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Post by continosbuckle on Jun 18, 2021 18:27:27 GMT -5
That made me chuckle, the notion that a bunch of us old-timer MSTies get our kicks making edgy choices on a dying forum. Actually, Manhunt in Space is not my least favorite episode, but it does seem to be the one where I diverge from the comprehensive lists of MSTies' episode tastes. It's just so boring to me, and the riffing doesn't overcome that. So much of that dumb show was just showing two guys sitting next to each other in a nondescript room that was supposed to be a cockpit, saying uninteresting things to each other as they look over the camera operator's shoulder. And it differs from the Coleman Francis movies or Monster a Go Go in that in those films, I'm amazed that someone went to the trouble to make them. Their existence alone is so strange that I can't help but be fascinated by them. And I believe that makes the riffing intrinsically funnier to me. With Manhunt in Space, I don't wonder why it was made. It's pretty obvious is was a cheap TV show/serial made to capitalize on the growing interest in SciFi in the '50s. The choices the filmmakers made aren't inexplicable to me. This just makes it boring. I consider Crash of the Moons to be a better episode because the filmmakers gave their characters more to do in more settings than just their claustrophobic cockpits and blank square rooms that are supposed to represent the inside of a spaceship. I'd include Fu Manchu with Coleman Francis and Monster a Go Go, but I find that film unpleasant in ways that I don't find the others. Also, Beast of Yucca Flats' soundtrack just makes that movie fascinatingly weird to me. Sometimes it feels like something out of the early silent era. At other times it comes across as a film a group of aliens tried to make not quite understanding how humans think, work and function. That someone actually decided to make that film, and made those choices to do so, will never cease to amaze me.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Jun 19, 2021 2:27:31 GMT -5
^ Not sure why you latched onto that quote, personally I don't think selecting Manhunt is edgy, as it's not an episode you see on many Top 10 or Top 25 lists. Plus you give good reasons for not enjoying it, and are not just popping it on a list to be cool, or edgy or anything like that. Sounds like a honest pick to me. I just got a chuckle out of the previous post concerning forum members making edgy choices. For one, I'm too old for that sh---, for another, whatever I chose, good or bad, has nothing to do with trying to put on an act, or to do or say something provocative, only for the sake of being provocative. But who knows, maybe Torgo is trying to be edgy when he hates on Pod People, or Sol-Survivor when she shrugs over Final Sacrifice?
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Post by continosbuckle on Jun 19, 2021 13:39:51 GMT -5
^ Not sure why you latched onto that quote, personally I don't think selecting Manhunt is edgy, Well, probably because it immediately followed up my previous post so I thought it might be responding to me. Doesn't matter. I wasn't upset or anything, and hope you didn't think I was. It was a good jumping off point for explaining my dislike of a nondescript episode and my enjoyment of episodes that frequently show up on lists like this. As for the second part of your post, I suspect that if for some reason I really hated Manos, or Pumaman, or Final Sacrifice or one of the other highly regarded episodes, the way they are celebrated would annoy me such that I might be inclined to mention it each time it comes up. Hell, I mention it with Manos often anyway, despite the fact that I enjoy that episode. I just don't think it's The Best Thing They've Ever Done by Far and if You Don't Love Manos You're Not an MST3k Fan. So that annoys me when I see it. To mention another episode along the lines of my earlier post, I enjoy Hellcats a lot more than Wild Rebels. (Not enjoying Sidehackers as much is a completely different topic) Hellcats is a genuinely terrible movie, whereas Wild Rebels is at least modestly competent. But it's that terribleness that makes Hellcats interesting to me. How did they manage to forget the plot through the middle half of the movie? What were they thinking? It's probably the Tony Cardoza connection because I react to it similarly to how I react to the Coleman Francis films. Wild Rebels, on the other hand, as an attempt at making a film (if that distinction makes any sense) is pretty damn boring and straightforward. It's not a mystery what they were doing and why. It's just a pretty bland film with nothing to recommend it. It does nothing unusual with the premise. I still enjoy the episode because of the riffing, but the boost that the episodes I most enjoy get from the film itself is pretty much negligible.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Jun 19, 2021 15:43:35 GMT -5
Na, I didn't think you were upset, I was just curious as to the connection.
For me, in regards to the movie, I figure - the creative spirit struck someone (their own personal Mr. Bs with a sledgehammer) and as to why it might have gone off the rails... the spirit might be willing, but the talent was weak.
While that cuts out the nuance, it really is as simple as that. When I was involved with music I saw that play out frequently, saw it in my own creative endeavors. So it's not a curiosity to see it happen in cinema. Some got it, some don't, many are in the middle.
And some are like Monster A-Go Go's, are a weird Frankenstein of abandoned footage, married to new - just a product to fill a hole. And that is a fascinating backstory but doesn't really affect my reaction to the episode (I like it because I laugh).
