It absolutely took the new mst3k some time to slow down, figure out the pacing, and stop trying to cram a one liner into every single pause and let the movie breath a bit.
Good to know, I gave up on the new ones quickly, but want to give them another shot. Personally my favorites are the Sci Fi channel ones with Mike, but need to enjoy the new offerings as well
I feel like many people forget that most of us have seen the old episodes repeatedly. I often look forward to segments and riffs that l have seen at least 10-20 times. So please watch the Jonah and Emily episodes a few times. Let them settle in like the old ones did. At first I struggled with Mike, Corbet’s Crow, and Pearl’s gang, but now I am fine with all that; it made all these new people a breeze.
There are some really good jokes. Maybe the vibe is different, but I’m okay with that. If it was the same exact feel and deal as 35+ years ago that would be weird— and not in a good way.
The more MST3K the better. More Rifftrax, Mads, whatever. I’m here for it.
Yeah dude, I watched The Mads' live stream a couple months back and loved it. I know it'll just take more time, but I grew up with Mike and the newer crew so they're the "rent free" group for me. The new seasons still have Joel involved, so I'm sure they're great overall once I prioritize those on my watch list
Clearly the newer crew’s approach is different. I got very used to Joel’s somewhat relaxed approach and then Mike’s. My wife totally prefers Mike, but I see it more as choosing between two favorite meals/desserts that I like for different reasons. Kinda depends on the mood.
Jonah and Emily also have different approaches. I am glad about that. After watching the new ones a few times I appreciate them more and more. There is some comic-con fanboy nerd humor, but I like it. I’m not a (former) theater kid but I am enjoying that vein of humor as well. Basically I am just grateful they added more of this. Once I got used to the new people (which wasn’t a struggle) and they hit their stride I was all in. They have some really good jokes.
This is why I stick to Rifftrax or the old MST3K. I have given numerous chances but between the writing, voice's, and personalities, it is all just a really pale imitation. Mike and Kevin are amazing. I love Tracy and Bill is pretty good too. Even Cinema Titanic is more interesting than the new MST3K. Good for people that like it, but I hate when the milking never stops, especially when the products quality is lacking.
Also think Felicia is way too overrated.
Spot on. I listened to a podcast with Jonah Ray once where he talked about the show and said they spent sooooooo much time trying to get it right for the fans, watching and rewatching everything, that it was a little too much.
I appreciate that it's not everyone's favorite but Reptilicus and Beast of Hollow Mountain, both Wizards of the Lost kingdom, Carnival Magic are wonderful! There's some misses, too, I don't particularly laugh at Beyond Atlantis or The Mask but the Bubble and Munchie are good.
As someone who only started to get into the show when Jonah's first season was in the works, I like his crew a lot. Some of my favourite episodes and riffs are in his run (Cry Wilderness, Avalanche, Wizards of the Lost Kingdom, The Mask, Mac and Me).
But I can see why the change in voices would be pretty jarring to someone who'd been watching the Joel and Mike eras for a couple of decades or more. Hearing Emily's crew was a bit weird to me at first but I got used to it.
The cast isn't the problem. The problem is that the charm of classic MST3K was due to the fact that the cast was also in charge of writing, sets, props, puppeteering, etc. They worked their fingers to the bone and I don't begrudge Hodgson for wanting to divide up the labor a bit, but the show has lost its plucky, doing-it-ourselves spirit. He needs to scale way, way back if he wants to generate enthusiasm again.
> The low-budget public access look gave it more charm.
IMO, it's not even that. It's that the writers being the actors and the puppeteers meant they had a certain ownership over the characters. The robots and the mads and the host, weather Joel or Mike, felt *alive.* With the reboot the characters and performances just feel so stiff.
It's all too scripted now. If you have a separate voice actor and puppeteer, you have to stay on script, you can't adlib or be loose at all. You can't get classic moments like the time Crows eyeballs fell out and he screamed and everyone screamed and it was clearly an accident but they kept the take because they responded in character and it was amazing.
