Open Thread: WHADDAYA THINK, SIRS (And Madams And Mxs) About This New Season?
At last, the day has come: new episodes of MST3K are on Netflix for the whole world (well, okay, the world that includes the U.S., U.K., New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, and Canada) to see. OG backer and fresh-fish newbie alike can now check out the exploits and wacky shenanigans of our new crew of really, seriously, wonderfully funny and kind and talented cast. For real y'all, they are super great, I can't go on about it enough. And I hope to get all of them on this site in one form or another real soon.
In the meantime, I figured let's give y'all a spot -- one of many on these here nets of inter! -- to let us know what you think. Got a favorite episode or host segment or song yet? Did anything totally surprise you? What is UP with Tom Servo's new voice? LET THERE BE SPOILERRRRRS!!!!
Also, here's a gif I made of Jonah knocking things over again and again, just because it brings me joy.
Rock it out, you turkeys.
Please put this out on some kind of physical media. I’d love a BD set of the whole shebang. Also a season 12 wouldn’t be unappreciated either. But at the very least let this season be preserved the way the initial run is currently being preserved: on some kind of plastic disc I can place in a machine and play on my television.
And now, for my one minor gripe (and no, it’s not Servo’s voice). I know I’m not the only one to say this, but I feel the need to echo it regardless. The riffs can feel a bit rushed… thus making them feel less organic. In my opinion, not every tiny gap in movie dialogue needs to be filled with a riff. Sometimes… as in the days of old… it’s okay to let portions of a movie actually play out here and there before throwing in a zinger. I loved those moments in classic MST3K where the riffs stopped long enough to where I started paying more attention to the movie, and then BAM, I’m blindsided by a brilliant riff. Those occasional pauses in riffing were important (again, my opinion). I’m only half way through the season, so I don’t know if this changes toward the end… but at this point, it seems as though if there’s a 2.3 second gap in movie dialogue, that there’s a mandate to fill it with a 2.2 second riff. I say relax things just a bit.
That said, I’m still LOVING it! Long Live MST3K!
By the by, the joke that just about killed me…
“What is this? The Sid and Marty Croft death march?”
HA!!
I must opine that ANY riff which grossly exposes the fact there is a pre-written script, greatly minimizes the soul of MST. I fell in love with MST3K so many years ago in great measure by its impression of lightning-wit spontaneity that, number one, never made blatantly obvious any attempt to coordinated with the movie or its script and, number two, there had to be a willingness to let go of even a hilarious riff if it noticeably broke one of MSTs paramount forth walls: the existence of a pre-written script.
SSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD.
Please more. Please. Please some more. Please.
Everyone was good and should come back but I would also like to see Joel and the Mike. Also please bring back TV’s Frank – there was TV-shaped hole in the series.
I feel torn on this whole reboot. I wanted so much to love everything about the new show and I like many aspects of it, but I really don’t like the new bots or host (I’m sure they’re great guys, but for me I just don’t care for their performances).
I love the way the new show looks, I love the Mads, I love the movies they’ve chosen. But I can’t get over the 3 in the theater. I went back to watch some old MST to see if I just had a different memory and that I would get used to the new guys. Then watched some rifftrax, and it confirmed for me that I just couldn’t get on board with the new guys. I loved Felicia and Patton. I thought they were stellar and I was wishing as the episodes rolled on that they were in the theater as the new test subjects instead.
Also, I agree with people who say the pacing of the jokes is too quick. It tries to cram stuff in and doesn’t let the absurdity of the movies hit the viewers. Fewer comments would have made it better since the movies chosen were just excellently ridiculous.
I hate doing this because the internet is full of hate and nonsense. I know this show was made with love and care and done the right way, but it just didn’t do it for me. This is only and opinion and I know most of you will disagree with me. And I get that, but I am just disappointed about how this reboot didn’t meet my expectations. Which I know were probably too high to start. I watched all 14 episodes hoping things would change for me and they just didn’t.
Signed,
A lifelong Mistie in conflict.
