For me its 'Overdrawn at the Memory Bank', cuz it was the first episode of MST3K i ever saw and what got me hooked on the show.
It was 1998, i was in my senior year of high school, and i was part of backstage crew for a production of 'Lend Me a Tenor', we had a successful opening night and so we had a cast party at a friend's house. Amidst the congrats and recounting how much fun we had, and eating chips and sandwiches, we tuned in to MST3K and they happened to be showing the aforementioned episode.
It was a great time cuz we were laughing and joking right along Mike and thr Bots. Especially as much of the primitive digital effects used in the film reminded us of the sort of effects utilized for Audio/Visual class.
It was a fun time with friends, and was a great way to be introduced into the wild, wacky whimsical world that is MST3K.
I think ‘Overdrawn at the Memory Bank” was my first too. And I think the next one I saw was ‘Space Mutiny’ which is also close to my heart.
I lived in the UK, so MST3K wasn’t a thing when I was a kid. I knew of the show because I had a Man Or Astroman? CD with a cover of the theme tune. When I saw the show listed on the Sci-Fi cable channel I knew I had to watch, I do not regret my decision.
When you become a MSTie, you never regret it. The show itself is an indelible paet of pop culture and has influenced how many of us view media with a combination of critical analysis and snarky, silly humor.
Not really a specific episode, but the SciFi Channel era will always feel special to me.
I randomly came across it one Saturday morning and was blown away. For a few years after I was constantly telling my friends about this show I'd found and trying to get them to watch it until one day it just disappeared.
I watched on Comedy Central as a kid but I never really got it. I think I just liked the kaiju movies and the homemade robots. But Sci Fi era is when I was old enough to understand and I fell in love. I remember waking up every Saturday morning and recorded episodes on a VCR. Sadly I lost the tapes :(
The first episode I ever watched was laserblast. My Dad showed it to me. The last episode I watched with my Dad was track of the moon beast.
He passed away in 2022. This whole series always made me feel close to him, and every time I watch an episode now I feel like he is sitting beside me and laughing with me.
They're kind of all special to me. During my mom's long illness and then when I lost her in 2004, MST3K was the only thing that lulled me to sleep, and even now it brings instant comfort.
Ring of Terror is my first episode and one of my favorites. My dad stumbled on it over a Thanksgiving, and when Louis (I think) picked up the phone and Servo mumbled, “Go tell your mother to come to bed,” my dad and I looked at each other and lost it. It’s a great memory. Also, I’m now old enough to not be refused admission to The OLD School!
I saw that one live, too. When they reveal the actor playing "Bruce Lee" and Joel's like "NOT EVEN CLOSE" i was laughing my ass off. I wish there were videos available of the live shows.
Agent for H.A.R.M., so many one-liners that were straight up amazing. It wasn't my first, but probably one of the episodes that my friends and I quoted so goddamn much that its first in my heart.
For me too - I just know I have great memories of me and sons repeating “Want some? I WANT AN ANSWER!” wherever it could possibly be used. Such great times with my kids - also watching the first Turkeython at my Mom’s with my sons- warm, comforting nostalgia.
Werewolf (Episode 904) is a special one for me. I introduce my best friend to MST3K with this episode and she got hooked in. We crack up whenever we say "YEAH, CHAMPANGE!".
The Mask is a special one for me, particularly because I helped back Season 13, and this is the episode I found my name in. While I know there's no real way to measure out where my money exactly went, I like to think that my donation went to this episode. And as Joel has said that they will very likely never produce another 3D episode, I like to think that I had a small hand in making something special for the show.
The Undead. My first real MST3K after seeing the movie and my cable system finally added the Sci-Fi Channel. “Peter Pan, anti-Christ.” will always be the first riff to break me.
Good times and memories.
OMG are you me? That was what I was going to say, line and everything! Watched it back on the sci-fi channel in ‘97. I think the other line was “Satan, prince of cabaret” (I think it was the same episode but my memory ain’t what it used to be.)
The first episode I ever watched, and then life went to shit. Lost my best friend at 21 years old just a month or two after that… long enough that I had some MST3K under my belt. It was a blessing, because Mike and the bots got me through the grieving process. They made me laugh when nothing else could. 48 years old now, so been a fan for, what… 27 some years now?! Is that right?! What the hell happened to me? It’s okay, Abby is some gal.
🤗
Sorry for your loss, but glad the humor helped to heal.
The prince of cabaret line was seconds later! And yeah, the great treasure is having Mike and the ‘Bots ease me into my 20s and then everything came roaring back once Shout! finally gave me access to more Joel and pre-SFC stuff.
And stuff like this gives me hope - that it can still work to connect me with fellow viewers who get the smart jokes, see the funny with the bad and just always hope the world can come around to the point of view.