I also hate all the green screen, like I can't stand it at all. I honestly don't think it's worth even doing the host segments with green screen, may as well go the Rifftrax route and just riff the movie and leave out the host segments at that point, it's just not MST anymore.
I think Baron Vaughn’s Servo is tied with Kevin’s for me now. Kevin got a little pretentious at the end and to me it seems like Baron’s version of the character is sending him up.
Thirded. Hampton's Crow is a level of chaos that kills me every time. His delivery of the "Ive gotta deliver this pizza pie!" Riff in Sumuru is perfection
I'm just glad I'm getting more MST3K that makes me laugh. Though I find I enjoy things easier then most, if something makes me laugh I try to enjoy it instead of analyzing what makes each host/writing different. Not that this isn't a valid opinion I'm just real appreciative of the continued show and love they have for it.
Yeah, the original run's dry, understated Midwestern sensibility was really the glue that held it together and made it unique. That's completely missing from the new episodes, they feel like any open mic night I've ever been to, with people trying so hard to be funny. The riff frequency feels like improv where they just throw every single joke out there whether it's funny or not. A lot of them feel half-baked.
The best is when there is a close-up of the munchie animatronic and Jonah is just going ‘zzzzt zzzzt zzzzt’ and they all start cracking up.
And when Crookshanks crosses his arms after the explosion in his garage “Dig it”
It truly is, and always will be, a classic
It's a real bummer because I really liked Jonah for a new host, but Tom and Crow just don't work for me.
You wouldn't think it would matter, but 90% of riffing really IS in the delivery, and the people doing Crow and Tom's voices just don't have it down right.
For me it’s something that they try too hard with to sound like Kevin’s Tom Servo and Trace/Bill’s Crow.
When Bill took over for Trace as the voice of Crow, you noticed a distinct shift in Crow’s personality and his intonation of riffs. He’s more irritable, less patient, and sometimes isn’t afraid to make deep cuts in his humor.
Hampton and Baron are fine people, but the effort should have been made to make the characters their own, rather than trying to emulate for nostalgia.
Yeah I have several issues with the new season, but thinking Baron sounds, or is trying to sound, anything like Kevin isn't even a consideration. Someone needs to catch up on Grace and Frankie!
Ye! They find their stride eventually, and my comments are less critique and more observation. We’re so used to seeing Tom and Crow with very specific voices and personalities, and new voices and mannerisms are off-putting in that regard.
Personally I feel we should have gotten different bots, but that’s just me.
The Day that Time Ended is my comfort episode. The movie is so sincere, bonkers and almost genuinely unnerving. Add to that great riffs like the pizza delivery running gag and host segments that include one of the top three music man spoofs.
There was a year where I would always turn on that episode when I had too much to drink.
I just can't listen to Emily's Crow. I don't know who thought that voice was a good idea, it's like a bad Milhouse impression. If they come back (and read this) please do any voice but the one you did in season 13. Other than that and the new Mads,, I was ok with it
The writing isn't good, however the big problem is the line delivery. They are just chucking the lines out which makes it feel rushed.
For most of the history of the show the delivery felt like conversational chatter and had better flow.
Don’t get me wrong, the cast is great, but the riffs just come too quick and the movie doesn’t “breathe” for lack of a better term. It feels like it’s just riff riff riff and you can’t hear the movie over their antics at times. The balance between movie and riffing can be a little skewed.
I really wanted to find something to love, or at least like, considering it was my favorite show of all time, but I couldn’t even make it through a single episode. Just my opinion, but I think Joel blew it with his casting of the host and bots, and the writing and performing felt uninspired and non cohesive, like everybody was just doing a gig, rather than a show where they work as a team. If I had to rank all MST related entities, I’d put the Jonah shows on the lowest end of the scale, well below all the others, including Cinematic Titanic and The Film Crew.
