The blanket I was marathon-knitting was for a bridal shower that actually happened 10 days ago. As I went radio-silent, I was actually frantically knitting every day when I got home from work trying to finish on time, and did make it through half of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 top ten list without writing anything up ... but frustratingly close to finishing (seriously I was 4 inches from the end), I had to face reality and accept that even if I finished the actual knitting, there was no way the blanket would actually dry in time after being washed and blocked. So it's now going to be a wedding gift, which means I have until the middle of June to finish it.
The good news is, I still have enough knitting to make continuing to watch and write about the top 100 episodes of MST3K worth it. The bad news is that I am now resting my hand and arm to prevent repetitive strain (no pain, but I am experiencing signs that I may have overdone it), so no more knitting for me for at least another week and a half.
I plan to write up the retrospectives for the top 50 and top 25, and then I will start watching again with the beginning of the top 10 since I didn't write anything about those and they all stand up to rewatching. I may put one or two up before the knitting hiatus is over while folding laundry. Then it's back to the blanket and some sort of regular schedule!
I knit a little bit more during virtual DnD on Friday before deciding it was too soon, so I have 4 remaining pattern rows left, an I-chord bind off, and then picking up stitches along the cast-on row and doing another I-chord bind off there because I didn't realize I was going to want one and therefore didn't do an I-chord cast on. Then it's just weave in ends, wash, and block.
Here's how close I got to the end before I finally stopped knitting and gave up on finishing on time for the shower:
MST3Knitathon, watching the top 100 episodes of Mystery Science Theater from bottom to top while knitting:
A list of the Top 100 Episodes of MST3K was compiled based on a survey taken of backers of the Bring Back MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 campa
75. Episode 701 Night of the Blood Beast
Content warning: there’s a number of jokes about Wilbur the guardian angel reading as very queer-coded.
Summary: We start with the short, Once Upon a Honeymoon, which is one of the kookiest they’ve ever done. Wilbur, a hip but clumsy guardian angel is sent down to help Jeff and Mary, a couple who’s year-delayed honeymoon is in danger of getting cancelled when Jeff’s boss calls to demand that Jeff rewrite the melody to one of their big songs so the picky prima donna will sign the show contract. As Mary fights her outdated kitchen to make coffee for a stalled Jeff, Wilbur inspires her to go into a big musical fantasy number about redecorating her entire house with modern fashions, including a brightly colored telephone in each room to match the decor. Later, as Mary tries to dial Jeff’s boss to tell him the song isn’t working, Wilbur blesses the telephone and Jeff realizes that speeding up his existing melody to match the tempo of the rotary phone clicking will fix everything. The honeymoon is saved!
In the movie proper, it’s … an mpreg retread of It Conquered the World? An alien hitches a ride to Earth on a satellite, it stops all electrical power including self-contained systems like cars and wristwatches, scientists argue about whether it’s coming will help or hurt mankind, and at the end, the pro-alien scientist switches sides and causes its downfall. The “bullets won’t hurt it but fire does” is even the same. In this one, the satellite was manned and the astronaut implanted with something that exists first as foreign particles in his blood, then coalesces into shrimp-like aliens incubating in his body. The other NASA scientists immediately want to kill the creature that implanted him, but the infested astronaut has a psychic bond with the creature and insists that it means no harm and they should talk to it first. It speaks to them in the voice of an older doctor it killed earlier in the film, but when the astronaut hears its plan to save humanity by having the offspring bond with everyone, he realizes that it means to sacrifice human civilization to rebuild its own. The astronaut stabs himself to kill the space babies, and the other scientists kill the alien with fire. (The NASA scientists have wanted to kill it with fire for the whole movie, because that’s how they naturally react to first contact). ((The creature in this one is a charbroiled parrot thing.)) (((Only six people work at NASA)))((((This is also a Roger Corman film that came out the same year as the other one.))))
