Alert reader David, playing off Sampo’s Theorem, writes:
Came up with this while reading the recent 904 – Werewolf postings. Most people rated it a 5 in their posts, but a select few rated it as low as a 3, admitting that they “like it but just don’t get all the love for it.” I think we all have that feeling about some episode that everyone else seems to adore.
My response: “OK, if you don’t think THIS is a 5 star episode, then what is?”
Question: What’s an episode you consider overrated, and maybe suggest a neglected favorite that you prefer.
For overrated, I’m going to go with 303- POD PEOPLE. People just swoon over this episode. It puts me to sleep. (Great segments, though.)
For underrated, I have to go with 610- THE VIOLENT YEARS, an all-time fave that I don’t think gets the love it should.
) to help our users cope with "trolls" and other commenters whom they find annoying. Go to our
I think Monster a Go-Go is way overrated, I have yet to sit through it and not fall asleep.
Although Horrors of Spider Island isn’t my favorite, I think that it’s better than most people give it credit for. All the segments are movie related and the movie itself is very surreal to me.
For overrated I would definately go for The Last of the Wild Horses. Except for the host segments, which I think are gold, that episode bores me. For underrated I would go with Danger! Death Ray. Most people I’ve talked to don’t care for it but I love it.
I LOVE The Violent Years. (Maybe it’s the angora sweater.)
I had a multitude of guests one Thanksgiving, and yes, it was Turkey Day on Comedy Central. The two episodes we all watched were Cave Dwellers and Pod People. EVERYONE loved them, especially Pod People. That episode has always had a place in my heart.
People tend to dismiss episodes as being either “this” or “that”, but what everyone seems to forget is that MST3K was a WEEKLY show. They were cranking these out every week. That’s a helluva lot of bad movies to have to sit through in a season. Even the episodes that rate a “meh” from some people are worthy of re-viewing and reconsideration. I appreciated and loved every one of them.
I guess you can say, I grokked them.
I can honestly say I have no particular favorites, or episodes that I really don’t like. I do like them all. I guess I’m beyond help.
I love Pod People, but I get that people drain of the “Chief? McCloud!” jokes pretty fast. Chalk it up to the team still ironing out some wrinkles.
Most overrated episode for me is likely Catalina Caper. There are some funny moments, and it seems a lot of people love the episode — and maybe some of the love has to do with the fact that it was a “Lost” episodes for so long. But the movie is just terrible, but they go WAY overboard on the “Really White People” jokes and don’t have a lot of good riffs for the music, other than this is obviously past Little Richard’s heyday. Still, Servo’s “Creepy Girl” song was pretty good.
The underrated one that it seems no one else likes is Hamlet. Maybe it’s just because it’s a bleak, dubbed, heavily edited Hamlet, but it’s still fun to watch. Maybe it’s the joke about Garrison Keillor that gets me, or maybe that they keep waiting to Hamlet for die, but I thought this episode got unfairly moved to the bottom of a lot of people’s list. Besides, there’s a Hamlet action figure — something I thought Joel would have been proud of.
I totally agree with The Violent Years….and going on with the Ed Wood theme, I think The Sinister Urge was a woefully underrated episode. Also, I think that Final Justice was a much better episode than Mitchell. And I don’t hear enough talk about one of my all time favorite episodes…Escape 2000!
Overrated: Pod People, Manos, Amazing Colossal Man, Godzilla vs. Megalon
Since it was recently reviewed, I do think “Hobgoblins” is vastly overrated (almost unwatchable by me). My theory is that it’s you kids (“You darn kids!”) who weren’t even on the planet when I grew up during the 50’s and 60’s (my favorite era for MST3K movies) who enjoy it so much because it represents your own childhood. Hey, we all have our goofy childhood pleasures — for me it’s films like “The Violent Years” and “Amazing Colossal Man”.
Indeed, that could be another weekend topic — favorite MST3K episodes by generation. My guess is it would be pretty clearly divided by when you grew up as to which films were your favorites.
