optiMSTieThis movie works because we *care* about the characters.
[eye-rolls]
Servo: "So, how much penance does this movie count for? Couple years?"
Oh, if only.
[whew]
Aaaaaaand that was... not a great payoff for the movie.
It feels more like a wallet surrendering than a payoff.
This episode ended the only way it could: with Crow using the Information Superhighway to play four-person Boogers with some guy named Frodo.
These host segments with Synthia and Kinga are just the absolute best.
God, I love the Turkey Day Marathons.
And now, a little something lighter with Catalina Caper! LET'S GO :D
Love Servo's prayer: "And Robocop, even though he got a raw deal, but that's really none of my business."
The closed captioning for Frank's "eyuck-geoo" is transcribed as " (goofy noises) ", and honestly, that's as it should be.
That opening song "Never Steal Anything Wet" is an ALL-TIME BANGER.
Grading on a generous curve, of course.
I'm ALWAYS here for a "CHARLIE! THEY TOOK MY THUMB!" reference to The Pope of Greenwich Village.
This is why I'll love this show forever.
We get references to Frankie Avalon and Dom DeLuise.
I'd like to think that this is how we brought The Million Eyes of Sumuru and Munchie upon ourselves for Season 13.
And we're introduced to the Creepy Girl, who would inspire the same terrific host segment song of the same name.
Not getting the creepiness that they allude to, but I'll allow it, because we got that song.
LITTLE RICHARD :D
Servo: "Prince, I hope you're watching this."
Crow: "Hey, we have a chair downstairs with that upholstery."
Servo: "Looks like a coffin lining."
Joel: "Hey, get the funk outta my face."
I LOVE THIS WHOLE SEQUENCE :D
THE CREEPY GIRL SONG :D
Another shining gold host segment for Kevin Murphy's Tom Servo. Just wonderful.
"The first E is for, uh, well, I don't really know, but the second E is more of a grammatical thing, because otherwise, it would be 'Crepy Girl,' and where would that leave us?"
Meanwhile, on the launch date of MTV...
Context: a woman shows up with her band out of nowhere and decides that they have to perform a song to save a bunch of relationships that could go sour.
Crow's riff: "Hey, it's Gloria Estefan and the Catalina Deus Ex Sound Machina!"
That is an incredibly dense joke with five layers, and another reason as to why I love this show so much. Best riff of the episode, and one of the very best riffs of the series. Just incredible.
"YA GOT ME!"
I don't get any of this, so... there IS that.
I could live to be a thousand, and I would never get tired of the comedic chemistry of Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff as Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank.
Those Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis voices, OH MY GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWD.
[as the silly agent identifies himself]
Goofy guy: "Fingers O'Toole."
Tom Servo: "F.B.I., Pratfall Division."
Bless this ridiculous show forever.
That brings Catalina Caper to an incoherent and waterlogged end!
Up next in the MST3K Turkey Day Marathon is a personal favorite of mine, The Horror of Party Beach!
And now that I think about it, those are two films that really needed a crossover installment: The Horror of Party Beach Versus the Fools of Catalina Caper...
How could you NOT love Servo as a Gyuto monk achieving transcendence?
(Or at least using his speakers to pull a fast one on Mike?)
Mike celebrates Flavia's assessment of him: "She thinks I'm average-looking! :D "
I feel seen here.
REAL TALK: Mike and the 'Bots bust on this soundtrack a lot, but honestly?
I'm loving the music of the Del-Aires here. I'm a sucker for that surf rock sound, so...
[shrugs]
Also, it bears noting that I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this episode, The Horror of Party Beach.
At the end of Season 8, Space Mutiny, Time Chasers, and Overdrawn at the Memory Bank haul in a bunch of praise, and deservedly so (Space Mutiny is my fourth favorite episode behind The Final Sacrifice, Mitchell, and Jack Frost), but The Horror of Party Beach deserves to have its praises sung among those more celebrated episodes.
Crow using a goofy voice on the stupid monster design: "Is there anyone who enjoys pickles as much as I do? D'oh-oh!"
FIRST ROUND K.O.
Crow on the song Wigglin' Wobblin': "I think what they're really trying to say here is 'whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa.' "
Servo: "But you're missing the underlying message, which is 'wiggle wiggle wobble wobble!' "
Love these goobers forever.
[as bikers attempt to use their leader as a human battering ram in a fight]
Crow: "Hey, I don't think this is a good idea, guys. Let's think about this, no, d-don't don't- OWWW MY NECK IS BROKEN"
freaking LOVE this :D
[fully intends to laugh forever at this]
This moment NEVER fails to make me laugh like a damn fool.
[as hero looks disgustedly at the ocean]
Mike: "I sure hope that's a Clark bar."
me: [chokes on drink]
This TV news guy yells about "HUMAN BEANS", and that's somehow funnier than ANY riff these guys could come up with.
