RiffTrax: The Forum

I'd like to know what everyone believes the best Film Crew DVD is. I'm edging towards Giant of Marathon, but I will probably have to rewatch them all again to make sure.

I'm going with Wild Women of Wongo, the host segments and the 'make the film crew dance' feature really amused me.  And the movie and the riffing was really sharp.

DANCE!!!!!!!

I thought the part on 'Giant of Marathon' where Mike was apologizing for his offending Persians, and Norwegians then Kevin owls him over :D :D :D

Giant of Marathon, definitely!  I like the dialog during cook-wrestling -- "how... is... the... dish... prepared?"  Reminded me of the classic maitre d' scene in Space Mutiny.  "I'll... get... the... manager..."

Although the cruel horse stunts made me wince.

Anybody know if Film Crew will be doing any more?  I notice the film crew editions are pretty old (copyright 2005) - I guess they got released now because of the success of Rifftrax?

Okay. It's Giant of Marathon. It was hilarious. I loved all the man-jokes directed towards Caras, the brunette woman.

And I laughed outloud for a whole minute straight when Bill commented about the great spear shot that banked of the man's giblets and into the oily rag.  :D

All these votes for Giant of Marathon. I stick with Wongo.

"Look buddy, if you don't stop saying that, I'm gonna kick you in the nads!"

I feel a bit disenfranchised because I do not have the option of voting. If I did however have that option I would vote for Giant of Marathon.

I just finished watching the entire set and I have to say, Giant is the only one that made me consistently laugh.  It felt like one of the better episodes of mst3k (host segments aside, the whole lunch break thing is lost on me I guess). 

The others have gotten a few chuckles, but not much more.  Hollywood After Dark made me sad because it was so horrible.  I regret buying it because I'll probably never watch it again (I've watched it twice to give it a chance and that was plenty).  It made me cancel my pre-orders for the others, actually. I will buy Giant, which I netflixed.

We should have voted to release Giant first.  That would have upped sales I think.

Yeah, Hollywood After Dark was not a good way to start. How depressing, even with a riff.

I thinkk "Killers From Space" would have been a good starter.

I'm torn between "Wongo" and "Giant of Marathon". Both had two excellent extras. I thought that wongo's Lunch Break was a little more amusing than Giant's. The riffing of Giant would have won out-right if there weren't so many sub-par gay jokes. Even now I'm still wavering. Though I voted Wongo, I'm starting to lean back towards Giant of Marathon.

PS: Is anyone else here disappointed that Giant of Marathon did not contain an actual super-sized humanoid?

Quote from: Junkyard on November 07, 2007, 06:44:21 PM
Yeah, Hollywood After Dark was not a good way to start. How depressing, even with a riff.

That's probably why this is the only one I own so far.   Tired watching it a couple times.  It has it's moments (like the stuff during the Black stripper's dance and the silent robbery) but...

I know I'm going to get a lot of crap for this but it's times like this that make you really appreciate the rest of the writing staff from MST3K.

(https://forum.rifftrax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi16.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fb4%2Frobotrix%2FSmileys%2Fpeepsofa.gif&hash=f36cfb3cdd8304d9aec8288a185bc470065a722a)

It's a bit dreary, Wongo is easily my favourite.

I voted for Wild Women of Wongo, too. Very funny all the way through. It makes me wonder what the women who played the "ugly women" were told during the casting process.

I thaught Hollywood after Dark was very funny, but it felt out of place compared to the kind of movies MST3K did (and Rifftrax does now) with the exploitation aspect of it. The fact that it was chosen for The Film Crew seems more as a novelty because of the fact Rue McClanahan is a stripper in it.

"I've just had sex, so you may find me slippery in some places."

I voted for Giant of Marathon

I thought it easily had the strongest riffing of the four. Hollwood After Dark had enough really funny moments to just edge out Wongo for second place. Killers from Space I was disappointed with. Barely any laughs.

Another vote for Wongo.  In order, I appreciate the rest thusly:

Giant of Marathon
Killers from Space

Hollywood After Dark isn't listed because I hated it.  Was I supposed to be laughing at the date rape and the continuous unbridled despair?  It makes me glad Mike decided not to do Showgirls.

I voted for Hollywood After Dark because it's the only one I've watched.

I'm savoring them, waiting till the time is right.
I love 'Dark', and I love The Film Crew.
I'm pissed that the haven't made any more,
and I'm not watching them all until I at least am sure no more are coming out.

