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

This has been bugging me for awhile but I finally realized that The Mountain Goats song "Genesis 3:23" has been reminding me of the Puma Man theme. They aren't the same but similar enough, at least according to my subconscious.

Well Mike's REALLY shot himself in the foot here, sadly; his beliefs aren't the surprise but this is all pretty wretched:

http://mostly-retro.com/2020/06/14/the-bigot-doug-tennapel-and-his-friend-mike-nelson/

(This Doug guy is the source of most of the wrath in the post, but some of the specific Mike bits aren't so hot, like him complaining about people wearing masks right now. Mm, really?)

yeah wow, this is a huge bummer to read.

wow I had no idea

Mike was revealed as kind of a shit politically all the way back to 9/11, not a big surprise here.

Yeah, that part's pretty baked in.

Yeah, he’s near the top of my list for people who I trust are utter shit in real life but still contributed to something crucial in my life. Like, I guess, Christopher Columbus, et al.

He might be the ultimate test case for separating the artist from the art, and damned if the last 10-20 years haven’t made that a bold statement to make.

He’s rot.

Vaguely hoped he'd bucked the trend and wised up a little in the Trump era but no surprise he hasn't.

Also, based on the evidence throughout Rifftrax, not even funny anymore.

Eh, sort of an update:

A statement from Mike Nelson pic.twitter.com/vM5xe0jtKN

— RiffTrax (@RiffTrax) June 17, 2020

In response to someone asking "This is a good step 1. But will you be taking further measures to show this is not just spin?"

More word on that soon.

— RiffTrax (@RiffTrax) June 17, 2020

Ya gotta wonder.

Nice to hear that he didn't dig in his heels. Because that's a pretty common response, too. Could have easily gone that way.

As it is, given some of what he DID say regardless, it's not enough. We'll have to see.

I've seen enough of a pattern to know what I need to know.

I'll still watch season 4-6 episodes, thought, because that's the shows peak.

Eh, I was always a bigger Joel fan anyways.

The writer of that blog responds to Mike's note (thread):

I'm going to preface by saying: If you continue to support Mike and Rifftrax, I do not judge you. We all make our own decisions in situations like these.

My decision is that I will never watch an episode of Rifftrax again. I'll elaborate. https://t.co/mKOkcQ0pQg

— Lost Turntable (@LostTurntable) June 17, 2020

That said, this does carry a lot of weight with me:

Frank, as someone who knows Mike Nelson, do you then believe his statement and apology as being earnest? I ask as a lot of us msties are struggling

— Kyle As Elusive as Robert Denby Rader (@YourOldPalKile) June 18, 2020

Yes, I do. https://t.co/hlqoM8eEP4

— Frank Conniff (@FrankConniff) June 18, 2020

Things just mattered less when they were working together, I guess.

Tangentially, I feel like there should be a thread about being torn about throwing out old media we used to enjoy because the creators have turned out to be assholes. There’s a lot of chatter on individual artist threads that touches on this but I can’t think of one place where the discussion has ever coalesced on the principle and the sacrifice as opposed to “fuck so-and-so (or only sort of)”

Yeah, well, as I've indicated, I'm fine keeping the art.

I sort of assume now that most people who welcome any kind of attention are not good people

Er, media attention.

Felicia Day guested on the flophouse podcast with Elliott Kalan, covering 1980's Hawk the Slayer

https://www.flophousepodcast.com/2020/06/episode-315-hawk-the-slayer/

Couple of things of interest -- first, interview last week with Joel on various ideas going forward:

https://www.ign.com/articles/mystery-science-theater-3000s-creator-joel-hodgson-discusses-another-comeback-upcoming-mst3k-projects

And The Girl in Gold Boots soundtrack got a full-on legit release via Modern Harmonic/Sundazed -- even a vinyl/DVD package, crazy!

https://nicholascarras.bandcamp.com/album/girl-in-gold-boots-original-motion-picture-soundtrack

wow @ soundtrack release!

Yeah, that I didn't expect, but totally makes sense Sundazed was ultimately behind it all -- something like that in terms of the music backstory and sound is right in their wheelhouse.

Ended up watching a bit of "The Incredibly Strange Creatures..." the other night, still a great episode overall but those cracks about the dancer's gender have not aged well *at all*. I always felt those gags were kind of mean anyway as it's not like she's particularly butch, just well-toned. But now there's an added layer "Oh fuck guys, please don't go there."

It's a sad reminder that revisiting old comedy, even from the supposedly much more right-on nineties, can be a bit of a minefield sometimes.

Oh yeah that one's essentially unwatchable now on that front. Almost surprised they formally released it.

On a brighter note, the fundraiser they did tonight featured a couple of new short riffs by a pretty fun one off team of Joel, J. Elvis back as Tom and Bill Corbett as Crow. Only caught the second one, about a supermarket manager doing a 'take your kid to work' thing for the 1950s -- pleasant, not deathless, but fun chemistry!

Turkey Day marathon tomorrow! We’re getting some host segments with the crew from the theatrical tour early this year, apparently. Starts 9 an Eastern 6 an out here via YouTube and Shout Factory TV.

Due to the fact that plans are basically cancelled this year, this will carry me through the day.

ned tried to kill me with a forklift

Make sure you sing it.

Anyway starts in 10 minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDMBdG0gsnw

Haha okay that started off fun — the new crew is reriffing the same short I mentioned from a couple of weeks ago that Joel, J.Elvis and Bill did but for now it’s I Accuse My Parents to kick it off. Third episode I ever saw!

I think its the same programming on the Twitch channel

Yeah it's a simultaneous stream across platforms IIRC.

I like the built-in 'commmercial' breaks, not a bad idea, really!

Real peaceable

Hobgoblins up next. I still can't believe one of the actors in this ended up in Pulp Fiction.

omg this movie

I had forgotten just how delightfully terrible the band was.

ughhhh i would so love to be watching with y'all instead of grading papers right now

Oh neat, we're getting the 'original crew' version of the supermarket short now!

Again this was the one debuted a couple of weeks ago, reriffed by the new crew later today.

it was really funny!

Yes, Pod People!

:D

Chief?
McCloud!

Pod People possibly the episode i've seen the most times, having taped it off TV during my earlier fandom (and even double-VCRed to edit out the commercials!). sometimes it's a little too slow for the kind of MST vibe i want, but man there are so many sustained great sequences, great running gags, great skits...sorta the whole package really.

Idiot patrol, bees on pie
Burnin' rubber tires