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As a huge fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000, I funded this Kickstarter at one of the highest levels. I looked forward to the new show with great anticipation. Felicia Day! Patton Oswalt! How could it fail?
It failed. Hard.
Still, I watched every episode. Surely it had to get better? No. It was horrible. Unwatchable. I tried to watch a second time, to see if maybe it would grow on me, but I couldn't stand more than a few minutes of the first episode of this travesty. Here is a by-no-means complete list of the problems with this show.
* The movies are censored/cut. And they aren't just cut -- the episodes are actually *shorter* than the original Comedy Central/SciFi channel show. This is not 1988. The show is not on basic cable. This alone would be enough condemn the Kickstarter show.
* The voice actors do not control the robots. The puppeteering of the Kickstarter episodes is worse than the worst that Josh, Trace, Kevin, or Bill ever did.
* The voice actors for the robots t sound exactly alike.
* The in-theater sequences are just lip-syncing. It may as well be a clip of a silhouette on a loop. Seriously, what the hell.
* The riffs aren't riffs -- it's more like old-timey auctioneers. It's supposed to be comedy, not a contest to see how many words per second you can squeeze into the show.
* In the original show, the riffs focused on jokes, and usually avoided quickly-dated pop-culture references. The Kickstarter show does the opposite.
* The original Tom Servo's arms had movement and conveyed action. This new show has a Tom Servo with rigid, inflexible arms which convey nothing.
* The original show had a mobile Gypsy who could actually interact with the other characters. This new show has a stiff, ceiling-mounted Gypsy which is awkward, at best.
* The mad scientist set is some kind of absurd "Tonight Show". What the hell.
* The original show had the hexfield view screen, which was a permanent fixture and provided visual interest. This new show has a whiteboard that comes down from the ceiling.
* The props in the original show were clever and inventive. The new show has the same laser-cut plywood cutouts every week.
* The invention exchange is just pathetic. They don't even try. Why bother having it at all?
* The Satellite Of Love "set" ... isn't.
* The opening credits pause inexplicably for ten seconds during the opening theme song. (Also, "yellow" is two syllables, and the music has one beat there. How can anyone not cringe every time they hear that?)
I could go on (and on, and on), but that's enough.
This is not Mystery Science Theater 3000. It's a worse-than-average knockoff. Middle school children have put on better.
score 1/10
bblackmoor 2 February 2018
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4051122/ |
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1-11-2020 11:29:07