The other day I found myself thinking about what I call “comfort food” episodes of Mystery Science Theater. These are my go-to episodes when the chips are down. Bad day at work, personal crisis, whatever the situation. These episodes are my mental mac-and-cheese, the thing that can make me feel like the world isn’t coming apart.
Interestingly, they’re usually the least dynamic shows, from the Coleman Francis trilogy to “Incredibly Strange Creatures” to the string of Universal yawners that opened season eight. Selecting these episodes is almost instinctual for me. And they really do help lift my blues.
Comfort food episodes, won’t you? Thank you.
Then, as an afterthought, he sent a second email saying:
I completely forgot the shorts! Those things are a miracle cure for bad days.
For me, it’s “I Accuse My Parents.” Cheers me up every time.
What’s yours?
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The Touch of Satan and Why Study Industrial Arts/The Skydivers. Or the Shorts compilations.
My go to movies for a pick me up are the more farcical ones. Prince of Space (Chicken Men of Krankor and the ever dour Micky) and Samson vs the Vampire Women (“Come in, now get out!”) always lift my spirits up.
For shorts I have to go with the spirit of music Mr B Natural and the Commander Cody serial (Wing tip shoes, cuffed trouser on the moon!?) .
The Brain That Wouldn’t Die.
When my family first got cable in 93, I gravitated to Comedy Central and Cartoon Network’s late night line-up. This was a heavily advertised and well-rerun episode, from my recollection, and it was the first episode I saw of the show.
As it was also an early DVD release, I’ve owned and watched it more times that I can recall, with people very dear to me that are no longer in my life (including the one who turned me from a casual fan into a dedicated MSTie).
Anytime I put it on, it’s instant calm. Then we hit the gutter-bumber-chute and it’s time to “really just relax”!
Comfort food for the soul, indeed
For me, it’s “Hobgoblins”. Flat Butt’s death at the start turns my frown upside down.
Mike: He tried to crowd surf, but nobody wanted to touch him.
Crow: Then they threw beef gravy on him.
Oh my, I have many. My regular rotation includes: Manos, Blood Waters of Dr Z, Giant Spider Invasion, Revenge of the Creature, The Deadly Mantis, Eegah!, The Final Sacrifice, and Incredibly Strange Creatures. As many times as I have seen these episodes, I am still (after all these years) finding little things in them I missed before.
Probably would have to go with pod People. I used to watch the tape all the time as a kid. I watch the dvd every once in a while to forget I’m an adult. I also agree with the Coleman Francis trilogy. Skydivers in particular reminds me of Mayberry on depressants. So…comforting, I guess.
Touch of Satan here too! Must be the bucolic setting and low-energy acting that chills me out.
Mitchell’s good when I want the equivalent of a cheap beer while parked on my couch. Boggy Creek is…hmm. Again, probably the slow pace, rural backdrop, and actors who
wrote and directed itwere sired by the directorbasically just showed up on set. And Crenshaw, of course.For shorts, something B&W and pointless, like Posture Pals or Cheating. I save manic sprites like Mr. B Natural and Coily for sunnier days.
Beginning of the End, Red Zone Cuba, Prince of Space and Time Chasers have all been great sources of joy over the years. Lately, however, I keep coming back to Projected Man, because nothing cheers me up more than knowing that LEMBACH IS STAYING!
Tormented. Soultaker. Teenage Strangler. There are many others, but I can always count on those three for an instant mood boost. Maybe it’s because all the characters are having REALLY awful days (or weeks), and it gives me a little schadenfreude. After all, no matter how bad things are for me, at least I’m not being menaced by my older sister’s jazz-musician fiancé.
But when it comes to the shorts, I go for something more upbeat, with The Home Economics Story. I love seeing these young women daring to dream about home décor and quantity cookery while they go to football games featuring Q-tip cheerleaders. And they’ve all got jobs arranged after they graduate!
Good to know I’m not the only one who has “comfort food” episodes. While I enjoy breaking out a DVD of an episode I’ve either never seen or haven’t seen for years, when I’m feeling blue I must have an old favorite that’s guaranteed to make me laugh. So I’ll pop some popcorn, crack open a beer, and sit down with The Final Sacrifice, Space Mutiny, The Deadly Bees, Soultaker, Teenagers from Outer Space, or Werewolf.
For shorts, my go-to, which I never tire of, is Century 21 Calling.
This one is actually kinda’ tough for me. MST3K in general is my comfort show. In years past I would’ve said “Final Sacrifice” or “Space Mutiny”. Presently I wouldn’t call them comfort episodes b’cuz I’ve seen them too many times. Gonna’ go out of the box here and say Cinematic Titanic’s “Alien Factor”. All the CT episodes are equally good but “Alien Factor” is phenomenal. Seriously, has there ever in history been a 2-door cop car!?!
