MST3K Challenge

[blueboybob]

With the new season out on Netflix (and because I am currently trying to watch the entire series), anyone up for a challenge?

How many movies (and shorts) can you watch that were on MST3K? Watching an episode of MST3K also counts!


List on iCM
https://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/myst ... htysparks/

[Armoreska]

I've only got The Green Slime left on that list which mysteriously remains unriffed by anyone, plus a few I've skipped from the new season.

[blueboybob]

I am half way through season 5. About 4 episodes until the Joel switch.

[Armoreska]

Yeah, not much interest in MST3K around here

[India Istanbul]

Is this thread still going?

MST3K is the greatest science experiment EVER!

I'll gladly include my list of what I've seen.

This show has made me a fan of Ben Murphy. For better or worse.

India

[OldAle1]

Is this thread still going?

You bumped it so I guess so.

The low IMDb rating challenge in January was my MST3K, frankly. I love bad movies but hate MST; watching other people make fun of a movie - to the point where I often can't even hear the lines, have to watch their stupid fucking silhouettes, and have to make due with a film that's edited for time - no thanks. I'm way too much of a purist for that, and I don't think they're very funny to begin with.

I will add that though I don't like the show (or concept) I do think they have pretty good taste in bad movies, and the list of films is much better IMO than the official Badmovies.org list.

[blueboybob]

I'm currently on Season 6 Episode 7

I try to watch 2 a week

[Minkin]

I decided it was time to breathe some life into this thread and get people to actually attempt this challenge.

At the very least, I'll work on this one myself. I'll post reviews of the films (and eligible shorts as well) + some brief thought about the episode themselves - as I'm never quite sure how to review the episodes other than just basic "it was fine / mediocre / great". So my emphasis is on the films - which I'll try to watch both riffed + non-riffed as well (I'll make note if watched unriffed) and I'll try to have a rating for both the film and the MST3K episode.

Here's an episode list I put together for you to work on.

List of MST3K Episodes

001 The Green Slime (1968)
002 Invaders from the Deep (1981)
003 Revenge of the Mysterions (1980)
004 Star Force: Fugitive Alien II (1987)
005 Gamera Vs. Barugon (1966)
006 Gamera (1965)
007 Gamera Vs. Gaos (1967)
008 Gamera Vs. Zigra (1971)
009 Gamera Vs. Guiron (1969)
010 Phase IV (1974)
011 Cosmic Princess (1982)
012 Humanoid Woman (1981)
013 Fugitive Alien (1987)
014 SST: Death Flight (1977)
015 Mighty Jack (1968)
016 Superdome (1978)
017 City on Fire (1979)
018 Time of the Apes (1987)
019 The Million Eyes of Su-Muru (1967)
020 Hangar 18 1980)
021 The Last Chase (1981)
022 Legend of the Dinosaur (1977)

Season One

023 The Crawling Eye (1958)
024 The Robot Vs. The Aztec Mummy With Short: Commando Cody and the Radar Men From the Moon Pt 1 (1958)
025 Mad Monster With Short: Commando Cody Pt 2 (1942)
026 Women of the Prehistoric Planet (1966)
027 The Corpse Vanishes With Short: Commando Cody Pt 3 (1942)
028 The Crawling Hand (1963)
029 Robot Monster With Shorts: Commando Cody Pts 4 and 5 (1953)
030 The Slime People With Short: Commando Cody Pt 6 (1963)
031 Project Moon Base With Shorts: Commando Cody Pts 7 and 8 (1953)
032 Robot Holocaust With Short: Commando Cody Pt 9 (Partial) (1986)
033 Moon Zero Two (1969)
034 Untamed Youth (1957)
035 The Black Scorpion (1957)

Season Two

036 Rocketship X-M (1950)
037 The Sidehackers (1969)
038 Jungle Goddess With Short: the Phantom Creeps Pt 1 (1948)
039 Catalina Caper (1967)
040 Rocket Attack U.S.A. With Short: the Phantom Creeps Pt 2 (1961)
041 Ring of Terror With Short: the Phantom Creeps Pt 3 (1962)
042 Wild Rebels (1967)
043 Lost Continent (1951)
044 The Hellcats (1968)
045 King Dinosaur With Short: X Marks the Spot (1955)
046 First Spaceship on Venus (1960)
047 Godzilla vs Megalon (1973)
048 Godzilla vs the Sea Monster (1966)

Season Three

049 Cave Dwellers (1984)
050 Gamera (1965)
051 Pod People (1983)
052 Gamera Vs. Barugon (1966)
053 Stranded in Space (1973)
054 Time of the Apes (1974)
055 Daddy-O With short: Alphabet Antics (1958)
056 Gamera Vs. Gaos (1967)
057 The Amazing Colossal Man (1957)
058 Fugitive Alien (1978)
059 It Conquered the World With Short: Snow Thrills (1956)
060 Gamera Vs. Guiron (1969)
061 Earth vs the Spider With Short: Using Your Voice (1958)
062 Mighty Jack (1968)
063 Teenage Cave Man With Shorts: Aquatic Wizards and Catching Trouble (1958)
064 Gamera Vs. Zigra (1971)
065 The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent With Short: the Home Economics Story (1957)
066 Star Force: Fugitive Alien II (1987)
067 War of the Colossal Beast With Short: Mr. B. Natural (1958)
068 The Unearthly With Shorts: Posture Pals and Appreciating Our Parents (1957)
069 Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)
070 Master Ninja I (1992)
071 The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969)
072 Master Ninja II (1992)

Season Four

073 Marooned (Space Travelers) (1969)
074 The Giant Gila Monster (1959)
075 City Limits (1984)
076 Teenagers from Outer Space (1959)
077 Being From Another Planet (1982)
078 Attack of the Giant Leeches With Short: Undersea Kingdom Pt 1 (1959)
079 The Killer Shrews With Short: Junior Rodeo Daredevils (1959)
080 Hercules Unchained (1959)
081 Indestructible Man With Short: Undersea Kingdom Pt 2 (1956)
082 Hercules Against the Moon Men (1964)
083 The Magic Sword (1962)
084 Hercules and the Captive Women (1961)
085 Manhunt in Space With Short: General Hospital Pt 1 (1956)
086 Tormented (1960)
087 The Beatniks With Short: General Hospital Pt 2 (1960)
088 Fire Maidens from Outer Space (1956)
089 Crash of the Moons With Short: General Hospital Pt 3 (1954)
090 Attack of the Eye Creatures (1965)
091 The Rebel Set With Short: Johnny at the Fair (1959)
092 The Human Duplicators (1965)
093 Monster a-Go Go with short: Circus on Ice (1965)
094 The Day the Earth Froze With Short: Here Comes the Circus (1959)
095 Bride of the Monster With Short: Hired! Pt 1 (1955)
096 Manos: The Hands of Fate With Short: Hired! Pt 2 (1966)

Season Five

097 Warrior of the Lost World (1983)
098 Hercules (1958)
099 Swamp Diamonds with short: What to do on a Date (1956)
100 Secret Agent Super Dragon (1966)
101 The Magic Voyage of Sinbad (1953)
102 Eegah (1962)
103 I Accuse My Parents with short: The Truck Farmer (1944)
104 Operation Double OO7 (1967)
105 The Girl in Lovers Lane (1960)
106 The Painted Hills with short: Body Care and Grooming (1951)
107 Gunslinger (1956)
108 Mitchell (1975)
109 The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962)
110 Teen-Age Strangler With short: Is This Love? (1964)
111 The Wild World of Batwoman With short: Cheating (1966)
112 Alien from L.A. (1988)
113 Beginning of the End (1957)
114 The Atomic Brain With short: What about Juvenile Delinquency? (1963)
115 Outlaw of Gor (1988)
116 Radar Secret Service With short: Last Clear Chance (1950)
117 Santa Claus (1959)
118 Teen-Age Crime Wave (1955)
119 Village of the Giants (1965)
120 12 to the Moon With short: Design for Dreaming (1960)

Season Six

121 Girls Town (1959)
122 Invasion, U.S.A. With short: A Date with Your Family (1952)
123 The Dead Talk Back With short: The Selling Wizard (1993)
124 Zombie Nightmare (1987)
125 Colossus and the Headhunters (1963)
126 The Creeping Terror (1964)
127 Bloodlust! With short: Uncle Jim's Dairy Farm (1961)
128 Code Name: Diamond Head With short: A Day at the Fair (1977)
129 The Skydivers With short: Why Study Industrial Arts? (1963)
130 The Violent Years With short: Young Man's Fancy (1956)
131 Last of the Wild Horses (1948)
132 The Starfighters (1964)
133 The Sinister Urge With short: Keeping Clean and Neat (1960)
134 San Francisco International Airport: San Francisco International (1970)
135 Kitten with a Whip (1964)
136 Racket Girls With short: Are You Ready for Marriage? (1951)
137 The Sword and the Dragon (1956)
138 High School Big Shot With short: Out of This World (1959)
139 Red Zone Cuba, With short: Speech: Platform, Posture, and Appearance (1966)
140 Danger! Death Ray (1967)
141 The Beast of Yucca Flats With shorts: Money Talks! and Progress Island USA (1961)
142 Angels' Revenge (1979)
143 The Amazing Transparent Man With short: The Days of Our Years (1960)
144 Samson vs. the Vampire Women (1962)

Season Seven

145 Night of the Blood Beast With short: Once Upon a Honeymoon (1958)
146 The Brute Man With short: The Chicken of Tomorrow (1946)
147 Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell (1988)
148 The Incredible Melting Man (1977)
149 Escape 2000 (1983)
150 Laserblast (1978)

151 This Island Earth (1955)

Season Eight

152 Revenge of the Creature (1955)
153 The Leech Woman 1960)
154 The Mole People (1956)
155 The Deadly Mantis (1957)
156 The Thing That Couldn't Die (1958)
157 The Undead (1957)
158 Terror from the Year 5000 (1958)
159 The She-Creature (1956)
160 I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957)
161 The Giant Spider Invasion (1975)
162 Parts: The Clonus Horror (1979)
163 The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (1964)
164 Jack Frost (1965)
165 Riding with Death (1976)
166 Agent for H.A.R.M. (1966)
167 Prince of Space (1959)
168 The Horror of Party Beach (1964)
169 Devil Doll (1964)
170 Invasion of the Neptune Men (1961)
171 Space Mutiny (1988)
172 Time Chasers (1994)
173 Overdrawn at the Memory Bank (1983)

Season Nine

174 The Projected Man (1966)
175 The Phantom Planet (1961)
176 The Puma Man (1980)
177 Werewolf (1995)
178 The Deadly Bees (1966)
179 The Space Children With short: Century 21 Calling (1958)
180 Hobgoblins (1988)
181 The Touch of Satan (1971)
182 Gorgo (1961)
183 The Final Sacrifice (1990)
184 Devil Fish (1984)
185 The Screaming Skull With short: Robot Rumpus (1958)
186 Quest of the Delta Knights (1993)

Season Ten

187 Soultaker (1990)
188 Girl in Gold Boots (1968)
189 Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders (1996)
190 Future War (1997)
191 Zaat (1971)
192 The Barbaric Beast of Boggy Creek, Part II (1985)
193 Track of the Moon Beast (1976)
194 Final Justice (1985)
195 Hamlet (1960)
196 It Lives by Night ((1974)
197 Horrors of Spider Island (1960)
198 Squirm With short: A Case of Spring Fever (1976)
199 Diabolik (1968)

Season Eleven

200 Reptilicus (1961)
201 Cry Wilderness (1987)
202 The Time Travelers (1964)
203 Avalanche (1978)
204 The Beast of Hollow Mountain (1956)
205 Starcrash (1978)
206 The Land That Time Forgot (1974)
207 The Loves of Hercules (1960)
208 Yongary, Monster from the Deep (1967)
209 Wizards of the Lost Kingdom (1985)
210 Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II (1989)
211 Carnival Magic (1981)
212 The Christmas that Almost Wasn't (1966)
213 At the Earth's Core (1976)

Season Twelve

214 Mac and Me (1988)
215 Atlantic Rim (2013)
216 Lords of the Deep (1989)
217 The Day Time Ended (1979)
218 Killer Fish (1979)
219 Ator the Fighting Eaglex (1982)

Season Thirteen

220 Santo in the Treasure of Dracula (1969)
221 Robot Wars (1993)
222 Beyond Atlantis (1973)
223 Munchie (19920
224 Doctor Mordrid (1992)
225 Demon Squad (2019)
226 Gamera vs. Jiger (1970)
227 The Batwoman (1968)
228 The Million Eyes of Sumuru (1967)
229 H. G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come (1979)
230 The Mask 3D (1961)
231 The Bubble (1966)
232 The Christmas Dragon (2014)

I made the list again only with Season x Episode instead of progressive #s. I'll use this latter one myself.

List of MST3K Episodes

Kx01 - The Green Slime (1968)
Kx02 - Invaders from the Deep (1981)
Kx03 - Revenge of the Mysterions (1980)
Kx04 - Star Force: Fugitive Alien II (1987)
Kx05 - Gamera Vs. Barugon (1966)
Kx06 - Gamera (1965)
Kx07 - Gamera Vs. Gaos (1967)
Kx08 - Gamera Vs. Zigra (1971)
Kx09 - Gamera Vs. Guiron (1969)
Kx10 - Phase IV (1974)
Kx11 - Cosmic Princess (1982)
Kx12 - Humanoid Woman (1981)
Kx13 - Fugitive Alien (1987)
Kx14 - SST: Death Flight (1977)
Kx15 - Mighty Jack (1968)
Kx16 - Superdome (1978)
Kx17 - City on Fire (1979)
Kx18 - Time of the Apes (1987)
Kx19 - The Million Eyes of Su-Muru (1967)
Kx20 - Hangar 18 (1980)
Kx21 - The Last Chase (1981)
Kx22 - Legend of the Dinosaur (1977)

Season One

1x01 - The Crawling Eye (1958)
1x02 - The Robot Vs. The Aztec Mummy (1958) With Short: Commando Cody Pt 1
1x03 - Mad Monster (1942) With Short: Commando Cody Pt 2
1x04 - Women of the Prehistoric Planet (1966)
1x05 - The Corpse Vanishes (1942) With Short: Commando Cody Pt 3
1x06 - The Crawling Hand (1963)
1x07 - Robot Monster (1953) With Shorts: Commando Cody Pts 4 and 5
1x08 - The Slime People (1963) With Short: Commando Cody Pt 6
1x09 - Project Moon Base (1953) With Shorts: Commando Cody Pts 7 and 8
1x10 - Robot Holocaust (1986) With Short: Commando Cody Pt 9 (Partial)
1x11 - Moon Zero Two (1969)
1x12 - Untamed Youth (1957)
1x13 - The Black Scorpion (1957)

Season Two

2x01 - Rocketship X-M (1950)
2x02 - The Sidehackers (1969)
2x03 - Jungle Goddess (1948) With Short: the Phantom Creeps Pt 1
2x04 - Catalina Caper (1967)
2x05 - Rocket Attack U.S.A. (1961) With Short: the Phantom Creeps Pt 2
2x06 - Ring of Terror (1962) With Short: the Phantom Creeps Pt 3
2x07 - Wild Rebels (1967)
2x08 - Lost Continent (1951)
2x09 - The Hellcats (1968)
2x10 - King Dinosaur (1955) With Short: X Marks the Spot (1944)
2x11 - First Spaceship on Venus (1960)
2x12 - Godzilla vs Megalon (1973)
2x13 - Godzilla vs the Sea Monster (1966)

