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The Official and Very Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thread

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

We have 5.9 mil! We have holiday special!

With over two and a half hours left, do we dare hope for a 14th episode?
 
Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

I too saw it "live" as the base number (not including the extra 425K) passed 5.5 million. I actually started clapping like a giddy school kid!

Sincerely,

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

To paraphrase TV's Frank: "Watch. Them. ROCK!!!"
 
Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

They closed with $5,764,229 on Kickstarter alone, which is close to $60,000 more than Veronica Mars made. That makes MST3K the current all-time top earning audio-video project on Kickstarter.

They also raised $600,000 more through MST3K.com, pushing the project to almost $6.4 million and ensuring not just 12, not just 13, but 14 episodes.

That will make season 11 longer than seasons 1, 2, 7, 9,and 10. Holy crap!
 
Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

Suck on that, SyFy! Or....Sci-Fi Channel.

Same difference. Except these days it's even stupider.
 
Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

Every once in a while I browse some of the lower public access channels, because sometimes they show obscure and/or old programs that are weird and amusing. Usually late at night. Just the other night one of them was running, hilariously, a grainy copy of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. :lol:
 
Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

^
I saw the film myself last night. It was shown on Retro TV, the ABC-affiliated (at least in my area) digital channel that airs classic television and films. Retro also airs old MST3K episodes on weekends!
 
Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

We watched Santa Claus here on Christmas day. In 1950s Mexico, Santa is a quasi-superhero who lives in a floating castle and fights the devil! Well, he fights Pitch, who is a devil, but not quite the devil.

I looked it up on the MST3K Wikia and learned some interesting facts about it, like the fact that this was a fantasy/science fiction movie from Mexico at a time when they really weren't doing fantasy or science fiction. It makes me understand the weirdness of it all a little more.

Santa Claus on the MST3K Wikia.
 
Re: The Official and Most Rifftastic Mystery Science Theater 3000 Thre

It also looks like it had an enormous budget for a kids' film of its time, whether north or south of the Rio Grande. The lavish and large sets and elaborate costumes and makeup can't have been cheap for either a Mexican or an American movie of that era. It's bright, sophisticated and colorful for what amounts to a creepy fever dream about Santa battling the Devil on Christmas Eve. :)
 
Bump for the new year! And to announce that production on the new episodes officially started on January 4th, so as of this moment MST3K is in active production as a series for the first time in almost seventeen years.

The Satellite of Love is back! :D
 
If it were still being recorded in the Midwest, I could imagine an intrepid fan or group visiting the action. But with it produced in Hollyweird, I suspect the stage is strictly "off limits".

Sincerely,

Bill
 
Best Brains in Minnesota was very accessible to the fans in the '90s. They even had guided tours of the studio with cast members greeting fans and other visitors. I imagine that wouldn't be possible now if they're shooting the new episodes out on the West Coast and the typical showbiz rules apply to filming and access to soundstages.
 
Going to see Rifftrax Live: Time Chasers in a few hours.

Reminder: the Rifftrax Live MST3K reunion is next month!
 
Thanks for bumping this thread! I was hoping somebody else would have MST3K-related news to post. :hugegrin:
 
The new series sounds like it's going to be pretty good just based on the cast and the head writer, and with Joel involved behind the scenes we may get the best MST3K episodes we've seen since the heyday of the original!
 
Trace and Frank are coming back to Pensacola this Thursday (first time was when they were guests at last year's Pensacon), this time as guest speakers at a special event hosted by our local PBS affiliate. They are going to talk about MST3K stuff, and then do some riffing. Can't wait! :D

ETA: Here's an interview Trace did for our local paper ("The Mads Are Back" is the name of the event):

Q: Tell our readers what to expect from “The Mads Are Back.”

A: We’re back riffing on not completely terrible movies, but they’re not the best you can find. We did six years in the configuration of Cinematic Titanic (a spin-off of sorts from “MST3K”), and that was five of us on stage: Joel (Hodgson), J Elvis (Weinstein, also known as Josh Weinstein), MaryJo (Pehl), Frank and myself. Now it’s just Frank and I, we’re sort of like a little jazz combo — it’s the same type of humor, but a little but looser. We script it but we leave a lot of flexibility, we change it up based on what audience we’re in front of and just to keep it fresh for ourselves.

Q: Are you surprised to find yourself still riffing after all these years?

A: Absolutely. Before we started Cinematic Titanic, I told a friend, “I’m done riffing, I’m not doing it ANY more.” And then it;’s like every time Gilligan said, “you can’t make me, you can’t make me...” Doodely, doodely, doodely, we’re riffing again. But I really enjoy it. I really like working with Frank, we have good chemistry. I absolutely love doing the show for a live audience. We spent so many years in the studio, alone and afraid, not knowing whether anyone was watching the show. So it’s really great too get the immediate feedback from the crowd.

