ALL SCI-FI Forum Index ALL SCI-FI
The place to “find your people”.
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

Mystery Science Theater 3000
Goto page 1, 2  Next
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    ALL SCI-FI Forum Index -> Off-Topic Discussions
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
filmdetective
Interstellar Explorer


Joined: 16 Mar 2020
Posts: 93

PostPosted: Sun Mar 22, 2020 7:39 pm    Post subject: Mystery Science Theater 3000 Reply with quote

Since there was no thread on MST3K on the Televison forum, I decided to start one here, where I was advised was the correct place for such a thread. I hope we do have some members on this message board who like the show, and if some members don't like the show, and want to express their dislike for it, that is well and good as far as I am concerned. I'm tired of typing on the computer, so I'll write more on my thoughts on the show, both memories from its first runs on Comedy Central and Sci-Fi, and my continuing present day viewing of it on Comet.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Eadie
Galactic Ambassador


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 1695

PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 2020 12:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you for the heads-up!. I recently found this on IFC and finally understand many of the old movies.
_________________
____________
Art Should Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17020
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 2020 9:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

The first episode I ever saw was the one with Rocketship X-M, and it cracked me up! Laughing

Unfortunately I happened to be laying on the floor with my legs elevated, because I had a pinched nerve in my back. Every time I started laughing, it hurt like hell! Shocked



____________


___ MST3K (Cinema Edition): S02E01 - Rocketship X-M


__________

_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Gord Green
Galactic Ambassador


Joined: 06 Oct 2014
Posts: 2940
Location: Buffalo, NY

PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 2020 2:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not every episode is a gem, but there are enough that are!
The "Shout" downloads on YouTube are very good quality.

I've stayed away from most of the Japanese "Starman" videos, but check out the rest of them.

_________________
There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Phantom
Solar Explorer


Joined: 06 Sep 2015
Posts: 67

PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 2020 6:16 pm    Post subject: Say What? Reply with quote

I have to admit I'm not a fan of the series. I've tried a few episodes on YouTube and recently on ME TV, but I don't find most of it funny. The framing scenes before and after the movie leave me cold.

I love satire, but this one completely misses the mark.

Also, and this is a sign of age, I can't hear a lot of the more quietly spoken comments (even with duel hearing aids) unless I crank up the sound a couple of thousand decibels, which is a no-no in an apartment house.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17020
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 2020 6:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Generally speaking, old friend, I agree with you. Most of the MST3K episodes fail to tickle my funny bone.

After my first experience with the Rocketship X-M episode, I just never got the same thrill again. Sad

Bits and pieces of certain episodes were amusing, but after that initial experience I felt like the show runners should have spent more time scripting funny comment — instead of just letting the guys shoot from the hip during the movies.

Anyway, having said all that, I guess I'm not really a full-blued fan of this series.

_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Krel
Guest





PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 2020 7:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
I felt like the show runners should have spent more time scripting funny comment — instead of just letting the guys shoot from the hip during the movies.

The show was completely scripted. They would run through the movie two, or three times to come up with their jokes.

I liked it, but only two things standout to me. One was the bit on the Charlie McCarthy hearings, I think that was in "Rocket Attack U.S.A." episode. You can find this on U-Tube.

The other was the short film "Mister B-Natural", which I found hilarious. I think this one was during one of the Colossal Man movies.

David.
Back to top
Gord Green
Galactic Ambassador


Joined: 06 Oct 2014
Posts: 2940
Location: Buffalo, NY

PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 2020 10:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Krel, you gotta see some of the other shorts on MST3K...like...WHAT TO DO ON A DATE....and YOUR CHANGING BODY..(You got hair in all kinds of places and your pits stink!).

Like I said...NOT all gems, but those that are, are awesome examples of pre-pubescent humor!

You do get to the age where it's not funny anymore...THAT"S the clue that you're an old fart!

_________________
There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
filmdetective
Interstellar Explorer


Joined: 16 Mar 2020
Posts: 93

PostPosted: Tue Mar 24, 2020 12:30 pm    Post subject: Thanks for Reply with quote

Thanks for all the posts, everybody.

I suppose I am a Moderate Misty.

I watched parts of the show during its first run, and also rented the feature film on VHS from a local vid club. (have not seen a film in a movie house since 1984 when I saw Basket Case).

I never actually watched an entire episode all the way thru.

It is only fairly recently that I have done that, and, I will probably be fairly selective in doing that.

Right now, I'm still watching the first of last week's Comet Fri PM-Sat AM Double Header, a Mike episode: The Starfighters.

Reading IMDB reviews, I think some of the bashers of this film went overboard in claiming there were only 20 minutes of actual footage shot for the dramatic sequences, and the rest of the film was nothing but Air Force stock footage of the Starfighter Jet refuelings, and other training exercises, one Air Force veteran saying he found the film very boring.

So far I have not seen a single good review of this film, and while I do think there might be more than 20 minutes of footage of the characters in the drama, I'm not ready at this point to do any actual cout of the ratio of stock footage to shot by the filmakers footage, although I dont' absolutely rule that possiblity out.

The cast inclues Robert Dornan probably his best remembered role in the TV drama 12 O'Clock High, later elected to the US House of representitives.

I have found the film pretty much of a bore, but think I will stick with it to the end.

The next one is a Joel hosted episode: Eegah! with the late Richard Keil as a caveman in modern times (maybe he took the Alley Oop Time machine to get to the 1960s).

