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SPOILER SPACEThis thread is for comments on and reactions to the screening of episode 1101 that is available to Kickstarter backers today.
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1101 is much better than 101 or 201. 513 and 801 are more competitive, but I think it slots right in with those.
Definitely above The Crawling Eye which I rarely watch. Above Revenge of the Creature which I really enjoy. Below The Brain that Wouldn’t Die: I always felt Season 5 was the best of the whole run.
I love the Rocketship XM comparison. Feels most apt. Hmm…….I vote for……….(sweating)……….um…………Reptilicus!
Phew! That was tough.
I had a real tingly feeling during the intro, and feel mostly assuaged by the first episode.
My main reservation is if the show has become too self-aware. Kinga mentioning branding/Disney and Max mentioning Netflix ratings… the whole over the top Wil Wheaton fanboy/man crush adoration of Jonah-it’s weird thinking the host is a bit of a rock star and not a janitor or a temp- I think it was a little too much, but I am still mostly pleased.
I have no regrets for giving them 225 dollars.
Nice one, whoever made the Dr who reference. would be a fun thing. wish we still had the war doctor also :(
I thought it made sense, especially with the changes that have happened in the entertainment business over the last 18 years. The show’s always broken the fourth wall, ever since it was explained in an early S01 ep that Forrester was funding his research by selling the experiments to basic cable. The letters segments, Commercial Sign, and Info Club pop-ups all make it clear in a formal sense that the characters know they’re on TV.
As for Jonah, the tone of the exchange back at Gizmonics Mission Control was intentional heavy-handed exposition, but it worked to shorthand his show persona: Both a easygoing hipster doofus and an earnest, dorky go-getter. He’s introduced basically dicking around with a drumset when he should be flying his spaceship, but then it’s immmediately explained that he’s actually testing an experimental “percussion drive”, which kinda goes with the whole slacker/genius ethos that Joel established with the Gizmonics concept. To nerds, Jonah’s a rocker, but to rockers, he’s a nerd.
Yeah
They show Cambot in the robot roll call but it’s a different type of Cambot, maybe he’ll be updated in later episodes.
I mostly agree. I made peace with it, and thought it was fine for 2017 audiences.
It just has an aftertaste of that Sharknado aren’t we precious-ness about it. It may coincide with the present day sensibility, but there’s an underlying smugness there that trips afoul of my Minnesotan sensibilities. Like Kevin always says, it’s the sincere bad movies that are the most endearing. Birdemic was best because it was earnest. When it’s all tongue in check there’s no heart to connect to.
I still trust Joel.
I’m just Linus trying to find the most sincere pumpkin patch.
Boy, I never felt that — I felt the host segments were pitch perfect. It was only the actual movie riffing that I thought was below par (as I said, perhaps a season 2 or season 8 level). I’m hoping that the riffing will improve as the writers got more confident and/or found their voice (I only laughed a handful of times, and that was with alcohol :>).
But the cast themselves all seemed really, really good, and not too polished (I really like during the song how Jonah knocks over some of the figures and you can see he’s just a *bit* flummoxed but then he recovers and continues, almost exactly the way Joel would do during some of the segments that also went south). It feels MUCH better to me than RT (which I used to love but has lost its way during the last couple of years — and I blame that on the writing by the much younger staff, who are obviously trying to appeal to their own crowd. I haven’t laughed at an RT movie in a LONG time).
I didn’t know or just forgot about the advanced screening. I can’t seem to get it now (Monday am), so i guess i’m SOL (the other kind of SOL). I won’t even read the other comments above, for fear of spoilers. Bummer.
The advanced screening was only up for 24 hours. If you backed high enough, you’ll get access to all the episodes tomorrow.
COOL1 How high is high enough? (i’m $114.00). Thanks
Regarding those guys who sort of look like the movie poster version of Ro-Man, the end credits list two possible names for them; Skeleton Crew and Boneheads. Which are they and who are the others (hope that came out coherently)?
That should be high enough. At $85+ you get the full digital download of the whole season. Be on the lookout for either an email from VHX (if you’ve already signed up there) or maybe another Kickstarter updated tomorrow that should tell you how to stream them. It won’t be until Thursday that you’ll be able to download them though.
