A lot of people in the episode guide comments have noted that the spot we are in in the rotation right now, the last three episodes of season eight — Space Mutiny, Time Chases and Overdrawn at the Memory Bank — are a really great run of shows.
So, let’s discuss our favorite three-episode runs of the show.
My pick is:
309- THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN
310- FUGITIVE ALIEN
311- IT CONQUERED THE WORLD
They were really hitting their stride.
What’s your pick?
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I would go with probably the greatest four episode run that the series ever had:
421: Monster A-Go-Go
422: The Day the Earth Froze
423: Bride of the Monster
424: Manos: The Hands of Fate
The absolute height of the Joel era.
I would say The Day the Earth Froze, Bride of the Monster, and Manos. One a goofy interpretation of the Kalevala, one Ed Wood’s least bad film, and one that just Manos.
812 – Incredibly Strange Creatures
813 – Jack Frost
814 – Riding with Death
A good sampling of my favorite types of movies they did: a really weird one, a Russo-Finnish, and a stupid 70’s failed tv project.
816 – PRINCE OF SPACE
817 – THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH
818 – DEVIL DOLL
Slight variation on posts above:
423: Bride of the Monster
424: Manos
501: Warrior of the Lost World.
Great topic!
913- Quest of the Delta Knights
1001- Soultaker
1002- Girl in Gold Boots
Such variety, plus, the reunion episode.
801- Revenge of the Creature
802- Leech Woman
803- The Mole People
Love the way they handled riffing these Universal movies.
505-The Magic Voyage of Sinbad
506-Eegah!
507-I Accuse My Parents
Lots of love for Season 8! I’ll go with:
814 – Riding with Death
815 – Agent for H.A.R.M.
816 – Prince of Space
You’ve got cheesy ’70s Ben Murphy at his Ben Murphiest, the world’s lamest ’60s swinging secret agent, and a ’50s poorly dubbed Japanese film with annoying children.
Best seasons are season 4, 5 and 8.
I will go with:
815 Agent for H.A.R.M.
816 Prince of Space
817 Horror of Party Beach
704 – The Incredible Melting Man
705 – Escape 2000
706 – Laserblast
Season 7 just keeps getting better and better with each episode culminating in Laserblast which may be my favorite episode of them all. A real great “end of an era”. And I can’t help but mention 811-813, three extremely solid and hilarious episodes with Incredibly Strange Creatures in particular being another one of my all time favorites.
The two groups I can think of off the top of my head.
One has Four, the other Three.
1001 – Soultaker
1002 – Girl In Gold Boots
1003 – Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders
1004 – Future War
1006 – Boggy Creek II: And The Legend Continues
1007 – Track of the Moon Beast
1008 – Final Justice
I have two sets.
811 – Parts: The Clonus Horror
812 – The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies
813 – Jack Frost
820 – Space Mutiny
821 – Time Chasers
822 – Overdrawn at the Memory Bank
Sidehackers…can’t believe no one else picked it #
How about
#512 – Mitchell,
#513 – The Brain That Wouldn’t Die, and
#514 – Teenage Strangler?
Brain That Wouldn’t Die isn’t a super strong episode on its own, but it’s still good and the new-guy-learns-the-ropes storyline is fun. And the bookends are both classics.
815 – Agent for H.A.R.M.
816 – Prince of Space
817 – Horror of Party Beach
I love season 8, and I think everything clicked with this sequence of episodes (including the host segments)–and it all culminates in SODIUM (and Crow’s hilarious riffing on the “kids today,” with their ice-cream sodas and VW Golf leases)!
At the risk of stating the obvious, I was struck by how difficult it was to find three episodes in a row I truly love on an equal level (and yet I love even the lacklustre episodes, because I love the show).
Joel era:
422 – THE DAY THE EARTH FROZE (+ Short: HERE COMES THE CIRCUS)
423 – BRIDE OF THE MONSTER (+ Short: HIRED! – Part 1)
424 – ‘MANOS’ THE HANDS OF FATE (+ Short: HIRED! – Part 2)
Mike era:
810 – GIANT SPIDER INVASION
811 – PARTS: THE CLONUS HORROR
812 – INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES WHO STOPPED LIVING AND BECAME MIXED-UP ZOMBIES
Gotta agree with #10 Norman and #16 Professor Gunther (can’t tell you how excited I was to see that someone had the same thoughts as lil’ ol’ me!):
815 – Agent For H.A.R.M.
