So...that new MST3K season...

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Just watched the first episode on Netflix...wow.

This is bad. Like...this is really really bad. This is 'Give everyone a refund and probably emotional compensation and swear upon pain of death never to act again' bad.

First off this new host, Heston, is a dud. He's awkward and stiff and sounds like he's reading for title cards he's never seen before. Worse than that his jokes aren't funny. They're that very specific quasi-quirky that if you've never laughed before you might think its cute, but if you're like a person, nah.

Tragically Crow and Tom are just fanfics of themselves. The voice actors are just close enough to the original voices so you notice they're not the original voices and it would have been better if they just came up with all new robots. Plus they seem to have changed their personalities. And I don't remember Tom speaking soooo slllooooowwwwllllyyyy bbbbeeeeefffffooooorrrrreeeeee.

Felicia Day is Felicia Day and that's bad enough.

The new sets I'm mixed on. They look fine, like the old Joel episodes, but somehow they come off as too desperate. Too wanting to be just like old MST3K, but also trying to be extra quirky 'cause quirky=lulz

And Wil Fucking Wheaton. I mean fuck me, did they just grab a bunch of convention center green-room rats and say 'Do bad standup!'

For the sake of the old show I'm willing to give it one more episode to impress me, but damn am I glad I didn't donate to this!

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Are they tackling newish movies as recent as 1980s to 2010s?

I thought this series dealt with very old movies pre 1960s at least.

But anyway eh I don't see the appeal of this show in this day and age since everyone who is famous on youtube just ripped off this series and got famous for it.

 

[Natemans]

Are they tackling newish movies as recent as 1980s to 2010s?

I thought this series dealt with very old movies pre 1960s at least.

But anyway eh I don't see the appeal of this show in this day and age since everyone who is famous on youtube just ripped off this series and got famous for it.

Some of the ones I've seen so far are mostly between '40s to '80s. Actually I'm liking the series so far. The only flaw I have so far is that I feel like they are shoving in way too many jokes at once and need to slow down.

I still see the appeal of it. Hell, that's why Rifftrax exists.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Are they tackling newish movies as recent as 1980s to 2010s?

I thought this series dealt with very old movies pre 1960s at least.

But anyway eh I don't see the appeal of this show in this day and age since everyone who is famous on youtube just ripped off this series and got famous for it.

They did Reptilicus, which I swear I thought Joel already did. But its a 1960s Dutch monster movie.

And its bad. Like I think the movie is funnier without the MST3K riffs. And if the point of the show is making riffs, then that's pretty bad

 

[Natemans]

Are they tackling newish movies as recent as 1980s to 2010s?

I thought this series dealt with very old movies pre 1960s at least.

But anyway eh I don't see the appeal of this show in this day and age since everyone who is famous on youtube just ripped off this series and got famous for it.

They did Reptilicus, which I swear I thought Joel already did. But its a 1960s Dutch monster movie.

And its bad. Like I think the movie is funnier without the MST3K riffs. And if the point of the show is making riffs, then that's pretty bad

I actually thought it was pretty good. The only flaw I have is that they are throwing way too many riffs per second. Most of the jokes are pretty funny, but I feel that dumping too many at once can get me a little fatigued. Overall I'm liking the new season. If you disagree, that's fine.

 

[Comic Sans]

I am on the second episode, and while I think the new host isn't as good as Mike or Joel, he is kind of growing on me. The skits are more amusing, at least in my opinion. While in the movies the jokes come a bit too quick at times, several have made me laugh out loud. So while it so far hasn't hit the highs of some of the classics, it still feels like it fits into the MST3K general bar of quality.

 

[Queen Michael]

I don't like it. See, it doesn't appear in Swedish Netflix. So I'm determined to dislike it, out of pure spite.

 

[Natemans]

Are they tackling newish movies as recent as 1980s to 2010s?

I thought this series dealt with very old movies pre 1960s at least.

But anyway eh I don't see the appeal of this show in this day and age since everyone who is famous on youtube just ripped off this series and got famous for it.

They did Reptilicus, which I swear I thought Joel already did. But its a 1960s Dutch monster movie.

And its bad. Like I think the movie is funnier without the MST3K riffs. And if the point of the show is making riffs, then that's pretty bad

I actually thought it was pretty good. The only flaw I have is that they are throwing way too many riffs per second. Most of the jokes are pretty funny, but I feel that dumping too many at once can get me a little fatigued. Overall I'm liking the new season. If you disagree, that's fine.

I remember that being a big problem discussed when they were making the first mst3k movie. In that when writing for a general audience like a movie going public, you have to fit more jokes in them while the original writers felt like you needed time after each joke to let it sink in

Sometimes you can be quick, but also hold on being subtle with jokes. I know this is a different type of style in telling jokes, but Hot Fuzz is my favorite comedy and that does a good job of how to use their comedy.

 

[Nurb]

I'm disappointed at how disappointed I am.

I think they should have made new bots with new personalities rather than new voice actors trying to ape the originals. How are they in space in the first place when they escaped with Mike to the midwest? Where's the interaction between the mads and the host?

It's just not as funny, it's clear most of the budget is going towards the guest stars, and the shakey-cam is driving me up the wall.

How is a show with Patton Oswalt this unfunny??

 

[maninahat]

I liked it enough. Granted I've only seen a couple of episodes from the original series, but the first new episode (Which I just finished watching) got enough laughs out of me once they got into it. The difficulty of going back and watching the original series is that a lot of the jokes have dated, whereas that's less of a problem if you go straight into this new series.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

I mean, Reptilicus is probably not going to hit the top 10 list of best MST3K episodes, but I'd call it above average. (Damning with faint praise)

Past that, I hope they explain how Kinga kidnapped the bots, but that's my only complaint. Well, that and white guys shouldn't rap.

