Here’s my list and I have to say I got a little drowsy just compiling it.
For this, I picked one from each season.
• 103- MAD MONSTER (with short: COMMANDO CODY PT 2)–I think it’s just the bad print, the dark, gray scenes and the slow pace. I’m usually snoring by the second host segment.
• 209- THE HELLCATS–I’m not sure why this one puts me out. Maybe it’s the dull sameness of the movie.
• 303- POD PEOPLE–It one may surprise some people, but this is my all-time No. 1 sleeping pill. I don’t think I’ve ever made it all the way through without falling asleep. The host segments are terrific, but the movie, ugh. Maybe it’s the new age music and all the fog, but I’m snoring in no time.
• 413- MANHUNT IN SPACE (with short: GENERAL HOSPITAL PT 1)–The short’s pretty sleepy all by itself, and the movie is just gray and dull, with endless takeoffs and landings and long conversations. Zzzz…
• 508- OPERATION DOUBLE 007–I think this may have more to do with the fact that I can’t follow the plot. My mind wanders and the next thing I’m curled up on the couch.
• 624- SAMSON VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMEN–This one starts well, and of course the segments, with Frank’s departure, are memorable. But the movie just drags.
• 705- ESCAPE 2000–Another movie i can’t make head or tail of, and soon I’m in dreamland. And believe me, you don’t want this movie playing while you’re half asleep…
• 807- TERROR FROM THE YEAR 5000–Talky, gray and tiresome.
• 908- THE TOUCH OF SATAN–Another movie with a very leisurely pace. Just doesn’t hold my interest.
• 1009- HAMLET–I like this episode more than a lot of people do, but the static filming and the dark, blank sets make my eyes droop.
I need a cup of coffee. What are yours?
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Someone should study why, but as much as I love the show it’s very easy to put on and fall asleep during it. I’ve always thought It’s maybe the comfort level with the characters or something. I don’t have specific episodes they can all do it and it’s not bad. Does that make any sense!!???!!!It’s almost always at night when it happens though.
101- Crawling Eye- The movie does it to me, despite the historic significance of this episode.
409- Indestructable Man- Can’t make it pass the short.
504- Secret Agent Super Dragon- Puts me to sleep EVERY time.
1009 Hamlet- One of the very few bad episodes, and it puts me to sleep.
P.S. Creeping Terror is awesome and it is probably because they show used to come on late at night and everyone at one time or another fell asleep during one not matter how funny it is.
My MST sleeping pills include Hamlet, Red Zone Cuba and The Dead Talk Back. As much as I try to, I can almost never get through them.
I showed Overdrawn at the Memory Bank to a few friends once, and next thing I knew they were snoring. I didn’t get it … I like that one :)
I, too, have always been in the habit of watching eps at night or before going to bed. I’ll pop one in and enjoy a “Mystery Science Half-Hour” before going to sleep (I can usually only watch 30 minutes before drifting off …)
I agree, derm – to me, “The Creeping Terror” is far from a dull episode. The Grandpa scene, the dancing scenes, the off-the-wall narration, it’s all hilarious.
And pumafan, you’re right on the money – MST3K can work as a great relaxation device at the end of a stressful day.
I mean, I’d like to make it through the whole episode each time, but I won’t complain if the laughs and relaxed feel of my favorite show helps me to get the zzzz’s I need.
in no particular order:
The Robot vs. The Aztec mummy- Just a snore fest…decent riffing, but badly dubbed 50’s mexican movies…well, enough said
Lost Continent- two words…Rock Climbing
Castle of Fu Manchu- even the riffs couldnt keep me awake for that one, and ive tried so many times…
Radar Secret Service- bum-pah-dump-a-dah-duh-dah-dah is just so relaxing…and the slim guise of a plot doesnt help much either
The Starfighters- the opening segment had me on the floor laughing hysterically when i first saw it as a kid, but the movie…GEEEEZ!
