1101 - Reptilicus - Spoiler Thread

[Variety of Cells]

Unfortunately, only vaguely.  I believe it was in the last third and was a reference to Minnesota, I think? I can't say I remember correctly, but it is the way I remembered it.

Then let me, a full blooded Minnesotan, step in to save the day.  I think it was Crow who made the comment, right before Reptilicus eats the guy with the crappy cartoonish special effect, that Repticlicus was attacking a Minnesotan family, because they were all pretty white in a log cabin sort of setup.  A classic Midwestern riff.

Just finished it!  No streaming problems on the website for me.  Played nice and buttery smooth.

The riffs were great.  Top notch.  The pacing was maybe a little strange.  Slow at some points, machine gun fast at others.  But all high quality and worth getting in there, so I didn't mind.  As for the comments that the voices are too close together, I remember not being able to tell who was delivering what riffs when I first started listening to MST3K, so perhaps some more familiarity is all that's needed.

I enjoyed the sketches.  Wasn't a huge fan of the rap, but that's me.  I'm excited to learn more about all the new characters, but I'm glad they focused on just Tom, Crow, and Jonah for this episode.  Good to establish the core before expanding into others too quickly.  Can't wait for more!

[MrTorso]

Thoroughly enjoyed it! Riffing was great. Probably can do without all the Servo flying gags but I still thought it was a fantastic start to the season!  Going to be really hard not to binge the whole season when they drop. Backers get episode streams starting the 11th I believe!

[Variety of Cells]

denmark-no-longer-the-world-s-happiest-country

https://www.reuters.tv/v/TvA/2017/03/22/denmark-no-longer-the-world-s-happiest-country

We now know why.  They remembered that they made the movie Reptilicus, which bummed everybody out.

[Compound]

Who was that with Wil?

Erin Grey. Who, oddly enough, was a guest at the convention that Mike, Mary Jo, Bill and Kevin were at in St. Louis in 2000. (Gateway? Oh, that horrible hotel....)

[Compound]

And now, a dissenting opinion...

It was okay. Not spectacular. Not "Chips Remake" bad. Just on the level of a mid-range MST3k episode. Which isn't bad, but I was subconsciously hoping that every new episode would be all "Space Mutiny" or "Mitchell" in quality.

The host segments ranged in quality from good (The song) to "Uh-oh. Maybe I spoke too soon about being better than the Chips remake" (the opening segment). I'll chalk some of this up as early show jitters and not quite having the characters down just yet. But the commercial breaks? Those need to go. If the show does go back to TV, put them back in, but right now they don't really help the show.

The riffing, which is the important part, is fine. Those are still on point. No real issues, other than "Yeah, a couple of these guys sound a lot like each other." 

Look, I'm hopeful. Joel and Jonah were great in the reunion show. Their riffing still works. I'm hoping my other issues just come down to "Early in the run. Feet not quite on dry land yet." I'll find out for sure after Samurai Cop on Thursday. Geez, that's going to be a riff-heavy night.

[Pak-Man]

Well I'm on cloud 9. They jumped right in with a giant monster movie, which are always favorites of mine, so that biased me just a tad. The monster rap was stupid, but it was stupid in that special MST3K way where you gotta love it anyway. It all FEELS like MST3K, which was the important thing for me. The riffing was great, and Jonah's quickly coming into his own. He's a bit more musical than Joel or even Mike, but it's neat that the show allows that bit of personality to shine through.

The commercial breaks are weird, but did anyone else catch the snazzy instrumental versions of MST3K classics playing in the background?

[Edward J Grug III]

I thought the commercial breaks thingies were great

[Iron Curtain]

@Compound: I disagree about the "commercial breaks". I thought they were wonderful! I mean, I think if they weren't in there, I would think that the theater segments would drag on and on and on. And I wouldn't like that. So I appreciate the theater segments.

But to each one's own.

[Variety of Cells]

@Compound: I disagree about the "commercial breaks". I thought they were wonderful! I mean, I think if they weren't in there, I would think that the theater segments would drag on and on and on. And I wouldn't like that. So I appreciate the theater segments.

But to each one's own.

Technically compound does not get his own, because he doesn't have the option to remove the commercial breaks. I like them though.  They provide a nice opportunity to pause and go to the bathroom or get a snack.

[ihavemyreasons]

 I personally like the commercial breaks as well.

I'd still argue 1 Minnesota riff is a lack of Midwestern riffs which I'm going to miss. Argument against more is that none of the 3 riffers are Midwesterners though so more could come across as either forced or mean spirited.

I'd agree with the criticism that episode 1 wasn't a home run all-time classic episode, but it did enough to make me set aside any concerns about Season 11 maybe being another Phantom Menace. I have hope a new classic or two emerges, but in the end 14 average new episodes is better than no new episodes.

[Johnny Unusual]

I liked the commercial things and I like that Max is acting as an Ed McMahon/Andy Ricter type.  It feeds into Kinga's deal as being (or wanting) to be brand-savy.  One of my problems was simply not enough of them yet.  They work well together but we didn't get enough of them.  Probably for the best in the first new ep, since the focus should always be on the movie.

Oh, and the bubble fan feels like they just came up with a cool toy and decided to market it through the episode.  I'd buy one, it was cool.

[Pak-Man]

Yeah, I would have liked more time with the Mads, but the good news is I want more.

[RoninFox]

You can really feel Joel's unique quirky influence back on the show.

I really like how seamless the show feels, if that makes sense. I mean it was always kind of designed that way, unless you're cutting away to conversations with the mads or going to exterior shots the bulk of the show appears like a single unbroken shot from Cambot from the bridge to the theater and back, but somehow it seems smoother now. Maybe it's just the HD, maybe it's the extra tricks they're doing to make the bots more mobile, I don't know.

I also get the feeling that more is going on than just the show, just on the sattelite. I'm not sure if I missed something when Gypsy came in the theater to drop something off then pick it up later. Was it important what that was, or was it just an excuse to get her in the theater twice for her jokes? (Yeah, I know it was an excuse, but was there more too it in an in-universe sense?)

[MartyS (Gromit)]

 Just watched the Q&A session, Joel said he put in the commercial breaks partly because he thought Kinga would want to put her brand on the show, and partly for fans used to having the breaks in there.

[Kete]

I liked the commercial breaks.  In fact, I think it would be great for them to make fake commercials for historic MST3K products.  I'm thinking Torgo Powder or Blast Hardcheese Protein Shakes.