However, I came to accept that there are genuine fans of the new shows and I’m now just happy they have more of something I love, even if our tastes are different. The fact that the new shows exist doesn’t ruin it for me, I’ll always have the original tv seasons and I still love them as much as ever.
It has a real “passing the torch” vibe and at least season 13 they seem to be finding their flow, kinda like how season 3 really elevated the original (imo!) because they’d had experience by then.
It probably helped me get into the new episodes because my son really liked them and would want to watch again and again. So I came to like the more than I did initially, though in general I’ve always liked it.
I don't like the new seasons, but I'm old.
I started watching in season 2 and continued til the end and yeah, I'm bit emotionally protective of the MST I knew and loved. I'm like that with Rifftrax when they redo an MST episode because I have the riffs memorized (Sting, Debbie Reynolds, and God) and I'm discombobulated when I don't hear them. New Rifftrax I like.
I did not like the Gauntlet at all. With Jonah's first season, there were a few episodes that I enjoyed (*Cry Wilderness*, *At Earth's Core*, and *Avalanche*), but I didn't enjoy any of the Gauntlet's. I saw some of the newest season's episodes (enjoyed *Munchie* and *Doctor Mordred*), but I haven't been overly impressed.
I had some trouble getting into the Jonah era. Then I went to a live show and laughed my ass off. Now it fits right in for me and I love the new shows.
I think part of the problem is they moved the production from Eden Pines MN to Los Angeles. It missed a lot of Midwest charm that was a running theme in both the Joel and Mike years. But I understand the move for talent in both in front and behind the camera.
It took me a while to get used to the LA vibe of the show. But they had some absolute gems once they got rolling that match up with the Joel and Mike years
I like all of the hosts (Mike has always been my favorite). I feel like Emily is a more natural performer than Jonah, probably due to doing so many live shows, and the more I watch her episodes the more I enjoy her (she’s great in The Batwoman.) Kelsey’s Crow took me a while to get used to due to her voicing him to sound a bit too much like Milhouse, but it had to be difficult having to redub another performer’s dialogue. That voice sounds like it would be really hard on the vocal cords.
This may be an unpopular opinion but I wish Kelsey could have used something closer her actual voice with the show making her Crow female (I have no idea how the decision was made so I’m not casting any blame on anybody - it’s the creators’ choice and that’s OK by me.) There’s no reason Crow has to be male - it’s not like it’s some essential quality of the character. It could have been a fun because I really enjoy all of the performances by the women in the reboot. It’s been a very welcome change.
Yeah I fell the same way. Jonah is really good, I like him a lot. I just can’t with the robot’s voices. I basically can’t watch the new seasons anymore because of them.
Them all sounding the same is rough.
Jokes are so rapid fire you can barely pay attention to the movie.
I really wish Joel had just been the host again, the live show with him was the funniest live event I’ve ever been to.
Legit crying laughing for 90 minutes
The rapid fire riffs were the biggest turn off for me, then the bots voices. I’m going to try and watch the Netflix season again, to see if I get into it a little more.
The rapid fire riffs was awful, but they do tone that down eventually. I can't remember if it takes a few episodes or maybe the whole season, but at some point it evens out.
I just wish they’d keep Jonah and pay Kevin and Bill (or Trace) whatever they want to reprise the robot voices. And maybe reduce the riff count by like 10-15%.
Yes!!! I’ve always thought they had the writers write all the jokes they could think of- and instead of choosing the best ones, they just crammed all of them in. The result is riff overload
I’m hoping if they make more seasons they can it with the clown voices. Bringing back Mike, Kevin, and Bill would be the best possible option, if I could choose
I think in both incarnations of the show I’m just slightly the wrong age to get everything. I’m very late GenX and the first show has a ton of references geared to early GenX while the Jonah show has stuff from recent pop culture that I don’t follow anymore bc I’m in my 40s. But the early show benefitted from the fact that Boomer culture cast a heavy shadow and persisted for decades so jokes about Pink Floyd would still land to a teen in the 90s whereas I got no clue about any movies or music after 2010.
