show after a break.
I know things change and the world moves on, but I hope I can keep loving this show in some way.
|
|
|
Post by Diet Kolos on Nov 11, 2019 14:47:52 GMT -5
I tend to drift in and out of watching the show. But I've been doing my Broadcast Editions project recently, and with the influx of older tapes courtesy of mylungswereaching I've found that watching the show with ads, particularly ones I haven't seen before, makes everything a little more fresh. As far as the Netflix Seasons...yeah. I watched Season 11 at least twice for all the episodes, a few I've seen a third time (Avalanche, Beast of Hollow Mountain ). I haven't felt like going back since Season 12 premiered. I haven't revisited Season 12 since the initial viewings, there just isn't enough THERE there to watch. Shallow riffing, not great host segments, some REALLY annoying theater bits, etc. And the films are just absolutely torn to shreds, edited to the bone. It makes watching the films nearly impossible.
|
|
|
Post by Afgncaap5 on Nov 11, 2019 15:48:27 GMT -5
No reason to feel bad about not watching the show constantly. We're all fans of the show to different degrees and for different reasons, and it's just as awesome to be the person who quotes their favorite episode even if they haven't watched since that new guy started hosting in season 5, or if you're the person who has to binge a fourth of a season before lunch every day (though in that latter case, I would recommend taking a day off every once in a while, take a walk outside.)
It's also worth noting that the way people watch shows has changed a lot in the last decade. Heck, the last half-decade. It's not so much "the custom" to just toss a favorite tape or disc into your VHS or DVD player anymore, and while there are still a lot of us who do, well, times change and so do habits. I've not watched any this month, but Turkey Day is right around the corner, I'll probably make time around thenabouts...
|
|
|
Post by Megalon on Nov 15, 2019 12:55:57 GMT -5
In my case, the Reboot brought me back to the show. I hadn't really watched MST3k at all over the previous ten years. But I still prefer the original episodes, especially now that the Reboot appears to be cancelled. Its premature death has tainted it for me somehow. Whereas before I thought of it as the new MST3k for a new generation, I'm now starting to see it as the short-lived reboot that never got a chance, a strange anomaly in the history of MST3k, like the Flash cartoons or the PlayStation Underground promo.
|
|