I have a couple of DVDs of some MST3 episodes. I find they are better when watched with other people.
They did have some smart witty bits. I find the later episodes when the in-between bits got more elaborate suffer. Plus it seems like they ran out of good bad films.
I totally plan to watch the first episode, and see where I go from there. But my expectations are modest; it's hard to recapture lightning in a bottle, even with the original creator.
But no matter how the new version turns out to be, we'll always have the classic version to reminisce about in this thread.
I used to watch it many years ago. It was on late somewhere. I think I used to come in late on those evenings, just in time to catch it. So, I've seen a number of them, but nowhere near the total of those available. Fun, but the sort of things friends and siblings would be doing with old movies and Doctor Who episodes anyway.
"...not having to believe in a thing to be interested in it and not having to explain a thing to appreciate the wonder of it."
Fun, but the sort of things friends and siblings would be doing with old movies and Doctor Who episodes anyway.
Yeah, but the thing that was so appealing about the show was that the host (initially Joel, later Mike) and the cute robots (the most amazing puppeteering/voice acting since the Muppets in their prime) were so personable, and so funny, they felt like friends! Friends who had invited the viewers to a night of doing what Thoth described above.
oops, my post didn't come out quite right. I completely agree with everything you say Fickles. I did get a nice comfy feeling watching it. Like you say, like being around with friends.
"...not having to believe in a thing to be interested in it and not having to explain a thing to appreciate the wonder of it."
Random MST3K Quote: (after a priest gets electrocuted) "Oh he's a fryer/friar"
I love it when Joel is trying to make the obstinate robots sit through another crappy serial and Tom says, "This is Buddhist. You create us to suffer."
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Hey, MSTies! Yesterday, I saw a good-quality copy of this LP in a Washington store's Dollar bin. Of course, I had no choice but to pounce on it immediately!
The mountain of cheese that was Girls Town would've been much more bearable if they'd had Mel sing a few standards at that cardboard nightclub. Or maybe during the fisticuffs on the bridge with the young Bill Clinton and twin Laura Petries.
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Mamie Van Doren was proud of her curves and her gluteal endowments, and she showed them off. And she was much more talented than Jennifer Lopez (but, then again, isn't everybody more talented than Jennifer Lopez?)
Ms. Van Doren's recollections on the Shout Factory MST3K collection were actually very illuminating. An interesting woman, beyond just her career as B-Movie siren.
In my mind, I often get her confused with the actress from Daddy-O, because it was a similar look and role: the "wordly" young dame with the heart of gold under the brass exterior.
Last edited by Lad With Glasses; 12/07/1610:54 AM.
Ms. Van Doren's recollections on the Shout Factory MST3K collection was actually very illuminating. An interesting woman, beyond just her career as B-Movie siren.
In my mind, I often get her confused with the actress from Daddy-O, because it was a similar look and role: the "wordly" young dame with the heart of gold under the brass exterior.
I suppose this is the point at which I shamefacedly admit something: I am not, in fact, a galaxy-trotting immortal alien in a human shell modeled on an obscure Eighties pop musician.
So is Manos easier or harder to get through than Castle Of Fu Manchu?
In both cases, Our Heroes didn't make it without a couple of crying jags along the way.
Also, I've actually seen a live stage production of Manos. It boasted a live trio doing the musical interludes. Also, the guy playing Debbie was taller than the woman playing Mom.
Last edited by cleome49; 04/05/1603:34 PM.
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Well, I would say "Castle of Fu Manchu" at least has scenic locations and a sexy, exotic drag king. And a smattering of technical competence. But, yeah...it's still hard to get through...
Random MST3K quote:
KEN: What have I done to deserve this?
CAPTAIN CHEEKY: We don't deserve half the things we get. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU'RE STUCK HERE!!
I think the gorgeous Fez woman was Tsai Chin, who made a lot of films. In fact, I think she was in The Virgin Soldiers, which is supposed to be a not-bad British black comedy. I've been meaning to search around for it.