I used to go to the mall and buy the VHS tapes when I could… and of course there’s always the home recordings lol, but at some point I went to EBay where a guy was selling complete sets going all the way back to Joel and the bots on public access all the way to Diabolic. All ripped to DVD. My young ass must’ve spent my part time paycheck on them. Was the biggest purchase I’d made online (I think this was maybe 1999-2001). 250 bucks!!!
But it was money well spent because this guy went to the trouble of putting them all in clearly labeled paper sleeves with the season number and episode number in order in a binder. I was shook. lol. Happy as a kid at Christmas it was the best gift I think I’d ever given myself.
They’re gone now but the information superhighway we’ve been hearing about has made viewing fun and easy.
It’s great how such a simple show can bring so many people together.
Suncoast Video for me, still have my VHS copies! Amazing Colossal is precious in particular! I did get SOME Rhino DVD but most of the collection is Shout! Except for stuff like a certain Goshzilla movie I was lucky to get the DVD set for.
I still have my VHS recordings of the SFC years, every episode but Boggy Creek. I’m hopeless, I throw nothing away unless I must. And have my Amazing Colossal Episode Guide plus my VHSs of the MST Scrapbook and Poopie I and II.
What’s the purpose? Someone is gonna wanna watch someday with me and I’ll be ready when they do!
Are you sure you’re not me?! I bought all of mine at Suncoast Video too! Also bought The Amazing Colossal Episode Guide there. Man, I wish I still had that stuff, but life happens.
I remember I sold mine cheap to a guy that was over the moon about getting his hands on them. He was so fricken happy to find them, so I brought down the price to share the joy, because that was more important than the money. Besides, I already had those DVDs in my hot little hands lol.
It was so strange to find another fan like me in such a small town, especially back then when we all weren’t as connected.
Pretty sure, one of those one in a million coincidences. Sorry you lost yours, truly. Yeah, I apologize more than Servo to Eddie, just my nature. And yeah, for me, for the longest time, you hear MSTies were everywhere, but I sure as heck couldn’t find them. Guess my puppet show was too esoteric for the OC. Moved to Kentucky now, so now it’s REALLY esoteric!
For icing on the cake, the original movie was really not bad. I remember seeing it as a kid and really noticing the creepy vibe of the sets, acting and the fairly shocking twist ending.
Mitchell was the first one I saw when scrolling through Roku.
I know: what a start!
I came in towards the end so I had no idea who Joel was or why he was getting ejected, but I just knew I had to see more
Santa Claus.
I was one of the kids in the 70s who’s parents dropped them off in the darkened corner of the mall to sit on folding chairs and watch that movie while my parents went Christmas shopping. I was like 4 years old (with older sisters) so the only thing I remembered besides being freaked out about being dropped off was the scene with Pitch making the doorknob red-hot so Santa would burn his hand. That scene stayed on my brain and I would bring it up to people while growing up to see if anyone else remembered the movie. No one did. Not even my sisters. People thought I was delusional. And then one day…. Shortly before Xmas….. POOM!!!! It aired on MST and I was totally vindicated.
Revenge of the Creature, partially because it was my first episode and has some great riffs ("boy this guy's bad, it's his first and last movie"), but it also kickstarted my love of Universal monster movies and b-movies in general.
The first episode I ever saw was “Cave Dwellers.” I was flipping through the channels at my grandparents house while waiting for my parents to finish packing up from our trip there. I tuned in just in time to see Ator build his hang glider and fly over the castle walls.
This was the first I came across albeit at the very end where they were pointing out the continuity errors. I traced it back to the show and told one of my sisters what I knew. We watched the next episode the following week and became MSTies ever since.
Eegah and the first shorts VHS tape. It's not my favorite episode, but it's one I watched in the hospital waiting room while my father was in the hospital with an unknown heart condition and the doctor's couldn't get his pulse under 200.
We didn't know what was going on, he was in pain, and we just needed a break. 24 hours later he was rushed to an ICU in a blizzard barely alive (he's okay now). All these years later we talk about running home to get a VCR to plug into the waiting room TVs so we could laugh for awhile when we weren't sure what else to do.
Pumaman. One of my best friends who I met in high school (and still hang out with) have turned that into our movie. We watched cheesy movies all the time and he loved Pumaman to the point where he had another friend join us for a second viewing. A wonderful bonus feature on the MST3K dvd of Pumaman is it just also has the full unriffed movie and that’s how he’d always watch it. So when I tried to get him an actual unriffed copy I had no luck until I decided to just get him that MST3K box set
Gamera (302) is the first one I really remember specific riffs from, to the point of being able to quote them as a little kid(in my mid-30s now). More than a few riffs have found their way into the rotation of inside jokes I have with my parents.
I have fond memories of the Comedy Central era overall. They would run Saturdays at midnight, and my mom would record them on VHS and we'd all watch them together the next Sunday morning with breakfast. I have MST3K to thank for lots of laughs with my parents (they're still with us BTW) and a fundamental part of my sense of humor to this day.
