The MST3K Thread

[Hobo]

The BBFC have rated some of the new season of MST3k and one of the episodes is a fairly well known film

 

Spoiler

Mac and Me

 

 

 

[Hobo]

 

[Hobo]

I've not watched any of The Gauntlet yet as I'm saving my viewing till Sunday but I did open up twitter last night to a fun spoiler.

J. Elvis Weinstein makes an appearance Dr. Erhardt! 

[GhostMachine]

1 hour ago, Hobo said:

I've not watched any of The Gauntlet yet as I'm saving my viewing till Sunday but I did open up twitter last night to a fun spoiler.

 

  Hide contents

 

J. Elvis Weinstein makes an appearance Dr. Erhardt! 

 

 

Guess that answers why he's not on milk cartons anymore.

[Hobo]

 

[Skummy]

22 hours ago, Hobo said:

I've not watched any of The Gauntlet yet as I'm saving my viewing till Sunday but I did open up twitter last night to a fun spoiler.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

J. Elvis Weinstein makes an appearance Dr. Erhardt! 

 

 

Spoiler

It's a great cameo too!

I'm four episodes in, and while I don't think it's as strong as the previous season so far, it's definitely still great. The "Gauntlet" format means that they seem a lot more confident in running jokes across episodes, and callbacks, which is good fun.

[GoGo Yubari]

I've watched the first two episodes. Mac and Me was the one I was most excited to see in the lineup and it absolutely lived up to that excitement.

[Hobo]

Watched the first four last night and I agree with @Skummy that it's not as strong as last season but still strong. Part of that has to be the films though. Despite the framing device is that it's a marathon of moving watching it sort of has a looser feel than season 11.

In particular, I felt like last season there was a bit of a clear dissonance with the host segments. I mean, it probably was the same on the old show but it didn't really feel like that. The reduced schedule and a season to bed in has certainly helped with this.

On the way to work this morning, I was listening to Bill Corbett's podcast. He was chatting with Mary Jo Pehl about MST3k and it was sort of bittersweet to hear them talk about the new series. It was clearly bittersweet for them, Mary Jo even says so (Mary Jo specifically realizing that Cynthia existed purely as a vehicle to not use Pearl as much).

You do get the feeling that the way the new series came about rankles with a lot of the old cast (I remember Frank and Trace being particularly vocal on Twitter about that) - but at the same time, they don't really seem to totally begrudge Joel or anyone involved even if they don't necessarily agree with things. It's gotta be weird for all of them, I suppose. Especially the ones who were there at the end of the original run who maybe didn't get a good chance to handover their roles in a way they'd like.

 

[Takuan]

I feel like this season was more consistent than season 11, but never reached the heights of the best of season 11. Even though Mac and Me was the best of the season, I didn't feel it was an instant classic like Cry Wilderness. My second favorite of the season was The Day Time Stopped. I fell asleep during Lords of The Deep, so I need to re-watch that one. 

Other than Mac and Me and The Day Time Stopped, it felt like a whole seasons worth of episodes from the earlier seasons that are OK but not really memorable. 

[Lint]

Can't link to it because its obviously illegal, but someone uploaded remastered versions of some movies from MST3K to YT, but overlaid the MST3K comments overtop of them.  Theres no credits, no host segments, no silhouettes, just the movies with the MST3K commentary.  Its really good 

[Hobo]

Netflix isn't renewing MST3K.

[Skummy]

1 minute ago, Hobo said:

Netflix isn't renewing MST3K.

Just came here to post the same thing.

Joel is retiring from riffing following this tour, too. I hope somewhere else picks it up - no idea how the rights would work, but there's a ton of stuff on Amazon Prime that they've either already riffed or would be long overdue, so would be happy to see it end up there.

I wonder if it just continues as a live show, though.

[Hobo]

Joel's email update seems to imply he would like it to keep going in the future

I'm kinda good with it ending in one way. But I will always wish that we could have gotten more crossover with the original casts if that had been at all possible

[Your Mom]

I actually enjoy rifftrax more. The little sketches on mst3k are fun but I'm almost relieved just to enjoy a whole movie of riffing instead of taking breaks for the sketches

[GoGo Yubari]

Ah, I love the sketches. I think the lack of that kind of structure for me is why I only ever really watch Rifftrax stuff in full if it's a live theater event. I think this period of MST3K's sketches were way more hit-and-miss than previous iterations, though when they hit (like the two Paul and Storm-written songs or whatever the hell this was) they really hit.

I think ultimately the MST3K format should be sustainable, and a thing that at a lower budget should be appealing to another streaming service. I think there's stuff they did, like having the voice performers and the puppeteers for the Bots be different, that can be cut down on.

[GhostMachine]

I can see why MST3K isn't being renewed. I was a major fan of the original series (prefer Joel to Mike, but the show went downhill when Trace left) and have seen many episodes at least twice. However, I never finished season one of the new series. More due to a lack of time than a lack of interest. But I'd be damned sure to go out of my way to watch the original when it was airing. 

 

[Skummy]

I love Rifftrax, but there's a charm to MST3k that isn't there with Rifftrax - I think it's basically the Joel/Mike dichotomy made more obvious. Some of the jokes in Rifftrax are a bit too overwrought, whereas MST3k is snappier. 

And without the sketches we'd never have got Clayton Forester, and I adore that character, or the "Every Country Has A Monster" song from the first Netflix season, which I still routinely get stuck in my head. I think I just like the broader context provided by MST3K.

 

In terms of it being affordable, the biggest problem has always been rights issues, especially internationally. 

[Hobo]

I'm much more fond of Rifftrax than I used to be.  I think in recent years they've gotten much better.

Host segments serve a less functional purpose in a streaming context but it was always part of the shows charm to me to have these often very weird interludes between segments of movies.

I actually kinda miss them when watching a Rifftrax. It gives you a break from the film.

[GoGo Yubari]

Turkey Day marathon is live. First movie is Space Mutiny.

[Hobo]

for some reason I could've view it when I went through Shout Factory's link but GoGo's link worked.