EWB's Favorite MST3K Episodes - The Voting Thread

[Josh]

You're on EWB, so there's two safe bets: You like lists. You like MST3K.

Let's put the two together.

The self-explanatory instructions:

- List your TEN favorite episodes of MST3K.

- They can be ordered 1-10 or vice versa, but do order them - based on whatever criteria you choose.

- Include as much info as you please, but at a minimum include the episode title. No "the one with the funny nicknames of the space guy" please.

- Just to be clear, we'll only be considering the nationally broadcast episodes and the feature film as candidates. I'm leaving out the KTMA episodes for multiple reasons, including a) most people have never seen/heard of them, b) I doubt many people would include them anyway, and c) it would be nice to be able to watch the winning episodes when the list is done. Most of the KTMA episodes are impossible to find, in any form.

- Don't include the shorts as independent entries. They should be among the overall reasons you include an episode.

Need help remembering/refreshing/reviewing? Try this here handy episode guide.

I'll post my list of ten before the day is done. Voting continues until it seems everyone who wishes to has done so.

Or maybe we'll find out that only 2 or 3 of us care to do this.

Whaddya think, sirs?

[GoGo Yubari]

Oh jeez, this'll be rough for me. My top three or four is easy and then it gets hazy.

1. Manos: The Hands of Fate (w/ Hired! Part 2)

2. Pumaman

3. Overdrawn at the Memory Bank

4. This Island Earth

5. The Wild World of Batwoman

6. Prince of Space

7. Red Zone Cuba

8. Squirm (w/ Spring Fever, this is the important part)

9. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

10. Hobgoblins

As you can tell, I'm more of a Mike guy. I got into MST3K via early morning reruns on Sci-Fi, so a lot of my exposure to it (I generally only watch a couple episodes a year) came from those last couple seasons; Hobgoblins is in pretty much on the strength of the section where Mike and the Bots hate the movie so much they replace themselves with bad automated recordings ("That sure is a bad movie, won't you?" "It sure is you know!"). Nothing beats Manos, though.

[MalaCloudy Black]

1. Horrors of Spider Island

2. Manos: The Hands of Fate

3. I Was A Teenage Werewolf

4. Horror of Party Beach

5. Hobgoblins

6. The Screaming Skull (w/ Robot Rumpus)

7. Squirm (w/ Spring Fever)

8. The Dead Talk Back

9. Code Name: Diamond Head (w/ A Day At The Fair)

I included the Screaming Skull pretty much purely for the Robot Rumpus short. One of my favourites. Same reason "Squirm" is on there. That episode isn't bad or anything, but I really like the Spring Fever short.

[GoGo Yubari]

Oh yeah, jeez. Might have to drop Monster A Go-Go now on the grounds of Spring Fever being hysterical.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Yeah, it's great.

"Well, I still won't have to fix the couch, so eat me!"

[Sousa]

Hell. I'm going to finish this later, I know it.

1. Overdrawn at the Memory Bank

2. Space Mutiny

3. Quest of the Delta Knights

4. Hercules vs. The Moon Men (DEEEEEEEEEP HUUUUUUUUUUUURTIIIIIIIIIIIIING)

5. Hobgoblins

6. This Island Earth

7. Pumaman

8. Danger: Diabolik

9. The Final Sacrifice

10. Prince of Space

[Hobo]

Firstly, this is a list I can get behind because even though I only properly discovered MST3k last year (I'd seen the movie once late at night on ITV and hadn't bothered to check out the show until a several years later), it is now probably one of my favorite things ever.

1. Season 5, Episode 12 - Mitchell.

Many reasons, Mike arrives and Joe Don Baker gets torn to shreds. My particular favorite riff is Servo singing 'My, my, my, apartment' to the Mitchell theme at the end.

2. Season 4, Episode 24 - "Manos": The Hands of Fate.

This movie is so damned painful I can't sit through the episode without stopping for breaks. But It's probably my favorite of the Joel era.