I had an Idea for a way to at least partialy bring Mike/Joel back for a quick guest spot inspired by Pearls clone. Check it: Something goes wrong with the SOL, Kinga needs the originals knowledge to fix it, can’t find them, and clones them instead from DNA leaving left around the station, but she can’t get a pure sample, so she ends up with a JOELMIKE (ala Thing With Two Heads, or the old two people in one shared jumpsuit/clothes color divided down the middle in a zigzag pattern), Red on one side for Joel, dark green on the other side for mike.
The MIKEJOEL lumbers on to the set, both heads are just braindead, each one slurring through old show quotes… “yyyyyyyyougotmatchesssssssformikeeeeeey…” and “waaaaaaaaaaaafles… uhhhhhhhhrrrrgggg!”
Kinga declares it a broken abomination after 90 secs of that, and flushes it into space. Cameos done!
1) Tom Servo sounds way to alike to Jonah. It’s really problematic. His voice is just not really distinguishable. I thought I would need to give it 3 or 4 eps to get used to it, so I could start to tell them apart more, but it’s just not happening, at least to my ears.
2) The mads “shaky cam” effect when it cuts to them is just kind of annoying.
That’s it, I love love LOVE everything else about the new series.
P.S. – If you have no plans to sell on-demand versions of all the little 3D lasercut wood props w/stands you use in eahc episode, you’re crazy! People would buy those in a sec. They could be shipped flat and assembled at home, very cheap to mail! He’ll, I’d buy the entire “Every Monster Has A Country” collection of woodburn figures in a heartbeat.
Here’s the critical stuff. While I feel strongly about it, I reiterate that I’m a convert, and will continue watching (on Netflix!) regardless of the following.
I think that’s it for now. Thanks for listening/reading, but more importantly:
Thanks for letting me help to bring one of my favorite shows of all time back to the screen!
I definitely wiill back future seasons and hopefully you’ll do a episode on The Video Dead its bad really bad.
Overall, some eps. are stronger than others, but this was true of eps in the first 10 seasons, too. Even lesser eps pack in more laughs than most TV “comedies”. Looking forward to seeing what you have to offer in Season 12, but in the meantime I’m going through all the S11 eps in order again.
BIONICLE REFERENCE WOOOOOOOOOO
More please!
Dune reference for the win!!
I don’t know why you’re having ad breaks on a Netflix show, but if you’re gonna have ‘em, then the skits on the bridge of the sattelite should be the boarders on most of the breaks like on the old show. It’s kinda awkward having them take a break from the movie only to immediately be sent back into the theater.
First off, it’s not so bad in the latter episodes, but in the beginning of the season, Jonah and the bots are rolling out their riffs like they’re all on cocaine. You guys realize that it’s okay for you to talk over the movie, right? That’s the whole premise of the show. Stop trying to fire out jokes at high speed. Just let them flow naturally.
Secondly, there’s something wrong with the crow puppet. Most of the time his jaw just veers to the right when he talks and it looks awkward as all Hell. Do whatever you have to do and fix it. Otherwise, I’m happy with Crow’s new articulation and mobility. My favorite bit in Wizards of the Lost Kingdom is where he climbs the grapevine to see if there’s treasure above the screen. And Tom Servo, holy cow! It’s amazing how free and limber he is now!
My 3rd biggest gripe is the lack of continuity. Even when the show transitioned from Comedy Central to Sci-Fi, they remembered how season 7 ended. When we last saw the gang in season 10, they made it to Earth, Cros and Tom were roomates with Mike and Gypsy had a multi-million dollar company. How did Kinga get a hold of them? What happened to Gypsy’s company? Is Mike okay? Did he ever take the job at Joel’s hot fish shop?
4, why did Pearl send Kinga a simple-minded clone of herself? What is the point of that? Especially with the clone being in the background most of the time. Mary Jo Pehl was one f the key players that kept MST3K afloat through most of its life back in the day! Either have her be funny or leave her alone.
Putting those complaints aside, I have no regrets supporting the kickstarter and my heart sings with the return of MST3K. Here’s hoping you get renewed for season 12 and that you resolve at least a couple of the problems the show has in its new form.
Oh, and don’t ever have Wil Wheaton on the show again. He’s a grave standing scum bag.
But yeah, saving it for later worked since the riffing was so much more spot on. Great, great work. Man we better get another season.