MST3K lore or notable moments: one of each! The short is one of their most notorious delightfully weird ones and deserves a watch on its own even if you don’t watch the whole episode. And this episode is I think the only? - one to premiere during a Turkey Day marathon. Every year, MST3K did and does a marathon during US Thanksgiving with recorded bumpers that, during the cable days usually, involved an ongoing plot about the characters celebrating Thanksgiving and/or reacting to the marathon. (Dr. F always seems to think that getting large numbers of people to watch his experiment during the marathon will result in him taking over the world somehow.) So this episode was filmed with two different sets of sketches - ones that continued the Turkey Day storyline, for initial broadcast, and ones about the movie, for reruns. In the Turkey Day sketches, Dr. Forrester’s mother, Pearl (introduced as a one-off guest character in season 6), has come to visit, but before ascending to second banana heaven, Frank had invited a bunch of guest characters from past episodes over to Thanksgiving, and Dr. F has to unexpectedly host. Pearl Forrester calls Crow “Art” and seems to know him, which will remain a running gag that is never explained. (Having now watched it, I think it’s somewhat ambiguous whether she does actually know Crow as someone named Art somehow, or whether she’s mistaken him for someone else and Crow is masterfully playing along.) In the end, Pearl helps Dr. F poison his irritating guests, but also announces her intent to stay with him indefinitely until he can get his life together. The regular sketches establish the dynamic between Pearl and Clayton as Pearl takes her place as one of the official Mads for the first time.
What do I think about it’s place on the list? It’s really a shame that Dr. and Mrs. F only got one season to run the experiment together, because Mary Jo Pehl is so note-perfect right from the get go as this toxic, overbearing, bingo-loving mother figure. When Pearl Forrester has to transition to main mad scientist in the SciFi seasons instead of playing off the dynamic with her son it’s, in my opinion, a bit more hit or miss. Both sets of sketches are very good and the episode is strong, but not quite strong enough for me not to mildly regret my decision to watch the episode twice with the different sketches instead of just watching the Turkey Day sketches as a compilation on YouTube. But a good top 75, especially with that amazing short.
Update: @punchdrunkklovesickk came in clutch in the replies with info about Pearl calling Crow "Art:"
ALSO!!! I CAN EXPLAIN THE THING PEARL DOES WITH CALLING CROW ART SOMETIMES!
so basically! during an older joel era letter read (i believe it was jungle goddess?), joel and the bots do a send up of an older sitcom whose name i cant remember rn. this send up involved calling the bots by the actors on that old sitcom - crow gets introduced as "art crow." i cant name the next episode offhand (ik its a joel one) but there was a letter read from a kid who saw that end sketch, thought crow's name was art, and called him such in their fanmail. why best brains called back to this in later seasons idk
Welcome to MST3Knitathon, my attempt to finish knitting an afghan in time to give it as a gift in an upcoming bridal shower while watching the fan-voted top 100 episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 in reverse order from bottom to top.
A list of the Top 100 Episodes of MST3K was compiled based on a survey taken of backers of the Bring Back MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 campa
24. Episode 908 The Touch of Satan
Summary: Someone made half of a potentially good movie, but instead of finishing it, just filled in the blanks with a lot of portentous pauses. In the 1970s, Jodie, a young man taking a gap-year road trip while he decides whether to follow his father into law practice or pursue another trade, drifts on to a walnut farm where he meets beautiful Melissa, her parents Molly and Luther, and her mysterious great-grandmother Lucinda who carries a doll like a child, has facial burn scars, and secretly sneaks out of the house to murder people with farm implements. But actually, Melissa and Lucinda are sisters, both over 120 years old. When they were teenagers, plague came to their town and a mob tried to burn Lucinda as a witch, prompting Melissa to sell her soul to the devil for the power to save her sister, and she has lived with this terrible secret ever since. Who, then, are Molly and Luther (since they are not the girls' parents), and what is their relationship to Melissa and Lucinda? The movie never tells us. Was Lucinda ever actually a witch, since Melissa is the only one who seems to have powers? The movie never tells us. Are the secret murders related to the witchcraft, and if so, how? The movie never tells us. What does Melissa mean in the beginning of the movie when she tells Luther that there's "a way" to stop the murders, given that she seems to be the one keeping Lucinda protected, and why does Lucinda tell Jodie to "go away" when she's the one attacking people? The movie never tells us. At the end, Lucinda knocks over an oil lamp while attacking Jodie and Melissa finally lets her burn. Repentance will not get Melissa her soul back, but sex with Jodie somehow does. But when this causes her to decay rapidly to her true age, Jodie sells his soul to restore her youth, and the cycle begins anew. Given this sequence of events, and the heavy featuring of Amazing Grace in the soundtrack, there's a potential for this movie to be saying something about grace. What is it? Instead of adding scenes to address or clarify any of these questions, the movie just pads time by making all the actors take significant pauses before reacting to or saying anything.