My reaction is mixed. I would certainly rate it higher than 101-The Crawling Eye, but not over 513 or 801. The lack of series continuity prevents me from rating it higher. I also didn’t laugh nearly as much as I did in those episodes, and that’s what it’s all about: comedy.
But I saw enough good to keep going. I don’t feel like my investment was wasted. My chief concern is that, aside from the bells and whistles of modern effects and whatnot, the episode felt tonally like a Season 3 episode. I bet that will excite some fans, but not me. The show evolved beyond that. Even in Joel’s later seasons. But it will take some time for the new writers and performers to gel. I hope they do.
In one sense I agree with you, and I’ve found that to be true about most shows, movies, even books in the last decade or so. Characters don’t seem to be able to “just talk” — no, every utterance has to be some “look how incredibly witty I am” comment, even supposedly straight dramas. Now, MST3K **is** supposed to be witty and funny, so I guess I’m splitting hairs. Perhaps a little bit more of the old Joel sleepy/deadpan delivery would help.
Short and sweet:
We liked it.
Shorter and sweeter:
More! More!
One caveat:
Servo and Jonah’s voices are too similar.
What I truly appreciate about the MST3K reboot was that it pitched lots of gags that us aging boomers can best appreciate. By comparison, Rifftrax aims at a younger audience and frankly, I don’t connect with its humor, much less its pop culture references. I’m also grateful for the new series’ overall Joelness.
Rifftrax aims at a younger audience and frankly, I don’t connect with its humor
But wasn’t that always part of the fun? There were always MST references I didn’t get; there were references in 1101 I didn’t get. It doesn’t matter — there’s always another joke on the way.
Just like with MST, I find Rifftrax’s more obscure references — if I’m curious enough — a gateway to find out new pop cultural trivia. (… just what I need to fill up my old brain with!)
Woo-hoo!!! I initially got on board when Joely-poly-pudding-and-pie was still at the helm, so that is indeed music to my ears, man! (and that’s nothing against Mike at all, just a preference/identification thing)
I like this comment :) (Coming from another victim of having to put up with a world of unbelieving “You blockhead!”‘s.)
The whole KTMA roots came from what local UHF stations DID with a movie to fill two non-football hours on a Saturday afternoon, because it was a public-domain cheapie lying around in their vaults, and they had to find some unique way to make it culty for a kid audience and get a regular viewership.
That was pretty much the way it still was in the early 90’s days of The Comedy Channel trying to turn Clutch Cargo reruns into a network, and USA Network airing Commander USA.
That whole mindset’s generationally gone from our system; the new kids watching TV have never seen movies shown on TV out of desperation, since movies are now cool culty things you look up and stream. And MST3K itself isn’t just The Little Local-Station Show That Could, once we Kept Circulating the Tapes, now it’s become a cult-of-personality “I lift mine eyes onto the hill of the Space Mutiny”, where every line must now be a lifestyle of coolness, exchanged like secret codes among the faithful, and baffling the squares in the outside world, as we seek to find our fellow own.
I’m hoping Joel is still the last of us Old-Generation geezers, but even he seems to be hedging his bets in interviews, sticking to his principles about the show while also saying “Yeah, well, the kids are loyal and like that new humor, and you can see how Rifftrax has been getting those new audiences into the theaters…”
There’s a thin line between evolving your material, and being too cynical and conciliatory to your “competition”, and it’s way too easy for other artists to cross it without thinking.
“Blockhead” is not the precise word that comes to mind.
i could type (well, i have) too many thoughts about the first epi premiere, but most everyone else has touched upon the same thoughts i had too, so i’ll save ’em. suffice to say…
i happily put one thumbs up! (where that monster is soft enough to penetrate!)
“‘nutha laayyyamp!” (i LOL’d at that one!)
Yeah, I’m curious if we’ll go to more standard opening titles, or change it up every episode. (A Series of Unfortunate Events was somewhere in-between; it featured opening titles at the beginning of every episode, but the lyrics and visuals changed.)
