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
Tags:
I thought the Sandstorm part was good.
The Baron said:
Show 410: "Hercules Against The Moon Men", first broadcast 8/22/1992
The Film: From 1964, Alan Steel is Herc here, as he battles critters from the Moon. Another turgid mess, the monster here would have embarrassed Hartnell Era Doctor Who.
The Host Segments: Servo and Crow run away from home. It doesn't go well. the Mads introduce Deep Hurting. Joel and the Bots invent Freak Out and Super Freak Out. Joel and the Bots perform the "Booby Trap Illusion. Much mileage is gotten out of saying "booby" repeatedly. Joel gives Crow and Servo big Alan Steel arms. They sing the song "Pants", which is mildly amusing. Finally, they discuss Wayne Rogers Syndrome.
Favorite Line: My inner Beavis loved the line about "the evil influence of Uranus".
Rating: Another so-so outing.
Krankor was a good villain either in the movie or in the host segment.
The Baron said:
Show 816: "Prince of Space", first broadcast 8/16/1997
The Film: This is apparently a couple of episodes of the 1958 tokusatsu series Planet Prince strung together as a "movie". Humble shoeshine man "Wally" is secretly the heroic Prince of Space, who defends the Earth from the vaguely chicken-like Phantom of Krankor. Unintentionally amusing stuff.
The Host Segments: Crow and Servo's game of Dog and Bear gets way out of hand. Bobo accidentally draw the Widowmaker and the SOL into a wormhole. Mike and the Bots undergo a temporal discontinuity. Mike is subsequently replaced by his robot counterpart from another dimension. Back to normal, Mike finds himself and the bots in a forest. Krankor (Bill Corbett) briefly conquers the SOL before Mike scares him away. Finally, they all emerge from the wormhole and Pearl and Observer find themselves on Earth in Roman times, where they encounter a Roman couple (Kevin Murphy and Bridget Jones).
Cliffhanger: "Guards! Seize them!"
Favorite Line: "Goodbye, unfunny weird man!" (I can't tell you how many times someone has said that to me.)
Rating: Another good one. The film is amusing, the riffs are good, and the host segments are well-written.
Nope. We really are as dumb as a bag of hammers.
The Baron said:
If I was an actual Southerner, I wonder if I might not find "We're A Danger To Ourselves and Others" just a tiny bit offensive.
Show 407: "The Killer Shrews", first broadcast 7/25/1992
The Short: Junior Rodeo Daredevils (1949) Old-timer Billy Slater organizes a rodeo for local teenagers. Wow, some of these kids really get thrown around. One girl in particular is left limping really badly. This would be a festival of lawsuits if you tried doing it today.
The Film: This 1959 effort was produced by and features Ken "Festus" Curtis. Drunk, ugly scientists breed giants shrews on an island. I remember seeing this picture on TV when I was a kid, and being really scared by it. Watching it 45 years later, I can see that the "killer shrews" are big friendly dogs in crappy costumes.
The Host Segments: Joel gives out presents to the Bots. Crow gets slacks. The mads are going to destroy the Earth until Joel talks them out of it. Joel invents Jim Henson's Edgar Winter Babies. Joel does a Will Rogers impression that goes off the rails pretty quickly. The bots invent the Killer Shrews board game in which nothing ever happens. Later the invent a drink called the Killer Shrew. It sounds nasty. Finally, Frank is ill form drinking too many Killer shrews.
Rating: OK. Not a great show, but fun and watchable.
Thanks for the index. I've seen every one from season four, I know. As I mentioned before, Teenagers from Outer Space was the first one I saw and it remains one of my favorites, although I haven't seen the MST3K version of it in many years. Memorable line: "Too much chlorine!"
Regarding Hercules, one of those 50- or 100-movie packs had about seven of those in a row. I was determined to watch them in order, but those really burned me out. I have all of the Gameras (thanks, in part, to you), but I don't have all of the MST3K versions. I think there was a special DVD pack of them at one poniut, but I didn't buy it for whatever reason.