MST3K lore or notable moments: Pearl is away on vacation this episode, so the MST3K costume and prop mistress guest stars as Bobo and Brain Guy's babysitter Steffi, who thinks that Brain Guy is a toddler and Bobo is a dog. We hear her over the closing credits admonishing Bobo not to bark.
What do I think about its place on the list? This was a tricky one for me, because simultaneously I like the episode - it was a good riff, the jokes successfully keep the movie from dragging, and I liked the Steffi sketches - but I also feel like top 25 is too high. It just doesn't seem as iconic as the episodes that have preceded it, event the ones that I said were not as beloved by me as their fan favorite status would suggest. Top 50 but not top 25 is where I would probably place it. (It did, interestingly, feel like kind of a throwback in terms of the style of the show - we're in the middle of the SciFi era here, but for some reason the riff had Comedy Central vibes for me, which was interesting.) What do you all think?
We've got to go back to multiple episodes a day if I'm going to finish this blanket on time here at MSt3Knitathon, my attempt to knit a whole lot in a short amount of time while watching the fan-voted top 100 episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 from bottom to top:
A list of the Top 100 Episodes of MST3K was compiled based on a survey taken of backers of the Bring Back MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 campa
20. Episode 813 Jack Frost
Summary: This is an amalgamation of several traditional Slavic fairy and folktales that have been edited and reworked to follow one plotline. Sweet and beautiful young Nastenka is forced by her cruel stepmother to do all the chores in her household so that her stepsister Marfushka can be idle and spoiled - she is also given impossible tasks and unreasonable timelines so that her stepmother will have an excuse to punish her by yanking on her braid, out of resentment that Nastenka is more beautiful than Marfushka. But Nastenka is so kind and obedient and polite that the very sun and flowers will help her if only she asks nicely. When the men and mothers of the village want to arrange marriages with Nastenka (whom they can tell does all the cooking, cleaning, and textile work) instead of lazy Marfushka, the stepmother commands her henpecked husband to leave his daughter in the woods to freeze - but she is so polite to Grandfather Frost that instead of freezing her to death, he takes her to his own house to warm up.
Meanwhile, Ivan the widow's son is handsome and mythologically strong, but also arrogant and boastful. When he refuses to thank a generous forest spirit for a present, Grandfather Mushroom curses him to have a bear's head until his character changes. He runs around doing good deeds, but none of them count because his motives are selfish.
Ivan and Nastenka met in the woods before any of this happened and fell in love at first sight, so when Ivan finally breaks the curse in a moment of unselfish kindness, he sets out to find her again. He finds Baba Yaga (translated in the dub as "the hunchbacked fairy")'s hut and torments her for information until she leads him to Jack Frost's house, but she sends her wicked cat ahead of him to trick Nastenka into touching Frost's magic scepter that freezes her instantly. Ivan's true love melts her back again, and Grandfather Frost gives her treasures and jewels for a dowry. Seeing what's happened, the stepmother sends her own daughter out into the woods, but she's rude to Grandfather Frost, so he insultingly sends her back on a pig sled with crows for a dowry. This public humiliation cows the stepmother enough for her husband to regain ascendancy in the house, and after Ivan wins one last battle with Baba Yaga and her bandits, he and Nastenka are wed and live happily ever after.
