"Young Brian Kent rode out as the Silent Knight on his horse, Rona! "
Re-Watching Mystery Science Theater 3000
OK, I'll be handling this one a little differently than some of the other TV series I've re-watched. I don't own every episode of this, and what I do own isn't in broadcast order, so I'll be watching them as I find them, and updating this initial post as to where they sit in the show's history.
Season One
Show 101: "The Crawling Eye" (11/18/1989)
Show 102: "The Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy" (11/25/1989)
Show 103: "The Mad Monster" (12/2/1989)
Show 104: "Women of the Prehistoric Planet" (2/20/1990)
Show 105: "The Corpse Vanishes" (12/9/1989)
Show 106: "The Crawling Hand" (12/16/1989)
Show 107: "Robot Monster" (12/23/1989)
Show 108: "The Slime People" (12/30/1989)
Show 109: "Project Moonbase" (1/6/1990)
Show 110: "Robot Holocaust" (1/13/1990)
Show 111: "Moon Zero Two" (1/20/1990)
Show 112: "Untamed Youth" (1/27/1990)
Show 113: "The Black Scorpion" (2/3/1990)
Season Two
Show 201: "Rocketship X-M" (9/22/1990)
Show 202: "The Sidehackers" (9/29/1990)
Show 203: "Jungle Goddess" (10/6/1990)
Show 204: "Catalina Caper" (10/13/1990)
Show 205: "Rocket Attack U.S.A." (10/27/1990)
Show 206: "Ring of Terror" (11/3/1990)
Show 207: "Wild Rebels" (11/17/1990)
Show 208: "The Lost Continent" (11/24/1990)
Show 209: The Hellcats" (12/8/1990)
Show 210: "King Dinosaur" (12/22/1990)
Show 211: "First Spaceship On Venus" (12/29/1990)
Show 212: "Godzilla vs. Megalon" (1/19/1991)
Show 213: "Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster" (2/2/1991)
Season Three
Show 301: "Cave Dwellers" (6/1/1991)
Show 303: "Pod People" (6/15/1991)
Show 304: "Gamera vs. Barugon" (6/22/1991)
Show 305: "Stranded in Space" (6/29/1991)
Show 306: "Time of the Apes" (7/13/1991)
Show 307: "Daddy-O" (7/20/1991)
Show 308: "Gamera vs. Gaos" (7/27/1991)
Show 309: "The Amazing Colossal Man" (8/3/1991)
Show 310: "Fugitive Alien" (8/17/1991)
Show 311: "It Conquered The World" (8/24/1991)
Show 312: "Gamera vs. Guiron" (9/7/1991)
Show 313: "Earth vs. the Spider" (9/14/1991)
Show 314: "Mighty Jack" (9/21/1991)
Show 315: "Teenage Caveman" (11/9/1991)
Show 316: "Gamera vs. Zigra" (10/19/1991)
Show 317: "The Viking Women and the Sea Serpent" (10/26/1991)
Show 318: "Star Force: Fugitive Alien II" (11/16/1991)
Show 319: "War of the Colossal Beast" (11/30/1991)
Show 320: "The Unearthly" (12/14/1991)
Show 321: "Santa Claus Conquers The Martians" (12/21/1991)
Show 322: "Master Ninja I" (1/11/1992)
Show 323: "The Castle of Fu Manchu" (1/18/1992)
Show 324: "Master Ninja II" (1/25/1992)
Season Four
Show 401: "Space Travelers" (6/6/1992)
Show 402: "The Giant Gila Monster" (6/13/1992)
Show 403: "City Limits" (6/20/1992)
Show 404: "Teenagers From Outer Space" (6/27/1992)
Show 405: "Being From Another Planet" (7/4/1992)
Show 406: "Attack of the Giant Leeches" (7/18/1992)
Show 407: "The Killer Shrews" (7/25/1992)
Show 408: "Hercules Unchained" (8/1/1992)
Show 409: "The Indestructible Man" (8/15/1992)
Show 410: "Hercules Against The Moon Men" (8/22/1992)
Show 411: "The Magic Sword" (8/29/1992)
Show 412: "Hercules and the Captive Women" (9/12/1992)
