I'd forgotten how good this episode is. In fact, it probably ranks as one of the top 10 or 12 in the show's history. "Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished..." (Snickering like an adolescent boy) "Especially with Ophelia, man."
@@AliasUndercover Yes. Horrible movies can get people into cool things. For example, I know people who saw the Queen movie and, despite how flat and made-for-TV it seemed, it got them into the great music of Queen.
Glad I'm not the only one. I thought Maximilian Schell portrayed Hamlet's detachment, gallows humor, and nihilism better than anyone else I've seen. And the brutalist concrete-slab set (that manages to look plausibly like stone), the black & white footage, and the lighting choices really set the mood nicely. I also really liked the decision to make certain of Hamlet's soliloquys be audible thoughts rather than spoken lines. It's a bit of a bummer to lose Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (other than that one lineless scene they have), but of course that's to be expected in a production this short. To me, the only weak point of this production is Ophelia. Her "descent into madness" was totally unbelievable. I guess part of that's actually a script problem, but while she played the pain Hamlet caused her pretty well, she didn't make the madness seem naturalistic at all (unlike Schell).
@@DanHarkless_Halloween_YTPs_etc their Polonius is amazing. He’s such a grubby, condescending ass-kisser in this production. “What is it, Cold-Water-on-the-Groin? I mean, Polonius?”
We read this in my High School English Lit class. We all took turns reading the parts, etc... after the Queen's lines regarding Ophelia, I blurted out "So.... the creek." Everybody laughed... Well, I laughed.
You really have to admire the MST3K writers for having the guts to take this one on; I can only imagine that this was a very difficult source to riff but they rose to the challenge and it remains a unique episode. ...that, and Dachshund Day would be a pretty damned funny holiday.
Yeah, this is like the Lassie episode. That movie has so little dialogue to work with, but they pull it off. I wonder sometimes if they just wanted to challenge themselves.
The complete lack of quality and competence, as well as being one of the dullest looking black and white movies ever, looking for all the world like it was shot inside an abandoned prison. Even Mel Gibson's Hamlet made up for some of its shortcomings by having some stellar cinematography, but there is nearly nothing good about this one.
@@TheBonkleFox When I'm really really really in the mood and well nourished Shakespeare is oHH'k with me. It also helps if it's done really right. I had a college professor who was awesome when he read out little bits here and there.
@@andrewfrankovic6821 see to me it's more that you have to do the lines with emotion, but if you put too much emotion into it it just starts sounding like purple prose and people tune out very easily.
"That's from 'Hamlet,' isn't it?!?'" IS THE BEST LINE IN MST3K HISTORY!!! BRAVO! 👏👏👏👏👏😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
it's funny and all but you don't really have to be in english lit to understand the first one since that's literally what happened a few minutes (in movie time) ago.....well ok it feels like hours since this is the most boring version of hamlet concievable.
It was actually my introduction to the full tale , and a glorious one at that. The jokes are some of the best but I actually dug the minimalist design and Schell’s performance. Ophelia was on point.
I like the fact that the riffers still have a lot of respect for and knowledge of the source material even if it's not well executed. For example, Mike's comment that "to be or not to be" is the literary equivalent of "DA-DA-DA-DUUUMMM!!!"
@@JamaicanCastle BTS info:. As this was the last broadcast season, the crew were given carte blanche to choose what they wished in terms of riffing, and this was something they chose for themselves just for fun.
I actually like this version of "Hamlet". First, I love Maximilian Schell. His performance is hammy (so to speak) when it needs to be, like when he's pretending to be crazy, and it's subtle at other times, like when Laertes stabs him and he realizes it's a *real* sword, or when he's doing the "Alas, poor Yorick" speech.
Second, I like some of the choices this production makes with the play. It actually shows the part where Hamlet "comes before" Ophelia after seeing his father's ghost instead of just having Ophelia run to her father and tell him about it. Makes me wonder about the hour and a half of footage that never made it into the episode. I'd like to see how the whole production turned out.
Gotta love how mike is a trope namer for inadvertently destroying worlds constantly, but then here he probably just inadvertently saved the entire planet just through a rigged find the queen game.