Season Three

3x01 - Cave Dwellers (1984)
3x02 - Gamera (1965)
3x03 - Pod People (1983)
3x04 - Gamera Vs. Barugon (1966)
3x05 - Stranded in Space (1973)
3x06 - Time of the Apes (1974)
3x07 - Daddy-O (1958) With short: Alphabet Antics (1951)
3x08 - Gamera Vs. Gaos (1967)
3x09 - The Amazing Colossal Man (1957)
3x10 - Fugitive Alien (1978)
3x11 - It Conquered the World (1956) With Short: Snow Thrills (1945)
3x12 - Gamera Vs. Guiron (1969)
3x13 - Earth vs the Spider (1958) With Short: Using Your Voice (1950)
3x14 - Mighty Jack (1968)
3x15 - Teenage Cave Man (1958) With Shorts: Aquatic Wizards (1955) and Catching Trouble (1936)
3x16 - Gamera Vs. Zigra (1971)
3x17 - Viking Women and the Sea Serpent (1957) With Short: The Home Economics Story (1951)
3x18 - Star Force: Fugitive Alien II (1987)
3x19 - War of the Colossal Beast (1958) With Short: Mr. B. Natural (1957)
3x20 - The Unearthly (1957) With Shorts: Posture Pals (1952) and Appreciating Our Parents (1950)
3x21 - Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)
3x22 - Master Ninja I (1992)
3x23 - The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969)
3x24 - Master Ninja II (1992)

Season Four

4x01 - Marooned (Space Travelers) (1969)
4x02 - The Giant Gila Monster (1959)
4x03 - City Limits (1984)
4x04 - Teenagers from Outer Space (1959)
4x05 - Being From Another Planet (1982)
4x06 - Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959) With Short: Undersea Kingdom Pt 1
4x07 - The Killer Shrews (1959) With Short: Junior Rodeo Daredevils (1949)
4x08 - Hercules Unchained (1959)
4x09 - Indestructible Man (1956) With Short: Undersea Kingdom Pt 2
4x10 - Hercules Against the Moon Men (1964)
4x11 - The Magic Sword (1962)
4x12 - Hercules and the Captive Women (1961)
4x13 - Manhunt in Space (1956) With Short: General Hospital Pt 1
4x14 - Tormented (1960)
4x15 - The Beatniks (1960) With Short: General Hospital Pt 2
4x16 - Fire Maidens from Outer Space (1956)
4x17 - Crash of the Moons (1954) With Short: General Hospital Pt 3
4x18 - Attack of the Eye Creatures (1965)
4x19 - The Rebel Set (1959) With Short: Johnny at the Fair (1947)
4x20 - The Human Duplicators (1965)
4x21 - Monster a-Go Go (1965) with short: Circus on Ice (1954)
4x22 - The Day the Earth Froze (1959) With Short: Here Comes the Circus (1946)
4x23 - Bride of the Monster (1955) With Short: Hired! Pt 1 (1940)
4x24 - Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966) With Short: Hired! Pt 2 (1940)

Season Five

5x01 - Warrior of the Lost World (1983)
5x02 - Hercules (1958)
5x03 - Swamp Diamonds (1956) with short: What to do on a Date (1951)
5x04 - Secret Agent Super Dragon (1966)
5x05 - The Magic Voyage of Sinbad (1953)
5x06 - Eegah (1962)
5x07 - I Accuse My Parents (1944) with short: The Truck Farmer (1954)
5x08 - Operation Double OO7 (1967)
5x09 - The Girl in Lovers Lane (1960)
5x10 - The Painted Hills (1951) with short: Body Care and Grooming (1947)
5x11 - Gunslinger (1956)
5x12 - Mitchell (1975)
5x13 - The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962)
5x14 - Teen-Age Strangler (1964) With short: Is This Love? (1957)
5x15 - The Wild World of Batwoman (1966) With short: Cheating (1952)
5x16 - Alien from L.A. (1988)
5x17 - Beginning of the End (1957)
5x18 - The Atomic Brain (1963) With short: What about Juvenile Delinquency? (1955)
5x19 - Outlaw of Gor (1988)
5x20 - Radar Secret Service (1950) With short: Last Clear Chance (1959)
5x21 - Santa Claus (1959)
5x22 - Teen-Age Crime Wave (1955)
5x23 - Village of the Giants (1965)
5x24 - 12 to the Moon (1960) With short: Design for Dreaming (1956)

Season Six

6x01 - Girls Town (1959)
6x02 - Invasion, U.S.A. (1952) With short: A Date with Your Family (1950)
6x03 - The Dead Talk Back (1993) With short: The Selling Wizard (1954)
6x04 - Zombie Nightmare (1987)
6x05 - Colossus and the Headhunters (1963)
6x06 - The Creeping Terror (1964)
6x07 - Bloodlust! (1961) With short: Uncle Jim's Dairy Farm (1960)
6x08 - Code Name: Diamond Head (1977) With short: A Day at the Fair (1947)
6x09 - The Skydivers (1963) With short: Why Study Industrial Arts? (1956)
6x10 - The Violent Years (1956) With short: Young Man's Fancy (1952)
6x11 - Last of the Wild Horses (1948)
6x12 - The Starfighters (1964)
6x13 - The Sinister Urge (1960) With short: Keeping Clean and Neat (1956)
6x14 - San Francisco International Airport: San Francisco International (1970)
6x15 - Kitten with a Whip (1964)
6x16 - Racket Girls (1951) With short: Are You Ready for Marriage? (1950)
6x17 - The Sword and the Dragon (1956)
6x18 - High School Big Shot (1959) With short: Out of This World (1954)
6x19 - Red Zone Cuba (1966), With short: Speech: Platform, Posture, and Appearance (1949)
6x20 - Danger! Death Ray (1967)
6x21 - The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961) With shorts: Money Talks! (1951) and Progress Island USA (1973)
6x22 - Angels' Revenge (1979)
6x23 - The Amazing Transparent Man (1960) With short: The Days of Our Years (1955)
6x24 - Samson vs. the Vampire Women (1962)

Season Seven

7x01 - Night of the Blood Beast (1958) With short: Once Upon a Honeymoon (1956)
7x02 - The Brute Man (1946) With short: The Chicken of Tomorrow (1948)
7x03 - Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell (1988)
7x04 - The Incredible Melting Man (1977)
7x05 - Escape 2000 (1983)
7x06 - Laserblast (1978)

Movie - This Island Earth (1955)

Season Eight

8x01 - Revenge of the Creature (1955)
8x02 - The Leech Woman 1960)
8x03 - The Mole People (1956)
8x04 - The Deadly Mantis (1957)
8x05 - The Thing That Couldn't Die (1958)
8x06 - The Undead (1957)
8x07 - Terror from the Year 5000 (1958)
8x08 - The She-Creature (1956)
8x09 - I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957)
8x10 - The Giant Spider Invasion (1975)
8x11 - Parts: The Clonus Horror (1979)
8x12 - The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (1964)
8x13 - Jack Frost (1965)
8x14 - Riding with Death (1976)
8x15 - Agent for H.A.R.M. (1966)
8x16 - Prince of Space (1959)
8x17 - The Horror of Party Beach (1964)
8x18 - Devil Doll (1964)
8x19 - Invasion of the Neptune Men (1961)
8x20 - Space Mutiny (1988)
8x21 - Time Chasers (1994)
8x22 - Overdrawn at the Memory Bank (1983)

Season Nine

9x01 - The Projected Man (1966)
9x02 - The Phantom Planet (1961)
9x03 - The Puma Man (1980)
9x04 - Werewolf (1995)
9x05 - The Deadly Bees (1966)
9x06 - The Space Children (1958) With short: Century 21 Calling (1962)
9x07 - Hobgoblins (1988)
9x08 - The Touch of Satan (1971)
9x09 - Gorgo (1961)
9x10 - The Final Sacrifice (1990)
9x11 - Devil Fish (1984)
9x12 - The Screaming Skull (1958) With short: Robot Rumpus (1957)
9x13 - Quest of the Delta Knights (1993)

Season Ten

10x01 - Soultaker (1990)
10x02 - Girl in Gold Boots (1968)
10x03 - Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders (1996)
10x04 - Future War (1997)
10x05 - Zaat (1971)
10x06 - The Barbaric Beast of Boggy Creek, Part II (1985)
10x07 - Track of the Moon Beast (1976)
10x08 - Final Justice (1985)
10x09 - Hamlet (1960)
10x10 - It Lives by Night (1974)
10x11 - Horrors of Spider Island (1960)
10x12 - Squirm (1976) With short: A Case of Spring Fever (1940)
10x13 - Diabolik (1968)

Season Eleven

11x01 - Reptilicus (1961)
11x02 - Cry Wilderness (1987)
11x03 - The Time Travelers (1964)
11x04 - Avalanche (1978)
11x05 - The Beast of Hollow Mountain (1956)
11x06 - Starcrash (1978)
11x07 - The Land That Time Forgot (1974)
11x08 - The Loves of Hercules (1960)
11x09 - Yongary, Monster from the Deep (1967)
11x10 - Wizards of the Lost Kingdom (1985)
11x11 - Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II (1989)
11x12 - Carnival Magic (1981)
11x13 - The Christmas that Almost Wasn't (1966)
11x14 - At the Earth's Core (1976)

Season Twelve

12x01 - Mac and Me (1988)
12x02 - Atlantic Rim (2013)
12x03 - Lords of the Deep (1989)
12x04 - The Day Time Ended (1979)
12x05 - Killer Fish (1979)
12x06 - Ator the Fighting Eaglex (1982)

Season Thirteen

13x01 - Santo in the Treasure of Dracula (1969)
13x02 - Robot Wars (1993)
13x03 - Beyond Atlantis (1973)
13x04 - Munchie (1992)
13x05 - Doctor Mordrid (1992)
13x06 - Demon Squad (2019)
13x07 - Gamera vs. Jiger (1970)
13x08 - The Batwoman (1968)
13x09 - The Million Eyes of Sumuru (1967)
13x10 - H. G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come (1979)
13x11 - The Mask 3D (1961)
13x12 - The Bubble (1966)
13x13 - The Christmas Dragon (2014)

[Minkin]

List of MST3K Episodes

Kx01 - The Green Slime (1968)
Kx02 - Invaders from the Deep (1981)
Kx03 - Revenge of the Mysterions (1980)
Kx04 - Star Force: Fugitive Alien II (1987)
Kx05 - Gamera Vs. Barugon (1966)
Kx06 - Gamera (1965)
Kx07 - Gamera Vs. Gaos (1967)
Kx08 - Gamera Vs. Zigra (1971)
Kx09 - Gamera Vs. Guiron (1969)
Kx10 - Phase IV (1974)
Kx11 - Cosmic Princess (1982)
Kx12 - Humanoid Woman (1981)
Kx13 - Fugitive Alien (1987)
Kx14 - SST: Death Flight (1977)
Kx15 - Mighty Jack (1968)
Kx16 - Superdome (1978)
Kx17 - City on Fire (1979)
Kx18 - Time of the Apes (1987)
Kx19 - The Million Eyes of Su-Muru (1967)
Kx20 - Hangar 18 (1980)
Kx21 - The Last Chase (1981)
Kx22 - Legend of the Dinosaur (1977)

Season One

1x01 - The Crawling Eye (1958)
1x02 - The Robot Vs. The Aztec Mummy With Short: Commando Cody and the Radar Men From the Moon Pt 1 (1958)
1x03 - Mad Monster With Short: Commando Cody Pt 2 (1942)
1x04 - Women of the Prehistoric Planet (1966)
1x05 - The Corpse Vanishes With Short: Commando Cody Pt 3 (1942)
1x06 - The Crawling Hand (1963)
1x07 - Robot Monster With Shorts: Commando Cody Pts 4 and 5 (1953)
1x08 - The Slime People With Short: Commando Cody Pt 6 (1963)
1x09 - Project Moon Base With Shorts: Commando Cody Pts 7 and 8 (1953)
1x10 - Robot Holocaust With Short: Commando Cody Pt 9 (Partial) (1986)
1x11 - Moon Zero Two (1969)
1x12 - Untamed Youth (1957)
1x13 - The Black Scorpion (1957)

Season Two

2x01 - Rocketship X-M (1950) - 11/25/21 (002) --- Film: 5 + Episode: 6
2x02 - The Sidehackers (1969)
2x03 - Jungle Goddess With Short: the Phantom Creeps Pt 1 (1948)
2x04 - Catalina Caper (1967)
2x05 - Rocket Attack U.S.A. With Short: the Phantom Creeps Pt 2 (1961)
2x06 - Ring of Terror With Short: the Phantom Creeps Pt 3 (1962)
2x07 - Wild Rebels (1967)
2x08 - Lost Continent (1951)
2x09 - The Hellcats (1968)
2x10 - King Dinosaur With Short: X Marks the Spot (1955)
2x11 - First Spaceship on Venus (1960)
2x12 - Godzilla vs Megalon (1973)
2x13 - Godzilla vs the Sea Monster (1966)

Season Three

3x01 - Cave Dwellers (1984)
3x02 - Gamera (1965)
3x03 - Pod People (1983)
3x04 - Gamera Vs. Barugon (1966)
3x05 - Stranded in Space (1973)
3x06 - Time of the Apes (1974)
3x07 - Daddy-O With short: Alphabet Antics (1958)
3x08 - Gamera Vs. Gaos (1967)
3x09 - The Amazing Colossal Man (1957)
3x10 - Fugitive Alien (1978) --- 12/04/21 (004) --- Film: 2 + Episode: 5
3x11 - It Conquered the World With Short: Snow Thrills (1956)
3x12 - Gamera Vs. Guiron (1969)
3x13 - Earth vs the Spider With Short: Using Your Voice (1958)
3x14 - Mighty Jack (1968)
3x15 - Teenage Cave Man With Shorts: Aquatic Wizards and Catching Trouble (1958)
3x16 - Gamera Vs. Zigra (1971)
3x17 - The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent With Short: the Home Economics Story (1957)
3x18 - Star Force: Fugitive Alien II (1987) --- 12/08/21 (005) --- Film: 3 + Episode: 8
3x19 - War of the Colossal Beast With Short: Mr. B. Natural (1958)
3x20 - The Unearthly With Shorts: Posture Pals and Appreciating Our Parents (1957)
3x21 - Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)
3x22 - Master Ninja I (1992)
3x23 - The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969)
3x24 - Master Ninja II (1992)

