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What are some of the best epidodes that you can recommend me and who do you think is the better host?
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One of the best Joel ones, I think, is Pod People. Manos is, of course, classic.

Of the Mike ones, I have to say Hobgoblins or Space Mutiny.

I've always thought that the two hosts were way too different in their styles to be compared fairly. They each have a different relationship and a different wit. Joel created the bots, he's their dad. They look up to him and respect him, and he's got a very droll wit. The bots constantly pick on Mike and don't really respect him, so it opens up a whole new aspect to the dynamic. He's also more sarcastic in his wit. It just depends on your tastes.

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Joel - Mitchell
Mike - Pretty much all of the first SciFi Channel season, though I'd pick Space Mutiny
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I like Mike better I think, but mostly because by then they had the format down pat and Mike was the head writer for a lot of Joel's episodes anyway. Not to take anything away from Joel - the guy created the show and some of my favorite episodes are his. The last three seasons of the show are much better than the rest though I think.

I'll have to look over my list when I get home from work, but ones that immediately come to mind are "Mitchell", "Prince of Space", "Santa Clause Conquers the Martians", "The Incredibly Strange People Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies", and the one with the wannabe James Bond guy (can't remember the title right now). Also, the first 10 minutes of "Teenagers From Outer Space" is gold.

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Originally posted by: Zion
I like Mike better I think, but mostly because by then they had the format down pat and Mike was the head writer for a lot of Joel's episodes anyway. Not to take anything away from Joel - the guy created the show and some of my favorite episodes are his. The last three seasons of the show are much better than the rest though I think.

Totally agree. The Sci-Fi channel years were the best of the series, IMO.

I'll have to look over my list when I get home from work, but ones that immediately come to mind are "Mitchell", "Prince of Space", "Santa Clause Conquers the Martians", "The Incredibly Strange People Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies", and the one with the wannabe James Bond guy (can't remember the title right now). Also, the first 10 minutes of "Teenagers From Outer Space" is gold.


*shudder* - "Zombies" was so bad that even the riffing didn't make it any better for me. There were a couple like that that I just couldn't get past, like The Creeping Terror, Zombies, The Wild Wild World of Batwoman, and others.

Thoughts on Werewolf? Think it was the first year of the Sci-Fi channel. "So I guess they just put suspected werewolfs in the neo-natal ward!"...lol, classic.
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I was always partial to Joel over Mike. And the last season of the series IMHO, was scraping the bottom of the barrel.
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Originally posted by: Zion
Maybe I'm getting it mixed up with another Zombie movie. Now that I think about it, there really weren't any Zombies in that movie besides the scene where they all run in through that door.


No, I think you've got it right. It's the one with "ORTEGA!" the mumbling, smoking zombie/bum hybrid.
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As for favorite movies on the show, I've always liked the Gamera films. Too bad they won't get official releases due to the copyright holders on the Gamera films got mad and refused to allow the epsodes to be rebroadcast or released on DVD.
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Every time I talk about the show with my brother, he always asks me if I have a certain episode that we remember seeing on TV way back in the day. I really don't remember the movie that well, but there is one part where an old man and an old lady are sitting in their living room and all of a sudden the house blows up. I think it's servo who says, "Ah! Forgot about those cookies!" When we first saw it on TV, we were laughing for a good 5 minutes. Now that I have every episode on DVD, I can't seem to find that one. Anybody recall which one this is?

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Mike: Overdrawn At The Memory Bank. So many good lines.

"He didn't tell me what the dinner special was."
"Hang on, I'm passing a ham through my left ventricle!"
"BUT I LIKE IT HERE!!! WEEEEE!!!! We're having an electron sex party right now, WHEEEEE!!!"
"Mike, I really think she's Billy Squier!"

So good.
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Anyone remember The Sinister Urge? I think it was that one...this guy and his date are in the park when they're attacked by a bunch of hot women. They hold the girl while they...attack...the guy. All you hear is Mike saying "Yeah, please don't dangle your hair on my naked body...'Cause I HATE that", then as they drag him away Crow says "Remember honey...I'm doing this for you!". LOL
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Originally posted by: ReverendBeastly
One of the best Joel ones, I think, is Pod People. Manos is, of course, classic.

Of the Mike ones, I have to say Hobgoblins or Space Mutiny.

I've always thought that the two hosts were way too different in their styles to be compared fairly. They each have a different relationship and a different wit. Joel created the bots, he's their dad. They look up to him and respect him, and he's got a very droll wit. The bots constantly pick on Mike and don't really respect him, so it opens up a whole new aspect to the dynamic. He's also more sarcastic in his wit. It just depends on your tastes.


