The MST3K Thread

[GoGo Yubari]

In 15 minutes the cast of the most recent MST3K live tour will be doing a live riff of... Moon Zero Two, from season one. By which I mean the literal episode of MST3K, so they'll be riffing a riffing. Having watched some of that episode before tapping out on it, the actual riffs that Joel, Trace, and Josh did are so sparse that I'm interested to see how the new cast plays off of it, it feels like there's room to do something interesting.

[GoGo Yubari]

A Neat Thing: MST3K has done a fundraiser for a Native American community center that got damaged during the Minneapolis protests. The donation incentive is Joel Hodgson, Bill Corbett, and J. Elvis Weinstein reprising Joel, Crow, and Servo (which is not a combination I was expecting to see riff together as those characters in a million years) to riff two shorts and do an accompanying sketch for each short. They've already cleared the minimum needed to do both shorts but if you want to see them when they premiere you can still donate (they've upped the goal to 40K since they cleared 20K in about one day) at the link.

Supposedly the plan for the next big MST3K project was supposed to be restaging and filming the six live shows from the last three tours, which is now on hold for obvious reasons.

[GoGo Yubari]

On 26/07/2020 at 14:21, GoGo Yubari said:

A Neat Thing: MST3K has done a fundraiser for a Native American community center that got damaged during the Minneapolis protests. The donation incentive is Joel Hodgson, Bill Corbett, and J. Elvis Weinstein reprising Joel, Crow, and Servo (which is not a combination I was expecting to see riff together as those characters in a million years) to riff two shorts and do an accompanying sketch for each short. They've already cleared the minimum needed to do both shorts but if you want to see them when they premiere you can still donate (they've upped the goal to 40K since they cleared 20K in about one day) at the link.

These actually came out a little over a month ago as part of a fundraiser stream but MST3K finally released them as standalone things. The catch is right now it's just on their website, but both shorts are really good and worth your time.

[Hobo]

They showed one of those shorts during Turkey Day. I really enjoyed it!

[Skummy]

if anyone's still watching Rifftrax, Battle For The Lost Planet is one of the most ridiculous cheap sci-fi movies they've done in a long time, and great fun

[Hobo]

This just got sent out to MST3k kickstarter backers:

 

[GoGo Yubari]

I'm curious to see what the plans are and who, specifically, is coming back. The graphic for it has Jonah, Felicia, and Patton on it which indicates it's the Netflix cast, which I'd be down for, but at the same time basically every MST3K thing outside of those two charity shorts for the last couple years has been the touring cast (Emily and co.). And of course I can already see MST3K fandom basically gearing itself up to be mad if it's not the '90s folks...

[GoGo Yubari]

23 hours ago, GoGo Yubari said:

I'm curious to see what the plans are and who, specifically, is coming back. The graphic for it has Jonah, Felicia, and Patton on it which indicates it's the Netflix cast, which I'd be down for, but at the same time basically every MST3K thing outside of those two charity shorts for the last couple years has been the touring cast (Emily and co.). And of course I can already see MST3K fandom basically gearing itself up to be mad if it's not the '90s folks...

Okay, so what they're trying to do is fund another season and put it on its own streaming platform, which would also serve as a hub for virtual events and the like. The video has Hampton and Baron voicing the bots and Kinga is mentioned multiple times throughout it so looking like Netflix cast first and foremost.

I simultaneously think that this pitch has a lot of problems (it's like an upscaled model of what Rifftrax does with their live shows but I think there's way more difficulty in doing that with a full-fledged TV show on your own streaming service rather than two or three live riffs a year simulcast through movie theaters) and am also donating anyway because I'll take any new MST3K I can get, and I liked the direction the Netflix crew were heading in The Gauntlet.

[Hobo]

I'm confident it'll get funding for at most a few new episodes and maybe a full season. Although, I'm not sure about how it would work long term.

They've already got about 1.5million raised.

I didn't think The Gauntlet was quite as strong as the Return. But I felt it was more down to the movies than anything.

I liked the Netflix cast. But I'd still like to see the odd guest appearance from the 90s cast if there's going to be new episodes. There was something about the Dr Erhart stuff that made me feel like maybe they were angling for some way of getting an appearance of Dr Forrester and TV's Frank if they had a new season. The short that Joel, Bill and J Elvis did last year that was shown on Turkey day was great.

[Skummy]

It sounds to me like the new episodes will basically be "as live", similar to Rifftrax Live or the old Cinematic Titanic stuff. It's not necessarily what I want from my MST3k, but could be a nice middle ground between the touring show (which is likely where the real money is) and a full-blown new series, and obviously allows them a far greater degree of creative control than Netflix or another platform would allow them. 

