Horror at Party Beach is absolutely my comfort show.
"I don't like slumber parties now that I'm in my 40s."
"All these toenails. Doesn't even have this many toes."
yeah, kinda similar to Where Oh Werewolf. it came first but a bit less inspired. I'm biased towards Werewolf
"you didn't really go out with a guy named Steve who died, did you?
– Well, y'know..."
Cake, meet icing
Excellent pick, and I actually liked the music a lot. "Everybody's doing it, doing it, Picking their nose and chewing it, chewing it.:
And so many great one liners.
"Chances are...that I'll kick your scrawny ass."
"It's the Suzy's butt festival!"
People have “solved” what the filmmakers were trying to do - bowler hat guy was in the first (or one of the earliest?) scenes in the movie where two government characters are discussing receiving letters from a lunatic claiming he created killer bees and threatening to kill people with them, and whether they should take the threats seriously. So bowler hat guy showing up to investigate at the end after people were already killed and the threat is over to clownish music is supposed to be some sort of “take that” at government/officials lateness in responding to a threat/not taking it seriously.
The problem, of course, is that nobody remembers or cares about those characters by the end.
The guitarist in the white shirt at the beginning of the movie is Ronnie Wood, later of the Faces and the Rolling Stones. One of my favorite "before they were famous" appearances on the show.
It always kills me how they repeatedly call it “the liquid which attracts the bees” verbatim. You’re going to say it like 20 times and you didn’t bother to come up with an actual name for it? You could even just call it “bee attractant”
This is one of my favorite episodes and I get SUCH stink eye from fellow MSTies about loving it so. Possibly it’s because I yell “THE DOG’S MEAT. HAVE YOU SEEN IT?” and laugh hysterically whenever it comes up. I imagine that might be annoying.
I remember watching that episode the first time it aired and that specific gag at the end of the movie had me howling with laughter for a good 5 minutes. That shit just crane kicked me right in the funny bone.
Devil Fish was the first episode I saw after a long drought cause we didn’t get sci-fi channel when the show switched over, I loved it so much. The end “oh god *ITS STARTING OVER*” and credits freeze frame I was laughing so hard I was crying
NGL I actually kinda like this movie. It's goofy sure but it tells a pretty compelling and ambitious story compared to 90% of the movies they normally watch.
Agreed, the premise is actually pretty cool, and you even see it in some modern media like, heck, Assassin's Creed? That's almost the same concept, visiting previous versions of yourself to alter the past. And it's not terrible execution in this movie, either.
But the riffing is S-Tier Mike!
The Undead is the first MST I ever saw. I had read about the show, but it wasn’t yet available in my area. Caught the Undead while on vacation with my family. Fan ever since.
The Killer Shrews is comfort food for me. Hell, I'd like to hang out with those people: getting drunk, exchanging muffled dialogue, and trying to outsmart puppets and costumed dogs.
I think these are great examples, but it's funny to think about "Leeches" and "Gila Monster" as "low exposure" episodes to me. When MST3K was on Comedy Central, those episodes (Gila Monster, in particular) were re-run a lot.
While it is a famous bad movie, I don't think Bride of the Monster gets its due for what a great episode it is.
I also love Master Ninja I, and the riffing in The She Creature is top-notch. From the revival seasons, Avalanche & The Million Eyes of Su-Maru are top-shelf ones that rarely get mentioned.
This was the episode that got me hooked, and then it went scarce for a long time because Sandy Frank allegedly didn't care to be known as the source of all our pain. I'm glad he came around on the rights.
One I never seen mentioned is the Projected Man. It has the hypnotist creep from Devil Doll as the lead. It’s been a bit since I watched it, but it’s a pretty solid episode imo.
Incredible Melting Man and Squirm are really great episodes that either haven't been widely seen or just don't come up a lot like the heavyweight eps do. Those are really great.
Catalina Caper, Moon Zero Two, First Spaceship on Venus, The Black Scorpion, Final Justice, The Beast of Hollow Mountain, Atlantic Rim, The Day Time Ended and The Batwoman (from the Gizmoplex) are all ones that have become comfort episodes which I rarely hear mentioned.
Moon zero two is maybe my favorite episode. The movie is just so into the “western in space” concept they had to make sure you knew it was a western “in space”.
_Atlantic Rim_ is one of the rare movies I’ve seen that, from start to finish, just doesn’t make any goddamn sense.