3. Season 9, Episode 3 - The Pumaman.

There are going to be a lot of later MSTs on this list. Partially because I love Bill Corbett's Crow. Plus, the movie has Donald Pleasance and a hero 'with the power to rear-project major cities!'.

4. Season 9, Episode 10 - The Final Sacrifice.

ROWSDOWER. That is all.

5. Season 9, Episode 4 - Werewolf.

Joe Estevez gets told to get out of the movie and one of the characters has a constantly changing hairstyle. Plus 'Dictator for Life - Santa!'.

6. Season 8, Episode 20 - Space Mutiny.

A large bearded captain, a villain named after something you put in your dishwasher. 'She's presenting like a mandrill!'

7. Season 9, Episode 16 - Prince of Space.

I like it very much!

8. Season 3, Episode 10 - Fugitive Alien.

He tried to kill me with a forklift!

9. Season 10, Episode 1 - Soultaker.

Evil Joe Estevez! Plus Joel and TV's Frank show up!

10. Season 5, Episode 6 - Eeegah!

Purely for 'Watch out for snakes!' and Richard Kiel.

This was harder than I thought, also, I realize I have not seen very much of season 4 outside of Manos.

[The Brian J]

1) Pumaman

2) Prince of Space

3) Overdrawn at the Memory Bank

4) Parts - The Clonus Horror

5) Werewolf

6) Santa Claus

7) The Brain That Wouldn't Die

8) The Undead

9) Future War

10) The Deadly Mantis

This list was incredibly difficult to put together, because I was raised on this show. My dad had, and still has, tons of tapes of it that we would watch when I was a kid.

[Josh]

When I started this thread, I thought 10 choices may be too many. Then I made my initial list. I had 37 choices. This was pretty hard.

In the end I tried to a) somewhat balance the Mike and Joel episodes (overall, I tend to prefer Mike, but some of the Joel episodes are far too classic to leave out); b) judge episodes based on the combined strength of theatre segments, host segments, classic moments, and repeated viewings; and c) include some "deep cuts" episodes that might otherwise not get any mentions here, yet deserve some recognition. Hence, no Space Mutiny (shock! horror!)

1. Werewolf (Season 9)

This episode can simply do no wrong. Absolutely flawless - the episode, that is. The film is riddled with flaws. (Note that I ultimately felt okay leaving out Space Mutiny because this one is here. They fit into virtually the same mold for me. Plus, I assume Space Mutiny will get a ton of votes without me.)

2. Danger! Death Ray (Season 6)

This almost took number one. It's definitely my favorite of the "deep cuts", and is easily the most under-appreciated episode in the entire run. It's only number 2 because Werewolf has so much more "iconic" material.

3. Pod People (Season 3)

To me, this is the very best of the Joel episodes. It's also probably the best example of an episode that could be great just on the strength of the host segments.

4. The Beast of Yucca Flats (Season 6)

The best (worst?) of the Coleman Francis films (my favorite bad filmmaker from the whole run of the show), great host segments, and TWO phenomenal short films.

5. "Manos" The Hands of Fate (Season 4)

This one is just unavoidable. It's the most iconic of the Joel episodes, and perhaps the most iconic episode of the series. Plus, it really is that funny.

6. Santa Claus (Season 5)

Some people will think it sacrilege, but of the two Christmas episodes, this one is my favorite (though I love Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.) This is just one of the most incredibly "out there" episodes they did, plus the riffing and host segments are top-notch.

7. Mitchell (Season 5)

It marks the great transition from Joel to Mike. Plus it's a movie that's more subtle in its ineptness (it's not sci-fi, horror, fantasy, etc.), making the incredibly funny riffing that much more admirable. Impressive send-off for Joel, and great introduction to Mike.

8. The Final Sacrifice (Season 9)

This one's become a classic for most people, and all of the usual reasons could be mentioned here. However for me, above all else, this episode is on the list because of two words: Mike. Pipper.