Show 211: "First Spaceship On Venus" , first broadcast 12/29/1990
The Film: This 1960 Polish/East German collaboration is set in the far future year of 1985. In it, a multinational team travels to Venus, and maybe it doesn't go so well. Primo Mitteleuropan Commie Bad Sci-Fi, portentous and full of vague anti-nuclear and "brotherhood of man" messages. In other words, a turgid mess.
The Host Segment: Joel turns up Tom's sarcasm sequencer. Joel invents the Junk Drawer Helper. The Mads go through their junk drawer and find TV's Abe Vigoda (Mike Nelson)in it. The Bots have built a robot of their own. It's kind of messy. The Bots play Match Game '78. A gorilla visits the SOL. They do an extended commercial for Klack Food Products. (I'm guessing this is a parody of some Midwestern thing that I'm unfamiliar with.) Servo's head explodes for sarcasm. Doctor F throws up into the junk drawer.
Rating: The movie's not so hot, but the host segments are pretty amusing.
By an astounding coincidence, I saw this yesterday!
The copy was so murky and the sound was terrible! You forgot to mention that it starred James Best, later on The Dukes of Hazzard. He was featured in two great episodes of The Twilight Zone, too.
The Baron said:
Show 407: "The Killer Shrews", first broadcast 7/25/1992
The Short: Junior Rodeo Daredevils (1949) Old-timer Billy Slater organizes a rodeo for local teenagers. Wow, some of these kids really get thrown around. One girl in particular is left limping really badly. This would be a festival of lawsuits if you tried doing it today.
The Film: This 1959 effort was produced by and features Ken "Festus" Curtis. Drunk, ugly scientists breed giants shrews on an island. I remember seeing this picture on TV when I was a kid, and being really scared by it. Watching it 45 years later, I can see that the "killer shrews" are big friendly dogs in crappy costumes.
The Host Segments: Joel gives out presents to the Bots. Crow gets slacks. The mads are going to destroy the Earth until Joel talks them out of it. Joel invents Jim Henson's Edgar Winter Babies. Joel does a Will Rogers impression that goes off the rails pretty quickly. The bots invent the Killer Shrews board game in which nothing ever happens. Later the invent a drink called the Killer Shrew. It sounds nasty. Finally, Frank is ill form drinking too many Killer shrews.
Rating: OK. Not a great show, but fun and watchable.
Show 706: "Laserblast", first broadcast 5/18/1996
The Film: In this film from 1978, a loser finds an alien weapon which soon comes to possess him. Another film which plays to every urban dweller's preconceptions about "fly-over country. Keenan Wynn and Roddy McDowall are wasted in small parts as a deranged veteran and inquisitive doctor. The chirping, vaguely chelonian, stop-motion aliens are actually fairly well-done. At one point, a camera rig can clearly be seen attached to a ovan. During the closing credits, Mike and the Bots riff heavily on the fact that Leonard Maltin gave this picture two-and-a-half stars.
The Host Segments: The Bots run a joke about "Beyond Thunderdome" into the ground. Doctor F disconnects the Umbilicus, explaining that he's lost his funding. Servo activates the SOL's engines, sending them careening off into space. MIke and the Bots handily deal with MONAD, a brutal parody of NOMAD from Star Trek. The SOL hits a field of Star-Babies, and the Bots must change one's diaper. Later, the SOL approaches a black hole and Mike, in a scene manages to be hysterically funny and quite disturbing, comes to the rescue as Kathryn Janeway.
The SOL reaches the edge of the universe, and the crew becomes beings of pure energy. Back on Earth, Doctor F undergoes a 2001 parody and becomes a Star-Baby, whom Pearl promises to raise properly this time.
Odd Note: This was the final episode of the show to air on Comedy Central. I don't recall whether I knew at the time how likely it was that the show was going to be picked up somewhere else.
Rating: A pretty good episode to go out on. the film lends itself to some good riffs, and the host segments are fairly entertaining. If this had been the last episode, it wouldn't have been a bad one to end with.
