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

I just put on Catalina Caper the other day too -- I think because I saw the non-MST3K version listed on the TCM schedule.

Catalina Caper is part of an odd subgenre of MST3K films where the musical guests punched higher than the film's weight class. It has Little Richard, who looks as if he's at peace with the world. I remember one of the Mamie Van Doren films had Eddie Cochran, but he only got to sing one song. I can't think of any other examples. That's two examples.

Here in the UK MST3K was never shown on TV, and a lot of the cultural references would have been baffling. And I imagine they're baffling nowadays even if you're from the US, because the jokes are about things that happened twenty years ago to a pair of actors who were nostalgic for their childhoods, which were ten and twenty years further back in the past. Joel seemed to have a deeper memory. I remember putting a few episodes on as background noise. I felt that actually sitting down to watch them would have been torture - like watching Saturday Night Live. Not because SNL's writing is poor, but because it's a bunch of people I've never heard of, making jokes about people I've never heard of, for an audience that has nothing in common with me except for a shared language. I remember sitting there in front of SNL feeling nothing, stone-faced, wondering when the magic was going to happen.

But eventually episodes such as Manos and The Girl with Gold Boots and Space Mutiny clicked, because there's something universal about them. Slab Bulkhead defies cultural boundaries. And the show has a warm-hearted tone because it was aimed at kids and Joel Robinson is easygoing. Imagine if the show had been devised by John Sessions or Tony Slattery. It would have either been too clever, or it would have been mean-spirited. But instead it's easy-going. It'll be dark soon. It'll be dark soon.

One of the few bright spots in my life was editing the MST3K wiki's article on "Kim Cattrall" (the song) to add Köchel listing. I like to imagine that Kim Cattrall herself will one day dig through the edit history and thank me. There's still time.

"As if a switch had been pulled. There was no monster."

Also Kitten W a Whip (ann margaret)

i'm really fond of the aspects of the MST3K films that punched above their class. not just in terms of music played in the movies, "moon zero two" has a really nice julie driscoll theme song (i think don ellis was also involved with the soundtrack); "diabolik" is also one of my fave morricone soundtracks, though unfortunately the original master tapes were lost or wiped.

Most aspects of Village of the Giants punch pretty far above the show’s weight and it’s one of my favorites. But then again so is Racket Girls, and they don’t come much lower.

And Zombie Nightmare had "Ace of Spades" as its theme song. I can't remember a thing about the rest of the film. The IMDB used to claim that Alien from LA had the most amount of production designers (or something) on a film ever, which strikes me as hard to very and of dubious merit. As with Albert Pyun's other films it looks and feels like a more expensive movie than it was, but it plays as if the script had been generated by a really good AI, e.g. the words make sense but it's a disjointed mess.

I remember feeling the same way about Cyborg. That film gave me a renewed respect for Bloodsport and Kickboxer. It reaffirmed my faith in them. Ever since then I have silenced all of my doubts by reminding myself that I once doubted Bloodsport, and I was wrong then. I once doubted Bloodsport. Really, if Netflix or Amazon wants to make a bit more cash, they should do a Cobra Kai, but with Jean-Claude Van Damme playing Frank Dux again. He could go back to Hong Kong and hook up with his old friends and reminisce about the passage of time. I would pay to watch that.

My recollection is that Soultaker, the first episode of the last series, was legitimately tense. I remember that one of the films was an expensive-looking Russian film that had been dubbed poorly into English - "sampo!" - and it might have been good in the original Russian. And there was Marooned, which at one time was a credible sci-fi film.

My first ever experience of the show was reading Roger Ebert's review of The Movie and thinking "why are they shitting on This Island Earth?". I avoided the show for years afterwards, although as Mike Nelson himself points out Earth is pretty ropey. The cast go to an alien planet - then come back, having achieved nothing. But when I finally tried it out, it wasn't what I expected. It was nicer, less arsey.

Both The Sword and the Dragon and The Day the Earth Froze have gotten proper 4K rereleases in original form as Ilya Muromets and Sampo via Vinegar Syndrome. Both astonishingly beautiful films, among the best of the era worldwide in terms of fantasy and spectacle; the combination of the print quality and rotten American editing and dubbing made them perfect MST fodder in turn for some of their best episodes.

ooh yeah, I'd love to see a good looking print of Samples/TDtEF

deliberately avoided the mst3k/rifftrax versions of pyun films bc i think they’re so dope, especially alien from l.a.

Turkey Day marathon well under way and Catalina Caper just started.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aic2e--EcFo

I am amused that Penn Jillette is back doing V.O. for promos and the like.

N e 1 seen the new episodes

Seen 'em all! There've been some good ones!

happy turkey day marathon everyone

I think I’ve still only watched the first ep of the new iteration? Maybe one other

we watched 'pod people'. i hadn't seen that one since i was a teenager. it definitely holds up. also: what a psycho movie, so gun happy. the reagan era. i appreciated how anti-gun joel and the robots are in it.

Animator Elizabeth Ito, who picked up some Emmys along with her team for work on City of Ghosts, is my new favorite person:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CmDutZNrpmQ/

If she had her arms outstretched a little more I would have been able to determine thread relevance more quickly.

Lol yeah i had to go to other pix in her feed to figure it out

We stayed at a place this weekend that had both the MST3K and Shout Factory channels on the tv. My son watched his first episode--"Teenagers From Outer Space." I wasn't sure he'd be into it, but he spent the entire movie riffing along. Mostly pizza jokes.

