Try typing in MST3K Season 11. That should pull up the full playlist.
The Official and Very Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thread
- Thread starter cooleddie74
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That's the one I subscribe to.
They have already passed the $1 million mark in less than 12 hours.
I think the reception to this announcement speaks volumes as to how the MST3K fan community felt about the revival series and how it was handled. For me personally, I haven't been this excited about a media announcement in quite some time.
I think the reception to this announcement speaks volumes as to how the MST3K fan community felt about the revival series and how it was handled. For me personally, I haven't been this excited about a media announcement in quite some time.
I honestly have not heard what Trace and Frank had to say. Can someone bring me up to speed or point me toward a source?
The only thing I could find was a Reddit thread from five years ago, where Trace, Frank and Kevin were having a convention Q&A and a member of the audience asked if they were going to be involved in the new MST3K, and Kevin replied that he was having too much fun doing Rifftrax, Frank said he and Trace liked having creative control, while Trace said it was opening a can of worms he didn't want to discuss.
Is there something there, I don't know.
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The main source I recall was a podcast where Frank was the guest (with Mary Jo I think?), though he's done quite a few so I can't find the one I'm thinking of. There's also been quotes and general rumor mongering on Reddit since the reboot started, some from folks who claimed to speak with them at live shows.
The TL;DR was Joel shutting down a business that non-Rifftrax MST alumn were invested in without warning, and not managing the subsequent financial and creative offers in a way the old talent liked.
As I understand the timeline:
Trace in particular was heavily invested in Cinematic Titanic. To the point he was apparently shipping the Blu-Rays from his house (again, so folks on Reddit said). The whole CT crew, and Trace in particular, were blindsided by Joel's decision to disband CT to restart MST; he hadn't discussed it with them or warned them. However, once that ball was rolling Trace and Frank et al assumed they'd be returning to their original roles; a continuation, not sequel/reboot. (This I recall was from the podcast with Frank.)
Once the reboot was up and running, it was always Joel's intent to use an all-new cast, so he offered the old cast bit parts. This seems to be the major sticking point, as Frank and/or Trace called the offer they received "insulting." Frank also seemed annoyed that Patton was playing TV Frank's son, again without any input from him. (This, I recall, was a tweet.)
Again, a lot of this is from random comments made in passing that folks reported hearing at shows etc, plus the aforementioned podcast.
Edit: here's a link to a Reddit comment from someone who says he asked about it at a live show.
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I've seen the Netflix seasons. I'm looking for Season 13, which I haven't seen, but all they seem to have are clips.
I always got the impression with the revival that Joel was interested in turning MST3K into a big budget Hollywood production quite dissimilar from the original, and wanted to be the sole person with any creative control. Ultimately, IMHO, that didn't turn out well, as the revival seasons are -- again, IMHO -- a pale copy of the original.
It's also interesting to note that meanwhile on the RiffTrax front, the RiffTrax crew began selling MST3K episodes through their site years ago, with the proceeds being distributed among the original creative talent from the show.
Okay, I did a little digging and, it appears that Joel shut down Cinematic Titanic without informing the rest of the old crew, saying in an interview that riffing was a young person's game and he had no plans to bring it or MST3K back, which led to Trace and Frank starting their own riff show The Mads Are Back.
Trace and Frank were then surprised/upset when Joel turned around and partnered with Netflix for the MST3K revival.
Trace and Frank expected to be asked back in their old roles, but either they weren't asked, or, they were asked to show up as a cameo to pass the baton over to Day and Oswald with a ridiculous low ball offer.
Either way, Trace no longer speaks to Joel.
Trace and Frank were then surprised/upset when Joel turned around and partnered with Netflix for the MST3K revival.
Trace and Frank expected to be asked back in their old roles, but either they weren't asked, or, they were asked to show up as a cameo to pass the baton over to Day and Oswald with a ridiculous low ball offer.
Either way, Trace no longer speaks to Joel.
That is quite sad, and I hate to hear that. Joel's two tenures with MST3K have both been fraught with tensions and issues, unfortunately, as the first time around he left because he could not get along with Jim Mallon. In many respects, his situation reminds me of Gene Roddenberry -- created something beloved, but had a difficult time managing it day-to-day and getting along with the other people on the team.