Of course, ANY episode of MST3K is to be cherished, but for the purposes of discussion, I’ll list my overrateds as:
1. Manos – I just dom’t get all the acclaim for this dry episode that has very few worthwhile riffs.
2. Werewolf – Haven’t seen it in awhile so I’m due for another visit, but this has never been a particular fave–though I have to admit that a lot of my friends seem to like it.
3. The Final Sacrifice – I’m not in the Rowsdower camp, though this is another one I need to take a fresh look at.
As far as underrated, I’ll go with:
1. Racket Girls – This one may finally be getting its due thanks to its release in Vol. XV, but it languished in the bottom half of the fan poll to where I thought it might never see its way onto DVD. Combine a movie with top-notch riffing with one of the all-time greatest shorts, and this is one hilarious episode.
2. Girls Town – What can I say? I like movies about wanton women…
3. The Leech Woman – If for no other reason than this riff: (Character who has aged unnaturally) “Throw me the leather pouch!” (Servo) “You ARE the leather pouch!”
BTW, tbis particular subject is a perfect time for me to ask: CAN WE PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE HAVE ANOTHER FAN POLL OF EPISODES?? THE LAST ONE IS WAY OUT OF DATE NOW.
Manos is still hard to sit through, even with the riffing,and I feel that while a horrible little movie, it moves so slow, and I find myself never finishing it, good? yes, but a little overrated. I have to say that the Unearthly is often overlooked sometimes as well as Angels’ Revenge, which while a jigglefest, moves quick, and is still funny after many years.
I agree entirely with #4, Kenotic’s choice of Hamlet. It’s a wonderful episode that, for some reason, has garnered a disproportionate amount of hatred. I’ve seen people declare it should never have been done, and I don’t get that at all; a bad movie is a bad movie. It has terrific riffs: “Yeah, go a LOT to England!” ; “Hamlet…get off your mom.” A very underrated episode.
If I had to pick one ep that I found overrated, it would be Time Chasers. I enjoy it, but I find the host segments are funnier than anything in the movie itself. I’m not trying to convince anyone it’s not the greatest ep ever. If that’s the one that makes people laugh, great, but I don’t really get the love for it. However, I’ve seen “overrated” eps listed in other posts that are among my favorites. It’s all a matter of taste.
CATALINA CAPER has always been a favourite of ours. Many complain (I suppose reasonably) that the riffs are obvious, but for whatever reason the episode has always clicked with me. And the abundance of terrible songs doesn’t hurt.
“I guess you could say that he’s stuck between a rock and a…” :grin:
I agree completely with #10. CATALINA CAPER is my all time favorite episode, and I love the “creepy girl” song as well.
The episodes I think are most overrated are Red Zone Cuba, Hobgoblins, and TISCWSLaBMZ. They’re all watchable episodes for me, but it seems like some fans consider them holy. In fact, I was a little leery of writing this up, as I’m not in the mood to be crucified today.
As for underrated, I’m going to direct you all to the Japanese movies riffed in season 3. Time of the Apes and the Fugitive Alien ones are very funny, and even the Gamera episodes are good. I think people were turned off by the sheer numbers of them (and I would caution against watching them all back-to-back) but taken in moderation, they’re all quite good.
I absolutely love The Violent Years and The Sinister Urge, possibly because of my love for Ed Wood, but I think the riffing is great and never fails to crack me up. I will also join the defense of Hamlet—not a favorite, but terribly underrated.
As for overrated, I have never been able to finish Monster-A-Go-Go, and a lot of people seem to enjoy Attack of the Giant Leeches and The Creeping Terror, which I just don’t get. zzzzzzzzz
Underrated: Being from Another Planet. Great 80s material and riffing that works right along with it.
Overrated: Space Mutiny. Its funny and all, but not the funniest thing the Best Brains have produced.