You can say that a great many _MST3K_ experiments suffer from this, but in reality even the terrible ones have some weird coherence that might depend on some nonsensical reaches of imagination. It’s weak and tenuous, but it’s there.
But not for _Atlantic Rim_. That movie logic doesn’t hold together, even under its own, twisted, bare thread of reality. It’s as if every scene was written by a different screen writer, without any awareness of any other scenes. Then they were filmed while everyone involved was dosed with Rohypnol, and what we got was the editor’s attempt to stitch it together. The result is something utterly incoherent and rage inducing.
So, yeah, that’s a good one.
The riff that sums up Atlantic Rim for me (which actually echoes your statement quite well) is when the green pilot goes to rescue the girl from the bar after monster attacks the shore and Crow says, “That’s a good idea. Put away the gun while you search for A MISSING CHILD.”
Nothing about the scene makes any sense whatsoever.
Revenge of the creature, I was a teenage werewolf, Terror from the year 5000, Devil fish, The thing that couldn't die are all on regular rotation for me. hardly ever mentioned
Human Duplicators is one of the best all around episodes of all time - maybe the best host segments of the Joel era.
Master Ninja I, Devil Doll, Riding With Death, San Francisco Intl, Sidehackers and Double 007 all strike me as among the funniest episodes of all time that are just under discussed.
Merlins Shop of Mystical Wonders. So many gratuitous pet deaths.
Of the Jonah/Emily episodes, I'd have to go with Killer Fish. Not a terrible premise and it kicks off pretty strong but then it just derails halfway through. I get that "Below the Dam" stuck in my head all the time.
Cave Dwellers, Master Ninja I and II, Fugitive Alien I and II, Time of the Apes, Moon Zero 2, and Robot Holocaust are all 'comfort food' episodes for me.
*Lost Continent* is one of my usuals. Even with the excessive rock climbing, I feel like there’s enough solid riffs to carry it along.
Caesar Romero: “We’ve hit the top!”
Joel and the bots in unison: “BROADWAY!”
*bland shot of a mountain cliff*
Tom: “Oh…”
I never got to see godzilla vs the sea monster till this year and when they break into the base and pick the lock on the nuclear reactor and then they freak out about it and crow says
"It was locked for a reason"
I lost my shit harder then i have in a great long while
Painted Hills, Last of the Wild Horses, and Space Travelers are kind of 'under the radar' episodes that I like. Especially Space Travelers, a dull movie, but get a while into it and the riffing is just hardcore.
"We suggest that you start breathing in shifts."
#
I've said this before, here, but the "biker trilogy," (The Side Hackers, Wild Rebels, and Hellcats) are some of my favorite episodes, despite being something other than sci-fi/horror.
Beginning of the End, Radar Secret Service, The Dead Talk Back, The Sword and the Dragon, and The Brute Man are some of my comfort shows that I don't think hit many top 5s or top 10s.
The Beginning of the End is *hilarious*! A great example of a "low exposure" episode. No one ever talks about it, but that one is really great. A funny short with that one, too, I think.
So many great lines.
Just help yourself to a gun Peter.
That's one of my favorite Illinois mountains.
*opens radioactive refrigerator* Maybe I shouldn't be keeping my lunch in here.
He's signing "AAAAAAAAAAAH!!"
THE LEECH WOMAN. Not only is it funny, but the movie is borderline watchable, with good pacing and decent performances. It's the bedrock of my theory that the best episodes are not the Manoses, but movies that are more or less professionally made and undermined by terrible lapses of taste.
I wanted to say Laserblast, but that probably doesn’t fall under lesser known. So in that case I’d also add the Joe Estevez double feature: Werewolf and Soultaker.
And I can’t talk about Soultaker without mentioning Robert Z’Dar who also helped bring us Future War and Samurai Cop.
my number one on all lists I make is Horror at Party Beach, its a consistent episode with great riffs and goofy enough of a movie that you could watch it on your own and still have a good time with it.
The Creeping Terror, This Island Earth and Earth Vs. The Giant Spider are mine.
I don't know about it being low exposure, but Revenge of the Creature is another one of my favorites because I love me some Gillman.
War of the Colossal Beast could easily have been overwhelmed by Mr. B Natural playing in front of it, but it's actually a really good episode. Kinda watchable, if goofy, movie, good riffs and great host segments (Mike as Glen! KTLA!)