@@mrcritical6751 Interesting. I assumed it would burn up on reentry. I know I'm already into the, "I should just relax" territory but I'm curious. How big is the sol, compared to, let's say, an apple, or a baseball bat ;) Hope you've seen the Rifftrax short, "Measuring Man", for that reference. TBS. How big is the SOL, compared to, let's say, The Challenger? I know they didn't leave the earth's atmosphere but I'm just curious about the size. The answer, "I'm Huge" , will not be accepted :)
@@Pocketrocket-pj1us It's whatever size works best for a given joke, of course. Sometimes it's implied that one "lobe" is the room the host segments are shown in and the other is the theater, and there's nothing else to the ship. At various other times it's got at least twelve decks, a squash court, and a feedlot where Crow raises his prize-winning pigs.
I love this episode, but does anyone know where I can find the complete, non-riffed, version? I know it sounds weird but I've had a really hard time getting to sleep, and I know this movie on its own would do the trick. And might I add, when this episode first aired, and Servo started singing, 'Night Fever' while they were dancing, I laughed so hard that I woke up my parents.
@@tommyjonq No. It's the original British spelling of the word. And since English came from British Colonists who brought it to the New World it could be argued it is the CORRECT spelling.
It's the fan bass. Most of the audience are scifi fans, and they expect the cast to hold to and riff bad sci-fi films. I remember when this aired, and it caught me off guard too. I thought it was refreshing to see them riff Hamlet. It takes real balls to poke fun at Bill Shakespeare.
@@TheBonkleFox That actually makes sense. In the play, several people see the ghost but Hamlet is the only one who can hear it. Maybe it was all in his head.
@@GrixieKong I mean, I feel like it could have worked during the scene with hamlet going off on his mother. show a few quick shots of the ghost walking into frame and then the rest of the shots have him just out of frame so we cut between hamlet and gertrude's perspectives.... then again "budget" and "framing" aren't exactly things this movie did elsewhere.
This production of Hamlet is based on a minimalist adaptation stage design of the play that is stripped down and barebones. Hence the lack of backgrounds, the simplified script that cuts out filler, minimum props and the reduction of Hamlets ghost as a disembodied voice.
I teach high school English, and I've taught this play...and my daughter is a theatre major in college (costume design, not acting)...we sat down last night and watched this...and laughed louder and harder at this than at anything in a LONG time. Having Ricardo Montelban's voice come out of a chubby German, and "Sgt. Schultz" aka John Banner's voice out of Polonius is sheer clumsy genius. And the riffing over the last fight scene is brilliant. The best parody is done by those who love what they are insulting--and they are at their peak here. (Sad trivia--I looked into the cast after watching this and discovered that Dunja Movar, the actress who under-played Ophelia, committed suicide only a few years after this was made...)
I unironically love this version of Hamlet. It's an outlier among all the genre films they usually riffed, and maybe that's why it's one of my favorite episodes too.
Lots of good lines but when Hamlet is talking with his father's ghost..." murder, murder most foul"...Crow's response "They murdered a chicken"? And then Hamlet to Ophelia "I'm very proud, revengeful and ambitious" ...Tom Servo "Oh, he's republican" - just those two alone made it so worthwhile.
Leave it to MST3k to tackle one of my favorite authors’ work and make a very BLAH movie into something absolutely wonderful and perfect! Also, HI KHAN! HI SERGEANT SCHULTZ!
"😩I shall never look upon his like again." 🤨Why were you lookin' at his like? That one gets me every time. Also Tom's rendition of "Saturday Night Fever." (I can't listen to that song on the radio without thinking of that scene.)
It is honestly one of the strangest dubbing choices I've ever seen... We have a German production of an English play about a Danish King and an American studio went with an Hispanic accent... I love it but I don't know how that happened.
Maybe they felt Mr. Montalban's voice was fitting to work with how Claudius is when you think of the story of Hamlet and how manipulative, frightful, and also dangerous he can be.
It's crazy how intertwined Star Trek and Shakespeare are. I think I recognize the voice actor for Hamlet as a character on TOS. The guy who took over that mental health institution!
Schell did his own English dubbing for this version. But you're right, Star Trek was highly Shakespearean, count all the episode titles lifted straight from The Bard
Wow! Thanks for the insight! I've been looking for this info for a while actually. This version is hard to track down... Of course one cannot appreciate Shakespeare until they read it in the original Klingon!
