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, (2/3/1996) 701
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 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 4/14/2017
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
Season Thirteen
Show 1301: "Santo in the Treasure of Dracula", first broadcast 5/6/2022
Show 1302: "Robot Wars", first broadcast 5/7/2022
Show 1303: "Beyond Atlantis", first broadcast 5/8/2022
Show 1304: "Munchie", first broadcast 5/27/2022
Show 1305: "Doctor Mordrid", first broadcast 6/10/2022
Show 1306: "Demon Squad", first broadcast 6/24/2022
Show 1307: "Gamera vs. Jiger", first broadcast 7/22/2022
Show 1308: "The Batwoman", first broadcast 8/19/2022
Show 1309: "The Million Eyes of Sumuru", first broadcast 9/2/2022
Show 1310: "H.G.Wells' The Shape of Things to Come", first broadcast 9/30/2022
Show 1311: "The Mask", first broadcast 10/28/2022
Show 1312: "The Bubble". first broadcast 11/11/2022
Show 1313: "The Christmas Dragon", first broadcast 12/16/2022
Replies
I still remember the last line in the credits "Keep circulating the tapes"
Show 517: "Beginning of the End", first broadcast 11/25/1993.
The Film: Beginning of the End (1957) stars Peter Graves (who seems to have traded these kinds of roles with his brother, James Arness) as a scientist who accidentally creates a swarm of giant grasshoppers, Peggie Castle as a news photographer and Morris Ankrum as a general who tends to be wrong about everything. Look also for a brief appearance by Hank "Fred Ziffel" Patterson and the voice of Paul Frees. The film was directed by the inimitable Bert I. Gordon and the music was done by the Silver Age Murray Gold, Albert Glasser.
The film reveals one of MST3K's not-so-secrets, that not all of the films they did were really all that bad. Of course, the film does have its risible moments: It's set in Illinois, but the exterior shots are fairly obviously not Illinois. Actual grasshoppers are used, and there's one glorious moment where the "giant grasshoppers climbing up a skyscraper" are obviously normal grasshoppers walking along a picture of a building! All in all, though, you could enjoy even the un-MST'ed version of this film. (Side Note: It's funny seeing Castle's enormous car phone - how times have changed!)
The Host Segments: The invention exchange includes a re-comfy bike (which looks like something someone ought to actually try marketing) and new playing cards. This is fairly early on in Michael J. Nelson's tenure as host. They soon dropped the invention exchange as Mike felt that this sort of prop comedy was more Joel's forte than his. Other bits involve Mary Jo Pehl as a woman who wrong-numbers the Satellite of Love, Mike learning more about the Mads' home life than he may have wanted, Crow's epic treatment of "Peter Graves Goes To College At the University of Minnesota", Servo doing bug-related stand-up comedy, fun with postcards and the Mads boxing to show how manly they are. (Frank resorts to kidney punches pretty quickly.)
Odd Note: The DVD cover still has Joel's picture on it!
Rating: This is one of my favorites. The film itself is watchable and the riffs are funny. The host segments are mostly pretty good, too!
Mark S. Ogilvie said:
Yeah, I remember that, too. I noticed that they dropped that in later years. I'll be curious to see if I can spot when.
Mark S. Ogilvie said:
All of my MST3Ks are on dubbed VHS. (Watching them on hi-def large screen is difficult.) The first one I ever saw was Teenagers from Outer Space, and it remains one of my favorites. I do have a few DVD from "The Film Crew" (what MST3K became). I have an MST3K tpb companion which is a useful supplement. I would have bought some MST3Ks on DVD, but last time I checked they were too pricey. I do buy some of those "50 Movie Packs" and "100 Movie Packs" for $10 or $20 (usually grouped by genre), which are the same "B-grade films, but with no commentary. (Tracy and I provide our own). We do have Wild Women of Wongo, both with commentary (by the film Crew) and without, definitely one of our mutual favorites.
Joel is funnier than Mike.
There's something like 30 DVD collections out there, but I've only got half-a-dozen or so. I've got lots of them on VHS that I taped off of Comedy Central back in the day. We shall see how watchable any of them are.
Jeff of Earth-J said:
Interesting. I tended to like Mike better than Joel, although I enjoyed them both.
I think Joel has a better presense in from of the camera, as opposed to Mike who always struck me as rather stiff.
MST3K did several Christmas movies (one of which I recall actually seeing in the Strand Theater circa 1968 or so), which we binged watched one Christmas day. (That was before we got our new tv.)
I remember stumbling onto MST3K on whatever the Comedy Channel was called then and immediately loved it!
It became another one of those things that my family and friends never understood!
I never watched much MST3K, even though I enjoyed it when I did. So I guess I'll enjoy it now vicariously.
Also, I'm fascinated by the title Wild Women of Wongo. Is Wongo, like, a sister planet to Mongo? Is there a Wighto to go with Wongo? Is Wongo a person, maybe Ringo's cousin, only with a lisp? Is he a rejected Western character, the Wongo Kid? Is Wongo like being Wong, only with emphasis?
Also, there were a lot giant things in the '50s. Giant grasshoppers, sure, but also giant spiders, giant rats, colossal men, 50-foot women, even giant bunnies. Although Night of the Lepus might have been in the '60s. Anyway, making everything yuuuuge was fairly ordinary SF fare in the '50s.
It's why I so appreciate the '50s-style giant boob sequence in Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask). Especially after they capture the giant mammary (with half a giant brassiere, of course), and the sheriff says: "Are you sure that's the only one? In my experience, they travel in pairs."
Here's the wiki.
Here's a clip