With Cinematic Titanic coming though, my anger is a bit softened,
and I may watch Killers from Space as soon as my CT dvd arrives.
If I know I have a new good thing to put in my que to watch at another 'just right moment',
then I can at least watch one more.

If Film Crew doesn't make more, at least I've got CT.
Hopefully they can put together an mst season worth of shows this year.
12-15 episodes would put me in heaven.

Quote from: Darth Geek on December 29, 2007, 08:53:49 PM
I thaught Hollywood after Dark was very funny, but it felt out of place compared to the kind of movies MST3K did (and Rifftrax does now) with the exploitation aspect of it. The fact that it was chosen for The Film Crew seems more as a novelty because of the fact Rue McClanahan is a stripper in it.

"I've just had sex, so you may find me slippery in some places."

Well, I like the bigger women of yesteryear, curves and double-digit sizes work for me! ROWR!!!

Giant Of Marathon. To put it simply it made me laugh the most. Funny as it was the one I wanted to see least when you were asked to vote on the FC site, and since it came out last it looks as if most people felt that way, or at least it wasn't anyone's first pick. Hollywood After Dark was easily the worst of the four and if it wasn't for the completest in me I may never have bought the other three but they were all excellent. It's a shame there won't be more as I like the format but it's understandable now that Rifftrax is going great guns.

I guess I'm in the minority here but I liked Hollywood After Dark the best, followed by the Wild Women of Wongo.  I think it was mainly because of the choice of movie.  Hollywood After Dark tries to be exploitation but it also wants to get all deep and existential and explore the unsightly underbelly of Hollywood.  It fails utterly of course.  My theory is it was the writer's (or the director's) burning ambition to tell this tale of despair and longing and the producer said, 'That'll never sell tickets, throw in some shots of chicks shakin' their potatoes!".  Plus the guys pushed the riffing envelope a little on that one, going into some sorta blue-ish territory.  Bill's line, "Hey, I can see your vagina!" (something like that) cracks me up every time.

I skipped "Hollywood after dark".  It just seemed the wrong kind of movie.

The "Wild Woman of Wongo" had so many obviously-deranged things in the movie itself, that you'd have to laugh at parts of it even without a rifftrax.  With the riffs, it was great.

I must be in the minority because I loved Killers from Space.

Quote from: Homunculus on January 28, 2008, 02:40:36 PM
I must be in the minority because I loved Killers from Space.

' Monstrous spiders give me a mild headache'

That riff gets me everytime.

I also really enjoyed Killers, but Wongo is the best overall as it is just so goofy.

I can't really understand all the love for Giant of Marathon. There are some good riffs in it but it is, IMO, just a mind-crushingly dull and boring film. Then again, I never really enjoyed any of the MST Hercules films, so maybe its the entire genre that is the problem for me.

    :clap:

Wild Women of Wongo, best ever! Loved the extra on DVD.  Mike, Kevin & Bill can "DANCE" for me anytime!    :highfive:

Ive only seen the first two but I love the 20 minute robbery segment without any dialogue in Hollywood. They are forced to fill the time with riffing and they do it brilliantly.

I'm with the Sheik. H'wood After Dark was great because it was such a pretentious movie, and it's more fun to make fun of failed pretention than stuff that was obviously meant to be cheesy in the first place. I didn't even finish Giant of Marathon, mostly because the original sound is so bad I found it difficult to follow the dialogue.

Quote from: Homunculus on January 28, 2008, 02:40:36 PM
I must be in the minority because I loved Killers from Space.

I liked it a lot too.  Those close-ups in the movie were so bizarre, and then at the end where Mike and Kevin are explaining those to Bill.  There's the last close-up on Mike, and then Bill hits him and says "I just can't take it any more!".  And they love riffing Peter Graves being the voice of "Biography".

However, in this poll I had to vote for Wild Women of Wongo .  That movie was hilarious.

Count me down for Wongo!  :clap:

All 4 were great! 

1) Wongo
2) Killers
3) Giant
4) Hollywood

Come on people, Peter Graves, Mittens, White Gravy and Biography!!!!
Show it the love it requires, show it damn it!!!

1) Giant
2) Killers
3) Wongo
4) Hollywood

However, any of these is better than 99% of what is on TV at any given moment.

wongotongo wongo-tongo!  :rimshot:

I have to stick with the one I voted on to be released in the first place, "Wild Women of Wongo". Although to its discredit, it lacks Rue McClanahan stripping.

Oh, also, did that gray-haired guy look like David Schwimmer (probably misspelled)? There were a bunch of references to the similarity, and I just didn't see it. Otherwise, the movie was hilarious.

