The Official and Very Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thread

[cooleddie74]

Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

Sci-Fi by the end of the '90s was already well on the way to being the disjointed wreck of a channel that it became in recent years. Their cancellation of MST3K was short-sighted to say the very least and prompted in large part by wanting to turn the channel into a platform to pimp USA Networks programming and other material and drift away from some of the shows that had been working for them.

Mike Nelson and Kevin Murphy voiced their opinions about the cancellation at a convention appearance in 2002 and lamented that Sci-Fi was taken over by complete idiots who didn't know what to do with a valuable and popular show like theirs, but what could they do but go along for the ride. The Comedy Channel and Comedy Central years saw almost no interference with the show's writing and production, then it moved to Sci-Fi and all of the sudden the suits running the channel felt they knew best and stuck their noses into just about everything they could.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

Joel said somewhere, probably in one of his KS updates, that his "intent" for the show was to be something like Saturday Night Live where the cast would occasionally be swapped out with a new one since, logically, there was no reason the show should ever end given it was cheap to produce and there was no shortage of bad movies.

Think about it, by the end of the series no one in the main cast, not the host, not the bots or the Mads were part of the original cast.

True, although Kevin Murphy & Mike Nelson had been writers on the show pretty much from the beginning.

And I'm not saying that the new guys won't be funny. I'm just saying it seems like an odd choice to not have Joel host the show considering Joel seems to be the primary person involved with the project. Without him hosting and without any confirmed involvement from any of the other original cast & crew, it seems like he's selling us a lot of uncertainty trading on the MST3K name alone.

And while Joel suggests that the idea for the show was that it could perpetually swap the cast out indefinitely, I'm not sure that's what would have happened had the original show not been canceled. After all, Mike, Kevin, & Bill have been continuing to riff movies pretty much non-stop ever since the show ended. Before Rifftrax, they did the short-lived Film Crew. I suppose it's possible that MST3K was more of a grind than Rifftrax, which would have eventually caused them to burn out & leave over the years (which, I guess, is what basically happened to Frank & Trace). It's hard to say.

I'm just wondering, if this project takes off, will Joel eventually consider reviving his movie idea for Statical Planets?

 

[Redfern]

Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

Another angle of my modest lil' S.o.L. set with Alt1701's 'Bot meshes.

As for the "turnover" business, I have my doubts that was intended. But years after the events, a coincidental parallel was noticed between MST3K and Saturday Night Live. I suspect Joel has decided to run with that notion to help "sell" the idea of an entirely new creative team.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

BTW, I recently watched the Rifftrax for Super Mario Bros. I think it may be the best one they've ever done. Although I think they sometimes are a little too mean to John Leguizamo.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

As for the "turnover" business, I have my doubts that was intended. But years after the events, a coincidental parallel was noticed between MST3K and Saturday Night Live. I suspect Joel has decided to run with that notion to help "sell" the idea of an entirely new creative team.

With himself as Lorne Michaels I guess.

 

[cooleddie74]

Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

Sounds like he's pulling a bit of a George Lucas and retconning the "untold history" of MST3K so that it sounds a little more elaborate and expansive, but that's fine. He's entitled to spin whatever mythos he wants about the universe he created and has been nothing but nice and generous to the fans over the decades. He's a class act and a kind person and if he wants to make MST3K sound grander than he originally designed then that's his prerogative and if it helps get more new episodes made then so be it!

 

[Awesome Possum]

Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

Even if it's a new cast and new writers, I'm still excited about new MST3K. As long as they are still building sets and weird low budget props, I'm all in.

I have a feeling that most of the original crew are going to show at some point and possibly help write. Joel has stated in the updates that the only reason he hasn't gone to them is that he wants to make sure that he can pay them what they deserve, something that seems to have been a reoccurring issue when it originally aired.

 

[cooleddie74]

Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

The new guy is TALL.

I didn't realize just how tall Jonah Ray is until tonight.

 

[Trekker4747]

Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

BTW, I recently watched the Rifftrax for Super Mario Bros. I think it may be the best one they've ever done. Although I think they sometimes are a little too mean to John Leguizamo.