9. Future War (Season 10)

Another deep cut, this time from the latest part of the series. It's not mentioned as a classic the way that Manos, Werewolf, Space Mutiny, etc. are, and it really should be. The blatant ineptitude on display here is just fucking mind-numbing, and not in a "we're being tongue-in-cheek here" way like Hobgoblins. These people really thought they were making something good.

10. Warrior of the Lost World (Season 5)

I think I partly put this one here because of my love for old references that I almost get, but not quite. Plus, a handful of all-time best riffs are here.

I would do a list of honorable mentions, but there would be TWENTY SEVEN of them.

Watch the series. It's incredibly hard to find a flat-out bad episode.

[Your Mom]

This is going to take me a bit to figure out because I know them more for the moments then the movie names but I am for sure working on this. I'm actually watching Devil Fish right now.

[Skummy]

1. Pod People

"Potatoes".

2. Space Mutiny

"Roll Fizzlebeef!"

3. Manos: The Hands Of Fate

Torgo!

4. Fugitive Alien

"He tried to kill me with a forklift!"

5. Godzilla vs. Megalon

6. This Island Earth

7. Warrior Of The Lost World

8. Santa Claus Vs. The Martians

9. Zombie Nightmare

10. Attack Of The Eye Creatures

[Maxx]

1. Prince of Space

2. Jack Frost

3. Space Mutiny

4. Hobgoblins

5. Riding With Death

6. Mitchell

7. Devil Doll

8. The Incredible Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Mixed-Up Zombie

9. This Island Earth

10. Pumaman

[Josh]

This is going to take me a bit to figure out because I know them more for the moments then the movie names but I am for sure working on this. I'm actually watching Devil Fish right now.

I KNOW!

[Josh]

I'll leave this up a couple more days, on the off chance that someone like Srar still wants to vote.

Then I'll make our list that's longer than the number of voters.

[VinnyT]

Like... only 2 Pod People votes?! Dammit.

1. Pod People (Oh, little potatoes, they look so good. Oh,winged potatoes! This potato has long ears! Stop kitty, that's my snout!)

2. The Final Sacrifice (Rowsdower...so is that a stupid name or...)

3. Space Mutiny (Put your helmets on Men, we'll be reaching speeds of 3!)

4. This Island Earth (And if your hands were made of metal that would mean something)

5. Invasion U.S.A. (only here because of A Date With Your Family: Dad, I'm dating a negro!)

6. Manos: The Hands of Fate (Um, where's my dog-You never had a dog!)

7. Overdrawn at the Memory Bank (Pure Raul Julia love)

8. The Wild World of Batwomen (Boring as hell, but it gets a spot solely for: EEEEEEEEEND! EEEEEEEEND! EEEEEEEEEEEEEND!)

9. Fugitive Alien (...This is the song, Rocky and Ken! He tried to kill me with a forklift! HUZZAH!

10. Mitchel (You know, losing a car doesn't work when you use your TURN SIGNALS) (Or something like that. It's been awhile)

Edited February 10, 2011 by VinnyT

[Skummy]

My girlfriend and I say "winged potatoes" on a daily basis. This thread needs more love for Pod People.

[Josh]

Last call!

[Not Henry Cavill]

1. Hercules against the Moon Men

2. Killer Shrews

3. This Island Earth

4. Space Mutiny

5. Overdrawn at the Memory Bank

6. Hercules Unchained

7. Manos: The Hands of Fate

8. Prince of Space

9. Mitchell

10. The Final Sacrifice

[Josh]

I'm always amazed when people have good things to say about the Hercules episodes. They're so hard for me to get through.

[GoGo Yubari]

I've only watched one all the way through (I think Hercules Unchained) and I couldn't stand it. But I watched the first ten minutes of Hercules Unchained and I did love DEEEEEEP HURTIIIIIIIIING.