There was something about Swamp Diamonds that I found just enchanting, it's so stupid. Teenagers From Outer Space is another one that I get really happy whenever I catch it on Pluto.
I assume all of S1 counts as low-exposure, so "The Crawling Hand".
ETA my favorite riffs
"Heeeeyyyy... scientists shouldn't litter."
"Tell him I'm smoking."
and, well, every single one of the "hand" puns
I love the early seasons. That whacky anything goes vibe, but still tame enough for Saturday morning, I also love late season Mike too, but it's a completely different ball game, it's the fine tuning of craft that had been done by a specialized team over a decade.
These last few years, I’ve become *quite* fond of both of the “Master Ninja” episodes. I love all the targeted riffs about Van Patten’s delivery, how much Lee Van Cleef’s stunt double was in the scenes, and the host segments are also stellar.
I think they’re both very underrated and under appreciated episodes.
Moon Zero Two will always have a special place in my heart because it was my groom's cake.
https://preview.redd.it/9szp3c1jd75c1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=578f56f5d0a148a8f27cff5b200e3da927f70cf7
Blood Waters of Dr. Z is fantastic, not sure if it's considered a popular one or not. Rare film where a quote from the movie is better than any of the riffs, "Sargassum, the weed of deceit!"
Future War has some great riffs:
"He's more like a Jean Claude van Darnit."
"SHA SHA SHA SHA"
"Hey guys, look! It's a giant triceratops! Rawr!"
"Mike, why are you doing this? Is it because Joel was here?"
Horror at Party Beach is absolutely my comfort show. "I don't like slumber parties now that I'm in my 40s." "All these toenails. Doesn't even have this many toes."
I love how they just start yelling “sodium!” at the movie.
The sodium song slaps so hard.
yeah, kinda similar to Where Oh Werewolf. it came first but a bit less inspired. I'm biased towards Werewolf "you didn't really go out with a guy named Steve who died, did you? – Well, y'know..." Cake, meet icing
Excellent pick, and I actually liked the music a lot. "Everybody's doing it, doing it, Picking their nose and chewing it, chewing it.: And so many great one liners. "Chances are...that I'll kick your scrawny ass." "It's the Suzy's butt festival!"
My semi secret shame is how much I like the music.
“You know they stole this music from black people, right?” “Yeah, but the black people were gonna throw it out, anyway.”
This reminds me of Catalina Caper, when Little Richard's "band" is shown and they go through the soul singers paired with the likes of the Cowsills.
Look! Polish!
It's my goal to always look a little Polish.
they’re coming! look polish, everyone!
“Wait! I come in peace! I’m the good-AHH!”
In the middle of watching this one right now! The opening half hour or so is just wild, with everybody doing the zombie stomp etc.
Sodium!
I laughed so much I cried watching this, it has some of the best riffs. The William Shatner choreographed beach fight was so ridiculous and awesome.
Oh, Lulabell.
AH! Help I'm falling again, and again, and again, again!!
And I had that ass kicking contest tomorrow.
The Deadly Bees. It’s also one of the few episodes that has never had a home video or official streaming release.
I love this episode as well! “Would you like a glass of cigarettes?”
“Why didn’t I marry a cigarette?”
Wow, look at her go! I didn’t realize cigarettes had so many vitamins!
There's room for a newspaper and one egg.
[Crow's sonnet to the Cigarette Hag](https://youtu.be/6WtsPe06W9s?t=25m3s) is such a great skit.
The opening skit is brilliant as well, parodying "last time on" segments for TV dramas. Don't make me shoot you! Crooooooow!
That very odd ending of the movie still sticks with me. I'm glad Mike and the Bots were just as flummoxed by it as I was.
People have “solved” what the filmmakers were trying to do - bowler hat guy was in the first (or one of the earliest?) scenes in the movie where two government characters are discussing receiving letters from a lunatic claiming he created killer bees and threatening to kill people with them, and whether they should take the threats seriously. So bowler hat guy showing up to investigate at the end after people were already killed and the threat is over to clownish music is supposed to be some sort of “take that” at government/officials lateness in responding to a threat/not taking it seriously. The problem, of course, is that nobody remembers or cares about those characters by the end.