For me, it’s Time Chasers, because that movie should cheer anyone up; I mean, the “hero” is a Castleton graduate with a butt chin. If that doesn’t prove anyone can be the star of their own action-filled life I don’t know what would.
Also, Werewolf, because laughing at the changing hairstyles and accents just feels right.
And, of course, Space Mutiny.
The Starfighters. Just knowing that ugly men with odd faces are out there in their poopie suits protecting American freedom makes me feel warm and safe.
Jack Frost, The Beatniks, Boggy Creek II, Hamlet, Girl in Gold Boots, and the Screaming Skull are my favorite comfort food episodes. makes me laugh everytime no matter how many times I’ve seen them
pretty much any of their giant monster or hellish mutated giant animal movies. the voices and dialogue that they’d insert will always have me feeling a lot better pretty quick. i wish that they could have gotten more of the godzilla movies especially ‘ghidora: the three headed monster.’
Time Chasers. Actually a pretty good plot and cinema attempt by the
plucky young filmmakers. And not all that bad an ending for anyone—
even spare of Bob Evel survives. Nice touchs also, like Mrs. Krushchev
sweeping the street outside the ’50s diner.
And of course Catalina Caper—except for the sadness of Tom’s unrequited
love for Creepy Girl. It’s rumored people hopped up on goof balls are
especial fans of the film.
Overdrawn at the Memory Bank. I remember being too little for school and having the choice between Donahue or soaps or that weird midday block of PBS programming (calculus on the overhead, anyone?) I came to love those weird Anenburg Media/supplemental teaching videos they used to show, and Overdrawn hits my nostalgia button.
The odd thing is that I could. not. stand. it. the first few times. But I finally caught Mike’s very quiet “maybe you need a polyvinyl coating” joke, and somehow that turned hate to love. Ident? I Dent! Ha!
Agree with Sampo on I Accuse My Parents. I’d add Teenagers From Outer Space. And also Godzilla vs. Megalon.
I mean, Godzilla vs. Megalon WAS one of those eps. You see, I… uh, threw it away… uh, like they said to on 10.2. Yeah, threw it away… that’s the ticket…
More votes here for I Accuse My Parents and Jack Frost. Also Bride of the Monster, due to its status as Ed Wood’s least incompetent film.
I agree with robot rump in that most of my comfort MST3K episodes are giant monster movies. I grew up loving Godzilla and those types of movies so just watching them alone is fun but add the mstie crew and it’s even better.
My go to episodes for cheering me up are:
Godzilla vs Megalon
Cave Dwellers
Gamera
Master Ninja 1 and 2
Hercules Unchained
Code name diamond head
Danger! Death Ray
Deathstalker and the warriors from hell
The Deadly Mantis
Jack Frost
Prince of Space
Space Mutiny
Final Sacrifice
Also any of the old psa/learning shorts are just great for cheering me up.
Have to agree with I Accuse My Parents. Also, Gunslinger, Teenagers from Outer Space, Teenage Strangler, Kitten With a Whip, Deathstalker and Girl in Lover’s Lane. To me, the riffing in those seems very light-hearted and cheerful (more so than most other episodes) even if the movies themselves are not. Plus, the handsome Mr. Big Stupid makes up for the depressing death of Carrie in GILL.
I’m inclined to agree with Jay (#11) that all MST eps could be construed as comfort food. The ones I tend to watch with more regularity would be
The Violent Years
Catalina Caper (very excited it is being re-relleased.)
Giant Spider Invasion
Village of the Giants
Space Mutiny (as mentioned frequently)
Any of the Gamera films
One thing I noticed whilst scrolling through the comments were shorts that work in an even quicker time frame.
A Case of Spring Fever (actually watched that Tuesday at work)
Once Upon A Honeymoon
Johnny At The Fair
Mr. B Natural
Snow Thrills
Truck Farmer
A Date With Your Family
Without question, EARTH VERSUS THE SPIDER and THE DEADLY MANTIS, and lately THE SCREAMING SKULL. Whenever my wife and I are feeling the need for Comfort Food (or are feeling vulnerable, as we sometimes say) we turn to these episodes. And when we’re feeling jokey about it (which is most of the time) we like to needle each other by selecting NON-Comfort Food episodes (those life-sized bitter pills that come in the form of the truly loathsome movies we happily subject ourselves to, all because of MST3K), like TISCWSLABMUZ. (And I don’t mean to offend, Brandon, in my choice of NON-Comfort Food episodes. — Taste is entirely a personal affair, after all. And of course after watching one of the Coleman Francis films, how can not one feel inspired to say, “Well, my life isn’t THAT bad. I feel like a hundred bucks, and I can face anything!” :)))
I feel like this thread has appeared before in a slightly different form, but in the sage words of Johnny, “I don’t care!” because this is a great topic!
