MSTies unite!

[newsmanfan]

Sooo...after the Count made some remarks to me yesterday concerning foreign chocolate bars and RAM chips, I suddenly felt hungry for a Toblerone. So I popped in Mystery Science Theatre 3K's "Escape 2000" and laughed my scrawny yellow butt off for a couple of hours. I hadn't watched it in years and had forgotten just how great an ep it was:

"Jim Henson's Chairman Mao Babies!"

"New York City ran out of cops today..."

The many, many Nosferatu Chick jokes...

and the one which made me laugh the hardest, at the press conference held by the evil corporation forcing people to Leave the Bronx, when Scary Reporter Chick yells "The GC Corportaion sucks!" as she's dragged out, and the other reporters immediately turn to the corp head: "Is this true? Do you suck?"

So, I propose, since I've noticed quite a few other MSTies around here: List your favorite epsiodes! Note I didn't say "the best", 'cause I'm sure those will vary as widely as people's favorite Far Side cartoons. Which eps did YOU most love?

Mine are, in no particular order:

1. "Earth vs the Spider". This was the first one I ever saw, and I still love it. The "Speech" short is also priceless.

2. "Fugitive Alien" & "Fugitive Alien 2". They TRRRIIIIEEED to kill me with a forkliiiiift!

3. "Warrior of the Lost World". MEGAWEAPON! MEGAWEAPON!

4. "Outlaw". Most. Worst. Buffalo shots. Ever.

5. "Pod People". Trumpy. Movies A, B, and C, and they all...stink!

6. "Eegah" and "Human Duplicators" for the classic Richard Kiel double-header. Unh...unn...Roooooxxy!

7. "Mitchell". Lumpy luscious Joe Don Baker goodness.

8. "Manos: the Hands of Fate". I was AT both MST conventions, and yes, this intrepid reporter did verily shake in my shoes to see the awesome Parade of Torgos...

9. "SST: Deathflight". One of the REALLY early eps I am lucky enough to have a copy of. Just 'cause it has Billy Crystal and Peter Graves.

10. I can never recall the correct title: the one with Gregory Peck and Gene Hackman, where Hackman is one of three astronauts stranded in a space capsule. Decent enough film, but what I love most is Crow's truly killer Peck impression. I think I was literally on the floor for several minutes after Crow-as-Peck said "I want this man savagely beaten!"

11. "Tormented". Best of the Bert I. Gordons.

12. "The Amazing Colossal Man" and its sequel, "War on the Colossal Beast". Uh... have you seen Glenn?

13. "Mr B Natural." Yeah I know it's a short, technically. It's also quite arguably the funniest thing the guys ever did.

14. "Godzilla vs the Sea Monster". BEST of the 'Zillas. Yeah, I said it. You wanna make somethin' of it, buffet entree?

15. "Time of the Apes". (If I recall the title rightly.) WHY doesn't Johnny care?

Naturally there are others. I had the Master Ninja Theme Song as my answering machine message for a while... But I'd have to rank these as the ones which had me gasping for breath most often.

Anyone else?

 

[RedPiggy]

Well, I'd have to watch them all again (at least, the ones I have on DVD and I notice they're on Netflix too). Still, I listen to the songs on my Clowns in the Sky or whatever it was called CD. My favorites are Deep 13, Who Will I Kill, Roadhouse Christmas (I realize I may not be getting the titles right, but sue me), Estelle, and Timmy, Oh, Timmy.

I think the coolest moment for me was when Joel came back for an ep after he had left. I think it was an anniversary ep.

 

[Slackbot]

The two MST3K episodes I come back to time and again are "Manos, The Hands of Fate" and "Santa Claus." The former needs no description, as it's pretty indescribable, and the latter is an epic saga of the ancient battle between Satan and Santa.

 

[The Count]

Hahahaha... As much of a MSTie as I am—and believe me, I grew up on the stuff, that's why I can never be taken to go see movies at the theater (hee, we sent up one of the LOTR movies)—I don't own any of the releases. At $60 for four eps?

To answer some questions...

Kelly, the episode you're thinking of is Soultaker, the 10th season premiere. That one's in my faves of all and from that final season, especially when they figure out that Heaven is just a bunch of boiler pipes that are part of the hospital during the end. The thing is that Joel's one-shot return also brought TV's Frank back for that one episode... But Mike then got somewhat depressed and tried imitating Joel what with the bad puppet during the end of the dinosaurian time-travel episode from Season 10 and then trying to escape himself at the end of another Joe Donn Baker movie.

Kim, Santa Claus has a bit of specialness to me cause I caught that episode the first time on a late-night airing and was one of my "cool" staying up when in school to see it.
Among the quotes I remember are the gang breaking into the time-honored Batman Smells version of Jingle Bells...
Danny Elfman, Danny Elfman, Danny Elfman, Danny Elfman. He's the father of Jennah Elfman...
Dude! Christmas went down to Ft. Lauderdale for Spring Brake!
But as great as that one is, Santa Claus vs. The Martians outranks it for me.
He'll die on reentry... He'll burn up in the atmosphere... Hooray for Santy Claus!
That's S-A-N-T-A Claus!
In the month of Septober... Ah, just in time for Septoberfest.

Newsmanfan, the movie you're thinking of is either titled Marooned or Space Madness. There were some great lines in that one.
Crow: Well, I think I'll play a little Super Mario Bros.
The best bit comes at the end over the credits... Space Madness, play the game. Buy the Bantam book. Buy the soundtrack wherever avalalable (yes, that's written correctly) or just press the Demo button on any Casio keyboard.

As for my faves, in no particular order...