816 – Prince Of Space
817 – Horror Of Party Beach
Season 8 is my favorite anyway, and I love pretty much the whole year (especially 810-822, when they were really firing on all cylinders), but those three episodes I can watch endlessly. Not only are they sidesplitting (I’ve mentioned before it’s down to either 816 or 817 as my all-time favorite ep, and either way, 815 is right up there, too), but they’re also, I feel, a terrific three-pack example of MST3K at it’s Sci-Fi-era peak; There’s a lot of good stuff in seasons 9 and 10, but I never felt the show quite matched the heights of 810-822 during the Sci-Fi years, and 815, 816 & 817 are very emblematic of that peak. All IMO, of course.
S8 is peppered with personal favorites, but those three all in a row like that, man, what a run!
I agree with Sampo and Luke Forrester about shows 820-822, if the contiguous episodes have to be in the same season, that would be my pick.
But if we’re allowed to wrap around to different seasons, I’m going with this:
424 MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE
501 WARRIOR OF THE LOST WORLD
502 HERCULES
In that block you have what I think is the quintessential MST3K episode (Manos), and two excellent episodes that I think are pretty underrated, and feature ridiculous but very watchable movies. Especially Hercules: beautiful color, great sets, pretty decent music, and the radiant SYLVA KOSCINA. One of my favorites.
Honorable mention to the sequence suggested by sol-survivor too, that’s a great run.
Count me for…
506- EEGAH
507- I ACCUSE MY PARENTS
508- OPERATION DOUBLE 007
It’s been said but Space Mutiny, Time Chasers and Overdrawn at the Memory Bank. Or m’nuts?
I want to say The Touch of Satan/Gorgo/The Final Sacrifice, but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen Gorgo. Looking forward to the new set so I can see how it holds up. I think I’ll just ditto the guy/gal who said Magic Voyage of Sinbad/Eegah/I Accuse My Parents.
If you consider First Spaceship On Venus as the last episode of Season One, you get a pretty good throwback triple play with Rocketship X-M and Sidehackers. Or those two and Jungle Goddess for that matter. Not the best, of course, but a good representation of the early years.
Also, I have to agree with revlillo at #1; not only are those four experiments (arguably, of course) the peak of the Joel years, but a fascinating set of movies. You’ve got two perennial contenders for Worst Movie Ever, Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood’s most competent film, and a relatively big budget – but nonetheless wacky – dubbed Finnish fairy tale epic. How’s that for variety?
hmmm…best three movie chain…good question…
There are a few that come to mind.
Cave Dwellers
Gamera
Pod People (season three, first three movies)
Season three really solidified the show and the show – to quote Joel – was kicking into high at this point. Three good movies with varying themes; history piece(ish,) Japanese monster and umm…E.T. knockoff with bad singing. Season three was one of my faves
The other season that I really enjoyed was season six which gave us…
Codename: Diamondhead
The Skydivers
The Violent Years (episodes eight to ten.)
Failed TV pilot, Coleman Francis and an Ed Wood movie. Violent Yesrs is still one of my all-time faves, Skydivers was so bleak but just short of difficult watching and Diamond Head grew on me after repeated viewings.
I am also almost on board with slowermo’s combo in season but would swap out O@TMB with Invasion of the Neptune Men – for no other reason that terrible stock footage and ridiculous aliens.
902-4 are “Phantom Planet”, “The Pumaman” and “Werewolf”, which is one hell of a bold and beautiful streak.
Sidehackers
Jungle Goddess
Catalina Caper
820 – Space Mutiny
821 – Time Chasers
822 – Overdrawn at the Memory Bank
511 – Gunslingers
512 – Mitchell
513 – The Brain That Wouldn’t Die
and
820 – Space Mutiny
821 – Time Chasers
822 – Overdrawn at the Memory Bank
Gotta agree with Jason Manley (20), 506-08 gets my vote. Runner up would be 512-14, which was also mentioned.
And if you can deal with the pain, 619-21 (Red Zone Cuba, Danger!! Death Ray, and The Beast of Yucca Flats) is also a great stretch.
Alpha:
Pilot: The Green Slime (never aired)
K01: Invaders From The Deep
K02: Revenge Of The Mysterons Of Mars
&
Omega:
1011: Horrors Of Spider Island
1012: Squirm
1013: Diabolik
Alpha – Something great was beginning.
Omega – Something great was ending.
If we are choosing in terms of 3 in a row, I have to go with:
1001 – Soultaker
1002 – Girl in Gold Boots
1003 – Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders
The riffing in these episodes is just so strong, such a great way to start the last season. With a couple exceptions, (lookin at you Blood Waters of Dr Z) the entire final season was great.