Not a bad theme song, either. I think one of the Kinks co-wrote it.
[ETA- No. Damn my defective memory. Tsai Chin was Fu Manchu's daughter, not Fez Lady. Every time the daughter in Castle yells, "FAA-THUH!" I'm sad that neither Joel nor the robots responds, "You promised to get me a MOUSE, Father!" I have a real soft spot for the old Looney Tunes with Sylvester & Son.]
Last edited by cleome50; 03/23/1710:51 AM.
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Despite the dated arrangement and the Outlaw-esque use of "pleasure" as a verb, yeah. I love this LP. Bibb was a formidable singer and in a better world his career would've been huge. Same applies to his son, Eric: a really talented Blues artist.
Speaking of Outlaw, Queen Laura is probably my favorite villain in the musty, cluttered storage unit that is the MST3k stable of films.
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I think there's a big-screen showing of the Time Chasers this coming weekend. That would be a great thing to see, but now that's it's yardwork season... Decisions... decisions...
I don't care what anyone says. The star [sic] of that awful movie is actually pretty cute, despite the mullet and chin issues. If I'm going to have a big dumb doofus crashing a plane with me in it, I'd sure rather it be that guy than John "Wall Of Smug" Agar.
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So, last Tuesday I got to watch a live simulcast of the Rifftrax-MST3K reunion show. Almost all the old lineup was there to hug and tell silly anecdotes. Except J. Elvis Weinstein (the original Tom Servo).
I hear they may be re-showing it in some theaters around the country. So if you're a fan with a few extra dollars-- go! I don't think you'll be disappointed.
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That sounds good. Thanks, Cleome. It's a shame Josh Elvis didn't make it, though, because then his successor, Kevin Murphy, could have told the story about some loser who went to all the trouble of printing out and mailing to Best Brains a huge banner reading, "I HATE TOM SERVO'S NEW VOICE."
Me, I prefer Kevin's voice to Josh's, but to each their own -- even losers with too much bottled-up anger.
I love the bit in that interview where Josh frightens everyone in the con audience by saying, "I was mad because they wouldn't let me take the puppet home with me."
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One of the robots, commenting on a scene in "Attack of the the Eye Creatures" where a greasy-haired guy in sweat-drenched striped pajamas gets out of bed:
I hardly know whether this merits bragging, but... as of last week, I can now proclaim that I've seen all three permutations of Santa Claus Conquers The Martians. That is: the original MST3K roasting, the Cinematic Titanic follow-up, AND the Rifftrax follow to the follow-up.
Seeing it on the big screen has given me far too much familiarity with just how those Martian leotards fit, too. I'm sure you know what I mean, Fans.
Last edited by Lad With Glasses; 12/07/1610:32 AM.
I'm late to this but put me down as a big MST3K fan from back in the day. I have to admit that I haven't kept up with the later offshoots but I think there were a couple of years when, if a show made me laugh it was either this, The Kids In the Hall or the Tick.
That reminds me of the bit where Joel hearkens back to those Nineties Little Caesar's ads (in one of the Hercules films) by grumbling, "Pizza Pizza, my a**!" during a fight scene with a pair of Centurion-type guys.
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I love their parodies of "Operation: the Goofy Game for Dopey Doctors," the time that Dr. F put TV's Frank into a life-sized version, and the way they'd all make fun of the voices from the TV commercials:
I just got my thank-you gifts for backing the new show a year ago: a set of postcards and a new MST3K T-Shirt! Woo! (I got a larger size, so mr_cleome and I could take turns wearing it.)
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Remember this from one of the (endless) scenes of gangsters walking in Radar Secret Service:
"Man, I'm chafin' like a bear! These Italian bun-huggers give me NO room at all!"
[ahem]
All right, so I'm the only one who does. I probably need to spruce up my wardrobe, join up with Grindr or whatever they call those, er... dating services the younger set seems to like.
Uh... yeah. Definitely seen this but uh... not 'til today. Yeah... [whistles nonchalantly]
A pal of mine with a big-screen is hoping to do a viewing for us on 4/14, when it premieres for the first time.
