Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I knew there would be at least a few reviews that dismissed the SciFi era in favor of the Comedy Central years. The arguments seem to center around the host segments, which, in my opinion, are hardly the most important part of the show. Yes, one gets to feel some attachment to the characters, but the premise of MST3K is people making fun of bad movies, and in my opinion the SciFi era represents the pinnacle of Best Brains' comic writing. First, I must admit that I didn't have Comedy Central until the ascendancy of South Park forced my cable provider to add it. We did, however, have the SciFi channel, for whatever reason. So I had to wait until the SciFi channel picked up MST3K before I could watch the show. So my association with MST3K consists primarily of these three years, though I have watched a number of the CC-era episodes now. There are really two different periods. Joel and Mike offered two kinds of humor. Joel--sleepy-eyed, laid-back Joel--was capable of the most intellectual, wise commentary, but it was generally reserved for the host segments. The skewering of the films was relatively friendly--even when the film was as punishing as "Manos: the Hands of Fate." Joel was the class clown who made fun of the teacher's presentation, but in a way that let the teacher know he didn't really mean any harm. The pop culture references in the Joel era tended to be somewhat dated and very geared toward a baby-boomer audience. But the "Mike" era changed that. Slowly, by degrees, the commentary began to sharpen to a razor edge. The references became more contemporary. The sarcasm was amped up, and this was probably what turned a lot of former MSTies off. The films were no longer joshed; they were skewered. Where Joel and the 'bots would often spend much of their time pretending to be characters making stupid or goofy remarks--essentially, allowing themselves to be drawn into the film, crappy as it was--Mike and the 'bots tended to comment more broadly on the action, the plot, the actors and the production values. This type of humor was much more appealing to me. My point of all this is that the whole Joel/Mike debates are not only divisive but pointless. The two hosts--and the eras they hosted--offer two arguably different senses of humor, and many people will prefer one or the other. But I think it's unfair to demand that Rhino produce DVDs from one era over another. I've been waiting for some SciFi-era DVDs for a long time, and these represent a tiny fraction of the DVDs published to date. Now, as for the episodes themselves--I must admit, "Hamlet" and "The Girl With the Golden Boots" are not two I would have chosen for the DVD. That said, both are amusing. But the real meat of this set are "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank" and "Space Mutiny." The former is a movie, made for public television, that inexplicably stars Raul Julia. It is very, very bad, and yet, watching it, one can't help but notice that it has a lot in common with "The Matrix." Both films deal with a world where computers control everything and a single programmer who must fight back; and both films are bad. (Ooh, that's going to cost me some "helpfuls"). But "Space Mutiny"...ah, Space Mutiny. So perfect. So unbelievably amusing. It's one of those films that must have written itself in the MST3K office. My favorite line: when the villain attempts to escape in what appears to be a cherried-out golf cart, and the heroes quickly board another one to give chase, Mike notes, "You could walk on your hands and catch up to the guy!" Personally I hope for more SciFi era releases..."Riding With Death," would be wonderful, as would "It Lives by Night" and the two Japanese superhero films, "Invasion of the Neptune Men" and "Prince of Space."