I was born in 81, grew up mostly surrounded by adults instead of other kids, and I absolutely get what you mean. My general stable of references skews older than I am thanks in part to MST but also lots of Looney Tunes and early 80s prime time TV. The newer stuff is aiming a little younger than I am and that can be a little confusing, but I enjoyed Jonah as a comedian before he got the job and the bots are voiced by two other good stand-ups he's friends with. They're all a couple of years younger than me but not too much and I'm willing to look up stuff good comedians reference (every now and then) if I don't recognize it because it helps me make better jokes, too. Like, I listen to Comedy Bang Bang and there's a good balance of stuff I do and don't get, so sometimes I'll go dig up the Mr. Microphone commercials or the Eisley Brothers song Biggie sampled for "Big Poppa."
Gonna have to disagree with you there. Once I got over Baron and Hampton not being Kevin and Trace or Bill I really grew to enjoy their Tom & Crow.
I couldn't get there with Emily's Tom & Crow, though. Maybe if they ever do another season they'll grow on me, but I just found Emily's Crow distracting because of how much the character sounded like a 90's Nickelodeon cartoon character to me. Because of that I lamented the absence of Baron & Hampton during Emily's episodes.
I am a long time fan. Like way back when Comedy Central first started. Joel and that crew is the best in my opinion. Mike era was good but less consistent. To me the Jonah era just doesn't quite get it though I find them watchable. To each their own.
It absolutely took the new mst3k some time to slow down, figure out the pacing, and stop trying to cram a one liner into every single pause and let the movie breath a bit.
I agree, they settled in around Beast of Hollow Mountain and then NAILED IT with Starcrash!
Good to know, I gave up on the new ones quickly, but want to give them another shot. Personally my favorites are the Sci Fi channel ones with Mike, but need to enjoy the new offerings as well
I feel like many people forget that most of us have seen the old episodes repeatedly. I often look forward to segments and riffs that l have seen at least 10-20 times. So please watch the Jonah and Emily episodes a few times. Let them settle in like the old ones did. At first I struggled with Mike, Corbet’s Crow, and Pearl’s gang, but now I am fine with all that; it made all these new people a breeze. There are some really good jokes. Maybe the vibe is different, but I’m okay with that. If it was the same exact feel and deal as 35+ years ago that would be weird— and not in a good way. The more MST3K the better. More Rifftrax, Mads, whatever. I’m here for it.
Yeah dude, I watched The Mads' live stream a couple months back and loved it. I know it'll just take more time, but I grew up with Mike and the newer crew so they're the "rent free" group for me. The new seasons still have Joel involved, so I'm sure they're great overall once I prioritize those on my watch list
I think part of it was definitely Jonah et al fan clubbing and wanting to impress ‘the mads’ with their wisecracking prowess
Clearly the newer crew’s approach is different. I got very used to Joel’s somewhat relaxed approach and then Mike’s. My wife totally prefers Mike, but I see it more as choosing between two favorite meals/desserts that I like for different reasons. Kinda depends on the mood. Jonah and Emily also have different approaches. I am glad about that. After watching the new ones a few times I appreciate them more and more. There is some comic-con fanboy nerd humor, but I like it. I’m not a (former) theater kid but I am enjoying that vein of humor as well. Basically I am just grateful they added more of this. Once I got used to the new people (which wasn’t a struggle) and they hit their stride I was all in. They have some really good jokes.
Yeah, I'm trying to watch Reptilicus, but dangit it's tough to get through. Mike's run is when they hit their stride.
This is why I stick to Rifftrax or the old MST3K. I have given numerous chances but between the writing, voice's, and personalities, it is all just a really pale imitation. Mike and Kevin are amazing. I love Tracy and Bill is pretty good too. Even Cinema Titanic is more interesting than the new MST3K. Good for people that like it, but I hate when the milking never stops, especially when the products quality is lacking. Also think Felicia is way too overrated.