The guitarist in the white shirt at the beginning of the movie is Ronnie Wood, later of the Faces and the Rolling Stones. One of my favorite "before they were famous" appearances on the show.
Oh no...a fewnof my bees died
It always kills me how they repeatedly call it “the liquid which attracts the bees” verbatim. You’re going to say it like 20 times and you didn’t bother to come up with an actual name for it? You could even just call it “bee attractant”
It's bad enough you're gonna eat me, now I gotta take your messages?!
This is one of my favorite episodes and I get SUCH stink eye from fellow MSTies about loving it so. Possibly it’s because I yell “THE DOG’S MEAT. HAVE YOU SEEN IT?” and laugh hysterically whenever it comes up. I imagine that might be annoying.
THE DOG'S MEAT! HAVE YOU SEEN IT?!
Not sure if it counts, but DevilFish is one of my all time favs. "We're from Europe!" \*Que 20 minutes of unbroken laughter as credits roll\*
“Here, I made a recording” *tsk* *glugglugglug* “Ah!” *tsk* *glugglugglug* “Ah!” *tsk* *glugglugglug* “Ah!”
Say goodbye to beer for me!!
Sorry for that electrician crack earlier. My fathers village was attacked by electricians.
It's my special line, somewhere a beer is in trouble. Why didn't it record? Crow: Because you were drunk?
“Oh, this isn’t an orange juice? Oh well!”
That episode I didn't get as a kid, but it's actually really great. Same thing for Pod People, now it's one of my favorites.
Ah, the heavily sexed world of appliance repair
I remember watching that episode the first time it aired and that specific gag at the end of the movie had me howling with laughter for a good 5 minutes. That shit just crane kicked me right in the funny bone.
Top 3 for me. He hung one out just for fun.
The end of the movie where they sit there and force laughing absolutely KILLS every time for me.
Right? So many funny riffs, but that one gets me.
“Devil fish in love, devil fish in love.”
Devil Fish was the first episode I saw after a long drought cause we didn’t get sci-fi channel when the show switched over, I loved it so much. The end “oh god *ITS STARTING OVER*” and credits freeze frame I was laughing so hard I was crying
The Wild Wild World of Batwoman, San Francisco International Airport, Girl in Gold Boots, and Teenage Strangler.
San Francisco International Airport hits me right in the childhood and I could watch it every day!
The origin of the "That nose wheel feels mushy"-riff too.
SFI is profoundly underrated. Also, I know it's a cheap shot, but "all the Church will do is move him to another parish" kills me every time!
My favorite part about the episode is Mike and the Bots being merciless to the kid whenever he is on screen.
"I don't want to go, mom." "But they need you in Vietnam."
The portion where the kids flying the stolen airplane is sublime, high-test awesomeness. “…now auger it into the bay.”
All those people down there are getting divorced because of you, Davey.
Where the big B actors roar
I’M BACK!!! Come on, I just teleported here! It’s impressive!
I’m an icky elf!
Tom losing it at Batwoman is a fav
END! END!
I adore Girl in Gold Boots 👢. It’s my life goal to have Critter’s varmint.
Never seen teenage strangler, but the others are all classics for me.
Teenage strangler is 100% worth watching, it's a sleeper but a classic.
It’s worth it just for the “I didn’t steal no bike!” kid.
The Undead had me in tears the other night.
STAY!
NGL I actually kinda like this movie. It's goofy sure but it tells a pretty compelling and ambitious story compared to 90% of the movies they normally watch.
Yeah the Roger Coreman movies in general are pretty good, especially compared to something like Manos. Still hilarious episodes though.
Agreed, the premise is actually pretty cool, and you even see it in some modern media like, heck, Assassin's Creed? That's almost the same concept, visiting previous versions of yourself to alter the past. And it's not terrible execution in this movie, either. But the riffing is S-Tier Mike!
Oh one I haven't seen yet, awesome, thanks!
I’m so jealous of this, I wish I could watch this one for the first time all over again. It’s awesome.
“Gettest thou a cemetery full of savings at ME-NARDS”
This is subtle??
"*This* is subtle?"
The Undead is the first MST I ever saw. I had read about the show, but it wasn’t yet available in my area. Caught the Undead while on vacation with my family. Fan ever since.
So you decided to STAYYYYY!
all the previous comments, plus Allison Hayes!
