I thought it’d be fun to get people’s opinions on “Most Divided Host Segments vs. Movie Episodes”. I was watching “San Francisco International” and I absolutely love that movie (TV show?). I think the riffing is terrific, and I end up laughing through the entire movie portion. But, the host segments [the Urkel stuff, for those who don’t remember] are just terrible to me. I get the purpose of the segments. I just don’t enjoy them, at all.
So, I thought it might be cool to see if other people have certain episodes in which the movie outweighs the host segments considerably. Or even if the opposite is true. The movie portion just doesn’t work on any level, but the host segments are gold.
What comes immediately to mind is 416- FIRE MAIDENS OF OUTER SPACE. The “Dark Timmy” segments are such classics. At the same time the movie riffing is a bit sub-par for me.
For the reverse, I’d pick 702- THE BRUTE MAN. Hilarious in the theater, but the segments do nothing for me.
What what be your pick?
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Hercules vs. the Moon Men. Can’t stand the riffing, but the host segments are boffo. Sword and sandal pics aren’t good fodder for riffing. Everything seems to gravitate toward comments about men in short skirts, chest grease and other obvious targets. The build up to the sand storm is ultimately a royal letdown. Yes, it’s tedious and repetitive, but doesn’t deserve the big “Deep Hurting!” windup.
Randy
Only slightly off-topic: I’ve found that some of my favorite episodes have a host segment that makes me cringe with embarassment. Hobgoblins and Cave Dwellers are 2 episodes I would love to show to people who have never seen the show, save for the “unintentional on-turning scene” and the “fight scene”. The “Do Women Exist?” and the “Foley” segments are great, but I’ve always tried to fast forward the previously mentioned segments when showing the episodes to others
After years of watching Mike & co. practically ignore the movies for most of S8-9’s host segs, the first movie-related host-seg of S10’s “Blood Waters of Dr. Z” (“Those shoe-polishing humans…”) was hysterical. :lol:
Also, up until the DVD, I hadn’t seen the non-Turkey Day version of “Night of the Blood Beast’, and Gypsy’s scene-specific parody of “Once Upon a Honeymoon” had me out of breath.
Would that both movies’ riffings could have been as on target.
As for Good Riffing/Bad Host, I’ll second the Batwoman mention–
Oyy, the S5-6 days of episode-long Running Gags, for ideas that could barely limp through one sketch….Eg. the “Look, Crow’s STILL playing the Jerry Garcia solo!” arc, from The Dead Talk Back.
The Sword And The Dragon. Great opening skits, then the movie starts and wam, I go right to sleep.
I can’t believe I totally forgot Agent from H.A.R.M.! The most Awsome and Most Brilliant host segments EVER!!!!!!!!!! The only reason to watch the movie is all the Prince and snooty rich guy jokes.
Viking Women and the Sea Serpent, great riffing but the waffle host segments made me want to get back to the movie.
Last of the Wild Horses, pretty forgetable episode except that the “Mirror Universe” host segments were great.
I agree with #55 Stefanie Agent for H.A.R.M. had the best host segments with Mike on trial, but the movie…meh.
“Diabolik” has wonderful host segments, but the movie sucks. I’m sorry, but for them to go out on that instead of “Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders” was a joke(and not the funny kind). Thank God for the final scene in the apartment. “Forrest Tucker? He’s the guy who puts the trees to sleep at night.”
Great host segments, weak movies:
Diabolik: weak movie to go out on, brilliant host segments particularly the final one. A perfect cap to the series.
Last of the Wild Horses: the mirror universe was one of the funniest gags they ever did…and I actually enjoyed the first bunch of movie segments b/c it was so much fun to have Frank and Dr. F riffing. But, once Mike and the bots came back to riff (as much as I adore them), it became ho hum.
Colossus vs. the Headhunters: I adore the Nummy Muffin stuff. Frank’s show-stopping song and his brilliant, frantic delivery of: “NUMMY!” (with arms outstretched). Movie was boring for me personally.
Great movies, weak host segments:
San Francisco Int’l: One of my top 5 Mike episodes because the movie and riffing is so strong. The Urkel stuff doesn’t bother me as much as others particularly because of Frank’s line: “Urkel? That is DELIGHTFUL!” But, the riffing is much stronger.
Time Chasers: I love this episode. I just wish they had saved the alternate Mike for another episode (although obviously it thematically fit this one). The riffing and film was so strong for this ep, I didn’t feel it needed any distractions from the formula. As a result, the weakest parts for me are when Eddie is in the picture…although it is funny. Just not AS funny.
Merlin: One of my all-time favorite episodes for film and riffing…not one host segment stands out as a real winner. They’re either middling or not my thing.
Incredible Melting Man: as strong as any riffing in the entire Mike era. But, WAY too much Pearl. And Season 7 Pearl to boot (her most objectionable incarnation, IMO).
Finally…just about any episode where Pearl is featured heavily in the host segments. Particularly during the film. It breaks all momentum for me (along with my heart and soul…is that too dramatic?).