'she's trying to section 8 herself out of the film' and the rest of the banter through the Mad Ophelia scene is utterly priceless ending with 'don't get a boner'.😂😂😂
And Max Schell? He's much the same as Jürgen Prochnow ... does his own voiceovers. But listen carefully, it sounds to me like Max either wanted or agreed to doing the English version on the *Set* so that it sounds more real. Ie. He was recorded speaking the lines in English, only, no costume / cast required.
Pearl's sarcasm is actually refreshing... I think she's growing on me the more I see of the later season episodes. And it was interesting to hear "Khan" dub Shakespeare, too. Every time I heard him, I was thinking where's Tatu? "De plain, boss, de plain! The rebellion is in de plain!"
'"Get thee to a nunnery!" "Actually, i may go to grad school." If I had a dollar for every time i had that exact same conversation when a relationship went wrong...
I was shocked recently to read the 2018 ranking of every MST3K episode by Jim Vorel of Paste. Much of what he writes is right on target, but his most egregious mistake is this one. Of the 197 episodes, including the reboot, he ranks this one 189. He writes, "This is one episode where the film is so boring that even the crew of the SOL seems to be infected by that virulent strain of boredom....Even people who actually are big Shakespeare geeks tend to hate this episode, although I have known one or two MST3k fans who loved it." I'm not sure if he saw the same episode as the rest of us, because while it's true the German film is terrible, the riffing is some of the most inspired in the entire series. And there is more than one MST3K fan who agrees with me, as these comments show.
Interesting. In my view, this lower-than-low-budget Hamlet is not nearly as bad as the crew makes it out to be--after all, it's still Hamlet. I have a hunch so many people are "bored" by it because they don't know the actual play. The SOL crew obviously does know it, and you're right, the riffing is hilarious throughout.
Most "ranking" articles are frustrating and disappointing (especially anything in Rolling Stone) . My own rankings of my favorite whatevers are right on point, however
I know this episode is controversial amongst fans; it isn't one of my favorites to be sure. But I respect that in their final season they could've just coasted and instead challenged themselves with this difficult riff fodder.
This has never been one of my favorites, but to be honest, it's grown on me. Some of the comments are really funny. I also agree with you about them doing something besides "easy" stuff. :)
yeah, NOT a fan of this. I could barely understand the movie actors because of their german accent. Could they BE any germaner? Not knowing what they said meant I couldn't appreciate the comments from mike and the bots :(
I'm surprised they didn't do a riff about the total 180 degree rule break they did at 39:00. Total disorientates the audience on where everybody is supposed to be. That's like something you learn early on in film school. Also, was this shot in a warehouse? No backdrops anywhere. It gives it a feel like everything takes place at night in some sort of weird limbo void. Who was in charge of this production?
I wish the un-riffed version of Hamlet with this English dub was available. I've looked for years and have yet to find it. It would make a perfect cure for insomnia.
You plotting to RULE THE WORLD, Marina? If so, I would make a great cringing lackey, there to serve your every need, utter false flatteries, and take the occasional beating. Just let me know.....
"Tonight I'm gonna unleash the Great Dane." All right guys, lol.
I'd forgotten how good this episode is. In fact, it probably ranks as one of the top 10 or 12 in the show's history.
"Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished..."
(Snickering like an adolescent boy) "Especially with Ophelia, man."
This episode is what got me into Shakespeare. True story.
The Believability Rating on this post is quite high...
My local library invoked my Shakespearean interest (also true story).
Hey, however it is we appreciate the humor, we still do all the same.
What got you out?
THIS did? Were you just curious to see if it was really this bad?
@@AliasUndercover Yes. Horrible movies can get people into cool things. For example, I know people who saw the Queen movie and, despite how flat and made-for-TV it seemed, it got them into the great music of Queen.
As an English professor, this is my favorite version of Hamlet. "The great 'What time is it?' argument from Hamlet!"
Glad I'm not the only one. I thought Maximilian Schell portrayed Hamlet's detachment, gallows humor, and nihilism better than anyone else I've seen. And the brutalist concrete-slab set (that manages to look plausibly like stone), the black & white footage, and the lighting choices really set the mood nicely. I also really liked the decision to make certain of Hamlet's soliloquys be audible thoughts rather than spoken lines.