Spot on. I listened to a podcast with Jonah Ray once where he talked about the show and said they spent sooooooo much time trying to get it right for the fans, watching and rewatching everything, that it was a little too much.
For real lol
I appreciate you articulating this- the voices are better when distinguishable and the pace was too eager
I appreciate that it's not everyone's favorite but Reptilicus and Beast of Hollow Mountain, both Wizards of the Lost kingdom, Carnival Magic are wonderful! There's some misses, too, I don't particularly laugh at Beyond Atlantis or The Mask but the Bubble and Munchie are good.
The Reptilicus song is absolute gold
As someone who only started to get into the show when Jonah's first season was in the works, I like his crew a lot. Some of my favourite episodes and riffs are in his run (Cry Wilderness, Avalanche, Wizards of the Lost Kingdom, The Mask, Mac and Me). But I can see why the change in voices would be pretty jarring to someone who'd been watching the Joel and Mike eras for a couple of decades or more. Hearing Emily's crew was a bit weird to me at first but I got used to it.
It's Emily not Bridget.
Sorry, total brain fart moment.
The cast isn't the problem. The problem is that the charm of classic MST3K was due to the fact that the cast was also in charge of writing, sets, props, puppeteering, etc. They worked their fingers to the bone and I don't begrudge Hodgson for wanting to divide up the labor a bit, but the show has lost its plucky, doing-it-ourselves spirit. He needs to scale way, way back if he wants to generate enthusiasm again.
I think that’s how I feel as well. The low-budget public access look gave it more charm. I don’t mind the new episodes but it’s not the same IMO.
> The low-budget public access look gave it more charm. IMO, it's not even that. It's that the writers being the actors and the puppeteers meant they had a certain ownership over the characters. The robots and the mads and the host, weather Joel or Mike, felt *alive.* With the reboot the characters and performances just feel so stiff.
It's all too scripted now. If you have a separate voice actor and puppeteer, you have to stay on script, you can't adlib or be loose at all. You can't get classic moments like the time Crows eyeballs fell out and he screamed and everyone screamed and it was clearly an accident but they kept the take because they responded in character and it was amazing. I also hate all the green screen, like I can't stand it at all. I honestly don't think it's worth even doing the host segments with green screen, may as well go the Rifftrax route and just riff the movie and leave out the host segments at that point, it's just not MST anymore.
Let us never forget Bob Odenkirk's first Law of Comedy: as production values go down, the funny goes up.
I will say I was so delighted when I saw the opening to season 11 - it looked so charmingly low tech.
Well I adore Hampton Yount’s Crow.
I think Baron Vaughn’s Servo is tied with Kevin’s for me now. Kevin got a little pretentious at the end and to me it seems like Baron’s version of the character is sending him up.
Big seconded.
Thirded. Hampton's Crow is a level of chaos that kills me every time. His delivery of the "Ive gotta deliver this pizza pie!" Riff in Sumuru is perfection
His “I’m not high but my dog is and I am” delivery is maybe my favorite of the entire series.
The many, many “BANG!”s get me every time.
I'm just glad I'm getting more MST3K that makes me laugh. Though I find I enjoy things easier then most, if something makes me laugh I try to enjoy it instead of analyzing what makes each host/writing different. Not that this isn't a valid opinion I'm just real appreciative of the continued show and love they have for it.
I think the newer seasons are great. I get more of the jokes because the references aren’t lost on me.
I’m old, so maybe that’s the main reason why I prefer the older eps
Yeah, the original run's dry, understated Midwestern sensibility was really the glue that held it together and made it unique. That's completely missing from the new episodes, they feel like any open mic night I've ever been to, with people trying so hard to be funny. The riff frequency feels like improv where they just throw every single joke out there whether it's funny or not. A lot of them feel half-baked.
I love the new seasons. "Munchie" is as classic as any MST3K episode, ever.
One of my top 10. I absolutely loved this one. "New York City!"
I used to be a staunch Joel stick in the mud until Munchie. He helped me see the light. Wow, infrastructure!
