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[Mystery Science Theater 3000] Season 13 done, Season 14 coming?
joshofalltrades
Class TraitorSmoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
Class TraitorSmoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
Remember these guys?
They aren't dead!
They are still around and riffing on movies just like the old days, minus the robots and (in the case of Rifftrax) silhouettes. They're bringing back MST3K! Assuming the Kickstarter campaign makes it to $2 million.
Mystery Science Theater 3000!
I can't link to the Kickstarter due to the forum rules, but they're already up to almost $1.4 million, or just over half a million away from being funded for three episodes, and with 29 days to go, it looks like they're going to meet their goal.
Rifftrax
Helmed by Mike Nelson, Rifftrax went from a solo riffing operation to a "Mike Nelson + celebrity guest" operation to "Yay Kevin and Bill are back with Mike again!" operation.
Rifftrax is the far more prolific of the two MST3K spinoffs with just tons of movies and shorts to choose from. They typically do commentary for modern releases.
After MST3K, Mike Nelson pondered releasing DVDs of movies with his own commentary on the top, but after discussing the concept with lawyers realized he would be "sued out of existence" in very short order. A brainwave hit and he realized that he could release the commentary separately and completely independently of movies, which could be purchased as their own product as usual.
The rest is history, and Rifftrax now almost always features Mike, Kevin (Tom Servo for most of the show's run) and Bill (Crow T. Robot from the SciFi era). Occasionally a special guest will feature on a Rifftrax commentary; these have included Weird Al, Fred Willard, Neil Patrick Harris, Chad Vader, and others.
Want a taste?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC-QoeQixlw
Cinematic Titanic
The brainchild of Joel Hodgson, the original creator of MST3K and host for the first 100 episodes. Joel fills an entirely different niche by continuing the tradition of MST3K and obtaining the rights to very old movies to release a singular product.
Cinematic Titanic is Trace Beaulieu (the original Crow), J. Elvis Weinstein (the original Tom Servo), Frank Conniff (TV's Frank) and Mary Jo Pehl (Pearl Forrester).
CT has more of a live show focus than Rifftrax does (although the latter certainly does perform live), and their releases are far more sparse.
And here's a sample from the very first episode of CT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ0eAPAzvm4
It's been a while since our last bad movie thread (not that everything that gets the RT/CT treatment is bad). My wife and I binged through the Twilight Saga on Rifftrax (because I don't think I could have watched those movies any other way) and I highly recommend it. It was nonstop uproarious laughter for 10+ hours.
The Room is another I would suggest watching if you haven't. Again, painful without RT, amazing with it.
Sadly, I am just now getting around to watching a bunch of these even though MST3K is my favorite show of all time. If you have other recommendations, I would gladly take you up on them. The Rifftrax catalog in particular is kind of daunting!
They aren't dead!
They are still around and riffing on movies just like the old days, minus the robots and (in the case of Rifftrax) silhouettes. They're bringing back MST3K! Assuming the Kickstarter campaign makes it to $2 million.
Mystery Science Theater 3000!
I can't link to the Kickstarter due to the forum rules, but they're already up to almost $1.4 million, or just over half a million away from being funded for three episodes, and with 29 days to go, it looks like they're going to meet their goal.
Rifftrax
Helmed by Mike Nelson, Rifftrax went from a solo riffing operation to a "Mike Nelson + celebrity guest" operation to "Yay Kevin and Bill are back with Mike again!" operation.
Rifftrax is the far more prolific of the two MST3K spinoffs with just tons of movies and shorts to choose from. They typically do commentary for modern releases.
After MST3K, Mike Nelson pondered releasing DVDs of movies with his own commentary on the top, but after discussing the concept with lawyers realized he would be "sued out of existence" in very short order. A brainwave hit and he realized that he could release the commentary separately and completely independently of movies, which could be purchased as their own product as usual.
The rest is history, and Rifftrax now almost always features Mike, Kevin (Tom Servo for most of the show's run) and Bill (Crow T. Robot from the SciFi era). Occasionally a special guest will feature on a Rifftrax commentary; these have included Weird Al, Fred Willard, Neil Patrick Harris, Chad Vader, and others.
Want a taste?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC-QoeQixlwCinematic Titanic
The brainchild of Joel Hodgson, the original creator of MST3K and host for the first 100 episodes. Joel fills an entirely different niche by continuing the tradition of MST3K and obtaining the rights to very old movies to release a singular product.
Cinematic Titanic is Trace Beaulieu (the original Crow), J. Elvis Weinstein (the original Tom Servo), Frank Conniff (TV's Frank) and Mary Jo Pehl (Pearl Forrester).
CT has more of a live show focus than Rifftrax does (although the latter certainly does perform live), and their releases are far more sparse.
And here's a sample from the very first episode of CT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ0eAPAzvm4It's been a while since our last bad movie thread (not that everything that gets the RT/CT treatment is bad). My wife and I binged through the Twilight Saga on Rifftrax (because I don't think I could have watched those movies any other way) and I highly recommend it. It was nonstop uproarious laughter for 10+ hours.
The Room is another I would suggest watching if you haven't. Again, painful without RT, amazing with it.