I like Jonah, and think the Netflix series was by and large pretty great, so would gladly take as much as I can get - I like Rifftrax, but their writing and running jokes can be really overdone compared to Joel-helmed MST3K, which feels a lot more free and spontaneous, so Rifftrax doesn't always scratch the right itches. 

If they're going to be effectively self-reliant, and not getting the advertising or curiosity seekers that come from being on Netflix, I imagine they will lean a little heavier on the nostalgia angle even though Joel was really against that being the main selling point of the Netflix series. I know Mike wanted nothing to do with the Netflix series, but obviously J. Elvis, Kevin, Bill, and Mary Jo all popped up in the Netflix series, and it definitely seemed like they were open for The Mads appearing; I don't know about Trace, but I follow Frank on a lot of social media and he seems like he'd more than open to it. I think it's more likely we get a return of The Mads than of Patton Oswalt, really. 

Around the time of the Netflix relaunch, Rifftrax did an MST3K reunion, which showed that at least the various cast members are on good enough terms to share a stage together, so I wouldn't rule anything out, necessarily.

 

It looks nailed on that they will meet their goal, and it will just come down to what stretch goals they meet, and if they will be producing enough (and good enough) content to remain sustainable beyond that.

[GoGo Yubari]

An update to this: they've now reached the $3.3 million stretch goal so they're at six episodes. They put out some more information and my "are they using the Netflix cast or the touring cast" question became relevant again because it turns out the plan is to use both, with the premise being that Kinga has multiple hosts/experiments going on at once (which they'd actually alluded to in an episode of The Return already). So for Jonah's episodes it'll be Hampton and Baron voicing the bots, and for Emily Marsh's episodes it'll be the puppeteers from the last tour and the couple of online things they did last year (Turkey Day, the re-riff of Moon Zero Two, etc.). On top of that they announced that if they hit the 9-episode and 12-episode goals then Joel will reprise Joel Robinson to host one or two episodes, respectively.

[Skummy]

Joel also said that there's basically an open invitation to any MST3K alumni to appear in this series, but made it very clear that "some of them have their own movie riffing projects and might not be interested or available". My first instinct from that is that they've already directly spoken to people - they played clips of the charity shorts Joel did with J. Elvis and Bill - and that one or more of them have said no, and they just want to get ahead of that. I don't think it would be particularly wild speculation to guess that Mike Nelson won't be showing up.

 

[GoGo Yubari]

Yeah. One of the more annoying MST3K fan refrains is that Mike's lack of involvement is some sort of insult or snub when he's pretty openly stated that he's not interested in doing it. I feel like at most maybe we get some more of the Joel/Bill/J. Elvis trio, though I'd love to see Mary Jo Pehl involved.

[Skummy]

18 minutes ago, GoGo Yubari said:

Yeah. One of the more annoying MST3K fan refrains is that Mike's lack of involvement is some sort of insult or snub when he's pretty openly stated that he's not interested in doing it. I feel like at most maybe we get some more of the Joel/Bill/J. Elvis trio, though I'd love to see Mary Jo Pehl involved.

Bill, Kevin and Mary Jo all popped up in the Netflix series, so if they're available I think that's pretty fair game. I hope we get TV's Frank and Dr Forester, as they felt quite conspicuously absent in the revival. Mike is the only one who I think we can totally write out as not appearing.

I get the insult/snub thing to a point - I think when Joel first announced the relaunch, he hadn't spoken to a lot of the old crew about it and they felt understandably a bit put out by that. But Mike made it pretty clear afterwards that he just sees MST3K as a job he did years ago, and that he's spent more time with Rifftrax than he did there. And with Rifftrax being very much his project, I wonder if there's an element of not wanting to risk some of the growth of that brand by going back to being "the other guy from MST3K".

It's reading a lot into a stage performance, but when Rifftrax did their live MST3K Reunion show, Mike seemed like the only one there who wasn't really enamoured by the idea. Kevin Murphy was fanboy-ing over having Bill and Trace on-stage together, everyone was joking around together, but Mike just seemed completely off on his own not really reacting to any of the guests apart from Frank. It really felt like something he did to get it out of the way, rather than because he's part of that group. 

Still, a lot's changed since the first Netflix series, and it would be nice if he could come in for even just a small cameo - I'm thinking something like Joel's appearance in Soultaker.

[Hobo]

3 hours ago, Skummy said:

Bill, Kevin and Mary Jo all popped up in the Netflix series, so if they're available I think that's pretty fair game. I hope we get TV's Frank and Dr Forester, as they felt quite conspicuously absent in the revival. Mike is the only one who I think we can totally write out as not appearing.

