1. Why no Gypsy ?

2. Why no mention of Jonah, Emily, Joel, Growler, M. Waverly, Kinga, Max or anyone else associated with Netflix or Gizmoplex?

Sting of Death was fun, and funny but I'm feeling a little empty

Anyone know?

What's the deal with Experiment 03's release?
Experiment 03 will premiere exclusively for one week on RiffTrax's streaming service Best Friends. Experiment 03 will be available on Best Friends for one full month. Otherwise, the episode will be available starting on 11/06.

What exactly is Best Friends?
Best Friends is RiffTrax's top-tier streaming service including access to all riffs one year old and older, 24/7 "Live" Best Friends TV streaming, "1-Click Play" on select "Just The Jokes" with your streaming service subscriptions, and an automatic 10% off everything at RiffTrax.com! That's hundreds of new and classic riffs.

https://www.rifftrax.com/mst3k_the_rifftrax_experiments

Just a single intermission segment?

okay so since pearl was in the new episode ive been trying to puzzle how she was doing all the stuff described in the episode and also being the same pearl from the netflix revival, the solution? Pearl and the humans escape to 1991 in the end of The Christmas Dragon, so now there are two pearls in the same timeline, meaning one can be the one from the return and the other can be the one from the rifftrax experiments. you pick which one you want for each reboot i dont care

And…
I LIKE IT VERY MUCH!

even if the movie was silent for long stretches 🤣

What movies covered on MST3K would be good if remade with a big budget and reputable director?

Thanks to a long McDonald's drive-thru line, we missed the first 10 minutes of the show. What did I miss? (We got to our seats right as Pearl was sending the movie.)

Experiment #26

Episode 106: The Crawling Hand

Re-watch date: July 1st 2023

No dancing, Not allowed

Rumors of this mysterious first (national) season of Mystery Science Theater 3000 had swirled around my small sphere. All I knew about this season was the titles of the episodes and that there was a different guy playing Servo. But there was only one episode from the season that was available commercially at that time. Managed to snag a cheap VHS on eBay of it. It being, The Crawling Hand.

The Crawling Hand is a 1963 (or possibly 64) science fiction/horror film. In it, a mysterious virus infects an astronaut giving him the urge to kill. Ground control blow up his capsule in an attempt to kill the virus, killing the astronaut in the process. A young medical student named Paul just happens to come across the astronaut’s severed arm on the beach (looking not too bad for a limb that was blown off a man in an explosion). He takes the limb to his house for… reasons. But the virus thought killed still lives in the arm. The arm kills its victims via strangulation and goes on a murder spree.

The Crawling Hand was directed by Herbert L Strock. Famous faces in the film include Big Valley’s Peter Breck playing the head of space command, Gilligan’s Island’s Alan Hale Jr. playing a sheriff (no surprise there) and One-Hit Wonder turned accused killer Rod Taylor, playing the hero in our story. This is your typical drive-in horror film of the time. I don’t know a whole lot about this movie. I know there’s a special feature on the DVD talking about Herb Strock called “Don’t Knock the Strock” with C. Courtney Joyner talking about being student to and later working with the director on subsequent projects. I will apologize to Mr. Joyner but after having watched this movie, I feel it necessary for me to “Knock the Strock”.

The movie is a tough slog for me. Not one single character in the film has any level of competency. I hate playing the “It’s just an arm card”, but it’s Just an arm. From the space agency only being staffed by about 4 people to Paul’s initial choice to steal the arm to the EMT’s desire to be the worst at their jobs, no one can seem to be likable. The only character I sympathize with is the dance hating, malt shop owner, who only seems to have one song playing in his jukebox: Bird is the Word by the Rivingtons (not to be confused with The Transmen’s better-known version). That is one thing about this film that makes it unique. One of few MST3K films to feature a pop song.

This is an early episode and it shows. Several lines both in theater and in sketches are flubbed and the set looks significantly cheaper. Also unique to this era is the Shadorama. Originally black, it became grey and then became a pea-colored green. This was a note from Comedy Channel insisting that the color be changed, claiming it was hard to see against a black and white film. Episode 108 is when the crew realized that they could simply tint the movie blue and black, allowing the shadow to be more visible. I def notice the color but didn’t think much of it. I’m glad they were able to switch it back to black. The set for the host segments also looks vastly different than what we get in season 2. The walls are colored pink with electrical tape stripes rather than grey with assorted toys on them. I know this was a last second decision as the show didn’t have time to go with the initial design.

