I’ll save you the trouble
Posted by Trixter on September 20, 2008
As I edit the NVScene video that I shot for nVidia/Demoscene.tv (technically I own the rights to the footage, but out of professional courtesy I am giving them a six-month exclusive license to it), I find myself with a lot of free time, because creating .WMV files for previews requires rendering, and rendering 1920×1080 footage on my hardware takes a very long time. So I’ve decided to pick another series I haven’t seen completely and watch every single episode in the downtime during the renders. I did this previously with Star Trek: Voyager and DS9. This time, I’ve chosen Mystery Science Theater 3000, including the early KTMA episodes. With nearly 200 shows, at 1.5 hours per show (minus commercials), this will take a while.
So, having gotten through 20 or so KTMA episodes and well into the first proper season, I am going to save you the trouble of watching the KTMA episodes: Don’t. Weinstein’s acting and riffing is just horrible, there is no invention exchange (my favorite part of the Joel episodes), and the movies aren’t bad enough to be funny, just bad. Which makes the whole experience incredibly boring. I watched them at night because I knew they would put me to sleep, which they did.
There are two KTMA episodes worth your time: SST Death Flight (for all of the cameos) and Hangar 18, which is silly in the first hour but neat sci-fi in the last 30 minutes. That’s right: I’m recommending those two episodes for the movies themselves. Watch those. Delete the others, and don’t look back. Start with the proper Season One and just try to ignore Weinstein until he’s gone.
Yes, I am being unnecessarily unfair to Weinstein.
Oldskooler Ramblings 
JasonT said
Are the early (or all?) episodes available for sale now? Or do we find them in the usual places?
Trixter said
The usual places. The complete series will never be available because of licensing issues with the movies being lampooned.
Mindbleach said
As much as I liked Josh and was dismayed when he was replaced by TV’s Frank, I have to agree. I love his character opposite Dr. Forrester, but he’s not a great writer and his adoration for ad-libbing is poorly founded.
Fortyseven said
I loved Hangar 18 growing up. Still do. It’s a fun flick. The alien voices on the ship and the symbols used to freak me out. The lead up to the ending rocks, with them slowly realizing there are more *on the way* moments before they blow the hell out of the hangar. (Doesn’t hurt that I’m a big Darren McGavin fan, either. ;D)
Trixter said
Amen, brother. I watched this film in the theater and loved it at the time — although I was about 10 years old, which probably helped :-)