Reviewing the New MST3K: Episode One
THIS REVIEW DOES NOT CONTAIN SPOILERS. I took no screenshots, I'm not revealing the movie they riff, I'm not going into details. I'm sure those things can be found online in a second (and I would argue sharing those details aren't really outside of the spirit of the show), I just want to focus on the show itself and not the details right now. So I'm just going to discuss my thoughts about the new cast, set, riffs, etc. Keep in mind two things when reading this- I really hate change and this is probably my all-time favorite TV show. (Edited to add: meaning, I'm going to appear fair on the outside while hating the changes with every fiber of my being on the inside.)
(These are notes I took while watching. I wrote them on the inside of a cardboard Pocky box.)
PROS:
1. The new opening/closing themes are good. True to the original, but refreshed in a good way.
2. The riffs are often funny and don't rely on shoehorning in too many modern references (something I feel like Rifftrax does too often).
3. The riffs are well varied and cover a lot of different references from a lot of different time periods. They definitely have more of Joel's style in them, which I like.
4. The formatting is kept the same, even though it's on Netflix. That means commercial bumpers, just no commercials. It really preserves the pacing of the show.
5. There's a funky space band playing on the bumpers and they're great. I really liked their design and they sound great too.
6. I like the updates to Gypsy. She has a real voice and hangs from the ceiling now, allowing her to pop in during the movie and just overall be a less awkward part of the show. It feels more respectful to the character.
7. The new countdown sequence has some really cool miniatures in it and speaks to how all the design looks really good BUT not overly polished. I think it still retains the DIY MST3K spirit.
8. Tom's hover skirt works now! He can fly around the theater and it is GREAT.
9. The host with just Jonah and the bots are really good. At one point they sing a song and it is legitimately great- funny, cute, VERY catchy, well written. That song can stand up to any of the classic MST3K songs. The rest of the bits are pretty funny too.
10. Overall, I just found all the riffs to be funny and the movie choice was so far so good.
CONS:
1. Servos voice is just not working for me. It is too hard to distinguish from Jonah's (Crow's voice sounds a little more true to character). It's just not deep enough or bombastic enough- defining characteristics for him in the whole series so far.
2. In the opening meeting of the Mads, Felicia Day just didn't work for me. I really enjoy her work but she seemed very stiff and forced. I guess her line readings all just seemed a little "actor-y" to me. Patton was a lot more relaxed seeming.
3. The intro bit in general was not quite there. Everyone seemed a little nervous and the chemistry wasn't working yet (which, as stated above, was much much better in the movie segments when it's just Jonah and the bots).
4. There is a problem with the riffs. While they are pretty funny, the are not given room to breath. At times it felt like a rapid fire joke-off, with riffs being delivered so close together that they almost stepped on each other at times. Humor is about timing and I just wish they had given some jokes a little more time to land before moving on to the next.
5. They also do this thing where they will make a riff on a shot, the shot will change and a new second riff happens, then the movie will go back to the first shot and they will continue on the first riff. They did this a few times and it was kind of hard to follow- again, the first riff would have worked better without the completely unrelated middle riff put inside it. I found that distracted every time they did it.
6. All this is related to the fact that the energy is a little manic at times. Look, I love Joel and Mike equally. They had very different styles but I appreciated them both- Joel more laid back, Mike a little brasher and high energy. So I don't mind the more hyperactive feel in theory but I felt like I was missing jokes and riffs because of it here. I will say that, if this is a choice they have made here, it did at least feel consistent between all the bits, sketches, and riffs.
So, the pros do outweigh the cons so far. That being said, the Tom issue is a really big problem for me. I hope I can get used to it. Perhaps my ear just needs more episodes to be able to pick his voice out better. What I do know for sure is they got right the two most important things (imo): the riffs made me laugh out loud at points, and the show had the feel of MST3K. Recreating the feel of something, that intangible quality that made it "IT", seems very very hard. Almost every show revival fails at that (*cough Arrested Development cough*) but this one really struck me as being familiar in all the right ways, while still having it's own point of view.
I hope everything starts to click more for me in the future. So in that case, please join me when I update this post later on having seen the other episodes, won't you? Thank you.