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Post by sol-survivor on Jun 19, 2021 17:35:12 GMT -5
^ But who knows, maybe Torgo is trying to be edgy when he hates on Pod People, or Sol-Survivor when she shrugs over Final Sacrifice? "Shrugs" is a good way to put it. I still can't for the life of me figure out why this one is so popular. I don't hate it, I just don't get it. Still, I would rather sit through that again instead of Sidehackers or The Incredible Melting Man. The only things I like of the former is "Only Love Pads the Film" and Cambot's ESPN riff. As for the latter, I went to a birthday party for my now late cousin the day it premiered, had a good time, and watched the tape afterwards. It kind of killed the good feeling I had after the party. (No, I hadn't been drinking) I had heard of the movie since it came out in theaters because in the late 70s when I was in high school I occasionally read Starlog magazine for Star Trek and Star Wars news, and I did read their review of this movie. I wasn't quite sure how they could pull it off with all the gore and nastiness, and for me, they didn't. I do not like gory movies. When the head goes over the waterfall that pretty much did it for me although I did finish it. Yes, I watched Game of Thrones but that gore isn't quite the same for me, although some of it was borderline (Oberyn, you fool!). The only part of that episode I kind of liked was the randy old couple, maybe because they didn't seem to belong in the movie. As for Season 1, I like all the episodes except for Mad Monster. Uff da. That's the only Season 1 episode that seems to last about a week for me, other than the Tom and the Blender segment. There's a few episodes in Season 10 that I still have only watched at their premiere and not since because I just didn't care to. And I have also made my feelings known for the reboot. I watched it through Carnival Magic and none since. Haven't even rewatched any of the episodes I did see. It's quite possible I would have enjoyed the same movies done with the original cast and without all the added nonsense, but I'll never know that for sure.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Jun 19, 2021 18:28:36 GMT -5
^ But who knows, maybe Torgo is trying to be edgy when he hates on Pod People, or Sol-Survivor when she shrugs over Final Sacrifice? "Shrugs" is a good way to put it. I still can't for the life of me figure out why this one is so popular. I don't hate it, I just don't get it. This will be weird coming from someone who has overthought and overwritten pieces on these episodes. But there's a reviewer out there on youtube who filmed her reactions to season 11. In some she laughs a little, in some she laughs a lot... and really, that says it all. That's all there is to it. She didn't really need to add any more to the video. True, that doesn't open things up for discussions, and exploring the whys can be interesting - an example, I never liked Godzilla vs Megalon as much as others, and I wondered, "Why is that, what are they getting out of it that I'm not?" The host segs are grand, the movie has a goofy charm, but I found the quips pedestrian. I've read that fans really like the wrestler commentary bits, though that's more cute than funny to me. I came to believe that examining the episode actually boils down to examining the person, it's not the episode, it's an individual's sense of humor? So with Megalon and others, I stopped trying to figure out why people enjoyed it and just accepted that they did. They enjoy this, I enjoy that. It's all good.
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Post by Megalon on Jun 19, 2021 20:01:25 GMT -5
I never liked Godzilla vs Megalon as much as others, and I wondered, "Why is that, what are they getting out of it that I'm not?" The host segs are grand, the movie has a goofy charm, but I found the quips pedestrian. I've read that fans really like the wrestler commentary bits, though that's more cute than funny to me. It was indeed the wrestling stuff that put Godzilla vs. Megalon over the top for me. The final battle is a real comedic tour de force. And yeah, the reviewer brings as much to the reviewing experience as the thing being reviewed. Nothing makes this clearer than the fact that our tastes change over time. For example, there are MST3k episodes that I used to revere as gold standards of comedy that now leave me cold. But the episodes never changed; they're the same episodes I first saw over 20 years ago. The only thing that changed is me.
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Post by continosbuckle on Jun 20, 2021 9:56:54 GMT -5
For me, in regards to the movie, I figure - the creative spirit struck someone (their own personal Mr. Bs with a sledgehammer) and as to why it might have gone off the rails... the spirit might be willing, but the talent was weak. While that cuts out the nuance, it really is as simple as that. When I was involved with music I saw that play out frequently, saw it in my own creative endeavors. So it's not a curiosity to see it happen in cinema. Some got it, some don't, many are in the middle. Well, one difference between making music and making a film is that making a film is a massive undertaking. How many people have to come together and screw up to make a bad song? And yet these films were made with no one in any capacity to make decisions asking "hey, don't you think we should do something that someone might actually want to watch?" or "don't you think we should at least TRY to make the thing make sense?" There's an imdb reader review about Red Zone Cuba that really does capture part of what I'm talking about. Here's the relevant quote: And yet Coleman *wasn't* a determined genius. I guess to say something that doesn't quite explain my feelings but does capture it: There are some movies that MST3k did whose set I would have loved to have been on so I could actually see what they were doing and how these films were made. When they've convinced yet another poor actor to go in front of a camera to perform some completely unnecessary and terrible scene, with everyone around to make it possible, what was going on? How did this happen?
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Post by thecrawlingeye on Jul 11, 2021 19:37:10 GMT -5
I see what you did there.
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Post by floatinginspace82 on Jul 14, 2021 9:04:05 GMT -5
I'm not really a fan of Manos to be quite honest, I get that everyone touts it as "the best episode to show a newbie to" but it feels like glue at this point from what the dead horse used to be. It's a bad movie on its own, no redeeming quality and yes very riff worthy but that's about it. I've been a fan for over 30 years now and I can honestly say after seeing every episode multiple times, that is the one I skip almost always automatically.
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