I hope you had "FLAT TIRE" on your Doomed Characters in a Horror Movie Bingo Card.
The Del-Aires, singing: "You're not a summer love..."
Crow, singing: "You are a summer sausage..."
Mike as the heavily-dubbed Elaine: "I'd say something, but the guy who dubs me is on break."
All terrific, this damn episode.
[as drunks get kicked out of a club]
Servo: "I just thought 'all-nude' was a dress code!"
Also, what's going on with that sign, "Albert Vitti Permittee"?
If you're going to play a drinking game with this episode, don't use the word "sodium" as part of the game.
Livers were not made to take that kind of abuse.
I could see myself getting a lot of mileage out of this "be right back" image.
[watches as the film transitions hard from day to night between shots]
HOT DAMN, but the sun sinks like a stone near Party Beach...
There's a great end credit gag that draws attention to how the Sodium song contained only word: "sodium."
"Lyric by Bill Corbett"
Freaking LOVE that. :D
The saga of the MST3K Turkey Day Marathon continues with the Season 13 premiere and the dawn of the Gizmoplex era: Santo in the Treasure of Dracula!
Pearl Forrester inviting her granddaughter to a showing of the first-ever MST3K experiment at the Gizmoplex is MY HEART.
Girl: "Good night, Uncle."
Jonah: "FIRST, WE WRESTLE!"
Tom Servo: "BODYSLAM!"
Crow: "Good night, random child."
Jonah: "And dream of earless silver-faced demons."
It's not so much that the show's still got it; it's that the show never lost it. Funny as hell, even after all these years.
Jonah's L7 riff!
This show's reference pool never ceases to amaze me...
Crow: "First rule of real estate: echolocation, echolocation, echolocation!"
Just the greatest, folks.
Crow with a Mister T reference in 2022 Anno Domini.
And it's *brilliant.*
That's so wrong that it loops right back around to *so* right.
This host segment where Crow and Servo cut kind and complimentary wrestling promos on each other is an instant classic, a good-hearted gem of a sketch. Deliriously cheerful and goofy, as MST3K *should* be.
Crow: "I bet he smells like grass after the rain!"
Servo: "I ADMIRE YOU AND THE VALUES YOU STAND FOR, BROTHER!"
Mean Jonah: "This is too much! Save it for the ring, fellas!"
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS :D
THAT STRONG BAD REFERENCE
Jonah: "I told you, Santo, you can't run back the odometer by driving backwards!"
That's the key to the show: silly jokes that absolutely take the dignity away from whatever the current scene is doing while making it more infinitely watchable. And this season does that beautifully.
The Turkey Day celebration of all things MST3K continues with Beyond Atlantis, the episode that introduces us to the riffing strengths of Emily Marsh as Emily Connor, Kelsey Ann Brady as Crow, Conor McGiffin as Servo, and Yvonne Freese as GPC 2.0!
Emily: "Wow, you simulator bots have already absorbed the behavior of Jonah's bots within seconds."
Servo: "And your point?"
Emily: "That's not gonna be problematic."
Crow: "I'll tell you what's problematic! Your soul's gonna get CRUSHED within seconds!"
THESE ESTABLISHING MOMENTS, Y'ALL :D
Servo: "Can't we get BEYOND Atlantis?"
Heh... ever since Laserblast, you knew that was comin'!
Most important thing I wanna emphasize here was how impressed I was w/ the new crew right from Day one.
Emily brought an earnest, endearing energy to the enterprise, and as the new host, she came PREPARED for this assignment and *then* some MAD extra credit.
Kelsey's Crow has this tornado volcano monsoon of trickster god energy, and I love that for the character.
And Conor's Servo is sly, smooth, self-assured, self-inflated, and wonderfully heady.
Can't tell you how hard I laughed at this on premiere night.
This cemented Conor's Servo as one of the greats!
So, the captions are accidentally cut short, getting rid of the end of a line of dialogue.
The actual riff is "Hey, he didn't drink his pearl!"
The captions say something else, and honestly, this only increases the hilarity in a weird roundabout kinda way...
Two great Servo moments:
1) For the picture below: "Meanwhile on Gary Busey Island..."
2) As Manuel gets beaten: "YOU LEAVE THAT SWEET MAN ALONE, YOU ***JACKALS!!!***"
There are two distinctive eras of your life:
Before hearing Sid Haig say "Some mothercrabber set a trap!", and after hearing Sid Haig say "Some mothercrabber set a trap!"
A meeting of the hosts!
As a fan of the show, I have to say that I love it that we have Team Jonah *and* Team Emily representing MST3K. It's an incredible time to be a MSTie with these two riffing groups delivering the goods with consistent success!
talon2claw@optiMSTie The Mother Crabber song is my favorite, beating Every Country Has a Monster by a hair.
Rey Estupendo@optiMSTie A great episode, and a fantastic first official outing for Emily's crew.