It's a bit of a bummer to lose Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (other than that one lineless scene they have), but of course that's to be expected in a production this short. To me, the only weak point of this production is Ophelia. Her "descent into madness" was totally unbelievable. I guess part of that's actually a script problem, but while she played the pain Hamlet caused her pretty well, she didn't make the madness seem naturalistic at all (unlike Schell).
@@DanHarkless_Halloween_YTPs_etc their Polonius is amazing. He’s such a grubby, condescending ass-kisser in this production.
“What is it, Cold-Water-on-the-Groin? I mean, Polonius?”
We read this in my High School English Lit class. We all took turns reading the parts, etc... after the Queen's lines regarding Ophelia, I blurted out "So.... the creek." Everybody laughed...
Well, I laughed.
19:57 “Murder most fowl.” 😅
I like that the very INSTANT Hamlet appears on screen, Crow blurts out his most famous line, to be shushed by Servo.
You really have to admire the MST3K writers for having the guts to take this one on; I can only imagine that this was a very difficult source to riff but they rose to the challenge and it remains a unique episode.
...that, and Dachshund Day would be a pretty damned funny holiday.
I know what you mean. It's like when they did This Island Earth and how it was said by one of the guys that it was hard to come up with riffs for it.
I think The Bard would have respected the effort -- Maybe not the movie but surely the MST treatment
Yeah, this is like the Lassie episode. That movie has so little dialogue to work with, but they pull it off. I wonder sometimes if they just wanted to challenge themselves.
"...Night fever, night fever....we know how to do it..." in the big dance scene....hilarious 😂❤
“You think you can take me? Well go ahead on”. Mike channeling his inner Joe Don Baker
you better run
@@RavnerRavner Or he'll steal your lunch.
@@finalunusedname You better hide ... YOUR LUUUUUUUNCH!!!!
You better hide! Your lunch! 😂❤❤❤
To be or not to be. That is the question.
I'll take to be for 50, Alex🤣🤣
Mike: "It's a good thing he unfolded himself; he was pretty creased up there."
You know, unedited Hamlet is a four hour long play... so why does THIS still feel longer than all the other versions!!!
The complete lack of quality and competence, as well as being one of the dullest looking black and white movies ever, looking for all the world like it was shot inside an abandoned prison. Even Mel Gibson's Hamlet made up for some of its shortcomings by having some stellar cinematography, but there is nearly nothing good about this one.
I think someone noted the pauses were cut out. Shakespeare is all about the pauses that let your brain rest. It's so tedious without them.
@@andrewfrankovic6821 acting it out in english class was less dull. and we were just sitting with most people stumbling through the lines.
@@TheBonkleFox When I'm really really really in the mood and well nourished Shakespeare is oHH'k with me. It also helps if it's done really right. I had a college professor who was awesome when he read out little bits here and there.
@@andrewfrankovic6821 see to me it's more that you have to do the lines with emotion, but if you put too much emotion into it it just starts sounding like purple prose and people tune out very easily.
" move thine ass" My favorite riff 😆
"Ladies an gentlemen, Patti LaBelle!" This is one of my favorites.
LET US TO BRUNCH
Hamlet faxed me a soliloquy!
"That's from 'Hamlet,' isn't it?!?'" IS THE BEST LINE IN MST3K HISTORY!!! BRAVO! 👏👏👏👏👏😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
The "Night Fever" scene always has me in stitches!!
I love Ricardo Montalban doing the voice of Claudius, also John Banner doing that of Polonius.
It's truly Klandinctu!
I thought I recognized the voice!!!! Wow thank you for posting that, I thought I was going even more crazy.
The John Banner was great!
Rich Corenthian Leather!
"Why were you lookin at his like?" makes me lol every time
Hamlet's soliloquy being played over the end theme song is actually kinda cool
This trio puts the "silly" in "soliloquy".
This is the most wholesome little joke 💖
"We've decided to cut his throat in a church!"
"I'm going to Lady Macbeth's!"
"Hamlet! Get off your mom!"
Lol English lit in-jokes.
it's funny and all but you don't really have to be in english lit to understand the first one since that's literally what happened a few minutes (in movie time) ago.....well ok it feels like hours since this is the most boring version of hamlet concievable.
@@TheBonkleFox No you're right I just really think that first one is just so hilarious.
This is one of the best episodes, especially if anyone's read Hamlet.
It was actually my introduction to the full tale , and a glorious one at that. The jokes are some of the best but I actually dug the minimalist design and Schell’s performance.
