Alert reader David, playing off Sampo’s Theorem, writes:
Came up with this while reading the recent 904 – Werewolf postings. Most people rated it a 5 in their posts, but a select few rated it as low as a 3, admitting that they “like it but just don’t get all the love for it.” I think we all have that feeling about some episode that everyone else seems to adore.
My response: “OK, if you don’t think THIS is a 5 star episode, then what is?”
Question: What’s an episode you consider overrated, and maybe suggest a neglected favorite that you prefer.
For overrated, I’m going to go with 303- POD PEOPLE. People just swoon over this episode. It puts me to sleep. (Great segments, though.)
For underrated, I have to go with 610- THE VIOLENT YEARS, an all-time fave that I don’t think gets the love it should.
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Overrated: Red Zone Cuba. I’ve watched this one a few times now, and although I invariably enjoy it when I start, I’m losing interest mid-way through. That, and only the ‘I’m Cherokee Jack’ riff sticks in my mind, and even that’s more due to callbacks than anything else.
Underrated: Riding With Death and the Master Ninjas. As a big fan of these kinds of shows, these episodes have a special place in my heart, and it’s always a shame they don’t get better recognition (one could say they’re more elusive than Robert Denby).
The Starfighters: I find the obscurity of this one odd, as the film is nearly as dull as some of Coleman Francis’ oeuvre (except for Beast of Yucca Flats. Nothing happens in that film, nothing…), and yet the riffing is damn near the sharpest the show’s offered (‘His face springs into action!’ ‘NOT an actor!’ and so on).
Alien from L.A: Does Kathy Ireland’s voice drive everyone off?
The most underrated film here is It Lives By Night. I have never seen it mentioned on this website.
Underrated: Code name Diamond Head and San Francisco International. Nobody seems to have much love for these, but made for TV crap from the 70’s is prime fodder for MST. The dialogue, “action”, fashions, the lack of any real effort put into this tripe. I find these episodes hilarious!!
I think She Creature is very underrated. Movie has nothing redeeming about it (aside from King’s magnificent scene stealing performance), but the riffing was superb. I have a real soft spot for those types of bland stupid black and white monster movies though.
Danger Death Ray as well. Probably my favorite episode of all. Though the amount of times it has been mentioned maybe means it isn’t underrated, just in need of an official release. Ba bada badada
Gotta agree on the Violent Years. Great episode. The short had one of the best jokes ever “double bag it son” as well as introducing the concept of squishiness
The Master Ninja episodes I don’t really get though. Can’t get past the annoying mumbling of Van Patten maybe.
Kevin , #70
Yes and Yes. ;-)
Actually a good analysis of Fortinbras. Could this movie
have been catharsis (gesundheit!) for the Brains high school
or college Shakespeare assignments?
And anyway, I still think Ophelia was a babe in this movie. :mrgreen:
Btw, i think some of the reviews in this thread miss the point. If I
understand the premise here it’s which movies are (overliked?) by
mysties and which are panned too much, not which are inherently
good or bad.
Overrated: no doubt it’s ‘Manos’ for me. I think that, since the source material is so horrid, this ep just took on a legendary life of its own, but it doesn’t really have the substantive riffing to back it up. The riffing simply isn’t that funny, nowhere funny enough to live up to the reputation this episode has gained.
Underrated:
‘Zombie Nightmare’: I laughed out loud too many times to recall with this one.
‘Track of the Moon Beast’: Antiseptic Manor!
‘Devil Fish’: great ep, from the cheesy Italian rip-off of ‘Jaws’ to the screaming coast guard to “Stop in the name of Europe!” to “Argggh! You bastard Lou Reed!” . . . very under-appreciated effort. Noteworthy: they accuse everyone of pretending to be Americans but Michael Sopkiw was born and from Connecticut.
‘Boggy Creek II’
‘Blood Waters of Dr. Z’
‘Overdrawn at the Memory Bank’
@65:
I’d have to agree with you, but with the corollary that newer good movies are often worse that older good movies as well. It has something to do with the technology, I think. Moviemakers seem to think that if they include enough in the way of special effects, they don’t need to worry about inconsequentials like plot or continuity or characterization. I think you’ll find in general that the money spent on writing is exponentially inverse to the money spent on cinematography.
