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Least bad movies MSTed? [message #164750] Tue, 19 August 2008 23:08 Go to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: Nathan Seese

As in, which movies would be most bearable to watch without the riffs?
I've seen a little more than dozen episodes, and so far my "favorite"
movie is probably Time Chasers. It's cliched, low budget, and M&TB really
tear it apart, but I think I could live through an unedited version.
Re: Least bad movies MSTed? [message #164752 is a reply to message #164750] Tue, 19 August 2008 23:35 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: dgates

On Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:08:00 +0200 (CEST), Nathan Seese
<uninverted@mailite.com> wrote:

> As in, which movies would be most bearable to watch without the riffs?
> I've seen a little more than dozen episodes, and so far my "favorite"
> movie is probably Time Chasers. It's cliched, low budget, and M&TB really
> tear it apart, but I think I could live through an unedited version.

I remember a version of this thread way back when. The movie that
seemed to get the most support was "Kitten with a Whip."

Nowadays, I'd say "Danger: Diabolik" blows that one away.

I remember that, riffing it, it seemed that a couple times Mike or
Crow didn't realize that the movie was fully self-aware about what it
was doing.

I remember one of our riffers making a comment like (and I wish I
could paraphrase it better), "Oh great, all these jewels have to be
stolen (or all these guard have to be killed) just so this couple can
enjoy their hot sex."

That comment (which I think came after Diabolik killed a guard while
on his way to steal some jewels, after which he and his girlfriend
would have some hot sex) implied that our riffers had noticed
something that the filmmakers hadn't.

An even more blatant example of our guys pointing out something
already intended by the movie was when (after Diabolik escapes another
close call via coincidence and nearly impossible timing) Crow
announced, "So, basically, this guy's entire success depends on
coincidence and amazing luck."


Those two riffs aside, all of the other ones that I can remember fit
in perfectly with the film. So I'll vote this as the best MST3k movie
to watch without the riffing. And also as a great MST3k movie as
well.

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Danger_Diabolik/70032341
Re: Least bad movies MSTed? [message #164755 is a reply to message #164752] Tue, 19 August 2008 23:50 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: Derek Janssen

dgates wrote:

> On Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:08:00 +0200 (CEST), Nathan Seese
> <uninverted@mailite.com> wrote:
>
>
>> As in, which movies would be most bearable to watch without the riffs?
>> I've seen a little more than dozen episodes, and so far my "favorite"
>> movie is probably Time Chasers. It's cliched, low budget, and M&TB really
>> tear it apart, but I think I could live through an unedited version.
>
> I remember a version of this thread way back when. The movie that
> seemed to get the most support was "Kitten with a Whip."

And the running joke we get in the host segments is...a guy *dressed
like a cat!* He's the Kitten with a Whip that you've heard tell about,
get it? :-D

(...THAT'S the most target they could make fun of, out of the entire movie?)

> Nowadays, I'd say "Danger: Diabolik" blows that one away.
>
> I remember that, riffing it, it seemed that a couple times Mike or
> Crow didn't realize that the movie was fully self-aware about what it
> was doing.

And actually, Russia considers "Jack Frost" and "Magic Voyage of Sinbad"
to be classics, in their original forms--
They may LOOK goofy, yes, but it's an *honest*, straightforward goofy on
an East-European budget, and trying to be as culturally close as
possible to their source material.

(In fact, seems like the Mike-era "Frost" and "Sword & the Dragon"
didn't really seem to know *why* they were picking on the films, outside
of just desperately stretching old Joel-era "Day the Earth Froze" licks
for fan value--
Oddly, in the Russian "Sinbad", Kevin Murphy keeps making Finnish jokes,
and in the Finnish "Sword", M&tB keep making Swedish jokes...World
geography is not their strong suits.)

Derek Janssen
ejanss1@verizon.net
Re: Least bad movies MSTed? [message #164859 is a reply to message #164755] Wed, 20 August 2008 00:17 Go to previous messageGo to next message
nebusj- is currently offline  nebusj-
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Derek Janssen <ejanss1@nospam.verizon.net> writes:

> dgates wrote:

>> On Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:08:00 +0200 (CEST), Nathan Seese
>> <uninverted@mailite.com> wrote:
>>
>>> As in, which movies would be most bearable to watch without the riffs?
>>> I've seen a little more than dozen episodes, and so far my "favorite"
>>> movie is probably Time Chasers. It's cliched, low budget, and M&TB really
>>> tear it apart, but I think I could live through an unedited version.
>>
>> I remember a version of this thread way back when. The movie that
>> seemed to get the most support was "Kitten with a Whip."