There's a local game shop which does viewings of the old episodes on a regular basis, and we went to their anniversary celebration a week or so back. There was a viewing marathon which culminated in Manos, then a Q&A with the woman who played Debbie. She's selling a book about the film's influence on her life, and she's done a sequel to the film with her character all grown up and inheriting The Master's, uh... business.
Joel Hodgson wrote the forward for her, and proclaims Manos STILL one of the worst things he's ever sat through!
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As a long-time fan AND resident of the Pacific Northwest, it's always made me sad that we're not nearly famous enough for our bad movies. I mean, there was that stupid Madonna "suspense" film they did here when I was still in college. (Shot on our University grounds, in fact: to the irritation of everyone basically. Also that one cop film with some heart throb of the day who the local hipster rag couldn't shut up about... who's now totally forgotten by everyone. Me included, thank God.) But the only film shot here and then immortalized on the show was Last Of The Wild Horses, shot in the Rogue River Valley of Oregon. And lovely it looked, too. As good as could be expected given the fact that Wobert Wippert shot the whole thing on a budget of $100.
However, when Jackie Neyman (aka Debbie) did her appearance, she gave us the long-awaited Pac NW-Manos connection: her Dad (aka The Master) had long ago quit the arts-entertainment biz and was working as a handyman in Lincoln City (Oregon Coast) when adult J.N. called him to tell him she'd finally located a copy of the film! Woot!
Last edited by cleome50; 03/29/1710:38 AM.
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I made a point of never watching it, though I suppose if The Heirs Of Hodgson end up taking a whack at it, I'll have to. The sacrifices I make for my fandoms, I tell ya'...
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I've checked out the first three episodes on Netflix now. As a fan, I'm definitely getting some giggles in, but kind of waiting to see if the cast really jells more as the series goes on.
I've heard complaints that the guys playing Crow and Servo sound too similar, and sometimes it IS hard for me to keep track of who's talking in the theater. Oh, and Servo can fly in the theater, which improves their ability to do visual gags.
Gypsy's expanded role is great. They redesigned her so she can appear now and then in the theater while hauling stuff around the ship.
There's now a musical group called "The Skeleton Crew" which provides interludes during the breaks, consisting of songs from the original show. I'm kind of embarrassed that I can't always pick out what the songs are. I'm maybe batting .500 at this point.
Nostalgic Me loves that they've returned to doing Invention Exchanges, like in the old days.
The 1st three new movies prove conclusively that it'll be a long time before the world runs out of bad movies to mock.
Really nice job on the new set designs, Gizmonics, etc. (Too bad Dev Em ain't still with us. His old idol Erin Gray appeared in the first episode, as future-prisoner Jonah Heston's boss.)
Finally, if you're watching Episode Three, you can see my name at the end of the credits among the LONG list of Kickstarter backers. Well, it's my Space Mutiny name:
CLANG POTROAST!!
Last edited by cleome50; 04/17/1708:19 AM.
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Who knew Cuba would look so much like South Dakota in the summertime?
By the way, I really only bother with tumblr for their MST3K fan-art and so on. I made it into the MST3K Confessions tumblr, and I couldn't be prouder.
Another Christmas, another viewing of "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians," another excuse to go caroling and shock upstanding citizens with a rousing rendition of "Let's Have a Patrick Swayze Christmas This Year."
If you're a fan, and you like podcasts, The MST3K Revival League on YouTube is well worth a listen. It's been around almost two years, and I'm just wading in now. They do recaps and reviews of the episodes. They also interview the cast of the episodes and the movies as well. Oh, and they like to do taste tests of swanky regional sodas. "Minnesoda." Get it? [ahem]
I normally get irritated with the amount of pauses and padding which seems a big part of these DIY projects, but never mind. I've decided to just go with it, since the gems in there are worth a little waiting. For instance, Eddie Deezen ("Froggy" from Laserblast) turns out to be an interesting and thoughtful guy. Who knew?
