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Weekend Discussion Thread: Most Underrated EpisodeAlert reader Marty K (aka pondoscp) suggests we discuss:
Good idea! My pick would would be episode 315- TEENAGE CAVEMAN. Great shorts, great episode all the way around but you never tend to see it on lists of classic episodes. What’s your pick? 138 Replies to “Weekend Discussion Thread: Most Underrated Episode”Commenting at Satellite News
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“I’d say 521-SANTA CLAUS, very funny, but is always overshadowed by on the boards by Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. This episode’s portion where they make fun of the different countries (Including the U.S.A.) working for Santa, is hilarious!”
I agree. I actually think Santa Claus is a stronger episode than Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.
Another one for Moon Zero Two and Deadly Bees!
Also throwing City on Fire out there, which I seem to do with some frequency. Oh well. Sure, the riffing’s sparse and all, but it’s a fairly interesting movie built on top of a blindingly dumb premise. (Plus, you know, Leslie Neilsen and Shelley Winters.) The title card stating “What you are about to see could happen to any city, anywhere” sets the tone for all the stupid to follow right off the bat.
It’s also the only MST3K movie to make me physically gag, but I guess that’s not really a good thing.
I would say
Joel: Fire Maidens of Outer Space – simply because it’s in my top 5 episodes of all time and it seems like its rarely mentioned here.
Mike: I agree with others that have said Track of the Moon Beast. Between Johhny Longbone’s stew recipe and the Behind the Music riff on the California Lady band (booze, drugs, AND out of control gambling) it’s a hilarious episode.
Also have to heartily agree with Lassie: The Painted Hills. I can’t believe how funny they made a Lassie movie fer cryin’ out loud. ‘Hey everybody, Tommy’s in there crying like a little girl!”
Hamlet. Enough of the actual play that it’s still entertaining, and great riffs, though the host segments aren’t the best…
I’ll agree with the above…”The Thing That Couldn’t Die” was my first thought, but I also really enjoy “Jungle Goddess”. There are so many great call backs from that episode, but it’s overlooked for how funny it really is.
I guess I’d probably have to go with FIRE MAIDENS OF OUTER SPACE..Not only does it have Timmy,but some great riffs,great host segments and a movie that has almost as much padding as SWAMP DIAMONDS..
I’m going to go with Escape 2000. If you like movies with lots of silver guys, this movie is for you. Gets little recognition but the riffing is fantastic. Probably my favorite season of them all is this shortened season 7 (I believe). “They took out Horseshack!”
So happy to see Catalina Caper getting nods. Man, what a great episode. I hear the MST alums talking occasionally about the “rules of riffing,” one of which invariably seems to be “don’t riff on intentional comedies.” I think Catalina Caper (however punishing the Brains felt it was to do) explodes that myth quite handily. The riffs of the musical numbers are absolutely hilarious.
Underrated? Dunno. Probably Bloodlust or Amazing Transparent Man.
The Dead Talk Back is my pick from the official era. Even the skits are funny.
But Hangar 18 from the KTMA area is my all time favorite.
I would have to go with The Wild Rebels.
A late addition, and I’m sure I’m WAY in the minority with this one (and I’m NOT congratulating myself for this!), but I really love Being from Another Planet (although it’s true that Ben Murphy is very flat in this one, minus the cheese that flows so richly out of him in Riding with Death).
In order to deflect attention away from my guilty admission, I want to say that I’m glad to see that The Dead Talk Back has gotten quite a few mentions!
As far as underrated episodes go, I have to agree with posts #31 and #44; “It Lives By Night” and “Starfighters”
It Lives By Night rarely gets any love around here even though it’s one of my personal top-10 MST3K episodes. The riffing is top-notch in that one and the movie is absurdly funny in its own right to be hysterical on its one (even if unintentionally). Because of the riffing, I sill can’t imagine that sheriff without a feather boa. :-D
And Starfighters has a special place in my heart if only for it’s original sell to the Best Brains crew in the first place. One of Frank Connif’s jobs was to pre-screen and suggest movies for the Misty treatment. He fought for his movie when none of the others really wanted it, based solely on the strength of the wealth of premature ejaculation jokes the refueling scenes provided. In Frank’s opinion, this was either going to be the greatest episode they ever produced, or the absolute worst.