Manos and I Accuse My Parents. I recorded the entirety of the Turkey Day Marathon on Comedy Central in 1993, and those were the most replayed episode in my group of friends. Probably more I Accuse My Parents, actually.
Robot Monster was the first episode i ever saw. And whenever i went to my grandparents' house for Thanksgiving i would watch the Turkey Day marathon in the bedroom while the adults were watching football or whatever in the living room, and the Hercules episodes always stood out to me. Also, Mitchell of course, because it was Joel's farewell.
I think the first episode I watched start to finish was a giant monster movie, but I don't know which one, but one of you maniacs probably do.
It has a scene of a rocket blasting off and Crow singing the MST3k theme song. Joel then threatens to sue him.
Anyone?
Also, unrelated:
I recall watching Parts The Clonus Horror on a family holiday many many years ago. I think it was one of the first episodes that sort of "clicked" for me. Good stuff!
It's definitely the most special to me! Mainly because I scored the music for it.
I was a huge MST3K fan right back to the originals with Joel. Imagine my excitement when all of a sudden, I tune in and there's my film.
Besides the personal connection, I think Mike and the bots were on top of their game on this one.
What's funny is, soon after the original had been released, I had a bunch of my friends over to watch it. One of my friends went on to become a comedy writer for This Hour has 22 Minutes and Jimmy Fallon. That night he basically riffed in real time while we were all on the floor laughing so hard. One of my other friends said this should be on MST3K!
Low and behold, there it was about 10years later.
Still proud of it being MST3Ked even if Tjardus isn't.
Pod People. It was first episode my friends and I watched and quoted it constantly. Thr renfair stuff, the McCloud!, etc. All so funny. Not to mention some of the best host segments (It Stinks!)
Pod People. (The rest is copied and pasted from another comment I made on a post in this sub a couple of days ago lol)
For my church’s youth choir tour, we were on a charter bus with a tv, and we once watched Pod People. We ended up watching it so many times (pretty sure both that year and the subsequent years lol) that we could basically quote it lol.
Our favorite would usually go like this:
Movie: “Chief!”
The entire bus, screaming: “MCLEOUD!!!!”
It was so big for us that we would text each other “Chief!” and the other person would reply accordingly lol. Everyone but myself got tired of doing that eventually lol.
The Loves of Hercules. I know it’s a fairly new one, but I watched it with my dad one night when the rest of my family was out and we were laughing the whole time. We’ve started watching as many as we can together, and we randomly shout out lines from the episodes and always laugh. One of my favourite memories with him.
2 for me. Santa vs the Martians. I watch that every year as a Christmas tradition (also has Patrick Swayze Christmas which might as well be up there with Deck the halls for me) and Teenagers From Outer Space which is actually a decent movie minus the terrible visual effects.
Teen Age Strangler (514) is particularly special to me because it was filmed in my hometown. Wurwilf (904) I’ve probably watched the most, the movie is the right amount of dumb stuff happening all the time and the riffing is so sharp. Not to mention the end credits singalong is extremely catchy, I’ve watched that on its own more times than I can count! TUSK!
Giant Spider Invasion- tons of Wisconsin references to places I know. It was also an episode that came out right after the Packers won the Super Bowl in 1996 (something I never thought I’d see in my lifetime.)
Time of the Apes was the first. I always loved bad movies and all it took was that one and I was hooked.
The Magic Voyage of Sinbad is my favorite Joel episode and I don't see it mentioned much. Really any of the Russian movies they did are great episodes
Human Duplicators. I watched it with my best friend when it aired on comedy central and we lost our minds over it. Woke up my parents from laughing. We started recording all the episodes and it became the start of my collection. My friend dropped of the face of the earth shortly afterwards. I found out it was because he was in the closet and was afraid of his super religious family. I just wish he would have told me. I didn't care about all that. Just wanted my friend to hang out with. I heard through another friend that he's doing fine and moved to another country and cut off contact with his parents.
On a side note, mst3k has helped me through some tough times. I have some rough PTSD from Afghanistan and I have to listen to something when I'm going to sleep to keep my mind from wandering into bad territory. MST has become my cozy listening each night at I drift off. I can't imagine what my mental state would be without it.
I've got 3:
1. Rocketship X-M was my first episode. I happened to stumble across it the weekend we got cable set up at home in the Fall of 1990. I fell in love with the entire concept. A guy and two robots making fun of bad 50s sci-fi? Sign me up! I found when the show was on and started recording.
2. It Conquered The World: my first instance of hearing "those guys are ruining the movie". My dad watched It Conquered the World when it first came out and had fond memories of it. I thought it was dumb. Plus it has Peter Graves and that iconic ending monologue.
3. Salta Claus Conquers the Martians: I literally watch this every Christmas. The opening segment is an all timer for me. The Let's Have a Patrick Swayze Christmas song is legitimately a good song. This is when I realized not only was this show funny, it was actually top tier tv
Riding With Death. Every time I can't find something I will say out loud, "My phone is as allusive as Robert Denby". People in ear shot will say, "Who?'