Show 413: "Manhunt in Space" (9/19/1992)
Show 414: "Tormented" (9/26/1992)
Special: "This is MST3K" (11/14/1992)
Show 415: "The Beatniks" (11/25/1992)
Show 416: "Fire Maidens of Outer Space" (11/26/1992)
Show 417: "Crash of the Moons" (11/28/1992)
Show 418: "Attack of the Eye Creatures" (12/5/1992)
Show 419: "The Rebel Set" (12/12/1992)
Show 420: "The Human Duplicators" (12/26/1992)
Show 421: "Monster-A-Go-Go" (1/9/1993)
Show 422: "The Day The Earth Froze" (1/16/1993)
Show 423: "Bride of the Monster" (1/23/1993)
Show 424: "'Manos': The Hands of Fate" (1/30/1993)
Season Five
Show 501: "Warrior of the Lost World" (7/24/1993)
Show 502: "Hercules" (7/17/1993)
Show 503: "Swamp Diamonds" (7/31/1993)
Show 504: "Secret Agent Super Dragon" (8/7/1993)
Show 505: "The Magic Voyage of Sinbad" (8/14/1993)
Show 507: "I Accuse My Parents" (9/4/1993)
Show 508: "Operation Double 007" (9/11/1993)
Show 509: "The Girl in Lover's Lane" (9/18/1993)
Show 510: "The Painted Hills" (9/26/1993)
Show 511: "Gunslinger" (10/9/1993)
Show 512: "Mitchell" (10/23/1993)
Show 513: "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" (10/30/1993)
Show 514: "Teenage Strangler" (11/7/1993)
Show 515: "The Wild, Wild World of Batwoman" (11/13/1993)
Show 516: "Alien from L.A." (11/20/1993)
Show 517: "Beginning of the End" (11/25/1993)
Show 518: "The Atomic Brain" (12/4/1993)
Show 519: "Outlaw" (12/11/1993)
Show 520: "Radar Secret Service" (12/18/1993)
Show 521: "Santa Claus" (12/24/1993)
Show 522: "Teenage Crime Wave" (1/15/1995)
Show 523: "Village of the Giants" (1/22/1994)
Show 524: "12 To The Moon" (2/5/1994)
Season Six
Show 601: "Girls Town" (7/16/1994)
Show 602:"Invasion USA" (7/23/1994)
Show 603: "The Dead Talk Back" (7/30/1994)
Show 604: "Zombie Nightmare" (11/24/1994)
Show 605: "Colossus and the Headhunters" (8/20/1994)
Show 606: "The Creeping Terror" (9/17/1994)
Show 607: "Bloodlust!" (9/3/1994)
Show 608: "Code Name: Diamond Head" (10/1/1994)
Show 609: "The Skydivers" (8/27/1994)
Show 610: "The Violent Years" (10/8/1994)
Show 611: "Last of the Wild Horses" (10/15/1994)
Show 612: "The Starfighters" (10/29/1994)
Show 613: "The Sinister Urge" (11/5/1994)
Show 614: "San Francisco International" (11/19/1994)
Show 615: "Kitten With A Whip" (11/23/1994)
Show 616: "Racket Girls" (11/26/1994)
Show 617: "The Sword and the Dragon" (12/3/1994)
Show 618: "High School Big Shot" (12/10/1994)
Show 619: "Red Zone Cuba" (12/17/1994)
Show 620: "Danger!! Death Ray" (1/7/1995)
Show 621: "The Beast of Yucca Flats" (1/21/1995)
Show 622: "Angel's Revenge" (3/11/1995)
Show 623: "The Amazing Transparent Man" (3/18/1995)
Show 624: "Samson vs. The Vampire Women" (3/25/1995)
Season Seven
Show 701 (and 701T): "Night of the Blood Beast" (11/23/1995) 701T, ...
Show 702: "The Brute Man" (2/10/1996)
Show 703: "Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell" (2/17/1996)
Show 704 "The Incredible Melting Man" (2/24/1996)
Show 705: "Escape 2000" (3/2/1996)
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie - "This Island Earth" (4/19/1996)
Show 706: "Laserblast" (5/18/1996)
Unproduced CD-ROM: "Assignment: Venezuela"
Miscellany:
"MST Poopie!"
