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

Update.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mst3k/bringbackmst3k/posts/1488469

And now...a different Kickstarter and a different revival, as it were.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rifftrax/rifftrax-live-2016-mst3k-reunion-time-chasers-live

Yes, a Mystery Science Theater 3000 reunion broadcast to hundreds of movie theaters all across America! To help celebrate our 10th year at RiffTrax, we're planning an amazing night of riffing and comedy with most of the original MST3K stars, including RiffTrax regulars Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett, PLUS confirmed special guests Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, Mary Jo Pehl and Bridget Nelson!

We've also invited the other veteran cast members as well as the cast of the New MST3K, and we're hopeful they'll join us too.

im all for this and stoked to see this but also why the fuck cant fathom events fund this stuff?

Good frickin' point!

Anyway this one is off and running; it's already 10% funded and climbing.

I do like the mention of where any extra money goes:

We raised past our goal in our last three Kickstarter projects, and all of the money collected went towards getting the rights to the movies (plus getting additional movies to riff live), top notch production of the event itself, and in creating and fulfilling rewards. It will be no different this time around.

Making these shows a reality costs meaningfully more than our base goal, and so if we raise more money, it will go towards movie acquisition costs for two more shows this year, better production values, and towards all the awesome rewards. And perhaps you know that since RiffTrax started offering Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes, we have been giving a portion of sales to all the MST principal cast members. RiffTrax will put a meaningful portion of all additional proceeds beyond our Kickstarter goal into this same pool.

Anyway, they're over 75% there so it'll obviously happen at this point. Looking forward to seeing it.

Is the cold war over? (Nelson shared it on social media insisting this is not a joke.)

http://www.avclub.com/article/rifftrax-exclusive-joel-hodgson-and-jonah-ray-join-234659?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds

so this is their 4th (?) Kickstarter for Rifftrax?

and if you contribute to this

every backer at every level gets first dibs on tickets to see the live shows in person - including the MST Reunion show, which is sure to sell out. That's an EXCLUSIVE advance purchasing window just for backing us on Kickstarter

i love these guys but it's kind of blowing my mind that they want to raise a quarter of a million dollars for these two shows. i've seen a video of the Rifftrax live before, it's them showing a movie in a theater while people sit and riff, and that's it isn't it? "We may not have the puppets or costumes, but we will have a blast". and the shows aren't free, they are still selling tickets on top of that?

:-\

is the State Theater a really fancy place or something?

The only thing I can think of is paying for rights to some big movie.

Elliott Kalen of The Flop House (and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart) will be the head writer.
http://www.avclub.com/article/daily-shows-elliott-kalan-will-be-head-writer-new--237120

Good choice.

*Kalan

I am v into this announcement, Kalan is perfect for this

It's the first thing that has me legit excited about what this could be

if you've ever listened to the flophouse, he is the nerdiest nerd to ever nerd, basically

& super funny

Dramatically upping the refs to early 90s XMen comics per episode

well i won't get the jokes on this version, then

dont be so sure eeyore

I am v into this announcement, Kalan is perfect for this

It's the first thing that has me legit excited about what this could be

Yesss, I went from like 20% sure I would watch this to 100%.

Frank Conniff ‏@FrankConniff 17h17 hours ago
Say, does anybody have an in with this guy so I could maybe get him to read my spec script?

Anybody else catch the reunion show? Went to the airing tonight w/fanatic friends, and while I enjoyed myself throughout (not a hardcore fan or anything), I'd swear my buds pissed themselves and were great at hiding the evidence.

http://www.avclub.com/article/mystery-science-theater-3000-announces-netflix-deb-240027

Neat, but I was really hoping that there would be an announcement that the previous episodes be put on Netflix as well. Now that would be fantastic.

I am somewhat skeptical of Harmon's ability to work under a head writer but i could be wrong. he just always seems drunk & full of ego

mchale is interesting. feels like theyre afraid of not being funny or current enough? idk

could be awesome, wtf do i know

yech worst news but u kinda saw it coming.

"oh here's a brilliant idea: what if the robots were ...... drunk!!!! and the episode was about ..... writing an episode of MST3K!"

simply genius, you've done it again, harmon.