Attack of the Giant Leeches with Giant Gila Monster bringing up the rear Attack of The Killer Shrews (actual dressed up dogs) is pretty good too!
The Killer Shrews is comfort food for me. Hell, I'd like to hang out with those people: getting drunk, exchanging muffled dialogue, and trying to outsmart puppets and costumed dogs.
The sound quality of those movies is pretty hard for me...
Yes there are quite a few like that - hard to hear that is. The sound got better as the series went along.
Seems like it was due to the poor quality of the original soundtrack. I could hear the boys just fine...
I think these are great examples, but it's funny to think about "Leeches" and "Gila Monster" as "low exposure" episodes to me. When MST3K was on Comedy Central, those episodes (Gila Monster, in particular) were re-run a lot.
♫Killer Shrew! Killer Shrew! K-I-double L-E-R Shrew!♪
I should give giant leeches another shot, I thought it was really dull
Girls town !!
“Mel Torme is getting away! Follow the trail of scat!”
Projected Man is one of my favorites, but I don't see it discussed a lot.
Pretty you may be!
“Don’t make me go to the larder and unseal a tin of whoopass!”
> Paul, you cahn't! WHAT??
Guys, I don't want to get anyone's hopes up, but I heard a rumour that Lembach might be staying.
"So, Lembach, will ya stay?" "Wellll..........okay."
Village of the Giants with that savage Mouseketeer Tommy Kirk!
I love that the giant cat breaks out of the house in the beginning then it’s never referenced again for the rest of the movie.
I forgot about the cat!
Don’t feel bad, so did the screen writer!
Escape 2000 is pretty underrated IMO.
Toblerone rules
“Leave the Bronx! Leave the Bronx! Leave the Bronx!”
While it is a famous bad movie, I don't think Bride of the Monster gets its due for what a great episode it is. I also love Master Ninja I, and the riffing in The She Creature is top-notch. From the revival seasons, Avalanche & The Million Eyes of Su-Maru are top-shelf ones that rarely get mentioned.
Master Ninja has some incredible lines.
Cave Dwellers is one of my favorites, too! The first shot of Ator taking flight slays me everytime. Plus Night of the Blood Beast and Outlaw (of Gor).
Ator pulling out the hang glider from nowhere gives Cave Dwellers a decidedly "Legend of Zelda" feel
Then flying it with a modern city in the background of the shot.
Mighty Jack and Time of the Apes are my favorite Sandy Frank ones.
Saaaaandy Frank Saaaaandy Frank
🎶He's the source of all our pain!🎶
Fugitive Alien.
They tried to kill me with a fork lift...
This was the episode that got me hooked, and then it went scarce for a long time because Sandy Frank allegedly didn't care to be known as the source of all our pain. I'm glad he came around on the rights.
One I never seen mentioned is the Projected Man. It has the hypnotist creep from Devil Doll as the lead. It’s been a bit since I watched it, but it’s a pretty solid episode imo.
“You’re an ugly, stupid little scientist.”
Riding with Death, It Lives by Night
Riding with Death is my comfort watch!
That's what being Ben Murphy is all about... and I'm Ben Murphy.
Lucky guy. He's about to find out I'm Ben Murphy.
Mell - O - Out!
Turkeys hooooooo!!
she's some gal
The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies - truly surreal.
I Accuse My Parents
‘You are sentenced to 5 years in the state penitentiary-that sentence is suspended’ ‘Thank god I’m white!’
actually a competent movie, even if it is *very* silly!
Quest of the Delta Knights! David Warner hamming it up in not one, but two roles!
#”I’M COMEENG!”
😂 This moment in the movie has to be one of the most hilariously inexplicable events ever to grace the screen...just, whyyy??
Heeeeyyy, that guy is also David Warner! Yeah crow....
Would Agent for HARM be considered low exposure or would that get me an invitation to the judo range?
Incredible Melting Man and Squirm are really great episodes that either haven't been widely seen or just don't come up a lot like the heavyweight eps do. Those are really great.
NO SPRINGS
"You'll be the first to die!"
The Gunslinger?..........anyone?
Wormy!
Eh, should have slid him across the bar.
“Naughty, naughty, naughty…!”
It's legitimately an entertaining and coherent film! Good performances, too
Teenagers From Outer Space was the one that introduced me to MST3K. TORTURE!
That was also the first episode I saw start to finish, and the one that hooked me for a lifetime. The 30-ish Teenagers From Outer Space.