For sure, but there are plenty of classic episodes where they didn’t necessarily pick the most obvious stinger.
I wonder if they’ll leverage that as a way to handle the various guest stars. Like, one of the Boneheads takes his mask off and he’s Jerry Seinfeld.
Huh, I hadn’t thought about whether there was a difference between the Skeleton Crew and the Boneheads. Guess we’ll find out.
IT’S NOT LIKE TWO MAD SCIENTISTS FORCED YOU TO WATCH IT….
Felt like a Sci-Fi Channel era episode to me because of the movie. Reptilicus fits right in with some of those movies they did in early Season 8 and stuff like Gorgo. Also the riffing was great, inspite of the fact that these new guys talk really fast. I love the commercial bumpers and the band, too. Even though with Netflix you just watch this stuff whenever you want it brought back good memories of not just MST3K but other late night movie shows like Reel Wild Cinema and Joe Bob’s Monstervision.
It also made me appreciate what original MST3K was able to do with so few people, though, seeing how long the credits were for this new one. Watched Girl in Gold Boots after Reptilicus and it both was way funnier and looked way nicer than I remembered.
I also really hope we get an explanation for why the bots are back in space. Convoluted and stupid/funny! They have so many writers, they can think up something! Maybe Mike got married and the robots had to move out of his apartment?
After watching the first episode, I feel great about my (not inconsiderable) Kickstarter investment. Very much looking forward to seeing more. I do hope that we get more development of the new Mads, who felt, well, almost extraneous in this 1st episode. I’m also hoping Tom and Crow develop coherent identities over the episodes – I got the sense of a “Crow,” but Servo felt a little vague.
Jonah was great.
I liked the “commercial” bumpers – it’s a nice new approach.
I liked the monster song. Very catchy.
Re: the commercial bumpers, which seem to be “Huh?” to a lot of people — since this season is on Netflix, do you think they’re meant as mini-intermission flags where you can pause the movie and get up, get some food, snag a beverage of choice, take a bathroom break? That’s what it seemed like to me. But then, I tend to be popcorn- and beer-fueled when I watch MST3K.
Lots to unpack. New season, new episode, new host, new Mads…
The introduction mostly worked for me. I was almost beginning to get annoyed by the “two other people talk about how awesome the new character is instead of actually letting us get to know them” bit, until Wil Wheaton pitched his performance just the right way to let me realize it was a parody of scenes like that. “What a rebel…**sigh**” And it segued nicely into the credits and first glimpse of Felicia and Patton. I want to complain about how little they were used, but really it’s about the same amount as Frank and Trace–it’s just that we don’t have sixty-odd episodes of additional content to satisfy my desire for more yet. :) Standout moment was Kinga calling herself a “third-generation supervillain” and of course, the “Nobody calls him that, his name is Max.”
The movie was good, although I do want to echo some of the comments about similar voices and overlapping riffs–just a brief pause for breath to indicate that this isn’t part of the same joke would have helped. (Also, there’s a stretch of about five minutes at the beginning that’s very riff-lite, which was sadface.) The host segments were nice, and we’ve gotten the “additional Servos” out of the way early so they can start using that gag in earnest. Oh, and I liked Jonah using one of the monster cutouts as a microphone. :)
I wish we hadn’t gone back to the letters, but oh well. It’s only a minute or two.
I loved the faux-commercial bumpers–they reminded me a little of a 70s era Tonight Show, and made it feel a bit like I was a kid staying up late to watch something as a special treat even though we saw it at six in the afternoon. Those who don’t remember 70s era Tonight Shows may take it less well, though.
On the whole, I thought it was a solid episode and I’m ready for 1102!
I can say that I went into this episode a bit cynical. Even as a backer, I was worried that the new season might feel too hipster Californian. I was worried that the upgrades in technology might make it too clean, in contrast to my memories of the show. The beginning and all the exposition felt a bit rushed, followed by a slightly confusing time jump of a couple of months. I wasn’t sure if this was what I had hoped for. I maintained this cynicism up until I heard the riff “to be enunciated as much as possible, if you please”. Then I cracked up, I relaxed, and I realized that this was the show I wanted. The particulars may be updated or unfamiliar, but the spirit of the show remains in tact. The rust of a decade of absence has begun to fall off, the stiffness of the new components will loosen up, and the humor is still king. I’m ready for more!