Q: What do you joy about this partnership you’ve developed with Frank Conniff?

A: Well, we like to eat the same things ... We both enjoy a good meal, as our girth will testify to. If you ever got our girth on the stand in a trial, they’d say, “yes, your honor, they like to eat.” And we enjoy doing the show. We missed it, when Cinematic Titanic folded, we were very disappointed. We wanted to keep doing it. We tried to find a way to do that, and then Frank got a call about a year and a half ago to do a riffing show at a convention, and he said, “hey, do you want to do this? It might be fun.” And then we just started booking gigs. People heard that we were back on the road and we’ve been consistently on the road ever since. We’ve called it “The Mads” in the hopes that one day we can get the rest of the Mads to join us for one or two shows. Maybe we can get Josh, Mary Jo, Bill Corbett, Kevin (Murphy) ... anybody that was making Joel or Mike’s life miserable, we’d enjoy to have with us. But right now, it’s just Frank and I.

Q: Of course, there’s a big “MST3K” reunion coming up as the RiffTrax spin-off celebrates its anniversary with a live event that will be simulcast in theaters nationwide. Can you tell us about that?

A: June 28 at the State Theater in Minneapolis, it will be the RiffTrax guys — Kevin, Mike and Bill — and Bridget (Jones Nelson) and Mary Jo, and Frank and I, and Joel and Jonah Ray The only soldier missing is Josh Weinstein, or J. Elvis, as he is also known, who is out in Los Angeles and knee-deep in a couple of documentaries he’s working on. But maybe he’ll change his mind; it won’t be the same without him.

Q: How did this reunion come together?

A: Most of us lie in Minnesota again, so that’s a slam dunk, and Bill Corbett called me and said, “hey, we’re thinking of this goofy idea, what do you think?” “Yeah, that sounds fun.” It was that easy.

Q: Is it odd that you’re “reuniting” with someone who actually hasn’t been on “MST3K’ yet in Jonah Ray, who’ll be the test subject in the new version of the series?

A: As I understand it, initially, we’re riffing in components: The RiffTrax guys will riff on a short, Bridget and Mary Jo will riff on a short, Joel and Jonah will riff on a short, Frank and I will riff. So we’ll be isolated from one another in that respect. But at the end of the show, as I understand it, there’s going to be a “riffapalooza,” and everybody will jump on stage and riff together for one giant Cirque du Soleil riffing experience — or maybe it’ll be Cirque du So What? But we’re all gonna be there and, I don’t know, we’ll see how it goes. I’m looking forward to it. Anything can happen.

Q: You’re not involved with the “MST3K” revival that Joel launched via Kickstarter, but were you surprised at the enthusiasm with which it was received?

A: It was a little bit of a surprise. We knew how enthused the fans were — they’re continuing to watch the show and introduce their kids — but the amount of money they raised was a surprise. That’s real money.

Q: Do you have any thoughts about Felicia Day playing Dr. Forrester’s daughter?

A: Only: “How’d that happen?” I don’t know anything about the story line but I would be curious to know how did Dr. Forrester even meet somebody that he could have a daughter with, I guess we’ll have to find out.

Q: You’re coming in to support WSRE, which airs “Mystery Science Theater 3000” reruns. Are you surprised that the old shows are still in circulation?.

A: They’ve continued to be popular all these years. It’s very cool that they’re on the PBS stations around the country because I think that’s a perfect home for them. That’s where I saw “Monty Python” and “Fawlty Towers” and all those great British comedies. So it’s a real honor to be among those shows, to be that beloved by the audience that we can get a prestige spot like with public television — which is supposed to be helping people, I think. It’s a great honor.

Q: We talked about the “MST3K” Kickstarter, but you have a Kickstarter campaign of your own going on right now. Talk about that.

A: The working title is “RenFest” (renfestivity.com), and it’s a situation comedy that takes place in a renaissance fair.. Mary Jo plays a character who is coming into this already established community, and she’s wanting too bring back the authentic aspect of a Renaissance Fair — eliminate any anachronisms, no “Star Wars” Stormtroopers, no “Game of Thrones” — and it’s the clash that she is up against with the politics of running a business and running an entertainment venue. It’s a bit of maybe “The Office” meets a Renaissance Festival. We’re not going in there to make fun of people — we’re a part of this group. It’d be like going to a sci-fi convention and making fun of cosplayers — that’s a one-note joke that’s maybe 30 years old. We want to find the humor in the relationships and the personalities of the people we encounter. We’re really looking forward to being able to produce the series, and that’s why we’re asking for help on Kickstarter, because you have to pay people to make television shows.
Click to expand...

Pensacola News Journal
 
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Joel must have the biggest smile on his face whenever he realizes that Mel Brooks loves MST3K. And I can't blame him. :D
 
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