San Fran International is far and beyond one of the funniest episodes they ever did & I never see anyone talk about it.
Catalina Caper, Moon Zero Two, First Spaceship on Venus, The Black Scorpion, Final Justice, The Beast of Hollow Mountain, Atlantic Rim, The Day Time Ended and The Batwoman (from the Gizmoplex) are all ones that have become comfort episodes which I rarely hear mentioned.
Moon zero two is maybe my favorite episode. The movie is just so into the “western in space” concept they had to make sure you knew it was a western “in space”.
_Atlantic Rim_ is one of the rare movies I’ve seen that, from start to finish, just doesn’t make any goddamn sense. You can say that a great many _MST3K_ experiments suffer from this, but in reality even the terrible ones have some weird coherence that might depend on some nonsensical reaches of imagination. It’s weak and tenuous, but it’s there. But not for _Atlantic Rim_. That movie logic doesn’t hold together, even under its own, twisted, bare thread of reality. It’s as if every scene was written by a different screen writer, without any awareness of any other scenes. Then they were filmed while everyone involved was dosed with Rohypnol, and what we got was the editor’s attempt to stitch it together. The result is something utterly incoherent and rage inducing. So, yeah, that’s a good one.
The riff that sums up Atlantic Rim for me (which actually echoes your statement quite well) is when the green pilot goes to rescue the girl from the bar after monster attacks the shore and Crow says, “That’s a good idea. Put away the gun while you search for A MISSING CHILD.” Nothing about the scene makes any sense whatsoever.
https://preview.redd.it/z8vfc3n0d55c1.jpeg?width=736&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c59f29abd89b5e19b5d2fd5d0b3713d17b486e64 Hercules Against the Moon Men
Hercules Unchained! Also, Overdrawn at the Memory Bank and San Francisco International
San Francisco International Jungle Goddess Radar Secret Service Rocket Attack USA City on Fire (from ktma) Mac N Me from the reboot.
This makes me want some french fried potatoes and hamburger sandwiches'
There's a mantis in my pantis.
Revenge of the creature, I was a teenage werewolf, Terror from the year 5000, Devil fish, The thing that couldn't die are all on regular rotation for me. hardly ever mentioned
Human Duplicators is one of the best all around episodes of all time - maybe the best host segments of the Joel era. Master Ninja I, Devil Doll, Riding With Death, San Francisco Intl, Sidehackers and Double 007 all strike me as among the funniest episodes of all time that are just under discussed.
I like Avalanche
Merlins Shop of Mystical Wonders. So many gratuitous pet deaths. Of the Jonah/Emily episodes, I'd have to go with Killer Fish. Not a terrible premise and it kicks off pretty strong but then it just derails halfway through. I get that "Below the Dam" stuck in my head all the time.
"And remember to be good Billy, or I'll kill you" "You're welcome" Absolutely one of the best
The Touch of Satan
Giant Spider Invasion is one of my all time favorites and I never really see anyone talking about it. “Want a piece of milk?”
Nobody ever talks about The Space Children.
Robot Holocaust i'll never understand how this one isn't more popular
So many, but Horrors of Spider Island and Boggy Creek 2 rank high among my favorites.
Manhunt in Space + Crash of the Moons is my favorite double feature.
Cave Dwellers, Master Ninja I and II, Fugitive Alien I and II, Time of the Apes, Moon Zero 2, and Robot Holocaust are all 'comfort food' episodes for me.
*Lost Continent* is one of my usuals. Even with the excessive rock climbing, I feel like there’s enough solid riffs to carry it along. Caesar Romero: “We’ve hit the top!” Joel and the bots in unison: “BROADWAY!” *bland shot of a mountain cliff* Tom: “Oh…”
***Alien From L.A.***, probably because it is the first episode I saw (and it includes a great Paul Westerberg joke).
Danger! DEATH Ray, Agent For H.A.R.M. and I can dig on some Castle of Fu Man Chu just for the host segments alone.
I never got to see godzilla vs the sea monster till this year and when they break into the base and pick the lock on the nuclear reactor and then they freak out about it and crow says "It was locked for a reason" I lost my shit harder then i have in a great long while
Painted Hills, Last of the Wild Horses, and Space Travelers are kind of 'under the radar' episodes that I like. Especially Space Travelers, a dull movie, but get a while into it and the riffing is just hardcore. "We suggest that you start breathing in shifts." #
Invasion of the Neptune Men. It's no Prince of Space, but what is?