604 Zombie Nightmare
605 Colossus and the Headhunters
606 The Creeping Terror
This is just a nonstop barrage of great, high-octane riffing on three really stupid movies. Films like these that are just so earnestly dumb make for some of the best episodes ever, in my opinion :D
More great blocks, fitting the same criteria:
420 The Human Duplicators
421 Monster A-Go Go
422 The Day the Earth Froze
702 The Brute Man
703 Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell
704 The Incredible Melting Man
904 Werewolf
905 The Deadly Bees
906 The Space Children
I tend to go for a lot of the more underrated episodes that not a lot of people talk about much, so your mileage may vary :)
I chose the following MST3K “threesomes” because they include examples of all of my favorite genres of MSTed films:
(My two favorite Hercules films, with my favorite of the Bert I. Gordon movies in the middle.)
(My favorite of the Gamera films, a “classic” giant creature feature, and a dose of Sandy Frank goodness.)
(A “good and beautiful” 50s rocketship movie, a dopey “superhero” movie, and the legendary Wurwilf.)
But, the most “legendary” threesome of all would have to be …
… if only because these shows have remained so stubbornly unavailable for all these years. One day, I will see these episodes!
Most of the top “Best Three Episode in a Row” have been named. The ends of Seasons 4, 7, and 8, and also the beginning of Season 10, all of those are great. :yes:
One of my favorite runs that has yet to be named is from Season 4:
404: Teenagers from Outer Space
405: Being from Another Planet
406: Attack of the Giant Leeches w/ Undersea Kingdom -part 1
–
I know BFAP isn’t popular with most MSTies, but I love it. TFOS is a classic, and AOTGL is a great one too..
and heck those three are followed by:
407: The Killer Shrews w/ Junior Rodeo Daredevils
408: Hercules Unchained
That there is a solid run of episodes!!
–
If we’re allowed to bleed over from one season to the next (I see some commenters have done this), I would choose:
212: Godzilla vs. Megalon
213: Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster
301: Cave Dwellers
Love the Big-G movies!
–
and as a bonus choice:
319: War of the Colossal Beast w/ Mr. B Natural
320: The Unearthly w/ Posture Pals and Appreciating Our Parents
321: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
@ #34: And perhaps someday both of the Pat Troughton Dalek adventures will resurface fully intact. I won’t be holding my breath though.
820 – Space Mutiny
821 – Time Chasers
822 – Overdrawn at the Memory Bank
Odd though was some of the casting, and plot holes, in some of
them, all three had interesting conceptual plots, far above the
usual Hollwood scifi/horror “plot” of well-meaning scientists
find/free/create a monster, then the monster chases and/or kills
them. And many of the skits worked in all three. Also there were
valuable lessons learned—like never to where two kins of plaid at
once, skydiving grammas really bring in the readers, etc.
It’s Mutiny, Chasers, and Overdrawn for me.
Honorable mentions would include 705-706-801 and 403-404-405.
They had an amazing run the first half of Season 8…. I would pick out of this time the following:
812 – TISCWSLABMUZ (aka Incredibly Strange Creatures, etc.)
813 – Jack Frost
814 – Riding with Death
There you go, you turkeys…..
this is my pick….three rock solid episodes
1001 – Soultaker
1002 – Girl in Gold Boots
1003 – Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders
Going season by season:
– 109: Project Moonbase
110: Robot Holocaust
111: Moon Zero-Two
– 203: Jungle Goddess
204: Catalina Caper
205: Rocket Attack, USA
(S3, classic episodes in twos, but always ruined by another dreary old Sandy Frank or Master Ninja episode for the hat trick)
– 301: Cave Dwellers
302: Gamera
303: Pod People
– 421: Monster a Go-Go
422: The Day the Earth Froze
423: Bride of the Monster
424: Manos (preach it, #1!)
– 505: Magic Voyage of Sinbad
506: Eegah
507: I Accuse My Parents
– S6, two episodes if they were lucky
– S7, that’s be half the season, and hard pressed to find ONE good one
– 811: Parts – the Clonus Horror
812: The Incredibly Strange Creatures…
813: Jack Frost
– S9, you’re kidding, right?
– S10, only a [i]third[/i] of the season was good, but they weren’t together.
