Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax

[grapeshark77]

Oh yeah, this thing is still tanking. Almost at 2 million (a lot of money!) but they need a total of 4.8 million in three days to make the minimum 6 episodes.

Joel did a couple of interviews and they did not go over well from what I've seen. Here's the bad quote:

Spoiler: he doesn't care

Q: How do you think this new goal, and in turn the pay equity that will come through it, will help push the team forward? And what steps do you hope the industry in general can take from now on to achieve something similar?

Joel Hodgson: I don't know. That's out of my pay grade to have that kind of thinking. I can only speak to MST3K, and we always just - this is our third fundraiser and the proposition is really, if you want more shows, we'll make more shows. If the money's not there, we'll stop making shows. We already feel like we've made history bringing the brand back and doing all these episodes again when no one ever expected us to. I feel completely creatively sated at this point getting to do it, so everything else would be a wonderful benefit if we get to go further. But it's really just if the appetite's there. If not, there's not a lot of pressure, I wouldn't say it's - what was the thing they used to do for National Lampoon? "Buy this magazine or we'll kill this dog," [Laughs] they would do like that. This isn't one of those things.

and from Movieweb:

Spoiler: zzzzzzzz

MW: What can the fans do to help the show continue?

Joel Hodgson: Oh, listen, they don't gotta do anything. I mean, I'm thrilled with where they brought us. We just kind of made history in a couple of different ways by bringing the show back, and we've done 33 episodes plus seven live shows. So 40 new Mystery Science Theaters. I'm like completely thrilled we got to do that, if nothing else happens. So I just appreciate everybody. They don't gotta do nothing, and just have a good time. I was gonna say, 'Keep circulating the tapes,' but that's a medium we don't use anymore. It's the URL now, I suppose.

I think when it became clear that they'd be lucky to get 6 shows he checked out even more than he had. Probably for the best although it's funny to have the hardcore fans screaming about this and then Joel's like "who gives a shit".

https://archive.ph/wip/4Z8Wf
https://archive.ph/XqriQ

 

[Peaches the Wonder Cat]

Joel's like "who gives a shit".

 

[Rick's Beef Wellington]

New email from Joel about production changes that cut $800k from the budget, but they're still way short to make anything. He also blames the strikes, like having Bye Felicia, Patton Wifekiller, and Jonah Gay out there was what we needed to get us to open our wallets.

I like those depressing interview quotes above, it's time for Joel to cut bait. He got out-sharked by Rifftrax; if we had never had/still have that, there'd be a lot more enthusiasm but Joel thought the value was in the brand and not the product, I'm genuinely sad for him.

 

[BScCollateral]

Right now, Joel is in the position of either "not caring" or "spazzing out like Darksyde Phil." I don't blame him for picking "not a big deal."

 

[Michael Wade]

What's everyone's opinion of cinematic titanic? I remember that being a lot better then Netflix mst3k from what I've seen

 

[grapeshark77]

I liked Cinematic Titanic at the time, although I was kind of annoyed when they switched to only doing live releases - however I've heard that those are better than the studio ones so I was probably wrong. Some interesting bad movies and much funnier jokes than nu-MST3K.

I didn't know you could change the goal on an "all or nothing" crowdfunder, much less change it with 3 days left? Weird.

 

[Flexo]

Let's be honest, anything before current clown world is going to be better than now where all jokes have to be passed through a sensitivity filter.

That's not to say MST3K was ever "edgy" or anything, the crew usually tried to be decent (save a few personal objects of annoyance like Gallagher or Joe Don Baker) but they were also willing to make risky jokes if it was funny.

Nowadays you wonder if they would be canceled for Final Sacrifice on account of how they bullied the nerd main character.

 

[BScCollateral]

What's everyone's opinion of cinematic titanic? I remember that being a lot better then Netflix mst3k from what I've seen

Good stuff, as was The Film Crew.
I'd put the last season of MST3K below both of them, but still above The Mads are Back.
Did you ever notice films made in the 1950s predominantly feature white people? Frank will be sure to point that out. Over and over and over...

 

[bifftango]

What's everyone's opinion of cinematic titanic? I remember that being a lot better then Netflix mst3k from what I've seen

Cinematic Titanic was fine, but it was early proof that Joel thought the secret sauce was his patented Shadowrama and lame comedy bits, and it seemed a bit try-hard at the time. Shifting to live-only releases would have been fine, but they were badly produced, and some of the movies they did as live performances never made it to DVD/VOD. The writing also wasn't as good as MST3K , Film Crew, or Rifftrax.