~M~
Danger! Death Ray!
I’m a bit late to the meeting here, but I’m going to put in my vote for 309: Amazing Colossal Man . Yes, the Mstie community rates this episode above average (#65 on my site), but I remember being shocked by that when I was compiling the votes. I was sure it was going to be much higher. It was one of the first VHS releases which I though would have helped it, but moreover this episode just seemed to have it all (except a short). It had both goofy and introspective host segments, the movie had a catchphrase and BLATANTLY oddball science, and Clay stabs Frank with a giant syringe. What more do you want?
I’ll also include 911: Devil Fish in this discussion. Slow but awesome riffing and GREAT host segments. I guess Msties were expecting more after 910: Final Sacrifice.
John M Hanna #46 & Mr. B(ob) #80 – Yay!! Other #211 fans! I have “Venus” ranked #7 overall. When I first saw it, I also was struck by how “good” the movie actually was! And yes, the “Klack” segment is genius.
Joe Don Baker IS Santa Claus #96 – My site has Msties ranking “Santa” at #5 and “Martians” at #19. Perhaps “Martians” steals some press because of CT’s re-riffing…?
Got to agree with the original poster. I love Rocket Attack USA, so much so that I’m afraid that I’ll get crap for it on the message board. I think of it as the first great episode. There were obviously some high points in the previous season and a half, but none of them are as solid all the way through. They all have obvious weaknesses here and there.
Hellcats strikes me as something you need to be in the right mood and frame of mind for. If you’re not, it’s excruciating. If you are, it’s hilarious. I hated it at first. Now, I lament all the 2-star reviews the episode receives throughout the online fandom.
I also liked Ring of Terror. I find the movie wonderfully benign, and that just made the riffing fun. I don’t know where the unbridled hostility toward it comes from, or why the movie gets singled out for a slamming among the other movies they showed.
To avoid Season 2 for a moment, I think The Thing That Couldn’t Die and Terror From the Year 5000 are great season 8 fare. I think they’re not mentioned that much, along with many of the earlier episodes that season, because they just weren’t shown that often on SciFi, not because people necessarily rejected them. They were also black and white, which I’ve found takes some getting used to for a lot of people.
Also, Radar Secret Service. Even the Brains said this one was dull and didn’t have much going for it. I find it a delightful little 50s movie. Not necessarily much better than most of the others, but it gets (what I feel is undeserved) criticism while similar-quality movies don’t elicit the same reaction.
THE GIRL IN LOVER’S LANE. So under-rated, it’s almost non-stop funny.
So does that mean we now get to do “most overrated episode”?
I guess I would have to nom “Manos” for that slot.
schippers #119 – M’eh. Things could get nasty if we start tearing down each other’s faves. That being said, there are a few that the Mstie Community seems to love that I just… don’t… get.
I’ll go with The Dead Talk Back. I hadn’t seen it in ten years before the DVD came out. I actually forgot who the killer was! Very fun episode and very underrated.
I agree with #86 about Hamlet. I think it’s a great episode, but I believe I like it more because I’m familiar with the play. The jokes seem to be more of a commentary on the play itself, and not so much on how bad the production is.
I also concur with ‘Catalina Caper.’ I don’t know why beach movies just do it for me, but they do. Maybe its being landlocked in Iowa for so many years, and visiting San Diego with its lovely beaches. Also, when my family stopped off on the island a few years ago, I was secretly trying to figure out what was still standing after 50 years (supposedly, the boat that Don and his friend took to the island went out of service a few years after CC was made).
I would also say ‘Tormented.’ I know I have a website dedicated to Village of the Giants, but the riffing on Bert I Gordon’s Tormented was great. Never heard so many death jokes used (“tonight from the crypt: I want to BURY a Lighthousekeeper, AHAHAHAHAAA!”). i still remember seeing the movie without riffing when I was little, and Vi’s creeping severed hand stuck in my brain until I saw this, and realized where it came from.