Racket Girls- homely girls wrestling just isnt interesting in the slightest…
Invasion of the Neptune Men- bad guys who dont make a sound, and kids in upsetting shorts do not a good movie make, riffing is good though, and i always wake up for the Hitler building blowing up…that part is priceless
The Projected Man- i cant even tell you what it was about, all i remember is the guy who played the great vorelli’s face was disfigured…
It Lives By Night- makes for a creepy dream, i gotta say, with all of that screeching, but still love the riffing
The Painted Hills. My bf and I had to stop it twice to take naps before we got to the end of it.
I have to say Firemaidens from Outer Space. So much padding! And the endless ‘Stranger in Paradise’ music! Host segments are fun, though, with Evil Timmy appearing.
The Starfighters, Radar Secret Service, The Dead Talk Back, Hamlet, and the vast majority of Joel episodes make me fall asleep unless I’m reading or eating.
Operation 007 does it every time. The movie just hurts. Time Chasers does it but it’s because it’s one of my favorites I just seem to relax too much when watching it. Castle of Fu
Man Chu also hits too hard and I find myself not paying attention and resting my eyes.
Touch of satan and monster a go go always gets me bored
I’ve fallen asleep probably at least once to every episode. The show is almost a guaranteed nap-inducer, no matter what time of the day or night. Sometimes I’ll wake up, back up the tape or DVD to where I dozed off, and 20 minutes later I’ll be asleep again. I’ve actually felt kind of guilty in the past falling asleep to my favorite show, so I’m glad to hear the show has the same effect on so many other MSTies! I don’t always fall asleep with every viewing, but these are guaranteed to put me out:
108 The Slime People (foggy blurry film and insipid dialog may be to blame)
113 Black Scorpion
also any Commando Cody short from Season 1
211 First Spaceship On Venus
303 Pod People (used to be a guarantee but now I know it so well I stay focused on the riffs)
306 Time Of The Apes (one of my big favorites but guaranteed zonksville at some point after first host segment)
314 Mighty Jack (rewind, fall asleep, rewind fall asleep, etc.)
321 Santa Claus Conquers The Martians (for some reason wake up when the children are being chased by the “polar bear”)
423 Bride Of The Monster (NEVER can make it through this, even tried the Un-MST version once!)
505 Magic Voyage Of Sinbad (movie starts to drag after first host segment, then wake up for the insane underwater sequence)
520 Radar Secret Service (short is fun, movie is a snore)
605 Colossus And The Headhunters
all season 7 episodes
806 The Undead (another impossible task to stay awake)
809 I Was A Teenage Werewolf (ditto, never can stay awake, rewind, rewind)
812 Incredibly Strange… (guaranteed snooze at about 50 minutes in)
819 Invasion Of The Neptune Men (again, I love this episode, but the endless “laser” fight scene between the spaceships is a drug)
901 Projected Man
902 Phantom Planet
1009 Hamlet (Do I even need to mention this one?)
As others have theorized, maybe it’s the soothing familiarity of the cast combined with the dreariness of most of the movies that has this effect!
I used to watch Mighty Jack specifically to go to sleep. I would put the episode on, lay in bed, and fall asleep in no time. I must have literally seen it about 30 times before I got through the whole thing.
Oddly enough, my subconscious must have been paying attention, because now I understand the plot pretty much in its entirety.
i think the sleep factor in a lot of these movies is the bad sound making more ‘white noise’ along with the familiarity with the movies after multiple viewings. I like others here watch them to go to sleep regularly, i really thought i was all alone there, maybe we should start a support group! Another reason for the white noise factor is that for the most part, the dvds wont put me to sleep vs the tapes and .avi’s that do. for example, i sleep like a baby to my tape of Monster a go-go, but when i rented the dvd, i watched it all the way through…just a theory
Amen, SatanicSprite. I guess I’ve probably fallen asleep to most of the episodes too. In fact, there’s usually a tape or dvd in my bedroom player that will stay in there for maybe a week as I use it to take naps with. I guess I’d say I make it about 15-20 minutes further each time…
Holy crow! When I started formulating my response, I was prepared to start off with, “Now this is gonna sound weird, but…” But after reading most of the replies, I find my enjoyment of MST3K as a naptime sleep inducer is not unique at all. One of my favorite special treats in my bachelor days was to fall asleep late at night on the couch with any episode of MST3K playing. It’s good to be among other weirdos.