With that said, I'll take Cinematic Titanic over any season of this rebooted MST3K abortion. Talk about try-hard!

While Jim Mallon may have been a bit of a controlling jerk with MST3K, it's becoming apparent that Joel was probably a detriment to the show, as well, and it was probably a blessing when he left when he did.

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

What's everyone's opinion of cinematic titanic? I remember that being a lot better then Netflix mst3k from what I've seen

I dug it, especially as at the time RT was _very_ heavy into bland jokes about bland Hollywood movies of the time. As it became touring-only I lost most all interest because they never were near me, and iirc tix were stupid expensive, like sixty bucks for the cheap seats?

edgy

off the top of my head they got pretty edgy about the drug jokes at least, I recall a lot of jokes about shooting up, cooking black tar heroin, there's a great subtle bit one of the times they're making fun of Bela and Crow's got his hand on his opposite arm like trying to pop a vein
also some of the descriptions of grizzly events could get really graphic, like Tom's Christmas message

While Jim Mallon may have been a bit of a controlling jerk with MST3K, it's becoming apparent that Joel was probably a detriment to the show, as well, and it was probably a blessing when he left when he did.

modern MST has been rough, but it's still not "The Bots Are Back"

 

[Quarterback Rex Grossman]

Watching it now on YouTube and it is godawful. There's a young woman riffing with the robots and she sounds like she's reading cue cards on her first day at acting school. None of the jokes land at all, they just happen. Crow is a woman for some reason. And the lady Mike spent five minutes doing a skit about math before talking about the book being PROBLEMATIC. Also Spoony keeps showing up in the chat to drop his magical riffs and not respond to anyone.

The movie is Beyond Atlantis and both female leads are h-o-t hot, the brunette being a Janet Alfano lookalike.

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

Watching it now on YouTube and it is godawful. There's a young woman riffing with the robots and she sounds like she's reading cue cards on her first day at acting school. None of the jokes land at all, they just happen. Crow is a woman for some reason.

yeah I tried it for a minute
if it was a fan work by some drama kids in high school it would have been sorta cute, but that's about it

 

[ACE CERTIFICATION PROGRAM]

Tried to watch a bit and caught Servo and lady Mike rapping…no thanks.

 

[grapeshark77]

The Emily episodes were rough (especially her Crow's voice) and she did half of the season. Also Joel got her Crow so his episodes also have wacky cartoon voice stepping on jokes. The writing is the biggest issue, they seem afraid to make fun of the movie.

I think people donated to the Kickstarter for that season expecting to see the Jonah cast from Netflix and the fact that they were gone for half of it explains something about the current one.

I love the random producer guy hosting the marathon, like it's going to inspire people to donate.

 

[Molly White's Breast Milk]

The writing is the biggest issue, they seem afraid to make fun of the movie.

Joel's been like this since the KTMA years. That's why I prefer Mike, he and his bots actually rip into the movies.

 

[BootlegPopeye]

You know, I know some long time Joel fans who because of the shit show that was this revival, now believe that Mike was always really the heart and soul of the show. And that's what I've always thought personally. Obviously ktma was rough, and the first comedy Central season being not much better is just chalked up to being a new show until they got their footing. But I think the show actually did depend on Mike to have real quality, and what do you know he was brought in in season 2.

I tried to watch one of the revival episodes and it was bad. So bad I couldn't even make 5 minutes of it. The rapid fire riffs like every second of the movie has to have a riff of some kind, fucking awful.

 

[RollerGator]

Nowadays you wonder if they would be canceled for Final Sacrifice on account of how they bullied the nerd main character.

>muh cancel culta

In the newest rifftrax episode they make fun of an actresses awful plastic surgery face which even the RedLetterMedia guys were afraid to do. Nobody was cancelled.

 

[Tor Lugosi]

I've had their YouTube Turkey Day marathon on in the background for a while. For most of the day it's been sitting at 6 - 7k viewers while the classic episodes were playing. Once it switched over to the newer episodes it dropped more than 1k viewers.

 

[Peaches the Wonder Cat]

If Joel thought it was a good idea to run a non-Kickstarter because he could promote it during the Turkey Day marathon, ending just when everyone is ramping up spending for Christmas gifts, charity, or just to survive because Bidenonomics, he's an idiot.