MST3K lore or notable moments: Pearl is still absent for the first part of the episode on her trip to return the space children to their parents as we saw in episode 812, and Mike *very nearly* tricks Brain Guy into taking his place in the theater while acting as mediator for him and Bobo.
What do I think about its place on the list? When I finally finish watching all the episodes on the list, I plan to write out my own list of what I think are the ten best Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes. I want to finish watching first in case anything changes my mind on rewatch, but I have about 5-7 episodes pretty firmly picked out and ranked and a few others in contention for the remaining spots. This is one of my contenders for the top ten list. It's a *really* good episode. The sketches on the Satellite of Love are disappointingly weak, but the Bobo and Brain Guy stuff is pretty funny, it's a hilarious riff (I love Tom responding to the rooster crows with, "Peter's denying everyone today," and the Tom Bombadil jokes re: Grandfather Mushroom), and this is one of best films they've ever done. If I had to watch an MST3K movie un-MSTed, this is the one I would be choosing, hands down. (It is, however, not such a good movie that it feels like when Rifftrax decided to riff Casablanca; there's fair stuff to make fun of here.) I think this episode would have been higher in the first place if the other Russo-Finnish episodes hadn't split the vote. So this definitely belongs higher up, and might actually belong in the top ten, but I'll have to see if my opinions change between now and when I write out the list as I keep watching more episodes. What do you all think?
I'm continuing to knit this blanket and continuing to watch the fan-voted top 100 episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 from bottom to top while I do so. Welcome to MST3Knitathon, just in time for
A list of the Top 100 Episodes of MST3K was compiled based on a survey taken of backers of the Bring Back MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 campa
23. Episode 513 The Brain That Wouldn't Die
Content Warning: Sadly, this is another episode with some transphobic riffs, as the riffers decide that one of the women in the strip club looks like a man in drag and make jokes about it. At least she only appears in one scene. (Also, the movie's whole vibe is kind of gross.)
Summary: In what's possibly the sleaziest movie they've ever done, a young doctor whose experiments in preserving human tissue for the purposes of limb and organ transplants have perhaps already gone too far accidentally decapitates his fiancee in a car accident on the way to the country house where he conducts his secret experiments. Preserving her head in a tray of his new "serum," he now has 50 hours to save the woman he loves by locating a suitable female victim and transplanting Jan's head onto her body. Most of the movie is occupied with the camera leering at his potential victims as he tries to pick out the body he wants to have sex with while it wears his future wife's head. Gross! Meanwhile, the conscious and horrified remains of Jan grows bitter and resentful over her unnaturally extended life, and she forms a psychic bond with a "thing" that was formed from an amalgamation of amputated limbs that her fiance tested earlier versions of his serum on and that he now keeps locked in a closet, vowing that together they can exact revenge on both the doctor who created them and his assistant, a former surgeon who lost his dominant hand in an accident and is hoping the experiments will lead to a successful arm transplant that will allow him to resume his calling.
MST3K lore or notable moments: It's Mike's first episode as host! In the previous episode (we will get to it in the top ten), Joel escaped from the Satellite of Love and the Mads replaced him with their temp worker Mike in order to continue the experiment. Since then, Tom and Crow have been training Mike for his first experiment by making him watch Night of the Lepus (I bet Rifftrax has covered that) and The Beast of Yucca Flats (which will be featured in the following season, voted #63 on the top 100 list). Between film segments, Mike tries and fails to gain control of the ship, but does sweetly promise not to escape without the bots, who feel kind of abandoned by Joel. We are also introduced to recurring guest character Jan in the Pan, played by Mary Jo Pehl.
