|
 |
Weekend Discussion Thread: Riffs that Got Run Into the GroundAlert reader Todd writes:
My choice: “By this time my lungs were aching for air…” Funny once. Sigh-inducing after the 10th time. Even Joel eventually disapproved. What’s yours? 175 Replies to “Weekend Discussion Thread: Riffs that Got Run Into the Ground”Commenting at Satellite News
We are determined to encourage thoughtful discussion, so please be respectful to others. We also provide an "Ignore" button ( Comments are closed. |
|
Satellite News is a fan site for the Mystery Science Theater 3000 television and Netflix series. It is an independent publication written and compiled by Chris Cornell (msampo@aol.com) and Brian Henry (erhardt4@aol.com). Satellite of Love, LLC does not maintain this web site, nor is it responsible for this site's content.
All content posted on Satellite News is copyright © 2024 by Chris Cornell and Brian Henry, except where otherwise noted. This Date in MSTory is written and compiled by Steve Finley, Chris Cornell and Brian Henry. Copyright © 2024 All rights reserved. Please do not reproduce This Date in MSTory items in any form without express written permission from the authors. Items of MST3K news may be duplicated or reposted, as long as Satellite News is cited as the source. The views and opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of Satellite of Love, LLC. No warranty is expressed or implied that the information given herein is completely accurate, and in fact this information can and will change at any time. So there. Mystery Science Theater 3000, its characters and situations are copyrights and trademarks of Satellite of Love, LLC. Banner image created by Larry Lee Moniz. Powered by WordPress & Atahualpa |
|
) to help our users cope with "trolls" and other commenters whom they find annoying. Go to our
“J-E-E-E-D-D-D-!!!”
I hated, and I mean HATED when Kevin did that. It was run into the ground the first time it was uttered.
I’ll also agree with “are you ready for some football” being annoying. I did know what it was from, but they didn’t have to do it during the WHOLE MOVIE.
And shut the hell up about Rowsdower, already. There should be a limit on those things.
However, I did like the “Jim Henson’s _____ babies” one sometimes. (Jim Henson’s Witness Babies).
I didn’t mind the “I’m Peter Graves” thing too much, or the “Oh, is the Great so-and-so doing this movie?”
And I love Joel and his voices he does, but, yeah, he could take a few bits too far. (Lemur-lemur-lemur).
As far as the fat jokes go, I never had a problem with them either. As long as the jokes are creative and the timing is good, I think they’re hillarious. A few faves:
“Hey, is that a beer?”
“To Wendys!”
“The whole world is this guy’s salad bar.”
“Then they take the roast and wrap it in bacon…”
“The most face that any screen has ever held.”
“Sorry Mister Fat.”
“Stop or my heart’ll explode!”
“More gravy!”
I don’t mind most of these jokes, so it makes me sad when people say they don’t like them. Aww.
However…
A few that have been brought up just far too often for my taste, including “I thought you were Dale!” because I remember every time how they misremembered the commercials. And the cram school references.
Rowsdower NEVER EVER EVER GETS OLD. Neither does AAAHHHH HELP I’M IN ANOTHER DIMENSION. Friggin’ hilarious.
Well, as they say, to each their own…
Too many Communism refferences in the old movies. If you ever counted all of the jokes from Mystery Science Theater 3,000, they would make up 1/5th of all of the jokes in the old movies. 1/12th of all movies in general …
Oh, and dumbness jokes with women and children-hate-their-parents jokes for kids. The other 2/3rds of the show .
The Final Justice episode was horrible. They just kept doing burp and fart noises over and over.
This topic is more annoying that any repetitive riffs, IMO. :mad:
Wow….such strong opinions….I mostly take repeted riffs as they come because someone will find then funny as I find other riffs funny that other don’t. I personally think they should have done a ton more fart/burp sounds than was actually performed. PFFFFFFFFRRT, Burp :shock:
I want to suggest a new topic for another weekend – weirdest/strangest/scary charatures that made you cringe.