Season Four

4x01 - Marooned (Space Travelers) (1969) --- 02/20/22 (009) --- Film: 5 + Episode 5
4x02 - The Giant Gila Monster (1959)
4x03 - City Limits (1984)
4x04 - Teenagers from Outer Space (1959)
4x05 - Being From Another Planet (1982)
4x06 - Attack of the Giant Leeches With Short: Undersea Kingdom Pt 1 (1959)
4x07 - The Killer Shrews With Short: Junior Rodeo Daredevils (1959)
4x08 - Hercules Unchained (1959)
4x09 - Indestructible Man With Short: Undersea Kingdom Pt 2 (1956)
4x10 - Hercules Against the Moon Men (1964)
4x11 - The Magic Sword (1962)
4x12 - Hercules and the Captive Women (1961)
4x13 - Manhunt in Space With Short: General Hospital Pt 1 (1956)
4x14 - Tormented (1960)
4x15 - The Beatniks With Short: General Hospital Pt 2 (1960)
4x16 - Fire Maidens from Outer Space (1956) --- 12/31/21 (007) --- Film: 2 + Episode: 7
4x17 - Crash of the Moons With Short: General Hospital Pt 3 (1954)
4x18 - Attack of the Eye Creatures (1965)
4x19 - The Rebel Set With Short: Johnny at the Fair (1959)
4x20 - The Human Duplicators (1965)
4x21 - Monster a-Go Go with short: Circus on Ice (1965)
4x22 - The Day the Earth Froze With Short: Here Comes the Circus (1959)
4x23 - Bride of the Monster With Short: Hired! Pt 1 (1955)
4x24 - Manos: The Hands of Fate With Short: Hired! Pt 2 (1966)

Season Five

5x01 - Warrior of the Lost World (1983)
5x02 - Hercules (1958)
5x03 - Swamp Diamonds with short: What to do on a Date (1956)
5x04 - Secret Agent Super Dragon (1966)
5x05 - The Magic Voyage of Sinbad (1953)
5x06 - Eegah (1962)
5x07 - I Accuse My Parents with short: The Truck Farmer (1944)
5x08 - Operation Double OO7 (1967)
5x09 - The Girl in Lovers Lane (1960)
5x10 - The Painted Hills with short: Body Care and Grooming (1951)
5x11 - Gunslinger (1956)
5x12 - Mitchell (1975)
5x13 - The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962)
5x14 - Teen-Age Strangler With short: Is This Love? (1964)
5x15 - The Wild World of Batwoman With short: Cheating (1966)
5x16 - Alien from L.A. (1988)
5x17 - Beginning of the End (1957)
5x18 - The Atomic Brain With short: What about Juvenile Delinquency? (1963)
5x19 - Outlaw of Gor (1988)
5x20 - Radar Secret Service With short: Last Clear Chance (1950)
5x21 - Santa Claus (1959)
5x22 - Teen-Age Crime Wave (1955)
5x23 - Village of the Giants (1965)
5x24 - 12 to the Moon With short: Design for Dreaming (1960)

Season Six

6x01 - Girls Town (1959)
6x02 - Invasion, U.S.A. With short: A Date with Your Family (1952)
6x03 - The Dead Talk Back With short: The Selling Wizard (1993)
6x04 - Zombie Nightmare (1987)
6x05 - Colossus and the Headhunters (1963)
6x06 - The Creeping Terror (1964) --- 02/26/22 (010) --- Film: 6 + Episode: 7
6x07 - Bloodlust! With short: Uncle Jim's Dairy Farm (1961)
6x08 - Code Name: Diamond Head With short: A Day at the Fair (1977)
6x09 - The Skydivers With short: Why Study Industrial Arts? (1963)
6x10 - The Violent Years With short: Young Man's Fancy (1956)
6x11 - Last of the Wild Horses (1948)
6x12 - The Starfighters (1964)
6x13 - The Sinister Urge With short: Keeping Clean and Neat (1960)
6x14 - San Francisco International Airport: San Francisco International (1970)
6x15 - Kitten with a Whip (1964)
6x16 - Racket Girls With short: Are You Ready for Marriage? (1951)
6x17 - The Sword and the Dragon (1956)
6x18 - High School Big Shot With short: Out of This World (1959)
6x19 - Red Zone Cuba, With short: Speech: Platform, Posture, and Appearance (1966)
6x20 - Danger! Death Ray (1967)
6x21 - The Beast of Yucca Flats With shorts: Money Talks! and Progress Island USA (1961)
6x22 - Angels' Revenge (1979)
6x23 - The Amazing Transparent Man With short: The Days of Our Years (1960)
6x24 - Samson vs. the Vampire Women (1962)

Season Seven

7x01 - Night of the Blood Beast With short: Once Upon a Honeymoon (1958)
7x02 - The Brute Man With short: The Chicken of Tomorrow (1946)
7x03 - Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell (1988)
7x04 - The Incredible Melting Man (1977)
7x05 - Escape 2000 (1983)
7x06 - Laserblast (1978)

Movie - This Island Earth (1955)

Season Eight

8x01 - Revenge of the Creature (1955)
8x02 - The Leech Woman 1960)
8x03 - The Mole People (1956)
8x04 - The Deadly Mantis (1957)
8x05 - The Thing That Couldn't Die (1958)
8x06 - The Undead (1957)
8x07 - Terror from the Year 5000 (1958)
8x08 - The She-Creature (1956)
8x09 - I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957)
8x10 - The Giant Spider Invasion (1975)
8x11 - Parts: The Clonus Horror (1979) - 10/15/21 (001) --- Film: 5 + Episode: 8
8x12 - The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (1964)
8x13 - Jack Frost (1965)
8x14 - Riding with Death (1976)
8x15 - Agent for H.A.R.M. (1966)
8x16 - Prince of Space (1959)
8x17 - The Horror of Party Beach (1964)
8x18 - Devil Doll (1964)
8x19 - Invasion of the Neptune Men (1961)
8x20 - Space Mutiny (1988) --- 02/01/22 (008) --- Film: 7 + Episode: 7
8x21 - Time Chasers (1994)
8x22 - Overdrawn at the Memory Bank (1983)

Season Nine

9x01 - The Projected Man (1966)
9x02 - The Phantom Planet (1961)
9x03 - The Puma Man (1980)
9x04 - Werewolf (1995)
9x05 - The Deadly Bees (1966)
9x06 - The Space Children With short: Century 21 Calling (1958)
9x07 - Hobgoblins (1988)
9x08 - The Touch of Satan (1971)
9x09 - Gorgo (1961)
9x10 - The Final Sacrifice (1990) --- 11/26/21 (003) --- Film: 8 + Episode: 9
9x11 - Devil Fish (1984)
9x12 - The Screaming Skull With short: Robot Rumpus (1958)
9x13 - Quest of the Delta Knights (1993)

Season Ten

10x01 - Soultaker (1990)
10x02 - Girl in Gold Boots (1968)
10x03 - Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders (1996)
10x04 - Future War (1997)
10x05 - Zaat (1971)
10x06 - The Barbaric Beast of Boggy Creek, Part II (1985)
10x07 - Track of the Moon Beast (1976)
10x08 - Final Justice (1985)
10x09 - Hamlet (1960)
10x10 - It Lives by Night (1974) --- 12/11/21 (006) --- Film: 2 + Episode: 5
10x11 - Horrors of Spider Island (1960)
10x12 - Squirm With short: A Case of Spring Fever (1976)
10x13 - Diabolik (1968)

Season Eleven

11x01 - Reptilicus (1961)
11x02 - Cry Wilderness (1987)
11x03 - The Time Travelers (1964)
11x04 - Avalanche (1978)
11x05 - The Beast of Hollow Mountain (1956)
11x06 - Starcrash (1978)
11x07 - The Land That Time Forgot (1974)
11x08 - The Loves of Hercules (1960)
11x09 - Yongary, Monster from the Deep (1967)
11x10 - Wizards of the Lost Kingdom (1985)
11x11 - Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II (1989)
11x12 - Carnival Magic (1981)
11x13 - The Christmas that Almost Wasn't (1966)
11x14 - At the Earth's Core (1976)

Season Twelve

12x01 - Mac and Me (1988)
12x02 - Atlantic Rim (2013)
12x03 - Lords of the Deep (1989)
12x04 - The Day Time Ended (1979)
12x05 - Killer Fish (1979)
12x06 - Ator the Fighting Eaglex (1982)

Season Thirteen

13x01 - Santo in the Treasure of Dracula (1969)
13x02 - Robot Wars (1993)
13x03 - Beyond Atlantis (1973)
13x04 - Munchie (1992)
13x05 - Doctor Mordrid (1992)
13x06 - Demon Squad (2019)
13x07 - Gamera vs. Jiger (1970)
13x08 - The Batwoman (1968)
13x09 - The Million Eyes of Sumuru (1967)
13x10 - H. G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come (1979)
13x11 - The Mask 3D (1961)
13x12 - The Bubble (1966)
13x13 - The Christmas Dragon (2014)

001 - 8x11 Parts: The Clonus Horror (1979) - Film: 5 + Episode: 8

Film:
One of those conspiratorial sci-fi films, which feels like it could possibly be true: where clones are raised for their organs in order to sustain the lives of the rich and powerful. This has a good central precept and was even remade as Michael Bay’s The Island in 2005… but its just ruined by a bad script and some poor stylistic choices, which is probably why this was featured on MST3K! The clones all act like the same braindead moron, which comes across more humorous than anything else. I get it – they want the clones to be dumb so that they remain in the compound, but then why not have them in stasis? Also one of those films where you question why they have a VHS tape that basically says “how we did it.” Anyway, this was filmed at two local colleges -which was hilariously weird to see – as we’re familiar with both locations. Then the clone compound’s location kinda looked like this weird /secretive experimental test facility in the hills of Los Angeles (Rocketdyne) – so who knows, maybe the whole thing is true, how else do politicians live so long? But this is at least worth a watch for the MST3K fun.

Episode:
This was rather hilarious – and probably some of the best host segments for a late season episode. The highlight was the "teaching the space kids the facts of life" segment, with Bobo demonstrating something akin to an actual primate mating ritual - "grab the leg; more evolved females will carry a stick".

002 - 2x01 Rocketship X-M (1950) - Film: 5 + Episode: 6

Film (watched unriffed as well):
An uneventful film about a spaceship attempting to land on the moon, but accepting mars as a conciliation prize. This film was rushed into production in order to steal views from Destination Moon (which came out 25 days later) – so consider this film the Transmorphers of its’ day. The film spends most of the runtime either sitting around wondering what to do next, or being assholes to the soul female character. It seems that whenever they speak to her, they have to reference her femaleness – stuff like “is that woman’s intuition?” But to be fair, though it hasn’t aged well, I’m sure this was incredibly common in workplaces at the time. Despite that, there’s some progressiveness here – as she is a scientist, eventually ends up making decisions for everyone, and she wears the same stuff the men do + she’s on the “first trip to the moon” – which the US didn’t even have a woman in space until the 80s. Anyway, things do pick up somewhat when they get to Mars and it turns into an anti-war/nukes film, but my goodness does it take its time getting there. This is available on MST3K and there’s at least some silly moments in the film to tide you over – like the astronauts not even being in the capsule with 5mins left on the clock (and they’re still scrambling around doing stuff in the last 60 seconds). Or weird things like how gravity seems to selectively exist in space (some items float, others don’t). That and I found it amusing that they decide to snooze on mars, complete with their gas masks – which felt a lot like A Trip to the Moon to me (“hey we’re here, alright time for sleep”). But for being a rip-off rushed into production, it wasn’t horrific, just rather slow.

Episode:
So this is interesting to see how they introduce Tom + Frank – with giving Tom a voice change procedure and Frank comes in really strong with the whole “new trainee at Arbys” vibe – which is just hilarious. The riffing is hit or miss, as are the host segments. All the stuff with Frank though is great but the other host bits aren’t as polished.

003 - 9x10 The Final Sacrifice (1990) - Film: 8 + Episode: 9

Film:
The story of young teen (Troy) and his hockey haired love, Rowsdower, uncovering ancient cities, all whilst a ski-mask cult tries to kill them. This is so integral to the MST3K experience that its difficult to separate the two. You cannot watch this without shouting “ROWSDOWER” at the screen just like Troy does constantly. This is no Indiana Jones exploration, instead its a “well now we’ve got to escape again” sort of movie – as the baddies keep showing up to wreak havoc. But there’s quite a few complexities to this film, as Troy experiences something very akin to schizophrenia: paranoid delusions that you’re being followed by monotone figures (hallucinations). I’ve experienced this myself (my figures are grey), and its terrifying – to suddenly find yourself living in a real life horror film. And even in a crowded gas station – Troy doesn’t feel safe from these figures, and only he seems to realize they’re real until he convinces Rowsdower, who suffers from PTSD (as evidenced by his nightmare flashbacks), in a sort of folie à deux – where they have no escape from all encompassing evil. Everything else in the film falls into line with this theory – from the delusional cult leader who thinks he’s God, to the random Pipper Partner guy who lives in the chaotic mess of a home typical of schizo folks. There’s quite a lot of depth to this film just beckoning to be explored. And it doesn’t hurt that its also a lot of fun and easy to make fun of. This is a definite zenith of film experience – this MST3K combo. Do go watch it yourself.

Episode:
This is top tier riffing, with some good host segments thrown in as well. The hockey hair is an excellent continuing gag -that follows them into the theater (which is always appreciated). The Canadian song is classic and fun, with a touch of chaos. But the real star of the show is the riffing – which is just fantastically hilarious. Every Rowsdower is just a beautiful experience. My favorite joke was "Pipper Partner". But yes, this is one of the best of the series. Perhaps could've used slightly better host segments, but otherwise fantastic.

004 - 3x10 - Fugitive Alien (1978) - Film: 2 + Episode: 5

Film:
This is one of those “Sandy Frank makes an undecipherable movie out of a bunch of Japanese tv episodes.” At its hearts – its about Ken, who renounces his murderous mission, and joins the oppressed in their fight against his former companions. In a way its a film about learning to reevaluate your identity in a changing context. As you lose family and those you love, and must cope with strange new environments. It reminds me of the process of being abled and then one day becoming disabled – as you navigate a strange new existence that you once shunned or misunderstood. For you’ll never know what that life is like until you one day find yourself living it. And after losing his Star Wolf privilege, he gets by thanks to his new community of accepting friends. That’s about the most depth I can read from this film, which is just mostly nonsense generic space action with Jo Shishido running around. I just don’t understand for whom this film (and its sequel) were made – as who saw this Japanese television show and thought “hey I can turn that into a couple movies”?

Episode:
The riffing can be kinda hit or miss here, with no real riff jokes that I remembered in particular or left me laughing all too much. It wasn’t bad, but it was just kind of a lot going on, where I felt like I was more focused on trying to figure out wtf was going on in the film than anything else. The host segments were about the same too – nothing special. The highlight is the Rocky and Ken song.

