MST3K (season two closing thoughts)

Goodbye, season two.

The highlight of the season for me was the introduction of Frank. Dopey and good-natured, he's the perfect foil for the pessimistically evil Dr. F. My only complaint is that he doesn't get enough screen time. I never cared much for the Mads' section of the host segments, but Frank makes them fun.

Just as welcome were Mike's guest appearances as various visiting movie characters. The hexfield viewscreen was a brilliant addition to the SOL, allowing for greater variety in the host segments. Already, it's pretty clear that Mike was the only choice to don the jumpsuit in 513. He's the best actor of the crew, able to mimic an evil TV dad and a mush-mouthed villainess with equal aplomb.

Gerry and Sylvia are plain scary.

Gone is the ADHD Joel, unable to sit in his seat in the theater. Sure, he gets up a few times to play with a handful of things onscreen, but Joel is much more chair-bound than he was in season one. I liked the dancing, prop-using Joel in season one's theater segments. I wonder what made him change?

I've seen some bad movies in my day, but some of season two's selections wowed me with their ineptitude. Rocket Attack U.S.A. and Ring of Terror, in particular, were on a level of badness that I'm just not used to. These are the kinds of films that fool other bad filmmakers into thinking they can easily make something for the big screen. This may actually explain Manos.

Though I didn't like any single season two episode as much as I liked season one's Robot Holocaust, overall things are getting better. Except for the lack of invention exchange ideas, the host segments are funnier in season two. Joel's lemur and space madness sketches are my favorites of the entire show so far.

I'm looking forward to season three, coming up next. From how people talk about it, it is seems to be the quintessential Joel season, packed with classic episodes.


The Numbers

Total Length

21 hours, 5 minutes, 58 seconds
(97 min average for 13 episodes)

Years Spanned

1948-1973
(1961 average)

Shorts Years Spanned

1939-1944
(1940 average)

Time to Watch

22 days

Time to Broadcast Originally

134 days

Speed

6.1x

Turkey Day Episodes

10 (77%)
201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 213 (28 Nov 1991)
208, 210 (26 Nov 1992)

Total Robert L. Lippert Films

201, 203, 208, 210 (31%)

Total Giant Lizard Films

208, 210, 212, 213 (31%)

Total "Biker" Films

202, 207, 209 (23%)

Total Episodes with Joel's Goatee

207, 208, 209 (23%)

Black and White to Color Ratio

6:7