Any Mystery Science Theater 3000 Fans?

[Will]

Heres the story for those who are new to the show:

Two evil scientists Dr Forrester and TV's Frank send Joel later Mike into space where he has to watch the worst films of all time. To keep his sanity he's made two robot companions and together they take lemons and make lemonade. This is done by making puns on each and every scene in the movies that are thrown their way. I remember watching this a little bit when it was on the Sci-fi channel.

It wasn't until a couple of years later when I bought my first box set and have been watching and collecting the box sets constantly. My favorite seasons have to be seasons two through five from the Comedy Central era. There was something magical about how everything came together from the riffs to the invention exchange with Joel and the Mads. Nothing felt forced like it was in the Sci-Fi era. Sure they were able to keep there history before they became the king of B movies (with the exception of the Sharknado Trilogy.) However it was like they were trying to hard to recapture what made the show successful in the first place. Heres the comparisons between the two eras.

Comedy Central Era

Joel and the bots felt like family. After all Joel was the one who created Crow and Tom in the first place so they looked to him as a father figure.

The Riffs felt natural in how they were delivered.

The Mads Dr Forrester and TV's Frank they would play off of one another through there interaction with Joel and the bots. Plus Dr Forrester was a character you could despise.

It was the show that put Comedy Central on the map so to speak.

The Theme song never gets old.

Films were picked out from the public domain and they would have an easier time being released on DVD.



Sci-Fi Era

Mike was the host replacing Joel midway through Season 5 on the Comedy Central Era. Mike was treated as a brother and was treated more cruelly compared to the time the bots were with Joel.

Pearl took over for Dr Forrester once the producers ran out of ideas for the former head mad. So he was killed off by his mother sometime before the start of season 8 by being smothered by a pillow. Frank was taken to second banana heaven by Targo the white so he wouldn't be bothered by Dr Forrester anymore.

Edgy programming more cussing, darker tone in nature,etc

Keeping a part of Sci-fi's history when they aired science fiction and horror films and not just B movies like they do now. However this would make it tough for some movies to be released on DVD due to right issues.

Riffs felt forced most of the time they didn't come naturally like they did in the past.

Pearl whenever she would interact with her minions it didn't feel like there was a connection between the group like there was with The Mads.

Personally I think they should of ended the show once Dr Forrester turned into a baby and Mike and the bots became star spirits. However I'm glad they ran the show for three more seasons and ended the show with a resolution before Best Brains shut down in 1999.

So whats you favorite seasons and moments of MSTK3?

[the_wolfs_howl]

I've just recently gotten into MST3K, and I actually didn't know there were two "eras". I've only seen ones with Pearl, so I guess I haven't seen the show at its best! But I have to confess, I mainly just watch the show for the unbelievably horrible movies they watch; I would be perfectly content if there was no frame story and instead just a few voices commenting throughout the movies.

So maybe I ought to look into older episodes?

[Thunderscream872]

They did a parody of the Jet Jaguar song from Godzilla vs Megalon that never fails to make me laugh a little, but outside of that I don't really know much about it.

[Davidizer13]

Warrior of the Lost World is really underrated as an episode. It's an unintelligible Italian ripoff of Mad Max, Star Wars, and goodness knows what else.- some jerk with a talking motorcycle gets roped into saving some dude and his daughter from a poorly defined post-apocalyptic fascist dictatorship. Between a fire-breathing dump truck, the "hero" fighting punks into submission at what appears to be a Burning Man revival, mysterious magic people in togas, other people in leather drinking fluorescent cocktails, and extended shots of the protagonists fighting through a distinct sequence of staircases and halls...followed soon after by more shots of them going back the same way they came, there's something for everyone!

[Yuki-Anne]

LOVE this show, Joel era AND Mike era. It was so funny. And I do enjoy me some Rifftrax as well.

Some of my favorite stuff:

All of the crazy names they come up with in Space Mutiny ("Dirk Hardpec!" "Blast Hardcheese!" "Big McLargeHuge!")
All the Rowsdower jokes in Final Sacrifice
Pretty much any time Tom Servo sings
The Patrick Swayze Christmas song
Pretty much any time they do an old educational short
MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 THE MOVIE. This one has a special place in my heart because it was my first exposure to MST3K when I was but a wee squidling. The jokes still make me giggle. Plus we actually owned the original so I was already familiar with the source material. If you don't know where to start, start with this one.
The part of Gunslinger where the protagonist has this weird heavenly backlighting and Tom Servo sings like a choir of angels had me rolling on the floor quite literally.