Oh, and ‘The Painted Hills.’ Just Joel’s high-pitched voice for Lassie and Tommy is funny. (“Shep…what is it?” “You’ve killed again, haven’t you?”) I’d love to own this one.
And on a final note, ‘Danger: Death Ray.’ There’s numerous characters that do things that make me hate them, like those in ‘Double 007’ and ‘Danger: Diabolik,’ The guys make the ridiculous premise semi-entertaining, such as a death ray being used for ‘peaceful purposes.’
I don’t think anyone has mentioned THE HUMAN DUPLICATORS or have they? Not only does it have Fridge Alert(only when William Conrad opens it,mind you),Richard Kiel(his second best performance next to Eegah)and great riffs: “Is that felt?” “It is now.ha-ha” or “I could duplicate that mirror,but I guess it’d better just to buy one” and so on…
I feel the entire 8th season is sadly underrated.
City on Fire, The Crawling Hand, Invasion U.S.A, Warrior of the Lost World, The Terror from the Year 5000, Being from Another Planet, Devil Fish, The Amazing Transparent Man, Angels’ Revenge, and Hamet, of course.
MSRT3K (#125): I love Season 8, right down to the Planet of the Apes skits. And I’ll add (as others have) that I think Terror from the Year 5000 is definitely underrated.
“All that peeping, Angelo? Water under the bridge!” :)
P.S. Horror of Party Beach was the very first episode I saw after the movie, and for me it was just the best introduction to the show proper. I had no idea that Crow was different (so I didn’t get the “I’m different” part of the theme song), and it took me quite some time to sort out who was who, and how all of those things changed from season to season, but I didn’t care (although it was fun putting all of that together). All I knew was that the the line “I don’t like going to slumber parties now that I’m in my 40s” made me laugh like a goon.
God, I love this show!
Horror of Party Beach is one of my very favorites, and I sure hope it gets a proper release soon. I’m not sure I think of it as underrated, since most comments I read about it are pretty positive, but I do think it’s overshadowed, or undermentioned anyway…SODIUM!!!
I would vote for Mike’s first time as host – The Brain that Would’t Die”.
As Bill runs with Jan’s head – “He’s at the 30…the 20…no one will catch him!”
I love the off-the-wall added dialogue: (As Jan burns in the car wreck) “It actually smells GOOD!”
The movie is a sleazy mess, but M&tBs just roll right along with it, and the result is a great episode.
First off, I’m amazed that anyone here would consider Manos to be an “underrated” episode. From what I’ve heard, it’s pretty much the “gold standard” for MST3K. It’s sure as hell one of my Top Ten faves.
But, aaaaanyway…
First, Radar Secret Service. I noticed it got a lukewarm review just recently here; I suspect that being paired with the pants-wetting funny short Last Clear Chance (For Fantastic Savings) made it look a bit weak. Radar Secret Service became an instant favorite for me the first time I saw it. I think part of its strength (if you can call it that) is that it’s so grindingly dull — as the Mads put it: great slabs of driving, huge gobs of standing around, big heaps of talking. Nelson and the Bots ripped this one up with gusto; it’s some of their best work ever.
Next, we’ve got Horrors Of Spider Island. Now, I always feel rather bittersweet when watching a Season 10 episode, but then I remind myself it’s just a show, I should really just relax. I don’t hear this one mentioned a lot when fellow MSTies discuss their faves. This is another instant favorite; the plot is hackneyed, the characters shallow, the situations ridiculous, and Nelson and the Bots show it no mercy. Contains one of my all-time favorite theater moments, in which Crow, during an especially tedious scene, announces that he’s going for a break, commenting “it’s been ten years, I’m owed one.”
Another unsung fave from the SciFi Era is Leech Woman. This one also became an instant favorite for me, and not just because you can base a drinking game on it. It’s got every cheesy shopworn trope ever conceived in it, from bitterly bad marriages to greedy adventurers to every bad African stereotype you’ve ever seen in a Tarzan movie, and Nelson and the Bots give it a good sound thrashing. JEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!