I spent some time out of work after the show went off. Space Mutiny and Pod People both were instant mood changers.
And it’s Rifftrax, but I cannot recommend The Star Wars Holiday Special enough. It’s a glorious by disaster itself, but the ads are worth the price alone. My sister tells me she watched it over and over when being threatened with a layoff.
I’ve done a thorough analysis of this and determined my go-to eps cure my blues in one of two specific ways. One is nostalgia: cheesy monster or made-for-TV movies from my childhood like “Beginning of the End” or “San Francisco International” that take me back to a simpler time when you had to stay up late on a school night to watch such crap. Two is some intangible quality in the tone or atmosphere of the movie, itself, that hits the brain like Zoloft and is at once soothing, reassuring and powerfully addictive. My Zoloft eps include, among others: “Eegah!” (the creepy music and grainy, overexposed film stock), “Space Children,” (that dreamy Theremin soundtrack), “Boggy Creek II” (the cheesecloth-covered flashbacks and thick, southern atmosphere), and, of course, “Manos,” which just looks and feels like everyone’s old 8mm home movies. Of course, all these episodes have the added benefit of being funny as hell.
Yes, I Accuse My Parents is a slice of perfection. The Truck Farmer short is enough to get me laughing, and then I lose it almost immediately with Joel’s “We have a title!” riff.
I have a soft spot for the films with music, so I have to mention The Girl In Gold Boots and The Incredibly Strange Creatures… are also at the top of my list for bad mood busting.
Season 8’s Universal episodes are probably my comfort episodes, being those were my first episodes when I was a kid. Always reminds me of happier times. And Diabolik has always been a favorite. Something about the opening credits puts an instant smile on my face. “De de da. Absolutely!”
For my wife it’s Crawling Eye and Beginning of the End
For me Soultaker and Overdrawn at the Memory Bank
I have at least 5:
The Castle of Fu Manchu
The Horrors of Spider Island
Secret Agent Super Dragon
The Screaming Skull
Overdrawn at the Memory Bank
“A Date With Your Family” as an appetizer –
followed by *Prince of Space* as the main course.
“Ah, Krankor . . . it’s just so darn good to see you.”
You say ‘comfort food’ and I immediately thought of Ring of Terror.
1) Werewolf
2) Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!
3) The Sinister Urge
4) Teenage Strangler
* Bonus
5) Mutiny in Space
“Nice of you to give that dead girl another chance.”
“Nice of you to give that dead girl another chance.”
For me, ‘Time Chasers’ and ‘Quest of the Delta Knights’ definitely qualify. The movies are crappy but not unbearable, and the riffing steady and enjoyable.
Horror Of Party Beach. My DAP copy is a solid B but we need an official release of that episode posthaste. With some Ballyhoo featurettes on Del Tenney and maybe the Del-Aires. (No relation.)
My choices for the MST3K version of meat loaf and mashed potatoes:
Prince of Space, follwed by Horror of Party Beach (on one of my homemade DVDs)
Amazing Colossal Man (which was one of the first shows I saw
I Accuse My Parents…typical wartime family/crime movie
Manos, naturally.
Among the shorts, I’d say “What About Juvenile Delinquency”, “Mr. B Natural”, “X Marks The Spot” and “A Date With Your Family”
Time Chasers, Prince of Space, Red Zone Cuba, Attack of the Giant Leeches, and Monster A-Go Go never cease to cheer me up.
The short “Out of this World” about the bread delivery guy can keep me in tears from beginning to end. And I actually watch Hamlet often because I think it’s funny and I like that British stuff.
I have several, but when I think “comfort food” episode, my first choice every time is King Dinosaur. I’m not entirely sure why, but something about the tone and humor of the season 2 episodes is like a warm hug. Plus, the movie is kinda on the quiet side, so it’s relaxing. And I LOVE me a movie that uses lizards to portray dinosaurs; it’s just good old fashioned fun! All of that combines to create and experience that I use when life has got me down (which these days, for one reason or another, is pretty much all day, every day *cue somber violin music*).
I also use The Unearthly quite a lot, because the while thing, from the invention exchange to the double shorts to the Tor-tasticly incompetent film, is pure hysterical bliss!