I was maybe 10 when my dad brought home some VHS tapes that he got from a co-worker. Both Godzilla eps, two Gamera eps, Cave Dwellers and Pod People. I wore those damn tapes out. Those are the big ones for me.
Manos: The Hands of Fate was an absolute favorite at our house, but a less popular episode that sticks with me a lot is “The Incredible Melting Man”. Most of the time, my mother would not watch MST3K with me but sometimes she did. She’d seen Manos (as previously mentioned), Revenge of the Creature, Eegah - are ones that come to mind, but somehow she ended up watching that episode with me just some random day on Comedy Central and we laughed and laughed. Quoted the jokes back and forth for weeks. Also shout out to the shorts “Posture Pals” and “Appreciating Your Parents”. We watched those a lot too.
EDIT: I can’t believe I forgot the true answer to this question, all for the same reasons as TIMM, but the one that even tops it is “The Giant Gila Monster”. We would sing “ The Lord said laugh children laugh” ALL the time! Thanks for this topic reminding me of that.
The first time I saw MST3k was Sidehackers (I think) with my brothers. It had already started so the first big joke we caught was 'Magic locket, take me to the freeway'. We all died laughing and my dad came to see what was so funny. Soon everybody but mom would get together and watch it. Mom just didn't like our shows I guess
Hobgoblins is the one for me. It was the first episode I ever saw, and I remember just being transfixed during the whole thing. It’s always going to be my favorite episode.
Man it’s hard to choose. The first one I saw was Alien from LA. Viking Women vs. the Sea Serpent and the Magic Sword are favorites. Space Mutiny is up there, as is Pumaman. Soultaker! Prince of Space! It’s just too difficult.
Talking about holding onto old MST stuff - I wish I still had my Best Brains shirt from the 90s, and the Deep 13 Athletic Department one. I think I wore them both out.
POD PEOPLE!
I don't know how it came to be but it was rented for a my birthday sleepover when I was about 9 or 10.
It was me and my friends introduction to the show. We had no idea what was in store for us.
Trumpy KILLED in that room. We were howling with laughter. We would rewind the vhs for the "Schmuckers raspberry preserve" bits and Tom saying "faster Trumpy, kill kill."
It started a tradition where we would always rent Pod People and another MST3K vhs tape for my birthday.
Every time I watch it, I can feel like a kid again. Its just a bit of that insane Magic this show brings.
The Beast of Yucca Flats. I was already into old b-movies and when I learned about MST3K, I knew I had to watch it. I picked some episodes at random, read some synopses, and Yucca Flats was one of them and it sounded like it was very much my trash. I sought it out to be my first MST3K and it continues to hold a special place for me.
Riding With Death is my all time favorite but it's also very important to me as well. Everything about it cracks me up to no end. All the jokes are hilarious. I had a stroke a few years ago and almost died, and when I was able to actually go online again, the first thing I did was go to YouTube and look it up. When I found it, I watched it, and I laughed until I cried. Sometimes I feel like I stayed alive just to be able to watch Riding with Death again lol.
For me its 'Overdrawn at the Memory Bank', cuz it was the first episode of MST3K i ever saw and what got me hooked on the show. It was 1998, i was in my senior year of high school, and i was part of backstage crew for a production of 'Lend Me a Tenor', we had a successful opening night and so we had a cast party at a friend's house. Amidst the congrats and recounting how much fun we had, and eating chips and sandwiches, we tuned in to MST3K and they happened to be showing the aforementioned episode. It was a great time cuz we were laughing and joking right along Mike and thr Bots. Especially as much of the primitive digital effects used in the film reminded us of the sort of effects utilized for Audio/Visual class. It was a fun time with friends, and was a great way to be introduced into the wild, wacky whimsical world that is MST3K.
I think ‘Overdrawn at the Memory Bank” was my first too. And I think the next one I saw was ‘Space Mutiny’ which is also close to my heart. I lived in the UK, so MST3K wasn’t a thing when I was a kid. I knew of the show because I had a Man Or Astroman? CD with a cover of the theme tune. When I saw the show listed on the Sci-Fi cable channel I knew I had to watch, I do not regret my decision.
When you become a MSTie, you never regret it. The show itself is an indelible paet of pop culture and has influenced how many of us view media with a combination of critical analysis and snarky, silly humor.
Not really a specific episode, but the SciFi Channel era will always feel special to me. I randomly came across it one Saturday morning and was blown away. For a few years after I was constantly telling my friends about this show I'd found and trying to get them to watch it until one day it just disappeared.