Umm, Al? Do you mean “characters” or “characatures”, as in movie characters so artificial and unbelievable they don’t even qualify as characters/human beings? (No, I’m not sure I spelled it right either, I just want to know what you meant; might be a good thread)
A Weekend topic I’d like to see is “Pick a riff that you just don’t quite get, and ask fellow MSTies for an explaination”. It probably wouldn’t make a good discussion though since it could get too chaotic, and count on everyone thoughly reading that ‘REFERENCES’ page (which doesn’t have EVERY movie, anyway) and still having one riff that they just don’t get some nuance of despite understanding, logically, what it references.
Hey, what movie is “I’m gonna kill me a mountain-man…” from? They’ve used that in a couple of movies.
A couple of episodes, that is…
Y’know, ironically, the season 8 “Dale” riffs didn’t get annoying until I read the explaination in Ward e; until then, I’d assumed it was a line from some TV western I’d never seen, and was therefore content to not know since I HATE westerns (Brisco County Jr. doesn’t count). I don’t know the commercial either, but knowing the trusted Brains misquoted sorta’ ruins it for me.
Running gags that only run within a single episode never wear thin, as long as they’re specific (no physical appearance, fart jokes, etc.) Pod People might be my all-time fav, so the one “McCloud!” in ‘The Unearthly’ is essentially a welcome callback to it.
Sometimes they seemed to run one into the ground for some later payoff. Examples: “Trapped in another dimension! AAAAA!” 4 or 5 times paved the way for the “Fifth Dimension” and goofy monster version at the end of ‘The Brain/Head That Wouldn’t Die’, and the incessant repetition of the baffling moniker “Rowsdower” made it hilarious to me when Garth Vader intones, “ROWWWZ-DOW-WAHHHHHHHHHHH”.
I also never realized just how many of us want ‘Final Sacrifice’ on DVD ASAP until last weekend’s Shout! thread, but “overrated” sounds a bit harsh, since it was certainly above average and a helluvah lot more memorable than most of season 10. There are like a dozen others I’d rather see released first, though.
The constant “again” every time Rocky’s name is mentioned in Star Force. Thankfully, the “He Tried To Kill Me With A Forklift” running gag overrules it, and that never gets old.
The incessant “Biography!” jokes in “Parts” drove me up the wall. It was so bad I had to turn off the episode and come back to it a few days later. I’ve seen probably 150 episodes and that’s the only episode that I almost didn’t finish.
I don’t agree with MRB above who says that it wasn’t a problem because, like, dude, Graves wasn’t in the movie that much. They must have still said “Biography!” nearly 20 times during the few moments Graves was on screen. Ridiculous. I can’t believe someone didn’t speak up about it.
“Are you ready for some football” got old but the Hank Williams Jr. comparison was funny and they could have done more than just repeat the same phrase over and over. When Mike did the line “well, I gotta go. All my rowdy friends are comin’ over tonight,” I got a chuckle. Good theme, needed more variation.
If I watched every movie with Peter Graves in it and listened to a thousand “Biography” jokes, It might get grating. But generally, none really drive me crazy.
Good point Will #65: I think “Jim Henson’s _______ Babies” could’ve stayed fresh with variation as well. Just repeating the title indicates a casual dismissal of ‘Muppet Babies’ which, unlike all subsequent babyfications of established pop-culture characters, actually was a funny, creative cartoon I watched constantly as a child. Did they ever follow it up by singing a brief spoof of the MB theme song? Just once in 10 seasons would count as a welcome variation; say some evil kids warranted a “Children-Of-The-Damned Babies” reference:
Maaan-kind’s Days, haaave been
Num-bered since, our birth
(Sha—be-doo-be-wah!)
Eeeach-one oooof-us, will
Un-leash-Helllll-on Earrrrth
(—-She-do-be-wah!)
Well, the ‘bots would naturally sing something funnier.
Except no they wouldn’t because they “weren’t there”, not having grown up during the ’80s, and generation gaps are certainly no one’s fault. Maybe running gags work best when they reference something the riffer was “there” for?
I’m surprised no one has mentioned the constant–and truly irritating–“Carrie (you’re so very)” from The Girl in Lovers Lane. Once, semi-funny. Twenty times, not so much.