"The MST Scrapbook"
Season Eight
Show 801: "Revenge of the Creature" (2/1/1997)
Show 802: "The Leech Woman" (2/8/1997)
Show 803: "The Mole People" (2/15/1997)
Show 804: "The Deadly Mantis" (2/22/1997)
MST3K - The Home Game: "The Day the World Ended" (2/25/1997)
Show 805: "The Thing That Couldn't Die" (3/1/1997)
Show 806 "The Undead" (3/8/1997)
Show 807: "Terror from the Year 5000" (3/15/1997)
Show 808: "The She-Creature" (4/5/1997)
Show 809: "I was a Teenage Werewolf" (4/19/1997)
Show 810: "The Giant Spider Invasion" (5/21/1997)
Show 811: "Parts - The Clonus Horror" (6/7/1997)
Show 812: "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and ...
Show 813: "Jack Frost" (7/12/1997)
Show 814: "Riding With Death" (7/19/1997)
Show 815: "Agent for H.A.R.M." (8/2/1997)
Special: "The Making of Mystery Science Theater 3000" (8/15/1997)
Show 816: "Prince of Space" (8/16/1997)
Special: "First Annual Mystery Science Theater 3000 Summer Blockbuster Review" (9/2/1997)
Show 817: "The Horror of Party Beach" (9/6/1997)
Show 818: "Devil Doll" (10/4/1997)
Show 819: "Invasion of the Neptune Men" (10/11/1997)
Show 820: "Space Mutiny" (11/8/1997)
Show 821: "Time Chasers" (11/22/1997)
Show 822: "Overdrawn At The Memory Bank" (12/6/1997)
Miscellany: "MST Poopie! II"
Season Nine
Show 901: "The Projected Man" (3/14/1998)
Special: "Mystery Science Theater 3000 Academy of Robots' Choice Awards Preview Special" (3/19/1998)
Show 902: "The Phantom Planet" (3/21/1998)
Show 903: "Puma Man" (4/4/1998)
Show 904: "Werewolf" (4/18/1998)
Show 905: "The Deadly Bees" (5/9/1998)
Show 906: "The Space Children" (6/13/1998)
Show 907: "Hobgoblins" (6/27/1998)
Show 908: "The Touch of Satan" (7/11/1998)
Show 910: "The Final Sacrifice" (7/25/1998)
Show 911: "Devil Fish" (8/15/1998)
Show 912: "The Screaming Skull" (8/29/1998)
Special: "Second Annual Mystery Science Theater 3000 Summer Blockbuster Review" (9/4/1998)
Show 913: "Quest of the Delta Knights" (9/26/1998)
Season Ten
Show 1001: "Soultaker" (4/11/1999)
Show 1002: "Girl in Gold Boots" (4/18/1999)
Show 1003: "Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders" (9/12/1999)
Show 1004: "Future War" (4/25/1999)
Show 1005: "The Blood Waters of Dr. Z" (5/2/1999
Show 1006: "Boggy Creek II: And The Legend Continues" (5/9/1999)
Show 1007: "Track of the Moon Beast" (6/13/1999)
Show 1008: "Final Justice" (6/20/1999)
Show 1009: "Hamlet" (6/27/1999)
Show 1010: "It Lives By Night" (7/18/1999)
Show 1011: "Horrors of Spider Island" (7/25/1999)
Show 1012: "Squirm" (8/1/1999)
Show 1013: "Diabolik" (8/8/1999)
Miscellany: "The Last Dance-RAW"
Season Eleven
Show 1101: "Reptilicus" (4/14/2017)
Show 1102: "Cry Wilderness" (4/14/2017)
Show 1103: "The Time Travelers" (4/14/2017)
Show 1104: "Avalanche" (4/14/2017)
Show 1105: "The Beast of Hollow Mountain" (4/14/2017)
Show 1106: "Starcrash" (4/14/2017)
Show 1107: "The Land That Time Forgot" (4/14/2017)
Show 1108: "The Loves of Hercules", first broadcast 4/14/2017
Show 1109: "Yongary", first broadcast 4/14/2017
Show 1110: "Wizards of the Lost Kingdom", first broadcast 4/14/2017
Show 1111: "Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II", first broadcast 4/14/2017
Show 1112: "Carnival Magic", first broadcast 4/14/2017
Show 1113: "The Christmas That Almost Wasn't", first broadcast 4/1...
Show 1114: "At the Earth's Core", first broadcast 4/14/2017
Season Twelve "The Gauntlet"
Show 1201: "Mac and Me" , first broadcast 11/22/2018
Show 1202: "Atlantic Rim", first broadcast 11/22/2018
Show 1203: "Lords of the Deep", first broadcast 11/22/2018
Show 1204: "The Day Time Ended", first broadcast 11/22/2018
Show 1205: "Killer Fish", first broadcast 11/22/2018
Show 1206: "Ator the Fighting Eagle", first broadcast 11/22/2018
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by The Baron on
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Show 903: "Puma Man", first broadcast 4/4/1998
The Film: From 1980, this is possibly the worst super-hero film ever. Donald Pleasence is the villain. Was he desperate for cash in those days, is that what was going on?
