h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Mystery Science Theatre is excellent, and perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

The credits are typically american - too long, crap, dull, etc, but what do you expect - and I wish they showed more film and less bad acting from the captors in the spaceship, but then I don't want much, do I?

Used to be that some people made up stuff(which ended up on Tv or radio or was shown at the movies or theatre or whatever) and everyone else talked about it. I'm slightly uncomfortable with the supra-modern trend where the bulk of the made-up stuff is recycled or redone, and then most of the smartest people make productions who make fun of other stuff instead of making stuff that is good in it's own right. MST3K, Mystery Men and the like are some of my favorite kinds of thing, yet I wonder why in the late '90's everyone has the courage to mock(in an attempt to be cutting-edge, hip and unfooled) while no one has the courage to make(or allow to be made) seriously good stuff. For instance, Mystery Men was a hilarious modern-take-on, making great fun of the superhero tradition. Would it kill someone to make a really GOOD superhero movie? I think that the last several Batman movies show how stupid things are getting in Hollywood.
(formula:Batman-1 hero, 1 villain. Was the best movie.
Batman Returns-1 hero, 2 villains. Started really losing it.
Batman Forever-2 heroes, 2 main villains. Sucked.
Batman and Robin-3 heroes and 3 villains.)

I almost agree with you on the Mystery Men thing. One thing to remember is that it's based on a comic book. "Flaming Carrot" to be exact. If you ever read that series it would make more sense. That's just how the world is there. And to be on topic, M.S.T.3k was my favorite show until Joel left. I haven't watched since they moved to Sci-fi. Push the button, Frink.

I think it is unfair to imply that mst3k lacks the courage to make something good, and instead has to rely on making fun of other work. The show requires plenty of courage, because it is so unique. It requires a lot of imagination (everyone likes to crack jokes during a bad movie, but try to be consistently funny for two hours!) and deserves way more credit than it will ever get.

I won't get into the Joel vs. Mike thing, but I give both high marks. I think the host segments suffered to some degree once the show moved to sci-fi, but the theater segments have been as strong as ever.

What do you think, sirs?

I'm not an ardent fan of the show, but it has affected my vocabulary, which is worthy of praise. It was during a Hercules movie...the main character kept walking endlessly, to the accompaniment of Tom Servo's chant "Must pad movie." I deliver this same chant whenever I find this fault in any other flick.

I think MST3K is very courageous, because they are making fun of movies that have no entertainment value in their own right. Millions of viewers watch the worst movies ever made, just to hear what the hosts will say next. Mystery Men, by the way, was also based on a comic.

And let's be honest, the movies they choose deserve a good ripping.

Well, I don't know. If any of you have seen MST3K the Movie, they make fun of what is generally thought to be one of te better B- Movies, This Island Earth. Its still great though.

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Oh, I don't know, they did a pretty good job of showing why it was mockable.

Besides, the Big Screen demanded something controversial. (Hey, they could have always done Showgirls...)

Blind Zen Archer

"Who are you, and why are you thrusting a cereal bowl in my face?"

First, I hope that Subject line fits all the way in there...

MST3K is, or rather was, one of my all-time favorite shows. I loved the low-tech 'live' segments as much as the theater segments. I liked it more back in its heyday, when Joel was in the 'cage,' and Doc Forrester and TV's Frak were at the helm, but, alas, things change. I count myself among the fortunate to have seen:
The last episode with Joel...
The Final, absolute last episode...
The Major Motion Picture...
Each and Every one of the Gamera sendups.

That last accomplishment it the most daunting, and my favorite. So everyone sing...


Gamera is really neat...
Gamera is full of meat...
We all Love you Gam - er - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

I really LIKE MST3K. My friends were nuts about it, and when they made a "thing" out of buying a couple of episodes on tape(Canadian cable doesn't have the show), then watching them in a group, I got into what they liked about it. I was just saying something about our decade. Past decades had people loving absolute garbage, and either not knowing it was garbage or not caring. "I Dream of Jeannie" and "Gilligan's Island" are not "good" shows in the sense of making people laugh, but not looking silly when seen a few years later. They are loved by many people, though. I think one of the wierd/cool things about the '90's is we can laugh at something and say it's completely silly, but we enjoy it anyway. The classic Star Trek, for example, can look pretty silly today, but I love it. Favorite MST3K line:the one with the team of girls dressed like Evil Kenevel("Angels" something) where there is a girl climbing up a ladder with the camera looking up from beneath, and (I think it's Servo) says "Hey! You're giving away the plot!"

