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My thoughts on MST3K's 2 new seasons.
6 years ago
I have a Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/c/itstherippah
Before I continue, I'd like to go over my experience with the series.
I knew it was around and watched some of it back when it was airing on TV. However that's as far as my memories of it go. Aside from that the closest I got to it for the most part was knowing that The Spoony One referenced it (even having his own robot companion). MST3K was something I did kinda want to try to get into but never really went through the trouble.
Months ago I decided to download Pluto TV on my PS4. Sometimes I just want to have something playing in the background and I figured I try it out. Behold my surprise as I see that there is a channel dedicated to MST3K, and it became almost the sole channel I watched on it. I also watched various clips on YT and some other of the older episodes on Netflix. Eventually I decided to give the new seasons a shot.
Ultimately, I'm not coming in as some sort of long time fan (nor have I seen every episode of the series), but a more recent one. I should also mention that while commentary over something is, by now, old hat, there is one thing about MST3K that I appreciate: the skits. For the most part, the stuff outside the actual movie commentary is what I will be concentrating on.
I will do this by means of bullet points:
-The opening: It's okay.
-The human captive: Jonah's alright. He's ultimately my least favorite of him, Joel, and Mike, but I don't have anything against him.
-Voices: Of course, Crow, Tom, and Gypsy has new voices. Crow is fine, I miss Gypsy's goofy voice, and Tom... there's something about his voice that doesn't feel right. It's not a bad voice by any means, however.
-The Mads: On one hand, I do like the concept that Kinga Forrester wants to market MST3K. On the other, her chemistry with TV's Son of TV's Frank (Max) is... okay.
-Invention exchange: Returning from Joel's tenure of MST3K comes this segment where the Mads and the SOL guys get to trade experiments. Outside of the concept that the first sets from the Mads were ripped off from ideas Jonah and crew made while riffing on a movie, these segments are kinda meh.
-Skit length: I found this rather bothersome but many of the skits are simply too short compared to some from the older series.The fact that they all are bookended with the door animation doesn't help.
-Singing: Kaiju all across the world is a neat little song but... for the most part they aren't as good singers as the ones in older MST3K's. Kinga's fine as a singer, though.
-Set design: Really took a step back. The SoL looks plain compared to even Season 0. And there is literally no actual camera work. Old seasons had the camera move, the Mads were shot in Dutch angles, characters would shove their faces into the camera. In the new seasons, there really isn't any of that. What's worse is the use of chroma key instead of practical set design. Makes the guest star appearances look so flat. Especially Pearl's van.
All in all, the newer seasons are a bit disappointing, but not a bad set of episodes. In fact, there are a couple things I liked about it, or things I didn't mind being the way it was.
-The Skeleton Crew: Bonus points for Inframan reference.
-Flying Servo: The crew seems to pantomime against the movie more often. Most times it's done with Servo flying in a certain way.
-Cynthia: Pearl's clone... really wished they used her more often, she was kinda wasted. She was ultimately just a gag but one I think had more potential.
New bots: Jonah do create 2 new bots, and they're fine. Crow and Servo are still the main ones, and the other bots only pop in on occasion (mostly during \_THE GAUNTLET_/.)
-Door transition: I think it's fine, even if lacking in color and done a bit too often.
-Bumpers: Season 11 had commercial bumpers despite having no commercials. Honestly, they could have replaced some of the door transitions with the commercial bumpers.
-\_THE GAUNTLET_/: \_THE GAUNTLET_/
-Moon 13: While I found the SOL rather bland, I did like Moon 13's design, and wish they could have fleshed it out a bit.
I knew it was around and watched some of it back when it was airing on TV. However that's as far as my memories of it go. Aside from that the closest I got to it for the most part was knowing that The Spoony One referenced it (even having his own robot companion). MST3K was something I did kinda want to try to get into but never really went through the trouble.
Months ago I decided to download Pluto TV on my PS4. Sometimes I just want to have something playing in the background and I figured I try it out. Behold my surprise as I see that there is a channel dedicated to MST3K, and it became almost the sole channel I watched on it. I also watched various clips on YT and some other of the older episodes on Netflix. Eventually I decided to give the new seasons a shot.
Ultimately, I'm not coming in as some sort of long time fan (nor have I seen every episode of the series), but a more recent one. I should also mention that while commentary over something is, by now, old hat, there is one thing about MST3K that I appreciate: the skits. For the most part, the stuff outside the actual movie commentary is what I will be concentrating on.
I will do this by means of bullet points:
-The opening: It's okay.
-The human captive: Jonah's alright. He's ultimately my least favorite of him, Joel, and Mike, but I don't have anything against him.
-Voices: Of course, Crow, Tom, and Gypsy has new voices. Crow is fine, I miss Gypsy's goofy voice, and Tom... there's something about his voice that doesn't feel right. It's not a bad voice by any means, however.
-The Mads: On one hand, I do like the concept that Kinga Forrester wants to market MST3K. On the other, her chemistry with TV's Son of TV's Frank (Max) is... okay.
-Invention exchange: Returning from Joel's tenure of MST3K comes this segment where the Mads and the SOL guys get to trade experiments. Outside of the concept that the first sets from the Mads were ripped off from ideas Jonah and crew made while riffing on a movie, these segments are kinda meh.
-Skit length: I found this rather bothersome but many of the skits are simply too short compared to some from the older series.The fact that they all are bookended with the door animation doesn't help.
-Singing: Kaiju all across the world is a neat little song but... for the most part they aren't as good singers as the ones in older MST3K's. Kinga's fine as a singer, though.
-Set design: Really took a step back. The SoL looks plain compared to even Season 0. And there is literally no actual camera work. Old seasons had the camera move, the Mads were shot in Dutch angles, characters would shove their faces into the camera. In the new seasons, there really isn't any of that. What's worse is the use of chroma key instead of practical set design. Makes the guest star appearances look so flat. Especially Pearl's van.
All in all, the newer seasons are a bit disappointing, but not a bad set of episodes. In fact, there are a couple things I liked about it, or things I didn't mind being the way it was.
-The Skeleton Crew: Bonus points for Inframan reference.
-Flying Servo: The crew seems to pantomime against the movie more often. Most times it's done with Servo flying in a certain way.
-Cynthia: Pearl's clone... really wished they used her more often, she was kinda wasted. She was ultimately just a gag but one I think had more potential.
New bots: Jonah do create 2 new bots, and they're fine. Crow and Servo are still the main ones, and the other bots only pop in on occasion (mostly during \_THE GAUNTLET_/.)
-Door transition: I think it's fine, even if lacking in color and done a bit too often.
-Bumpers: Season 11 had commercial bumpers despite having no commercials. Honestly, they could have replaced some of the door transitions with the commercial bumpers.
-\_THE GAUNTLET_/: \_THE GAUNTLET_/
-Moon 13: While I found the SOL rather bland, I did like Moon 13's design, and wish they could have fleshed it out a bit.