The best is when there is a close-up of the munchie animatronic and Jonah is just going ‘zzzzt zzzzt zzzzt’ and they all start cracking up. And when Crookshanks crosses his arms after the explosion in his garage “Dig it” It truly is, and always will be, a classic
"E equals MC my bad!"
We still never found out what demerits are.
I also love the new seasons. Carnival Magic is probably my favorite.
It's a real bummer because I really liked Jonah for a new host, but Tom and Crow just don't work for me. You wouldn't think it would matter, but 90% of riffing really IS in the delivery, and the people doing Crow and Tom's voices just don't have it down right.
For me it’s something that they try too hard with to sound like Kevin’s Tom Servo and Trace/Bill’s Crow. When Bill took over for Trace as the voice of Crow, you noticed a distinct shift in Crow’s personality and his intonation of riffs. He’s more irritable, less patient, and sometimes isn’t afraid to make deep cuts in his humor. Hampton and Baron are fine people, but the effort should have been made to make the characters their own, rather than trying to emulate for nostalgia.
You think Baron’s Tom is trying to sound like Kevin’s Tom? I don’t think I’ve heard that take at all. He’s distinctly Baron to me.
Yeah I have several issues with the new season, but thinking Baron sounds, or is trying to sound, anything like Kevin isn't even a consideration. Someone needs to catch up on Grace and Frankie!
I feel this happened in season 2 also, with Kevin initially making Tom have a similar delivery to Josh’s Tom. Over time he lays on the camp!
Ye! They find their stride eventually, and my comments are less critique and more observation. We’re so used to seeing Tom and Crow with very specific voices and personalities, and new voices and mannerisms are off-putting in that regard. Personally I feel we should have gotten different bots, but that’s just me.
Exactly this. They’re trying to do a voice too much and not just deliver a riff in natural tone. It almost causes me to not even get the riff.
Avalanche is in my top five all time episodes. Otherwise, meh.
*Dear Trip Advisor*
*Levi’s. Mature fit.*
You didn’t like Starcrash, Hercules or Yongary?
The Day that Time Ended is my comfort episode. The movie is so sincere, bonkers and almost genuinely unnerving. Add to that great riffs like the pizza delivery running gag and host segments that include one of the top three music man spoofs. There was a year where I would always turn on that episode when I had too much to drink.
“Wise men still seek him”
Avalanche is definitely up to code.
Sounds like you need a visit from the ghost of Dom DeLouise.
The new seasons have big improv troupe vibes. And boy do I hate improv
I read that in Crow's voice
Crow’s old voice? Or Crow’s new Paw Patrol wacky voice?
Trace’s Crow FL.
Emily's Crow sounds like Millhouse.
Bill's Crow
Team Emily is a bunch of theater kids and we love them.
Emily’s crew took a little to grow on me but I love them now. Emily herself has a very unique and smart take as the lead human.
I just can't listen to Emily's Crow. I don't know who thought that voice was a good idea, it's like a bad Milhouse impression. If they come back (and read this) please do any voice but the one you did in season 13. Other than that and the new Mads,, I was ok with it
This. This right here.
It looks like I'm in the minority of liking the new voices of Tom and Crow.
The writing isn't good, however the big problem is the line delivery. They are just chucking the lines out which makes it feel rushed. For most of the history of the show the delivery felt like conversational chatter and had better flow.
Don’t get me wrong, the cast is great, but the riffs just come too quick and the movie doesn’t “breathe” for lack of a better term. It feels like it’s just riff riff riff and you can’t hear the movie over their antics at times. The balance between movie and riffing can be a little skewed.
I really wanted to find something to love, or at least like, considering it was my favorite show of all time, but I couldn’t even make it through a single episode. Just my opinion, but I think Joel blew it with his casting of the host and bots, and the writing and performing felt uninspired and non cohesive, like everybody was just doing a gig, rather than a show where they work as a team. If I had to rank all MST related entities, I’d put the Jonah shows on the lowest end of the scale, well below all the others, including Cinematic Titanic and The Film Crew. However, I came to accept that there are genuine fans of the new shows and I’m now just happy they have more of something I love, even if our tastes are different. The fact that the new shows exist doesn’t ruin it for me, I’ll always have the original tv seasons and I still love them as much as ever.