The movies are crap, most of them, but there are a few gems.

My favourite line:

"Hello, I'm a doctor".
"Doctor... why are you in the same set that we saw earlier that was Mr Franken's office, with a few medical posters on the wall?"

J

Last word on the subject. Joel was a genius. Mike didn't quite suck. To quote Stan Lee: 'nuff said.

Not quite the last word...

I tend to agree with you, Frink - I like both Mike and Joel equally but differently. Without Mike, Joel's lines might not have been nearly as funny. And without Joel, well, there really wouldn't have been much of a show in the first place. They made a great team...although I think Mike is cuter.

But on to the important thing, really important...look up above, all the way up...

"I wish they showed more film and less bad acting from the captors in the spaceship".

Whaaa?!? Some of the best and most memorable parts of the show involve all the silly stuff they're doing while not watching films! The Invention Exchanges, the short films... the...the baaaadddd Keanu Reeves impersonations!!

No, as far as I'm concerned that's the stuff that makes the show. Super Freak-Out...Deep Hurting. Mike peddling pizzas as Torgo from "Manos, Hands of Fate". Renaissance festival punching bags. BROOKS AND DUNN! Wynona. The "Tickle-Me Carlo Lombardi doll". Lisa Loeb ("I thought that was Courtney Hole"). I dunno...the kids seem to like her.

THAT'S the stuff that glues everything together, that gave the guys (and 'bots) personalities...that made them so darn lovable. 'Nuff said.

...No it's not. "When you're out of slits...you're out of pier". There. That oughtta hold 'em.

Couldn't have said it better myself.....I have to admit, however, that I thought the quality of the host segments took a slight downturn after the show moved to sci-fi. Not that there weren't some very funny moments, but the overall quality slipped. I think the characters just aren't as strong during the sci-fi era. Both Pearl and Bobo are alright, but not consistently funny like Frank n' Forrester were. Besides, how many monkey jokes can you do?

Despite this, I must say that I really enjoy the Observer, and the movie segments haven't slipped a bit.

All IMHO, of course........

And now for the opinion of someone rare... an english fan of the show. Basically I can't begin to comment on the whole joel mike thing which I thought was pretty taboo anyway, since I've only seen the shows with mike in, series eight and nine to be precise, and now sci fi channel europe isn't even going to get season ten, so I won't even get a taste of Herr Robinson. Anyway I just wanted to say this, history ignored MST3K was a brilliant piece of television and it saddens me that I only got a mouthfull or two out of what was available. But the episodes with mike were always good and regularly brilliant. It may have been better before, but it was from what I could see still excellent right up until it's death.

You guys don't know how good you have it think about it from my point of view, no gamera, no torgo, no tv's frank and the only bit of dr forrester I've seen are his small scenes in the movie (which was excellent). So we've had two series, but they have been very very good, especially the tail end of eight, (then again who can argue with Pumaman?). And yeah our sci fi channel shows them stupidly out of order and have now taken it off from it's midnight on saturday time slot.

I'll damn well miss it...

Ryan

yes, I fear we will all miss MST3K. Even I who only sees episodes when my friend manages to remember to tape them from teh sci-fi cahnnel for me. But there is one good thing. Reruns, right from the start please.

Well they stopped the Sunday showings and now it is only on once a week (9 am EST, Saturdays). And if that weren't enough the scifi channel is giving no warning about when the show will end. However they just purchased many new shows and may want to dump it soon. If you check the official fan site (http://www.mst3kinfo.com) then you will see that the scifi schedule is showing season 10 episodes for the next few months. They could simply show reruns up to the last episode (1013) and stop showing them, FOREVER!!!!!
That would truly be a shame and a tragedy. Especially when you consider that most of the new comedy shows put on tv this year bombed. Darn I was hoping for a strong ending but I haven't thought of one so I will just say, MST3K RULES!!

Correction: the link above for the mst3kinfo site is wrong. The webpage address is http://www.mst3kinfo.com

From the link nicely provided above, but I'll put it here just to make your lives a little easier. http://www.mst3kinfo.com/satnews/announce.html

Apparently, as much as we hate it, BBI is ready to let the show go. There are some fan efforts going to save the show, so it might be worth a shot!

The fan efforts seem to be failing All signs point to mst3k going away for good.

Well, 10 years is a pretty good run in tv, anyway......