That said, I’ll toss in my recent list of part-watchables:
The Indestructable Man–Lots of boring dialog with subpar riffing.
Cave dwellers–Love the unbelievable kite scene, but the rest is a hogshew.
The Incredible Mixed Up etc.–Only so much of a bad open mic I can take, and I’ve seen plenty.
Hamlet–Who wrote this crap? :wink:
What about Rowsdower?
Westerns. I can’t stand the genre, and find them interminably boring. Even when being riffed. I cannot watch the entirety of Last of the Wild Horses.
Wow, I cannot believe nobody has said Women of the Prehistoric Planet yet. Oh Lord is this movie DULL. I have never seen the crew member getting killed by the spider. John Agar is somehow as insufferable as his starring turns in the SciFi era, while having about 20% of the screen time.
The entire movie is just hopping around on chintzy sets and stilted talking
UGH!!!
There are other episodes that make me doze too, but the only other one I can remember right now is It Lives by Night. (Funny that I pick one from opposite ends of the show.)
Maybe I should’ve browsed the comments some.
I’ve never heard Coleman Francis make the immortal “Flag on the Moon” comment. (Red Zone Cuba)
I’ve never heard the origin of the Poopie Suit. (Starfighters.)
I definitely didn’t hear “HIKEEBA! the first four times around (which was rather disappointing.)
Episode 323 – Castle Of Fu Manchu. I don’t think I’ve ever made it to the credits.
I’m always putting something on before I go to bed due to the fact that I hate absolute silence. MST3k being played at my bedside tends to put me at ease. And it’s true: Pod People’s new age-y music relaxes and/or bores you to the point you’re ready to drop off.
Also, I find #705 Escape 2000 to be very enjoyable, IMO.
401 – Space Travelers (a.k.a. Marooned): Watching this movie is like watching snails race.
“Flag on the Moon” was in Beast of Yucca Flats, not Red Zone Cuba.
Season 1: Women of the Prehistoric Planet–particularly the scenes with Tong and Linda
Season 2: Sidehackers–the sidehacking sequence
Season 3: Mighty Jack–incomprehensible plot and just plain boring overall
Season 4: Hercules Against the Moonmen–the whole sandstorm bit
Season 5: The Girl From Lovers Lane–I don’t know why, but I just drift off about half way through the film
Season 6: The Starfighters–take a guess
Season 7: Night of the Blood Beast–too many bland scenes of boring guys standing around talking
Season 8: The Mole People–it’s pretty dull until the Mole People show up
Season 9: Gorgo–after Dorkin’s circus is rent asunder, the fun is over
Season 10: Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues–…and continues, and continues…
As for the shorts, the only ones that I found boring were the Radar Men From the Moon serials from Season one, and The Phantom Creeps from Season Two.
if any of these are your favorites, it’s nothing personal; honestly, I love ’em all. these are presented quite out of order.
MST3K is such a comforting, happy thing, and from the opening notes of the theme song, I am soothed in that ‘oh goody: it’s my favorite bedtime story!’ kind of way. still, some episodes are more- ah, soothing- than others.
the KTMAs are hard to stay frosty through, even though there are some great riffs in some great/awful films. Joel’s sleepy, velvety voice is like audial Xanax.
Women of the Prehistoric Planet: after ‘Hi-Keeba!’ I start to fade.
The Slime People- all of that fog just makes my brain go bye-bye.
Project Moon Base: I still haven’t seen the end of this one.
The Magic Sword, Jungle Goddess: ditto, and I’m sure these are all fine episodes.
Invasion USA, Radar Secret Service: lots of grey talking = nap time.
Rocket Attack USA: same.
Mighty Jack. there’s an old guy with a stuffed tiger and then there’s toy jets flying in circles and…snzzz
Fugitive Alien, Star Force, Master Ninjas, Castle of Fu Manchu- all perfect for insomnia.
Fire Maidens from Outer Space, Crash of the Moons: hot chicks in silvery outfits, dumpy earth guys, they’ve gotta save/stop something, sexual entendres, snore.