Ophelia was on point.
I like the fact that the riffers still have a lot of respect for and knowledge of the source material even if it's not well executed. For example, Mike's comment that "to be or not to be" is the literary equivalent of "DA-DA-DA-DUUUMMM!!!"
Well, Mike did request _Hamlet,_ it's natural he'd appreciate it if it wasn't so... well... _this._
@@JamaicanCastle BTS info:. As this was the last broadcast season, the crew were given carte blanche to choose what they wished in terms of riffing, and this was something they chose for themselves just for fun.
Even nerds will lovingly poke fun at the classics. That's what made shows like MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS and ANIMANIACS so surprisingly clever.
I think the best riff is the very last one they make:
(Mike Nelson:) Pff, nice play Shakespeare!
I actually like this version of "Hamlet". First, I love Maximilian Schell. His performance is hammy (so to speak) when it needs to be, like when he's pretending to be crazy, and it's subtle at other times, like when Laertes stabs him and he realizes it's a *real* sword, or when he's doing the "Alas, poor Yorick" speech.
Second, I like some of the choices this production makes with the play. It actually shows the part where Hamlet "comes before" Ophelia after seeing his father's ghost instead of just having Ophelia run to her father and tell him about it. Makes me wonder about the hour and a half of footage that never made it into the episode. I'd like to see how the whole production turned out.
34:44 IT'S HAMELT-MAN!! STILL can't stop laughing.
My grandma taped this for me years ago, and I remember the ads were all for Ask Jeeves and Pitch Black.
Gotta love how mike is a trope namer for inadvertently destroying worlds constantly, but then here he probably just inadvertently saved the entire planet just through a rigged find the queen game.
Technically Bobo saved the planet by annoying Pearl.
I'm already feeling daft for saying this but I thought Pearl was firing on the SOL, not a planet.
What am I missing?
Besides brain cells.
@@steveharvey2102 it would fall to earth and kill millions
@@mrcritical6751 Interesting. I assumed it would burn up on reentry. I know I'm already into the, "I should just relax" territory but I'm curious. How big is the sol, compared to, let's say, an apple, or a baseball bat ;) Hope you've seen the Rifftrax short, "Measuring Man", for that reference.
TBS. How big is the SOL, compared to, let's say, The Challenger? I know they didn't leave the earth's atmosphere but I'm just curious about the size.
The answer, "I'm Huge" , will not be accepted :)
@@Pocketrocket-pj1us It's whatever size works best for a given joke, of course. Sometimes it's implied that one "lobe" is the room the host segments are shown in and the other is the theater, and there's nothing else to the ship. At various other times it's got at least twelve decks, a squash court, and a feedlot where Crow raises his prize-winning pigs.
17:48 - "Heh-heh, I got a Stick, heh-heh!" >:D
Forgot how funny that was, I'm laughing so hard my lungs can't seem to catch up! XD
I would unironically watch a furniture version of Hamlet.
Or the underwater version
There's a lot you could with that
I want to see David Tennant there watching this and helping with the commentary.
He’d probably be too busy laughing
...why?
Thats actually a fun idea for a host.
@@lookbovine he was a great Hamlet, that's why!
Mike: You're under Danish arrest!
Crow: OK, OK, mistakes were made...!
"I drink to you Hamlet"
"Whatever!"
LoL!!
I never thought it was possible to make a tragedy by Shakespeare even more depressing but this movie proved me wrong.
What's worse than clown? Danish clowns!
"what is it, Cold water ont he groin, i mean Polonius?" I love that line
I love this episode, but does anyone know where I can find the complete, non-riffed, version? I know it sounds weird but I've had a really hard time getting to sleep, and I know this movie on its own would do the trick.
And might I add, when this episode first aired, and Servo started singing, 'Night Fever' while they were dancing, I laughed so hard that I woke up my parents.
Not a bad performances.
Tried BitTorrent?
For years I listened to the BBC radio version of Julius Cesar. Beautiful and soothing.
@@AmazingJeeves Yeah, no soap.
@@GeoffNelson Ooh! That sounds lovely. Gotta try something like that. 🙂
Why has nobody mentioned the incredibly ultra-modern concrete and rebar set design? What kind of crazy futurist production is this?
Oooooooooooh, that was very, very widely imitated theatre (spelled with "re" at the end) affectation of the Avant-Garde.