I don’t think it’s been mentioned in 107 posts of people talking about underrated episodes, so either it’s really really incredibly super-underrated or I’m just weird. But I’m a big fan of Teenage Crimewave. I loved all the juvenile delinquent movies/episodes and echo the enthusiasm for The Violent Years and I Accuse My Parents, but there’s a soft spot in my heart for #522.
Robot Monster is the one season 1 episode that stacks up very well with subsequent seasons.
I’m also a huge fan of Hamlet — one of my top three favorites of all time. Yes, it’s a badly done presentation of a classic, but I think part of this episode’s brilliance is showing that ANYTHING can be riffed well by skilled professionals, even Shakespeare. Just the way they played with Shakespearian language delighted the English major geek in me (“Unstaple yourself!”).
Overrated — keeping in mind that I like ALL MST3K, so it’s not like I don’t still enjoy these episodes, but… the Russo/Finish movies and the Hercules movies top the list. Enough about the pecs already. Maybe the big ambitious colorful fantasy genre doesn’t make for my favorite riffing style.
Great comments by everyone…. Misties are are real 10%’ers.
My underrated are the ones I didn’t like at first, but have become ones I can watch over and over.
Split up by eras:
Underrated:
1 – Lost Continent – Although highly rated, I think the riffing combined with the movie are TRULY great, and underrated. I put it down as the best of the Joel era. “Rock climbing!” “Let’s form a soccer team and eat each other!”
2 – Godzilla vs Megalon – Was a big Godzilla fan, now even more. Can sing the “Jet Jaguar” theme by heart! Yes, I’m strange.
3 – Bride of the Monster – I think the peak of the Joel era. The riffing with the parrot leave me rolling.
Mike:
1 – Beginning of the End – watching it right now. Love the “Hi, I’m Peter Graves, and I’m enrolling in the University of Minnesota” skit.
2 – Gorgo – I liked Gorgo before I saw the riff, and I like it even more now. Great to see Leonard Maltin in on the gag, even with everything said about him in Laserblast.
3 – The Clonus Horror – “Do you eat your boogers?” The classic movie to riff, good actors stuck in bad movies. The Biography skit at the end is hilarious.
So many more to talk about, but these ones stick out.
It is cool that there is so much diversity of opinion among MSTies. I am sort of shocked that people consider Cave Dwellers, Pod People, Final Sacrifice, and Space Mutiny overrated. I have watched all of them many times without coming close to getting tired of them. But to each there own.
I will also agree with Manos being somewhat overrated. It is not one that I tend to want to re-watch for pleasure, though they did an amazing job with it. It is not a personal top ten episode for me & I think casual fans and the media were a little too quick to anoint it as the show’s pinnacle.
For overrated, I’d add my vote to The Final Sacrifice. It’s a decent episode, but it’d be completely dullsville if Rowsdower weren’t in it. Wild Wild World of Batwoman gets WAY TOO MUCH praise; I can’t sit through that show most of the time. The Gamera eps also get alittle too much love imo.
I think I’d pick more underrated eps, which for me include: The Rebel Set, The Atomic Brain, The Unearthly, Catalina Caper, Ring of Terror, The Brute Man, Kitten With a Whip, Girls Town, Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, and Teenage Strangler.
Since my post in #7 above, I have been extremely gratified to see the Leech Woman fans come out in support of that underrated gem–though perhaps it’s not as underrated as I had originally supposed.
I have read all of the other comments, and I have to agree that Agent From H.A.R.M. and Devil Fish are also underrated episodes, and I also think that MST3K: The Movie has never gotten its rightful credit, most likely due to the way it was so indifferently released and the Joel/Mike controversy surrounding it. I would agree with Spidey (#109) on Clonus, but I think most fans see that one properly in the pantheon, so I’m not really sure if it’s underrated.
The number and quality of comments inspires me to propose a future weekend discussion thread, i.e., if you were determining the MST3K canon, which episodes would you consider to be canonical? In other words, which episodes would you propose to be sacred, untouchable, and indispensable? In order to keep the Mike/Joel debate to a minimum, I would propose a canon of 20 titles, 10 from the Joel era, and 10 from the Mike era, but if you want to be really courageous, just pick 10 without regard to the host. Also, you’d have to show your work–at least a one-line argument in support of each choice.
Also, one more time: can we PLEASE have a new fan poll to replace the massively outdated one?
Over rated: Santa Claus. I had to see this after hearing so many good reviews. Probably the only episode I would refuse to watch again.