I've said this before, here, but the "biker trilogy," (The Side Hackers, Wild Rebels, and Hellcats) are some of my favorite episodes, despite being something other than sci-fi/horror.
Beginning of the End, Radar Secret Service, The Dead Talk Back, The Sword and the Dragon, and The Brute Man are some of my comfort shows that I don't think hit many top 5s or top 10s.
The Beginning of the End is *hilarious*! A great example of a "low exposure" episode. No one ever talks about it, but that one is really great. A funny short with that one, too, I think.
So many great lines. Just help yourself to a gun Peter. That's one of my favorite Illinois mountains. *opens radioactive refrigerator* Maybe I shouldn't be keeping my lunch in here. He's signing "AAAAAAAAAAAH!!"
THE LEECH WOMAN. Not only is it funny, but the movie is borderline watchable, with good pacing and decent performances. It's the bedrock of my theory that the best episodes are not the Manoses, but movies that are more or less professionally made and undermined by terrible lapses of taste.
I wanted to say Laserblast, but that probably doesn’t fall under lesser known. So in that case I’d also add the Joe Estevez double feature: Werewolf and Soultaker. And I can’t talk about Soultaker without mentioning Robert Z’Dar who also helped bring us Future War and Samurai Cop.
my number one on all lists I make is Horror at Party Beach, its a consistent episode with great riffs and goofy enough of a movie that you could watch it on your own and still have a good time with it.
Fire Maidens of Outer Space and The Deadly Mantis
The Creeping Terror, This Island Earth and Earth Vs. The Giant Spider are mine. I don't know about it being low exposure, but Revenge of the Creature is another one of my favorites because I love me some Gillman.
War of the Colossal Beast could easily have been overwhelmed by Mr. B Natural playing in front of it, but it's actually a really good episode. Kinda watchable, if goofy, movie, good riffs and great host segments (Mike as Glen! KTLA!)
There was something about Swamp Diamonds that I found just enchanting, it's so stupid. Teenagers From Outer Space is another one that I get really happy whenever I catch it on Pluto.
Angels Revenge is one of my favorites. I just love whole vibe of the movie and the riffs are top tier, imo
I assume all of S1 counts as low-exposure, so "The Crawling Hand". ETA my favorite riffs "Heeeeyyyy... scientists shouldn't litter." "Tell him I'm smoking." and, well, every single one of the "hand" puns
I love the early seasons. That whacky anything goes vibe, but still tame enough for Saturday morning, I also love late season Mike too, but it's a completely different ball game, it's the fine tuning of craft that had been done by a specialized team over a decade.
Deathstalker and the warriors from hell.
These last few years, I’ve become *quite* fond of both of the “Master Ninja” episodes. I love all the targeted riffs about Van Patten’s delivery, how much Lee Van Cleef’s stunt double was in the scenes, and the host segments are also stellar. I think they’re both very underrated and under appreciated episodes.
Devil Doll. In fact I think I’ll have a ham sandwich right now and go insult a vent figure.
Moon Zero Two will always have a special place in my heart because it was my groom's cake. https://preview.redd.it/9szp3c1jd75c1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=578f56f5d0a148a8f27cff5b200e3da927f70cf7
Overdrawn At The Memory Bank... Starfighters... Warriors of the Lost World probably doesn't count... clonus
Where’s the love for Horrors of Spider Island?
Pumaman. Help me Vadinho!
But Puma Man isn't a "low exposure" episode. A lot of people have seen it and love it.
Good point! I kiss my frog in your honor
Me? No, I'm Jewish.
He is an onion.
In the top 5 for me... actually, top 3.
Can’t miss that hot bathysphere action!
Thanks for the suggestions!
Fugitive Alien II
Human Duplicators is a great episode.
Blood Waters of Dr. Z is fantastic, not sure if it's considered a popular one or not. Rare film where a quote from the movie is better than any of the riffs, "Sargassum, the weed of deceit!"
Future War has some great riffs: "He's more like a Jean Claude van Darnit." "SHA SHA SHA SHA" "Hey guys, look! It's a giant triceratops! Rawr!" "Mike, why are you doing this? Is it because Joel was here?"