In the lat're' 70's I saw A Midsummer's Night Dream done on a slanted, wooden disk. It was actually quite good.
I think most of those earlier alternative productions were trying to incorporate Railing Kills into any action.
@@tommyjonq No. It's the original British spelling of the word. And since English came from British Colonists who brought it to the New World it could be argued it is the CORRECT spelling.
@@andrewfrankovic6821 Dont forget the Midsummer version taking place at the turn of the 20th century with all the Bicycles
6:14
Is that Hamlet?
No, that's his friend Riblet.
*No, that's Neil Patrick Harris*
No, this is Patrick.
Cröe.. Idk how any mstie can say that episode is not very good, I love it. But then again.. I love all of the episodes.
It's the fan bass. Most of the audience are scifi fans, and they expect the cast to hold to and riff bad sci-fi films. I remember when this aired, and it caught me off guard too. I thought it was refreshing to see them riff Hamlet. It takes real balls to poke fun at Bill Shakespeare.
SmokingSpoon also Shakespeare even done badly is still incredibly well written. So it’s not as riffable.
Purse your beak Mike.
Mine too.
@@dustincantrell6712 The fan bass? But what about the fan salmon?
"Go *a lot* to England."
Sound advice for all of these actors, really.
I want to see a version of Hamlet that actually has a jet ski chase.
“Camera two! Cut to camera two!”
“The ghost, show us THE GHOST!!”
Seriously, why did they never show Hamlet’s father?!
I think it's cause they wanted to play it up as hamlet being delusional, but still....
@@TheBonkleFox That actually makes sense. In the play, several people see the ghost but Hamlet is the only one who can hear it. Maybe it was all in his head.
@@GrixieKong I mean, I feel like it could have worked during the scene with hamlet going off on his mother. show a few quick shots of the ghost walking into frame and then the rest of the shots have him just out of frame so we cut between hamlet and gertrude's perspectives.... then again "budget" and "framing" aren't exactly things this movie did elsewhere.
Well you see, if you never _show_ Hamlet's father, you don't have to _cast_ Hamlet's father.
This production of Hamlet is based on a minimalist adaptation stage design of the play that is stripped down and barebones. Hence the lack of backgrounds, the simplified script that cuts out filler, minimum props and the reduction of Hamlets ghost as a disembodied voice.
I teach high school English, and I've taught this play...and my daughter is a theatre major in college (costume design, not acting)...we sat down last night and watched this...and laughed louder and harder at this than at anything in a LONG time. Having Ricardo Montelban's voice come out of a chubby German, and "Sgt. Schultz" aka John Banner's voice out of Polonius is sheer clumsy genius. And the riffing over the last fight scene is brilliant. The best parody is done by those who love what they are insulting--and they are at their peak here.
(Sad trivia--I looked into the cast after watching this and discovered that Dunja Movar, the actress who under-played Ophelia, committed suicide only a few years after this was made...)
That's hilarious!
I'd love to riff Richard the Third.
"My kingdom for a Horse!"
"Craigslist would love this post"
Wow. Both of you need to get out and laugh more. I read liebnitz for fun and mostly never leave my DAW and I’m saying this
Thst's really very sad because she's not bad in the role, at all. Rest in peace to her.
I unironically love this version of Hamlet. It's an outlier among all the genre films they usually riffed, and maybe that's why it's one of my favorite episodes too.
"Honey, what happened to all the ear poison?"
Ear poison? Shades/foreshadowing of Khan putting the worms into the ears of Chekhov and Paul Winfield.
Why does Gertrude's hair look like Bram Stoker's Dracula?
9:11 One of the best "this sounds like another song" jokes in the entire run!
Lots of good lines but when Hamlet is talking with his father's ghost..." murder, murder most foul"...Crow's response "They murdered a chicken"? And then Hamlet to Ophelia "I'm very proud, revengeful and ambitious" ...Tom Servo "Oh, he's republican" - just those two alone made it so worthwhile.
To be fair, n as a registered democrat, there are plenty of dems fitting that also!
@@davidschwartz6380Different side of the same coin
Hell yea! Riffin on my favorite Shakespeare play!!!!!
6.02 "good there's gonna be railing kills, he he he he". classic.