Under rated: Master Ninja I & II. I had heard they were thinking about doing a part III. I would have loved that!
Since it has not been mentioned yet, and I always enjoy it (as well as does my wife), Operation Double 007 is vastly underrated. In past threads, whenever it’s mentioned, it seems to be panned. All I can say about it, is just sit back and enjoy its goofiness and scenery starting from the theme song all the way to the ludicrous ending fight. Permission to come aboard, sir. (He sends me. He paves my parking lot)
I also consider Track of the Moon Beast underrated. One of the best skits with “The Band that Sang California Lady”, goofy movie “Bird calls? That’s a talent”, the power of pink and recipes to boot. Also Sid’s wife is a classic.
Overrated: Space Children. This was on the episode list recently, and I just cannot fathom all the love it garnered. The movie just kills it for me. No one is likable, and the kids are almost as annoying as the Japanese kids in any of the Japanese movies. And I’m a 50’s Sci Fi fan. “Paaaaaaaaaaw”
Yeah, the Unearthly doesn’t get enough respect. I guess it’s the kind of dismal little movie I like, though. The goggle/countdown scene cracks me up for some reason. The plot is so ludicrous it could be an episode of Gilligan’s island. Skipppeerrr! The Atomic Brain reminds me of the Unearthly but it goes over the edge into brutal boringness a little more than I like. They should have lost the skin-creeping narration and added a swinging jazz score or something. And I thought Bride of the Monster was pretty popular but maybe it’s underrated, too. I tend to like the mad-scientist episodes, for some reason.
Haven’t read the whole thread but I’m betting I’m the only one who thinks this episode is overrated. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered anyone who agrees with me. I’ve seen it six or seven times and it never grows on me like so many other Joel episodes have. Get ready to yell at me……..the episode I refer to is…..Eegah! I know it is a beloved classic and never really seems to get any criticism. I don’t think it’s a bad episode but I don’t even think it would make my top 100. The riffing just doesn’t do it for me. It always struck me as one of those episodes that gets a lot of attention due to the goofy silly film rather than the riffing and of course the whole ‘watch out for snakes thing’ which is great and all, but it’s only one joke, after all. I’m overdue to try it again. Maybe the eighth time will be the charm.
OVER:
Cave Dwellers is one of the episodes that made me fall in love with MST, but when I watch it today it just doesn’t hold up. The movie itself has plenty of potential, but the riffing just seems too slow and heavy-handed to me. To be honest, the first few seasons are VERY uneven and it was about then (beginning of season 3) that they were finally getting the hang of things. If Rifftrax or CT were to do it again now, they’d probably do a much better job.
UNDER:
Maybe I’m just an Anglophile, but The Projected Man never ceases to crack me up: the is-Lembach-staying drama, the guy with the mammoth eyebrows, Vorelli with orange hair, Sheila in her underwear…there’s plenty to be enjoyed, and the little digs at the bleakness of life in England are a nice touch as well (“This might actually be British sex right here!” Seriously, how did those people manage before the Beatles came along?) It’s too bad it gets such a bad rap.
Final Sacrifice is a solid episode, but is by no means the crowning achievement it is made out to be. For underrated, a few sci fi era episodes stand out to me. Mole People is one of my favorite episodes ever, and Giant Mantis and Deadly Bees both have some home run riffs. Sorry folks, but I’ve never been overly impressed with Red Zone or Leech Woman either. However, I have yet to see any MST3K episode that I regret watching!
Underated:
Jungle Goddess
Rocket Attack USA (the first really “great” MST ep)
The Rebel Set
Radar Secret Service (one of THE most underated imo)
Atomic Brain
Colussus and the Headhunters
Violent Years
All Coleman Francis movies
The Thing that couldn’t Die
Leech Woman
Horror of Party Beach
Deadly Bees
It Lives by Night (another one that should get more love/mention)
Overrated: Godzilla vs Megalon
Daddy-O
The Beatniks
Clonus Horror
The Undead
Soultaker
Future War
Hobgoblins
The Magic Voyage of Sinbad
Underrated:
“Alien from L.A.” – I’ve never understood why this one doesn’t get more love. So much to riff on, and the guys do a perfect job. “Tell the prop people to cut it out!” Not to mention the femmy movie duel during the end credits!
“San Francisco International” – the Davey riffs kill me every time.