Harmon seems like he would be able to riff funny stuff about bad movies. Thumbs up.

Backers update only but filming of the revival is now fully underway:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mst3k/bringbackmst3k/posts/1691343

And another backers only update -- 'Production on our new season is now completely finished!'

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mst3k/bringbackmst3k/posts/1713309

Looks like it's editing to go. Guess we'll be due to see it all sometime next year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14Mfmn7vN4g

One of my favorites, that one.

"Is he wearing a Braille jacket?"

Next set announced, due out in March:

602- INVASION U.S.A. (with short: A DATE WITH YOUR FAMILY)
605- COLOSSUS AND THE HEADHUNTERS
618- HIGH SCHOOL BIG SHOT (with short: OUT OF THIS WORLD)
1007- TRACK OF THE MOON BEAST

That's some prime trash there. "California laaaaaaady...."

Preorder bonus disc includes a slew of KTMA snippets, that'll be a fun bonus. (Maybe even some of the ones from the first couple of episodes, IE, the ones that nobody has a copy of at all?)

So here's what's left of the classic run that has never been formally released on DVD and/or digitally (a number of the older Rhino sets are still out of print for now, though Shout Factory has rereleased 1 through 4 with more to come and a few of the individual ones as well):

*Season 1*
Complete

*Season 2*
201 – Rocketship X-M
212 -- Godzilla vs. Megalon (brief DVD release, withdrawn)
213 – Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster

*Season 3*
309 – The Amazing Colossal Man (VHS release only)
311 – It Conquered the World

*Season 4*
416 – Fire Maidens of Outer Space
418 – Attack of the The Eye Creatures

*Season 5*
Complete

*Season 6*
601 – Girls Town
623 – The Amazing Transparent Man

*Season 7*
Complete

*Season 8*
807 – Terror from the Year 5000
809 – I Was a Teenage Werewolf

*Season 9*
905 – The Deadly Bees
906 – The Space Children
913 – Quest of the Delta Knights

*Season 10*
1013 – Diabolik

Interesting fact: a clutch of these may not surface no matter what because the rights are specifically held by Susan Hart, an MST3K 'veteran' thanks to appearing in The Slime People. Hart, as this article details, ended up marrying Jim Nicholson, Samuel Arkoff's partner in American International Pictures. He died in 1973, Arkoff sold the company in 1979, and a slew of films made in their limited partnership in the 50s got split between Arkoff, Nicholson's daughters and Hart herself. I forget all the exact ones she has but It Conquered the World and I Was a Teenage Werewolf are among them and I think she has six all told, and so far, no budging. Setting aside Toho and the Godzilla films as their own thing to be worked out if ever, Hart may end up being an even bigger roadblock than Sandy Frank was supposed to be!

Separately, new update from Joel:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mst3k/bringbackmst3k/posts/1713665

Postproduction still happening, editing to be complete by the end of January, new season on Netflix "in the first half of 2017."

And Turkey Day Marathon via ShoutFactoryTV happening on Thursday as always, supposedly being the top six choices from an online voting thing earlier in the year via the Kickstarter, with a full list of 100 shared after the marathon ends. Joel cohosting with Jonah Ray:

https://youtu.be/BTZI6wd5pXc

Joel also added:

One more thing: even though I don't have a new episode of MST3K ready to share with you for Turkey Day, I still want you to have something special to look forward to.

So, if your Kickstarter rewards include any "bonus classic episodes of MST3K," save some room on Turkey Day for a bonus reward that I'll send on Friday to go with your leftovers. I've got a pretty special treat to share, which some of you have been waiting a long time for.

Stay tuned for that!

Plenty of rumors already flying, including the idea that it's a KTMA episode, which I find...unlikely. Guess we'll see.

I wonder how much a single boxset of the ENTIRE series would be if it existed and whether or not I would purchase it anyway. Probably definitely would.

The only formally released DVDs I've missed out on (Shout Factory rereleases aside) are Godzilla vs Megalon and the Radar Men From the Moon bonus disc from a few years back. I am rather thankful to have the rest -- just to be sure.