Wow 6 mentions so far for Space Mutiny/Time Chasers/Overdrawn. I think this is really interesting because while Space Mutiny is a classic and Time Chasers is one of my favorite episodes on the series, Overdrawn at the Memory Bank has always been a tough one for me. I really enjoy the “Public Pearl” bits but the movie itself is just SO painful. I have rewound it a couple times to see if I am just not following the plot closely enough or it just really does make zero sense (although why I even attempt to follow the plot in ANYof these films is beyond me). This movie just always seemed like a dog that riffing couldn’t save, but maybe I just need to give it another chance if it is so seemingly popular with my fellow MiSTies…
Favorite Consecutive Trio:
612 San Francisco International
613 The Sinister Urge
614 Kitten With A Whip
2nd Favorite Consecutive Trio
506 Eeegah
507 I Accuse My Parents
598 Operation Double 007
Favorite Consecutive Shorts
607 Uncle Jim’s Dairy Farm
608 A Day At The Fair
609 Why Study Industrial Arts?
423, 424 and 501.
Personally, I think 201-210 is the best run. Those are perfect. 608-616, all perfect episodes. 811-816 are pretty darn snazzy, riff-wise, too.
I have the same “every-other-episode” issue that others do, my favs separated by an ok ep (like 322-324, two best eps ever separated by Fu Manchu, ouch)
As usual, I can’t choose just one. I choose several.
From Season 3, a fantastic start: Cave Dwellers, Gamera, Pod People. Miles O’Keefe is a friend to children, and it stinks, Trumpy. (I don’t think the next two were all that bad either: Gamera vs. Barugon and Stranded in Space.)
From Season 5: Sinbad, Eegah, I Accuse My Parents. Start is a little slow, but boy, does this trio finish on a high note.
Also From Season 5, a great foursome: Gunslinger, Mitchell, Brain that Wouldn’t Die, Teenage Strangler. Joel out, Mike in, no loss of quality at all. (I don’t care what anyone says.) And plenty of great riffing and great moments.
From Season 6: Creeping Terror, Bloodlust, Diamond Head. Start with a pathetically slow slug creature, fit in Mike Brady in the middle and finish with Lovejoy as a killer. Nice run.
From Season 8, another good foursome, IMHO: Prince of Space, Party Beach, Devil Doll, Neptune Men. The two Japanese films bookending the run and two of my favorites.
From Season 9: Werewolf, Deadly Bees, Space Children. Can’t explain why. Maybe seeing a dog stung to death and The Professor dying the following week has something to do with it.
From Season 10: Spider Island, Squirm and Diabolik. That’s how you finish on top.
I would go with:
505: Magic Voyage of Sinbad
506: Eegah
507: I Accuse My Parents
for Joel, and
1001: Soultaker
1002: Girl in Gold Boots
(phantom: Merlin’s Shop of Wonders)
1004: Future War
for mike
I know it’s not in production order, but that was the order it originally aired, and I remember hating SciFi all the more for canceling the show when it was at such a peak. Merlin is great too. “Tonight on Old Lady Gets Killed” is one of the most memorable riffs for me
So many, that its hard to choose. So I’m choosing one set from each season.
Season One: Robot Holocaust, Moon Zero Two, Untamed Youth
Season Two: First Spaceship on Venus, Godzilla vs. Megalon, Godzilla vs. the Sea Creature.
Season Three: Fugitive Alien, It Conquered the World, Gamera vs. Guiron.
Four: Day the Earth Froze, Bride of the Monster, Manos, The Hands of Fate. Monster a
Five: Since it is basically almost two seasons, I choose for Joel: Magic Voyage of Sinbad, Eegah, and I Accuse My Parents. For Mike: Teen-Age Strangler, Wild, Wild World of Batwoman, and Alien from LA.
Six: Danger!! Death Ray, Beast of Yucca Flats, Angels Revenge.
Seven: Incredble Melting Man, Escape 2000 and Laserblast.
Eight: Giant Spider Invasion, parts the clonus horror, and TISCWSLABMUZ
Nine: Phantom Planet, Pumaman, and Werewolf
Ten: Horrors of Spider Island, Squirm and Diabolik.
619: Red Zone Cuba
night train to mundo fineeee)
620: Danger! Death Ray (bap a-da-da da-da)
621: The Beast of Yucca Flats (2 shorts)
coffee? I like coffee!
No doubt about this one for me;
804- The Deadly Mantis
805-The Thing that Couldn’t Die
806- The Undead
A giant bug movie, a disembodied head and Corman. Mst3k nirvana!!!
I’ve gotta go with the trilogy that prompted this thread: the final three episodes of season eight. Really top-shelf stuff.