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

I still love that this exists. Can't wait for October.

https://www.facebook.com/synapsefilms/photos/a.223878337640179.72639.193094600718553/1075839579110713/?type=1&fref=nf

This is as it should be

https://twitter.com/FrankConniff/status/626524488323190784

And why not?

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/08/the-25-episode-history-of-mystery-science-theater.html

As recommended by TV's Frank himself

https://twitter.com/FrankConniff/status/630808765613404162

Needs more "Time Chasers!"

Meanwhile, a new story on Manos, with all the weird up to date details around the restoration. And bonus TV's Frank.

http://www.playboy.com/articles/the-battle-over-the-worst-movie-ever

Quote of the year in any article, BTW:

“J.R.R. Tolkien’s kid catches shit,” Joe Warren says, “but he just wants to protect his father’s work. Same thing.”

"Hi, I'm Max Keller."
"I'm a seagull."

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mst3k/bringbackmst3k/description

Yeah...I dunno. I'm terribly mixed on this idea.

Remind me again who is and who is not involved in this effort?

Exactly! I'd love to know more about all this, BTW:

Even though I've always wanted to bring MST3K back, it wasn't that easy. Thanks to the Last Will and Testament of one eccentric old heiress, the rights were tied up for years. It took time to work those issues out, but with the help of my friends at Shout Factory, a special chokehold I perfected in WuDang that I like to call “The Persuader,” and a night I had to spend in a haunted house as a term of the the old lady’s will, we succeeded.

But this summer, we finally got all of the rights cleared up… and like Orpheus, we can now descend into hell to hang out with a couple of wisecracking robots.

Somehow this is making me think of that weird series of cartoons they did a decade back where it just the bots and only (I think) Jim Mallon and Paul Chaplin doing the voices. Did anyone see those? (Probably says as much upthread...)

When did that go up? Having trouble gauging whether it's doing really well or really not well.

In the short term, I'd love to know if another Turkey day marathon will be happening.

It just went up today.

No way Nelson, Murphy or Corbett get involved, right? Rifftrax is kind of a gravy train for them right now. (And Bridgett and Mary Jo have been involved with it of late as well.)

Then it looks like it's doing pretty well.

By the way, why do you feel mixed about this idea? I'm not sure they'd tarnish the series with a well meaning reboot, even if it turns out not quite as good.

I feel like this would be a perfect thing to pitch to Netflix, similar to others that have done the same.

xpost

Yeah, they'd have to get the original cast in on this or I would feel pretty unsure about the whole idea.

Original cast as far as the puppets go, I can see another new host working.

The core Rifftrax trio already indicated last year when rumors went around that this wasn't for them, precisely because they're doing so well with their own project as noted. (Two to one says they fully appreciate the simplicity of the setup.) They already did their own kinda-MST3K revival with The Film Crew and that didn't last.

As for why feeling mixed, even if (as I half assume) that Trace, Josh and Frank are all on board (and even then I'm not sure about Frank, they'd really need only Trace and Josh to completely start from ground zero) and all, I kinda feel the same way as I am about the Twin Peaks revival. I'm curious but I'm not gung-ho. Joel's a quietly remarkable fellow for sure and I only wish him the best, though.

So awesome. What a coincidence, I watched "The Lost Continent" last night.

Bluh. Yeah, I dunno. Even if it was Joel, Trace Crow and Kevin Servo in the theater - which seems unlikely but sort of necessary for this to not feel 'off' or indistinguishable from the other post-MST3K "sort of like MST3K" side projects - it's betting a lot on everybody still being as funny and on-point as they once were. All comes down to the writing team and sometimes you can't get a group dynamic to gel again. Especially if there are accumulated ill feelings about old slights and ongoing compensation inequities. It is true that there are tons more MST-type movies and shorts awaiting the treatment, and I would be more likely to watch this on Netflix, say, than to purchase individual RiffTrax episodes. I guess even if it was only as funny as a middling Sci-Fi-era episode, that'd still be nice, but the risk is that it's just totally lacking the magic and becomes the Star Wars Prequels of MST.

It wouldn't be Kevin, it would be Josh. Kevin's already ruled himself out as noted.

Ive been to lots of Rifftrax events and Cinematic Titanic events and I can say that there is way more magic when the CT crew are doing their thing. I'd be super happy if they were working together again under the official brand.

If anything it looks like this campaign will succeed to some degree, they're nearly one-tenth of the way to the initial goal already.

Okay we have some more info and he's basically wanting to do MST3K: The Next Generation here. Hopefully not season two.

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/11/10/mystery-science-theater-3000-reboot

Those who he hopes to get involved include past cast members and writers, as well as a brand new cast that includes a fresh host as well as a new mad scientist and new voices for famous wise-cracking robots Tom Servo and Crow. “Basically, I’m trying to blend the old with the new,” says Hodgson. “Mystery Science Theater has already refreshed itself once with a completely new cast, so I think it deserves to do that again. The original cast is going to be invited back to write, produce, and do cameos as their mad science characters, and then there’s a new cast with new talent.”