Red Zone Cuba, so familiar, with soothing music, like an old lullaby- same with Manos, comforting as a favorite soft blankie.
Racket Girls- extended wrestling scenes with their white-noise audience screaming, despite the barnyard noises from the Mexican wrestler gal- send me to dreamland. I wake up in time for the Ukranian National Anthem.
Robot Monster- soothing rumbly music, lack of action. and Ro-Man looks rather like a teddy bear.
Riding With Death, Code Name: Diamondhead: 70s tv-movie qualities soothe me to sleep- I wake up in time for Cupcake’s fall from grace in the former, and just snooze through the latter.
I love The Creeping Terror- one of my faves- but the monotone narrative makes my eyelids heavy. I always try to stir for the fishing scene- everyone is riffing pure gold in this sequence.
I am sorry to report that the Hercules and Godzilla films are all sort of squished together in my brain into one big episode of each. same with the Gameras. except for Hercules Vs. the Moon Men with the creepy gold owl guy, and Gamera Vs. Guiron with the Midwestern Japanese space babes and the icky Guiron chopping sequences.
Invasion of the Neptune Men: extended droning air ‘battle’ scenes blur the senses.
Overdrawn at the Memory Bank: I think it’s the out-of-focus quality. I try to rouse myself to avoid missing the Fat Man’s digestive symphony in the garden.
Hamlet is too horrifying to make me sleepy. and it gives me a ‘stick with it, Mike and the ‘bots had to!’ feeling.
for shorts, Chicken of Tomorrow and Assignment Venezuela are both nice and long, contain soothing music, and calming narratives. I know there are more shorts that qualify, but I’m gonna go take a nap.
I should add that also the show has always been great to wake up to. Nothing like sticking in an ep on a Saturday/Sunday morning with some coffee and the first smoke. The night viewings go directly back to the midnight and later showings. And so the morning ones are a result of the long time tradition of weekend morning tapings.
Lost continent
wild wild world of bat women
last starfighter
the corpse vanishes
the atomic brain
the hell cats
monster a go go
For me it was Invasion Of The Neptune Men! It was 50 times worse than Prince Of Space! Took forever. as well as Hamlet, Didnt have the patients for it either.
Bobo (#77), I too pop in an MST on Saturday mornings. When MST was on SciFi, that was our regular Saturday morning thing – my son would stumble downstairs, and we’d have it in the background, all of us listening for our favorite riffs. Now, though the kid has moved out, I still put in an MST. I started, early in the year, with Vol 1, and have played an episode each week. Good stuff! Also good to know that I’m not the only one!
castle of fu manchu. i’m falling asleep just thinking abo…zzzzz
I also usually watch an ep on Saturday morning; what a great way to start the weekend :smile:
Snoozer episodes for me are Yucca Flats, Castle of Fu Manchu and Neptune Men (which is by far my least fave).
I agree with what some others have said about how they are comforting and when I am home sick, I always watch MST3K and drift off to Codeine induced sleep :razz:
I have found that whenever I can’t sleep at night that popping a favorite episode into the DVD player and stretching out on the couch with my eyes closed listening to the riffing helps me relax and fall asleep. The only downside to that is sleeping the night on the couch rather than in my bed but fortunately that doesn’t happen often.
man, I gotta have my MST3K fix every day or I jones. but I agree: there’s nothing like that first morning ep on your day off to start the day with laughter, and with the company of what I’ve come to think of as my friends on the SOL.
it is such a treat to see that other people out there share my passion for this show, and I don’t have to feel ashamed or reticent about voicing my own. I don’t have any MSTie buddies out here, so it makes it all the sweeter to read all of your comments.
thank you.
Guess I’ll hop on the “one per season” bandwagon too for those one:
104 – Women of the Prehistoric Planet. But I’ll be honest, it’s the only Season 1 episode I’ve seen. XD
206 – Ring of Terror. It just drags and having the short after the movie doesn’t help at all.
301 – Cave Dwellers. The old guy’s voice is surprisingly soothing.
404 – Teenagers from Outer Space. See above, but apply to David Love.