@reyestupendo As an introductory episode for Emily and her crew, this one was an ace episode.
Emily and her crew bring it like they've been doing this for years, but especially impressive is the writing. The theater sequences have AMAZING riffs, and really, this is something for the writers to be proud of.
Noah@optiMSTie Completely agree with all that.
Burzz@optiMSTie I'm watching the turkey day marathon late and just started this episode up, definitely one of my favorites of the new season so far. Emily is great! And any movie with Sid Haig is good for me 😁
@Burzz Oh, awesome, so glad to hear that you're enjoying the Turkey Day Marathon! Yeah, I had to start it late, too, thanks to a malfunctioning modem on Thursday, unfortunately!
But yeah, this episode hits HARD. Even for MST3K, this is an impressive outing for the crew, exhibiting amazing writing and great comedic teamwork. Emily is terrific at this right from the word 'go', and she's got great company in that SOL crew of hers.
Also also, Sid *BY GOD* Haig! Love these grimy 70s movies!
Butch Deadlift@Burzz @optiMSTie Emily really is great. The new voice on Crow took a minute for me to warm up to, but now it just feels like part of the ensemble. Good on you for watching when you can!
@perrylloyd @Burzz Oh, so much word on Emily hitting the ground running.
What I like about Crow's new voice is that Kelsey's spin on Crow is a refreshing and unique one: a kinda trickster god tornado of mischief. I dig that. And the gang gels so well!
Another great thing about this marathon: that Team MST3K made it accessible for the whole weekend!
@perrylloyd @Burzz And Conor's Servo threw his hat in the ring with force and made a BIG play to make his impression felt as Servo. He's already carving out a rep as one of the best to take up the gumball robot!
@optiMSTie @perrylloyd Yeah it took me a minute to warm up to Crow's new voice also, but I like the new take on it as well. Also agree on that crew's Tom Servo, really great. Another of my favorites is Rebecca Hanson as Synthia/GPC, she's a treat. It's been fun seeing more of her in the turkey day skits!
@Burzz @perrylloyd Oh, Rebecca has ABSOLUTELY BEEN KILLING IT as Synthia in particular!
The MST3K Turkey Day Marathon sketches are like the next step in her evolution in the show after having her host the Synthia's Selects installments at the Gizmoplex. Just a wonderful part of this new team.
@optiMSTie @Burzz I love Synthia. She's a delight. So glad she's hosting the TurkeyDay Marathon.
@perrylloyd @Burzz FOR REAL :D
If they continue the Turkey Day Marathon in this fashion for next year, I'd be down with that!
[REDACTED]™, Instance Migrator@optiMSTie mother crabber
@quasirealSmiths SOME MOTHERCRABBER SET A TRAP
Said a man with a straight face.
@optiMSTie i didn't keep up with live shows or anything so this was my first exposure to Emily and i was super skeptical when they announced this season with the whole "alternate host" thing (Law and Order Criminal Intent Jeff Goldblum flashbacks) but holy hell if she didn't win me over immediately with her enthusiasm
@quasirealSmiths I caught her as part of the sketches for the one live show, but not the riffing, but sakes alive, she came into the show FIERCELY with her whole crew. It's honestly really impressive AND thrilling to watch, and the show's richer for that dynamic.
Tram 日本 
🐈@quasirealSmiths @optiMSTie which episode should I watch first.. haven't seen any of the new shows and id like to start out on a good note.. iv heard the first 2 episodes were meh
@tramtrist @quasirealSmiths If you're going for the Gizmoplex era with Season 13, you could honestly go with either Santo in the Treasure of Dracula (Jonah's team) or Beyond Atlantis (Emily's team).
And although I don't know who you've heard that from, I've been loving the entirety of Season 13!
Seasons 11 and 12 could have slight inconsistencies with some eps stronger than others, but S13 has been uniformly strong. Really hard to go wrong there!
@optiMSTie Santo is definitely one of the most memorable of the season, but so much goodness. Getting all the digital goods from the #MST3K kickstarter has been fantastic.
@talon2claw Couldn't agree more!
There hasn't been an episode that I haven't loved this season, and Santo was a powerful way to kick it all off.
If anything else, it drove home the important message that the future of MST3K, the Gizmoplex era, is in good hands.
Long time MSTie here, and I've been enjoying the HECK out of this ride!
@talon2claw And that's just the tops that the Kickstarter rewards have been an awesome part of the experience for ya!
@optiMSTie Heard that.. laughed a lot
@tramtrist Perfectly timed, perfectly executed.
This crew was just on *fire!*
CyberLizard@optiMSTie That is awesome! I’ve seen that episode SO many times and never noticed that!
@cyberlizard Heh, it took me a long time to discover that, myself! :D
That's what I love about the show: it's jam-packed with all sorts of jokes and surprises that aren't readily apparent on that first viewing, that the show has ridiculous replay value!