Agreed.

Favorite Joel - draw between Warrior of the Lost World ("This isn't Mad Max, it's Sad Max.") and Hercules Against The Moon Men.

Favorite Mike - probably Alien From LA.

I'll probably get flamed for saying this, but I didn't really like the Sci-Fi Channel era of MST3K. Pearl, Brain Guy and Bobo just weren't as engaging as Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank. Not to me anyway.
I'd like a qui-gon jinn please with an Obi-Wan to go.

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Originally posted by: Han Solo VS Indiana Jones
Agreed.

Favorite Joel - draw between Warrior of the Lost World ("This isn't Mad Max, it's Sad Max.") and Hercules Against The Moon Men.

Favorite Mike - probably Alien From LA.

I'll probably get flamed for saying this, but I didn't really like the Sci-Fi Channel era of MST3K. Pearl, Brain Guy and Bobo just weren't as engaging as Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank. Not to me anyway.


I agree. I always thought that Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank were much better.
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I remember reading an article with Mike about MST3K. He was the head writer for years before he became the host, and what he had to say was rather interesting. He feels that they didn't start to hit their stride until about halfway through the series run. At first they really wanted to be more focused on making pop-culture references and obscure jokes, but then later on they changed the jokes to just making fun of how crappy the movies were. I have to agree, because you do see a change (for the better) in the style of jokes near the end of Joel's tenure as host, and continuing on throughout Mike's time.

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Most of the later ones have riffs that reference many things besides just pop culture. Mike was known for throwing Shakespeare references in all the time. There were countless LOTR references (now I know who the hell Frodo is ), as well as other stuff not everyone would get. You could watch the same episode multiple times and get something new out of it each time.

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I watched hobgoblins yesterday I have to say it is one of my favorite episodes.
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Oh man, I am watching the riff for Episode I. They really pick that movie apart. So many scenes that have grown on me and don't bother me anymore and they point out how very lame they are. I am starting to feel ashamed I paid to see this thing in the cinema more than once. Also this is the fisrt time in a very long time I have seen the unedited version of this film. So many scenes I forget ever existed. Proof that fan edits do work. Having violently hacked the whole underwater world/submarine adventure out of my version of TPM it was a big shock watching it again. I had forgotten how long that stupid "traveling through the planet core" crap went on for. I am almost to the podrace scene, really not looking forward to sitting through that again, even with the riff.

So far one of my favorite quotes is

"yeah, every fanboy's dream, take Natalie Portman to your room and show her your robot."


EDIT: Well, I finally had to turn it off. I couldn't make it the whole way through the movie. It started off funny, but about halfway through the podrace they kind of gave up on it. It finally gets to they point were they just complain about the movie and don't even try to be funny. Every few seconds they let out a painful groan as if to say why the hell did we choose to riff this pile of tripe. I turned it off right as they are about to return to Naboo. I will finish it some other time, I at least have the lightsaber fight to look forward to.

You know, I think there was something to be said for the scripted riffs of MST3K, no matter how bad the movie got the jokes kept coming. The riff for TPM is a perfectly good example of what can go wrong without a script.

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Originally posted by: C3PX
It started off funny, but about halfway through the podrace they kind of gave up on it. It finally gets to they point were they just complain about the movie and don't even try to be funny.


The Pod Race section of the riff track was great. Especially with the introductions of the racers. The latter portions of the race had jokes that were more sparse, but I think it is expecting a bit too much to want a new, great joke every few seconds with only two guys working on the material. Also, I remember many MST3K episodes that simply made complaints at points. Usually the humor was in the way the critical lines were delivered.

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The criticism of the movie can be great, that is basically what the whole riff is, but in this case it is not humerous complaining it is just moaning. And I have listened to that many times while watching the movie with my friends. I have watched a good deal of MST3K and even if the jokes get sparse at times (which really isn't that common, at least not the the degree they do halfway through EP.1) they still keep them coming. On the TPM riff I really got the impression that they were hating having to do the riff.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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Well, TMP isn't nearly as bad as any of the other movies MST3K spoofs. It has top-notch special effects and a decent story even if some of the character aspects were poorly handled. It's not like 'Manos the Hands of Fate', so it's understandable they didn't have as much material to parody.

4

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Originally posted by: Darth Chaltab
Well, TMP isn't nearly as bad as any of the other movies MST3K spoofs. It has top-notch special effects and a decent story even if some of the character aspects were poorly handled. It's not like 'Manos the Hands of Fate', so it's understandable they didn't have as much material to parody.


Manos to me is a masterpiece perhaps in the league of Plan 9.