807 – Terror from the Year 5000

This has one of my favorite lines ever, which nobody else ever remembers: "Hey, it's one of those 'Fly, monkeys, fly!' monkeys!"

I don't have the space for them all right now, so I just rely on youtube. I know I'm certainly missing out on all the bonus content though...

Invasion USA really is a must-see as a glimpse into the period. A Date With Your Family too, and that one's all time, short-wise. High School Big Shot is dire iirc.

Very dire but there's a weird/tragic backstory to it -- the lead guy, Tom Pittman, was apparently this up-and-comer in Hollywood (not that his performance really suggests it; can't exactly call him the new James Dean). But then:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Pittman

On October 31, 1958, Pittman was driving home after a Halloween party when he ran his Porsche Spyder off the road at a sharp curve in the Hollywood Hills. After he failed to return home, his father filed a missing persons report. On November 19, Los Angeles police officer, Roy Kerton, retraced the roads Pittman's father said his son liked to drive and found the wreckage at the bottom of a 150-foot ravine. Pittman's car had crashed through the guard rail, landed at the bottom of the ravine where it remained out of sight.

The film itself was released after he was dead.

This contemporary story offers more -- including inevitable Dean comparisons:

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1298&dat=19581120&id=2uZLAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-4sDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7140,3871947

Interesting bit here in a review of Sally Kellerman's autobio from a couple of years back:

https://classictvhistory.wordpress.com/tag/tom-pittman/

Television actors Robert Sampson and Luana Anders are major characters in the early chapters, as is Tom Pittman, a promising leading man who did a ton of TV guest shots in the year or two before his body was found at the bottom of a Hollywood canyon in 1958. Kellerman’s account of Pittman’s death, and of her role and that of small-part actor Robert Bice (who played square-jawed cops in tons of TV episodes prior to his own early demise) in its aftermath, are so startling that I’m surprised a major publication hasn’t taken up the subject for further investigation.

http://www.tompittmanduo.com/bio.htm

Long may his identical twin thrive.

Anyway, new interview with Joel and Jonah:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/herocomplex/la-et-st-mystery-science-theatre-3000-returns-20161123-story.html

Interesting bit:

Hodgson: The thing that it really reminded me of, and I hadn't thought about this in so long, is how much work it is to be the host on “MST3K.” You're working with two inanimate objects, two robots. You have to do a lot of acting and emoting, not just for you, but for them too. It's a really big job when you think about all the props, and all the stuff that has to happen and Jonah did a really good job just getting in there. There's a lot of physicality to it.

Ray: Our schedule was so tight that we just sprinted into doing the shoots. The show is so relaxed, but the actual process of doing it— my legs were getting sore from how many times I had to freak out because of the movie sign. One thing that was so great was when Joel would come on in between the movie segments. I remember he said, ”When you come onto screen, just blast onto the screen. Burst on like you're in a rock and roll performance." I was also learning how to work props, how to do sleight-of-hand magic on the spot.

Hodgson: If you look at “MST3K,” especially on the “Satellite of Love” set, it's one shot, and we don't cut away. It's really like a live show... There's all these things that people don't know about when you have that gig. It's not easy. I guess I never really thought about it until I had to look at what Jonah had to do, and go through that with him again. I realized how many feelings I had about it that were kind of unresolved. Nobody knows how hard this is except for this guy and Mike.

I was actually just thinking about that yesterday when I was watching Cave Dwellers and Joel was doing that foley bit. He messes up some lines and they just keep going cause it's got so many props and is relatively long.

Yeah, in general the high number of fuckups contributes a lot to the show's charm, and the fact that they obviously didn't want to constantly reshoot 15-minute chunks of the movie meant that there's a great loose roughness to the riffing itself. Never feels painfully over-rehearsed.

joel fucking up his lines was like 50% of his appeal

for sure!

Okay the marathon is live:

https://youtu.be/JphKSOuaov0

First one: Pumaman!

Meantime the opening bit with Joel and Jonah was...hokey. Which I shouldn't be surprised by, but.