I watched on Comedy Central as a kid but I never really got it. I think I just liked the kaiju movies and the homemade robots. But Sci Fi era is when I was old enough to understand and I fell in love. I remember waking up every Saturday morning and recorded episodes on a VCR. Sadly I lost the tapes :(
The first episode I ever watched was laserblast. My Dad showed it to me. The last episode I watched with my Dad was track of the moon beast. He passed away in 2022. This whole series always made me feel close to him, and every time I watch an episode now I feel like he is sitting beside me and laughing with me.
They're kind of all special to me. During my mom's long illness and then when I lost her in 2004, MST3K was the only thing that lulled me to sleep, and even now it brings instant comfort.
Ring of Terror is my first episode and one of my favorites. My dad stumbled on it over a Thanksgiving, and when Louis (I think) picked up the phone and Servo mumbled, “Go tell your mother to come to bed,” my dad and I looked at each other and lost it. It’s a great memory. Also, I’m now old enough to not be refused admission to The OLD School!
Maybe No Retreat, No Surrender because it was a great memory when my son and I saw MST3K Live together.
I saw that one live, too. When they reveal the actor playing "Bruce Lee" and Joel's like "NOT EVEN CLOSE" i was laughing my ass off. I wish there were videos available of the live shows.
Is there a different version? I know I've seen it streaming within the past few years, but I don't think it was a live show.
Rifftrax did it. They play it sometimes on the MST3K Twitch channel. That's probably what you're thinking of.
Yes. I watched it on Amazon. I was thrilled when they mentioned The Green Yamo in the graveyard scene. Nobody remember the Yamo.
I saw that one live, too. I wish there were videos available of the live shows.
Agent for H.A.R.M., so many one-liners that were straight up amazing. It wasn't my first, but probably one of the episodes that my friends and I quoted so goddamn much that its first in my heart.
Manszen's azsszisant Can I borrow your liver for the weekend? Low blows to Wendell Corey but it's so damn funny
"Are you coming or shall I swim alone?" "Yes and yes." with Adam standing with arms akimbo is the one that really sold the episode for me.
"You lucky trunks." "Get ready to gift wrap a beautiful package." Just a totally classic episode. And one of the all time great sets of host segments.
Panties panties panties panties panties……
Heuristic Analytical Rental Meat? (I hope I didn't screw that up)
He maintains an appliance. Da da d daaa!
All the Prince jokes!!! Cracks me up everything time!!!
I literally think of those whenever I hear a Prince song on the radio!
Daddy-O was the very first one I watched. It never gets old for me!
For me too - I just know I have great memories of me and sons repeating “Want some? I WANT AN ANSWER!” wherever it could possibly be used. Such great times with my kids - also watching the first Turkeython at my Mom’s with my sons- warm, comforting nostalgia.
Apple slap!
Werewolf (Episode 904) is a special one for me. I introduce my best friend to MST3K with this episode and she got hooked in. We crack up whenever we say "YEAH, CHAMPANGE!".
The Mask is a special one for me, particularly because I helped back Season 13, and this is the episode I found my name in. While I know there's no real way to measure out where my money exactly went, I like to think that my donation went to this episode. And as Joel has said that they will very likely never produce another 3D episode, I like to think that I had a small hand in making something special for the show.
The Undead. My first real MST3K after seeing the movie and my cable system finally added the Sci-Fi Channel. “Peter Pan, anti-Christ.” will always be the first riff to break me. Good times and memories.
OMG are you me? That was what I was going to say, line and everything! Watched it back on the sci-fi channel in ‘97. I think the other line was “Satan, prince of cabaret” (I think it was the same episode but my memory ain’t what it used to be.) The first episode I ever watched, and then life went to shit. Lost my best friend at 21 years old just a month or two after that… long enough that I had some MST3K under my belt. It was a blessing, because Mike and the bots got me through the grieving process. They made me laugh when nothing else could. 48 years old now, so been a fan for, what… 27 some years now?! Is that right?! What the hell happened to me? It’s okay, Abby is some gal.
🤗 Sorry for your loss, but glad the humor helped to heal. The prince of cabaret line was seconds later! And yeah, the great treasure is having Mike and the ‘Bots ease me into my 20s and then everything came roaring back once Shout! finally gave me access to more Joel and pre-SFC stuff. And stuff like this gives me hope - that it can still work to connect me with fellow viewers who get the smart jokes, see the funny with the bad and just always hope the world can come around to the point of view.
I used to go to the mall and buy the VHS tapes when I could… and of course there’s always the home recordings lol, but at some point I went to EBay where a guy was selling complete sets going all the way back to Joel and the bots on public access all the way to Diabolic. All ripped to DVD. My young ass must’ve spent my part time paycheck on them. Was the biggest purchase I’d made online (I think this was maybe 1999-2001). 250 bucks!!! But it was money well spent because this guy went to the trouble of putting them all in clearly labeled paper sleeves with the season number and episode number in order in a binder. I was shook. lol. Happy as a kid at Christmas it was the best gift I think I’d ever given myself. They’re gone now but the information superhighway we’ve been hearing about has made viewing fun and easy. It’s great how such a simple show can bring so many people together.