> And the running joke we get in the host segments is...a guy *dressed
> like a cat!* He's the Kitten with a Whip that you've heard tell about,
> get it? :-D

> (...THAT'S the most target they could make fun of, out of the entire movie?)

It's not a running gag: it's one host segment, the Hex Field
View Screen appearance. The other segments are, in introduction,
Mike and Tom greasing up Crow and sending him down the Umbilicus,
Mike giving the Bots bionic sounds (`For the first time in my life I
feel like Lee Majors ... is that a good thing?'), the Kitten with a
Whip, Mike's hazing on crossing the equator, and a Doctor Forrester
Pinata.


For the most-watchable movies un-MiSTed, though, I think that
I'd nominate first the 'Ruso-Finnish Coproductions' even though not
all of them were Ruso, or Finnish, or Sinbad. But they stand on their
own mighty well for being, for those of us who don't know the actual
mythological elements being put on display before translation, well-
made yet gleefully goofy productions.

Also rather good: The Amazing Colossal Man; This Island Earth;
Time Chasers; Santa Claus and Santa Claus Conquers The Martians; and
(for my money) the Rocky Jones adventures, Manhunt In Space and Crash
Of The Moons. They've got enough stuff going on to draw interest and
avoid being depressing slogs. (It does seem like the average MiSTed
movie is a half-dozen depressed clods in black-and-white moping about
until they're eaten by the space alien or whatever.)

--
Joseph Nebus
------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------
Re: Least bad movies MSTed? [message #164978 is a reply to message #164750] Wed, 20 August 2008 09:05 Go to previous messageGo to next message
George Johnson is currently offline  George Johnson
Messages: 129
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"Nathan Seese" <uninverted@mailite.com> wrote in message
news:g8g1qg$4d4$1@aioe.org...
> As in, which movies would be most bearable to watch without the riffs?
> I've seen a little more than dozen episodes, and so far my "favorite"
> movie is probably Time Chasers. It's cliched, low budget, and M&TB really
> tear it apart, but I think I could live through an unedited version.

I'm rather fond of the un-MSTied "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank", "The
Magic Sword", most of the Godzilla movies (they were silly goofy fun
anyway), "The Brain that Would Not Die" (although the plot is a bit
simplistic for my grownup self versus my child self that originally watched
it), "The Green Slime" (good kid entertainment), "Phase 4" (works as a
pretty decent light science-fiction tension show), "The Giant Spider
Invasion" (hilarious improvement with MST3K yet not bad on its own), most of
the Hercules movies, "Village of the Giants", "This Island Earth",
"Laserblast", "The Incredible Melting Man" (great gooey horror for its time
that lost the edge with the full-on uncensored gore of today's movies),
"Parts: The Clonus Horror" (works great as a movie if you were a reader of
MARVEL Comics - "Micronauts" series's of comics), and "Squirm" (slow moving
plot, but great stuff if you had a moronic redneck step-father that you grew
to hate more and more everyday, great performance from the entire cast in
this movie too). Some movies are a victim of the time they were made and
the budget plus cast & crew they were able to obtain and the educational
experience level of the writers. There have been a few great remakes
already with bigger budgets that I have enjoyed and you folks have already
spotted a few of them at the theaters and on the Sci-Fi Channel.

All of the rest of the movies I never knew about or watched before MST3K
gave them the high-poking comedy treatment. I probably would not have a
great care for many of the un-MSTied movies if I encountered them before
seeing the MST3K treated versions. Now they all have a special place in my
heart as a result of the intermixing of the movie and MST3K crew's great
work with the hilarious comedy that resulted. In many ways the MST3K
treatment gave me a strong emotional-investment in enjoying the movies
despite the flaws, no matter what the movie was about, because I loved the
great humor that played off the quirks of the movies themselves. It is kind
of how a mediocre meal is greatly improved by a wonderful restaurant staff,
engaging music, and a clever show. Of course, there is a rational price
limit no matter how great the whole result comes out to be, so the
deliverers should not be unreasonably greedy.
Re: Least bad movies MSTed? [message #164987 is a reply to message #164750] Fri, 22 August 2008 01:53 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: Bruce Probst

On Aug 20, 1:08 pm, Nathan Seese <uninver...@mailite.com> wrote:
> As in, which movies would be most bearable to watch without the riffs?

Well, "Marooned", surely?

I remember that "The Magic Sword" seemed pretty painless, too.