005 - 3x18 - Star Force: Fugitive Alien II (1987) - Film: 3 + Episode: 8

Film:
Well this one is quite the film. It has about three main sections: the “we’re going to die, from all the heat” segment, then the blowing up the weapon on the planet segment, then the final raid of the star wolf city. I’m assuming they’re from three separate tv episodes, as especially the last one just comes out of nowhere, makes no sense, and suddenly turns into Star Wars. Sometimes a film over-explains things, but here they needed some sort of transition between those three segments, as it just left you wondering what was going on now – especially as the last segment decides to introduce several new people and never bothers to say what or why. Fun observations: Tammy’s unrequited love is just silly, also she’s never given anything to do + randomly wears a slightly altered uniform cause she’s a lady. Jo Shishido isn’t really given much to do either except for falling over quite a bit, which just adds to the general drunken characterization. I like that the Colonel becomes so engrossed with patriotism after hearing the planet’s anthem – engrossed to a perhaps psychotic level -as he just runs off and ignores anyone in his way – to his own detriment. Or how the entire crew locks up the Colonel because they assume he’s dangerous, for “knowing too much” – which feels like the othering that people do towards the schizo – that their experience/knowledge is dangerous just for existing. Hell, the Colonel even “loses his mind” and tries to undo what he had just accomplished, ignoring all in his way – and even being seen as a threat by everyone. So it definitely comes across as a depiction of psychosis, triggered by the patriotic anthem. But this film is a lot more actiony and fun than the first Fugitive Alien, and though it honestly makes no sense (again, its at least three episodes strung together into a film), it was just a blast sitting through this and watching it.

Episode:
I liked part two quite a bit better than part one. The riffing and the host segments were quite a bit better – with them doing the fugitive alien song, “I love Ken” song and more. Favorite part was the Jo Shishido intervention action doll.

006 - 10x10 - It Lives by Night (1974) - Film: 2 + Episode: 5

Film:
This is a story about rabies – perhaps one of the most horrific diseases you can possibly get – with a near 100% death rate, and a hell of delirium until you finally die (like strapped to a bed bad). So make that into a horror film, only the dude turns into a bat and kills people. This of course resonates with psychosis for me (not the murdering part, you ass) – as they are similar “random episodes with a lack of control” – in this case one’s mind, but it can also affect your body. You have periods of stability, but then every now and then – without any provocation – find yourself in the midst of hell – this living nightmare that you’re trapped in. The film would’ve been far more interesting without the supernatural aspects, which just seems like it was added just to have a monster in it. Rabies and psychosis both represent this departure from the reality you once knew and are some of the worst things you can experience. So I find the similarities here interesting – especially with his partner’s inability to see it for how serious it actually is, and continues this “toxic positivity” the whole time. Of course all of this is really unpleasant to sit through – as the experiences represented are too horrible for the screen to do justice. Whilst I can’t recommend this film, its at least interesting for its attempts at broaching the terror of rabies/psychosis, even if it just furthers the stereotype about our “violent behavior.” So fuck off film, haven’t we (+the 59k/year rabies cases) suffered enough?

Episode:
The host segments weren’t really anything special. My partner still liked the Mary Tyler Less jokes segment; but other than that its kinda just blah host bits here with nothing all that clever or interesting. Then the riffing was about the same – they make a lot of bat jokes, like “cheep cheep” & guano sort of humor. I laughed quite a few times, but nothing ever really resounded with me, perhaps because the movie is rather dark and mildly disturbing (personally), so it kinda left it difficult to enjoy the whole thing.

007 - 4x16 - Fire Maidens from Outer Space (1956) - Film: 2 + Episode: 7

Film:
Turns out Jupiter's 13th moon is inhabited by some controlling dude named Prasus and his 20 daughters, as some astronauts show up and are held for breeding stock. There's also some random monster roaming around - who seems to only exist for the sake of the poster/trailer. The real problem here is that most of the film is just padding: watching people sit, sit and drink, sit and watch girls dance, sit and sleep, sit, sit, sit. I like that they keep cutting back to Earth, who's trying to get in contact, but the crew either ignores them or gives vague messages like "stage one complete." There's actually very little exposition at all here - and Earth's wants for details in a way mimics the audience's - as we're given precious little about anything going on, as instead of answering questions, they just prefer to pad out the film some more. Interestingly, the crew doesn't believe any of the story about Prasus & Co. being New Atlantis or that those are his daughters - they question the whole thing and refer to Prasus as "batty" and that "they've seen guys like him during the last war" (whatever that means). For Prasus is depicted as having life or death powers over everyone on New Atlantis, and the daughters seem to have bought into all of this like a cult - spying on each other and executing those who break their laws (like not allowing "the oldest to marry first"). I suppose this follows logical sense - that the descendants of Atlantis would be an Aphrodite cult, its just odd that it became tyrannical + that it only has futuristic technology when its pertinent to the plot (like an electric fence). Prasus wants the monster destroyed - but it kinda seems like the monster is the only thing keeping the fire maidens obedient to the cult in the first place (as is the case with fear binding people to all despots). But perhaps that's just further showing the diminished sanity of Prasus - as it seems that even he doesn't really have any clue what's going on. The whole thing honestly feels like a folie a deux, with everyone being afraid of this "monster" that can't harm them. Anyway, there's precious little going on in this film, and unless you enjoy tiresome padding, I'd suggest skipping this.

Episode:
I found this a lot of fun, especially with Timmy entering the theater; to the big check invention; to the riffing which was pretty top notch shit. Granted they made a lot of references that I didn’t understand, with a lot of name dropping. But there’s a lot of dead space in this movie, and they more than made up for it with the quality riffing. So I really rather enjoyed it.

008 - 8x20 - Space Mutiny (1988) - Film: 7 + Episode: 7

Film (watched unriffed as well):
A space colony ship is under threat, as the security division has decided to mutiny, but everything is saved thanks to one lunkhead and his doctor lady friend. They are essentially the unstoppable deities of the ship – the caretakers who sacrifice their safety for the sake of the ship, and somehow always manage to come through unscathed. The baddies here just want a planet beneath their feet to call their own – as they’ve been traveling through space for generations and still won’t reach their destination in their lifetimes. It’s a sort of inherited trauma that they all suffer, and must pass to their children – this lack of a home to call their own, just an endless wander in space. They have some vague hope that maybe some generation will one day escape the cycle – which is reminiscent of the hope that your inherited disease may one day be cured. For like the ship’s passengers, we inherit from our families – and some relative might have had disease X, which then puts you at the risk of the same, starting the process over once more. Also intermingling in the whole affair are the Bellerians – a group of female aliens who use their magic plasma balls and interpretive dance to sort of act as the fates and help out our main duo. Though added in after the fact to pad out the film, they guide the paths our heroes take and even signal approaching death – for they carry knowledge with them. Anyway, this is a rather goofy and fun film of railing kills and explosions, and even without riffing, there’s a lot to keep you thoroughly entertained.

Episode:
The “Crow is a Bellerian” is 100% transphobic bullshit and I hate it. I think it needs a livelier crowd, but its still a fun episode, though the host segments could use some help, but the riffing is pretty good quality Mike era riffs.

009 - 4x01 - Marooned (Space Travelers) (1969) - Film: 5 + Episode: 5

Film (Watched unriffed as well):
A rather non-thrilling look at what happens when Gene Hackman & Co get stuck at the side of the road in space with a dead engine, oh and limited oxygen. We get to see these astronauts after they’ve been stuck in space for five months, and have already shown signs of the stresses of the environment taking its toll on them. Things are only exacerbated when put into this near-death situation where they’re running out of options and know they don’t have much time left to live. They of course crack under that pressure (and low oxygen), with Hackman suffering the worst. They allude to him not being the most stable of people to begin with, and that’s perhaps interesting for a film to show the superhero astronaut as fallible – even if it just means they further jeopardize things. Especially for this era – we don’t think of astronauts as human. I think most damning in the film though is how Gregory Peck keeps giving up on them and declaring it better to let them die than risk money & effort on a rescue mission – just because the science says their odds are so limited. I’ve had the experience where science said I was out of options and that there was nothing left to do to “save” me – and that’s a traumatic experience – even if immediate death isn’t the threat – where you doctor has given up that you’ll ever improve. As happened to me – the last ditch effort, against all unsurmountable probability, came to the rescue – this rescue ship that had almost no probability of success defeated the odds; and that’s what’s at play in this film. At its heart its just dudes trapped in a space mine, with the world aghast at whether they’d be rescued. It plods along ok, but other than showing astronauts as perhaps slightly less than perfect, it doesn’t exactly break new ground.

Episode:
This is just ok - the host segments are kinda lacking, and the Riffing is fairly sporadic, but its fine, it gets the job done. The real problem is how dull the movie is – its just painfully slow and that really equates to a boring episode. Its just too bad, as some of the jokes are fine, but the host segments seem more like name-dropping / just listing random shit off – so it just doesn’t come across as very inspired or fascinating. Its not the worst episode, but just feels like it could’ve used some help.

010 - 6x06 - The Creeping Terror (1964) - Film: 6 + Episode: 7

Film:
A UFO has crash landed, and one of two alien “pets” is on the loose and eating about half the people in the county. The alien is of course super silly looking, like something out of a Larry Blamire movie – with its long, tent-like posterior. At least the movie shows quite a lot of the monster, and it’s always amusing when you see it slowly amble around – just traipsing across the woods, minding its own business. I just find it interesting that almost nobody has the ability to walk at a snail pace away from this creature – they’re just instantly paralyzed upon seeing it and succumb to being its next chow. I know its a matter of fight, flight, or freeze – but every single person (except one) in the movie just manages to be the latter variety. Its easy to dismiss this from the audience’s perspective, as you just shout “saunter away from it!” – but I suppose this is something you don’t know how you’ll react until your in this scenario yourself. I know there have been times where I’ve been in psychosis and just completely frozen, surrounded by a world of horrors every which way you turn. I’ve had a monster attack me, and I just stood there accepting impending death. So I’d not be too harsh on these people’s reactions – for you never know what instinctual reaction your brain will decide. This is also one of those movies where the narrator does most of the heavy lifting for the film – including explaining the emotions and dialogue of the actors, as though we can’t otherwise infer by looking / listening to them. But this is a rather entertaining movie of watching an absurd creature, with its relaxed pace, just go around eating people, and sometimes that’s all you need in your film.

Episode:
This one is pretty funny. The host segments are hit & miss – especially the Love American Style one -which I just don’t get at all. Frank / Forrester are underplayed other than some more good gay partner jokes as they’re doing laundry. I thought the riffs were pretty good &I liked the running joke about the monster keep eating & needing to diet but he’ll just eat some more. Its a good solid episode, w/some lesser host segments but the riffs are rather fine.

[Armoreska]

Are you posting the reviews on IMDb as well?

[Minkin]

Are you posting the reviews on IMDb as well?

I haven't so far - don't have an IMDB account. (OK I lied, I had one when I was like 13 and made a list of pre-70s tv shows on DVD and I think posted some terrible reviews, but I've no idea what happened to that account, and I haven't seen it in almost 20 years). I do post the film reviews to Letterboxd. I started to do short form reviews back in November - just in case one of the movies ended up being useful for Cinema Safari - then I'd have a screenshot + review all set to go, and I'm slowly trying to improve them as I go. But I'm not sure if I'm ready to jump into IMDB - it seems like I'd go in too deep, even if it might have some features I like.

The episode reviews are too terrible (even by my low standards) to be seen anywhere else - and they're mostly just paraphrased from my private review site.

[Minkin]

I'm back with another set of five episodes watched over the past 6 months.

There must be other MST3K-philes out there who should try this revisiting project as well!

I still haven't seen every episode a first time. I've only seen about half of the total episodes, and then decided to start over our progress to do this project. I think once that's done, I'd like to watch every episode in broadcast order - so that I'd understand the references they make to other episodes better, but who knows how long that will take - given that we watch about one a month, I guess I'm in this for the long haul. Be ready for more of Minkin's entries right here, same bat-channel, different bat-time

List of MST3K Episodes

Kx01 - The Green Slime (1968)
Kx02 - Invaders from the Deep (1981)
Kx03 - Revenge of the Mysterions (1980)
Kx04 - Star Force: Fugitive Alien II (1987)
Kx05 - Gamera Vs. Barugon (1966)
Kx06 - Gamera (1965)
Kx07 - Gamera Vs. Gaos (1967)
Kx08 - Gamera Vs. Zigra (1971)
Kx09 - Gamera Vs. Guiron (1969)
Kx10 - Phase IV (1974)
Kx11 - Cosmic Princess (1982)
Kx12 - Humanoid Woman (1981)
Kx13 - Fugitive Alien (1987)
Kx14 - SST: Death Flight (1977)
Kx15 - Mighty Jack (1968)
Kx16 - Superdome (1978)
Kx17 - City on Fire (1979)
Kx18 - Time of the Apes (1987)
Kx19 - The Million Eyes of Su-Muru (1967)
Kx20 - Hangar 18 (1980)
Kx21 - The Last Chase (1981)
Kx22 - Legend of the Dinosaur (1977)

Season One

1x01 - The Crawling Eye (1958)
1x02 - The Robot Vs. The Aztec Mummy With Short: Commando Cody Pt 1 (1958)
1x03 - Mad Monster With Short: Commando Cody Pt 2 (1942)
1x04 - Women of the Prehistoric Planet (1966)
1x05 - The Corpse Vanishes With Short: Commando Cody Pt 3 (1942)
1x06 - The Crawling Hand (1963)
1x07 - Robot Monster With Shorts: Commando Cody Pts 4 and 5 (1953)
1x08 - The Slime People With Short: Commando Cody Pt 6 (1963)
1x09 - Project Moon Base With Shorts: Commando Cody Pts 7 and 8 (1953)
1x10 - Robot Holocaust With Short: Commando Cody Pt 9 (Partial) (1986)
1x11 - Moon Zero Two (1969)
1x12 - Untamed Youth (1957)
1x13 - The Black Scorpion (1957) - 09/14/22 (015) --- Film: 6 + Episode: 6

Season Two

2x01 - Rocketship X-M (1950) - 11/25/21 (002) --- Film: 5 + Episode: 6
2x02 - The Sidehackers (1969)
2x03 - Jungle Goddess With Short: the Phantom Creeps Pt 1 (1948)
2x04 - Catalina Caper (1967)
2x05 - Rocket Attack U.S.A. With Short: the Phantom Creeps Pt 2 (1961)
2x06 - Ring of Terror With Short: the Phantom Creeps Pt 3 (1962)
2x07 - Wild Rebels (1967)
2x08 - Lost Continent (1951)
2x09 - The Hellcats (1968)
2x10 - King Dinosaur With Short: X Marks the Spot (1955)
2x11 - First Spaceship on Venus (1960)
2x12 - Godzilla vs Megalon (1973)
2x13 - Godzilla vs the Sea Monster (1966)

Season Three

3x01 - Cave Dwellers (1984)
3x02 - Gamera (1965)
3x03 - Pod People (1983)
3x04 - Gamera Vs. Barugon (1966)
3x05 - Stranded in Space (1973)
3x06 - Time of the Apes (1974)
3x07 - Daddy-O With short: Alphabet Antics (1958)
3x08 - Gamera Vs. Gaos (1967)
3x09 - The Amazing Colossal Man (1957)
3x10 - Fugitive Alien (1978) --- 12/04/21 (004) --- Film: 2 + Episode: 5
3x11 - It Conquered the World With Short: Snow Thrills (1956)
3x12 - Gamera Vs. Guiron (1969)
3x13 - Earth vs the Spider With Short: Using Your Voice (1958)
3x14 - Mighty Jack (1968)
3x15 - Teenage Cave Man With Shorts: Aquatic Wizards and Catching Trouble (1958)
3x16 - Gamera Vs. Zigra (1971)
3x17 - Viking Women and the Sea Serpent With Short: the Home Economics Story (1957)
3x18 - Star Force: Fugitive Alien II (1987) --- 12/08/21 (005) --- Film: 3 + Episode: 8
3x19 - War of the Colossal Beast With Short: Mr. B. Natural (1958)
3x20 - The Unearthly With Shorts: Posture Pals and Appreciating Our Parents (1957)
3x21 - Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)
3x22 - Master Ninja I (1992)
3x23 - The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969)
3x24 - Master Ninja II (1992)