Meantime, Mike on it all, understandably:

https://www.facebook.com/mikeatrifftrax/posts/1167399969942922

I loved my time at MST, but I was in essence a hired gun. The brand does not belong to me, and I make and have made (almost) zero dollars off it since it stopped production in 1999.
But HAPPILY -- I've spent nine years putting all my energies into RiffTrax (we now have created more tracks than we did in our time at MST!) and we have tons of exciting stuff coming up, including more live shows, more feature length stuff (including one of the finest films to ever feature an NES Power Glove), shorts, etc., etc.
As a fan of riffing of all kinds I'm glad there's going to be more out there, but just wanted to give a fuller picture of why I'm not involved.
Let me just close by saying how enormously grateful I am to be able to continue to work at something I love. So, thank you, all.

<3

Truly Hodgson-Nelson are the Lennon-McCartney of our time.

IMO the cast is just as important as the concept. I'm not sure why they can't or won't be involved?

I agree with that statement. As much as I've liked Cinematic Titanic's efforts (and have, largely, not liked Rifftrax's), there was a special kind of alchemy at work with the Best Brains lineup.

Still gonna kick over a few bucks, no doubt.

Already up to just under a million. So five million is looking pretty likely.

And yeah re: cast being as important as concept -- I said this over on FB after Joel's general goal became clearer: "I still think the fact that the original show just agglomerated over time with its key figures all being from a local scene generally off the radar, especially in a pre-widespread Internet age, is part of its genius, combined with how they owned being FROM Minnesota in turn. I can't see that happening again here now."

Also there's something a hair odd about Joel's statement yesterday, I realize -- "Mystery Science Theater has already refreshed itself once with a completely new cast." Ye-es, but not all at once. When the first major change occurred before season two and the last before season eight, that's a lot of time for people to adjust and for a slew of different approaches and dynamics to emerge.

LOL, someone on the Deep 13 FB group just expressed relief that Joel wasn't going to be a "Yoko" to the Rifftrax crew.

Roffle.

I just noticed that a large number of the absolute high end rewards for the campaigns are gone or mostly gone already. I shouldn't be surprised!

comedians who thrive in their 30s often don't in later years

OTM about the small local scene thing - the homemade, labor-of-love aspect of MST3K was a huge part not only of its aesthetic appeal but also of the quality/confidence/consistency of the riffing. There's a certain shared Generation X sensibility and set of references, that really feels pre "90s" if that makes sense. Like 80s college rock or something. I don't think that could be re-created for various reasons. Too much spotlight, too much time apart, too much Internet, too much self-awareness. I dunno.

True, a reboot will almost certainly not feel so thoroughly "handmade". Too much polish and this might, like everything else these days, have too much of that sterile/mobile-site design vibe which would create a tonal discrepancy vs. the VHS feel that was consistent across set and the films themselves. If that makes any sense to anyone else.

Are the robots going to be new voice actors? Cos if so that is a kind of a big letdown for me. I've seen many rifftrax and the ones w non-mst3k riffers were not all that entertaining tbh.

IMHO it's kind of amazing how lucky a set of voices they had in Kevin, Trace and Joel - they just sounded good in the theater, and the characters were likable with a lot of range in the kinds of jokes they could pull off. Latter-day Crow always sounded way too smarmy and sophomoric to me, especially since they seemed to stick him with a lot of weaker jokes that were just kind of "hey, movie, you suck!" as opposed to the more clever references. I'm sure if you started with those episodes his voice sounded just fine coming out of the puppet but it's never clicked with me and even as I've been exploring Sci-Fi-era episodes more of late, it still grates (though not as much as the seemingly endless and very hammy host segments).

we didn't even really see the characters for most of the show, just hear their voices. they are a HUGE part of the show.

not that i dont think Joel could pull it off but i haven't followed his post-mst3k career. is he working w new VA now? are those the people in the kickstarter video?

Guys, if the rest of the world gets to be excited over more g-d Star Wars movies, I can get excited over this.

hahaha that's fair. i mean if it happens there's no question i'd check it out. i just worry joel is becoming the guy who very eagerly and visibly wants to get the band back together when they've all moved on to other things, while somehow nothing he's attempted since has quite stuck. (though i know lots of people love cinematic titanic so that's not quite true.) he's gambling his stored-up capital of geek-culture fondness from the early 90s and if it's a flop it might really change how people feel about him generally. OTOH, if it gets a lot of exposure through netflix or something, it could introduce a whole new generation to MST, to riffing, to RiffTrax, etc. etc.

sounds like jonah ray is involved. if so im out. as my friend said its like a greek tragedy. "we are bringing back your favorite show of all time... EXCEPT ITS A NERDIST JOINT" noooooooooooooooooooo

really curious as to who, if anyone else, is involved in the reboot. is tv's frank coming back?

There's like nearly 200 episodes of this fucking thing, why do we need more?

Frank has a lucrative career trolling Twitter conservatives, can't imagine he wants to leave that.

there's like 10 million shitty movies and they keep being made.

first up: Zero Dark Thirty