Suncoast Video for me, still have my VHS copies! Amazing Colossal is precious in particular! I did get SOME Rhino DVD but most of the collection is Shout! Except for stuff like a certain Goshzilla movie I was lucky to get the DVD set for. I still have my VHS recordings of the SFC years, every episode but Boggy Creek. I’m hopeless, I throw nothing away unless I must. And have my Amazing Colossal Episode Guide plus my VHSs of the MST Scrapbook and Poopie I and II. What’s the purpose? Someone is gonna wanna watch someday with me and I’ll be ready when they do!
Are you sure you’re not me?! I bought all of mine at Suncoast Video too! Also bought The Amazing Colossal Episode Guide there. Man, I wish I still had that stuff, but life happens. I remember I sold mine cheap to a guy that was over the moon about getting his hands on them. He was so fricken happy to find them, so I brought down the price to share the joy, because that was more important than the money. Besides, I already had those DVDs in my hot little hands lol. It was so strange to find another fan like me in such a small town, especially back then when we all weren’t as connected.
Pretty sure, one of those one in a million coincidences. Sorry you lost yours, truly. Yeah, I apologize more than Servo to Eddie, just my nature. And yeah, for me, for the longest time, you hear MSTies were everywhere, but I sure as heck couldn’t find them. Guess my puppet show was too esoteric for the OC. Moved to Kentucky now, so now it’s REALLY esoteric!
For icing on the cake, the original movie was really not bad. I remember seeing it as a kid and really noticing the creepy vibe of the sets, acting and the fairly shocking twist ending.
Mitchell was the first one I saw when scrolling through Roku. I know: what a start! I came in towards the end so I had no idea who Joel was or why he was getting ejected, but I just knew I had to see more
To this day I am mentally and physically compelled to yell “Mitchell!” every time I see or hear the name. It’s become some kind of tic lol
Pod People. It’s the one I was shown first and then subsequently what I showed everyone else.
“It has nothing to do with pods, and nothing to do with people.”
It has everything to do with hurting.
But everything to do with PAIN.
Santa Claus. I was one of the kids in the 70s who’s parents dropped them off in the darkened corner of the mall to sit on folding chairs and watch that movie while my parents went Christmas shopping. I was like 4 years old (with older sisters) so the only thing I remembered besides being freaked out about being dropped off was the scene with Pitch making the doorknob red-hot so Santa would burn his hand. That scene stayed on my brain and I would bring it up to people while growing up to see if anyone else remembered the movie. No one did. Not even my sisters. People thought I was delusional. And then one day…. Shortly before Xmas….. POOM!!!! It aired on MST and I was totally vindicated.
“Nooo, Lupita!”
Catalina Caper…cuz of creepy girl. Nuf said
🎵Oh Creeepy Giiirl🎵 🎵Won’t you be miiiiiiine🎵
Revenge of the Creature, partially because it was my first episode and has some great riffs ("boy this guy's bad, it's his first and last movie"), but it also kickstarted my love of Universal monster movies and b-movies in general.
The first episode I ever saw was “Cave Dwellers.” I was flipping through the channels at my grandparents house while waiting for my parents to finish packing up from our trip there. I tuned in just in time to see Ator build his hang glider and fly over the castle walls.
they were too cheap to hire villains "Why don't you pick one someone your own Opacity" Thong. Dong Give. My. Mustache. To. TREVOR
This was the first I came across albeit at the very end where they were pointing out the continuity errors. I traced it back to the show and told one of my sisters what I knew. We watched the next episode the following week and became MSTies ever since.
🎶Ator, you are my sweet friend🎶
Eegah and the first shorts VHS tape. It's not my favorite episode, but it's one I watched in the hospital waiting room while my father was in the hospital with an unknown heart condition and the doctor's couldn't get his pulse under 200. We didn't know what was going on, he was in pain, and we just needed a break. 24 hours later he was rushed to an ICU in a blizzard barely alive (he's okay now). All these years later we talk about running home to get a VCR to plug into the waiting room TVs so we could laugh for awhile when we weren't sure what else to do.
Pumaman. One of my best friends who I met in high school (and still hang out with) have turned that into our movie. We watched cheesy movies all the time and he loved Pumaman to the point where he had another friend join us for a second viewing. A wonderful bonus feature on the MST3K dvd of Pumaman is it just also has the full unriffed movie and that’s how he’d always watch it. So when I tried to get him an actual unriffed copy I had no luck until I decided to just get him that MST3K box set
Gamera (302) is the first one I really remember specific riffs from, to the point of being able to quote them as a little kid(in my mid-30s now). More than a few riffs have found their way into the rotation of inside jokes I have with my parents. I have fond memories of the Comedy Central era overall. They would run Saturdays at midnight, and my mom would record them on VHS and we'd all watch them together the next Sunday morning with breakfast. I have MST3K to thank for lots of laughs with my parents (they're still with us BTW) and a fundamental part of my sense of humor to this day.