Super Mario Bros. is an okay one, though not one of their better works. The movie only gives them so much, though. But considering the annoying way (voice) Leguizamo had in the movie I think they weren't mean enough on him.

But really looking forward to what they do with The Wizard this weekend! (Though I suspect, like SMB, there's not a whole lot of material to work with. Though I suspect some mileage will be taken with Christian Slater.)

 

[Redfern]

Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

Odd thought...

The original series paid homage/riffed low budget filming techniques by employing those techniques themselves in the host segments. Those included, most obviously, puppeteering, tabletop miniature landscapes, model spaceships suspended by wires, etc. Given CGI is is often mocked nowadays, particularly those example which are rushed and thus not well integrated with the live action, do you think Joel's team (will they use the name "Best Brains" again?) will incorporate rendering suites in its "tool set", even if the plan is just to "riff" it? Certainly the suites available are far more affordable and robust than what existed in the 90s.

I ask mainly because I remember a statement Mike Nelson made just before the series debuted on the SciFi Channel. At the time, he and the others thought they'd have a much longer run, so Mike half jokingly commented about the S.o.L. eventually being depicted in cGI. No, I'm not suggesting they drop physical miniatures in favor of digital models. But I can imagine the gang "ragging" on a monster in one of those recent "SyFy Original" productions and later during a host segment the gang is menaced by an even more poorly realized creature that in no way blends with the bridge set.

Yeah, I know this seems like I'm shooting myself in the foot given I've posted some digital renders. Meh, it's an entertaining hobby that keeps me out of the pool halls. I don't claim to be an artiste.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Gepard]

Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

Joel has mentioned they're sticking with "in camera" effects. No CGI. Or at least not using CGI as the primary way to make an image.

 

[cooleddie74]

Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

That's good to know. Keep the new episodes as pure and close to the original look as possible so that it doesn't feel too different or stray from the way the series was designed to appear.

At the end of the day, it's a low-budget series about a guy and his robots that makes fun of bad movies. It works best as a concept that's almost as ridiculous and cheesy as the movies.

 

[Gepard]

Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

It's official: Felecia Day is the next Mad, and Hampton Yount and Baron Vaughn are Crow and Servo respectively. There's also going to be an as-yet-unannounced new henchman.

Joel has also hinted that if we can get to 3.3 million by the end of the Turkey Day marathon he'll release the unseen KTMA episodes as backer rewards. Woah.

So if you haven't donated yet, you should. Won't you?

 

[Awesome Possum]

Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

The speculation is the next henchman is Neil Casey who worked with Joel on Other Space. If so, he would be perfect as TV's Frank Jr if they went in that direction.

Felicia Day is going to be great. Joel did confirm that she'll play Kinga Forrester, Dr. Forrester's daughter.

 

[Redfern]

Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

Think about the implications. Clayton had "relations"?!

Also, why do i get the suspicion Jonah and Kinga may have been a "couple" and after they had a "falling out", the film "experiments" is Kinga's way of "twisting the knife"?

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[cooleddie74]

Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

I hope the new Mad can sing, because some of the best moments in the history of MST3K were the musical sequences and bits.

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PODneWdJx8[/yt]

 

[Redfern]

Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

What did Felicia call Jonah in the latest video update? "Well, aren't you a tall stack of flapjacks!" And she said it with something of a lustful gleam in her eyes. Might that be Fanga's goal, using bad movies to weaken Jonah's resolve and thus brainwash him into loving her?

This could go several different ways.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[cooleddie74]

Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

How many of the new cast will be from Minnesota or even the Midwest? One of the things that made MST3K so unique was its Midwestern, often dry take on things and constant references to regional landmarks and the way people talk. Naturally, you don't need Midwestern writers and actors to be just as funny as the old series was but MST3K had a flavor that you could only get by filming the series in a place like Minnesota with all of its cultural quirks and affectations.

 

[Awesome Possum]

Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

Felicia Day is from Alabama originally, but she can sing.
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA2cREA056Q[/yt]

 

[cooleddie74]

Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

A poster on a Facebook fan page said that Patton Oswalt should join the new cast as a regular character. I liked that idea so much I endorsed it on my own wall and Tweeted Patton about it.

Would it ever happen? Probably not, but a Mistie and a Patton Oswalt fan can always dream.