Agree with the overuse of “By this time my lungs were aching for air,” but laugh every time I hear “By this time my son’s lungs were aching for air” in Village of the Giants…
Considering how many episodes were made, and how much material was needed for each one, any overlap of certain themes or commentary was never really a problem for me as viewer.
I think its safe to say that this has to be the most carefully re-watched program ever, and whether it was a sky-diving-based economy or a casino-based economy, the brains always brought home the proverbial bacon, speaking of recurring themes.
Uh, I don’t know, maybe the milk-throwing references in I was a Teenage Werewolf. He did throw milk an awful lot, though.
I was reading through these, thinking I didn’t have any least favorites (in fact, most of the ones named are some of my favorite riffs), but then someone hit the nail on the head…
90% of the Peter Graves jokes. (Biography, James Arness, etc).
And I heartily disagree with the fat jokes. 1, it’s not a running gag, it’s a repeated theme. Big difference. 2, “I demand you make me a delicious buffet!” from ODATMB is my all time favorite one-off riff.
Clarification: I’m equating “Riffs that got run into the ground” with “Running Gag”. To me, it means the same joke being used multiple times (SLEEP! ROWSDOWER!).
I’m of the mindset that anything worth doing is worth overdoing. The “Suddenly, my lungs were aching for air” riff gets funnier and funnier (to me, antway) with every callback. (Then again, I was always a big Sea Hunt fan.)
That said, I have to agree with crowschmo.
“J-E-E-E-D-D-D-!!!” was like nails on a chalkboard.
re The bolem: For my suggested discussion an example would be the huge face guy from soul taker – ahhhhhhh!
Paging Mr.Herman.
The whole jim hensons “fill in the blank” babies got old quick. But nothing else really did. Now did anyone bring up “calgon” take me away. Never got tired of it but it was there alot.
Oh “The ABC Mystery Movie”
Or whatever they said.. Blah!!! Electro-shock them robots!
“You taste like…”
It just doesn’t work for me.
“Hi, I’m Satan. Enjoy the movie!”
I really hated during shorts where someone (usually Tom) would negate every phrase. It happens a lot in Circus on Ice and Progress Island USA! where it’d go “am american democracy!” “…would be nice” or “it all adds up to split second artistry” “…but not here.” Annoyed me.
“It’s Fabulouuuuus!
No offense, but this is a pretty negative topic. In the future, may I suggest sticking to more positive topics? These “what wasn’t funny?” topics aren’t much fun to read.
“[Insert name here], no!”
Yikes, reading mean-spirited grouchy comments about parts of MST3K that suck is really depressing.
What’s next week’s topic? “Host Segments You Hate” “Most Annoying Crow Riffs” “Joel Quirks/Habits That Make You Angry”?
I’m not saying MST3K is 100% perfect or above criticism or anything. But… wowzer.
I can’t ever remember a riff annoying me so much that I came out disliking an episode. If I had to pick one that to me is a waste of space, it would be the way-to-long “Do you know how to fly one of these things?” gag from The Lost Continent. One of my favorites, but that gag might have been allowed to die earlier than Crow asks it to.
Also, I think if the words “Lick Me” had been used one more time in Season 7-8, it might have been too much. As it is, I usually laugh out loud. :razz:
Any of the many references to ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ Occasionally, “out you two pixies go, out the door or t’ru the winda'” is funny, but the sort of overused these quotes in general.
Also, the obscure references to tutor turtle and Cecil and Beanie are basically never funny, even if you get them. Ex: “I’m coming, beanie boy!!!”
Anyone else remember a character saying he “Didn’t have a body”? Pale fella? Omnipotent? Vaguely British accent? That wore a little thin for me, because he clearly, in fact, did have a body, demonstrably.
Also that joke in the credits about not asking about the science behind the satellite. That was repeated EVERY FREAKIN’ EPISODE!
“Oh, poopie!”
:smile:
I don’t think this has to be a negative topic. Sometimes it’s just a simple truth that the same riffs can get dull, or were never funny to begin with.