“The Sinister Urge” – “Dirk? No, that can’t be Dirk! Uh-uh! No, that’s not Dirk!” Mike and the bots were actually giggling in anticipation of this payoff.
“The Girl in Lover’s Lane” – they had me at “Big Stupid.”
“Night of the Blood Beast” – one of my favorite insane shorts that won’t actually come out and say what the hell it’s trying to say, plus another ripe riff target of a movie: “I’m being severely back lit!!!”
Overrated:
“Pod People” – never quite understood the overwhelming love for this one.
I’m noticing that most people’s choices are obviously tailored to what host and/or time period they liked. I’ll say up front I like the later seasons a lot more but still can enjoy some of the older ones. Though Manos is funny for the first 10 or 15 minutes I normally fall asleep soon thereafter. My most underrated movie is Diabolik. Even though it was the final episode it seems like most people think it’s just okay where I think it is a hilarious episode that I wish was on DVD.
Sorry I’m jumping into the fray so late (stupid real life). Almost all of my choices have been mentioned. But I hope to add something new.
Overrated:
“The Final Sacrifice.” This is in my “not worth revisiting” DVD/CDR pile of episodes. The praise this episode gets baffles me. I don’t even think it’s an average-quality episode.
“Overdrawn at the Memory Bank.” I only watch this one for the host segments. As a libertarian, I adore the bashing of public television.
“Mitchell.” This episode is only worth watching to say goodbye to Joel. Really. There’s nothing else in the episode worth talking about.
Any “Gamera” movie. They all blur together in my mind and none of them has a single host segment or riff that stands out. It’s like they did a 7 1/2 hour episode instead of 5 separate Gamera movies.
“Eegah.” Another one to watch once. The appeal of this episode is beyond me.
“Santa Claus.” Although it’s a better movie than “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians,” the riffing loses steam in the last 30 minutes. I don’t understand why this could be a Christmas tradition for ANY MSTie.
Underrated:
“I Accuse My Parents.” Few things have brought as much joy to my heart as this MST3K episode. It’s a catchphrase in my family, thanks to the stupid protagonist, terrific short, home run riffing, excellent host segments, and the fact that it was shown as a “service” to WWII soldiers. That last part particularly grates on my serviceman brother’s nerves. He imagines that there was some poor infantryman dying on the sands of Iwo Jima whose last movie was “I Accuse My Parents.”
“12 to the Moon.” The Brains just seem to exploit every opportunity that the movie presents. Plus, I love how Tom gets angry about there being steam on the moon. (I love it when the SOL occupants get angry at the movie.) When you add in one of the most psychedelic shorts and Bridget’s tour de force performance as Nuveena, you have an episode that easily surpasses many frequently praised classics.
“The Touch of Satan.” Stacked with religious riffs and with plenty of pauses in the dialogue for riffs, this movie doesn’t disappoint. I also love the unanswered questions: why does the devil have a woman’s voice in the flashback, but has a man’s voice for Jody? (Are devils gender-specific?) Who were the girl’s “parents”? Why hasn’t the town realized that the witch is over 100 years old? Where are the walnut trees?
“Parts: The Clonus Horror.” Excellent riffing of a movie that might be one of the best standalone MST3K films.
“Escape 2000.” The Italian makers of this movie clearly had NO idea what New York was like. I love how some of the underworld’s dwellers are dressed like the cast of the then-running hit musical “A Chorus Line.”
“San Francisco International” is just full of ’70s cheese and harkens back to a time when airport movies were all the rage. I love the trite storytelling (TWO hostage situations, a guy disguised as a priest, and a child whose parents are divorcing) and the bizarre idea that public would really be fascinated enough with the goings-on of an airport to make it into a weekly series.
“The Starfighters.” Even the military assistance was incompetent. The plot is razor thin and seems to assume that the viewer is conversant in the lingo and methods of the Air Force. I wonder if this movie was shown on AF bases…
“The Creeping Terror.” I LOVE every aspect of this movie: the monster made out of carpet samples, the incompetence of the victims, the weird narrator, the bizarre preaching in the movie about how it’s natural for friends to drift apart after one marries, the long dance scene, and the spectacular riffing. A perfect example of how the Brains could turn trash into entertainment gold.
“Girls Town.” Mel Torme and Paul Anka fighting? Hehehe. Plenty of eye candy for both sexes and wonderful riffing. This movie is also watchable on its own, which helps.