Season Four

4x01 - Marooned (Space Travelers) (1969) --- 02/20/22 (009) --- Film: 5 + Episode 5
4x02 - The Giant Gila Monster (1959)
4x03 - City Limits (1984)
4x04 - Teenagers from Outer Space (1959)
4x05 - Being From Another Planet (1982)
4x06 - Attack of the Giant Leeches With Short: Undersea Kingdom Pt 1 (1959)
4x07 - The Killer Shrews With Short: Junior Rodeo Daredevils (1959)
4x08 - Hercules Unchained (1959)
4x09 - Indestructible Man With Short: Undersea Kingdom Pt 2 (1956)
4x10 - Hercules Against the Moon Men (1964) --- 05/14/22 (013) --- Film: 4 + Episode: 6
4x11 - The Magic Sword (1962)
4x12 - Hercules and the Captive Women (1961)
4x13 - Manhunt in Space With Short: General Hospital Pt 1 (1956)
4x14 - Tormented (1960)
4x15 - The Beatniks With Short: General Hospital Pt 2 (1960)
4x16 - Fire Maidens from Outer Space (1956) --- 12/31/21 (007) --- Film: 2 + Episode: 7
4x17 - Crash of the Moons With Short: General Hospital Pt 3 (1954)
4x18 - Attack of the Eye Creatures (1965)
4x19 - The Rebel Set With Short: Johnny at the Fair (1959)
4x20 - The Human Duplicators (1965)
4x21 - Monster a-Go Go with short: Circus on Ice (1965)
4x22 - The Day the Earth Froze With Short: Here Comes the Circus (1959)
4x23 - Bride of the Monster With Short: Hired! Pt 1 (1955)
4x24 - Manos: The Hands of Fate With Short: Hired! Pt 2 (1966)

Season Five

5x01 - Warrior of the Lost World (1983)
5x02 - Hercules (1958)
5x03 - Swamp Diamonds with short: What to do on a Date (1956)
5x04 - Secret Agent Super Dragon (1966)
5x05 - The Magic Voyage of Sinbad (1953)
5x06 - Eegah (1962)
5x07 - I Accuse My Parents with short: The Truck Farmer (1944)
5x08 - Operation Double OO7 (1967)
5x09 - The Girl in Lovers Lane (1960)
5x10 - The Painted Hills with short: Body Care and Grooming (1951)
5x11 - Gunslinger (1956)
5x12 - Mitchell (1975)
5x13 - The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962)
5x14 - Teen-Age Strangler With short: Is This Love? (1964)
5x15 - The Wild World of Batwoman With short: Cheating (1966)
5x16 - Alien from L.A. (1988)
5x17 - Beginning of the End (1957)
5x18 - The Atomic Brain With short: What about Juvenile Delinquency? (1963)
5x19 - Outlaw of Gor (1988)
5x20 - Radar Secret Service With short: Last Clear Chance (1950)
5x21 - Santa Claus (1959)
5x22 - Teen-Age Crime Wave (1955)
5x23 - Village of the Giants (1965)
5x24 - 12 to the Moon With short: Design for Dreaming (1960)

Season Six

6x01 - Girls Town (1959)
6x02 - Invasion, U.S.A. With short: A Date with Your Family (1952)
6x03 - The Dead Talk Back With short: The Selling Wizard (1993) --- 04/30/22 (012) --- Short: 6 + Film: 4 + Episode: 7
6x04 - Zombie Nightmare (1987)
6x05 - Colossus and the Headhunters (1963)
6x06 - The Creeping Terror (1964) --- 02/26/22 (010) --- Film: 6 + Episode: 7
6x07 - Bloodlust! With short: Uncle Jim's Dairy Farm (1961)
6x08 - Code Name: Diamond Head With short: A Day at the Fair (1977)
6x09 - The Skydivers With short: Why Study Industrial Arts? (1963)
6x10 - The Violent Years With short: Young Man's Fancy (1956)
6x11 - Last of the Wild Horses (1948)
6x12 - The Starfighters (1964)
6x13 - The Sinister Urge With short: Keeping Clean and Neat (1960)
6x14 - San Francisco International Airport: San Francisco International (1970)
6x15 - Kitten with a Whip (1964)
6x16 - Racket Girls With short: Are You Ready for Marriage? (1951)
6x17 - The Sword and the Dragon (1956)
6x18 - High School Big Shot With short: Out of This World (1959)
6x19 - Red Zone Cuba, With short: Speech: Platform, Posture, and Appearance (1966)
6x20 - Danger! Death Ray (1967)
6x21 - The Beast of Yucca Flats With shorts: Money Talks! and Progress Island USA (1961)
6x22 - Angels' Revenge (1979)
6x23 - The Amazing Transparent Man With short: The Days of Our Years (1960)
6x24 - Samson vs. the Vampire Women (1962)

Season Seven

7x01 - Night of the Blood Beast With short: Once Upon a Honeymoon (1958)
7x02 - The Brute Man With short: The Chicken of Tomorrow (1946)
7x03 - Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell (1988)
7x04 - The Incredible Melting Man (1977)
7x05 - Escape 2000 (1983)
7x06 - Laserblast (1978)

Movie - This Island Earth (1955)

Season Eight

8x01 - Revenge of the Creature (1955)
8x02 - The Leech Woman 1960)
8x03 - The Mole People (1956)
8x04 - The Deadly Mantis (1957)
8x05 - The Thing That Couldn't Die (1958)
8x06 - The Undead (1957)
8x07 - Terror from the Year 5000 (1958)
8x08 - The She-Creature (1956)
8x09 - I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) --- 08/03/22 (014) --- Film: 5 + Episode: 7
8x10 - The Giant Spider Invasion (1975)
8x11 - Parts: The Clonus Horror (1979) - 10/15/21 (001) --- Film: 5 + Episode: 8
8x12 - The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (1964)
8x13 - Jack Frost (1965)
8x14 - Riding with Death (1976)
8x15 - Agent for H.A.R.M. (1966)
8x16 - Prince of Space (1959)
8x17 - The Horror of Party Beach (1964)
8x18 - Devil Doll (1964)
8x19 - Invasion of the Neptune Men (1961)
8x20 - Space Mutiny (1988) --- 02/01/22 (008) --- Film: 7 + Episode: 7
8x21 - Time Chasers (1994)
8x22 - Overdrawn at the Memory Bank (1983)

Season Nine

9x01 - The Projected Man (1966)
9x02 - The Phantom Planet (1961)
9x03 - The Puma Man (1980)
9x04 - Werewolf (1995)
9x05 - The Deadly Bees (1966)
9x06 - The Space Children With short: Century 21 Calling (1958)
9x07 - Hobgoblins (1988)
9x08 - The Touch of Satan (1971)
9x09 - Gorgo (1961)
9x10 - The Final Sacrifice (1990) --- 11/26/21 (003) --- Film: 8 + Episode: 9
9x11 - Devil Fish (1984)
9x12 - The Screaming Skull With short: Robot Rumpus (1958)
9x13 - Quest of the Delta Knights (1993) --- 04/15/22 (011) --- Film: 5 + Episode: 7

Season Ten

10x01 - Soultaker (1990)
10x02 - Girl in Gold Boots (1968)
10x03 - Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders (1996)
10x04 - Future War (1997)
10x05 - Zaat (1971)
10x06 - The Barbaric Beast of Boggy Creek, Part II (1985)
10x07 - Track of the Moon Beast (1976)
10x08 - Final Justice (1985)
10x09 - Hamlet (1960)
10x10 - It Lives by Night (1974) --- 12/11/21 (006) --- Film: 2 + Episode: 5
10x11 - Horrors of Spider Island (1960)
10x12 - Squirm With short: A Case of Spring Fever (1976)
10x13 - Diabolik (1968)

Season Eleven

11x01 - Reptilicus (1961)
11x02 - Cry Wilderness (1987)
11x03 - The Time Travelers (1964)
11x04 - Avalanche (1978)
11x05 - The Beast of Hollow Mountain (1956)
11x06 - Starcrash (1978)
11x07 - The Land That Time Forgot (1974)
11x08 - The Loves of Hercules (1960)
11x09 - Yongary, Monster from the Deep (1967)
11x10 - Wizards of the Lost Kingdom (1985)
11x11 - Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II (1989)
11x12 - Carnival Magic (1981)
11x13 - The Christmas that Almost Wasn't (1966)
11x14 - At the Earth's Core (1976)

Season Twelve

12x01 - Mac and Me (1988)
12x02 - Atlantic Rim (2013)
12x03 - Lords of the Deep (1989)
12x04 - The Day Time Ended (1979)
12x05 - Killer Fish (1979)
12x06 - Ator the Fighting Eaglex (1982)

Season Thirteen

13x01 - Santo in the Treasure of Dracula (1969)
13x02 - Robot Wars (1993)
13x03 - Beyond Atlantis (1973)
13x04 - Munchie (1992)
13x05 - Doctor Mordrid (1992)
13x06 - Demon Squad (2019)
13x07 - Gamera vs. Jiger (1970)
13x08 - The Batwoman (1968)
13x09 - The Million Eyes of Sumuru (1967)
13x10 - H. G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come (1979)
13x11 - The Mask 3D (1961)
13x12 - The Bubble (1966)
13x13 - The Christmas Dragon (2014)

011 - 09x13 - Quest of the Delta Knights (1993) - Film: 5 + Episode: 7

Film:
Watched unriffed as well
A secret organization searches for the lost storehouse of Archimedes, in order to bring society out of the Dark Ages – and all hopes are pinned to some boy who can sense danger. I did enjoy the whole “quest for forbidden knowledge” aspect – that the wisdom of the past is also dangerous and can be wielded for good or evil. It reminds me of my own experiences with knowing things that humans were not meant to know – how that info can be weaponized against yourself or others, and all in this world which penalizes you for knowing it. It also makes me think of the knowledge that was “lost” (at least to the mainstream) around medicinal plants and fungi – and how those are coming back to the forefront of scientific involvement, even if they were known by certain populations for centuries (like psilocybin and depression). Its all about control of this preternatural wisdom, and a decision as to whether humanity is ready to accept it yet; for we sometimes know things that should not be known, and must inevitably carry that with us for the world isn’t ready for it yet. Anyway, this does sorta feel like someone had access to a renaissance pleasure faire for the week, so they might as well make a film there – but this is a pleasant enough film experience, with some dopey humor added in for good mix (like having Leonardo da Vinci help out). It seems like exactly the sort of movie that my dad would enjoy – in a National Treasure-esque way, though perhaps with a much slower pace.

Episode:
This is a rare Mike episode where I think I enjoyed the host segments more than the riffing. Its just great that after so many episodes, they still come up with new twists on the formula - here by having Pearl take over Mike's role in the theater, and then making another appearance during the movie's credits (to get an evaluation on the theater's pain functioning). None of the riffs stuck out to me, other than the "IM COMINGGG" line, which made me laugh every time. We get a great Tom Servo song, which devolves into a bawdy bar song before being cut off; and then the Brooklyn da Vinci was fantastic as well. Its a good solid episode with a lot of unique charms to it, I just think the riffing could've used some work.

012 - 6x03 - The Dead Talk Back With short: The Selling Wizard (1994) - Short: 6 + Film: 4 + Episode: 7

Short: The Selling Wizard (1954)
Watched unriffed as well
An extended commercial for Anheuser-Busch “quality low temperature cabinets” (aka commercial freezers). It’s aimed at the ice cream manufacturer, the frozen food distributor, and the food retailer – although I’m not exactly sure what the ice cream manufacturer would want with this (it’s not like they’re the ones selling it). The whole thing is presented by the “selling wizard” aka a silent female model in hot pants who adds random sex appeal for the businessmen watching. The narration highlights that this is, “the era of self-service, where display and accessibility are the keys to successful merchandising.” It sounds like grocery stores were once staffed with people who’d fetch your desired item for you. I’m sure the old method cut down on “impulse purchases,” like ice cream (as this short notes). Just the amount of time and effort that must’ve taken just to get in an order – and how public your order would become – instead of just discretely placing something in your basket yourself. But self-service must’ve altered everything for grocery stores – changing them from small, local establishments, into huge faceless emporium chains. It was now on the impetus of the manufacturer to entice customers with attractive packaging and displays, with a hope of winning people’s impulse purchases (which this short calls them “emotional decisions”). For what is a 12 minute commercial for a top-loading grocery store freezer, it’s fascinating to see how this simple invention really changed the face of shopping – especially if they’re still in use, mostly unchanged, today.

Film: The Dead Talk Back (1994)
A model is murdered by a crossbow, and someone in a boarding house is responsible. This is a dry 50’s police procedural movie, with a lot of interviewing of suspects, and tracing people’s whereabouts. Then out of nowhere this turns into sci-fi “metaphysics” in the last five minutes as this scientist private investigator dude might have a way to communicate with the dead and discover the murderer… using a glowing rock. Its not much more than a really hokey séance that’s meant to be oh-so terrifying – I guess hearing disembodied voices is meant to be scary to normal people, huh (to be fair, you never get used to them). The suspects are mostly uninteresting (mashers, nervous cheesecake photographers, etc), except the sidewalk preacher – Christy. He’s a boisterous fellow who is deluded into believing he’s God’s judgmental prophet and that everyone else is evil and doing the work of the devil. Nobody takes this guy seriously though: the land lady calls him harmless, and a kid jokingly says “hallelujah” after one of his remarks – but he’s as close as this movie comes to an unsteady character with a mysterious backstory. I’d say he has the potential to be schizophrenic, given all of his delusions, but there’s not enough here to diagnose him other than to say he has some unresolved mental health problems. That said, I find it weird that people are able to excuse religious paranoia and hallucinations as just “convictions of faith,” instead of seeing them as symptoms of their illness. Anyway, aside from an unimpressive séance, there’s not a whole lot of depth here. I’m not sure why this was shelved for 37 years, but I find it charming that they thought they could just throw the word “metaphysics” around, add some dopey science-y explanation and that would be enough to fool audience members.

Episode:
Rather good Mike era riffing with some decent host segments to go along with it. I for one really enjoyed the long-running Grateful Dead joke – it’s clear they had someone on staff who was a fan of the band as they knew how to cut particularly deep. Plus after watching a broadcast episode around this time that included commercials – some company advertised a Grateful Dead CD / video package; so it’s MST3K making fun of the advertisers. I always love it when they play some alternate music over the end credits. Then we get some good Frank and Dr Forester banter with Frank having something akin to psychosis as they play detective, as Frank confesses to everything and then begins to see things. Its all aided with a pretty silly and entertaining short, about freezers – which was a lot of fun. So no real complaints, other than the riffing could be hit or miss sometimes, but I’ll perhaps blame my own level of comedy complacency for that. The one riff that stuck out was “The Loneliness of a Long Distance Dweeb” – which seems rather esoteric for a 90s reference, but pretty par for the course for them. Overall its a fun episode, only limited by my own level of engagement and sense of play.