Wow, personally I couldn’t disagree with most of these comments more. To me the Joel era had the best host segments by far, and by the sci-fi era I was mainly just watching for the movie riffing. With a few notable exceptions (the Hobgoblins cardboard cutout decoys “song” being my favorite) a vast majority of Sci-fi era episodes host segments were very forgettable. Usually not terrible or unwatchable, but rarely anything even close to as classic as so many of the segments from Joel era episodes were. The movie riffing is definitely what kept me so interested in the show during those years.
Also I think the riffing in Last of the Wild Horses was top notch and it has one of my favorite riffs ever. It’s when Frank is in the theater and he sees the sign for the “Double C Ranch” and says “the Double Cranch?!”. I laughed so hard at that and as soon as the episode was over I rewound the tape I had been recording it on and watched it again like five times. And then a few years later when I saw a sign for a local place called “The Double K Ranch” I laughed again until I had tears in my eyes. Now every time I see that sign I burst out “The Double Kranch?!” no matter who I’m with.
My husband and I NEVER watch the host segments from “Parts: The Clonus Horror” anymore. We generally skip a lot of segments from the Sci-Fi era, especially season 8.
One of my favorite host segments of all time is the ‘Hired:The Musical’ segment from “Bride of the Monster.” The movie isn’t terrific, but I love that segment.
Pollyanna @ 48:
Well, considering the prime directive of the show is to “talk back to pop-culture” it’s only natural that it’s fans would “talk back” to it too. MST’s primary weapons include mockery, sarcasm, and satire, all of which require having a detached point of view. Obviously, everybody here loves the show, it’s just happens to be one of the few entertainments out there that invites it’s own criticism. Your comment is a bit “bitchy” & “negative” itself, so you should maybe just relax…
#46: Skits involving the movie plot.
I happen to think that both the sketches mentioned, Cave Dwellers and I Accuse My Parents, were very creative and entertaining.
It’s good that different people find different things entertaining. That way the show can make everyone happy in their own way.
#59: Totally agree. In general, I felt that the host segments from Season 2 – 5 were vastly superior to what followed, particularly the Sci Fi era.
Main reason being Dr. F and Frank were exponentially more enjoyable than Pearl, Brain Guy and Bobo. Also, Joel’s goofy and earnest demeanor fit those skits so perfectly.
There were still segments I absolutely loved….but, overall, no contest IMO.
#48…I agree with you to an extent. In itself, this topic is not diversive. However, many posts tend to devolve into the “Mike v Joel” argument. It’s a funny damn show. I love both, don’t get the whole story arc of the later years, but then again Red Dwarf was never funny to me either. Doesn’t mean it isn’t good.
As for me…I don’t have any specifics, but any kind of “random” host segment seems to fall flat for me. Kind of out of left field. But ah well, it’s still my favorite and I’d still rather watch ANY episode of MST over 99% of the tripe on tv today.
And yes…wisconsin sucks…nice job boys…way to let cornell play like a 4 seed…you must have gotten confused.
For the record, I love both Joel and Mike. Love both Trace and Bill. It’s just Pearl that I loathe with the fire of a thousand burning suns.
The classic example for me is ‘Pod People’.
The host segment of the ‘idiot control’ song is great, pne of my faves.
The movie, after repeated viewings is pretty bad though…
Still a classic episode.
The Unearthly, the one with John Carradine performing experiments on people, that’s a really awful movie and the riffs aren’t too funny (save some Tor Johnson stuff). But I love the segments, especially the board game version making fun of the movie.
The Giant Mantis is one that is a favorite movie, but I just cannot bear the host segments at all. 8 minutes of a painful Planet of the Apes parody. Then driving in space. And more driving in space. And then Pearl and Bobo driving in space.
I don’t think it’s a Mike vs Joel thing, but the whole story arc that got added to the show in the last few seasons did kind of change the host segments dramatically. From being clever riffs or things about the movie (which sometimes weren’t funny, like that painful talk to the dead skit in the Dead Talk back), to things that had nothing to do with the movie (which to me, were never really funny).
And I do think Frank was sorely missed. As Season 1 showed…
“Good riffing, weak segments” list: Angels Revenge (possibly my favorite episode despite the weak segments with Aaron Spelling’s house & the chin puppet – though I do like Frank’s Tug McGraw impersonation) and Jack Frost (okay, we get it – the movie’s from Russia, we don’t need segment after segment about it). They’re the biggest offenders to me.
“Weak riffing, good segments” list: Diabolik (while the film segments are just ‘meh’, the host segmenets make it a good send-off; personally, I like the MTM finale take-off) and Devil Fish (dull movie that I couldn’t get into, but the “Italian filter” segment is one of the few “let’s make fun of the movie’s nation of origin” segments from the Sci-Fi channel that actually works).
There’s probably more, but these are the ones that came to mind the quickest.