Bruce
Melbourne, Australia
Re: Least bad movies MSTed? [message #165099 is a reply to message #164987] Fri, 22 August 2008 12:11 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: dgates

On Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:53:43 -0700 (PDT), Bruce Probst
<bruce.probst@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Aug 20, 1:08 pm, Nathan Seese <uninver...@mailite.com> wrote:
>> As in, which movies would be most bearable to watch without the riffs?
>
> Well, "Marooned", surely?


Would you really sit and watch all of Marooned un-MSTed, when you
could watch Danger Diabolik (or ever Secret Agent Double 007) instead?

I guess it depends what type or movies one enjoys, eh? I'd say that
Diabolik and Marooned were quality movies for their genres.
Re: Least bad movies MSTed? [message #165101 is a reply to message #165099] Fri, 22 August 2008 15:14 Go to previous messageGo to next message
nebusj- is currently offline  nebusj-
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dgates <dgates@somedomain.com> writes:

> On Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:53:43 -0700 (PDT), Bruce Probst
> <bruce.probst@gmail.com> wrote:

>> On Aug 20, 1:08pm, Nathan Seese <uninver...@mailite.com> wrote:
>>> As in, which movies would be most bearable to watch without the riffs?
>>
>> Well, "Marooned", surely?

> Would you really sit and watch all of Marooned un-MSTed, when you
> could watch Danger Diabolik (or ever Secret Agent Double 007) instead?

> I guess it depends what type or movies one enjoys, eh? I'd say that
> Diabolik and Marooned were quality movies for their genres.

Plus, 'Marooned' is different from 'Space Travellers'. The
'Space Travellers' cut is a lot shorter, at least in the version that
Best Brains got. The 'Space Travellers' cut removes many things which
make the movie more interesting, like the President's phone call, or
the actual launch of the rescue vehicle (which is a quite good scene).
I can't give you a scene-by-scene rundown of what's cut, but the
original is better.

Of course, I'm a space-history buff myself so I'll even try to
watch Robert Altman's _Countdown_, which crushed many in
sci.space.history with a five-minute shot of nothing but James Caan
flipping switches. (I don't know if it actually is that long, since
whenever I do try to watch it, it's because I discovered it two-thirds
of the way through on Turner Classic Movies and Caan is getting close
to his lunar Gemini landing.)

--
Joseph Nebus
------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------
The art of describing the obvious (was Re: Least bad movies MSTed?) [message #165104 is a reply to message #164752] Fri, 22 August 2008 16:46 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Doug Elrod is currently offline  Doug Elrod
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On Aug 19, 11:35 pm, dgates <dga...@somedomain.com> wrote:
> I remember that, riffing it, it seemed that a couple times Mike or
> Crow didn't realize that the movie was fully self-aware about what it
> was doing.
>
> I remember one of our riffers making a comment like (and I wish I
> could paraphrase it better), "Oh great, all these jewels have to be
> stolen (or all these guard have to be killed) just so this couple can
> enjoy their hot sex."
>
> That comment (which I think came after Diabolik killed a guard while
> on his way to steal some jewels, after which he and his girlfriend
> would have some hot sex) implied that our riffers had noticed
> something that the filmmakers hadn't.

I wouldn't say *that*. Some of what you describe is "underlining the
situation" so a later joke will work. So, in "Danger:Diabolik", they
make sure the viewer gets the out-of-proportion killing, so Tom can
deploy the "I'm just the postman!" etc. gags to best effect. It's
similar to Tom saying, incredulously, "Calgon?" when we first hear the
name of the rebel leader in "Space Mutiny". He's going to make sure
we hear this, but wait to unleash "Calgon, blow me away!" when we have
stopped expecting it.

> An even more blatant example of our guys pointing out something
> already intended by the movie was when (after Diabolik escapes another
> close call via coincidence and nearly impossible timing) Crow
> announced, "So, basically, this guy's entire success depends on
> coincidence and amazing luck."

Well, it made *me* smile ;-)

-Doug Elrod (dre1@cornell.edu)
"I forgot to wear my SWIMMING-THROUGH-THE-SUN-PROOF socks!"
Re: The art of describing the obvious (was Re: Least bad movies MSTed?) [message #165218 is a reply to message #165104] Sun, 24 August 2008 23:38 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: dgates

On Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:46:49 -0700 (PDT), Doug Elrod
<dre1@cornell.edu> wrote:

> On Aug 19, 11:35 pm, dgates <dga...@somedomain.com> wrote:
>> I remember that, riffing it, it seemed that a couple times Mike or
>> Crow didn't realize that the movie was fully self-aware about what it
>> was doing.
>>
>> I remember one of our riffers making a comment like (and I wish I
>> could paraphrase it better), "Oh great, all these jewels have to be
>> stolen (or all these guard have to be killed) just so this couple can
>> enjoy their hot sex."
>>
>> That comment (which I think came after Diabolik killed a guard while
>> on his way to steal some jewels, after which he and his girlfriend
>> would have some hot sex) implied that our riffers had noticed
>> something that the filmmakers hadn't.
>
> I wouldn't say *that*. Some of what you describe is "underlining the
> situation" so a later joke will work. So, in "Danger:Diabolik", they
> make sure the viewer gets the out-of-proportion killing, so Tom can
> deploy the "I'm just the postman!" etc. gags to best effect.