The Host Segments: Servo has Short Man's disease. Pearl is holding a ball, but no one shows up because they're all watching "Sliders" with Observer. Mike gets a new haircut, with bad results. Crow and Servo designate Mike as Coatimundi Man. He is underwhelmed. Crow and Servo take control of Roger Whittaker. Crow quits, but comes right back. Roger Whittaker (Kevin Murphy) shows up at Pearl's ball.
Rating: A mildly amusing episode.
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Show 703: "Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell", first broadcast 2/17/1996
The Film: From 1988, this is amateur hour swords-and-sorcery stuff. Eminently forgettable.
The Host Segments: Crow has a hairpiece. Pearl is ill, and is driving Clayton crazy. Mike and the Bots are fast food employees. The Bots put on a ren fest. Mike doesn't want the ren fest to end. Pearl has Crow read a dirty romance novel to her. (She calls him "Art". Never been sure why.) Servo forges a Ring of Power. It doesn't work. Pearl's whining causes Clayton to poison himself.
Rating: A so-so episode. Generally not wild about these Season Seven episodes. I like Pearl. I like Clayton. I don't like them together.
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Permalink Reply by Ronald Morgan on -
There were four Deathstalker movies. They all kept reusing footage from the first one. All four showed a brief scene where a pig headed man goes to a table and starts to eat a pig.
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Permalink Reply by Ronald Morgan on
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This was just after Halloween 1 and just before Halloween 2, and he was doing a lot of other work during this time period. If he was desperate for cash he either had lots of medical bills or he wasn't handling his money right.
The Baron said:Show 903: "Puma Man", first broadcast 4/4/1998
The Film: From 1980, this is possibly the worst super-hero film ever. Donald Pleasence is the villain. Was he desperate for cash in those days, is that what was going on?
The Host Segments: Servo has Short Man's disease. Pearl is holding a ball, but no one shows up because they're all watching "Sliders" with Observer. Mike gets a new haircut, with bad results. Crow and Servo designate Mike as Coatimundi Man. He is underwhelmed. Crow and Servo take control of Roger Whittaker. Crow quits, but comes right back. Roger Whittaker (Kevin Murphy) shows up at Pearl's ball.
Rating: A mildly amusing episode.
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Show 704 "The Incredible Melting Man", first broadcast 2/24/1996
The Film. from 1977. An astronaut comes back from space and starts melting. He goes on a murderous rampage, for some reason. Bad, but not even classically bad.
The Host Segments: Mike and the Bots play baseball. Servo beans Mike, and it ends in violence. the Forresters announce that a studio has bought the rights to Crow's script, "Earth vs. Soup". They come up to the SOL for a script conference that goes nowhere. Crow directs the film. The focus group for the film is a little weird. Crow's film is to be released as a trailer.
Rating: An OK outing. I'm guessing this episode is their reaction to the whole film-making process.
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Show 705: "Escape 2000", first broadcast 3/2/1996
The Film: From 1983, a badly-made Italian film about an evil developer trying to clear out the Bronx so it can be gentrified. Some primp overacting in this.
The Host Segments: Crow holds an auction for "a really good cause". It loses money. Clayton puts Pearl in a "home". Crow starts a fire. Mike helps Crow do biofeedback. Crow starts more fires. Crow can't understand Mike's colloquial requests for a beer. Dr.F decides the show needs a kid, so he brings in Timmy Bobby Rusty (Paul Chaplin, the most repulsive kid ever. Tom is lowered in by helicopter. Toblerone (Mike Nelson) visits Deep 13 and runs off with Pearl.
Rating: Another OK episode. Remember to: "Leave the Bronx!"
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Well, now I've done all of Season Seven, the shortest and my least favorite of all the show's seasons to date.
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Show 607: "Bloodlust!", first broadcast 9/3/1994
The Short: "A Visit To Uncle Jim's Dairy Farm" (1960), in which two city kids spend the summer on a farm. I'm a city boy. I don't WANT to know where food comes from.