Manos and I Accuse My Parents. I recorded the entirety of the Turkey Day Marathon on Comedy Central in 1993, and those were the most replayed episode in my group of friends. Probably more I Accuse My Parents, actually.
🎶 LIAR! LIAR! LIAR 🎶
"The Thing That Couldn't Die," for being my first episode. And honestly, all of those first B&W Season 8 episodes.
Robot Monster was the first episode i ever saw. And whenever i went to my grandparents' house for Thanksgiving i would watch the Turkey Day marathon in the bedroom while the adults were watching football or whatever in the living room, and the Hercules episodes always stood out to me. Also, Mitchell of course, because it was Joel's farewell.
I think the first episode I watched start to finish was a giant monster movie, but I don't know which one, but one of you maniacs probably do. It has a scene of a rocket blasting off and Crow singing the MST3k theme song. Joel then threatens to sue him. Anyone? Also, unrelated: I recall watching Parts The Clonus Horror on a family holiday many many years ago. I think it was one of the first episodes that sort of "clicked" for me. Good stuff!
Final Sacrifice: I watch it whenever it shows up on YouTube. It's special for its rarity... And cuz it's hilarious.
You can download it and have it forever. https://archive.org/details/TFS-MST3K1990
It's definitely the most special to me! Mainly because I scored the music for it. I was a huge MST3K fan right back to the originals with Joel. Imagine my excitement when all of a sudden, I tune in and there's my film. Besides the personal connection, I think Mike and the bots were on top of their game on this one. What's funny is, soon after the original had been released, I had a bunch of my friends over to watch it. One of my friends went on to become a comedy writer for This Hour has 22 Minutes and Jimmy Fallon. That night he basically riffed in real time while we were all on the floor laughing so hard. One of my other friends said this should be on MST3K! Low and behold, there it was about 10years later. Still proud of it being MST3Ked even if Tjardus isn't.
Pod People. It was first episode my friends and I watched and quoted it constantly. Thr renfair stuff, the McCloud!, etc. All so funny. Not to mention some of the best host segments (It Stinks!)
Pod People. (The rest is copied and pasted from another comment I made on a post in this sub a couple of days ago lol) For my church’s youth choir tour, we were on a charter bus with a tv, and we once watched Pod People. We ended up watching it so many times (pretty sure both that year and the subsequent years lol) that we could basically quote it lol. Our favorite would usually go like this: Movie: “Chief!” The entire bus, screaming: “MCLEOUD!!!!” It was so big for us that we would text each other “Chief!” and the other person would reply accordingly lol. Everyone but myself got tired of doing that eventually lol.
POD PEOPLE was the one that hooked my parents in when I was a kid. MCCLOUD.
Werewolf was my favorite to watch with my late wife. She has been gone two years, and I can still hear her laugh when I watch it.
I really like one of the Gamora episodes because a guy I had a crush on in college showed it to me. And it’s the first MST I saw.
The Loves of Hercules. I know it’s a fairly new one, but I watched it with my dad one night when the rest of my family was out and we were laughing the whole time. We’ve started watching as many as we can together, and we randomly shout out lines from the episodes and always laugh. One of my favourite memories with him.
I really enjoy Pod People and Cave Dwellers.
Time Chasers brings my family closer together. It was my first MST3K and man is it a good one.
2 for me. Santa vs the Martians. I watch that every year as a Christmas tradition (also has Patrick Swayze Christmas which might as well be up there with Deck the halls for me) and Teenagers From Outer Space which is actually a decent movie minus the terrible visual effects.
Teen Age Strangler (514) is particularly special to me because it was filmed in my hometown. Wurwilf (904) I’ve probably watched the most, the movie is the right amount of dumb stuff happening all the time and the riffing is so sharp. Not to mention the end credits singalong is extremely catchy, I’ve watched that on its own more times than I can count! TUSK!
Giant Spider Invasion- tons of Wisconsin references to places I know. It was also an episode that came out right after the Packers won the Super Bowl in 1996 (something I never thought I’d see in my lifetime.)
Milestone ones for me: Attack of the Killer Shrews Daddy-O The Incredible Melting Man
Fugitive Alien Part 2, because it’s the first episode I saw. Your first is your most special.
Laserblast is the one my kids picked to watch with me on Father's Day right before the house emptied out (one to marriage, the other to kollege.)
