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Quick question. I'm pretty new to the whole MS3K world and I'm working my way through the first volume set and I'm pretty much skipping over all the inbetween skits and what not and just watching the dudes joke about the movie. Am I missing anything? Am I going to regret not sitting through the (so far) unfunny movie break stuff?

I've honestly never liked the "inbetween" stuff. But that's me.

You're not really missing much, the best stuff is during the movies. I grew up on the show so the skits never bothered me, but I'm sure if I started on the show now I wouldn't enjoy them either.

The skits for the movie are pretty sub-par, so feel free to skip those to get to the good stuff, but I definitely have a fondness for the Comedy Central Era skits (the quality of that particular part of the show declined with the Sci-Fi era, IMO). It's best watched keeping in mind that the show is meant to invoke homegrown public access children's programming (even if the reference points are far more adult and sly).

You have a lot of great episodes ahead of you. Welcome!

Murdoch wrote:You're not really missing much, the best stuff is during the movies. I grew up on the show so the skits never bothered me, but I'm sure if I started on the show now I wouldn't enjoy them either.

+1. I usually watch the episodes straight-through because I'm so used to the characters and the format, but there is no harm in skipping the skits aside from missing an occasional gem (like "Torgo's Pizza" or the recreation of the love song in Girl in Gold Boots, among others.) And occasionally (this was utilized a lot during the Mike era particularly) you'll miss some sort of plot point resulting in either a change in the appearance of the silhouettes in the theater, or to the character(s)' demeanor in the theater.

You people just broke my heart. How can you skip the host segments? Okay, maybe stuff from the Sci-Fi channel involving Bobo, Brain Guy, and Pearl, but all the rest? I guess some people just hate to laugh. [-(

Hey, I agree with you; I can't skip the host segments, that's sacrilege. But I've had some bad experiences showing MST to people and there's nary a smile when we see the fellas on screen. The whole format might take some getting used to for greener viewers.

Antoine, my favorite episodes bar none are Eegah! and Santa Claus, both of which are available to own. They have some great segments which always get laughs.

Maybe the show should get its own thread? I'm sure there are tons of fans on this board.

EDIT: Thanks for taking my suggestion, whoever you are!

Matt wrote:You people just broke my heart. How can you skip the host segments? Okay, maybe stuff from the Sci-Fi channel involving Bobo, Brain Guy, and Pearl, but all the rest? I guess some people just hate to laugh. [-(

Yes. Yes I do.

Cool, thanks for the advice all. Maybe I'll give the segments another shot, but they didn't work me on the first go round.

Maybe they are an acquired taste: the more you watch, the funnier they are. Sure, some are duds, but you won't see any of the great ones if you skip them all.

I'm with Matt. How anyone can skip TV's Frank, the 'bots verses to Joel's train folk song or any of Nelson's pre-hosting bits is beyond me. His interpretation of Michael Feinstein singing the Gamera theme lounge style is immortal.

I almost always enjoy the host segments. The only real letdown I can remember off the bat was the episode (Soultaker) in which Joel returns to the ship and meets Mike. Seemed like they didn't even try to make it funny or interesting. Maybe Joel had misgivings about the idea, but surely they could have written something to justify his appearance.

New MST3K set has been announced to be released July 13th (this is set number 18 if you've been keeping score):

• episode 208- LOST CONTINENT
• episode 417- CRASH OF THE MOONS with short, “General Hospital”–Segment 3
• episode 621- THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS with shorts: “Money Talks!” & “Progress Island, U.S.A.”
• episode 813- JACK FROST.

mfunk9786 wrote:[• episode 208- LOST CONTINENT
• episode 417- CRASH OF THE MOONS with short, “General Hospital”–Segment 3
• episode 621- THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS with shorts: “Money Talks!” & “Progress Island, U.S.A.”
• episode 813- JACK FROST.

Love Jack Frost. And the General Hospital bits

I have serious reservations about MST3K in general but I remember Jack Frost being by far the funniest one I ever sat through

Waiting for Volume XVII to come, and more MST3K sets are always great news.

mst3kinfo.com wrote:The episodes that will be included in MST3K Volume XIX from Shout! Factory will be:

episode 107- ROBOT MONSTER (with shorts COMMANDO CODY Parts 4 and 5)
episode 423- BRIDE OF THE MONSTER (with short: HIRED!, Part 1)
episode 818- DEVIL DOLL
episode 911- DEVIL FISH

Yes, it’s monsters and devils. Also, a special edition of this release will include a Gypsy figurine that will be in proportion to the Servo and Crow figurines. (Awesome.)

Info on a street date and other extras as soon as we get it.

Yessssss!

Devil Fish is one of my all-time favorite MST3Ks.

Titles for Mystery Science Theater Volume XX announced:

• 109- PROJECT MOONBASE (with shorts: Commando Cody, parts 7 & 8)
• 322- MASTER NINJA I
• 324- MASTER NINJA II
• 505- MAGIC VOYAGE OF SINBAD

I'm rather disappointed that it's an all-Joel set (I prefer the film riffing in Mike eps better [Sci-Fi era was as good as it ever got in that department], but I do prefer Joel's host segments - but the show isn't about the host segments for me).

Shout! Factory has stated that even though this is an all-Joel set, it wasn't necessarily by design (then why were all the other sets 2 Joels and 2 Mikes?), and that it does not mean that the next set will be all-Mike. Hmph.

I do love the Master Ninja episodes, though.

I just got Volume XIX of MST3K with the Gypsy figure and the parcel was BIG!

Watched "Bride Of The Monster", a "classic" film in its own right, with the most insane ending deaths ever filmed, and the MST3K version was great! First time to see that version.

Did you know that Jonathan Rosenbaum gave zero stars to the MST movie? It's true!

One of the funny things in there (if you've ever seen Laserblast) is that he defends This Island Earth partially on the basis of its score in Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide.

I have the regular dvd release of "This Island Earth" and the movie is ok and worth watching. I think MST3000 could have picked a better (or worse) film to use...just look at the ones they used in their tv series.

It's actually a pretty good movie, which I think is partially why they picked it- it's colorful, easy to watch, and goofy as hell. As much fun as the really bad movie episodes are, it makes sense that they'd go for one that's a nice visual spectacle for a theatrical release.

Stone cold, Mr. Rosenbaum.

I also thought they might have gone for a better known quantity as a supplementary box office draw. Even a lot of full on classics are fair game for pre-method acting and dated special effect. And I could be wrong but I think they may have briefly made fun of some legitimately good movies in those contemporary Hollywood specials they did, probably some they enjoyed. You've got to give Rosenbaum credit for engaging the film even if he didn't connect with it at all. But I don't see how you can get defensive over anything the MST3K crew ever said. They always seemed to tease movies like you'd tease your friends. If there were a lot of gay jokes, it's only because they were still taboo in the mid-90s before Ellen and Will and Grace sort of acclimatized everyone. I can't see any of the crew being even closet homophobes. But I digress.