I was far more disappointed with that entire season than I expected. Mac & Me was no Pod People, but it was ok. Actually all of them were ok. If they'd been mixed in with 6 or 7 movies from the 40's-60's I probably wouldn't even notice them. But since it's just 6 movies from 1979-today, they feel less varied than a "real" season of mst, to me.
I guess I am blaming Netflix for the lack of older (much funnier) movies.
Here's what I believe: The 1960s were turbulent. Assassinations, war, protests, up thru watergate and Nixon in the early 70s. Films in the 70s start to get uglier, less naive, gorier. I think you can start to see it creeping into Manos from 1968, but of course Manos is still batshit crazy funny. But not as funny to me as Red Zone Cuba or Bride of the Monster (I would say movies like The Room and Birdemic both seem like coulda-been-Ed-Wood type movies that really harken back to that time of naivete. But those seem really rare).
I like a movie where NASA is still family-owned and operated. Spaceships were spacious and despite being made mostly of plywood, you could still smoke in 'em. I like a movie where a guy could ride the rails and meet a swell mentor like Big Stupid, a movie where a guy could sing whenever he sings whenever he sings and really put his leg up; a movie where you can use your sampo to create an interocitor and then just climb rocks for 20 minutes looking for sodium.
Anyway, I didn't mind these 6 movies; but they were pretty much all my least favorites in the history of the show. If the mythical next season we won't have to wait too long for rectifies this by including movies similar to Yongary, Beast of Hollow Mountain, I Accuse My Parents, The Amazing Colossal Man (or Beast) or a Rocky Jones space adventure or 2, I'll be thrilled.
Maybe Joel should check with Amazon Prime, Hulu, Comedy Central(?), etc about these stupid restrictions Netflix seems to be requiring.