Last edited by cleome51; 03/25/1812:12 PM.
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THE SCENE: From the movie "Pod People," the little furry alien uses telekinesis to animate the annoying little boy's toys. The special effects are...primitive.
CROW T. ROBOT: "Suddenly, we're watching a Peter Gabriel video."
TOM SERVO: "Someone ought to hit this movie with a...SLEDGE-HAMMER!"
On a related note, we just watched the Rifftrax version of Cool As Ice yesterday.
Owie owie owie owie owie!!
mr_xeno has proclaimed it to be worse than either The Creeping Terror OR Hobgoblins. Make of that what you will.
Speaking of that first one, we watched The Creep Behind The Camera last month. It's a dramatization-documentary about the guy who made that stinky bucket of tripe. (He was also the "hero" of the film.) Good Gravy, but I now have a new understanding of the phrase "The price of knowledge is pain." Don't get me wrong. It's very well done, but seriously the titular dude was one of THE most loathsome people who ever lived, even by the usual Hollywood standards. (Maybe Phil Spector beats him out by a hair. MAYBE.) If you watch this, you'll be cheering on his sordid demise without even a shred of guilt. I know I did.
Last edited by cleome51; 03/31/1801:48 PM.
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There's a local dude who does live big-screen showings of MST3K. I was in absolute heaven a few weeks ago, because the movie shown was Secret Agent Super-Dragon.
I've also been trying to do some movie-riffing with friends at their apartment. Last month, we watched Logan's Run, a double treat for me because I've always adored Michael York... even in painfully dated, overlong cheese like this.
Last edited by cleome52; 05/19/1902:13 AM.
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Alas, he had to retire due to job pressures. I keep hoping someone else will pick up the mantle... eventually.
Also, I got myself a ticket for The MST3K Great Cheesy Movie Circus Tour, which is happening in about a week and a half. It wasn't cheap and I had to settle for side seating, but whatever.
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TV's Frank: "Now I can Schottische while watering my plants! In my Lederhosen-Hose-n. La la la la la...*boo hoo, sob, choke* I know it's a stupid idea, okay? I just wanted to be Bavarian for one brief, stinking minute. Is that so wrong?"
Dr. Forrester. "Oh, Frankie-poo...yes, yes it is wrong. It's deeply f*ck*d up. But you've been under *a lot of stress* lately!"
Since I have Netflix, I've decided to re-watch The Christmas That Almost Wasn't later this evening. Perhaps with some hot chocolate and freshly-popped corn as accompaniments.
I hear abundant nay-saying regarding the Netflix seasons, but I think every fan should give this episode a try or two. As with some other classics, the sheer weirdness may overwhelm, at first. But ultimately I gave in to the absolute... peculiarity of the whole thing. It's SO strange that the riffs (though decent enough) are nearly besides the point.
(Watch for our dear Mr. Hodgson's cameo as Santa Claus, too.)
I've been listening to multiple volumes of the Canadian MST3K podcast It's Just A Show. I highly recommend it.
They focus on a different episode of the show for each podcast, though they're doing them out of order.
(And for those of you who also like horror movies, one of the hosts also does a podcast about those --specifically the home-grown kind-- called A Part Of Our Scare-I-Tage.)
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We are all Zen masters in the art of accepting cosmic paradoxes. Because you can't riff a movie properly without studying it clear down to the atomic level.
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I was a HUGE fan back in the classic era with Joel & Mike, but I haven't really spent time watching the new batch. Partially due to the fact I only have so much screen watching time, but also I'm the only one in my household that appreciates that humor.
Interested in the Post-Zero Hour Reboot Legion? Check out:
Gaseous Lad, I only recently got Netflix and haven't yet seen the new MST3K. I'm not even sure if those recent seasons are still available. Sorry I couldn't be of much help.
I put my micro-review of the first of the newer seasons on page 6. Feel free to check that out. I have to say that my favorites of the Netflix era would be The Beast Of Hollow Mountain (Season 11) and Killer Fish (Season 12, which is really more a half-season).