013 - 4x10 - Hercules Against the Moon Men (1964) - Film: 4 + Episode: 6

Film:
Watched unriffed as well
A queen rules a city where every three months, monsters demand human sacrifices, but enter into the picture Hercules, who can save them all, but the queen has other plans though, as she’s in cahoots with the monsters! I like that the “moon men” only really promise the queen eternal beauty, at the cost of everyone else being dead from an uninhabitable planet… so who would be left to admire her beauty then? +they’re kinda iffy on the whole “would she be able to survive?” part. The general mentions that they tried to rebel against the moon men once before and that it didn’t end well, but then the queen also says the monsters don’t have power without her input… so I guess all the rulers have been evil then. This is one of those stories where nobody can do anything for themselves, and must rely on the god in human form, Hercules, to constantly save them from every minor inconvenience, as their caretaker. For as much as the film likes to build up this “resistance” to the queen – and say all of the other characters are important – showing them working and plotting together, at the end of the day, it’s still just Hercules out there doing 100% of the work. They seem like the sort of people who’d just accept sacrificing a dozen people every few months rather than move somewhere else or give fighting another shot. As they seem content with this system, as long as it preserves their own safety, which perhaps says something about the way are willing to sacrifice people in our lives when we’ve reached our limit with them – that same call for self-preservation despite the harm to someone else. Anyway, this is a very plain and forgettable swords and sandals movie – one that is lacking in much standing in Hercules’ way; I mean, his greatest adversary here is a net.

Episode:
This is a fairly solid Joel era episode, with good riffs and decent host segments. Much of the episode is built up towards the sandstorm sequence, which does goes on awhile, but isn’t exactly as crushingly bad as they make it out to be (although we both fell asleep during this part). Host segments could’ve used some work, as they weren’t at their top, although I do really like the pants song and think its one of their better tunes. Also seeing Frank on LSD was a treat – with him seeing tracers from the super freak out kit. Not too many riffs stood out other than the Gymkata references + the pain of seeing up Hercules’ skirt. No real major complaints, other than promising a bit much, but its a good standard episode.

014 - 8x09 - I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) - Film: 5 + Episode: 7

Film:
Watched unriffed as well
Tony is a teen with violent impulses, who at the recommendation from a cop, sees a hypno-psychologist, and soon he finds himself turning into a werewolf. His lycanthropy isn’t based around the moon or any of the known tropes, instead it’s in response to certain triggers – such as loud sounds. The serum which is used by the psychologist is named as Scopolamine, which is the primary alkaloid in a number of poisonous plants which, when ingested, induces excited delirium – which is a state of consciousness where anything can happen in your interpretation of reality in a sort of waking nightmare. The psychologist’s reason for administering these doses to Tony, alongside hypnosis, is so that he can de-evolve humanity to a more primitive form, so that they will be less prone to nuclear annihilation. So it isn’t really a werewolf at all, but instead a hypnotized teen with severe violent issues, in a delirious state, and set loose amongst the populace – I don’t think anyone would expect things to turn out much different than they do here. I actually see quite a few parallels between his “wolf” form and psychosis – as I’ve often described the latter as though being in a “de-evolved” state, due to lack of executive function, and being unable to process what it is you are seeing and hearing. Of course psychosis doesn’t make you violent though, despite what the general populace thinks, but there’s a similar degree to which you find yourself in a world you don’t quite understand, that’s changing around you. For we learn with the bell transformation that he has certain triggers (perhaps as a sensory overload), that cause his “wolf” state, and they can be random or predictable in nature, but overtime he’d learn his own limitations and what to avoid (well hopefully, as even I’m still working on that). Granted, he enters into this state due to the use of chemicals and hypnosis – but I’d then consider this to be a drug-induced psychosis, just one that he experiences rather violently. For Tony has moments where he’s lucid and rational, but other times where he’s at the edge of being tethered to this reality – with only the sway of triggers keeping him sane. Anyway, I like that this film can work as a metaphor for a variety of social issues, but I’m not so keen about its views on mental health – as it ends up feeling like a further demonization of those who seek or those who offer help.

Episode:
A fairly solid Mike era episode with no real surprises and few running jokes. There’s quite a few great riffs on the werewolf itself – like joking that it will be doing some scootin’ and marking its territory, that sort of business. None of the host segments have anything to do with the movie itself – which I usually find disappointing, as I like when they further tear the movie apart in their skits, so that was sorely missing. Although I did like the Alien theme they had going with the host segments – which is a topic they’ve brushed at in the past, but not gone full into as they do here. That said the ending with Pearl is a letdown and not terribly imaginative – as though they just needed to pad out the last couple minutes and couldn’t think of anything. All said, I can’t complain too much – as it holds up well, the riff are consistently good, and though perhaps a bit dated for its time (more than usual), it’s still a good episode.

015 - 1x13 - The Black Scorpion (1957) - Film: 6 + Episode: 6

Film:
Watched unriffed as well
A volcano is roaring across rural Mexico, but it has also unleashed a plague of giant, drooling killer scorpions. I do appreciate that the scientists just detonate one of the entries to the scorpion cave and call it good and think their troubles are all over, not thinking that maybe, just maybe that their cave might have another exit to it. The highlight is of course the scorpions – and I must admit, every single time I see their goofy eyes and drooling mouth, I just find it immensely amusing – that the terror being struck in the hearts of many, that the face of death itself is so ridiculous. The film does hint on traditional beliefs – with some fleeting mentions of a demon bull, and using spiritual powers to fend it off, though that’s met with the resistance of someone saying, “lighting candles won’t protect you.” All of these mentions are dismissed as superstition of locals. This is reinforced by the role of the geologists who are portrayed as a symbol of progressive thinking and rationality – but what does one do when they face an unstoppable / unkillable plague of monsters – for they are up against the hell force of something so illogical and insurmountable. It just makes me wish that the film had dug deeper into those traditional beliefs – and done anything other than show them as “ignorant and cowardly” – like at least give us an interesting backstory that might explain what’s going on here. This is of course on par for its era, where films like this feel like propaganda for combating against “superstition” and all that is unscientific, for this is the supposed age of progress, where we’re meant to be beyond those notions. This is interesting to see documented in these films – as a signal that people “need to abandon” those beliefs. For they’re only portrayed as ignorant and inferior, which ultimately does a disservice to those people and makes the film less nuanced – for so much could’ve been done to steep these scorpions in some sort of mythos – and we get none of that. Anyway, despite those typical 50s sci-fi problems, this is still quite a bit of fun to watch – the stop motion is fine if you’re really into that, but I just enjoy the little odds and ends in the film – like when they just decide the problem’s solved and then go off to the clubs around town for dinner. The geology aspect isn’t flushed out at all, and leaves the volcanic connection at the beginning as tenuous at best. The real problem is that the film promises such a great slow build-up with the mysterious empty village, and even has a tough + independent female rancher, but then absolutely everything gets thrown out as the film devolves into a special effects showcase – which again, does nothing for me. It doesn’t tread any new ground, but damn it, do I ever find those scorpion faces funny.

Episode:
This is a fairly decent episode for the first season, with those limitations. The host segments aren't very developed and could've used some work - as they're all just a bit underwhelming. That said the ending fan letter that really tears into Crow is probably the best fan letter they've ever received, it reminded us of something I'd send in -  just pointing out all of his character flaws. The riffing is sporadic, which is to be expected for this season, but is honestly not too bad. There aren't too many running jokes, other than being grossed out by the scorpion drool closeup shot. The best riff is when the character says, "the baby didn't make a peep," to which Crow goes, "PEEP!" I still had fun and rather enjoyed this episode, although I didn't think as much of it as my previous watch apparently, but for what it is, it hits all the basic wants from an episode.

[Kublai Khan]

I re-watched all the MST3K episodes over the past 6 years or so. And still watching the current ones. The only exception is the KTMA stuff which is hard to find and, from what I understand, isn't particularly good.

I haven't done much of the Cinema Titanic or RiffTrax stuff just because it feels like a bit too much.

[Minkin]

I re-watched all the MST3K episodes over the past 6 years or so. And still watching the current ones. The only exception is the KTMA stuff which is hard to find and, from what I understand, isn't particularly good.

I haven't done much of the Cinema Titanic or RiffTrax stuff just because it feels like a bit too much.

I haven't sat down to watch a full episode of KTMA yet, but it will likely be a "once and done" experience sometime - as I can't imagine them being that great. Apparently Joel will sometimes eat popcorn during the KTMA episodes, which is apparently really annoying. Still, I'm curious - and only one episode is partially missing, the rest of them are all on YouTube last time I checked - along with most every episode of the regular seasons (I'm glad they encouraged fans to keep sharing tapes with each other). I own all the Shout DVDs, but just watch them on YouTube for convenience sake - of which there's some broadcast tapes online as part of Turkey day marathons - which are amusing to watch.

Cinema Titanic was really hit or miss - as I think the best of the writing staff went on to do Rifftrax - which I can't recommend enough - its essentially just a continuation of the Mike era seasons, given that Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett were Tom and later-season Crow respectively). They manage to feel like a fantastic spiritual successor to MST3K - which I like a million times better than the Netflix-era MST3K. Rifftrax upload to YouTube as well - so its a great way to catch some shorts! Rifftrax manages to riff on a great number of films that I wished MST3K had gotten to, but other than host segments (which the Wrecking Crew (precursor to Rifftrax) did), Rifftrax has everything you would want from a continuation of MST3K.

[Torgo]

Can concur, RiffTrax is more or less the same as MST3K and at least on the same level (depending on the episode, both have masterpieces and weaker ones of course).

[Kublai Khan]

This might be a little heretical, but I really don't mind the Netflix and beyond stuff. I like Jonah Ray as a stand-up comic and the head writer is Elliot Kalan, who was the head writer for the Daily Show with Jon Stewart for many seasons. (I also enjoy his podcast: "The Flophouse"). So I have a strong affinity for his humor and references.

[Minkin]

This might be a little heretical, but I really don't mind the Netflix and beyond stuff. I like Jonah Ray as a stand-up comic and the head writer is Elliot Kalan, who was the head writer for the Daily Show with Jon Stewart for many seasons. (I also enjoy his podcast: "The Flophouse"). So I have a strong affinity for his humor and references.

I've just never been able to enjoy the new series - for a variety of reasons. The biggest complaint is how rapid fire they are with the jokes - not letting there be any time to recover or enjoy the film, its a bad ratio of riff to film. Then the humor just feels too dated to really enjoy - and sure, Joel/Mike eras had some of this as well, but not quite so apparent with it. Then the jokes just never click for me - I just sit there the entire time never laughing at anything. I've seen 5 episodes of the new series, and of them only Cry Wilderness was at all decent. But I'm planning to re-watch them again at some point for this project, so we'll see if they improve with my lowered expectations on rewatch. I'm quite surprised a Daily Show writer is involved - as I always enjoyed that show's humor, but I guess it's a different sort of talent to write riffs rather than political commentary. And maybe they've gotten better with their third season, but it does not start off very strong.

I find Rifftrax to be far far better than the reboot - as they have found a great number of classics and their stuff works out fantastic - even when its something as mainstream as Harry Potter. But I find it best when they're riffing shorts, or films that are hidden gems like Karate Cop. I can't recommend Rifftrax enough!

[Minkin]

I'm back with another set of five episodes watched over the past few months.

There must be other MST3K-philes out there who should try this revisiting project as well!

List of MST3K Episodes

Kx01 - The Green Slime (1968)
Kx02 - Invaders from the Deep (1981)
Kx03 - Revenge of the Mysterions (1980)
Kx04 - Star Force: Fugitive Alien II (1987)
Kx05 - Gamera Vs. Barugon (1966)
Kx06 - Gamera (1965)
Kx07 - Gamera Vs. Gaos (1967)
Kx08 - Gamera Vs. Zigra (1971)
Kx09 - Gamera Vs. Guiron (1969)
Kx10 - Phase IV (1974)
Kx11 - Cosmic Princess (1982)
Kx12 - Humanoid Woman (1981)
Kx13 - Fugitive Alien (1987)
Kx14 - SST: Death Flight (1977)
Kx15 - Mighty Jack (1968)
Kx16 - Superdome (1978)
Kx17 - City on Fire (1979)
Kx18 - Time of the Apes (1987)
Kx19 - The Million Eyes of Su-Muru (1967)
Kx20 - Hangar 18 (1980)
Kx21 - The Last Chase (1981)
Kx22 - Legend of the Dinosaur (1977)

Season One

1x01 - The Crawling Eye (1958)
1x02 - The Robot Vs. The Aztec Mummy (1958) With Short: Commando Cody Pt 1
1x03 - Mad Monster (1942) With Short: Commando Cody Pt 2
1x04 - Women of the Prehistoric Planet (1966)
1x05 - The Corpse Vanishes (1942) With Short: Commando Cody Pt 3
1x06 - The Crawling Hand (1963)
1x07 - Robot Monster (1953) With Shorts: Commando Cody Pts 4 and 5
1x08 - The Slime People (1963) With Short: Commando Cody Pt 6
1x09 - Project Moon Base (1953) With Shorts: Commando Cody Pts 7 and 8
1x10 - Robot Holocaust (1986) With Short: Commando Cody Pt 9 (Partial)
1x11 - Moon Zero Two (1969)
1x12 - Untamed Youth (1957)
1x13 - The Black Scorpion (1957) - 09/14/22 (015) --- Film: 6 + Episode: 6

Season Two

2x01 - Rocketship X-M (1950) - 11/25/21 (002) --- Film: 5 + Episode: 6
2x02 - The Sidehackers (1969)
2x03 - Jungle Goddess (1948) With Short: the Phantom Creeps Pt 1
2x04 - Catalina Caper (1967)
2x05 - Rocket Attack U.S.A. (1961) With Short: the Phantom Creeps Pt 2
2x06 - Ring of Terror (1962) With Short: the Phantom Creeps Pt 3
2x07 - Wild Rebels (1967)
2x08 - Lost Continent (1951)
2x09 - The Hellcats (1968)
2x10 - King Dinosaur (1955) With Short: X Marks the Spot (1944)
2x11 - First Spaceship on Venus (1960)
2x12 - Godzilla vs Megalon (1973)
2x13 - Godzilla vs the Sea Monster (1966)