I’ll dig deep for underrated episodes:
Jungle Goddess (I love the final host segment- this early 2nd season ep is a gem I wish Shout would release)
Wild Rebels- For the love of pete- this is the best of the biker episodes- forget Sidehackers or Hellcats- and the virgin goddess private stock rules)
Time of the Apes- totally silly and totally awesome
City Limits- James Earl Jones makes me laugh, and I, like so many men my age love Kim Catrall
The Girl in Lover’s Lane- Jack Elam, say no more
Girl’s Town- I am a lapsed catholic, plus, it has the fight between pop and jazz
The Brute Man- great short, dark sad movie with good riffs
Devil Doll- I’ll never look at Ham the same again
Quest of the Delta Knights- wow, goofy guy from Mad about you and David Warner meets David Warner
Hamlet- just because I will always love Ophelia.
Oooo, good one. Let’s see….
Overrated: Time Chasers – Some people are gaga over this episode, but I find it a chore to get through.
Underrated: Legend of Boggy Creek 2 and Attack of the Giant Leeches are 2 I find to be very enjoyable, though few seem to share my enthusiam.
Good question. I’m basing this on how much talk I’ve heard and read about an episode compared to my love of an episode.
Underrated:
I thought I was the only one who truly loved The Violent Years. I’m glad to see people saw the greatness in the Peggy Noonan Gang.
1970’s and 1980’s movies for some reason always resonate with me. Master Ninja 2 is one of my favorite underrated episodes (a friend and I were having this debate and he said he remembers MN1 more.) Alien from L.A. also captures the 80’s spirit correctly.
I also thought King Dinosaur never got the run it deserved. Robert Lippert films always did for me.
I’ll also give a nod to Earth vs. the Spider. Generic names (The Plant and the Mattress Company,) giant, mutated animals and shameless B.I.G. promotion made a great combination.
I really can’t think of any overrated episodes. I’m not as high on “Manos” as a lot of people, but it truly was such a horrible movie. I’ll probably say the overrated episode for me was “Laserblast” (w/ two-and-a-half stars.) The “Are you ready for some football?” riffs went from hilarious to “meh.” The aliens were funny, though.
Overrated: “Monster a Go-Go” loses me about five minutes after the movie’s credits. It’s not for lack of trying – the movie itself is just so slow and odd that it puts me to sleep.
Underrated: “The Sinister Urge” is one of Ed Wood’s unsung classics. The tamest porn known to man (unless you’re into granny panties) and Gloria the harsh, cigaretty smut maven (who, BTW, makes for great obscure Halloween costumes)? Sign me up! No one seems to talk about this one, but I love it.
The most over rated has got to be ” The Final Sacrifice.” I hated this movie and the riffing never clicked for me.
#3: “I guess you can say, I grokked them.”
Please don’t say “grok” again. Never, ever again.
I also like The Violent Years. The riffing actually gets funnier when the movie grinds to a halt for the judge’s long speeches. “There’s a little joke in Leviticus…” The Sinister Urge is even funnier.
The Castle of Fu Manchu has weirdly become a favorite of mine. The movie itself sucks in a different way from most of the MST3K movies and I enjoy how it provokes the ‘bots (not Joel so much) to increasing frustration and anger. “Things are blowing up that weren’t even in this movie!”
As for underrated, I too do not care for Pod People, which aside from a few hilarious scenes is just kind of sad and grey. The riffing does not enliven things much. I can say much the same thing about all of the Roger Corman movie episodes. There’s simply not enough there for the crew to latch onto; there’s not much fun to be gotten from Corman’s dull competence. They do best when the movie has some kind of seedy, cockeyed vision to it, as with the Coleman Francis movies.
oops!
Overrated? Hm. It seems most people dig the Gamera episodes more than I do. In fact, if not for Fugitive Alien, I’d probably call the entire Sandy Frank lot overrated.
Underrated? The Undead. Digger Smolken entertains me to no end, the medieval highway patrolman schtick is priceless, and the last couple of big scenes have a ton of laughs.