1 Gamera vs. Gaos, first one I ever saw.
Gaos... Gaaaaooos... Gaylight come and we wanna go home.
2 Fire Maidens from Outer Space.
This was the best of the Burt I. Gordon films if for no other reason than the subplot with Dark Crow Specter and his vicious attack on Servo around the third quarter.
3 Soultaker, enough said.
4 Hobgoblins.
Sir, there's been an accident at the studio...
We made Hobgoblins.
5 Hamlet, yeah, I quote this one almost every chance I get.
Murder most foul... What, he murdered a chicken?
6 Santa Claus vs. The Martians.
7 Warrior of the Lost World.
Megaweapon! Joel even got a call through to him, and Megaweapon sent out goodbye wishes to all the kids including Prairie Dawn.
8 Manos, The Hands of Fate, classic.
9 Mitchell, how can you not love this one?
Why does he look like he's caught in a wind tunnel?
Mittens? Joe Donn Baker is Mittens.
Oh, Mitchell, the Martha Mitchell story.
I don't care if this movie's bad, so long as it's got wockachawocka music.
Wocka-cha-wocka-cha-wocka... It was the tthird of December... A day I'll always remember.
10 Zombie Nightmare, just for the sheer amount of incessant mocking Adam West as Batman quips.

BTW: The one MST ep I will never watch again? The Lost Continent, where they spend an entire half-hour on nothing else but... ROOOCK CLIIIIIMBIING!
The one time I saw it was during my first Turkey Day and I swore this was the one episode I utterly loathed.

 

[mr3urious]

I never saw MST3K as a kid, but I've recently been watching quite a few episodes (mostly the well-known ones) and they are hilarious. Here's some of my favorites:

- Manos: The Hands of Fate (Needs no introduction.)

- Sidehackers (Particularly for the scoreboard Cambot brings up at one point, making it the only time he's riffed on a movie.)

- Pumaman ("He flies like a moron!")

- Santa Claus (An all-around weird and messed up movie, though I first heard about it from the Angry Video Game Nerd)

- Eegah! ("Watch out for snakes!". Also, Eegah slapping Arch Hall Jr.'s character.)

- Monster A Go Go ("I made that phone noise!")

- Pod People (The voice Crow gives to Trumpy is hilarious!)

- Fugitive Alien (Particularly the forklift scene and "Hahahahaha... You're stuck here!")

- The Screaming Skull (The Gumby short that came along with it was also great.)

 

[The Count]

Another MST movie that's stuck with me is I Accuse My Parents. It's got a good story in terms of the movie itself... But there's this part where the teenage boy main character's on trial and he blurts out the line "Your Honor, I accuse my parents", causing Servo to quip "yes, we have a title!"
From that point onwards whenever I'm watching a TV show or movie and a character uses the title as a line of dialogue it prompts me to immediately counter with Servo's response.

Also... The Magic Sword. That's another classic.

Besides the movies themselves, some of the segments have stuck with me through the years. Examples include:
Eega has this bit where Joel's fake frying some eggs in a skillet as he and the bots reflect on the sitcom families of the 1960's concluding that the Munsters were the only perfect nuclear family model they could think of.
The skit about medieval culture during The Magic Sword.
The musical play they made based on You're Hired! Part 1.
Invasion USA, when Crow says to Cosmonaut Mike "we challenge you and your bots to a hockey match!"

 

[newsmanfan]

How about the debate between Crow and Servo after "Mr B Natural" when Tom does a great William F Buckley bit? Joel threatens him with a point reduction for it.

Or the Torgo's Pizza Guy...

Hey Count, my friend Marty Ketola (indie filmmaker, look him up on IMDB, good stuff) is my MSTie connection. He has, and I do not exaggerate, EVERY episode of MST, all of the "Cinematic Titanic" ones (I have four so far, and they're quite good), and many Rifftrax (I've only seen a few, but thus far, I cannot recommend "The Room" and "Troll 2" highly enough! Hysterical!) Whenever I get a jones for Crow and the guys, I go to him and he sets me up with a burned dvd or three. If there are specific eps you gotta have I'm sure something could be worked out.

I'm not AS big a fan -- he does buy the collections as they're released; I can't afford that -- but I DO still have pics of me with Frank and Trace at the second convention (woohoo!), my original fan club material, and I will never, EVER get rid of my photo mug with Joel and the Bots on it!

Magic Sword...hee. "Basil!" "Yes dear, I'm DOING it, dear!"

At the costume contest at (I think) the 2nd convention, the person I went with dressed as the Monster a-Go-Go. I carried around the tape recorder playing his eerie theme music. Saw a guy dressed as a SAMPO distributing salt, chocolate, etc, several Mr B's, and then of course, the frightening Parade of Torgos, which prompted Mike and Frank to exclaim, "Oh my G-- what have we DONE?"

 

[The Count]

Thanks Newsmanfan, maybe someday... First gotta rebuild my Muppet DVD collection after I lost about 72 TMS episodes and about 20 specials including a CD of songs of the Count my previous contact/business partner in Canada made for me, including the read-along audio of The Count Counts a Party.

Another sketch I remember is the one where Joel shocked the bots with all the cartoon and puppet characters that were part of the Charlie McCarthy hearings.
*Heading over to read update to the fic.

 

[newsmanfan]

Uh...I've actually not yet seen "Soultaker."
Guess I know what I'm asking Marty for next!

And about "rock climbing"... which Hercules movie was it where they had the sequel, "saaaaaandstoooorm!" All part of the lovin' kindness known as.... DEEEEP HUUURTING...

 

[The Count]

You should, it's a good horror chase movie in the vein of Final Destination, it has the triumphant return of both Joel and TV's Frank, and the bathing scene.
I think it was Hercules Unchained that had the Sandstorm sequence where the guys tried to get by angrily/whimperingly singing Row Row Row Your Boat.

Another fave episode is Crash of the Gypsy Moons.