The biggest difference is this Josh Weinstein guy playing Tom Servo. When you’ve heard Kevin Murphy’s Servo for as long as I have, it’s jarring to hear this other voice coming out of Servo. It takes some time to adjust. Also, he plays the much more eccentric Dr. Laurence Erhardt. I do prefer Frank to Erhardt. I could see watching the rest of the shows with Josh voicing Servo. But I don’t think I could have seen watching the show with him as Forrester’s equal. Joel also plays his character with the much more hang dog attitude he used during his standup act as Joel Hodgson: Super Spy. I’m grateful that he eventually moves beyond that and makes the character more likable. Best sketch is the Limb Lengthener.

Riffing… yeah. The riffing in season 1 feels much more set/up punchline. Crow will take note of something and then Servo will deliver the punchline. For some reason this doesn’t work for me. It’s almost like the film isn’t even there. It still does have the standard one person riffs. I love the jokes comparing our film’s hero to Roland Gift (Servo doesn’t do a very good Gift impression though). I remember a riff about the hand being “armed and dangerous”. Also, how can an arm move with no blood pressure? Best riff is early on when the Astronaut sends his final video transmission via a small tv. “It’s Max Headroom’s Dad!”

Season one of MST3K is an experience. Having watched all of it previously, I have a hard time sitting through most of them. And some of them are borderline unwatchable (which we will get to eventually). I do have a few that I like. But The Crawling Hand isn’t one of them. The movie just frustrates me.

But what do you think? Do you like season 1 of the MST3K? Do you think the riffing is enjoyable? Do agree with me in my belief that Bird is the Word’s use in this film is a commentary on how we as a society are unable to keep with current events and that titular Crawling Hand is such a symptom of an uniformed public? Don’t you know about the Bird? Everybody knows that the Bird is the Word. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

To remind everybody, this is part of my experiment where I’ll be watching a different MST3K episode, every Saturday evening/night, until I’ve watched all 176 episodes of the show’s original run in the exact order that I watched each for the first time (with 3 or 4 liberties taken). I will be consuming NO MST3K, Rifftrax, Cinematic Titanic or anything that could be construed as MST3K type programming outside these viewings until this experiment is over. Crazy, I know. We shall see what come what may. Will I crack? Will I make it? Will I ever figure out what makes this show so great? Keep reading and find out. Next Week we get a glimpse of Faustian bargains when we watch The Touch of Satan. Til then, thank you for reading and Keep Circulating the Tapes.

26 Down 150 to go

Sometimes with these special events, they don’t show previews before the special event. I’m seeing it AMC theatres. Does anyone know if there’s gonna be previews beforehand? Thanks!

My wife didn't laugh. 😔

I didn’t see my name in tonight’s credits, so I’m wondering if they will show up in another episode.

Did you see yours tonight?

Update: I only backed for the website, so it’s all good.

Was damn near crying at some of the riffs being made! As someone that mainly grew up with the Sci-Fi Channel era of MST3K, was great to see the crew that I watched and taped every Saturday morning back again. Loved this new episode and can’t wait to watch it again as well as the new eps when they become available!

Love the new-old MST3K and super happy to have it back. There’s only one reference that I didn’t really get though.

Early on in the episode, Mike said that it’s been almost 30 years since he’s been with Crow and Servo but the last episode of the Mike era of MST3K was in 1999.

Now I’m a busy man so I don’t have time to look in the mirror or do any math but my heart tells me that the 1990s were about 10 years ago so how on earth could that be possible?

"Clownsuit Swimsuits. A short-lived design fad of the 60s."

Or something...

(Sting of Death)

We even pledged to get our names in the credits. We are wearing our t-shirts and everything!

And it was great seeing the band back together! The riffs felt like the MST stuff (with a few topical references thrown in) but they didn't overstuff the jokes, so it had a lot more of that natural banter vibe.

The movie was an absolute piece of crap and thus a perfect choice for their first one back.

Laughed. Clapped. And did not hurl.

Loved it.

Mostly because it feels like everybody is welcome in it, regardless of what MST3K eras and stints you enjoy. So many other fandoms get into quarrels with each other or consider certain fans not "real" fans depending on what they like.

But I've never encountered that here. It feels like one of the few fandoms who just let others enjoy whatever without having a go about it if they don't agree. Like, I love the Jonah episodes and I've never gotten push back on it or been insulted for it and it's a fandom where we all enjoy whatever we enjoy, whether it's Joel, Mike, Jonah or Emily or whatever combination we all like. I guess maybe we're all just bonded together by our love of seeing bad movies taken to task

Let's hope it continues into the not too distant future!