For example, “blow comb”. I heard that riff so many times during the Sci-Fi Channel era. I assume it’s some sort of hair-dryer attachment. It was neither funny the first time nor the ten times it was repeated.
I agree with #’s 82 and 84 … :neutral:
As for the burp/fart sounds all over Final Justice… I laugh really hard every time. Woo! Toilet humor, alright.
My favorite episode of this was done in I think “The Sword and the Dragon”? I’m not really sure, but he was a buff Herculean guy and during the part where he’s pushing the wall to knock it down, Servo starts making fart noises and Crow starts saying “Oh lord, oh my god.” in between the farting in that accent they always use when they talk like mid-western grandmas? I LMAO every single time.
In “Parts: the Clonus Horror” I always wondered why they’d run the Peter Graves/Biography connection into the ground and never once do a “Have you ever seen a grown man naked?” reference, considering it’s obvious that they’d seen “Airplane.”
Also, add my vote for “I thought you were Dale,” “Richard Jewell,” “she’s dating Jerry Seinfeld” whenever a kid is onscreen, Kelsey Grammer/car crash riffs, “I am Kirok” and “Chief/McCloud.”
“Huzzah!”
Although none of the running gags/riffs ever got old or annoying to me. I did enjoy when they would get on each others case for doing a gag repeatedly. It showed that they knew not to beat a dead horse. Like the repeated performers doing a tribute to the upper Amazon in “Revenge of the Creature”.
Running gags don’t usually annoy me too much. After all, you only have to wait a couple seconds for the next riff.
However, I do get sick of “SLEEP!” and “Go to bed old man!” mostly because I have no idea what they reference.
Rather than be negative though, here is a running gag that I absolutely loved: In Pumaman when they kept adding lyrics to his theme song.
“The fat-free yogurt that’s not short on flavor”
“When you want the flavor of bacon in a dip”
“Burning old man, singe all his flesh off”
Makes me laugh every time.
btw, where do you submit your ideas for the weekend discussion thread?
Mc :sad: Cloud!!
The only time I EVER muted any part of a running gag on MST3K was during Servo’s incredibly annoying “JEEEEEEEEED!!” from early Season 8. I was never a Beverly Hillbillies fan to begin with, and the repeatedly bizarre reference of Grammy Clampett just didn’t work for me. What really killed that joke was Kevin Murphy yelling it throughout the end credits, too; a definite WTF? moment for me.
Having said that, I do enjoy most of the running jokes, from “Jim Henson’s (blank) Babies” to “Sleep!” to “Oh, is the great..etc” to “Chief/McCloud”. Because in most cases they space the jokes out well enough to make them funny.
I’m a bit late to the party this weekend, but wanted to add my little contribution to this thread:
Besides a few of the examples already mentioned (“JED!”, “Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?!”, John Sununu references) one small annoyance for me was any mention of “Has s/he been read her CARMEN MIRANDA RIGHTS?!” *groan* I hate puns, especially bad puns, even when used ironically.
That said, I, for one, loved any mention of It’s A Wonderful Life (best movie ever), “OH, is the great BlahBlahBlahBlah going to direct today?” and most of the repetitive callbacks to previous movies.
No riffs have ever stopped me from enjoying an episode, but the fat jokes in Final Justice wore thin after a while, although I love the end credits song.
For references that were run into the ground I nominate “Session’s presents” from Tormented. It was funny the first time it was mentioned, but it soon grated my nerves. In Laserblast, the guys mocked 8-Tracks and “20 explosive hits by 20 explosive artists”, which didn’t seem as irritating. The bots razzing Mike about his possible “smoking” habit during his younger days got old. (They may have harassed Joel as well. I don’t remember.) I enjoy “Packers” and “Are you ready for some football?” variations. I grew up in Houston during the 70’s when “your HUE-STUN OILERS” was about all Houston had going for it. (Well, it’s true.) “Biography” gets old in Parts, but is okay in other episodes. And I adore Crow with his “by this time my lungs were…” in relation to water scenes, but not spacesuits ala “Commando Cody”. I know Tom and Joel have done the bit as well, but it doesn’t work as well. :wink:
One word: RADAR!!! Even the Brains got sick of that one.