"I realize I could save $800K by filming in LA" is something you think about before you ask for money, not during the campaign. Maybe he'll meet his goal by realizing how much more money he can save by not hiring wifekiller Patton Oswalt and grandpa fucker Felicia Day, and just let someone pay $10000 to riff a movie. Ten people already coughed up $5K each to riff a short. Why pay talent when the talentless can pay you?

Reddit sperging:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MST3K/comments/182f1rh/you_love_mst3k_support_it/

Spoiler: Wall of text

You love Mystery Science Theater 3000 and you need to support your favorite television show. I did not think that I would have to write a post like this. But I feel compelled to be blunt right here and now. I'm reading too much doom and gloom lately. That needs to be dispelled. This show is awesome. You know it. I know it. We all want to keep it going.

Maybe you think I'm some kind of paid shill. Maybe you think I'm on the staff of the show. Or whatever other rightfully paranoid thing you can imagine. No. I am a fan. I have been a fan since I first saw Mystery Science Theater Hour on network TV in my hovel basement apartment while in art college in Savannah because I couldn't afford cable. After stealing cable for a while and watching it on Comedy Central, I gave in and paid for it because MST3K was one of the few things that kept me going.

In the mid-'90s, a girl I loved was killed in a tragic accident and the first thing that got me to laugh again was MST3K. I had the honor of thanking the alumni of the show in person at conventions and Cinematic Titanic shows. This show literally changed my life for the better.

I taped the shows. I traded the tapes. I converted them to DVDs and traded those as well. I bought all the DVDs--including that quickly-recalled Godzilla vs Megalon DVD. I watched the reruns on SyFy until the final day.

I contributed hundreds of dollars to all the fundraising campaigns that brought back the show. I was and still am amazed that the Netflix revival actually happened. The online debates about the merits of the new hosts, bots, and mads made me chuckle because I saw these same debates before with Tom's new voice at the beginning of the Comedy Channel era to Mike becoming the new host to all the changes when it moved to Sci-Fi. In the future, you will look back on these recent seasons with fondness, just as you do when you looked back on all those other seasons despite all the dramatic changes. I remember when fans hated the new style of the Sci-Fi episodes but now they are regarded as classics.

Yes, we did it. WE DID IT. We made it happen. We have our show. And we can keep it going.

But we all have to acknowledge the serious reality checks that happened in the last few years. The pandemic really doused the quality of the last season. Nevertheless, the Gizmoplex was a good idea even though it clearly needs a little polish. And just as things seemed to find some footing and thoughts turned towards season 14, the writer and actor strike happened. There was nothing we could do about the pandemic and I believe that the strike was necessary.

Now here we are, quibbling (or nitpicking or whatever) about about this or that failing of the current state of MST3K. I can't bring myself to say that fans are being crummy whiners. Far from it. We are having honest and pragmatic discussions here. And that's great! It gladdens my heart that all you fans are so much nicer than certain other fans of marvelous heroes and galaxies far away. But here's the thing: the folks who make our favorite show LISTEN TO US. And because of this strike, they have literally been unable to promote much of anything until this Turkey Day Marathon fundraiser thing was already in the pipeline. I've been going over it in my mind and I just don't see how it could have gone down any other way. They are doing the best with what the hands of fate have dealt them. I don't blame Joel and the rest one bit. Not at all. I hope they all read this and know that there are many fans out there who, like me, appreciate them and understand.

And, oh yeah, the economy sucks. I don't have as much money as I did years ago. But I am going to contribute money ANYWAY because Mystery Science Theater 3000 is important to me and makes me happy. All those fundraiser goodies were nice in years past but I just didn't care about posters, stickers, t-shirts, and so on. Except for that music box snow globe. That was cool and I didn't mind in the slightest when everything was delivered late. When I donate this time, I'm giving just enough to get the only thing I really want: physical copies of the episodes. I wish I could give so much more but I can only give so much. If you can give more, please do it. If you can only give a few dollars now, so be it.

I'm not going to make recommendations about what they should do or go on about things I didn't like about recent season. I love it all and I'm THANKFUL that this show exists. The only personal opinion I'm going to make is that Emily Connor is the best host ever. All debates about who is the best host is hereby settled forever and ever in perpetuity, Amen.

 

[Tor Lugosi]

Reddit sperging:

well, at least most of the replies are fairly sane and are basically telling the guy to fuck off