Tuesday, April 18, 2017

MST3K - Season 11 Overview

It took a massive Kickstarter campaign, the enthusiasm and guidance of Joel Hodgson and a collection of some of the brightest and best comedy writers and performers, but the impossible happened. Mystery Science Theater 3000 returned from the grave. In April of 2017, a new season was created and unleashed on the world via Netflix for new and old fans to enjoy.

Of course things were a bit different this time around. There was a new host, Jonah Heston who became our human trapped by a new mad scientist, Kinga Forrester. Crow, Tom Servo, Gypsy and Cambot all returned but with new performers (and voices). The show balanced this new crew with a faithful attempt to capture the feel and tone of the original series. The special effects were low budget, the host segments were a mix of corny and silly with a dash of song. The riffing managed to span a wide range of topics and generations while keeping things family friendly and fun.

The result was an impressive return that managed to do exactly what the show always did, expose the viewer to unfortunate films and provide plenty of laughs. The films selected for this season run the gamut from giant rubber monsters, 80's fantasy cheese, 70's Star Wars ripoffs and even a disaster movie. All the films are in color and widescreen and no short subjects were tackled. But all in all, the movies are some of the most entertaining yet and the crew does a fine job with them.

4 comments:

  1. I remember watching TV with a friend when the program guide showed a double feature: The Land That Time Forgot and The People That Time Forgot. She said hopefully, "Does that mean we can forget the whole thing?" Both are actually goofily entertaining. I saw Reptilicus in the theater as a kid. It was thoroughly ridiculous, of course, but to a kid that hardly matters. It's good to know that if a giant reptile ever does attack the Danes can handle the situation though.

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    1. Yeah "Land" and "People that Time Forgot" were favorites of mine when I went through the "Watch every movie with dinosaurs in them phase". It has been years since I've seen the movies, so looking forward to the MST3K treatment.

      I had never heard of "Reptilicus" until this season was released. The movie itself was pretty fun. The creature is hilarious.

      Of course "Starcrash" got my attention right away. But so did "Wizards of the Lost Kingdom". I think that was the first movie I ever riffed on. Very silly fun movie. i think they can do a lot with it.

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  2. I thought they'd already done Starcrash for some reason. My memory bank must be short. Fun movie though. Can you think of any movie you'd like to see lampooned? I wonder how they do with Fast Pussycat, Kill, Kill--but it may be too adult for their target audience?

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    1. I think the 80s cheese-fest "Hawk the Slayer" would be a lot of fun. I love those no-budget 80s fantasy flicks. Also the Cannon version of "Hercules" with Lou Ferrigno would be a perfect fit for them. A lot of hilarious moments there. In fact, they could tackle quite a bit from Cannon's archives.

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