EDIT: Cry Wilderness was hilarious. The skits were better, the riffs were better, and the movie was nonsensical. It's worth a watch by everybody with a Netflix account.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

EDIT: Cry Wilderness was hilarious. The skits were better, the riffs were better, and the movie was nonsensical. It's worth a watch by everybody with a Netflix account.

I tried, and yeah its technically better. But still eh...I never laughed out loud. I snorted a few times, smirked even! But even the best riffs would have been low-tier riffs on the original show.

I don't feel like the writers are trying to do their own thing. It feels like they're trying to write what they think, having had lunch with him once at Red Robins, Mike would write.
And its coming off as both insincere and cynical.

 

[babinro]

Background: Very late adopter to MST3K...only got into the series around 2010 and it has gradually become my favorite show of all time. Having seen all the episodes several times I then moved on to Rifftrax where I bought nearly their entire collection of Video on Demand films. I'm definitely a HUGE fan.

Netflix season:
I'm now 3 episodes in and and the impressions are mostly negative with a few positives.

First Impression Negatives:
- The voices are too similar. I'm constantly lost at who is saying which riff. Their voices are not distinct enough.
- The comedic timing and personalities are too similar which hurts the impact of the jokes.
- The opening segments don't have a nostalgic feel and just fail to capture the magic of the original. The new mads just come off as embarrassing and cringy.
- The commercial musical interludes are disruptive and annoying

First Impression Positives:
- The Riff writing. There are actually a LOT of great riffs peppered throughout these movies. Unfortunately they often get lost in the flow due to poor comedic timing. The era of letting a joke sink is clearly gone.
- Contrary to the first point there are a handful of times when rapid fire riffs in a span of 5 or so seconds really helped enhance a moment in the film in a way that I've not seen in rifftrax/mst3k history.
- I still enjoy the mid-film segments that take a part of the movie and expand/mock it. These sections actually feel very MST3K classic and are well done.

Initial Conclusion:
I think the speed and pacing of the riffs could make repeated viewings of these episodes over time a little more enjoyable. It's possible something will land the second time around that you didn't appreciate as much. All told though this is definitely a weaker MST3K product and weaker Rifftrax product. I think the show still has value mind you, not being as good as those other shows doesn't make this bad. It simply makes it disappointing relative to the hype I had going in. At the end of the episode I'm still walking away with some laughs and the occasional memorable moment.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

EDIT: Cry Wilderness was hilarious. The skits were better, the riffs were better, and the movie was nonsensical. It's worth a watch by everybody with a Netflix account.

I tried, and yeah its technically better. But still eh...I never laughed out loud. I snorted a few times, smirked even! But even the best riffs would have been low-tier riffs on the original show.

I don't feel like the writers are trying to do their own thing. It feels like they're trying to write what they think, having had lunch with him once at Red Robins, Mike would write.
And its coming off as both insincere and cynical.

To each their own. I'm very pleased.

EDIT: Small nitpick. Too many nerd-centric jokes. I mean, I get them, but there's a lot of them my folks won't.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Sometimes you can be quick, but also hold on being subtle with jokes. I know this is a different type of style in telling jokes, but Hot Fuzz is my favorite comedy and that does a good job of how to use their comedy.

Hot Fuzz is an absolute masterpiece!

 

[DudeistBelieve]

I only saw the OG MST3K when it came on Netflix last month and it became instant bed time binge watching material to fall asleep to and I mean that in the best possible way.

That said, no too much of a fan of the new version, if only because the original has that kinda charm you can only really get from 90s cheap production values.

That said, I feel like the series as a whole is overrated. I genuinely find a Kevin Smith podcast funnier then the jokes they make here.

 

[Terminal Blue]

Are they tackling newish movies as recent as 1980s to 2010s?

I thought this series dealt with very old movies pre 1960s at least.

The original MST3k was a product of a time when networks had archives of movies which they had the rights to air, so the basic gist of the show was that they'd pick something from the archive of whatever network was running the show. There are plenty of 80s movies in the lineup and a few 90s movies as well, but for the most part 90s movies hadn't really filtered into the archives yet.

I haven't seen any of the new episodes yet as I've been kind of busy, and also because I can't be bothered rigging up US netflix. But to everyone saying the new bots aren't enough like the original voice actors.. which original voice actors? They've changed voice actors before on the show and even explicitly referenced the fact that they've done so.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Are they tackling newish movies as recent as 1980s to 2010s?

I thought this series dealt with very old movies pre 1960s at least.

The original MST3k was a product of a time when networks had archives of movies which they had the rights to air, so the basic gist of the show was that they'd pick something from the archive of whatever network was running the show. There are plenty of 80s movies in the lineup and a few 90s movies as well, but for the most part 90s movies hadn't really filtered into the archives yet.

I haven't seen any of the new episodes yet as I've been kind of busy, and also because I can't be bothered rigging up US netflix. But to everyone saying the new bots aren't enough like the original voice actors.. which original voice actors? They've changed voice actors before on the show and even explicitly referenced the fact that they've done so.

Well its less that, and more that the voices don't really sound much like Crow or Tom. And their personalities are completely different.
Tom is...slow. Like Lenny from Of Mice and Men. His jokes are at best lazy, at worst not jokes.
And Crow is just...eh? Like...like someone who really should have failed the audition, but he's the nephew of one of the producer's moms, who added like $1000 and some bagel bites to the Kickstarter, so you have to pick him just so your grandma doesn't get mad at you.
Just no earthly business being in this role. Whomever is doing Tom is at least trying a something. Its terrible, but its something.
Crow is just someone blindly reading lines, waiting for more bagel bites.