“Outlaw.” If you can get over Whatley incessantly saying “Cabot!” in the first 15 minutes, this one’s great. I also love the host segments, especially Jack Palance’s diary from the shoot.
“Fugitive Alien.” More ’70s cheese! Actually, I like the premise and a heavier special effects budget and some better writing could have made this into a classic weekly series.
Of the Coleman Francis trilogy, I think that “The Skydivers” is the best episode. I don’t understand why people like his other two films more. “Skydivers” has skydiving, a bona fide crowd scene, the beginning of Coleman’s obsession with coffee, and Tony Cardoza fighting over a woman (yeah, right). What’s not to love?
=-=-=-=-=
Now, I don’t want to stir up trouble, but I also find the vast majority of Joel-era host segments to be highly overrated. The invention exchange leaves me cold 95% of the time and I don’t find any humor in the “letters from fans” closing segments, either. There are some good ones, but they are VERY rare and rarely do the Brains hit a home run with their segments in the first 5 seasons. Mike-era host segments are much funnier: nothing from seasons 1-5 approaches the humor and genius of some of the nanites gags, Nuveena visiting the satellite, Mike as Captain Janeway, or the PBS pledge drive.
I want to be clear, though, that I am not in the Mike camp in the old “Mike vs. Joel” wars. I like Joel’s actual riffing just as much, and I think the man’s a genius for thinking up this little puppet show. But most of his host segments are overrated.
As the “David” who suggested this topic, I must say I am very pleased with the depth of responses so far. I’d like to collate the results of this board to come up with a new list of Over/Underrated Episodes. Maybe next weekend, when the thread is over, I’ll post the results.
• To those who want another poll (Of what? Favorite Episodes or Most Wanted For DVD Release?): The Discussion Board is an easier place to start up and a conduct a poll. In fact, the newest one “Mike Nelson: Bringing Sexy Back” should appeal to many readers here.
• Weekend Discussion Thread topic suggestions should be emailed to Sampo via the link on the left side menu. It says “E-mail Us!”. Posting them here in the comments thread is usually a waste of time.
Overrated: All officially released episodes.
Underrated: All unreleased episodes.
Reason: A lot of people rave over episodes that are among the few official video releases, which leads me to believe those are the only episodes they’ve seen. You ain’t seen nothing yet if the only episodes you’ve watched are the official releases!
Overrated:
1. Manos. I didn’t have Comedy Central when this first aired, so I only viewed it for the first time at the DVD release. But every time I’ve watched it, I’ve been left with the feeling of “Is this it?” It just seems long, dull, and laborious to me, and the riffing isn’t that great.
2. Hamlet. I know there’s been a lot of love for it here, and I’ll admit it’s been a few years since I watched it, so I probably will check it out again shortly just to see if I’m wrong about it. However, even back when it first aired, I found myself falling asleep to it rather easily. Maybe it’s just because the source material is so bleak.
3. Overdrawn at the Memory Bank: See above, although I just recently tried to watch this one again and still fell asleep during it.
4. Soultaker: I still like this one, but upon watching the DVD release (and seeing it for the first time in a good number of years), I didn’t like it as much as when it first aired.
Underrated:
1. Final Justice. Like mentioned above, it just works better than Mitchell. Once again, with Mitchell, I didn’t see it until the DVD release, but knowing what is to come, it just sort of seems like there’s a dark cloud over the entire show. And obviously, that’s not there with Final Justice.
2: Eegah! I will admit I skipped around the thread a bit, so maybe there’s been more talk about it that I’ve missed, but this just works a whole lot more for me than Manos did. I think the riffing is sharper, the host segments are funnier, and maybe it also works more because the movie itself is somewhat more accessible.
3. Devil Fish: I haven’t seen this one in years, and now I really want to dig through my old VHS collection and see if I still have a Sci-Fi era recording of this one. I’m suddenly having very fond memories of it.
4. Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders: See above.
“Riding With Death”
Another strung together movie with some awesome lines:
“For all your secret government operations, choose Acme moving and storage” (can’t remember the trucking co. name)
“Whoa, yeah, the acid just kicked in” When the woman is driving the jeep.
The parts where she is watching the action on a telescreen “I’m drugged!” etc.
The part where the guy in the helicopter laughs.. it’s a couple of frames and just so goofy.