Hahah excellent.

The season ender with all three current hosts (long story) the other day was good fun. Exact plans for the next batch not yet revealed but it looks like a similar Kickstarter model, I'd guess (though supplemented hopefully by continuing Gizmoplex subscriptions) for new episodes in 2024.

Trumpy you can do boutique!

***NEW TITLE ANNOUNCEMENT***
Coming to Blu-ray 6/27 from @SeverinFilms

EXTRA TERRESTRIAL VISITORShttps://t.co/StM1o5vBtA

4K scan from the 35mm negative with Special Features that include a feature-length documentary on the director.

Special Features:

THE SIMON'S JIGSAW – A… pic.twitter.com/gQGr8yfcos

— Dawn of The Discs (@dawnofthediscs) April 3, 2023

Just want all my fellow @MST3K fans to know that EXTRA TERRESTRIAL VISITORS aka POD PEOPLE is getting a brand new 4K restoration blu-ray release from @SeverinFilms! Including a cute and possibly murderous Trumpy doll and the infamous "I'm a Virgin!" Shirt! #MST3K pic.twitter.com/9iuf1vxavz

— Jacob Davison (@JacobDavison_) April 3, 2023

Finally can see that van as the filmmakers intended

I mean I have those Kickstarter-funded cleaned-up scans of Manos and Monstrosity aka The Atomic Brain, I might have to consider this.

did you ever see Manos 2. Defiitely looked embarrassing

THAT I avoided.

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

📹

https://i.imgur.com/TYRthOB.jpg

$$$$

crowdfunding for S14 up
https://showmaker.mst3k.com/makeseason14?ref=ab_64DMydU5y8z64DMydU5y8z

the main page doesn't have a running total, but you can see it on their profile
https://showmaker.mst3k.com/profiles/mystery-science-theater-3000

Ah thanks I was just about to check on that. (Kicked in for the $85 digital bundle.)

I've been really enjoying the twitch channel recently, just having access to random episodes when I have a spare half hour or so is a good option

yeah, this will be the first year I won't participate, the comeback has been pretty disappointing, although I like Emily and Jonah a lot.

I've occasionally enjoyed some comeback episodes to an extent but still can't really connect with the hyperactive theater-kid/youtuber energy in both the delivery and pace of the riffing. Not to mention how that approach disrupts the premise in just enough of a way to be kind of distracting, where the original episodes sold the feeling that the bots and host are reacting with quick wit as apposed to now where the riffs are jammed into all crevices with anticipation highlighting their prewritten nature. The spirit of the illusion of off the cuff riffing was just a funnier and more rewarding angle for me, regardless of the strength of any individual riffs. Obviously they're still subscribed to that general premise but are totally not trying to sell it. And there's no room to breathe either it's usually just an onslaught of riffs - again this feels very "youtuber" to me.

Also, when Itchy plays Scratchy's skeleton like a xylophone, he strikes that same rib twice in succession yet he produces two clearly different tones.

Mike Nelson got fired for that blunder.

48hr Turkey Day Marathon has started, now on the tubes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO2k8LhUFzQ

i don't like that the new ones have CG sets. the point is that it's ramshackle and made with glue

that said i was only able to watch the new ones w the sound on low bc of inlaws.

Time Chaser! featuring Eddie Nelson, one of Mike’s most method performances (and kinda dark in its way imo)

Also the new ones have an even more juvenile energy to the skits due to the look of it combined with YouTuber energy perhaps... because of the puppets and all the goofy mugging in the camera lens it was always a disclaimer (that the show is not actually “for” kids) for unfamiliar family that wanted to know what the heck I was watching but with the new episodes I don’t think they’d believe me.

Xpost

I always fast forward past the nu-MST sketches cause they’re just painful.

I stopped watching the skits with the Sci-Fi Channel era. I can’t imagine them being any better in the reboot.

Checked MST3K wiki and … they have the full marathon program listed already? Is that what they’re doing these days? Some of the fun was not knowing which eps would end up in the rotation

the MST email list had the whole line up a day before

Addendum: Some of the fun was knowing that there wouldn't be so many s11-13 eps

Sounds like the latest crowdfund drive failed? I wasn’t impressed with what I saw of nu-MST3K, but I still wish it could, like THE SIMPSONS, go on forever nonetheless

Yeah it barely cleared 2:3 of the minimum so no new episodes for now. Some of it was circumstances beyond control — SAG strike meant the public faces couldn’t promote it until well into the drive — and some of it was fallout for the protracted mess of physical rewards from the previous fundraiser. My own thought was that this was a kinda terrible time of year to do this, even with the Turkey Day hook and previous successes with that — too much in the way of holiday expenses combined with economic angst, rightly or not. Should have aimed for post holiday/tax refund time in the spring. Also a lot of people felt that the Turkey Day interstitials promoting the drive were flat, ad hoc, etc, clearly pretaped and creating an air they’d already given up.

The contrast to RiffTrax (lower key and decidedly non-existential Kickstarters only done for the annual live shows) and especially the Mads are Back (no budget needed, just pay for a YouTube stream that you can download later) is arguably limited — both of those teams just need to record voiceovers, for a start — but still instructive. Maybe they just need to rethink expectations?