I get the insult/snub thing to a point - I think when Joel first announced the relaunch, he hadn't spoken to a lot of the old crew about it and they felt understandably a bit put out by that. But Mike made it pretty clear afterwards that he just sees MST3K as a job he did years ago, and that he's spent more time with Rifftrax than he did there. And with Rifftrax being very much his project, I wonder if there's an element of not wanting to risk some of the growth of that brand by going back to being "the other guy from MST3K".

It's reading a lot into a stage performance, but when Rifftrax did their live MST3K Reunion show, Mike seemed like the only one there who wasn't really enamoured by the idea. Kevin Murphy was fanboy-ing over having Bill and Trace on-stage together, everyone was joking around together, but Mike just seemed completely off on his own not really reacting to any of the guests apart from Frank. It really felt like something he did to get it out of the way, rather than because he's part of that group. 

Still, a lot's changed since the first Netflix series, and it would be nice if he could come in for even just a small cameo - I'm thinking something like Joel's appearance in Soultaker.

Yeah, there was clearly some noses put out of joint by the revivial announcement. There was an episode of Bill Corbett's old podcast where he and Mary Jo talked about the Netflix show (after having both worked on it). I very much got the impression their feelings were very bittersweet. All the same time recongnizing that it was a different beast to the show they had worked on for a lot of reasons and not really begrudging.

Which seems like the case by and large, the different casts and crews (from the TV shows at least) all at least seem to have a respect for each other at least. And clearly some are more friendly than others. Which is just how people are really.

With Mike, yeah, I think it is just Rifftrax is his thing now and how he just looks at it as his old job. Kevin and Bill are happy to do work here and there with Trace and Frank or Joel's MST3k project. 

I'd say, if the whole Gizmoplex thing gets up and running (and is able to sustain) crossovers with the Rifftrax crew are inevitable. 

[GoGo Yubari]

Kickstarter update: for the final week (and a day or two) they're doing a bunch of livestreams on Twitch/Youtube. They already did one on Monday that was Joel and the touring cast (Emily & Co.) watching Hobgoblins, which was pretty neat because Joel had never seen it before so there were a lot of fun digressions as he saw the Hobgoblin puppets for the first time:

Right now it feels like they'll comfortably make it to 4.4 mil but I'd be surprised if they got to 5.5.

[Hobo]

I watched a bit of the Hobgoblins one. I like the live show cast from what i have seen of them

[GhostMachine]

I just found out that there is both a prequel AND a sequel to MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE!

Why didn't someone tell me this already? 

 

 

[Hobo]

15 hours ago, GhostMachine said:

I just found out that there is both a prequel AND a sequel to MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE!

Why didn't someone tell me this already?

Yeah, I know the sequel involved Jackie Neyman (Debbie in Manos) and her father Tom Neyman (The Master).

According to Wiki the prequel involved Jackie Neyman as well.

I don't think I could ever be drawn to watching them.  In the same manner that I have no interest in seeing Samurai Cop 2 or Birdemic 2. I find it a bit grating when these films try and be in on the joke.

I've seen some of the remastered Manos (I'm not sure it's the same remaster Rifftrax used) and that I found far more interesting because, honestly, that's kinda cool and a worthwhile project. Moreso than doing a cash grab sequel.

I geniunely love Manos. It's plot and a lot of it the ideas that went into it actually work quite well as a horror film. It's real problems are in how it was produced and edited.

It's got that same sort of spirit that Ed Wood's films had. They're technically bad but at the effort makes up for it.

 

On 30/04/2021 at 00:56, GoGo Yubari said:

Kickstarter update: for the final week (and a day or two) they're doing a bunch of livestreams on Twitch/Youtube. They already did one on Monday that was Joel and the touring cast (Emily & Co.) watching Hobgoblins, which was pretty neat because Joel had never seen it before so there were a lot of fun digressions as he saw the Hobgoblin puppets for the first time:

Right now it feels like they'll comfortably make it to 4.4 mil but I'd be surprised if they got to 5.5.

I watched yesterdays stream of Gamera vs Gurion with Jonah Ray, Hampton Yount and the guys who do Crow and Servo from the Live Tours.

It was wonderfully chaotic. The previous couple of streams had just been sort of chill watch alongs with a Q&A session.

This was just insanity of extra 4 people riffing on the movie. I honestly could no longer tell which were from the show and which were from the live stream after a while.

[GhostMachine]

Oh, I have no desire at all to watch either the prequel or sequel, except maybe to see how the Neymans have aged. (Apparently they're both on Prime) I was just unaware that the two films were made.