The Film: From 1961, two couples (including a young Robert Reed) are stranded on an island, where a rich crazy guy hunts them. Sort of an amateur hour "Most Dangerous Game".
The Host Segments: Servo analyzes Crow. Dr. F's mother is coming to visit. (This is Mary Jo Pehl's first appearance as Pearl.) She blows off Clayton to talk to Frank, Crow has a "vegable" stand. Servo crashes his car into it. Mike and the Bots have a hoedown. Crow ruins the Murder Mystery Dinner Party by immediately confessing. Crow convinces Servo that Mike is hunting them down. Pearl goes out with Frank. Clayton is left behind, morose.
Rating: An OK episode. I wouldn't have guessed at the time that Pearl was the show's future.
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Show 201: "Rocketship X-M", first broadcast 9/22/1990
The Film: From 1950, Lloyd Bridges and Noah Beery Jr. feature in a film about a lunar expedition that goes off course and lands on Mars, discovering that the Martians have wrecked their civilization in a nuclear war. Typical genre film for the period, perhaps not as good as "12 to the Moon". The science of the picture is nonsense, and the romance between Bridges and the one female character feels kind of forced. The message of the film is heavy-handed, and the ending kind of a downer. Watchable, but not great. We get the first use of "By this time, my lungs were aching for air!", which would become a running gag for years.
The Host Segments: Joel introduces the re-design of the SOL set. Crow has a toothache, despite not having teeth. We hear Servo's new voice. This is Kevin Murphy's debut on the role, taking over from Josh Weinstein. It's funny - to me, Murphy is the voice of Servo, but I gather he wasn't too popular with some of the viewers who were watching from the beginning. That said, this isn't really Murphy's Servo as we will come to know it, it feels as though he's still finding his way in the part. We get the first appearance of (not yet "TV's") frank, taking over for Doctor Ehrhardt, who is simply described as "missing". Frank starts taking abuse from Forrester right from the beginning. Joel and the bots almost trick Frank into returning them to Earth. We also see Jerry and Sylvia (Anderson?), the Mole People, who were used a lot in the early days, but were phased out by Mike's time. (They didn't even get a mention when the show did "The Mole People"!) Joel invents the BGC19 drum machine, which idea Frank immediately steals. Joel and the bots celebrate the reporters of "Rocketship X-M". Joel lectures the Bots on the humorous qualities of floating objects in space. We hear Magic Voice, who sounds male here. Joel, Crow and Servo spout song lyrics and vaguely philosophical nonsense. They are visited by Valeria (Mike Nelson) from Show 110, "Robot Holocaust". Joel and the Bots complain about the movie and read letters. Frank has trouble figuring out how to push the button.
Rating: An interesting episode, kind of like a second beginning for them. Having watched many episodes from every era of the show recently, I feel as though this is still a work in progress. It's not a bad episode, but the host segments feel a little forced in places. Valeria's appearance confused the heck out of me when I first saw it, since it was a callback to a Season One episode, and I hadn't seen any of those yet.
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Permalink Reply by Luke Blanchard on
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I believe Rocketship X-M was the first post-war space travel film. The story is Destination Moon was coming out and it was rushed out to beat it.
The Thing from Another World is said to have been the first space monster one.
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Permalink Reply by Jeff of Earth-J on
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“We get the first appearance of (not yet "TV's") Frank… An interesting episode, kind of like a second beginning for them.”
I remember specifically that Rocketship X-M was only the second episode I saw, so this pretty much set the standard of what MST3K is to me.
“Frank starts taking abuse from Forrester right from the beginning.”
I’m not quite sure what Forrester is doing to Frank throughout the show (“Owie! Owie! Owie! Owie! Owie! Owie! Ow!”) and I’m not quite sure I want to know.
“…the romance between Bridges and the one female character feels kind of forced.”
Bridges’ character would be right at home on a bus with Donald Trump and Billy Bush.
“We get the first use of "By this time, my lungs were aching for air!", which would become a running gag for years.”
They used it so often in RXM it seemed to run for years in just this one show.
“The message of the film is heavy-handed, and the ending kind of a downer.”
I had forgotten the end until just before it happened. I forgot most of the “plot” too, which is probably just as well. Tracy and I both laughed out loud several times. This movie is an example of what I was talking about earlier: that the MST3Ks are funnier if the film has at least some artistic merit… not that RXM is a good film by any means, but it at least intended to be “serious science fiction” with a message at the time of its initial release.
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