What do I think about its place on the list? Everyone has their own "your mileage may vary reaction" to when a movie is too grating to be enjoyed even with a good riff. Mine was always Mitchell, and I've never rewatched it for that reason, so I'm interested to see whether or not I feel the same when we get to it in the top ten. I know this one is a fan favorite for many people and too irredeemable to enjoy for many others - I am in the fan favorite camp. Aside from the bit in the content warning, the riff is very good (shout out to Tom's "sexy" listing of the dinner specials during the exotic dance scene), I love the little bits at the beginning where the bots are complimenting Mike for making his first jokes as host, Mike and the bots complaining about how creepy the main character is helps me laugh at the grossness of the movie rather than be skeeved out by it, and I love Jan in the Pan - both Mary Jo Pehl's rendition and in the movie itself, where I think I'm supposed to view her cackling delight at her revenge as evidence that being a disembodied head has turned her evil, but I think her telling the closet creature to save her would-be body donor from the fire at the end (we don't hear her do so, but I interpret it as happening under her influence rather than of the closet creature's own initiative) shows that she's still a good person outside of her rightly motivated vindictiveness at the men keeping her alive against her expressed wishes. Do not override a DNR! Really fun episode, great first showing for Mike, absolute classic - I understand why some fans have a different take, but for me, top 25 for sure!
I have 5 weeks to finish (and block) this blanket before the bridal shower, so MST3Knitathon, my attempt to finish my knitting while marathoning the fan-voted top 100 episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 is back on schedule, with
A list of the Top 100 Episodes of MST3K was compiled based on a survey taken of backers of the Bring Back MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 campa
38. Episode 519 Outlaw (of Gor)
Summary: Cabot, an Earth professor who has had a previous adventure in the leathery sword-and-sandals fantasy world of Gor, is called back there by a magic ring where he is greeted as a returning hero and reunites with his true love, Princess Talena. Unfortunately, he has accidentally brought along his annoying colleague, Whatney-Smith. Cabot was recalled to Gor by the Elder who suspects the High Priest (played by Jack Palance) of conniving against the king, but before he or Cabot can do anything about it, the sexy young queen seduces Whatney-Smith into giving her an alibi while she murders the king and sort of lazily frames Cabot for it by accusing him without evidence. The queen and the priest start arguing about their coup, and it becomes clear that while the dead good king wanted to end slavery in Gor, the sexy new queen wants to make it even worse! Cabot and a little person friend of his from the first adventure wander around the desert in too little clothing for a while before getting captured and forced to fight to the death, but the annoying Whatney-Smith saves them at the last minute by accusing the queen without evidence of murdering her husband, which changes everyone's minds. Cabot stays in Gor to marry Talena and become the new king, while a dazed and confused Whatney-Smith is dropped back into a modern city.
MST3K lore or notable moments: There are two notable sketches in Mike' and the bots' Fabio costumes (used in promotions a lot), and their montage of all the "buffalo shots" in the movie. (The song about all the flesh on display in this movie is very fun too, but I don't know if I'd call it notable. They had lots of good songs.)
What do I think about its place on the list? Full disclosure, I've been avoiding watching this one for a while because I knew the movie was based on the Gor novels, an infamous bondage-kink series where the world-building is that in Gor, all women are bound in sexual slavery to men. (I have not read any, but the books were being made fun of a lot back when I first started being on the internet, and I formed an impression.) But now that I'm forced to watch it, it's actually pretty fun! The (specifically) sexual slavery stuff is either cut or so deeply backgrounded that it only comes up in one scene solely for Carter to vow that he's going to end the practice, and the movie comes out slightly sexier, but not really any kinkier, than any other sword-and sandals-epic. Instead, it's a very strong example of a so-bad-it's good movie - totally inept but pretty fun to watch, with a great riff and fantastic sketches throughout. (I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I find seasons 3-6, between Mike Nelson becoming head writer and Frank Conniff leaving, to be this incredible sweet spot where the show just tends to be consistently firing on all cylinders no matter who's hosting, and this episode is no exception.) I don't know if it's in my personal top 40 episodes of all time, but it's definitely a top tier episode!
