The Oozing Skull

[Compound]

Well, the Postal Service took its sweet time getting this to me, but my copy arrived earlier.

My reaction? A bit disappointed.

I'll start with a minor pet peeve. I've always disliked it  when Joel interacts with the screen. And having the entire cast doing it at times was like someone dragging their nails down a chalkboard while rubbing a balloon while singing an Enya song offkey. But that's my particular hangup.

The riffing? Eh. I laughed a few times. I smiled at others. But a lot of it just wasn't very memorable to me. And unfortunately, some of the riffs that I would normally  find funny were in the trailer.

The skits? For the most part, they just didn't work for me. Josh's was amusing, but I'd heard previously how funny it was and my expectation may have been too high. The lead up to Frank's was quite good, but it just didn't deliver the goods when it got there. Joel's was okay, but not particularly funny. Trace's... Well, I generally love Trace's stuff, but this one was agonizing. It felt like a sketch designed to eat up time to fill in a TV broadcast, but without a deadline, it just felt like dead air. The sketches need work.

The opening? A bit jarring, although not quite as much to me as it seems it was to others. Seriously, if you're going to keep doing it this way, at least take a second to superimpose  everyone's names over where they're sitting. Five seconds at the front of the film should be sufficient.

Overall? I'd give it a C. If it's an MST3k episode, it's not one of the more memorable ones. I'm sure they'll get better over time, but I don't see me rewatching this one over and over. YMMV though.

[bratpop]

What bugged me about Joel interacting with the screen is that it always seemed improvised, because he would never get it right. By the time he got up to the screen, the scene had already changed. I hope now at least they write the timecodes down.

[skenderberg]

I liked the riffing, and the lack of intro/outro didn't really bother me.  I'd have to agree with RVRII a couple of pages back, though.  The movie just wasn't very good riffing material.  Of course it's bad; that's kind of the point of riffing it.  It's just not bad in an entertaining way.

I wrote a full review by the way, posted at the following link: 

http://mst3kfanguide.blogspot.com/2007/11/ct001-oozing-skull.html

[Artie]

I watched it for a second time tonight, and I thought it was better than the first viewing.  Perhaps getting over how bad/bland the movie was helped in enjoying the  riffing more.  I was surprised about how much of the riffing came from Trace, it seemed like he got more lines than anyone.

Favorites part(s) - anything with cars.  The chase scene and having nearly all the characters try to start an obviously dead vehicle

An interesting theory/speculation for the no-intro issue - if they were to get this on a cable channel (and really why wouldn't a Bravo or G4 want something like this - its mind boggling really) it would be easier to add an intro segment on top of what is already there.  Have the 5 introduce themselves and whatever the premise is and off you go.

[fortytwice]

Just finished watching.  I thought it was okay.  If i had to rank it within the (almost) 50 rifftrax i've heard so far... It'd rank within the bottom 5.   And that's really not a bad thing considering the quality of each rifftrax.  Don't get me wrong, It's awesome hearing everyones voice again.  Trace was definitely in top form for this.

But when it came down to it, the majority of jokes came off as "somewhat dry, and it should be sorta funny" humor.  Yeah, It's probably just a first episode thing... or maybe I'm just too comfortable with the hilarity of my 3 favorite mst3k alums... Well the latter seems to fit better, cause as we all remember, Road House WAS and still is absolutely side-splitting.

I dunno, I'll watch it again when I have the chance.  And this is just my first reaction to it.

Regardless, right now seems like a great time to be a fan of an old Emmy nominated puppet show.  A show whose fan base welcomes everyone, and isn't limited to forty-year-old guys with severe bitterness toward the opposite sex (no offense you guys, i'll be forty someday)

[James of LinHood]

A show whose fan base welcomes everyone, and isn't limited to forty-year-old guys with severe bitterness toward the opposite sex

Wow!  An attack on 40-year-olds outta left field!   

[Bob]

A show whose fan base welcomes everyone, and isn't limited to forty-year-old guys with severe bitterness toward the opposite sex

Wow!  An attack on 40-year-olds outta left field!   

I am going to contact my lawyer!

[Chaos]

Damn wippersnaps, and your unintentional insults... why, when I was your age... *grumble* *mutter* *snore*

[skenderberg]

Regardless, right now seems like a great time to be a fan of an old Emmy nominated puppet show.  A show whose fan base welcomes everyone, and isn't limited to forty-year-old guys with severe bitterness toward the opposite sex (no offense you guys, i'll be forty someday)

Out of curiosity, which show, specifically, are you referencing?

[bettertomorrowamy]

Regardless, right now seems like a great time to be a fan of an old Emmy nominated puppet show.  A show whose fan base welcomes everyone, and isn't limited to forty-year-old guys with severe bitterness toward the opposite sex (no offense you guys, i'll be forty someday)

Out of curiosity, which show, specifically, are you referencing?

Baywatch of course, duh!

[RoninFox]

A show whose fan base welcomes everyone, and isn't limited to forty-year-old guys with severe bitterness toward the opposite sex

Wow!  An attack on 40-year-olds outta left field!   

Why not, 40-year-olds are like stupid repulsive anteaters!   

[Bob]

A show whose fan base welcomes everyone, and isn't limited to forty-year-old guys with severe bitterness toward the opposite sex

Wow!  An attack on 40-year-olds outta left field!   

Why not, 40-year-olds are like stupid repulsive anteaters!   

Hey boy, shouldn't you be at work, paying into the social security fund that I will burn up during my long retirement?   

I am 44 now, if I retire at 50, I am hoping you will support me for another 30 years sucker.

[torgosPizza]

Favorite lines:

"They ransacked my apartment!"

"The junk drawer bandit strikes again!"

"Pepperidge Farm dismembers!"

[Bus Taker]

...
Regardless, right now seems like a great time to be a fan of an old Emmy nominated puppet show.  A show whose fan base welcomes everyone, and isn't limited to forty-year-old guys with severe bitterness toward the opposite sex (no offense you guys, i'll be forty someday)

Hey, I'm 40, YOU SCUM!  HAR! HAR! HAR! HAR! HAR! HAR!

[Bus Taker]

Okay, here's one 40 year old anteater's opinion. 

A good first outing in my opinion.  Watching it again will help.  I also struggled to identify who was who, but it was really cool to have that all-star crew together.  Not laugh-a-minute hilarity like The Unearthly, but I sure enjoyed it.

The biggest issue I had was the DVD packaging: NONE! My mail carrier is not too bright these days so putting the DVD in only the disc media equivalent of tighty-whiteys was a really bad idea.  I sell music CDs that I make at home with more packaging.  I'm not asking for the pro-DVD boxes, just a simple jewel case that you can get for pennies at Staples.  At least a small padded envelope to get it across shipping channels would work.

Okay, I'm off my soap box and definitely looking forward to the next CT movie.  I know they're probably operating out of someone's private studio and they did really good for a pilot.