Good call on Hamlet, too. Love that one.
I will have to offer up Cave Dwellers as far over-rated. While it was the first episode I ever owned (bought the tape at a flea market), I rarely watch it. I love the line “Ouch, I fell on my eight-sided dice.” But most of the riffing is rather tame.
For under-rated, I’m not that plugged into what other fans think, but I do agree that Hamlet is a very good episode. I also feel I Accuse My Parents and The Painted Hills should get plenty of love if they don’t already.
I’m seeing a bit of love for Hamlet here. Shame on you people. Shakespeare – what a tool!
Overrated:
Time Chasers for sure. Not so much for the episode, but for the movie itself. It’s not a diamond in the rough as far as I’m concerned, and you can’t polish a turd.
Werewolf gets pretty old pretty fast for me.
Final Justice is just 2 jokes: Joe Don Baker is overweight and sort of unappealing, and Maltese men are wimpy. I find it a chore to get through.
Future War just roundly sucks.
Zombie Nightmare: I need to give this one a couple more viewings, but it didn’t do much for me.
Underrated:
I think Sidehackers could use more love. People get turned off by the violence and bleakness, but I think the riffing really elevates it.
I’m not so sure these are underrated exactly, but ones I like that I don’t typically see a lot of comments on:
Track of the Moon Beast
The Sinister Urge
Devil Doll
War of the Colossal Beast
Diabolik
I find that favorite episodes are usually the ones where the viewer is knowledgable and in-sync with the cultural references plus the mood when seeing the episode the first time. This may explain why people’s favorites on this list are “all over the map.” It’s in the eye of the beholder.
Glad to see I’m not the only one who finds Racket Girls underrated. Devil Fish is another one that seems unappreciated. I can watch that stupid shark/octopus thing swim around all day and be delighted.
I don’t know if overrated is the word I would use, but I agree that Manos and Monster a Go-Go are really hard to sit through (a Go-Go nearly impossible): but that is probably why they are classics. If an film was going to break the Best Brains, it would arguably been these two.
And I agree that I enjoyed Final Justice far more than Mitchell with all due respect.
For underrated I’d say Invasion of the Neptune Men. Yes it can be hard to sit through at times and can be a little hard on Japan (but all in good fun), but by-and-large provides solid riffing material for the Brains, plus throws out great “wtf” moments such as the “Hitler Building”.
And the episode I absolutely adore and should be more acclaimed, as much as possible, is Touch of Satan. The pauses are perfect for riff inserts; practically made for the show.
For overrated, I might also go with Werewolf. There’s a lot of funny stuff, but the movie is so slow that it threatens to drag everything down. I can’t watch it very often. I might also say the same thing about Eegah, even though it’s considered a minor classic. And also perhaps Incredibly Strange Creatures.
For underrated, I’d say Santa Claus, the Starfighters and It Conquered the World. People like Santa Claus, but it’s not as well known as Santa Claus Conquers the Martians even though it should be. The Starfighters could’ve been weighted down like the ones I mentioned above, but they handle all of the refueling really well and it’s a great episode. It Conquered the World is a ridiculous movie, and a hilarious episode. “This tastes like mud. Roger Mudd.”
Final Sacrifice has always been the most overrated episode in my eyes. By no means a bad episode, but certainly not the classic it’s heralded as.
As for underrated…Night of the Bloodbeast. Classic short; the only dual episode, offering great segments in both versions; and a thoroughly Cormanized feature. Many may feel it’s too dull and gray (as I did originally), but repeat viewings reveal what a gem it is. Fantastic riffing.
Overrated: I’d concur on Manos and Final Sacrifice. They’re both ok to me, but I’ve never thought them flawless classics worthy of the overall praise they seem to get. I’ll defend the merits of Zombie Nightmare and Werewolf to the grave, though. Seriously.
