MovieChat Forums > Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988) Discussion > Movies You Saw Before MST3K, and After

Movies You Saw Before MST3K, and After

posted 5 years ago by Sandman81 (1510)
4 replies | jump to latest

What movies did you see before they were riffed on MST3K? And which ones did you end up seeing after? And what did you think of those movies in their regular versions?

Before:
Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster, and Megalon. I'm a big Godzilla fan, and always enjoyed both these, but they both definitely lends themselves to ridicule.

After:
Time Chasers: Caught this on HBO a few years after it was riffed. They had to chop out a few scenes (the cab driver from New York had bigger part) but was what it was. A low budget locally made sci/fi movie with unknown actors.

Final Justice: Kind of surprised they would pick this movie. Way more violent than you would have expected. And actually had a rape scene that went on way longer than anyone would want. Though this is one of my favorite episodes.

Parts: The Clonus Horror: Found this is a cheap video store after it aired. It got more in detail about how Clonus worked, but it was still stupid. It explained more that the reason the two leads had the thing on their ear was they were a test group to see if they clones functioned better when smarter, which is weird cuz they were both really dumb. MST's version actually made it better. But you did get to see Lisa's butt during the camp fire scene.

Space Mutiny: Another movie that MST actually helped out. The regular version is even stupider.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

[deleted]

[–] thingmaker (32) 5 years ago

Me, I've seen most of the SF, fantasy and horror titles they have done and saw most of them before they did them... But I only watched the MST3K versions occasionally. I guess I am a bit offended on behalf of a lot of the films. I don't mind making fun of something that deserves it but the business of mocking everything at the same rate in order to fill out a show kinda gets on my nerves. I mean just because there is a cut-down version of "Marooned" (1969) under another title with some shitty music added... Well, it's still a decent, if slow film. And "MST3K the Movie" was "This Island Earth"... That movie is amazing. A lot of '50s elements that now seem massively dated, but it's still good. So the MST3K version feels a bit wrong to me.

Some of the minor '50s items, like "The Giant Gila Monster" (1959), are fun to make fun of but also genuinely charming and fun on their own terms. I feel just a little bad that a lot of people will probably never see them except through the MST3k versions.

I saw their version of "Gamera" (1966) long after seeing it on TV in the early '70s but now I love it even more - Because I've seen the original Japanese cut in Blu-Ray. I'm not saying it's a good movie. It's even funnier without MST3K and in it's own language.

One film I have only seen as an MST3K is "The Starfighters" (1964) and I know it's pretty bad but I would love to see not only an intact version but a Blu-ray copy at that. Nifty footage of F-104s which are possibly the coolest plane ever built...

[–] Sandman81 (1510) 5 years ago

I guess I see it differently. I don't mind if they goof on a movie I like. Probably because I'm doing it too. For example the original Star Wars trilogy I've loved my whole life, but I will always add bits of dialog or make snarky comments while watching. Just because we like a movie doesn't mean we have pretend its flawless. This Island Earth for example. Sure its a great 50's sci/fi movie, but we can still notice the absurdity of the guys foreheads, and laugh when Crow says "He goes through a lot of Brill cream."

[–] Aylmer (535) 3 months ago

Funny how I'd get both excited and offended at the same time when they'd riff a childhood classic of mine like Gorgo or This Island Earth. I'd mostly be upset when they'd cut out a lot of movie, particularly with the latter as it was their feature film of the show and not even bound by the time constraints of TV.

A few movies they did, like Phase IV, intrigued me enough to watch later. That was a head-scratcher as I consider it actually a very good movie, just experimental and new-age enough to make for some awkwardness that they could riff on. I was heavily into Euro-cult movies when watching MST3K so was happy when they'd rip on something like PUMAMAN, DEVILFISH, etc because I got a chance to see them even when I knew the films were terrible. ESCAPE 2000/Escape From the Bronx puzzled me because it was such a violent film for the show and looked like a joke on MST3K but then I bought the full uncut version of the movie with 3x the violence and action scenes and realized that it was actually a much better, solid action movie without all the cuts and riffing on the MST episode.