QuoteOh, also, did that gray-haired guy look like David Schwimmer (probably misspelled)? There were a bunch of references to the similarity, and I just didn't see it.

Yeah, I didn't see a resemblance either.

Wild Women of Wongo is definitely the best. The deleted scenes of them dancing to the shrieks of the old lady from the movie, and the one of Bill forgetting how to blink ("You blinded me, man!") are both awesome.

While I wasn't fond of the Giants of Marathon (the sword and sandal epics have always been very tedious to me), a big shout out to the deleted scene of Mike reading an apology for his insults and progressively insulting more and more people. Very funny, and reminiscent of the Canada Song with Tom. I particularly liked the flying tackle Kevin gives Mike near the end.

Here is how I rank them:

1)Giant of Marathon
2)Wild Women of Wongo
3)Killers From Space
4)Hollywood After Dark

Giant of Marathon & Wild Women of Wongo was basically a tie, but I had to pick one so I went with Giant. If only there were more Film Crew dvds. :(

I would rank Killers from Space #1.  I didn't love Wild Women of Wongo, but I've only watched it once and I was sick as a dog at home from work when I watched it.  I'll have to give it another shot I guess.

Giant of marathon!!  I'm a sucker for some deep hurting goodness.

I like all four equally. I'm not fond of the whole Bob Honcho theme or the lunch break skits. But when the movie's riff commentary is on, all four DVDs are top notch in my book.

Quote from: Jobu on August 08, 2008, 04:22:14 PM
Here is how I rank them:

1)Giant of Marathon
2)Wild Women of Wongo
3)Killers From Space
4)Hollywood After Dark

Giant of Marathon & Wild Women of Wongo was basically a tie, but I had to pick one so I went with Giant. If only there were more Film Crew dvds. :(

Ditto for me, except that I consider The Giant of Marathon vastly superior to the other three Film Crew releases.   Hollywood After Dark is so overly ambitious and "arty" that it could have been much, much better riffed.  Killers from Space seems to suffer from the fear that Mallon would sue them for using Peter Graves-inspired callbacks.  (It just cried out for some The Beginning of the End riffs.)  For me, The Wild Women of Wongo is not holding up to repeated viewings like The Giant of Marathon.   

I think that Wongo and Marathon are about neck and neck, but Marathon has superior special features.

None of these episodes, however, contained a lunch break that was actually funny.

Just finished watching all of them a second time. This is how I would rank them:
 
   1.  Giant of Marathon
   2. Hollywood After Dark
   3. Killers from Space
   4.  Wild Women of Wongo

I didn't care for Killers from Space the first time around. Liked it a bit more this time. Giant is still my top pick but it wasn't as funny the second time and Hollywood almost beat it out for the top spot. Am I the only one who finds the riffing in these Film Crew releases to be rather sparse compared with their other work?  In Wongo and Marathon especially I noticed more silent moments than usual. It's obvious to me that they did these before Rifftrax.  Still, these were enjoyable and it's a shame we won't be getting any more.

I have to go with Giant of Marathon as being the best when it comes to the rifing of the movie - which to me is the "meat of the matter" always.   Great stuff about the "Do you like Gladiator Movies" aspect to it, the bad dubbing ("Did he just order baby carrots?"), the animal cruelty and the stupid plot.

Killers In Space is very good and then the staring into the camera bit was funny.  Loses points with me for all the "Biography" jokes when that film is so chockful of other crap they could make fun of.

Hollywood After Dark scores for the creativity it took to riff on the old time striipping footage and yet keep it "family friendly" enough - that couldn't have been easy.  Plus it was just a hoot to see it after all this time.  Just have this awful feeling that we didn't see the whole film.

Wild Women of Wongo is a good effort.  As good as any average MST3K episode.  But not outstanding the way of a Manos or Sidehackers.

Quote from: space_mutiny on August 05, 2008, 06:54:02 PM
Oh, also, did that gray-haired guy look like David Schwimmer (probably misspelled)? There were a bunch of references to the similarity, and I just didn't see it. Otherwise, the movie was hilarious.

More than anything I think it was a reference to his squinty eyed confused expression toward everything.

For me, Giant of Marathon was some deeeeeeeeep huuuuuuuuuuuuurting.

Very painful to watch. Way too much man-ass for a sword-n-sandal flick.

I liked Killers From Space best, but wongo is up there too.

Giant of Marathon for me. That's the one I voted for when they were first releasing them.

IS THAT A WOMAN?
(deep voice) Crap, I made.