This is one film that I watched in its original form, and would not have wanted to see it first on MST3K. I did not try to watch Ring of Terror, which had the notorious blue tint to the picture some fans have noted. I would want to watch that film in its original form before watching the MST3K treatment.

I just FFd thru that one to watch the host segments.

That's enough from filmdetective for now.

Oh, one more thing. While the series was still in its first run, I did get on the mailing list of a free Best Brains newsletter, which finally stopped after I don't remember how long.

Did anyone else here on the board get onto that newsletter?

One of the biggest fans of MST3K was Rod Lott of the fanzine titled HITCH. Anyone remember Rod and his zine?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Krel
Guest





PostPosted: Tue Mar 24, 2020 2:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

To be fair, the whole point of "Starfighters", was to show off the Starfighter aircraft. It was one of the hardware porn movies that were popular in the 1950s. The public ate them up seeing all the advanced aircraft.

Probably the best, and best known hardware porn movie is Jimmy Stewart's "Strategic Air Command". The takeoff procedures for the Convair B-36 Peacekeeper bomber is shown in greater detail.

Some of the movies they showed were not bad movies. They became bad movies after they edited them to be so.

They liked making fun of Joe Don Baker's movie "Mitchell"* (Maybe others too, but I remember "Mitchell" in particular). He was not amused, and let it be known that he was VERY, VERY, VERY displeased! Supposedly, the MST3K crew were afraid of meeting him.

The MST3K short films are great, but for some reason I found "Mr. B-Natural" to be particularly funny.

The Charlie McCarthy Hearings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNzt0Xmzu9U

Mr. B Natural:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAKentKiGOY

David.

* I was working at a movie theater when this movie was released, and the Assistant Manager LOVED this movie. I like it myself, it is a decent action film.
Back to top
filmdetective
Interstellar Explorer


Joined: 16 Mar 2020
Posts: 93

PostPosted: Tue Mar 24, 2020 5:24 pm    Post subject: Very Good Post Reply with quote

Krel, thanks for a very good post. I need to finish watching The Starfighters, before doing any further study of the film.

I was familiar with Mr. Baker's displeasure over MST3K's handling of Mitchell, but of course will with hold any opinions before seeing that episode.

I am doing my detailed studies of MST3K at a leisurely pace, and do have the softcover book (is there a hardcover edition?) of The Official Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide, which covers the show thru #706, in very great detail.

Also, the web page Satellite News goes into similar detail in covering the show (and the theatrical feature film), through the end of the series. (Not sure if it was updated to cover the recent revival of the show or not).
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
alltare
Quantum Engineer


Joined: 17 Jul 2015
Posts: 351

PostPosted: Wed Mar 25, 2020 7:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am generally neutral about MST3K, but for a couple of exceptions- one that I like, in a round-about way, and one that stinks.

I really LIKE the MST3K DVD of "The Beginning of the End", about the giant grasshoppers that eat Chicago. Besides the MST3K version, which I couldn't care less about, the original movie is also included. This disc is worthwhile because the unedited movie includes the goofs that I think have been edited out of all the other available releases of this title. For example, the scene with a grasshopper being obviously pushed by an unseen hand down a road in pursuit of a truck, and the scene that has the hoppers crawling off of a tall office building onto the sky (they were really crawling around on a photograph of the building) are included here. This disc is a keeper for those reasons, and also I just love the movie. In fact, this is the only Bert Gordon movie that I like.

Although I appreciate the above disk for their non-edits of the original movie, I was really TURNED OFF by MST3K's take on "This Island Earth", which I consider to be one of the best scifi movies ever, and which they labeled "a turkey". They might just as well have poked fun at 2001, as far as I'm concerned. I do have the DVD, which was a gift from a well-meaning friend, but I've only watched it once. And that was enough.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
filmdetective
Interstellar Explorer


Joined: 16 Mar 2020
Posts: 93

PostPosted: Fri Mar 27, 2020 2:05 pm    Post subject: This Week's MST3K films on Comet Reply with quote

Finished watching Eegah! from last week.

Tonight, the first ep of MST3K at 10 PM is the Hercules, the first film in that series, followed at 12:15 AM by The Killer Shrews.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
filmdetective
Interstellar Explorer


Joined: 16 Mar 2020
Posts: 93

PostPosted: Sun Mar 29, 2020 12:52 pm    Post subject: What I've watched so far Reply with quote

I watched the host segments of Friday night's showing of HERCULES, but not the feature film itself.

On the second MST3K of Saturday morning, the Killer Shrews, I watched the opening, and the Encyclopedia Britanica short about a kids' rodeo, with both boys and girls participating.

I plan to watch the host segments and ending, but leave the feature film itself to watch later.

I plan to extract the host segments and veiw them without the feature films, because they tell a continuing story, both about Joel and Mike, and their relationships with their employers and on Earth, and with the 'bots.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17020
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Sun Mar 29, 2020 1:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

The Killer Shrews is one of those movies I really like, even though it's very low budget. Ditto for The Giant Gila Monster, made by the same folks.

But I don't mind either of them being subjects of an MST3K episode, because they aren't "noble cinematic efforts which are worth of great respect", etc. etc. . . .

I might just give them both a look on YouTube. Very Happy


______ MST3K Cinema Edition - The Killer Shrews


__________

_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    ALL SCI-FI Forum Index -> Off-Topic Discussions All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Page 1 of 2

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group