Mystery Science Theater 3000

[starskin]

"WATCH OUT FOR SNAKES!"
"His final words were: Huzzah."

You know, I *liked* the movie. I wonder why it didn't do better in the theaters. Was the show too much of a cult phenomenon? I mean, I know it is a cult phenomenon, but I thought the cult was pretty damn big, so I'm surprised it didn't have a better showing.

Oh god, I'm going to be posting in this thread a lot....I warn you all in advance.

[spinsterliz]

Honestly, I think this show was very hit-and-miss. Some of the episodes are hilarious, but some of them really fall flat.

My favorites are the short movies, the ones that are usually corny instructional videos about how to get a job or whatnot. I think they are usually funnier than the full-length movies. "Mr. B. Natural" is hysterical! (Mr. B. Natural: "Don't be too sure I wasn't in the garden with Mr. and Mrs. Adam!" Tom Servo: "Yeah, you were the snake.") Like Joel and the robots, I still can't figure out if Mr. B. Natural was supposed to be a man or a woman. I have a whole bunch of those short movies on tape, like "What about Juvenile Deliquency" and "Posture Pals" and sometimes I still watch them for a quick snicker. Good stuff.

[iceblink]

Oh dear god, Horror at Party Beach! I think the first 30 minutes or so of that one are some of the show's funniest. I can't even think about it without giggling.
"Here, let me toss a gay man at you."
I saw Mr. B Natural for the first time last month and it nearly caused me to lose sleep, it was so scary.

[Deleted]

That springs short is horrible! Like psychotic-horrible. That Springy cartoon character is ten times more frightening than anything in Hostel: "Noooo spriiiings, Ha HA!" Then at the end I swear the one guy has a psychotic break. I love when he's babbling in the car about how great springs are and his co-workers are like, "Uh....."

I also like the car safety one. There's a guy who doesn't pay attention on the road so he almost runs over another guy changing his tire on the shoulder. The man changing the tire is chunky with dark hair and glasses, so one of the 'bots quips: "Oh my God, I almost ran over Henry Kissinger! Better go back."

[starskin]

"What is it about the Gates of Hell that compels people to wander into them?"

I agree that the show could be hit or miss. I think some of the movies were so unfunny that they weren't even a good basis to create jokes from, or just hated the movie too much to try. It was also weird when the movie was *almost* not bad. Like with Quest of the Delta Knights or Danger: Diabolik. They weren't strictly B-Movie but they fell short of being actual good movies. That said, QotDK is possibly one of my favorite episodes EVER. To this day whenever my friends and I have to use the bathroom we refer to it as "draining the wizard".

Heh, you probably didn't need to know that.

[Deleted]

From the short clip of Diabolik before the greatest hits clips on Youtube it looked like a good one.

"I've got two experts on women here..."
"Dudley Moore and Rick James."

[iceblink]

That pee-throwing scene in Quest of the Delta Knights. What the hell WAS that??
I fall into the Mike camp more than the Joel camp myself, not that I don't enjoy Joel. But he can be somewhat hard to hear.

[Deleted]

Oh Joel is my absolute favorite. I had such a crush on him! I always get a kick out of how he related to the 'bots. When he would go into "father mode" and try to keep them in line was the best. I think which host you prefer (if you have a strong preference like I do) really does have a lot to do with when you really got into the show. I started watching with Joel and cried when he left. I liked Mike but I felt the show was missing something without Joel.

Imo, the last three episodes of season 4 (The Day the Earth Froze, Bride of the Monster and Manos: The Hands of Fate with parts 1 and 2 of the instructional short Hired!) are some of the best from the show's history. Sampo!!!

You know, I *liked* the movie. I wonder why it didn't do better in the theaters. Was the show too much of a cult phenomenon? I mean, I know it is a cult phenomenon, but I thought the cult was pretty damn big, so I'm surprised it didn't have a better showing.

I read (a few years ago so... it might not be too accurate) that TPTB did a slow roll out for the film hoping that it would gain momentum but it never did (the fans, I guess, went to see it but not many more) so they sort of never got behind the film. Instead of playing to a niche market, they tried to score a big hit and recruit new fans. When that didn't happen, they just let the whole thing go. Take that with a grain of salt, though. I could be very wrong.

[kateln]

Two pages and no mention of the best bad movie ever? "Manos: The Hands of Fate" Torgo--the amazing, sort-of-kind-of goat legged man, who gets petted and rocked gently to death.

This is an awful movie on its own--but I swear--the robots make it funny!

[kostgard]

"Manos" definitely takes some getting used to. When I first watched it I think I was too busy going "what they hell is this?" to appreciate it. Then I saw it again, and now I think it's hysterical. Definitely one of the best.

I've also got "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank" in my head. Poor Raul Julia.

"Mom! My nuts!"