“It’s cool, chill, I’m still Ben Murphy, I’m still visible” and a lot of the stoner jokes alluding to staying cool and relaxing
“We’d like you TO CONSIDER SCIENTOLOGY” when Ben Murphy is almost abducted
When Bronco(?) saves him a minute later and they’re looking at themselves beat up in the mirror “UhhHeheheh.. they didn’t charge us for the hush puppies!”
The CLASSIC glasses cleaning scene “squeak squeak squeak… He’s STILL cleaning those glasses!”
The gay trucker jokes when Bronc is helping Murphy stop his runaway truck.
“I am become death, the destroyer of small portable radios”
I don’t know if it is possible to OVERrate any episode in this series, to me it’s the best thing television ever produced, but then again, I’ve been watching the show since 1st season Comedy Channel, when I was 8.
Overrated: Daktari stools.
Underrated: Pants!
In the OVERRATED category I place “Cave Dwellers” in the #1 spot. It seems to be universally loved, but aside from the host segment where they mock the style of the opening credits I rarely get a laugh out of the episode.
For UNDERRATED I would have to go with “Girl In Lover’s Lane”. It has everything going against it as far as my normal criteria goes (B&W, Joel, no monsters) but the film moves at a good pace with interesting new events and characters coming in just as the old riffs are getting stale. Not nearly enough attention is paid to this one, just like poor Carrie (she’s so very…).
Underrated
Screaming Skull- I don’t see much discussion on this movie but I think just about every riff in this movie is solid. The skits, especially the Screaming Skull Crow are very funny and the Gumby short is great.
I only saw it mentioned once but “It conquered the world” is very underrated, judging by the amount of comments anyway. But that is my pick for “perfect” episode, every joke works and the skits are awesome except for the opening. Use the Might Jack opening and you have a completely flawless episode.
Underrated:
Wild Rebels-this is arguably one of the funniest episodes ever, and a PERFECT ep to show a newbie
Time of The Apes – crap in hand . . fling crap!
Overrated:
Manos (sorry, it’s a classic, but it’s overrated)
any Coleman Francis (these are the only eps I find boring to watch)
I think Daddy-o is one of the all-time classic episodes, but it always seems to get overlooked in favor of some that are just a little too easy. I like Werewolf, Hobgoblins, and The Final Sacrifice as much as anyone, but those movies are so easy. The episodes practically make themselves funny by just having those movies in them to begin with. One of the reasons I instantly loved MST when I first saw it (the beginning of season 2) was because I had grown up doing exactly that kind of thing, watching bad movies with my brother and father, and making fun of them. A movie like Hobgoblins doesn’t even really need MST to make it fun to watch. Yes the MST episode is great, but I could have just as much or possibly even more fun watching that movie on it’s own with a couple of friends. Daddy-o on the other hand is the kind of movie that really shows off the comedic genius, and creativity in the minds of the MST folk, and would only really be fun to watch in the MST episode. It’s not even close to the worst film they ever did, and I think it was best served during the Joel era, when a lot of the time MST could be more about having fun WITH the movie rather than just poking fun at the crappiness of the movie.
I think some popular episodes of MST, especially from the Sci-fi era, are fan favorites simply because of the movies themselves, and not really because of what MST did with them. Movies like Boggy Creek 2, and Space Mutiny, both of which I was very familiar with well before MST took them on, really prove this to me because the MST versions were quite disappointing for me compared to the experiences I had already had with those films on my own. Seeing the MST crew miss many of the opportunities for jokes that my friends and I had so readily preyed upon over the years was a let down, and seriously limited my ability to enjoy those episodes. I still do enjoy them because there are a lot of good jokes in both, but there are also very many points in both films where jokes made at some point over the years by my friends or myself were so much more funny than what MST did at those points of the films, or parts of the movies that we found to be the most absurd and funny are barely even touched upon by Mike and the bots, or sometimes ignored all together. Space Mutiny is a great MST episode, but there are many areas where they missed out on great jokes that would have made the episode even better than it already is, but when it comes to Boggy Creek 2 I’m 100% certain that my friends and I could have written a better MST episode for that film, or at the very least have really improved their script in many areas. On the other hand I highly doubt we could have written anything even as close to as funny as the Daddy-o episode.
I am cracking up as I find my all-time favorite episodes are hated by other fans!