Hmmm. I’m going to have to say that I liked Teenage Strangler a lot. I thought the riffs were solid throughout the whole movie, but the host segments were forgettable. Besides when Mike is rapping with the bots about being in a street gang, I don’t really remember the segments.
As for the bad riffing good segments go, I can’t really think of one. I guess for me if I can’t get into the movie it’s hard for me to get into the whole episode.
Mela #68: The chin puppet was in The Atomic Brain, not Angels Revenge. I agree it was a pretty lame segment though.
My vote for Strong Host Segments, Weak Riffing: Last of the Wild Horses.
My vote for Strong Riffing, Weak Host Segments: Red Zone Cuba.
Mela #68: The chin puppet was in The Atomic Brain, not Angels Revenge. I agree it was a pretty lame segment though.
Thanks, Sitting Duck. After I wrote that, I was thinking of the dull “Mike as The Fonz” segment. This type (Mike tries to do something vaguely related to the action but the Bots smack him down) tend to play a bit too long, at least to me.
Put me down on the side of Season 2-5.5 Joel host segments were about 95% ‘on’ and Mike from then on were about 95% ‘off’. Timmy, Wild Rebels cereal, soda/stupid jerk, there’s far too many to name.
The aforementioned ‘Urkel’ skit had to be the least funny of all time, along with Nummy Muffin you know who.
Sci Fi did have some classics though, like Time Chaser Crow going back in time, and Mike’s brother Eddie – plus Mike on trial was hilarious as well, but Joel era rules the roost on this subject to me.
#71: Between Mike’s “Look, guys, I sorta came up with an idea for a movie-related host seg…””Uh, Mike that’s really lame.” , and Crow’s non-stop stretch of “Uh, hey guys, I dressed up as the character?” in S8-9, there was a general sense that except for the most extreme examples, they didn’t really know HOW to do movie-satirizing host-segs, and were trying to snipe at the “drudgery” of being expected to do them.
It should be all about the movie. Look what happens when it isn’t.
I have to agree that Host Segments are what make MST3K. I always find myself looking forward to the next break from the movie for a sketch. I especially love when the sketches play off of the movie, those are usually my favorite segments.
As for good riffing, bad host segments, I have just one word: “CLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYTOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!!!”
In general I enjoy Joel’s Host Segments more, if for no other reason than the “invention exchange”. I loved those opening host segments. (Who’s the guy with the big head?)
I do find myself fast forwarding thru the host segments now that I’ve seen each episode multiple times. I don’t feel strongly about the host segments one way or the other….I just want to get to the “meat” of the show and watch the riffing, I don’t think there was ever an episode I watched where the host segments were better than the riffing.
I dunno. I’ve been thinking about this all weekend, but just don’t really have an answer. For me, it’s more about the movies than the host segments. I have a hard time thinking of any episode where all the host segments worked equally well, or really outweigh the film itself. For notable episodes with consistently strong host segments, I think of Eegah, Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, or Wild Rebels. Most of the time, there’s at least one stinkburger in the bunch, and I have never felt the urge to watch an episode specifically for the host segments.
Way past the real timeliness of the discussion window as usual, but I have to say that Geode, you are not alone my friend. I found 95% of the host segments, featuring both hosts, to not really be funny. There are diamonds in the rough of course, but most fall flat to both myself and the friends that I got to watch the show with.
So I guess I’m saying that there isn’t one show where the host segments outshine the movie completely. But seeing as how MST3K was and still is my favorite TV show of all time, it’s not like disliking the host segments has caused me to hate the show. I also certainly understand needing a few breaks during a movie (even though I love CT live shows and there is no breaks there), at least on a TV show format.
Must say I was never enthusiastic about any host segments. Especially when Pearl kept saying “Clayton!” in Deathstalker. I usually pop an episode in to fall asleep to, but that crap wakes me up and annoys me greatly every time!
Just to be different I will point out one episode in particular that hit it out of the park on the host segs and theater: Prince of Space
Pound for pound a great show no matter what part you are watching.
Personally, I can lump this question into eras. The first two seasons, with a few expections, it feels as if they haven’t exactly found their groove quite yet in the theatre, while the host segments are generally strong. the SciFy era shows on the other hand the riffing in the theatre is usually on point, but as much as I love Mary Jo, Kevin, and Bill, I usually skip the host segments alltogether on repeat viewings
Matt(#77): Thanks for the support. I agree–the host segments weren’t funny to me, but I think they helped make the show what it was for a lot of fans. I could’ve done without them (and do nowadays), but there were some, as you put it, diamonds that were enjoyable.
Either way, I’m an ardent fan of the show and all the men and women who made it, for 10 years, the best thing on TV.
All of season one I would say pretty good host segments, not so great riffing.
As for my view of the best host segment with the worst riffing, would be “Overdrawn at the Memory Bank.” The “Public Pearl” fund raiser was hilarious. The movie was so bad, no amount of riffing could save it. It was just so bad, there really wasn’t a lot for Mike and the bots to work with.