23:23, “What is it boy? Uncle killed Dad, hmmm?” 👏 😂
Leave it to MST3k to tackle one of my favorite authors’ work and make a very BLAH movie into something absolutely wonderful and perfect!
Also, HI KHAN! HI SERGEANT SCHULTZ!
Ricardo, we're a bit short of cash for the voice over. But we do have a little plot of land on Ceti Alpha 5.
“Here’s a skull..” not a bad skull, it’s a starter skull, but a good skull.
I like this version of Hamlet.
"😩I shall never look upon his like again."
🤨Why were you lookin' at his like?
That one gets me every time.
Also Tom's rendition of "Saturday Night Fever." (I can't listen to that song on the radio without thinking of that scene.)
Should've gotten Shatner to voice Hamlets father: CLAUUUUD....ius.
"Is there a word in the English language he hasn't said?" Hilarious!!
That's Ricardo Montalban dubbing Claudius!
KHAN!
Yep! One of the many awesome things about this episode!
"I'll chase him round the Moons of Nibia and round the Antares Maelstrom and round Perdition's flames before I give him up!"
It is honestly one of the strangest dubbing choices I've ever seen... We have a German production of an English play about a Danish King and an American studio went with an Hispanic accent... I love it but I don't know how that happened.
Maybe they felt Mr. Montalban's voice was fitting to work with how Claudius is when you think of the story of Hamlet and how manipulative, frightful, and also dangerous he can be.
This proves no matter how you couch Hamlet it’s only slightly more bearable then a fork in the eye.
"A production that likes to show people watching other people!"
-Mike foresaw TH-cam's rash of "reaction videos."
you do realize "show people watching other people" is the entire core of mst3k right?
@@sigurdgram Lmaooo yeah XD
"WOULD YOU JUST GET OVER HERE!?!"
Wow, the To Be or Not To Be monologue really fit with the credits theme nicely.
I think they chopped out some pauses.
daffers234 Understandable, considering it has to have fit within the credits timeslot.
Is that a good thing? This is a cure for insomnia.
This is one of my favorite episodes.
Me too! Most mysties hate it tho 😅
Love this episode. My two favorite things
The only version of the Schell Hamlet that I can find, this is gonna be great. Love mst3k!
“Danish clowns: the dank, smelly, silverfish-infested basement of the clown world…”
MST riffs Shakespeare. I absolutely love this episode.
Me too! Super unpopular episode for most mysties tho 😅
Who's there? Un-staple yourself!
RIP Biz Markie, the last time we'll ever get the chance too look at his femur
Go ahead on! Loved the shout-out to Joe Don Baker -- Imagine HIM as Hamlet!
It's crazy how intertwined Star Trek and Shakespeare are. I think I recognize the voice actor for Hamlet as a character on TOS. The guy who took over that mental health institution!
Schell did his own English dubbing for this version. But you're right, Star Trek was highly Shakespearean, count all the episode titles lifted straight from The Bard
Wow! Thanks for the insight! I've been looking for this info for a while actually. This version is hard to track down...
Of course one cannot appreciate Shakespeare until they read it in the original Klingon!
Dude, the voice of Claudius is Khan from Star Trek 2! Funny, he’s out for revenge in that movie kinda like Hamlet.
You've not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon.
Funny how Pearl still sort of won, BUT she also had to choke on it because Mike had conned her too.
'she's trying to section 8 herself out of the film' and the rest of the banter through the Mad Ophelia scene is utterly priceless ending with 'don't get a boner'.😂😂😂
7:40 We are the knights who say, Nee!
Kind of surreal to see Mike talk about having an uncle living in McAllen, TX. That's where I am!
Knifegash Hopefully a better uncle than this guy. 😝
Mike is actually from my hometown, and Crow even makes reference to it in 'Terror From the Year 5000'
Hylian Fox
Did that shipment of Terror ever arrive From the Year 5000?
14:52
Horatio! How's it hangin, you son of...
"Moe, Larry, and Horatio!"
I haven’t seen this one in years. Perfect Saturday evening entertainment.
"Murder most foul."
"He killed a chicken?"
"To die, to sleep, to sleep, perchance to dream, aye, there's the rub"
Mike: I knew I had some rub left! 😂😂😂😂😂😂
The fart joke had my howling with laughter! 27:51
"Let there be Sunny D for everyone!"