During this episode, I managed to finally refold and put away everything from a Marie Kondo-ing of my T-shirts, that have been draped across my armchair for the past 2+ weeks. This is why she recommends laying everything out on the bed that you sleep in so that you have to put it away before bedtime. Welcome back to MST3Knitlaundryfoldathon, where we're watching the fan voted top-100 episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 in reverse order while doing whatever needs to be done. Everybody sing along! 🎶Pumaman, he flies like a moron!🎵
A list of the Top 100 Episodes of MST3K was compiled based on a survey taken of backers of the Bring Back MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 campa
6. Episode 903 Pumaman
Summary: Centuries ago, ancient aliens visited the Aztec empire and were worshiped as gods, and left them with two symbols of protection for both the Aztec people and all humanity: a high-tech golden mask that can psychologically control people, and their own genetic material in the form of the Pumaman, a part-human son of the "gods" who inherited superhuman abilities from them and would pass these powers on to his own son, creating an unbroken line of protectors throughout the ages. Why didn't the Pumaman protect the Aztecs from colonization? ̄\_(ツ)_/ ̄ In the modern day (1970s), the golden mask has been stolen from the Aztec temple and fallen into the hands of a bad guy played by veteran Bond villain Donald Pleasence, who intends to use it to control world leaders and decide the course of global politics. Why did the alien gods who (we later learn) don't intervene in human affairs because they want all men to be free and masters of themselves give the Aztecs a mind-control mask in the first place? ̄\_(ツ)_/ ̄ Knowing that the current Pumaman is the only one who can stop his evil plan, Donald Pleasence attempts to find and eliminate him by throwing potential candidates out windows to see who falls like a cat. Meanwhile, the high priest of the remaining Aztec temple contacts the actual Pumaman, an American (part-Aztec?) paleontologist living in London who knows nothing of his heritage or his late father's superheroic identity. How did his dad, the previous Pumaman, die so early given all his supernatural powers, and why was his son raised in ignorance? ̄\_(ツ)_/ ̄ The high priest explains that Tony already has the powers of a puma: to fall gracefully, see in the dark, instinctively sense danger, and possess the strength of a great cat. Then he gives him a belt to enhance his powers that allows him to fly, astral project, and walk through walls. You know, like a puma. Can the high priest teach the whiny paleontologist how to control his powers in time to stop Donald Pleasence's plans for world domination? (Also, why wasn't he the real hero of this movie?)
MST3K lore or notable moments: The makers of this film did not seem to know how to use the flight harness they were able to get their hands on properly, so Pumaman in flight flails about like an idiot. It's laughably unconvincing and really puts even the oldest and cheapest Superman effects into perspective as successful endeavors. It's one of the most well-remembered and iconic moments from the show.
[Edit: Also, another visit from Ortega, who visits the castle to watch Sliders with Brain Guy]
What do I think about its place on the list? I'll have to wait for the ones coming up next in the list to see if I change my mind, but Pumaman might be my favorite episode of the SciFi Channel era. It's got everything - a goofy movie, fun sketches, one of their top-notch riffs, Donald Pleasence, "each man is a god, each man is free" ... fantastic! Love the Prince Valiant-ish "Aztec" costumes, the silly special effects, that ridiculous soundtrack, the way our hero fumbles everything and has to be pushed and pulled through the adventure by the much more competent Aztec priest. And the riff is funny throughout, with special love for every time they sing along with the absolutely absurd sound track, and the "like a puma" whenever Pumaman gets a new bonkers power. And the Coatimundi Man sketch, which didn't quite make it into the notables, but is both a highly accurate takedown of the movie and a super-run bit. I could watch this episode on repeat. It's probably making it into my top 5, but therefore arguing with a top 6 placement would be quibbling in the extreme.
I forgot how time-consuming an I-chord bindoff is over here on MST3Knitathon, my attempt to finally finish this blanket while watching the fan-voted top 100 episodes of the original run of Mystery Science Theater 3000 in reverse order from bottom to top. We've finally reached the top ten!
A list of the Top 100 Episodes of MST3K was compiled based on a survey taken of backers of the Bring Back MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 campa
10. Episode 821 Time Chasers
Summary: In 1991 Vermont, a college physics professor (whose actor desperately wants to be Richard Dreyfuss and is not) has invented a device that can take a light engine plane backward or forward in time. Having run out of funding, he tricks an executive from a major technology company and a reporter for the local paper into coming along on a demonstration flight to 50 years into the future so that he can trade access to his technology for a research grant. But when he and the reporter return to the future on a date, they find that whatever the CEO has done with the time travel technology has turned the future city into a post-apocolyptic wasteland! Unable to regain control of his invention due to laws around eminent domain of potential military tech, inventor and reporter head back in time to stop his past self from giving the demonstration. The evil CEO follows to violently prevent them from changing the past, and what follows is theoretically a race through time to prevent or preserve the development of time travel technology. In reality, it's just a bunch of pointless, drawn-out action scenes between each step of plot trying to draw everything out to movie length.