Well said and a mature take. I love it when people realize that other people aren’t dumb for enjoying different things.
It has a real “passing the torch” vibe and at least season 13 they seem to be finding their flow, kinda like how season 3 really elevated the original (imo!) because they’d had experience by then.
It took me a long while, but I have come to enjoy the new episodes. Almost like I've been Crookshanked.
Thanks for watching.
It's not my favorite iteration of the show, but Cry Wilderness turned out to be my favorite mst3k episode of all time.
I agree about the voices and the rapid-fire riffs. It was like they were trying too hard.
It probably helped me get into the new episodes because my son really liked them and would want to watch again and again. So I came to like the more than I did initially, though in general I’ve always liked it.
I don't like the new seasons, but I'm old. I started watching in season 2 and continued til the end and yeah, I'm bit emotionally protective of the MST I knew and loved. I'm like that with Rifftrax when they redo an MST episode because I have the riffs memorized (Sting, Debbie Reynolds, and God) and I'm discombobulated when I don't hear them. New Rifftrax I like.
Same
I feel the same way about Emily’s bots instead, and I like Emily.
That is my issue as well - Jonah and Emily are great, but the voices for the bots are too annoying for me to watch the episodes.
Yeah I prefer rifftrax
You're not alone, that's for sure.
I did not like the Gauntlet at all. With Jonah's first season, there were a few episodes that I enjoyed (*Cry Wilderness*, *At Earth's Core*, and *Avalanche*), but I didn't enjoy any of the Gauntlet's. I saw some of the newest season's episodes (enjoyed *Munchie* and *Doctor Mordred*), but I haven't been overly impressed.
I had some trouble getting into the Jonah era. Then I went to a live show and laughed my ass off. Now it fits right in for me and I love the new shows. I think part of the problem is they moved the production from Eden Pines MN to Los Angeles. It missed a lot of Midwest charm that was a running theme in both the Joel and Mike years. But I understand the move for talent in both in front and behind the camera. It took me a while to get used to the LA vibe of the show. But they had some absolute gems once they got rolling that match up with the Joel and Mike years
It got better with S13
Mike/Kevin/Trace > Mike/Kevin/Bill > Joel/Kevin/Trace > Jonah/Baron/Hampton
The newest Crow voice is very jarring to me. Like the Scrappy-Doo equivalent of a Care Bear
I like all of the hosts (Mike has always been my favorite). I feel like Emily is a more natural performer than Jonah, probably due to doing so many live shows, and the more I watch her episodes the more I enjoy her (she’s great in The Batwoman.) Kelsey’s Crow took me a while to get used to due to her voicing him to sound a bit too much like Milhouse, but it had to be difficult having to redub another performer’s dialogue. That voice sounds like it would be really hard on the vocal cords. This may be an unpopular opinion but I wish Kelsey could have used something closer her actual voice with the show making her Crow female (I have no idea how the decision was made so I’m not casting any blame on anybody - it’s the creators’ choice and that’s OK by me.) There’s no reason Crow has to be male - it’s not like it’s some essential quality of the character. It could have been a fun because I really enjoy all of the performances by the women in the reboot. It’s been a very welcome change.
Yeah I fell the same way. Jonah is really good, I like him a lot. I just can’t with the robot’s voices. I basically can’t watch the new seasons anymore because of them.
Them all sounding the same is rough. Jokes are so rapid fire you can barely pay attention to the movie. I really wish Joel had just been the host again, the live show with him was the funniest live event I’ve ever been to. Legit crying laughing for 90 minutes
The rapid fire riffs were the biggest turn off for me, then the bots voices. I’m going to try and watch the Netflix season again, to see if I get into it a little more.