I used to have Killer Shrews on VHS and the picture and sound were pretty good. A lot of people on Amazon are complaining that new DVDs are being released marked "remastered" that look and sound worse than their older, cheaper copies. Warner Brothers seems especially bad about this, releasing many of their films on DVD-Rs that they warn won't play on many machines. I got The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan with Keye Luke as the voice of Charlie Chan, and one of the two discs freezes constantly.
Philip Portelli said:
By an astounding coincidence, I saw this yesterday!
The copy was so murky and the sound was terrible! You forgot to mention that it starred James Best, later on The Dukes of Hazzard. He was featured in two great episodes of The Twilight Zone, too.
The Baron said:Show 407: "The Killer Shrews", first broadcast 7/25/1992
The Short: Junior Rodeo Daredevils (1949) Old-timer Billy Slater organizes a rodeo for local teenagers. Wow, some of these kids really get thrown around. One girl in particular is left limping really badly. This would be a festival of lawsuits if you tried doing it today.
The Film: This 1959 effort was produced by and features Ken "Festus" Curtis. Drunk, ugly scientists breed giants shrews on an island. I remember seeing this picture on TV when I was a kid, and being really scared by it. Watching it 45 years later, I can see that the "killer shrews" are big friendly dogs in crappy costumes.
The Host Segments: Joel gives out presents to the Bots. Crow gets slacks. The mads are going to destroy the Earth until Joel talks them out of it. Joel invents Jim Henson's Edgar Winter Babies. Joel does a Will Rogers impression that goes off the rails pretty quickly. The bots invent the Killer Shrews board game in which nothing ever happens. Later the invent a drink called the Killer Shrew. It sounds nasty. Finally, Frank is ill form drinking too many Killer shrews.
Rating: OK. Not a great show, but fun and watchable.
Show 904: "Werewolf", first broadcast 4/18/1998
The film: Made in 1996, this was a fairly recent film for the time. Its biggest star was Joe Estevez, brother of Martin Sheen. Some archaeologists in the Southwest somewhere find a werewolf skeleton. Lycanthropic shenanigans ensue. This is a badly-acted movie even for films that ended up on MST3K. It's as though they cast this film to satisfy every American's worst stereotypes of Eurotrash. The female lead in this is especially bad. She really can't act worth a bucket of cold excrement.
The Host Segments: Mike thinks he's James Lipton, host of Inside The Actor's Studio, and that Crow is Ray Liotta. (Nelson specializes in impersonations of obscure cable personalities.) Crow cures him with a clown hammer. Mike attempts to climb a ladder down to Earth, but ends up in Castle Forrester. Mike asks the Bots, "Who would you want in your werewolf movie?" Crow has trouble answering the question. Mike and the Bots play a 50's girl group. They sing "Where, Oh Werewolf?" Mike becomes a Were-Crow. Pearl's attempt to create a werewolf fail when Bob brings her a cute dog instead of a wolf.
Rating: Good stuff. The film is just the right kind of bad, so that the riffing is very entertaining. The host segments are good, too.
Show 1004: "Future War", first broadcast 4/25/1999
The Film: This direct-to-video effort was made in 1994, but not released until 1997, enabling it to just edge out Werewolf as the most recent film MST3K ever did. In it, Cyborgs from the future use dinosaurs to hunt an escaped human slave on modern-day Earth. For a movie at this level, the dinosaurs are reasonably good - far more convincing than any of the human actors.
The Host Segments: Mike and the Bots try to work out how many times a lady Gypsy is. Pearl doses Tom and Crow with acid, while Bob and Observer play psychedelic music. Crow has a bad trip involving a candy bar. Mike and the Bots thank Pearl for not killing them, just as she tries to kill them. Crow is Droppy the Water Droplet. Mike does forced perspective jokes and wears a comedy chin. Pearl blows up Bobo and Observer when they try to take their music on the road.
Rating: A pretty good episode. The film is unwatchable, but the riffing about makes up for it. The host segments are generally amusing.