I do find it interesting that both Trace and Frank participated in the MST3K reunion show that RiffTrax did the year that MST3K was coming back to Netflix. Perhaps they did that because it was ultimately a RiffTrax project, not Joel's project.
Regardless, I hope that Trace and Frank have the opportunity to get involved with the new RiffTrax revival of MST3K.
What about Mike Nelson? What happened to him?
I only hope they caption it. Rifftrax isn't captioned.
I scrolled back to the start of this thread to refresh my memory about a few things. In particular, I wanted to reexamine the goals of the original KickStarter, the one that eventually led to the NetFlix episodes.
www.trekbbs.com
They needed a minimum of 2 million dollars to produce a single episode and a stretch of 5.5 million to produce 12. Strange that just over 10 years later, the RiffTrax crew need only 20 grand to produce 4 episodes. Already the new fundraiser has collected nearly 1.2 million dollars, 60 (SIXTY) times that of the initial goal, and they still have 41 days left! I know it won't play out like the following, but the simple math alone suggests they could create 240 new episodes! (4 X 60 = 240) But seriously, I wonder how they will apply this absurdly lucrative "overage" which can only grow over the course of nearly 6 weeks? It also begs the question why this project will be so much (relatively) cheaper to produce than Joel's efforts a decade ago?
The Official and Very Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thread
Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre ^"Wasn't John Saxon in this movie?" :p I agree that Crow's time traveling antics in "Time Chasers" are great. Although, as far as host segments go, I still say my favorites are Pearl's fake PBS pledge drive in...
www.trekbbs.com
They needed a minimum of 2 million dollars to produce a single episode and a stretch of 5.5 million to produce 12. Strange that just over 10 years later, the RiffTrax crew need only 20 grand to produce 4 episodes. Already the new fundraiser has collected nearly 1.2 million dollars, 60 (SIXTY) times that of the initial goal, and they still have 41 days left! I know it won't play out like the following, but the simple math alone suggests they could create 240 new episodes! (4 X 60 = 240) But seriously, I wonder how they will apply this absurdly lucrative "overage" which can only grow over the course of nearly 6 weeks? It also begs the question why this project will be so much (relatively) cheaper to produce than Joel's efforts a decade ago?
He went on a sea hunt
Rifftrax have their own studio space in Minnesota so that's probably a big savings right there. Also: not producing in Los Angeles, which is stupid expensive.
Also, I imagine Felicia Day and Patton Oswalt have much bigger salaries than the Rifftrax gang.
And, also, Shout! was going to produce four episodes regardless of how the Kickstarter went. Shout! is fronting some unknown amount of money to make these; the KS is a bonus (and hopefully opens the door to more episodes). We don't actually know how much this will cost.
Hearing the news of Mike, Bill, and Kevin returning to MST3K brought a grin to my face that lasted most of the day. Although I appreciated the return of the show back in seasons 11 and 12 (haven't seen 13), it never felt like real MST3K to me. Then again, I have a prejudice for the Sci-fi Channel years, since that's when I discovered the show. So, I don't pretend to be objective about it. Anyway, very excited for the new episodes.
Some of the Netflix season episodes like Cry Wilderness were as good as anything they ever did.
My main problem with it was that the guys playing the bots sounded alike and it was difficult to tell who was speaking. .
Thanks, that makes a lot of sense. Though it's ironic that the...might we call it "Joel's Project" wound up having less elaborate sets than what the Comedy Central Sci-Fi Channel eras had, reduced to flat backdrops or CSO backgrounds compared to the fully realized bridge of the '90s. I know part of that was Covid restrictions. They had to stay safe. I will admit that I really liked the "door sequence" of the NetFlix and GizmoPlex runs. And I say that as a fan who was "initiated" during the Sci-Fi Channel years. I know part of the fun is that we had this bizarre lineup of doors that make no sense aboard a space station, but I really got a kick seeing these various but cohesive "bays" as we ran for the theater with Jonah and Emily. I imagine for these RiffTrax episodes, they will return to the tradition of "out of place" doors like drawbridges, latticed gates, hospital doors and the like.