By the way, here we are almost at the anniversary of the Netflix version premiering, and Joel Hodgson has just announced a NEW Kickstarter campaigns for new episodes to shop around to other services. How 'bout that?
The aforementioned It's Just A Show just dropped a spate of new episodes, too. They got one of my least-favorites ever (The She-Creature) back-to-back with one of my all-time favorites (Monster A-Go-Go). Weeeird. That's what it is... weeeeiiiiird...
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Killer Fish is a 1970s "action" film about some thieves in Brazil stealing... uh gold? I don't even remember and then they meet some escaped piranhas which one of them collects for some reason. There's a ridiculous plane crash and some "comedic" fat-shaming (of course) and Margeaux Hemmingway: who is so terrible at both acting and vocalizing that Kathy Ireland feels sorry for her.
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You're welcome. Please note: I have now assumed my Space Mutiny name in honor of this fundraising drive. I intend to keep it until the drive is completed.
But I don't mind if everyone continues to call me cleome.
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Recently, CLANG_Potroast informed me, in another thread, that the "Joey the Lemur" sketch is considered, by fan consensus, one of the worst MST3K sketches.
I was shocked ,as I've always loved that sketch. The missed cues and pokey timing are part of its charm, in my opinion. Plus, Joel Hodgson gave the lemur what I think is a very funny voice.
More recently, I've been thinking...I also love the Richard Burton sketch, and the Klack Products advertisement sketch, and probably some other unpopular sketches that I can't remember right now.
Am I just naturally contrarian, or do I simply have bad taste?
The great thing about the Klack sketch is that those "foods" don't look all that different from the bizarre constructs Kraft would encourage housewives to assemble in the 20th Century.
Also, that was poor Mary Wells ("My Guy") singing the theme song to *Catalina Dress-- er, Caper*: victim of bad lyricism and even worse sound. I wonder if she even got paid.
The cute girl who sang "Book Of Love" was a co-writer of the theme from *Rocky*, which means she's the ultra-rare participant in one of these sea-dogs who can say she was nominated for an Oscar!! (She also sang with The Teddy Bears.) The "There's A New World" song was a Kinks song at one point.
So the riff about Little Richard being "the only genuine talent in this film" wasn't totally accurate. But you can see why the participants wouldn't be out there bragging about this chapter in their careers.
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I think she was the co-lyricist, so there were three creators altogether. Anyway, I think it's good nostalgic Seventies theme music. Though I'm not a fan of Stallone's work, I don't feel bad about liking the theme at all.
Moving forward into the Eighties, I'll happily hum the themes from either *Dallas* or *Magnum, P.I.* despite never caring for the shows at all. (I don't hate them or anything. They were just never my cup of borscht.)
Remember in "Fugitive Alien* when one of the riffs was Ken taunting Rocky by saying, "Gonna' fly now?"
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The latest live MST3K tour is slated for October. I think I'll take a pass this time. I feel like the re-opening of the country is, to say the least, premature. But who knows? If things look better in the Fall and there are tickets remaining, I might go.
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By the way, Season 13 just premiered last weekend. The first film to be riffed was Santo In The Treasure Of Dracula. A strong start. ("I like it very much.")
This coming weekend, they'll be doing a special anniversary airing of Manos. Can't wait!
For the record, The Gizmoplex is a self-hosted platform currently available only to those who subscribed via the 2021 Kickstarter campaign to get it launched. But it will be made available to all a few months from now. Possibly on platforms which allow for additional advertising, or possibly on a pay-as-you-go, per-episode basis. I'm not exactly sure. I donated enough to get access for a full year.
[ETA- You can also create a free account to see previews even if you're not ready to buy anything just now.]
Last edited by cleome55; 03/12/2211:51 AM.
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The pledge drive is up and running for Season 14. They want to do *Battle Beyond The Stars* and *Plan 9*... if they can raise the funds in the one week still remaining.
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Decisions... decisions...
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