One of my favorite Joel episodes, Hellcats is another one I never hear much about. Perhaps it’s because it’s a sublimely bad biker flick doomed to struggle in the shadow of Sidehackers, which gave us the immortal riff, “Chili peppers burn my gut!”. I mean, what’s not to love about Hellcats? It’s supposedly a movie about a gang of mean, ass-kicking, heroin-dealing bikers, and yet its theme song sounds as if it were performed by The Archies. It’s got every possible cheesy ’60s biker stereotype you could possibly think of cranked up to 11, not to mention a return appearance by Mr. Chili Peppers Burn My Gut himself. Add to this that former Coleman Francis cohort Tony Cardoza shares responsibility for this stinkburger, and you’ve got a big ol’ slab of chrome-piped, exhaust black fun.
I also agree with a previous poster about The Unearthly (a.k.a. The Un-acting). C’mon, folks — John Carradine and Tor Johnson! How can you go wrong? Joel and the Bots really take this turkey to the woodshed. The riffing during the scene with Carradine and the other doctor in the room with the catatonic guy in the chair is priceless, especially the non-verbal riffs where they mock the gruff, froggy-voiced, staccato tones Carradine and his cohort are speaking in.
And while I’m at it, where would a discussion of underrated Joel episodes be without a mention of Fugitive Alien? He tried to kill him with a forklift! That is all. You’re stuck here.
Ask any of my friends, and they’ll tell you I’m a huge fan of Japanese monster flicks, especially really bad ones, and especially really bad ones which are also really badly dubbed. Gamera Vs Guiron is another one I don’t hear much about. Along with starring one of the most ill-conceived, stupidest-looking monsters ever, it’s also got… to be one of… the most… badly… dubbed Japanese… monster… flicks ever. Hello. Hello. Thank you. How are you? Thank you. Hello. Thank you.
And, to finish up, let me just say that I just can’t say enough about the Coleman Francis Trilogy. Many criticize Francis’ work for its grim storylines, its stark and forbidding locales, its stiff acting, and especially its dry, wooden dialogue. If you ask me, though, you can have Clark Gable saying “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn!”; you can have Bogart saying “You played it for her, you can play it for me!”; you can have Judy Garland saying “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore!” — for me, there’s no more classic dialogue moment than Joe looking sweetly into Beth’s eyes and saying “I like coffee!”
For later episodes, I gotta give it up for the Projection Man. Rarely mentioned, and better than The Deadly Bees for a British film effort IMO.
Ooooooo! And The Brute Man. Sometimes mentioned, but usually in a negative light as Rondo Hatton’s illness was being exploited…but HEY! He knew what he was doing. And putting all that aside, it is a HILARIOUS riff. And the short maybe the best short the show ever aired. So my point: sometimes mentioned, usually negative, but still very funny and underrated for that reason.
Oh, man, yeah… how could I forget The Brute Man? The movie itself gets a killer riff job, but the short, Chicken Of Tomorrow — god, I was hurting by the end of it. Contains one of my favorite riffs of all time: “These chickens were smoking in bed!”
The She Creature. It’s, um, underrated or something.
@133
There were some funny ones in ‘Chicken of Tomorrow,’ though I love the last riff:
“Wait, there’s noone driving the truck. The chickens are taking over!!”
First spaceship on Venus and the magic sword, both very over looked, they are solid entertaining and roundly hilarious. Yet they don’t get much attention.
I all so gotta throw space children and phantom planet in the mix, overlooked in my opinion.
“today’s the day the teddy bears go to Venus!”
GIRL IN LOVERS’ LANE is one of my all time faves, I was surprised to find that most don’t enjoy it and find it dull or even too dark for their tastes. The (mis)adventures of Big Stupid and Danny never fail to put a smile on my face.
Hmm I’d say The Hellcats,The Crawling Hand,Beginning of the End,the Brute Man and the Black Scorpion are very underrated and also the Painted Hills and the KTMA episodes!