But if they DID, it would be funnier, because Humor of Frustration is more common and sympathetic than Superior Hipness.
If you mean the ones who (ahem) look like Princess Dragonmom’s minions from “The Super Infra-Man” (as it’s now officially called), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj6RzqNloBs , only with a different color scheme, they may still be working out that credit, but let’s at least put cult-ref credit where it’s due.
Rocketship X-M’s a pretty high bar to set for (x)01 episodes:
– Scripted riffs boosting the humor for the first time and finding the show’s niche
– Robot Holocaust callback, back when any callback would take us by surprise (gosh, we didn’t know we were a cult thing!)
– Things funny floating
– The Reporters of Rocketship X-M
– And the gleeful destruction of the movie’s ultra-sincere “tragic” climax (“We said, ‘HELLLP!'”)
Crawling Eye was a snore, Revenge of the Creature too caught up in its own Universal-enforced story navel-gazing (and trying to make “Of course Bill’s Crow doesn’t know how to be funny, that’s his shtick!” part of the show), and Brain That Wouldn’t Die was like a new Doctor Who transition that didn’t know who their main character was, and had Mike try and play a Nice Guy because they thought he was just replacing Joel.
I can see 1101 being better than some, but if it can live up to 201, I’ll doff my hat.
Wow, big sigh of relief. Very happy with the finished product, though yes, there is room for improvement. Loving that the riffing is well within the Joel-era spirit. This is not Rifftrax. Though I do watch and enjoy some Rifftrax, they are moving towards R and away even from PG-13 with many remarks. Not good when you have young kids. Fun stuff, the new MST3K. Needs more viewings. You can tell they worked hard to make old and prospective new fans happy. Main drawback for me was the rapid fire (at times) of the riffing. Can be a bit unsettling even if the riffs are good. You need time to chuckle, time to have your eye drawn to just what is being riffed before having to digest another riff. And yes, the riffing was faster than the film at times. One example I remember is Jonah singing something like “it’s a quarter to three” while it was still midnight in the time montage. The story line holes regarding the characters I think will be filled in time.
I lost it during the “the temperature is 10 degrees!!” riff and “Vroom! Vroom! I’m driving the freezer!”
I want to leave the episode as a surprise, but what is the movie? Not sure if the name violates the ‘no-spoiler’ disclaimer, but I’d like to see it before viewing ep.11-1.
Pretty good overall. This was a pretty watchable movie as far those standards go and it was delightfully stupid. Best riffing was the watching the thermometer sequence. The stinger was classic. A very catchy song. Similar critiques of the riffing being a little too fast at points and hard to distinguish voices at times. It didn’t have the same pain to the characters as being forced to watch bad movies. Kind of interested to see if they do a really really bad movie this season and how they would handle that pain aspect.
Mph. I’ve learned to stay away from any movie or TV show that reviewers describe as “smart”.
This is the spoiler space (and the poster was shown in the trailer) , so I think it’s safe to say experiment 1011 is Reptilicus.
Spoiler: It’s possible for your to enjoy something without ****ting on RiffTrax.
Also, delete your account.
I really liked it. Certainly, I’m looking forward to all the other episodes.
Synthia, eh? Sneaky.
“Of course Bill’s Crow doesn’t know how to be funny, that’s his shtick!” part of the show
What does this mean? The bit from the first couple of minutes of 801 where Crow gets carried away riffing Tributary celebrity names and is told to cool down? And then is NEVER DONE AGAIN?
That’s not remotely Bill Corbett’s schtick. He is justifiably beloved in the role despite having to follow the brilliant and iconic Trace version of Crow. His Crow is primarily known for having a shorter temper and more East Coast attitude. So, you’re wrong. Again.
And, as is always the case with your Mike comments, your Brain That Wouldn’t Die assessment is predictably inaccurate and off the mark.
