The Crawling Eye
The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy
The Mad Monster
The Corpse Vanishes
The Crawling Hand
Robot Monster
The Slime People
Project Moon Base
Robot Holocaust
Moon Zero Two
Untamed Youth
The Black Scorpion
Women of the Prehistoric Planet
Shorts
Radar Men on the Moon: Chapter Nine - Battle in the Stratosphere
Featured in DVD sets
Three episode released as singles
Volume 9
Volume XIV
Volume XV
Volume XVI
Volume XVII
Volume XIX
Volume XX
Volume XXV
Volume XXVII
25th Anniversary Edition
Volume XXIX
Volume XXX
The Singles Collection
The Lost and Found Collection
One episode released on VHS
Breaking away from it’s UHF roots, Mystery Science Theater 3000 hits national airwaves through the fairly new Comedy Channel. This first season is a fairly different beast than the KTMA season and even of the seasons that followed. Moving past improvisation and trying to find scripting methods that work for the series, this first season can be a bit cumbersome. Even in comparison to the previous season, which has the innocence and virtue of its simplistic nature on its side. As season one aspires to be more, it trips. But it also picks itself up.
I argue that a lot of enjoyment from these season might come from which films you respond to. A fan favorite is Moon Zero Two, which most claim is a movie that’s pretty decent on its own. I dislike Moon Zero Two as a movie and as an episode it’s possibly my least favorite of the series. I tend to be more interested in crummy black and white, zero-budget movies that try to make its sum more than its whole. As such, I love popping in the “ugly” (as I’ve heard them referred to by fans) films featured early in the series more often than the later ones.
And yet they aren’t quite my favorites of the season. Project Moon Base and Untamed Youth really stick with me and make me laugh a bit more than other first season episodes. If I were to highlight two must see episodes of the season, look no further than those beauties.
Movie selection starts off with some really rough printed black and white films, but even as the prints get cleaner the movies maintain the black and white stature. It’s not until well past the halfway point where we get our first color movie, Robot Holocaust, which in many ways is a much worse film than what we have been seeing. The season finishes off with some minor but decently budgeted films from Warner Brothers.
The first season may not be everyone's cup of tea, as there is too much uncertainty in the air and sometimes the aggressively bad films can give the season a dreary tone. I find myself prefering even the KTMA episodes because of this, and even though I can defend these episodes they might very well make up the worst season of the series.
Top Three Episodes:
1. Project Moon Base
2. Untamed Youth
3. The Crawling Eye
Bottom Three Episodes:
1. Moon Zero Two
2. The Black Scorpion
3. Women of the Prehistoric Planet
Featured in DVD sets
Three episode released as singles
Volume 9
Volume XIV
Volume XV
Volume XVI
Volume XVII
Volume XIX
Volume XX
Volume XXV
Volume XXVII
25th Anniversary Edition
Volume XXIX
Volume XXX
The Singles Collection
The Lost and Found Collection
One episode released on VHS
Breaking away from it’s UHF roots, Mystery Science Theater 3000 hits national airwaves through the fairly new Comedy Channel. This first season is a fairly different beast than the KTMA season and even of the seasons that followed. Moving past improvisation and trying to find scripting methods that work for the series, this first season can be a bit cumbersome. Even in comparison to the previous season, which has the innocence and virtue of its simplistic nature on its side. As season one aspires to be more, it trips. But it also picks itself up.
I argue that a lot of enjoyment from these season might come from which films you respond to. A fan favorite is Moon Zero Two, which most claim is a movie that’s pretty decent on its own. I dislike Moon Zero Two as a movie and as an episode it’s possibly my least favorite of the series. I tend to be more interested in crummy black and white, zero-budget movies that try to make its sum more than its whole. As such, I love popping in the “ugly” (as I’ve heard them referred to by fans) films featured early in the series more often than the later ones.
And yet they aren’t quite my favorites of the season. Project Moon Base and Untamed Youth really stick with me and make me laugh a bit more than other first season episodes. If I were to highlight two must see episodes of the season, look no further than those beauties.
Movie selection starts off with some really rough printed black and white films, but even as the prints get cleaner the movies maintain the black and white stature. It’s not until well past the halfway point where we get our first color movie, Robot Holocaust, which in many ways is a much worse film than what we have been seeing. The season finishes off with some minor but decently budgeted films from Warner Brothers.
The first season may not be everyone's cup of tea, as there is too much uncertainty in the air and sometimes the aggressively bad films can give the season a dreary tone. I find myself prefering even the KTMA episodes because of this, and even though I can defend these episodes they might very well make up the worst season of the series.
Top Three Episodes:
1. Project Moon Base
2. Untamed Youth
3. The Crawling Eye
Bottom Three Episodes:
1. Moon Zero Two
2. The Black Scorpion
3. Women of the Prehistoric Planet
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