Mystery Science Theater 3000: C/D, S/D.

If memory serves, the Turkey Day smorgasbord 2013 was:

Space Mutiny
I Accuse My Parents
Werewolf
Cave Dwellers
The Final Sacrifice
Mitchell

Sort of wish some of the Mike episodes had come from seasons 5 and 6 (the show's peak, script-wise). Oh well.

Currently watching Zombie Nightmare now why because great.

Caught almost all of Werewolf, which I hadn't seen before. "Incrodbile!"

Santa/Martians as transparent Cold War allegory

http://www.fandor.com/blog/santa-claus-conquers-the-martians-take-one

Jeff T. on Twitter sez a whole slew of episodes have been added to Netflix.

MS3TK: The Atomic Brain hot 1993 NR 3.8 new Dec 19 Trace Beaulieu, Kevin Murphy, Jim Mallon, Frank Conniff, Jim Mallon, Joseph V. Mascelli | play queue

MS3TK: The Unearthly hot 1991 NR 3.7 new Dec 19 Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Kevin Murphy, Jim Mallon, Joel Hodgson, Boris Petroff | play queue

MST3K: Gamera vs. Barugon 1991 NR 3.7 new Dec 19 Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Kevin Murphy, Frank Conniff, Jef Maynard | play queue

MST3K: Mixed-Up Zombies hot 1997 NR 3.7 new Dec 19 Carolyn Brandt, Brett O'Hara, Atlas King, Sharon Walsh, Ray Dennis Steckler 1:27 | play queue

MST3K: Night of the Blood Beast 1996 NR 3.7 new Dec 19 John Baer, Angela Greene, Ed Nelson, Georgianna Carter, Bernard L. Kowalski 3:14 | play queue

MST3K: Warrior of the Lost World hot 1993 NR 3.7 new Dec 19 Robert Ginty, Persis Khambatta, Donald Pleasence, Fred Williamson, David Worth 1:55 | play queue

The Atomic Brain IS hot!

You all do know about http://www.club-mst3k.com/, right?

God, y'all - Incredible Melting Man! Some blah stretches, but Dr. Ted "I'm DOCTOR TED NELSON!" Nelson is one of the all-time asshole protagonists, and Mike and the bots are just so clearly fed up with the movie from very early on. The OPO riff has to be Crow's anguished "What is HAPPENING!?" during the scene where an elderly couple, never before scene, pulls over in the dead of a very dark night ("Meanwhile, in Limbo...") to search for citrus fruit. But the conveyor belt scene (starting at 4:15 in the clip below) stands up with any one-riff-after-another pile-on in the history of the show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9y2T26PPSQ

"If she messes it up this time, she's gone!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpZhrmYt7rA

ha, speaking of jazzy theme music I almost revived this thread last night to call out the cheery Sergio Mendes ba-dah-bahs in Danger! Death Ray.

BREAKING NEWS *drudge siren.gif*

http://splitsider.com/2014/03/mst3k-will-return-to-television-on-the-national-geographic-channel/

omg

oh god they're going to watch cheesy old nature docs aren't they

if they are on my tv I will be watching

Eric: I know this is Rifftrax news but it seemed important so I hope you'll grant me a pass :)

oh god they're going to watch cheesy old nature docs aren't they

― gbx, Wednesday, March 19, 2014 8:44 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh, I hope so. This is pure gold:

http://www.rifftrax.com/shorts/tale-moose-baby

man i want the puppets back tho

No worries. I'm probably the only MSTie that doesn't have any use for Rifftrax.

part of yr charm

Nah, I'm with you, Eric!

I have never heard RiffTrax.

The one for "Cool As Ice" is a riot.

I wonder if my lesser interest in RiffTrax has partly to do with it existing in the full-on Internet era (though I boned up on MST through Usenet of course). MST really was digging up forgotten blunders and making something of them, whereas, even if Rifftrax had tried to go for obscure movies, they wouldn't be by the time they got to them. Everybody knows everything, there are no secret junk movies now, and of course discovering the 'secret' was part of the appeal of MST even at the level of knowing that the show existed and was worth watching. Plus the internet made everybody a snarky talk-back critic, and very few people were very good at it.

There's just something crasser and more obvious about the whole procedure now, and I'm not sure it can be salvaged except through a return to its basic form: watching bad movies with a group of friends or quality strangers. There was a group of people in Columbus that organized something like this for years with a backyard, a projector and a sheet (the "Hillbilly Drive-In") and the times that I went it was great, great fun. Watching other people do it - and do it well - is still very appealing to me in MST3k reruns but I haven't seen any other form where it worked.

the Rifftrax concept seems odd, in that not all the movies they make fun are bad. Why Wrath of Khan? or Starship Troopers? or Jaws? (not to mention Casablanca and the Wizard of Oz)

The main draw behind Rifftrax is that it's riffing big budget mainstream movies, quality of the movie nothing to do w the quality of the riff. Also they are only doing the riffs as stand-alone audio files, which changes things entirely, so better to riff movies that everyone already owns on DVD if only for syncing purposes.

quality of the movie nothing to do w the quality of the riff.