Hmm... I buy it! You sold me (on this first one anyway :-)


> It's
> similar to Tom saying, incredulously, "Calgon?" when we first hear the
> name of the rebel leader in "Space Mutiny". He's going to make sure
> we hear this, but wait to unleash "Calgon, blow me away!" when we have
> stopped expecting it.

Yes. I could think of other examples of them making sure we heard a
certain line so that later jokes would pay off, if I weren't so sleepy
right now.
Re: Least bad movies MSTed? [message #165219 is a reply to message #165099] Mon, 25 August 2008 01:17 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: Bruce Probst

On Aug 23, 2:11 am, dgates <dga...@somedomain.com> wrote:

> Would you really sit and watch all of Marooned un-MSTed, when you
> could watch Danger Diabolik (or ever Secret Agent Double 007) instead?

In a heartbeat (indeed, I've seen it several times, although not
recently). If I didn't know in advance what they were like I might
sit down to watch an un-MSTed "DD" or "007" out of curiosity (if
nothing else) but it's unlikely that I would have sat through them to
the end.

Bruce
Re: The art of describing the obvious (was Re: Least bad movies MSTed?) [message #165329 is a reply to message #165218] Mon, 25 August 2008 15:10 Go to previous messageGo to next message
nebusj- is currently offline  nebusj-
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dgates <dgates@somedomain.com> writes:

> On Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:46:49 -0700 (PDT), Doug Elrod
> <dre1@cornell.edu> wrote:

>> It's
>> similar to Tom saying, incredulously, "Calgon?" when we first hear the
>> name of the rebel leader in "Space Mutiny". He's going to make sure
>> we hear this, but wait to unleash "Calgon, blow me away!" when we have
>> stopped expecting it.

> Yes. I could think of other examples of them making sure we heard a
> certain line so that later jokes would pay off, if I weren't so sleepy
> right now.

Roji Panty Complex?

``This sport is so new we don't even have the terminology for
it yet!''

... Granted in those cases they're setting up something which
will let them build a host sketch around. I think they even name-dropped
Rex Dart, Eskimo Spy before doing *that* host sketch, apparently in the
hope that it would seem like a less peculiar thing to start saying.

--
Joseph Nebus
------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------
Re: The art of describing the obvious (was Re: Least bad movies MSTed?) [message #165332 is a reply to message #165329] Mon, 25 August 2008 21:04 Go to previous message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: dgates

On 25 Aug 2008 15:10:13 -0400, nebusj-@-rpi-.edu (Joseph Nebus) wrote:

> dgates <dgates@somedomain.com> writes:
>
>> On Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:46:49 -0700 (PDT), Doug Elrod
>> <dre1@cornell.edu> wrote:
>
>>> It's
>>> similar to Tom saying, incredulously, "Calgon?" when we first hear the
>>> name of the rebel leader in "Space Mutiny". He's going to make sure
>>> we hear this, but wait to unleash "Calgon, blow me away!" when we have
>>> stopped expecting it.
>
>> Yes. I could think of other examples of them making sure we heard a
>> certain line so that later jokes would pay off, if I weren't so sleepy
>> right now.
>
> Roji Panty Complex?
>
> ``This sport is so new we don't even have the terminology for
> it yet!''
>
> ... Granted in those cases they're setting up something which
> will let them build a host sketch around. I think they even name-dropped
> Rex Dart, Eskimo Spy before doing *that* host sketch, apparently in the
> hope that it would seem like a less peculiar thing to start saying.


I got one!

Gamera! Crow or Joel saying "Traffic accidents?"

Sure, the kid says it a few times, but by repeating it the very first
time the kid says it, they make it sound utterly ridiculous by the
third time he says it! :-)

And "turkeys," from the Invisible Ben Murphy movie (although I have to
say, on my home DVD-R of that movie, I completely erased the Turkey
Volume Guessing Man sketch).

I'm trying to think of one from Mitchell, but nothing's comin' to
mind.
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