Sadly, I am just now getting around to watching a bunch of these even though MST3K is my favorite show of all time. If you have other recommendations, I would gladly take you up on them. The Rifftrax catalog in particular is kind of daunting!
joshofalltrades on
+7
Posts
Right now I'm hovering at "cautiously optimistic" for this show. I'm fine with change, but I'll definitely miss Kevin Murphy's voice as Tom Servo. Although wild speculation lately has been that Felicia Day may be the new Mad, due to similarities in the silhouette and the fact that she's pimping the Kickstarter on Twitter. That would make me a little giddy, if it's true, but I'm not going to hold out a lot of hope for it.
I've enjoyed the Rifftrax I've heard, but there's such an insane amount out there that it's hard at times to find out what's good. I've enjoyed The Happening, The Room, Birdemic, Jack the Giant Killer, and their re-riffs of Manos and Santa Claus. Their short collections have been great as well.
Actually I thought part of what Joel was going to do was see how much the Kickstarter earned, and use that money to try and get as much of the original writing staff and cast back as possible?
I would be really surprised if Mary Jo Pehl didn't eventually do something with this, though. And among all the wild speculation that's happening right now, people think the silhouette of the new Mad looks like Felicia Day (who pimped the Kickstarter on her Twitter). And that would just be completely amazing (although I'm not getting my hopes up).
Also, Joel just posted this to answer a lot of the questions and concerns people have.
tl;dr:
Never watched MST3000 but I guess it was the precursor to this kinda thing? Are there any must watch movies of it?
Space Mutiny
Puma Man
Manos: the Hands of Fate (after you're acclimated to the show format, this movie is uniquely awful)
Werewolf
Mitchell
Riding With Death
Soultaker
Eegah!
The Brain That Wouldn't Die
So many more
EDIT: If you want to see what this crew can do with more modern movies, check out the Rifftrax for the Twilight movies, they're all stellar
More to add to the list:
Pod People
Monster A-Go-Go
Master Ninja 1
Santa Claus
Operation Double 007
San Francisco International
Red Zone Cuba
Time Chasers
The Touch of Satan
The Final Sacrifice
Merlin's Shop Of Mystical Wonders
Final Justice
Diabolik (This was the final episode)
And yeah, even more than those too!
Yeah, I've been looking for some good "best tracks" lists or suggestions, since the catalog is so ridiculously huge at this point I have no idea what to get (which usually ends with me getting nothing). I'm just interested in Mike/Kevin/Bill stuff, rather than guest ones or ones with just 1 or 2 guys.
Rooting for this one.
Trace was at Gen Con this year and while he had a Crow robot with him (I believe it may even have been an actual screen-used Crow and not just a copy); he was tangibly not eager to discuss the show to the point where it felt very awkward talking to him, so I just did a "Thanks, gotta go, good luck bye" and got out of there. Very much "Yes thanks for watching but that's in the past, let's talk about something else."
My top 3 VODs would be Super Mario Bros., Ghost House, and Future Zone. As for normal Riffs, The Room, Birdemic, and Star Wars Holiday Special.
Having rewatched MST3K more, it's easier to remember the ones that really stand out, where as with Rifftrax I haven't seen a lot of them more than once to form a stronger opinion on which ones hold up well.
They announced today that there are rewards for helping make their goal before a week has elapsed. Cue a bunch of people rushing to give them money. They're less than $35K away from their $2M goal.
It can't be too big of a rift, since I just got an email from Rifftrax tonight linking to the Kickstarter.
R.O.T.O.R. - Wonderfully awful. Starts a bit slow but has great riffs and so many WTF moments. It's not only bad but pompous and completely unaware how bad it actually is.
Future Zone and Future Force - David Carradine in full beer-belly-I-don't-give-a-fuck-where's-my-check-mode. Fashion that's hilariously bad even for the 80s. David Winters (Space Mutiny) directing. Nuff said.
Warriors of the Wasteland - Shitty 80s italian Mad Max rip off. Stormtroopers with shoulder boobs and codpieces. The lamest looking "vehicles" ever. Transparent muscle armor. Fred Williamson.
Hawk the Slayer - This is what used to pass for fantasy back in the 80s. Jack Palance chewing through scenery like a chainsaw. Gross dwarf who whips old men. Elfbot 9000. Disco fantasy soundtrack.
Guy from Harlem - Ultra terrible Blacksploitation flick with some of the worst flubbed lines ever. The dialog often makes no sense as either no one memorized their lines or there wasn't a script to begin with. And it all takes place in Florida. The guy's just from Harlem.
Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny - It's actually impossible to describe this "movie." I put quotes there as it's actually two movies very poorly glued together (a different set of credits starts about a third of the way in). I'm not going to try to describe what it's actually about but I will warn anyone on psychoactive substances to stay far away from this movie as your brain may in fact melt while trying to watch it.
Hype Level: Omega
And it's nice to see a little more diversity in the cast. The new Servo voice is a bit jarring, but hopefully I can adjust over time.
After watching Felicia Day in that video my suspicions that she was perfect for the role were immediately confirmed.
For Crow, most important is a deep seated hatred of all things not made of Molybdenum.
I loved Corbett's angry crow. Trace's dry, laid-back, sarcastic crow was also great, but sometimes it was cathartic seeing someone respond to a bad movie with appropriate disgust.
So far, we've had Outlaw and Eegah.