MST3K Returns! New Episodes

I want to be hopeful, but I was there for The `Bots Are Back. I need a lot more than the MST3k brand name and nonspecific involvement by Joel. And opening with GIB MONIE PLS doesn't really thrill me either, especially for something as legendarily cheap-looking.

Honestly I would rather have more Cinematic Titanic.
 
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As much as I want this to happen, I do have some concerns. Although the show had two hosts, Mike Nelson was lead writer for the show during the Comedy Central and Sci-Fi Channel eras. Given his job with Rifftrax/Legend Entertainment I doubt very highly he'll be involved at all in the writing or production of this revival of MST3K. I know the show was very much Joel's creation, but Mike (Frank Coniff too) was very much responsible for many of the riffs during the original run.
 
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I have to admit, I'm not psyched about this.

For one, it feels redundant; we have RiffTrax now and they do as good a job as MST3K did back in the day at riffing movies.

For two, most TV shows that return after a gap this long are rarely good. Joel could probably get some of the original MST3K guys to do it, though, so there may yet be a chance.
 
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The truth is that without Mike, and the voices of the bots (all of whom are on rifftrax), I can't see this as either working or being funny. Joel needs the others to play off of to work, but I can't see them abandoning their cash cow for the old brand.

Personally I'd rather see Joel join Rifftrax.
 
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Skeealator said:
As a huge MST3K, fan this feels unnecessary now that Rifftrax is a thing.
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Maybe it's just me, but I feel a large part of the appeal of MST3K is seeing things you are unlikely to see elsewhere. Yeah, they would occasionally feature a famously bad movie like Robot Monster or Bride of the Monster, but a lot of what they showcased would have faded into complete obscurity. Pod People, The Day the Earth Froze, The Magic Sword, Mitchell, Manos: The Hands of Fate, Teenage Strangler, Werewolf, The Final Sacrifice, Hobgoblins. Maybe it's a dubious achievement bringing such things to the light, but that's a big part of the show's appeal. Rifftrax has found a niche and they've done some great tracks, but did we really need someone else piling on to the heap of Twilight and The Phantom Menace jokes we already have?
 
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Steamboat_Bill said:
I have to admit, I'm not psyched about this.

For one, it feels redundant; we have RiffTrax now and they do as good a job as MST3K did back in the day at riffing movies.

For two, most TV shows that return after a gap this long are rarely good. Joel could probably get some of the original MST3K guys to do it, though, so there may yet be a chance.
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Well, this initial series revival appears to be mainly a web-series format so, unlike most resurrected tv shows that just go right back onto TV, new MST3K will be on the web where the majority of its fans already are, so the strongest possible base audience factor is accounted for there.

Plus, MST3K has the unique trait that no other revival shows have - the lower the production values the better. The show was apologetically obvious in the shoestring budget and the obvious strings operating the puppets, but that was part of the appeal. Of course things need to look somewhat slicker than just finding crap at Goodwill and spray painting it gold before gluing it to the walls, but it's only cheap set dressing in the end.

To be perfectly honest, I'm actually kind of bummed it looks like Gipsy isn't returning. As a fourth character on the SoL she was necessary for a lot of the greatest host skits.

XYZpdq said:
I'm trying my damnedest to not blue-arms rage over a yellow jumpsuit.
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Why? There's precedence for the jumpsuit change - originally, Joel as host had a red jumpsuit. When Mike took over, his jumpsuit was blue. Only fitting that the new host has his own color jumpsuit, right?

Someone in a Tree said:
Maybe it's just me, but I feel a large part of the appeal of MST3K is seeing things you are unlikely to see elsewhere. Yeah, they would occasionally feature a famously bad movie like Robot Monster or Bride of the Monster, but a lot of what they showcased would have faded into complete obscurity. Pod People, The Day the Earth Froze, The Magic Sword, Mitchell, Manos: The Hands of Fate, Teenage Strangler, Werewolf, The Final Sacrifice, Hobgoblins. Maybe it's a dubious achievement bringing such things to the light, but that's a big part of the show's appeal. Rifftrax has found a niche and they've done some great tracks, but did we really need someone else piling on to the heap of Twilight and The Phantom Menace jokes we already have?
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100% agreed. While the stuff Rifftrax does is still great, the irony of MST3K's legacy is that everybody kind of does riffing on films these days and all the big blockbusters are too familiar to us from the trailer ads alone. Excluding Plan 9, bypassing the rights issue on that through Rifftrax was predestined since MST3K never could.

But B-movies nobody's heard of? That's MST3K's bread and butter.
 
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Optimus Prime said:
Why? There's precedence for the jumpsuit change - originally, Joel as host had a red jumpsuit. When Mike took over, his jumpsuit was blue. Only fitting that the new host has his own color jumpsuit, right?
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Oh yeah, they've changed them before. Joel had beige, red, green, deep red, a bunch.
The yellow just bugs me for some reason.
 
XYZpdq said:
Oh yeah, they've changed them before. Joel had beige, red, green, deep red, a bunch.
The yellow just bugs me for some reason.
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Fair enough, I can respect that.
 
Someone in a Tree said:
Maybe it's just me, but I feel a large part of the appeal of MST3K is seeing things you are unlikely to see elsewhere. Yeah, they would occasionally feature a famously bad movie like Robot Monster or Bride of the Monster, but a lot of what they showcased would have faded into complete obscurity. Pod People, The Day the Earth Froze, The Magic Sword, Mitchell, Manos: The Hands of Fate, Teenage Strangler, Werewolf, The Final Sacrifice, Hobgoblins. Maybe it's a dubious achievement bringing such things to the light, but that's a big part of the show's appeal. Rifftrax has found a niche and they've done some great tracks, but did we really need someone else piling on to the heap of Twilight and The Phantom Menace jokes we already have?
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Rifftrax still does lots of old B-movies and shorts and stuff just like in the old days. Check out The Guy From Harlem, it's amazing.
 
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Skeealator said:
Rifftrax still does lots of old B-movies and shorts and stuff just like in the old days. Check out The Guy From Harlem, it's amazing.
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Or Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny; The Apple... and the shorts are just great. They've done more than MST3K ever did. Who can forget "Improving Your Pronunciation" with Ned Blandford?
 
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