518 – The Atomic Brain. Doot. De doot. De doot.
606 – The Creeping Terror. The dance hall and Lover’s Lane scenes are WAY too long.
701 – Night of the Blood Beast. Credit Steve for the insomnia cure.
808 – The She-Creature. Despite having my favorite riff in the season, Lance Fuller’s blandness dampens the other 99.9% of the episode.
905 – The Deadly Bees. Gives me the non-deadly Zs.
1009 – Hamlet. Enough said.
Starfighters is the worst. Absolutely nothing happens. Hard to make jokes about nothing.
The Unearthly after the shorts its complete boredom.
Hamlet- way too slow and talky.
Castle of Fu Manchu
I too pop in an MST on Saturday mornings. When MST was on SciFi I started, early in the year, with Vol 1, and have played an episode each week. Good stuff! Also good to know that I’m not the only one!
===========================================
Ditto. Last Saturday saw the one where for some
reason no one liked filthy, disgusting,
anteaters!
It would be easier to list the eps that DON’T make me fall asleep (strangely, Hamlet is one of them), but this dates back to the CC era when I’d fall asleep to it every night.
Totally agree with the “b&w = sleep” sentiment.
The funny thing is, my wife has unwittingly become conditioned. It doesn’t matter how much noise I make during the movie — the instant the end credit song begins she awakens with a start, muttering a Pavlovian “Time for go to bed.”
WOW….this is a tough one.
I would say the one I fall asleep to the most is also Pod People. It’s not because of the movie, but because it’s the one episode I’ve seen the most. I love the horribly bad music, and it has a calming, sleep inducing quality to it.
The other episode that will always put me to sleep is The Unearthly….I’m usually asleep before Tor Johnson can tell me “Time for go to bed!”
not much to offer here… there are a number of eps I don’t like all that much ( because of the underlying movie ) but none that I would say are boring.
I did find a KTMA ep hard to watch, but I think that was a recording quality issue.
All can, & have, put me to sleep, which is a good thing. MST3k relaxes me. At times, I’ll fall asleep with an episode playing. When the episodes concludes, the love theme wakes me and I’ll replay it. Maybe that is odd, but I don’t care.
Any episode with a Godzilla-like monster fight club scenes are my Valium alternative.
On the other hand, I’ll play the previous night’s episode’s while I am getting ready for work in the morning. Laughing before work helps the mood.
My husband is not a fan. Our marriage is give and take relationship. I tolerate constant golfing on his part and he tolerates constant mst3k on mine.
I take episodes on vacations with the portable DVD player.
The episodes that always bored me were the Godzilla and Gamera episodes. I never could get through one without turning on something else
i’ve always felt strange that i always fall asleep watching mst, but am happy to know you all do too. it’s like a warm blankie and an old stuffed pal to snuggle with. even my favorite eps knock me out cold a lot of the time. it really doesn’t matter what i’m watching, if i make it a half hour i’m stretching it.
except if it’s morning time. like someone said, coffee and mst are the ****.
I can fall asleep to any of them. In fact I often use them to induce sleep. But the one that took me countless tries to watch the whole way through is Ring of Terror.
I could never get into Hamlet or Monster A-Go-Go… I think they have to be the worst episodes and they are definite snoozers…most of the Joel episodes could be snoozers for me, honestly (sorry Joel, I like you a lot, but it’s true for me)…
Unlike most people, I actually love The Dead Talk Back and can watch it time and time again…the humor just jives up with me in a wonderfully weird way… “I’m too hip to concentrate”…
#97 Amen, Billy D :)
Falling asleep to MST3k has been something I’ve enjoyed doing for well over a decade! In high school, MST would come on Comedy Central at 10pm, and I had a TV in my basement bedroom where I slept. Would always wake up to shut off Jack LaLlane at about 3am.
As for episodes, I think I can fall asleep to any of them. Just not upon first viewing. Pick any talky B&W movie in the Joel era.
TOUCH OF SATAN was hilarious. The interplay under the tree near the lake always kills me. I agree… Creeping Terror is a sleeper. I have serious trouble making it through that if I am lying on the couch.