MST3K lore or notable moments: Inspired by the movie, Crow travels back to 1985 to convince young Mike to stop taking temp jobs and focus on his band so that he never winds up in Deep 13 and Dr. F and TV's Frank don't get the chance to shoot him into space. But back on the Satellite, Mike has been replaced by his crude older brother Eddie, who bullies the bots and reveals Mike's tragic early death on stage, bludgeoned by hotel keys thrown by over-enthusiastic female fans. Crow must go back again to undo what he changed, but "Eddie's" in the theater for a bit while this is going on, and Pearl points out at the end that all the time travel shenanigans have left one iteration of Crow in 1985. (Is this how he became Art and met Pearl pre-series?) (Also, Brain Guy attempts a joke by breaking into the movie credits with a fake promo for "Observer News," before rapidly losing all confidence in the bit and breaking down to apologize for it.)
What I think about its place on the list? I really liked the bookend sketches of Mike visiting Pearl in the van like they're Midwestern neighbors coming over to each other's stoops. Extremely fun Mike-and-Pearl dynamic! And the Observer cutting in to the movie credits was a delight! I don't think anything in the "Crow goes back in time" plot actually made me laugh, but it was a reasonably fun and entertaining storyline, and it was interesting watching "Eddie" in the theater segments. (Though I go back and forth between thinking that they could have done even more with the contrast between "Eddie's" style of riffing and Mike's, or if making the contrast starker would have been too jarring over the length of time that "Eddie" was in the theater.) As for the movie, it has something of a sweet community theater vibe to it as the number of locations they were able to film in and the number of extras moving through scenes show a lot of local support behind the film (and the sheer number of people and groups they had to thank!) But unfortunately, the movie can't seem to do anything with the resources that it does have. The movie gets potentially interesting in a couple of places - once where past timeline Lisa and Nick start investigating the time anomalies caused by their future selves trying to reach them, and Lisa's own body is identified in the wreckage of the plane crash she's reporting on. If the script had figured out a way to make the latter half of the movie focus more on the past timeline characters trying to put together what was going on, with past!Lisa using her investigative reporter skills to try to discern what both the villain and their future selves were doing in order to help effect events and past!Nick learning from his future self's mistakes, that immediately would have improved things. The second time it gets potentially fun is when the CEO decides to take future!Nick back to the American Revolution to kill him so that his body blends in among the war dead and its discovery doesn't cause any paradoxes, and a whole slew of Revolutionary War re-enactors who've definitely supplied their own props and costumes show up. When the citizens and officials of Rutland, Vermont give you a veritable army of historically accurate Minute Men, do something with them (besides padding)! They don't even get to shoot the bad guy! I want that man taking a musketball to the shoulder! Which yes, is all great riffing fodder (I especially love Tom Servo doing the countdown along with timer and having to keep going back because they are stretching out the seconds), but this is still the first top ten episode that I'm going to call over-rated. It's a good episode of MST3K - in some moments it's a great episode of MST3K! - but compared to the rest of the top 10 list, or even to everything else that made the top 15, this is the comparatively most forgettable episode. If you watch this episode, you'll probably enjoy it, but I can't really say that there's anything particular you would miss if you skip this one. (There's Eddie in the theater, but we had Pearl in the theater during Quest of the Delta Knights and that only made it to 62 on the list.) The extra Crow lore and Brain Guy's fun break in to the theater just isn't enough to make this one the tenth best MST3K episode of all time (pre-Netflix). At least, not in my opinion. What do you all think? Is this anyone's particular favorite, and if so, what are the things about it that you love that I'm missing?