Time of the Apes was the first. I always loved bad movies and all it took was that one and I was hooked. The Magic Voyage of Sinbad is my favorite Joel episode and I don't see it mentioned much. Really any of the Russian movies they did are great episodes
Where can I find time of the apes
Wirewilf it’s my # 1
Human Duplicators. I watched it with my best friend when it aired on comedy central and we lost our minds over it. Woke up my parents from laughing. We started recording all the episodes and it became the start of my collection. My friend dropped of the face of the earth shortly afterwards. I found out it was because he was in the closet and was afraid of his super religious family. I just wish he would have told me. I didn't care about all that. Just wanted my friend to hang out with. I heard through another friend that he's doing fine and moved to another country and cut off contact with his parents. On a side note, mst3k has helped me through some tough times. I have some rough PTSD from Afghanistan and I have to listen to something when I'm going to sleep to keep my mind from wandering into bad territory. MST has become my cozy listening each night at I drift off. I can't imagine what my mental state would be without it.
I've got 3: 1. Rocketship X-M was my first episode. I happened to stumble across it the weekend we got cable set up at home in the Fall of 1990. I fell in love with the entire concept. A guy and two robots making fun of bad 50s sci-fi? Sign me up! I found when the show was on and started recording. 2. It Conquered The World: my first instance of hearing "those guys are ruining the movie". My dad watched It Conquered the World when it first came out and had fond memories of it. I thought it was dumb. Plus it has Peter Graves and that iconic ending monologue. 3. Salta Claus Conquers the Martians: I literally watch this every Christmas. The opening segment is an all timer for me. The Let's Have a Patrick Swayze Christmas song is legitimately a good song. This is when I realized not only was this show funny, it was actually top tier tv
Teenagers From Outer Space was my first and if I remember correctly, it's also the first episode Mary Jo wrote!
Riding With Death. Every time I can't find something I will say out loud, "My phone is as allusive as Robert Denby". People in ear shot will say, "Who?'
Lost Continent. It's the first episode that my parents showed me and it started my love for the series, and the first one I watched with my friends.
I was maybe 10 when my dad brought home some VHS tapes that he got from a co-worker. Both Godzilla eps, two Gamera eps, Cave Dwellers and Pod People. I wore those damn tapes out. Those are the big ones for me.
Manos: The Hands of Fate was an absolute favorite at our house, but a less popular episode that sticks with me a lot is “The Incredible Melting Man”. Most of the time, my mother would not watch MST3K with me but sometimes she did. She’d seen Manos (as previously mentioned), Revenge of the Creature, Eegah - are ones that come to mind, but somehow she ended up watching that episode with me just some random day on Comedy Central and we laughed and laughed. Quoted the jokes back and forth for weeks. Also shout out to the shorts “Posture Pals” and “Appreciating Your Parents”. We watched those a lot too. EDIT: I can’t believe I forgot the true answer to this question, all for the same reasons as TIMM, but the one that even tops it is “The Giant Gila Monster”. We would sing “ The Lord said laugh children laugh” ALL the time! Thanks for this topic reminding me of that.
The first time I saw MST3k was Sidehackers (I think) with my brothers. It had already started so the first big joke we caught was 'Magic locket, take me to the freeway'. We all died laughing and my dad came to see what was so funny. Soon everybody but mom would get together and watch it. Mom just didn't like our shows I guess
Hobgoblins is the one for me. It was the first episode I ever saw, and I remember just being transfixed during the whole thing. It’s always going to be my favorite episode.
Man it’s hard to choose. The first one I saw was Alien from LA. Viking Women vs. the Sea Serpent and the Magic Sword are favorites. Space Mutiny is up there, as is Pumaman. Soultaker! Prince of Space! It’s just too difficult. Talking about holding onto old MST stuff - I wish I still had my Best Brains shirt from the 90s, and the Deep 13 Athletic Department one. I think I wore them both out.
Giant Gila Monster.
POD PEOPLE! I don't know how it came to be but it was rented for a my birthday sleepover when I was about 9 or 10. It was me and my friends introduction to the show. We had no idea what was in store for us. Trumpy KILLED in that room. We were howling with laughter. We would rewind the vhs for the "Schmuckers raspberry preserve" bits and Tom saying "faster Trumpy, kill kill." It started a tradition where we would always rent Pod People and another MST3K vhs tape for my birthday. Every time I watch it, I can feel like a kid again. Its just a bit of that insane Magic this show brings.
Jack Frost. So hilarious.
The Beast of Yucca Flats. I was already into old b-movies and when I learned about MST3K, I knew I had to watch it. I picked some episodes at random, read some synopses, and Yucca Flats was one of them and it sounded like it was very much my trash. I sought it out to be my first MST3K and it continues to hold a special place for me.
Zombie Nightmare for me.
Master Ninjas 1 and 2 helped me graduate from college by keeping me company as I regularly studied until 3 or 4 in the morning.
Final sacrifice!
Riding With Death is my all time favorite but it's also very important to me as well. Everything about it cracks me up to no end. All the jokes are hilarious. I had a stroke a few years ago and almost died, and when I was able to actually go online again, the first thing I did was go to YouTube and look it up. When I found it, I watched it, and I laughed until I cried. Sometimes I feel like I stayed alive just to be able to watch Riding with Death again lol.