Season Three

3x01 - Cave Dwellers (1984)
3x02 - Gamera (1965)
3x03 - Pod People (1983)
3x04 - Gamera Vs. Barugon (1966)
3x05 - Stranded in Space (1973)
3x06 - Time of the Apes (1974)
3x07 - Daddy-O (1958) With short: Alphabet Antics (1951)
3x08 - Gamera Vs. Gaos (1967)
3x09 - The Amazing Colossal Man (1957)
3x10 - Fugitive Alien (1978) --- 12/04/21 (004) --- Film: 2 + Episode: 5
3x11 - It Conquered the World (1956) With Short: Snow Thrills (1945)
3x12 - Gamera Vs. Guiron (1969)
3x13 - Earth vs the Spider (1958) With Short: Using Your Voice (1950)
3x14 - Mighty Jack (1968)
3x15 - Teenage Cave Man (1958) With Shorts: Aquatic Wizards (1955) and Catching Trouble (1936)
3x16 - Gamera Vs. Zigra (1971)
3x17 - Viking Women and the Sea Serpent (1957) With Short: The Home Economics Story (1951)
3x18 - Star Force: Fugitive Alien II (1987) --- 12/08/21 (005) --- Film: 3 + Episode: 8
3x19 - War of the Colossal Beast (1958) With Short: Mr. B. Natural (1957)
3x20 - The Unearthly (1957) With Shorts: Posture Pals (1952) and Appreciating Our Parents (1950)
3x21 - Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)
3x22 - Master Ninja I (1992)
3x23 - The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969)
3x24 - Master Ninja II (1992)

Season Four

4x01 - Marooned (Space Travelers) (1969) --- 02/20/22 (009) --- Film: 5 + Episode 5
4x02 - The Giant Gila Monster (1959)
4x03 - City Limits (1984)
4x04 - Teenagers from Outer Space (1959)
4x05 - Being From Another Planet (1982)
4x06 - Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959) With Short: Undersea Kingdom Pt 1
4x07 - The Killer Shrews (1959) With Short: Junior Rodeo Daredevils (1949)
4x08 - Hercules Unchained (1959)
4x09 - Indestructible Man (1956) With Short: Undersea Kingdom Pt 2
4x10 - Hercules Against the Moon Men (1964) --- 05/14/22 (013) --- Film: 4 + Episode: 6
4x11 - The Magic Sword (1962)
4x12 - Hercules and the Captive Women (1961)
4x13 - Manhunt in Space (1956) With Short: General Hospital Pt 1
4x14 - Tormented (1960)
4x15 - The Beatniks (1960) With Short: General Hospital Pt 2
4x16 - Fire Maidens from Outer Space (1956) --- 12/31/21 (007) --- Film: 2 + Episode: 7
4x17 - Crash of the Moons (1954) With Short: General Hospital Pt 3
4x18 - Attack of the Eye Creatures (1965)
4x19 - The Rebel Set (1959) With Short: Johnny at the Fair (1947)
4x20 - The Human Duplicators (1965)
4x21 - Monster a-Go Go (1965) with short: Circus on Ice (1954)
4x22 - The Day the Earth Froze (1959) With Short: Here Comes the Circus (1946)
4x23 - Bride of the Monster (1955) With Short: Hired! Pt 1 (1940)
4x24 - Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966) With Short: Hired! Pt 2 (1940)

Season Five

5x01 - Warrior of the Lost World (1983)
5x02 - Hercules (1958)
5x03 - Swamp Diamonds (1956) with short: What to do on a Date (1951) --- 11/15/22 (017) --- Short: 4 + Film: 5 + Episode: 6
5x04 - Secret Agent Super Dragon (1966)
5x05 - The Magic Voyage of Sinbad (1953)
5x06 - Eegah (1962)
5x07 - I Accuse My Parents (1944) with short: The Truck Farmer (1954)
5x08 - Operation Double OO7 (1967)
5x09 - The Girl in Lovers Lane (1960)
5x10 - The Painted Hills (1951) with short: Body Care and Grooming (1947)
5x11 - Gunslinger (1956)
5x12 - Mitchell (1975)
5x13 - The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962)
5x14 - Teen-Age Strangler (1964) With short: Is This Love? (1957)
5x15 - The Wild World of Batwoman (1966) With short: Cheating (1952)
5x16 - Alien from L.A. (1988)
5x17 - Beginning of the End (1957)
5x18 - The Atomic Brain (1963) With short: What about Juvenile Delinquency? (1955)
5x19 - Outlaw of Gor (1988)
5x20 - Radar Secret Service (1950) With short: Last Clear Chance (1959)
5x21 - Santa Claus (1959) --- 12/24/22 (020) --- Film: 8 + Episode: 8
5x22 - Teen-Age Crime Wave (1955) --- 11/04/22 (016) --- Film: 4 + Episode: 6
5x23 - Village of the Giants (1965)
5x24 - 12 to the Moon (1960) With short: Design for Dreaming (1956)

Season Six

6x01 - Girls Town (1959)
6x02 - Invasion, U.S.A. (1952) With short: A Date with Your Family (1950)
6x03 - The Dead Talk Back (1993) With short: The Selling Wizard (1954) --- 04/30/22 (012) --- Short: 6 + Film: 4 + Episode: 7
6x04 - Zombie Nightmare (1987)
6x05 - Colossus and the Headhunters (1963)
6x06 - The Creeping Terror (1964) --- 02/26/22 (010) --- Film: 6 + Episode: 7
6x07 - Bloodlust! (1961) With short: Uncle Jim's Dairy Farm (1960)
6x08 - Code Name: Diamond Head (1977) With short: A Day at the Fair (1947)
6x09 - The Skydivers (1963) With short: Why Study Industrial Arts? (1956)
6x10 - The Violent Years (1956) With short: Young Man's Fancy (1952)
6x11 - Last of the Wild Horses (1948)
6x12 - The Starfighters (1964)
6x13 - The Sinister Urge (1960) With short: Keeping Clean and Neat (1956)
6x14 - San Francisco International Airport: San Francisco International (1970)
6x15 - Kitten with a Whip (1964)
6x16 - Racket Girls (1951) With short: Are You Ready for Marriage? (1950) --- 11/29/22 (018) --- Short: 4 + Film: 2 + Episode: 7
6x17 - The Sword and the Dragon (1956)
6x18 - High School Big Shot (1959) With short: Out of This World (1954)
6x19 - Red Zone Cuba (1966), With short: Speech: Platform, Posture, and Appearance (1949)
6x20 - Danger! Death Ray (1967)
6x21 - The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961) With shorts: Money Talks! (1951) and Progress Island USA (1973)
6x22 - Angels' Revenge (1979)
6x23 - The Amazing Transparent Man (1960) With short: The Days of Our Years (1955)
6x24 - Samson vs. the Vampire Women (1962)

Season Seven

7x01 - Night of the Blood Beast (1958) With short: Once Upon a Honeymoon (1956)
7x02 - The Brute Man (1946) With short: The Chicken of Tomorrow (1948)
7x03 - Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell (1988)
7x04 - The Incredible Melting Man (1977)
7x05 - Escape 2000 (1983)
7x06 - Laserblast (1978)

Movie - This Island Earth (1955)

Season Eight

8x01 - Revenge of the Creature (1955)
8x02 - The Leech Woman 1960)
8x03 - The Mole People (1956)
8x04 - The Deadly Mantis (1957)
8x05 - The Thing That Couldn't Die (1958)
8x06 - The Undead (1957)
8x07 - Terror from the Year 5000 (1958)
8x08 - The She-Creature (1956)
8x09 - I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) --- 08/03/22 (014) --- Film: 5 + Episode: 7
8x10 - The Giant Spider Invasion (1975)
8x11 - Parts: The Clonus Horror (1979) - 10/15/21 (001) --- Film: 5 + Episode: 8
8x12 - The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (1964)
8x13 - Jack Frost (1965)
8x14 - Riding with Death (1976)
8x15 - Agent for H.A.R.M. (1966)
8x16 - Prince of Space (1959)
8x17 - The Horror of Party Beach (1964)
8x18 - Devil Doll (1964)
8x19 - Invasion of the Neptune Men (1961)
8x20 - Space Mutiny (1988) --- 02/01/22 (008) --- Film: 7 + Episode: 7
8x21 - Time Chasers (1994)
8x22 - Overdrawn at the Memory Bank (1983)

Season Nine

9x01 - The Projected Man (1966)
9x02 - The Phantom Planet (1961)
9x03 - The Puma Man (1980) --- 12/03/22 (019) --- Film: 8 + Episode: 9
9x04 - Werewolf (1995)
9x05 - The Deadly Bees (1966)
9x06 - The Space Children (1958) With short: Century 21 Calling (1962)
9x07 - Hobgoblins (1988)
9x08 - The Touch of Satan (1971)
9x09 - Gorgo (1961)
9x10 - The Final Sacrifice (1990) --- 11/26/21 (003) --- Film: 8 + Episode: 9
9x11 - Devil Fish (1984)
9x12 - The Screaming Skull (1958) With short: Robot Rumpus (1957)
9x13 - Quest of the Delta Knights (1993) --- 04/15/22 (011) --- Film: 5 + Episode: 7

Season Ten

10x01 - Soultaker (1990)
10x02 - Girl in Gold Boots (1968)
10x03 - Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders (1996)
10x04 - Future War (1997)
10x05 - Zaat (1971)
10x06 - The Barbaric Beast of Boggy Creek, Part II (1985)
10x07 - Track of the Moon Beast (1976)
10x08 - Final Justice (1985)
10x09 - Hamlet (1960)
10x10 - It Lives by Night (1974) --- 12/11/21 (006) --- Film: 2 + Episode: 5
10x11 - Horrors of Spider Island (1960)
10x12 - Squirm (1976) With short: A Case of Spring Fever (1940)
10x13 - Diabolik (1968)

Season Eleven

11x01 - Reptilicus (1961)
11x02 - Cry Wilderness (1987)
11x03 - The Time Travelers (1964)
11x04 - Avalanche (1978)
11x05 - The Beast of Hollow Mountain (1956)
11x06 - Starcrash (1978)
11x07 - The Land That Time Forgot (1974)
11x08 - The Loves of Hercules (1960)
11x09 - Yongary, Monster from the Deep (1967)
11x10 - Wizards of the Lost Kingdom (1985)
11x11 - Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II (1989)
11x12 - Carnival Magic (1981)
11x13 - The Christmas that Almost Wasn't (1966)
11x14 - At the Earth's Core (1976)

Season Twelve

12x01 - Mac and Me (1988)
12x02 - Atlantic Rim (2013)
12x03 - Lords of the Deep (1989)
12x04 - The Day Time Ended (1979)
12x05 - Killer Fish (1979)
12x06 - Ator the Fighting Eaglex (1982)

Season Thirteen

13x01 - Santo in the Treasure of Dracula (1969)
13x02 - Robot Wars (1993)
13x03 - Beyond Atlantis (1973)
13x04 - Munchie (1992)
13x05 - Doctor Mordrid (1992)
13x06 - Demon Squad (2019)
13x07 - Gamera vs. Jiger (1970)
13x08 - The Batwoman (1968)
13x09 - The Million Eyes of Sumuru (1967)
13x10 - H. G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come (1979)
13x11 - The Mask 3D (1961)
13x12 - The Bubble (1966)
13x13 - The Christmas Dragon (2014)

016. - 5x22 - Teen-Age Crime Wave (1955) - Film: 4 + Episode: 6

Film:
Watched unriffed as well
A normal, good-natured, “teenage” girl (she’s nearly 30), Jane, who’s on a bad blind date, ends up as an accessory to armed robbery, and then later to the murder of a cop, when she and another “teen,” Terry (who’s actually deeply involved with these goings-on), are sprung from the car taking them to reform school by a pistol-waving dude, as they hole up with hostages at a farm house. This film serves as a “warning” of the rise of a “teenage crime” epidemic – for homes across the country to worry about, lest their beloved child haplessly end mixed-up with juvenile delinquents. Parenting is implicated as responsible for these problems – with Terry having no parents, and with Jane having a disagreement with hers before going on the fateful date. That said, one of the first things that Jane’s family says to her is wondering how the dad will “ever face his business partners again,” as though that’s the worst aspect of this. Jane was arrested and is being sent to reform school, and all they can think about is their precious social status. This is precisely the sort of black sheep bullshit that happens to families, for a plethora of reasons (with queerness / disease being two usual suspects) – and it always brings out the worst elements in your family, as they feel that they can no longer show their face around others anymore, just because one of their ranks turned out different. So, when Jane views being shot by Terry as “doing her a favor” – one can see these 1950’s era transgressions against the semblance of perfectly flawless families as akin to a death sentence – as they can’t see or accept anything that disturbs from the regular blandness of god-fearing purity. I would’ve hoped that families would have evolved since the 50s on these matters, but as I can attest in my own hellscape experience, families will gladly bury everything “abnormal” from their peers, lest they lose their placement in society’s tentacles. This film is perhaps trying to paint a broad image of “watch your children,” which feels quaint in the 1950s, but this never quite evolves past its moral panic origins of “this could be your child, so be careful, and rule with an iron fist!”

Random oddity – the other two “teens” have their mugshot given to the press to help find them, but Jane’s picture is some cheesecake swimsuit photo… that’s the best they could find? She might be a murderous criminal on the run, but check out that figure!

Episode:
This is a fairly standard early Mike episode, where they’re still getting their feet wet. The host segments are fine – although the only sketch they make related to the movie is the “doughy guy” bit… This comes back with a vengeance in the end, which will likely be hit or miss for most – with the 5+ multiple false endings, all focused around silly string mace’ing Frank. I for one did not find it very endearing – as the repetition of the same suffering was a bit on the meaner side, and Frank’s pain too genuine. Things do sort of fall off the rails several times – like I’m curious what the impetus for the Mystos (Mentos) song was – if they’re just putting down their own advertisers? The riffs were fine, but I think they suffered by having the film be a bit too serious of a topic (hostage / murder) to be all that much fun for a film, regardless of its amateur qualities. So, in the end, I think this episode is just fairly middling, and could use some tinkering to hone up the edges.

017. - 5x03 - Swamp Diamonds (1956) with short: What to do on a Date (1951) - Short: 4 + Film: 5 + Episode: 6

Short: What to Do on a Date (1951)
Watched unriffed as well
Nick likes girls, but doesn’t know what to do on a date, so he solicits suggestions from his pal in this “educational” short film. Rather than offer any deep, intuitive, real help towards answering the titular question, this short simply suggests you A) consult an official local activities list and ask your date which of those options sound like fun…. that’s it. It does somewhat recommend going on double dates, but again, there’s no real advice as to what to do once you’re on the date, which kinda defeats the whole purpose of this short existing. The one date they do go on is setting up a “scavenger sale” – which seems like a charity sale, with a bunch of putting up signs and celebrating with cokes with straws – it isn’t exactly a date – as everyone’s working on different elements, and it doesn’t offer much in the way of alone time / intimacy. The next date promises to be a weenie roast – which I’m not sure how you spin that into an entire date’s activity, I guess the roast is just the excuse to get people together around a campfire – it just seems more like an informal type of event, than a scheduled event for the whole local community. Again, the entire premise for this short’s existence is just “look up shit and ask what your partner wants to do….” – it isn’t exactly breaking new ground here. Almost all of the suggestions are group activities, instead of anything that’s exactly one on one – so there’s ample opportunity to spend time with other people instead of, you know, having an actual date with someone – it just seems more of a “let’s hangout together, with other people” – which doesn’t offer much in the way of closeness – as only the square dance seems apt to this end. But hey, the girl appears to be interested in all of the activities, so Nick can count his blessings that he doesn’t actually have to think or learn anything, as the answer of “what to do on a date?” is on the teen activity sign. I’m not too sure on any of this though – as it mostly reminds me of asylum activity rosters, meant to promote normalcy and serotonin, but ends up just being a way to keep people sedated and away from trouble (subservient). Anyway, I’m declaring this short to be early clickbait – as they never answer the title question, at least tell people what to do when one of these sanitized, chaperoned activities.