Well.......at least it's well written.
me when the only place I can afford to film hamlet is a parking garage
10:10 -- So it sounds to me like the King's over-dubbing is done by none other than Ricardo Montalbán.
And Max Schell? He's much the same as Jürgen Prochnow ... does his own voiceovers. But listen carefully, it sounds to me like Max either wanted or agreed to doing the English version on the *Set* so that it sounds more real. Ie. He was recorded speaking the lines in English, only, no costume / cast required.
I did like the twist letting Mike pick the movie. Greatest play ever written, what could possibly go wrong?
10:26 Juicy Got Me Crazy 😆
Pearl's sarcasm is actually refreshing... I think she's growing on me the more I see of the later season episodes.
And it was interesting to hear "Khan" dub Shakespeare, too.
Every time I heard him, I was thinking where's Tatu? "De plain, boss, de plain! The rebellion is in de plain!"
If Michael Bay had directed this there’d be a lot more explosions and car crashes.
And more titties
'"Get thee to a nunnery!" "Actually, i may go to grad school." If I had a dollar for every time i had that exact same conversation when a relationship went wrong...
Htom Sirveaux
0531jos Why don't you hlick me?
I was shocked recently to read the 2018 ranking of every MST3K episode by Jim Vorel of Paste. Much of what he writes is right on target, but his most egregious mistake is this one. Of the 197 episodes, including the reboot, he ranks this one 189. He writes, "This is one episode where the film is so boring that even the crew of the SOL seems to be infected by that virulent strain of boredom....Even people who actually are big Shakespeare geeks tend to hate this episode, although I have known one or two MST3k fans who loved it." I'm not sure if he saw the same episode as the rest of us, because while it's true the German film is terrible, the riffing is some of the most inspired in the entire series. And there is more than one MST3K fan who agrees with me, as these comments show.
Interesting. In my view, this lower-than-low-budget Hamlet is not nearly as bad as the crew makes it out to be--after all, it's still Hamlet. I have a hunch so many people are "bored" by it because they don't know the actual play. The SOL crew obviously does know it, and you're right, the riffing is hilarious throughout.
Most "ranking" articles are frustrating and disappointing (especially anything in Rolling Stone) . My own rankings of my favorite whatevers are right on point, however
Thanks, really good quality.
+Nonprophet Thanks for watching :)
I suggest a new title: The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is out; The Tragedy of Hamlet, A Movie to Commit Suicide By, is in
I know this episode is controversial amongst fans; it isn't one of my favorites to be sure. But I respect that in their final season they could've just coasted and instead challenged themselves with this difficult riff fodder.
This has never been one of my favorites, but to be honest, it's grown on me. Some of the comments are really funny. I also agree with you about them doing something besides "easy" stuff. :)
yeah, NOT a fan of this. I could barely understand the movie actors because of their german accent. Could they BE any germaner? Not knowing what they said meant I couldn't appreciate the comments from mike and the bots :(
Greg Lytle mine too. It's taken me weeks to find it to see it again... last time was well over 10 yrs ago. Worth the wait. It's a fav.
👍
It's grown on me. The last 15-20 minutes from the "cut his throat in a church" to the end is hilarious. Great riffing!
I'm surprised they didn't do a riff about the total 180 degree rule break they did at 39:00. Total disorientates the audience on where everybody is supposed to be. That's like something you learn early on in film school. Also, was this shot in a warehouse? No backdrops anywhere. It gives it a feel like everything takes place at night in some sort of weird limbo void.
Who was in charge of this production?
Kevin Murphy plays a great Fountainbras...
1990s CALLING.
BACK. THEY WANT
🤩 MST3K HAMLET BACK
❤️ @MST3K Hamlet ❤️
Favorite movie EVER since 1996
where is thelonious?
he came down with an unexpected case of _MURDER_ !!
😂🤣😂🤣
That reminds me of the Felonious Monk reference in Final Justice.
I wish the un-riffed version of Hamlet with this English dub was available. I've looked for years and have yet to find it. It would make a perfect cure for insomnia.
Pearl Forester is my personal role model.
She reminds me of an auntie of mine ... same mannerisms and everything. I think she's funny too :)
daffers234 I like Pearl. she gave me a mint from her purse!
You plotting to RULE THE WORLD, Marina? If so, I would make a great cringing lackey, there to serve your every need, utter false flatteries, and take the occasional beating. Just let me know.....