My Take on CT

thinkmatic · January 25, 2009, 03:27:22 PM

I have been a huge fan of MST3K. I've seen every episode of the show that aired on The Comedy Channel/Comedy Central & The Sci-Fi Network, plus I even watched bad vhs copies of a few of the KTMA shows. I just want you to know where I'm coming from, my love for the work of these folks is way up there.

My life has been very busy the last couple of years, so I didn't know of the existence of Cinematic Titanic until about 3 weeks ago.. A friend and I had listened to about 5 of Mike Nelson's Rifftrax, including Glitter with Mary Jo Pehl and they were all very funny. Knowing what a big fan I was of MST3K, my girlfriend recently got me two tickets to the Boston show of CT Live. I was very excited, but I hadn't yet seen CT at work. Last week I borrowed 4 CT shows (The Doomsday Machine, Legacy of Blood, The Wasp Woman & Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks) from a friend so that I could see how the new writing stands up to the MST3K stuff, that I loved, or even how it stood up to the Rifftrax material. I've made it through Doomsday Machine & Frankenstein's Castle.

First off, the CT movie choices are great. MST3K used to do some of their best work on hideous films like, "Manos" - The Hands of Fate, Mitchell, Gamera, Hercules and trashy AIP style, Roger Corman-esque Films of any genre. Also I like the slick production of CT, with the cool intro with the scaffolding and the back-story motivation as to why they're all watching the film. That's all great, but the meat of the show comes down to making fun of movies.

You don't know how much I wanted to love the show. I wanted it to be good, I really did. Oh my God was I disappointed. These were worse then the least enjoyable MST3K episodes. Even the early MST3K shows with Josh Weinstein were better then the current CT. The biggest problem is stiff delivery of bad jokes. There were a couple of good jokes, "Things a rapist would say for 400" was hysterical, but even that lost it's punch due to the round robin reading that the jokes got. The lack of interaction between the CT cast makes even the better jokes die. Other reviewers even wondered if the individual CT cast members recorded their audio tracks at different times, because the reading is so mechanical.

I wish them all the best. I want them to succeed. Hell, they pioneered this format, but to keep it alive they need to go out and get a good head writer and loosen up on screen.

Lastly, does anyone want to buy two tickets for the Fri. Feb 20, 2009 Boston show. Balcony front center, get um while they're hot!

MrTorso · January 25, 2009, 03:51:27 PM

Ouch!

Jonny Jit · January 25, 2009, 03:59:37 PM

I agree. CT is OK, but not great. Just me. I have a couple of them and they have their moments.

My sense of humor is a little more along the lines of what they do here. These guys make me laugh more.

RoninFox · January 25, 2009, 04:18:18 PM

I can understand the complaints, though I think they're getting much better as they go, especially the last three that they've put out. If I was in the area, I'd jump on those tickets in an instant.

mrbasehart · January 25, 2009, 05:06:52 PM

I agree on the stiffness and some of the bad deliveries of lines, but they've certainly gotten better in the past few episodes. I really enjoy the little opening "walks" to the studio, too, as it made the actual riffing seem like it has some sort of point.

Jonny Jit · January 26, 2009, 01:14:23 AM

QuoteI can understand the complaints

I'm not complaining. I think they're OK. I just like this style a little more...kinda like I enjoy the Sci Fi episodes a little more.

Well, that said, Crow was always my favorite character. Both of them.

I will get a newer one as I only have the first two.

RoninFox · January 26, 2009, 01:36:15 AM

Quote from: Jonny Jit on January 26, 2009, 01:14:23 AM
QuoteI can understand the complaints

I'm not complaining. I think they're OK. I just like this style a little more...kinda like I enjoy the Sci Fi episodes a little more.

Well, that said, Crow was always my favorite character. Both of them.

I will get a newer one as I only have the first two.

Well I was directing that toward thinkmatic, not you.

CHF01 · January 26, 2009, 12:53:33 PM

Keep in mind thinkmatic that this is a new project in progress; and only 6 episodes have been released to date. MST didn't get the machine really rolling until Season 3, so give them some time to develop things. I guess what I'm saying is...don't give up on them yet! I have a feeling CT is only going to improve with time.

Thrifty · January 26, 2009, 01:00:37 PM

Quote from: CHF01 on January 26, 2009, 12:53:33 PM
Keep in mind thinkmatic that this is a new project in progress; and only 6 episodes have been released to date. MST didn't get the machine really rolling until Season 3, so give them some time to develop things. I guess what I'm saying is...don't give up on them yet! I have a feeling CT is only going to improve with time.

Yeah but I mean, the guys were still new to public movie riffing back then. Now, they've got years of MST3K experience behind them

CHF01 · January 26, 2009, 01:19:21 PM

Quote from: Thrifty on January 26, 2009, 01:00:37 PM
Yeah but I mean, the guys were still new to public movie riffing back then. Now, they've got years of MST3K experience behind them

Very true, but this is an entirely new project, budgeted by them. I think they were testing the waters in the beginning, so to speak, to see if they could make something real happen with CT. Joel is a slow mover when it comes to developing projects, so give this one some time to mature; I'm certain future episodes will become more polished, since this getting more attention daily.

bettertomorrowamy · January 26, 2009, 01:26:29 PM

It's gotten way better. The Oozing Skull was the pilot basically. I would imagine that the live shows are a hell of a lot more fun. If I had a choice between the DVD and a Live Show I'd take the Live Show every time.

Jonny Jit · January 26, 2009, 03:21:10 PM

QuoteWell I was directing that toward thinkmatic, not you.

Well then...nevermind

Invisible NanoGhost · January 26, 2009, 04:22:31 PM

They're all very experienced at riffing, but they're not used to working the way they're working for these new CT projects. Then they all worked together in a room for a week, bouncing ideas around. Now they're spread out across the country, each writing jokes and then emailing them around. Then they all get together and film a few movies at once.

I agree they're not doing as good as the best of MST3k, but they're still producing funny commentary on cheesy movies, and I get enough laughs out of their movies that I keep buying them. I do think they're getting better, and I do think each one of them gets in a few good jokes for each movie. I seem to especially enjoy hearing from J. Elvis, probably because I haven't seen the early episodes with him, and he does come up with a bunch of good lines.

ManUnderMask · January 26, 2009, 05:17:33 PM

Oh I agree completely. Doomsday Machine and Oozing Skull were 100% crap, in my opinion. The jokes weren't funny, the Titans were boring, and everything just sucked.

Then Wasp Woman came out and they were actually funny. Legacy of Blood was great, and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians is my favorite so far, because it's actually entertaining! It would be better if they delivered the recorded lines with the same rapid fire, have to get the line out style of the live shows though.

I haven't seen Frankenstein as I don't have the money to buy it.

But my advice is go see the live show. The live shows are always better.

Thrifty · January 27, 2009, 01:11:42 PM

Santa Clause Versus The Martians was definitely the best. Mary Jo's line "so the real Santa carries a fake beard with him?" had me in stitches.

Also, from Legacy of Blood, they find a human head and someone says "let's put this in a horse's bed". That was a great line too. But most CT episodes are about as dull as the average Joel era episode of MST3K.

Yet, due to my obsessive-compulsive DVD collection habits, I'll buy every one that comes out.

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My Take on CT