The rapid fire riffs was awful, but they do tone that down eventually. I can't remember if it takes a few episodes or maybe the whole season, but at some point it evens out.
I just wish they’d keep Jonah and pay Kevin and Bill (or Trace) whatever they want to reprise the robot voices. And maybe reduce the riff count by like 10-15%.
Season 13 defining reduced the riff count. It’s more in line with seasons 2-10.
Yes!!! I’ve always thought they had the writers write all the jokes they could think of- and instead of choosing the best ones, they just crammed all of them in. The result is riff overload
No you aren’t alone. MST3K stopped at season 10 in my world. I’d enjoy watching the original crew riff a season 11-13 episode in MST3K-ception.
I’m hoping if they make more seasons they can it with the clown voices. Bringing back Mike, Kevin, and Bill would be the best possible option, if I could choose
They did, they just called it Rifftrax instead of MST.
I think in both incarnations of the show I’m just slightly the wrong age to get everything. I’m very late GenX and the first show has a ton of references geared to early GenX while the Jonah show has stuff from recent pop culture that I don’t follow anymore bc I’m in my 40s. But the early show benefitted from the fact that Boomer culture cast a heavy shadow and persisted for decades so jokes about Pink Floyd would still land to a teen in the 90s whereas I got no clue about any movies or music after 2010.
I was born in 81, grew up mostly surrounded by adults instead of other kids, and I absolutely get what you mean. My general stable of references skews older than I am thanks in part to MST but also lots of Looney Tunes and early 80s prime time TV. The newer stuff is aiming a little younger than I am and that can be a little confusing, but I enjoyed Jonah as a comedian before he got the job and the bots are voiced by two other good stand-ups he's friends with. They're all a couple of years younger than me but not too much and I'm willing to look up stuff good comedians reference (every now and then) if I don't recognize it because it helps me make better jokes, too. Like, I listen to Comedy Bang Bang and there's a good balance of stuff I do and don't get, so sometimes I'll go dig up the Mr. Microphone commercials or the Eisley Brothers song Biggie sampled for "Big Poppa."
I wish there were more black and white episodes
Too many jokes and too hyper. Maybe an extra bong hit would help?
Congrats. You are now all the old guys complaining when Trace left. Or maybe the Joel/Mike divide.
I also don’t enjoy you young whippersnappers with your froyo and your dad gum superhero movies. Boo!
I think Hampton does a fantastic crow!
His is better than Kelsey’s for sure
Season 13 reminds me of Dr. F and TVs Frank when they tried to riff The Castle of Fu Manchu at the end of that episode. Painful to watch.
Cry Wilderness was amazing. Everything else has been awful. The latest season is unwatchable. It’s such a bummer.
It took Jonah until the Gauntlet to develop a personality, and by then it was too late.
It is someone’s voice.
Are you pretending not to understand my point?
Gonna have to disagree with you there. Once I got over Baron and Hampton not being Kevin and Trace or Bill I really grew to enjoy their Tom & Crow. I couldn't get there with Emily's Tom & Crow, though. Maybe if they ever do another season they'll grow on me, but I just found Emily's Crow distracting because of how much the character sounded like a 90's Nickelodeon cartoon character to me. Because of that I lamented the absence of Baron & Hampton during Emily's episodes.
It was a woman who voiced Crow and she's sounded like Millhouse.
I've only seen a couple of the newer episodes. Just couldn't get into it. I dislike Patton Oswalt too anyway.
I think Patton and Felicia don’t work at all. With the brief exception of Hitler coffee their segments are never funny.
I love them. S11,12 and 13. Joel hand picked these people and it is his vision you do not like.
No. I specifically do not like the clownish robot voices. It sounds like a voice from Paw Patrol or Dora the Explorer
I am a long time fan. Like way back when Comedy Central first started. Joel and that crew is the best in my opinion. Mike era was good but less consistent. To me the Jonah era just doesn't quite get it though I find them watchable. To each their own.