Random: one of the activity options was to go to a swim meet… this has to be the worst, most dull choice you could make – closely followed by Nick’s 1st choice of activity: seeing Wagon Train in theaters.


Feature: Swamp Women (1956)
Watched unriffed as well
A quad of women escape from prison and track through the bayou looking for their stash of diamonds. Tension builds as they hold a random couple, off in the swamp themselves looking for oil prospects, hostage, which causes the women strife as they jostle for romance from the token dude – who seems happy to go along for the ride with any of them. The escapees spend most of the runtime attacking each other, despite their plans for an even 4-way split, they’re all at each other’s throats over the most minor remarks and taunts, with numerous fights breaking out between all of them. One of the four, an undercover cop, helps the group escape, in order to track down the diamond cache – which is honestly one of the worst ideas the police could do – given how many lives are lost in this process – but hey, at least they have their precious diamonds again – no concern for all the pointless deaths along the way, as long as the $$ is recovered. The dude isn’t even phased by any of these deaths, as he just switches to schmoozing whoever takes an interest in him next, forgoing all previous partners, just like a man dumping his wife off at an asylum – he’s already decided to move along. At some point, the escapees decided pants were for squares, so they cut them into daisy dukes, because Roger Corman thought that would sell tickets better; well that and have them wrastle in the swamp – because any film about tough empowered women must be countered with plenty of male gaze. It’s just funny, because the four escapees can’t agree on anything, except short shorts, to that end, they’re all agreed. My favorite part of these sort of films is when they go “look over there!” to which some swamp stock footage is clumsily inserted to make it seem like they’re actually there, but to be fair to the film – it does seem to be almost entirely filmed in the dankest swamp possible – and the poor actors had to jump in it many times over. I’d like to know how they knew how to find where they buried the diamonds at – as there doesn’t seem to be any real marker or anything – and its hidden under quite a plethora of brush. Anyway, I appreciate how authentic to the swamps this film was (you can see the actors suffer whenever they have to go into the muck), but it’s unfortunate that its potential is wasted on cheap exploitative cheese, which diminished the feminine power and independence and turns it into another case of “got to look pretty for the man!”

Episode:
This is a fair, but somewhat mixed Joel era episode. The short was an excellent choice and added a great deal of fun, but also became the basis of the rest of the episode’s host segments – which I think is OK, but it was kind of a 1-note joke, of Gypsy not being interested in Tom, who’s the awkward teen date. I did NOT care for any of the mads segments here – and thought they were some of the weakest to date – as the tv-U-viewer wasn’t imaginative, and just felt like some dated name dropping – so that was the other disappointment of the episode – weak host segments. That said, the riffing was a lot of fun and excellent and buoys the episode when everything else tries to bring it down. The best riff was the crocodile to which they added motor sounds to it, and absolutely cracked me up when they did that. So, a fine short, great riffing, just poor host segments, so this end up being average.

018. - 6x16 - Racket Girls (1951) With short: Are You Ready for Marriage? (1950) - Short: 4 + Film 2 + Episode: 7

Short: Are You Ready for Marriage? (1950)
Watched unriffed as well
Teens Larry and Sue have been dating for 3 months and now they want to get married, but their parents think they’re not mature enough to get married, so they see a marriage counselor for advice. The counselor has a bunch of boards ready to explain how to have a successful marriage, rather than one that rubber bands (boings) them apart. It’s sort of amusing that the only issue brought up for having “similar backgrounds” is having the same religious views (which leads to another Coronet Educational Films co short), as that’s apparently the only thing that matters when you’re in a relationship. Of course the suggestion of being “real friends” is important, but it also doesn’t address relationship drift over time or how to maintain mutual interest over your lifespan, as things can fall apart as it’s difficult to maintain success and happiness over the long term. The only loose cracks visible between their relationship is that Sue doesn’t like hearing about Larry’s engineering studies, as she doesn’t understand it – to which Larry is taken aback, for he incorporates the sum total of engineering into his personhood – saying lines like, “it doesn’t take an engineer to see…” Sure, they can’t get enough of each other now, but nothing is said about how to keep the relationship steady after the long-run, as we’re always changing and adapting to life and our visions of existence, but it’s difficult to maintain common balance with a partner throughout the years – where you’ve changed, but the relationship hasn’t. The whole “rush to get married ASAP” is just a way to say that they want to have sex with each other, but that’s forbidden until marriage, and neither of them want to wait even that long. How many countless relationships were built off of mutual horniness rather than anything more foundational than lust. It’s easy to want to get married quickly when you can’t control your body’s instinctual temptations, as is the case with these two teens. It’s also easy to mistake lust for love – and how having mutual attraction towards someone can feel amazingly uplifting, but in the end, the fancy will pass and your curated interest can fall by the wayside. It’s just that people are constantly changing, in their personhood and who they’re attracted to, and it’s impossible to predict where that journey will take both an individual and a partnership. In the end, it remains incredibly difficult to find someone where you grow together as people through all the twists in life – and if you ever find that, who knows how long that will last – so cherish it, for as long as you can.

Feature: Racket Girls (1951)
Watched unriffed as well
Oh no! The proud and noble institution of women’s wrestling turns out to be run by crooks and the mafia. This just seems kinda weirdly hilarious to me, that wrestling, let alone women’s wrestling was once considered a clean sport – as both the main wrestling opponents refuse to accept an offer to dive for money, as the sport still means something to them. There’s an inkling of the sport having some semblance of fun about it – what with one bout being between the Leopard Lady vs the Panther Woman – with both of them wearing cat masks. It’s just odd that all of the contenders treat it as a genuine sport where they have reputations to uphold. I was expecting something like GLOW or WOW – where the competitors have complex backstories, and are all just following a script that dictates who wins based on some predetermined popularity schedule of hero and villain characters. Instead you just get endless sequences of the women actually trying to wrestle each other – so there’s no theatrics, no use of the stage to add flourish, no finishing move, and nothing defining any of them from each other in antics or performance. No, this is just a room full of sweaty trenchcoated men, eagerly watching the female combat – in their revealing “gymtards,” putting each other in thigh-holds, and perhaps placing bets on who wins. It just seems silly to me that they try to pass off someone billed as The Leopard Lady, and we’re supposed to 100% see this as serious athleticism, before the notion of “fun” entered the wrestling lexicon. None of these goings-on seem exactly empowering, it just feels more like they’re pandering to a specific male prurient interest, under the guise of strength. The whole ordeal is just an excuse for the crooked owners to launder money, and just treats the wrestling as secondary to their other shady businesses – like fixing horse races. Interesting, at one point the wrestler promoter dude gets caught up in a committee hearing, which is quite befit this film’s age, with going after criminal enterprise as being un-American. Anyway, this is like 60% wrestling matches, 20% wrestling practice, and 20% mob dudes wanting their $35k, which this all comes together as an intensely dull film, as they chose to make this about the mafia dudes, and leave us with next to nothing about any of the strong independent women, no, just shitty mob bossing business only.

Episode:
This is a fairly good Mike era episode, despite how awful the feature is. This episode starts / ends with some very dated Lisa Loeb jokes, which don't hold up at all and detract from the episode quite a bit (especially TV'S Frank outburst at the end). But the rest of the segments are amusing, with the theme being Crow and Servo planning to get married, but are held up by a sudden break of wrestling between everyone. Despite how lousy the feature + short both are, the riffs hold up very well and received quite a lot of laughter from us, which is difficult to find endless scenes of wrestling entertaining, but they pulled it off. I think at the end of the day, that despite some failings along the way, this ends up being a rather good episode, as they made what is probably one of the worst movies they've ever shown, end up being a lot of fun. Plus it helps having the host segments reflect the film - with marriage and wrestling being the key themes. I did like that someone sent in a Noam Chomsky essay, and they just mention it and move on, which seems appropriate. Anyway, a fine enough episode despite how miserable the source film is.

019. - 9x03 - The Puma Man (1980) - Film: 8 + Episode: 9

Film:
Watched unriffed as well
At some point, aliens visited the Aztecs, and left behind a golden head which can control people’s minds, and somehow, of all people, sauna-suit-wearing Donald Pleasance has it, and plans on world domination, but he’s thwarted by the least convincing superhero, with his action-slacks: The Pumaman. The Pumaman (Tony), is just some ordinary paleontologist, who’s visited by a high priest (Vadinho) – who tests Tony, first by throwing him out a window, & then proceeds to make him wear the magic belt, which gives him his super powered reversible drug-rug poncho / cape, and those silly trousers, which was apparently an improvement over the pink costume the producers were going to originally make him wear. So, it’s someone, who in their late 20s had no idea they had any sort of magic powers (like night vision / ability to fall from great heights), who’s told he’s part-deity, is told that everything is possible through the human mind, and he has an evil world dominating organization that’s trying to kill only him. All of these things add up to a very schizo situation – as his “powers” are inherited from his father, but are unknown to him until he’s in his 20s (the usual time schizo hits people), and then he’s informed / come to believe he can fly + travel through walls to anywhere he wants to go, as he has the powers of some Aztec alien superbeing that he only becomes aware of via the folie a deux situation with Vadinho. It makes sense during the “logic” of the film, but there’s a strong case to be made against Tony’s sanity, as all of this adds up to someone who’s in psychosis and who can’t tell what’s real vs hallucination / delusion / illness. For he’s someone who believes he has these powers that came to him in his 20s/30s, and he’s now worried that everywhere he goes he’s being chased by the evil organization that only wants him dead – which is a persecution delusion. Then on top of everything else, Vadinho reaffirms all of these things with his line, “everything is possible in the mind,” which seems to be the only limitation placed on Tony’s powers – like he can only travel to places he’s already been, lest he gets lost in the flotsam of the alternate dimension. Everything here adds up to a person who has schizophrenia and is in the throws of psychosis – that all of these elements add up together as someone who’s no longer living in reality, but instead lives in a world of his mind’s making, which colors everything that happens to him and those around him, who he’s similarly brought into his delusions as well. As Vadinho radiates: “each man is a god, each man is free,” as there’s no limits as to what the brain can do, so proceed with caution all you merry souls – for at least you’re a god over your own brain – and that brain can take you anywhere and do anything. Anyway, with or without MST3K riffing, this movie is fantastically hilarious – with just one absurd goofy moment after another, it makes one wonder how they thought this would sell as a straight-superhero film. Random side note: Vadinho should sell guided meditations, as he does several of those during the film and they seem like they’d be rather positive and sell well.


Episode:
This is a strong Mike era episode, where the riffing has become an artform. The way they perfectly match the tone and make the most out of this outlandish film, is just fantastic. Every time the theme song plays, and they sing along with invented lyrics, just makes me belly laugh – it’s so perfectly befitting the mood: “Puma man, he flies like a moron”; or “Puma man, stole my love and also my heart.” There are so many high quality riffs here – from every time you see Pumaman “flying,” to the Donald Pleasance jokes, it’s all hilarious. Unfortunately, the host segments are a bit of a letdown. Yes, it suffers from late Sci-Fi Channel “story continuity” – which ends up neutering a lot of these host segments, and this is no different – as it mostly focuses on Pearl’s failed costume party, or jokes about Roger Whittaker (which rather dates this). None of the host segments really stand out here, but at least most all of them are connected to the movie – which I appreciate. Too bad the host segments don’t match the riffing, but at least the riffs are some of the best of the series, and makes this one great episode.

020. - 5x21 - Santa Claus (1959) - Film: 8 + Episode: 8

Film:
Watched Unriffed as well
Santa’s attempts to bring toys to the children of Mexico City, but is repeatedly hampered by a demon named Pitch – who also tries to get children to do bad deeds. This ends up being a battle of morals and will, with a little girl named Lupita, who’s too poor to get a doll, and so she’s encouraged by Pitch to try and steal a doll. OK there’s a lot of eccentricities here – like the first 15 mins is just Santa playing the organ whilst children from “countries around the world” sing a brief song. This is followed by a demonstration of the tools Santa uses to see if children have been good or bad – which includes audio, visual and even dream investigational equipment – as Santa apparently takes this whole morality business seriously. Vision into people’s dreams seems like a step too far for Santa – as though our dreams could possibly be incriminating of our ethical wherewithal, that you’re never free from Santa’s gaze – that he’s forever making sure you’re good, even to the subconscious level. If Santa can enter our dreams, he can enter our thoughts and therefore you’re never safe, Santa will always be there, policing your every thought, waiting for you to slip-up and do something “bad.” This is also extended by Pitch – who can use his powers not only to influence people’s dreams, but also to insert thoughts into people’s heads – partly in a “devil shoulder” situation – where they have some degree of control and ability to say no to Pitch; but in one case, the thoughts are considered organic to the person in much the same way as anxiety is. This is supremely disquieting to me – that you can’t be fully sure if a thought originates from you, whether it comes from a demon, and whether Santa is judging you for having that thought on top of everything. This is incredibly paranoia inducing, although I often find myself in this sort of conundrum – this battle about my own mental collections – as to where they originate and whether they’re being judged by some other being for having them (let alone physically hearing these distressing things as well). Because when you find yourself having thoughts inserted into your head, thoughts that you know didn’t come from your own brain, things become increasingly terrifying – as you’re not sure where they came from and whether you’re being judged for having these thoughts + wondering who or what is trying to control your brain – it isn’t much of a leap to then think you’re a pivotal being in a divine test of human ethical fortitude. It’s one thing to be judged based on your action, but then to judge people by their thoughts, then this film’s Santa takes it to the subconscious level – meaning one is never free from his oversight, whether we have a degree of control over it or not. Anyway, this is a superbly fun and wild Christmas in Hell movie – that has so many oddities and lovingly unexplained elements that really make this among the best of the holly jolly season in a wonderfully weird manner.


Episode:
This is a fantastic early Mike era episode that is well developed and manages to include a healthy diversity of Christmas cheer through the oddball movie + host segments that really drive for wintery nostalgia of this time of year. The riffs are truly on point with the hilarious weirdness of the movie, as there's quite a lot here to put the movie down - like the entire "kids around the world" segment. Then the host segments are superb as well - I really liked the "all-inclusive" holiday song - which feels like woke from the 90s. Or when they get the wrong Nelson family - who's just as stoic about it that Mike's family would be. This episode then ends with a day of snow - which brings some great holiday cheer that transcends to the audience as well. My favorite kind of host segments is when one of the characters shows up from the movie - and here we get that in spades, which really brings out the amount of fun they had putting this together. This ends up being a great way to celebrate Christmas - this combination of MST3K + Santa Claus - it just brings such a holly jolly experience to get you in that great mindset to celebrate yule.

[Kublai Khan]

Puma man is a stone cold classic episode.

Of the season thirteen stuff, the Mask 3D was surprisingly really good. Worth tracking down some 3D glasses for.

[Torgo]

Puma man is a stone cold classic episode.

I kiss my frog in your honor.