For underrated, I’d have to also agree with #15’s mention of City Limits. I love that episode from beginning to end, but it seems to get very little mention when it comes to fan-faves. The riffing is great, the movie charmingly bad in the fun 80’s kind of way – even the host segments are great, IMO. I also really love Fire Maidens of Outer Space (Timmy!!!), but it doesn’t seem to get mentioned all that much in terms of high appreciation – at least, not that I’ve seen. Maybe I called in sick during those talkbacks, lol.
@ 5 and 27 – agree with both of you about Final Justice > Mitchell. I wasn’t big on Final Justice back when I first saw it – now after many repeated viewings over the years, it’s vastly superior to Mitchell in almost every aspect, IMO. I think Mitchell just gets the greater love because it was an above-average episode to begin with, that also housed a milestone turning point in the show’s history. Which makes sense, but still. Go ‘head on!
Overrated: Hobgoblins a distant #1, followed by the Russo-Finnish films which were never my cup of tea.
Underrated: Earth vs. the Spider is one of the 5 funniest episodes of the show, but I never see that mentioned as one of the best. I also never see Human Duplicators in people’s favorites or Overdrawn at the Memory Bank (best Sci-Fi era episode by a wide margin IMO).
When I started reading the subject Pod People immediately sprang into my mind as the overrated one. But I haven’t seen it for years. Hamlet has to be the most commonly underrated one though I’d pick The Dead Talk Back, The Screaming Skull and Samson vs the Vampire Women as my favorite underrated eps.
Oh yeah, I forgot Catalina Caper. I hAte that one! Pure crap! The riffing is probably okay but I hate every frame of that stinking movie for some reason.
#33: “Oh yeah, I forgot Catalina Caper. I hAte that one! Pure crap! The riffing is probably okay but I hate every frame of that stinking movie for some reason.”
There’s a very good reason: there’s no capering in the movie. Of any sort. Even the beach party scenes are boring (compare The Horror of Party Beach.) It’s a very bad sign when the high point of your movie is Little Richard’s appearance ten minutes in.
Overrated: 101- The Crawling Eye. It’s the first episode on CC, but there used to be people raving about it, people saying it was funnier than The Crawling Hand (which IMO is the first great season 1 episode), but 101 puts me to sleep quite easily.
Underrated: The Creeping Terror and The Atomic Brain. Two episodes that are hilarious to me, yet I’ve seen many others rank them as weaker, boring episodes.
And Manos is my pick for most underrated overrated episode. I showed it to some friends and they were fast asleep twenty minutes in. I can see why some people find it too dreary but I think the riffing is mostly great and since I happen to like bleak, dreary movies so it’s all good.
#34 I think what sticks in my craw about Cataline Caper is that it’s a singularly unfunny attempt at screwball comedy and the riffs just seem to magnify the unfunnyness. A mob should have descended on the cast and beat them all to a meaty pulp and fed the only print to the dogfishes. I felt the same about Angel’s Revenge, though I haven’t seen that one in probably 10-15 years.
Some of these things creep up on you. At first you are indifferent to the episode, then you warm up a bit, then it’s your favorite.
My choices for underrated are;
Time of the Apes-See TM @ 15.
Racket Girls-See G @7.
Sinister Urge- See M @18.
Overrated;
Any of Coleman Francis’isssss works. Although good, his movies are so excruciatingly slow is starts to drag on the riffing timing it seems.
Finaly, I agree with Sampo on The Violent Years. Ed Woods, in any capacity, and MST3K were a destined union indeed. I’m a fan of the Pod People but I guess Sampo, in a round about way, is trying to say “@ It Stinks!”
I agree wholeheartedly with The Violent Years being highly underrated. It’s up there in my list of favorites and I do just adore it so. Fun times.
As for overrated, I’d have to fall into the Gamera camp. I have never enjoyed these movies but have always been told that they were good ways of getting people into the show. They just bore me to tears. On the other hand, I really do love the rest of the Sandy Frank stuff – Fugitive Alien, Time of the Apes, and even Mighty Jack. I can also tolerate the other big monster fightin’ films, so as to why Gamera is the one to get the boot from me is a bit of a mystery.