I would say Season 1 episodes are underrated, even by the Brains. They even asked Comedy Central not to show them because they didn’t feel they were up to par, or maybe they didn’t want to confuse new fans about where Dr. Erhardt went. But shows like ‘The Black Scorpion’, Moon Zero Two’ and ‘Untamed’ are among my favorites.
Can’t say I think any episodes are over-rated, with rare exceptions (Castle of Fu Manchu and Hamlet) I like almost every episode and watch them more than once.
I changed my mind – I think Lassie “The Painted Hills” is far away the least mentioned of the consistently funny episodes. It’s gotta be the most underrated.
“hey everybody, Billy’s crying in there like a little girl.”
and Santa Conquers the Martians is the most mentioned, not-that-funny episode. (with runner up being The Brain That Wouldn’t Die). There!
I agree with #122 about the host segments. The Comedy Central segments are overrated and the SCI-FI era ones are underrated. The sci-fi segments always seemed like solid sketches with a beginning, middle,and end. The joke was usually fairly easy to pick out. I also thought the crazy cast of characters (bobo, observer, nanites,etc) were all amusing more often than not. I also get a kick out of how Bill’s Crow seems to dislike Mike from the git-go. The stuff with Forrester and Frank in the comedy central era, however, usually left me cold. They just seemed like random bits and pieces of attempted comedy with no center. It felt as though the Sc-fi stuff was trying to amuse an audience while in the comedy central stuff they were trying to amuse themselves. And I thought the invention exchange went on waaay too long. It never did much for me anyway. I know the continuing story in the sci-fi era turns people off but it never really bothered me that much. Nice to see at least one other person agrees with me.
Most over-rated (short list)
ALIEN FROM L.A.
TOUCH OF SATAN
RING OF TERROR
GUNSLINGER
FUTURE WAR
Most under-rated (short list)
LAST OF THE WILD HORSES
SAMSON VS THE VAMPIRE WOMEN
MIGHTY JACK
CATALINA CAPER
KILLER SHREWS
:cool:
Overrated:
The Final Sacrifice
Underrated:
Gamera vs. Zigra
Teenage Caveman
Blood Waters of Dr. Z
The Dead Talk Back ( I was shocked to learn there are fans who don’t like this. Aldo Farnese IS Henry Krasker, for crying out loud!)
Somebody mentioned PAINTED HILLS – nearly forgot about that one until I remembered the riff they put in Lassie’s mouth: “Would this be a bad time to ask for Snausages?”
Here’s a youtube link to one of the original Snausages commercials:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dmoqooNhQ0
For overrated, I’d say Pod People and The Incredibly Strange etc.
For underrated, well there’s one coming up on the episode guide soon…The Screaming Skull, which is a slice of hokum that’s always entertained me.
Judging from this thread, I’d also say The Final Sacrifice is highly, highly underrated as well ;-) Love that one to death.
For my taste, any of the Hercules and the Russo-Finnish movies are overrated. But again, it’s just a personal preference. I agree with 103 that Codename Diamnond Head is underrated and it is a top 10 episode for me.
Also agree with 132 That Daddy-O is underrated. It is a classic episode, and I think the riffing is better than in Manos or Monster a Go-Go
#135: You’re crazy.
Overrated: the Joel vs. Mike debate. They’re both great, we should be so blessed!
Underrated: Gypsy and Magic Voice. Never see any fan polls as to anybody’s favorite Gypsy moments (Under the sea! Under the sea!!) or Magic Voice (commercial sign now) moments from the show.
Overrated:
Space Mutiny, Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, Red Zone Cuba & First Spaceship On Venus.
Underrated:
High School Big Shot, Racket Girls and I really like the GAMERAs.
I was staying out of this thread, because I’m always coming in here and talking about the generational differences. But, since so many others have talked about that, I think it’s safe for me to jump in.
About worse-newer movies being worse than worse-older movies, I would say that it’s true, but some of the newer bad movies (Hobgoblins, I’m looking at you) are a winking-to-the-camera kind of bad that makes it very hard for me to enjoy seeing them riffed.
Anyway, with that in mind, my overrated list has Space Mutiny, Time Chasers, The Final Sacrifice, Hobgoblins, and Werewolf on it. Werewolf, in particular, I don’t get the love for. The movie is deadly dull, and I don’t see how the riffing is anything special. Yes, the woman has a funny voice, but Valeria has a funnier voice, and people don’t go on and on about her.
