I had been looking forward to the release of the 12th season, and even spent some time re-watching some of my favorite old MST3K episodes to gear up. Starting yesterday, I powered through this new season over two days, and the first thing that struck me as odd was how it was only six episodes. The last time they did so few movies was in Season 7, which happened to be the last on Comedy Central. Not that I’m reading too much into it, but it does feel like Netflix is trying the show out, still. Also, the six shows have a running theme of Jonah and the Bots having to “marathon through” the six movies. I can’t tell if MST3K was making a joke about binge watching the show, or if it was an order from Netflix that they need to find a way to make their show more binge-able.
For this, the 12th Season, and the 30th anniversary of the show, I have to say that this batch of films were some of the better-quality B-movies out there. The oldest movie was from 1979, the newest from 2013, and all of them were in color. There was part of me that did miss that there was nothing in B&W, or from the late 50’s. In order, the movies were; Mac and Me, Atlantic Rim, Lords of the Deep, The Day Time Ended, Killer Fish, and Ator The Fighting Eagle.
The humor of the show was still spot on; sarcastic pop culture references make these riffing wheels turn. What I noticed this time around is that the riffing was at a much faster pace. Compared to when the show debuted 30 years ago, there were dead air gaps between riffs, and as the years have gone by, the jokes have come faster and faster. (The re-watching of old episodes made that point to me.) Over all, the season feels as if there was a bit of fine tuning done in post just to make sure the pace stayed aggressive.
With that having been said, I think we are looking at a show that is continuing to evolve in its presentation. Joel Hodgson is holding onto the core of the show (making fun of terrable movies,) while allowing the periphery of the show (cast, props, pace, ect…) to stay malleable to the changes in our culture. (I mean, the show now ends with “Keep Circulating the URL.”) Those of us started with the show, we traded VHS tapes, and then in the off years the new fans circulated YouTube links and uploaded clips. Now, that we are living in the streaming age, the new fans will take the show and make it their own. I just hope there are more episodes in the next season.
