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Post by jjb3k on Feb 13, 2008 19:07:10 GMT -5
I began thinking about how much an episode's short can improve the overall quality of the episode as a whole, and it inspired me to do this (I combined Seasons 9 and 10, since there were so few shorts in those seasons). Personally, I vote for Season 6 - I don't think there's a single short from this season that isn't a winner (and there were a lot of them). Episodes like "Invasion USA", "Racket Girls", and "High School Big Shot" would be pretty unremarkable in my book if it wasn't for their accompanying shorts.
In case anybody needs a refresher: Season 1: Radar Men from the Moon Chapters 1-9 Season 2: The Phantom Creeps Chapters 1-3; X Marks the Spot Season 3: Alphabet Antics; Snow Thrills; Speech: Using Your Voice; Aquatic Wizards; Catching Trouble; The Home Economics Story; Mr. B Natural; Posture Pals; Appreciating Our Parents Season 4: Undersea Kingdom Chapters 1 and 2; Junior Rodeo Daredevils; General Hospital Parts 1, 2, and 3; Johnny at the Fair; Circus on Ice; Here Comes the Circus; Hired! Parts 1 and 2 Season 5: What To Do On a Date; The Truck Farmer; Body Care and Grooming; Is This Love?; Cheating; What About Juvenile Delinquency?; Last Clear Chance; Design for Dreaming Season 6: A Date With Your Family; The Selling Wizard; Uncle Jim's Dairy Farm; A Day At the Fair; Why Study Industrial Arts?; Young Man's Fancy; Keeping Clean and Neat; Are You Ready for Marriage?; Out Of This World; Speech: Platform Posture and Appearance; Money Talks; Progress Island USA; The Days of Our Years Season 7: Once Upon a Honeymoon; The Chicken of Tomorrow Seasons 9 and 10: Century 21 Calling; Robot Rumpus; A Case of Spring Fever
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Post by Bix Dugan on Feb 13, 2008 19:14:03 GMT -5
Season 6 by two lengths.
A Date with your Family
and
Young Man's Fancy
are classics. Plus all the rest put Season 6 over the top for me.
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Post by callipygias on Feb 13, 2008 19:19:30 GMT -5
Yup. Season 6 again. My 2 favorite shorts are from season 6: Young Man's Fancy and Progress Island.
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Post by ometiklon on Feb 13, 2008 20:54:45 GMT -5
Season Six... A Day at the Fair. Blew Me Away!
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Post by Mr. Atari on Feb 13, 2008 23:15:31 GMT -5
"Once Upon a Honeymoon" is still the best. By a wide margin.
But the combination of "Are You Ready for Marriage?", "The Days of Our Years", and "Progress Island U.S.A." puts season 6 over the top.
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Post by tokiyoke on Feb 13, 2008 23:17:02 GMT -5
Season six has the most to choose from, although I do like Catching Trouble, B. Natural, What To Do On A Date, and Last Clear Chance. I didn't really care for the serials. Why don't they look?
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Post by wilson on Feb 13, 2008 23:30:58 GMT -5
I just wish "Body Care and Grooming" was in season 6 too ! The it would all break out like an infection . . . . on Lyle Lovett.
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Post by Smittmaestro on Feb 14, 2008 1:28:13 GMT -5
Season Three by far.
Posture Pals Mr. B Natural Appreciating Our Parents Catching Trouble Alphabet Antics Using Your Voice Aquatic Wizards The Home Economics Story
Classics all!
-cs™
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Post by vanhagar3000 on Feb 14, 2008 1:54:22 GMT -5
Season five on quality, not quantity.
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Post by mst3krom on Feb 14, 2008 2:13:11 GMT -5
Season 3 for me too. Here's a ranking of all the seasons depending on shorts excellence.
1. Season 3: I love the shorts in this season. Every single one of them has memorable lines from Alphabet Antics to Mr B Natural. You can't go wrong with all of these.
2. Season 5: Is this Love?, Cheating, Last Clear Chance, all classic shorts in my book. But the rest are just as good. Juvenile Delinquency is my least favorite from this season, but still in the 'good' category.
3. Season 6: A Date with Your Family and Are You Ready for Marriage? are simply the best shorts in MST3K history. So why isn't this season in first place you ask? Because even though there are still some great shorts like Why Study Industrial Arts?, A Day at the Fair, Keeping Neat and Clean and Days of our Years, there are also some lesser shorts like Out of this World, Money Talks, Progress Island and my least favorite short, The Selling Wizard (yes, I prefer the Cody and Phantom Creeps shorts even more than this one).
4. Season 9&10: Only 3 shorts here, but the Gumpy one easily keeps up with ones from the CC period. Century 21 is also pretty good. Spring Fever starts out hillarious but dies down near the end.
5. Season 7: Only 2 shorts this time: Once Upon a Honeymoon is as weird as they come (though nothing tops Design for Dreaming), but still great. Chicken of Tomorrow has its moments, but still in the 'm'eh' category.
6. Season 4: Makes you wonder why the Brains would suddenly switch back to serials, considering the success of the Season 3 shorts. Undersea Kingdom was suprisingly good and became my favorite serial. General Hospital on the other hand wasn't that impressive. But the last season strech including Circus on Ice, Here Comes the Circus and Hired! elevates the ranking a bit.
7. Season 2: The Phantom Creeps serial dies down by the third chapter, (Bela imitations can only get so far) but X Marks the Spot marks the beginning of informational short on MST3K and, boy, is this one great. It even gets hillariously referenced in Season 3's Earth vs the Spider.
8. Season 1: The Commando Cody serial from Season 1 is evidence that serials don't submit themselves too well to riffing. (the cliff-hangar endings really bugged me) I expected these to be a total failure, but these shorts really impressed me, all of them rising above the 'poor' category. My favorites were Chapter 1, Chapter 4 and Chapter 5. You can't go wrong with Josh's "I'd hate to shoot a butt a like that". I hope that now that Rifftrax and Cinematic Titanic are in full swing, one of them picks up the Cody shorts (since they're in public domain), edits them together and unleashes a full out riff-attack on them. (I hope CT gets to them first) But that's my dream, what's yours?
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Post by fanliorel on Feb 14, 2008 9:03:49 GMT -5
For me it's a photo finish between seasons 5 and 6, with season 3 pulling a strong third, and season 4 just behind. Until I get a good look at that photo I'm gonna have to stave off calling a victor (i.e. watch a few of the shorts I don't remember so well from those 2 seasons)....
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Post by quinnmartin on Feb 14, 2008 12:12:06 GMT -5
Season 5, followed very closely by 6 and then 3. No other seasons are close to those. 5 has the most consistent quality, I think, and features four great ones - "cheating", "is this love", "what to do on a date", and "last clear chance".
My top 5 shorts...
1. The Home Economics Story 2. Cheating 3. Hired! 4. Why Study Industrial Arts? 5. Last Clear Chance
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Post by General Tom Servo on Feb 14, 2008 12:41:12 GMT -5
I voted for 3 although I loved Seasons 5-6's shorts. A big part of that reason is Mr. B. Natural.
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Post by DON3k on Feb 14, 2008 13:50:01 GMT -5
I voted for 3 although I loved Seasons 5-6's shorts. A big part of that reason is Mr. B. Natural. Joel's "Mr B, you're HOT!" line may be my all-time favorite dialog-delivery from Joel.
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Post by Hugh Beaumont on Feb 14, 2008 15:26:49 GMT -5
Season six had both quality and quantity. No contest.
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