Underrated? I fall into the Hamlet camp on this one. I remember Kevin recently said in an interview something like “We call our fans B+ and higher students; guess they didn’t get those marks in the fields we thought they did”. And then I totally understood why Hamlet seems to garner soooo muuuuch haaaate. As an English nerd, I love this episode – and really, it’s because I am in fact that much of a dork.
Overrated: 521-Santa Claus
I was expecting this to be a great episode with all the hype it gets. Not once did I laugh at any of the riffs.
Overrated: 604-Zombie Nightmare
Not funny at all. The movie suffers from all the edits and cuts right before someone is killed on-screen.
Underrated: 509-The Girl in Lovers Lane
Very funny episode. The host segment of Crow’s imitation of Jack Elam is one of the best they’ve ever done. I was surprised to see the comment on the dvd release that said “Love it or hate it..” about the episode.
Keeping in mind that it’s all a matter of taste, I still
can’t understand how people will defend Hamlet. I also am an
English Lit nerd and that’s one of the reasons I loath it so.
There are great versions of Hamlet that have been done. This is
not one of them. Out bleaks Monster a go-go and out Pains any Gamera movie.
Manos comes off as a tight, taut thriller in comparison.
I agree with #16. Boggy Creek and Giant Leeches are two of my all time favorites. I know I’m in the minority but I think most of the Sci-Fi episodes are overated. I like the Comedy Central era for more interesting(not good) movies and clever riffing.
#43: “I know I’m in the minority but I think most of the Sci-Fi episodes are overated.”
Indeed? In my short time lurking about here I’ve gotten the definite impression that the Sci-Fi era is held in some contempt here. There are a lot of comments along the lines of, “Frank Conniff (or Trace Beauleiu) would have made some clever joke that wasn’t made which is why Bill Corbett sucks.”
Lessee… overrated: Definitely Manos. I agree with the previous commenter who said that some of the movies are so dull, they drag the riffing down with it. Manos, Coleman Francis trilogy, Fu Manchu, and Monster a Go Go are in the same camp. I find them nearly unwatchable.
Underrated: Phantom Planet. You know, every day of my life, I grow more and more convinced that MST3K should have done more cheesy 50’s Sci Fi.
Underrated:
Red Zone Cuba – Cool short, great segments, and the way the target movie flows and the way Mike and the bots react is just addictive!
Being From Another Planet – Again, great segments, and Ben Murphy
Overrated:
The Entire first Season – Sure, any first season is important to any show, but the rest of the series absolutely blew Season One out of the water.
Laserblast: – Maybe I just haven’t watched it enough, but the unattractive lead role, the unlikable-to-the-point-of-yelling villans, and an under-utilized Roddy McDowall just don’t interest me at all.
To #44. I didn’t mean to say the people who worked on the show in the Sci-Fi era weren’t funny. I pretty much liked everyone who was on the show from beginning to end. I just think the earlier episodes were more consistently funny than some of the later ones.
#45, Snowdog: I agree with you on all of your points and came here to post virtually the same thing. Thanks for saving me the keystrokes!
CATALINA CAPER makes me laugh BECAUSE it’s such a lame movie. And I still say the riffing on it is just fine. Beating up on it simply proves my point. :grin:
EARTH VERSUS [by Walt Whitman] THE SPIDER is probably my favourite episode of all time–so, yes, I think it is vastly underrated.
Overrated: I’d have to say “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.” It’s probably blasphemy, but I have seen that movie, CT’s version, and MST3K’s version so many times, it’s just burnt out. I can not take Droppo any more.
Underrated: “Attack of the (the) Eye Creatures” From the invention of Rick Rolling, the uncredited Peter Graves voice over, the oily serial killer in the dress, the scantily clad aliens to the “They just didn’t care” break down which applies to every Micheal Bay movie made. I think this ep doesn’t get the just recognition it deserves.