I guess I'd have to watch some of these to be convinced of this point

surely starship troopers is a film immune to mockery

It is worth trying out Rifftrax on something like Indiana Jones & The Crystal Skull, where Mike cannot hide his disdain for everything about the movie.
Also their Twilight riff is A+.

It's a different beast to MST3K, and not for everyone. But I have gotten a kick out of quite a few of them, and I always go to the theater 'live' events when I can.

For instance, the Lord of the Rings movie got lots of acclaim, plenty of Oscar nods, etc. and yet, it is full of really silly stuff. Plus w the big budget CGI and all the serious faced EPIC drama stuff, it practically cries for someone to take the piss out of it. It makes it so much more fun, too!

otm

I went to the riff of The Night of The Living Dead not really sure how well it would work, and even Mike said beforehand 'I'll be honest, I love this movie'...but holy shit I had no idea how much time is spent during the first half of the movie just hammering pieces of wood. It was fun to see it from a different angle than my normal fangirl reverence

Well this will keep you busy

http://www.wired.com/2014/04/mst3k-oral-history/

Further to which:

http://io9.com/joel-hodgson-wants-to-resurrect-mystery-science-theater-1566056299

Never thought I would have a new favorite ep but I just saw Future War for the first time this week, and it might edge out Space Mutiny.

"FUTURE WAX!"

Haha yes. And the callback to Werewolf nearly made me spit my drink.

You people are all nuts.

"Flag on the moon. How did it get there?"

i thought the whole reason mst3k hadn't been resurrected was right issues with jim mallon? anyway given that rifftrax (and that other thing hodgson does I can't remember the name of as well) exists i'm not sure how integral puppet shadowrama really is to the whole thing.

with rifftrax my only complaint is that some of the jokes, which feel natural when they're coming from a naive fictional character like crow or servo, instead feel hokey or strained when coming from one of the guys. they tried to recapture some of the puppet-feeling with disembaudio, like in the riff for "the room" where he kept doing bits while the sex scenes were happening, but it wasn't very successful.

BTW they updated the Wired story with even more stuff!

http://www.wired.com/2014/04/mystery-science-theater-3000/

Also they are only doing the riffs as stand-alone audio files, which changes things entirely,

Oh man that is a dealbreaker. I always thought having silhouettes in the frame was a necessary for the show even though they're just dumb silhouettes or whatever. Just like what reddening is saying how it imparted puppet feeling.

Anyway I am hell of nostalgic for this show it is so classic. They used to record it a few miles from my house in Hopkins. I watched it as a little kid and it changed my life and made me a bigger nerd for which I am actually thankful. But I'll be damned if I can remember any jokes now except for stuff from the Gamara movies. Those are forever my favorites.

It'd be rad if they resurrected the show I'd totes watch.

anyway given that rifftrax (and that other thing hodgson does I can't remember the name of as well) exists i'm not sure how integral puppet shadowrama really is to the whole thing.

Cinematic Titantic no longer exists (final show at end of 2013.) Maybe that has something to do with the timing of this.

he kept doing bits while the sex scenes were happening, but it wasn't very successful

I mentioned this on the The Room thread, but jesus, those parts of the riff were awful

Set XXX (ooer missus) out tomorrow:

The Black Scorpion
Outlaw (Of Gor)
The Projected Man
It Lives By Night

Next set at the end of the year:

203- JUNGLE GODDESS with short: THE PHANTOM CREEPS PT 1
510- THE PAINTED HILLS with short: BODY CARE AND GROOMING
912- THE SCREAMING SKULL with short: ROBOT RUMPUS
1012- SQUIRM with short: A CASE OF SPRING FEVER

CABOT!

Yeah Outlaw is one of my all time favorites. The whole clutch of movies in the latter half of the fifth season after Mike took over is actually a great run.

Should also note that with the release of Black Scorpion the first season now has a complete release on DVD in full, counting two from the Rhino years. I guess with Jungle Goddess they're going to try and fill in the holes in season 2 -- dare I say it, MAYBE the Godzillas -- but they're still missing Rocketship X-M, one of the all time greats and the debut episode of both TV's Frank and Kevin Murphy as Servo.

Yeah, I'd say nearly everything from season 5.5 and 6 stands up with the best the show ever achieved.

And I say that as a still die-hard Joel stan.

Yeah I wonder if a lot of the latter day hate is less predicated on the Joel/Mike split in the end than it is Trace/Bill.

Trace/Bill is what keeps me from exploring the last few seasons - it's just jarring - but Mike hate stems from immediate post-Joel reactions on Usenet etc. I love the 5-7 Mike episodes now, and it's been kinda great to get to discover them. We're working on Sword and the Dragon which has my new favorite OTM riff from Mike himself: "This legend could have used some punching up." Also: the Coleman Francis trilogy, Zombie Nightmare, Incredible Melting Man, Escape 2000... just amazing. The only thing I really miss is the invention exchanges - without them, the effort to come up with that many good host segments starts to show. There are still some great ones, they're just spread a little thinner.