Never forget this and you’ll be OK: if your alternate reality version of Mike’s reception was accurate, the show wouldn’t have lasted another 5 and a half years and continued to gain legions of fans over the past 18 years after its final episode. The problem isn’t Mike, never has been. It’s you.
I find vapid egosyntonic aggression and repetitive, condescending lecturing a good argument for forced sterilization.
Most here are making honest and lighthearted comments; they are exchanging ideas and experiences within the fast approaching framework of Season 11.
But you just keep spinning your predictable, supine, and snobbish Edison cylinders as if they were unveiled Tibetan prayer wheels of importance.
Unfortunately, people such as yourself, never stop taking themselves so seriously until after they are long dead.
In the meantime, they critique the chemotherapy nurse about her hairstyle, the doctor about his bad breath, and the maintenance man about the flickering bulb fluorescing above their soon to be deathbed. Those final critiques, emanating from a bed of blue sheets. So important.
On the one hand, you are the living breathing incarnation of Ebeneezer Scrooge, but on the other, completely anti-Dickensian, devoid of the ability to ever repent.
The saddest thing about all this is that you wear your disorder like a badge of honor instead of having the common decency to attempt to conceal it.
God forbid that you ever merely try to blend in and be civil, you pompous pseudo-intellectual “MST3K expert.”
You are as transparent as the air you selfishly breathe.
Everyone around here sees. Everyone knows. They are just too nice to tell you what an insufferable prick you are.
There’s always time to turn around … before the grave.
But even now, I am afraid your self-assured snickering reveals the outcome.
My three word review: It was okay.
If I had to assign a letter grade, I’d say B+. In no way was it disastrous, and I certainly look forward to seeing the rest of the season. Will it ever be on par with the Mike and Joel seasons… only time will tell.
They clearly have a bigger budget now, and I have to applaud them for trying to keep the show as close to a “single camera puppet show” as possible, though a few of the show-off moments (Tom Servo flying, Crow’s legs, Gypsy in the theater and her new “normal” voice) seemed completely unnecessary.
I loved the new door sequence, Kinga and Max were great, though Moon Base 13 is a little over-staffed and flashy for my liking. The new opening theme was… passable. Not as imaginative as it could be, and a tad over-produced compared to the original, but it got the job done, and it’s just a theme song.
As for the riffing, it started off slower than I would have liked, but sped up by the end. Since the voices were different, it felt a bit distracting. I’ll probably have to rewatch a few times and get used to them before I can really make up my mind about the new crew. If anything, I’m hearing Joel’s riffing style coming through Jonah, but minus Joel’s perpetually sleepy half-baked sounding voice, so it felt a little off. Also, the rhythm of Crow and Tom could use a little work (Tom in particular seems to be lacking Kevin Murphy’s love for obscure collegiate riffing, so the division of “that’s a Crow line, that’s a Tom line” also felt off) but I have to remind myself that it’s an entirely new team, and this was the first episode. Hopefully by the end of the season, they’ll have nailed their rhythm, and we’ll all feel more at home with these characters.
All in all, MST3K is back. It may not have knocked it out of the park on the first try, but it was a pretty solid effort with plenty of room to grow.
This may just be so meta it’s circled back around to genuine naiveté.
Oof. I can’t really say as I think eugenics jokes are funny.
Besides, populations breed towards the norm. If EricJ has kids, they’re probably perfectly nice people who don’t spend all their spare time trolling cult TV show fansites with the same tired, unwelcome schtick, or delight in annoying people who are just trying to have a good time. Please, leave them out of this; they’ve already got EricJ for a dad, haven’t they suffered enough without you questioning their right to exist?
Fine.
If we end up with another Chip Hitler, the onus is on you.
Episode 1102 is amazing!
Despite one (ahem) individual’s attempts to suck any potential enjoyment out of everyone here, so far I’ve got nothing but gratitude for MST3K being back, and good feelings about what I’ve seen so far.
The whole cache is out there now on vhx — huzzah!!
YES! They finally did “Star Crash”! I’ve been begging Rifftrax to do that one for years! And “At The Earth’s Core”! Can’t wait to get home from work!