This brings me to my main point, which is that most of the underrated movies are because the young whippersnappers (get off my lawn!!) haven’t seen them. Operation Double 007 is a laugh riot from beginning to end, and it gets mentioned a tenth as much as Time Chasers. (Norman, the calla lilies are raining hot lead!)
My vote for most underrated goes to The Sinister Urge. Gloria is one of the funniest characters in MST3K history. Others on my underrated list are The Girl in Lovers’ Lane, Riding with Death, and Overdrawn at the Memory Bank (although the yelling at the film gets to be a bit much in that one.)
The Results So Far.
As this was not a proper “poll” I counted each mention as a vote. Some comments featured lists, all of which I counted. Titles that got 2 mentions or fewer I omitted here as the list is long enough already. Note that some appear on both the Over and Under lists (which is pretty amusing). Remember, no one is saying these are the Best or Worst episodes, just that they are not given the proper amount of attention they deserve according to their actual qualities as episodes of the Best Show Ever (unless you argue that MST3K itself is overrated?).
Overrated:
Manos 16
The Final Sacrifice 14
Pod People 11
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians 7
Mitchell 6
Gamera episodes 6
Hobgoblins 6
Red Zone Cuba 6
Space Mutiny 6
Time Chasers 6
Monster a Go-Go 5
TISCWSLaBMZ 5
Werewolf 5
Cave Dwellers 5
Hamlet 5
Monster a Go-Go 5
Laserblast 4
Godzilla vs. Megalon 4
Catalina Caper 3
Future War 3
Santa Claus 3
Prince of Space 3
Eegah! 3
Overdrawn at the Memory Bank 3
Diabolik 3
Hercules episodes 3
Russo-Finnish films 3
Coleman Francis films 3
Underrated:
The Violent Years 11
Hamlet 10
The Sinister Urge 9
The Leech Woman 7
Danger! Death Ray 6
Catalina Caper 6
The Girl in Lover’s Lane 6
San Francisco International 5
Riding With Death 5
Racket Girls 5
Girl’s Town 5
The Starfighters 5
Overdrawn at the Memory Bank 4
The Screaming Skull 4
Time of the Apes 4
Master Ninja I & II 4
I Accuse My Parents 4
The Painted Hills 4
Final Justice 4
Devil Fish 4
High School Big Shot 3
Robot Monster 3
The Unearthly 3
Being from Another Planet 3
The Brute Man 3
The Deadly Bees 3
Quest of the Delta Knights 3
Legend of Boggy Creek II 3
Alien from L.A. 3
Earth vs. the Spider 3
Sidehackers 3
Track of the Moon Beast 3
The Touch of Satan 3
The Creeping Terror 3
The Atomic Brain 3
Attack of the (the) Eye Creatures 3
Pod People 3
Thanks for the list Finnias Jones @ 145. It also brings up a rather disturbing factoid. Many, if not most, of the overrated episodes have been officially released and easily accessable to fans. While almost all of the underrated have yet to see a DVD release. This hints the feelings expressed in a earlier post. Many folks just have not had the pleasure of seeing all 10 CC and SCI-FI seasons.
After looking at that underrated list, I believe there are at least 3 awsome Shout Factory! box sets in there hands down. ;-)
My most overrated episode of all time is “Tormented.” So many people love it, and I just find it annoying.
Underrated? I always liked “Double 007” more than most people did. I’m not saying it’s my favorite episode, but it seems to be ignored by everyone but me.
For overrated, I have to go with the Coleman Francis episodes. I could not remember laughing once while watching “Skydivers,” but I still haven’t seen the other two. I’m sure they both suck too.
As for underrated, I gotta say… hmmm… almost ANY season one ep. I love those things, but nobody else seems too. Weird.
I think anticipation sometimes has a lot to do with how how you rate an episode after you’ve seen it. For a couple of years I held off watching Pod People, Mitchell and Hobgoblins; since they were so many peoples’ favorites I expected to be blown away by them. Unfortunately, the hype didn’t pan out for me and I never have had the urge to watch them again. (Pod People especially). On the other hand, episodes that nobody ever talks about like King Dinosaur, It Conquered the World and Projected Man I was able to judge on my own and I love them.
Tend to agree with #135, the in vention exchanges
were dragged out too long, and the scifi years
are to me better, especially the dynamic between
Bobo, Brain Guy, and Pearl. One bit that has been criticised
but I like was the scifi channel input on productions.