And I can’t not give a shout out to Robot Monster, one of my all time favorite episodes. There is something about that stinking movie that fascinates me, so much so that I built my own Ro-Man helmet for Halloween a few years back (stop judging me… hey, I said stop it!). Anyway, that’s definitely a comfort food episode. It’s just as much the appeal of the dorky film as it is the riffing, and it never fails to calm me right down!
Great topic!
First Spaceship On Venus, hilarious and relaxing fun no matter how many times I watch it.
Monster A-Go-Go and the Creeping Terror are favorites of mine. They’re so ridiculously inept that even the riffers can’t help but laugh out loud at them (“riiing” Did you hear that?!?). I also like Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster; for some reason I really like the moments where it’s obvious Joel’s been in space waaay too long and is starting to lose it, and both the model building and Godzilla Genealogy Bop host segments seem to show that. And I like Moon Zero Two, mainly for the opening credits. They bring back happy memories of animation from ’70s children’s shows like the Electric Company.
One more vote for Monster a-Go-Go, as the movie itself is just so non-existent–but in an earnestly inept way, not like the S6 movies–that it’s a nice sampler plate of the group’s sillier riffing, without any, y’know, movie to get in the way.
The pleasantly bizarre ice follies of Circus on Ice also make a perfect appetizer. Sort of like the way old movies always used to have an onstage musical opener at Radio City, and a strange movie needed a strange live-show.
Robot Holocaust, also for being perfect no-context ineptitude (which made it perfect for being the first episode I saw on a late Friday night), and Day the Earth Froze and Magic Voyage of Sinbad for mixing silly riffs with fairytale simplicity:
(“Sinbad heard the calls of exotic lands…” “‘Hey, Sinbad, over here!'”)
Agree with many that MST IS my comfort food, but on bad days I gravitate toward Eegah! (I mean what could cheer a person up more than Arch Hall Jr’s face!) and the short “Here Comes The Circus”. For really bad – darn near apocalypse days – I save Manos & the Final Sacrifice. Those two back to back make for a just take me out of my misery kind of day.
Cave Dwellers is definitely the chicken soup for my hang-glidin’-castle-bombin’-giant-snake-fightin’-rough-day-havin’ soul. I have to sing along to the soothing lyrics of “Ator Flies” and “The Ends Of The Earth” no matter what kind of funk I’m in.
As for the shorts, there is only one that will instantly cheer me up: What To Do On A Date. “YOU LOOKED IN MY BOOK, DIDN’T YOU!?!?!”
Just typing that made me laugh.
But I absolutely do agree that Space Mutiny and Boggy Creek II are the Saltines and Ginger Ale to the Cave Dwellers chicken soup.
I Accuse My Parents always makes me feel better as well. Especially on those bad days when I’ve accidentally joined the mob.
First Spaceship on Venus is just so goofy it always brightens my day! King Dinosaur, Mitchell, Samson vs the Vampire Women, Teenage Strangler and Creeping Terror are all in regular rotation. Also, any of the Gamera episodes, except Gamera vs Baragon, which is kind of dark. The one guy dies because of a scorpion sting, then the bad guy tries to keep all the money, the boat sinks, there is a brutal fight, sheesh! That’s a topic for another day, episodes that are too depressing after a bad day. For example, I can’t watch ‘High School Bigshot’ unless I am in a really good mood. The guy’s life is so depressing.
As Kenny said “to keep him!”, I say “the whole damn ting!”
next topic! :D
On a lazy day or a stressful day these keep me going just like meatloaf and mac&cheese . . .
1. Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell
2. Catalina Caper
3. Space Mutiny
4. Secret Agent Super Dragon
5. Werewolf
6. Attack of the the Eye Creatures
7. Danger Death Ray
8. Monster A Go Go
When I had to work out of town I would always take ‘Skydivers’ with me.
Coleman Francis can be a great comfort. He’s like a big sweaty angel flying overhead with a high powered rifle protecting me as I eat a blue steak and throw back whiskey sours.
I feel safe.
I was feeling down a couple weeks ago and popped in one of my go-tos and it did the trick. . . GIRL IN LOVERS’ LANE. I know it’s not a popular episode, and it does have a bummer ending, but what can I say, I find the whole thing hysterical and The Train Song never fails to put a smile on my face.
Other comfort episodes:
GODZILLA VS. MEGALON
GIANT GILA MONSTER
WARRIOR OF THE LOST WORLD
EEGAH
SKYDIVERS
LASERBLAST
SOULTAKER
as for shorts, WHY STUDY INDUSTRIAL ARTS? is the all-time winner there. “I’m making this for the Grand Wizard!”