Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax

[Flexo]

My roommate swears we both watched Robo Vampires ...at the same time.. Unriffed... I can't recall a single frame.

Maybe this will help.

 

[Kornula]

Maybe this will help.

NO! Thank you I am happy to not remember that one at all.

But thank you anyway.

What really baffles me about MST3K is that it is still insanely popularl.. yet every single network eventually shuts it down...even though it never gets low ratings.

 

[Flexo]

S6 is now here and even Chuck admits that Manos is heavily challenged in this season.

Entering the ring...

Coleman Francis.

 

[Someone in a Tree]

What really baffles me about MST3K is that it is still insanely popularl.. yet every single network eventually shuts it down...even though it never gets low ratings.

I think it’s a combination of it never being a ratings smash and the networks not owning it. They don’t see the point of a small investment with a modest return, let alone one they don’t own.

 

[Kornula]

I think it’s a combination of it never being a ratings smash and the networks not owning it. They don’t see the point of a small investment with a modest return, let alone one they don’t own.

But its not low ratings.. But, Star Trek was initially a small investment with.. what they thought was a modest return. Having said that, it is possible..but why would networks like Sci Fy, Comedy Central and Netflix pick it up in the first place?
I know why Netflix dropped it.. its not "bingeable" which is a stupid reason... if they still get more than enough hits from it. Look at the full episodes posted on YouTube. Their view counts are pretty high.

 

[Flexo]

But its not low ratings.. But, Star Trek was initially a small investment with.. what they thought was a modest return. Having said that, it is possible..but why would networks like Sci Fy, Comedy Central and Netflix pick it up in the first place?
I know why Netflix dropped it.. its not "bingeable" which is a stupid reason... if they still get more than enough hits from it. Look at the full episodes posted on YouTube. Their view counts are pretty high.

Chuck will go over it on his commentary if he hasn't touched on it already. One factor is the programming block.

So here is S7 at last, and in this Chuck will go over the drama that led to the show leaving Comedy Central.

 

[XYZpdq]

What really baffles me about MST3K is that it is still insanely popularl.. yet every single network eventually shuts it down...even though it never gets low ratings.

it's a tricky show to run
as far as I understand from various online chatter and interviews
a) upkeep on it is a bitch on episodes that aren't PD movies
b) programming a two hour solid show is a royal fucking pain in the ass compared to four half hour shows or two hour shows, the big size reduces the options for playing with air times and stuff
c) it wouldn't get _bad_ ratings, but it wouldn't do gangbusters either
d) as mentioned above, ownership wasn't with the network. This is what did in Farscape even though it got better ratings than Stargate Yet Another Show. SciFi didn't hate Farscape or anything but if they fund Farscape after the initial deal runs out they have fuckall, Stargate The Next One they get the international tv money forever

 

[Flexo]

Here at last, the first season on the sci-fi network, #8. (probably my personal favorite season)

 

[Flexo]

Now we go to S9 with a LOT of studio backstage drama in this one.

Guest appearance by DICK CHENEY!

 

[Starscreams Cape]

Now we go to S9 with a LOT of studio backstage drama in this one.

Guest appearance by DICK CHENEY!
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Are these on the SFDebris youtube channel?

Also, the clip from the "The Final Sacrifice" demonstrates why I lean towards the Mike era. Just the occasional, natural chuckling they do at times sells it as a couple of friends watching a movie together. No joke needed, just laughing at the absurdity along with us at home. Contrast that to NU-MST3K, which is a trio of Millenials trying to impress each other with their world class wit.

 

[Flexo]

Are these on the SFDebris youtube channel?

Also, the clip from the "The Final Sacrifice" demonstrates why I lean towards the Mike era. Just the occasional, natural chuckling they do at times sells it as a couple of friends watching a movie together. No joke needed, just laughing at the absurdity along with us at home. Contrast that to NU-MST3K, which is a trio of Millenials trying to impress each other with their world class wit.

Not yet. The restoration hasn't gotten to them yet, hence why I'm kind of uploading them here for a bit of storage.

Final sacrifice is a personal favorite.

Onto the final season. (or at least it would but it's too large to upload hmmm...)

 

[Deadman]

Meant to have this for the weekend but got delayed. Apologies. Here is S5 now.
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I wonder how Mallon feel's about Millennial science theater, given that and the recent behind the scenes history surrounding it allows us to see some clues to mallon’s side of the story, in terms of how Joel manages the franchise, and what would have happened had he got his way back them. particularly in his missteps (hopefully the upcoming networkless run fixes of the some of the flaws and gets us back to standard quality, obviously you can’t exactly recreate what worked decades ago now. But you can be better than the extreme mixed bag that was the Netflix era.)
And don’t get me wrong, there were missteps: take a look at the Mst3k fan forum about the revival; certain posts tell a interesting story.

Spoiler: Take this stuff with a grain of salt obviously. Names have been removed for the sake of anonymity (tho one can just easily look them up with a quick search, still, i tried,

put a pin on "its joel's show, he doesn't want it to be stolen like it was in the 90's".
iv'e heard someone say the revival is "joel's revenge on mallon and the hollywood that locked him out of relevancy for a decade."
who knew the lucas comparison is accurate?

 

[Someone in a Tree]

I wonder how Mallon feel's about Millennial science theater, given that and the recent behind the scenes history surrounding it allows us to see some clues to mallon’s side of the story, in terms of how Joel manages the franchise, and what would have happened had he got his way back them. particularly in his missteps (hopefully the upcoming networkless run fixes of the some of the flaws and gets us back to standard quality, obviously you can’t exactly recreate what worked decades ago now. But you can be better than the extreme mixed bag that was the Netflix era.)
And don’t get me wrong, there were missteps: take a look at the Mst3k fan forum about the revival; certain posts tell a interesting story.

Spoiler: Take this stuff with a grain of salt obviously. Names have been removed for the sake of anonymity (tho one can just easily look them up with a quick search, still, i tried,

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put a pin on "its joel's show, he doesn't want it to be stolen like it was in the 90's".
iv'e heard someone say the revival is "joel's revenge on mallon and the hollywood that locked him out of relevancy for a decade."
who knew the lucas comparison is accurate?

Most of what is on that site is just conjecture pieces together by Twitter posts and a few interviews. We’re likely never to get the full story, and even then it would come down to a “he said, she said” situation. I forget the source, but Joel claimed that he initially developed the reboot with the idea of it being a reunion situation where there would be two casts (one consisting of Joel, Josh, and Trace, and the other being Mike, Kevin, and Bill). Joel claimed that he was developing this with Trace and eventually abandoned that approach because he couldn’t think of a way to resolve this setup narratively (which, I will admit, is a stupid reason for a show with a theme song that asks the viewers to disregard such concerns). From there, Joel developed the reboot largely as it came to be, but with Kinga being a sort of apprentice Mad being coached by the Mads from the original run. There is concept art on one of the DVD sets for the Netflix seasons that point to this. Joel claims that Trace, Josh, Frank, Mary Jo, Kevin, and Bill were all attached to this version, but dropped out around the time planning was started on the Kickstarter. Frank said he wasn’t approached about being involved in the reboot, but Trace said that he turned down what he admitted to be a very generous offer. An interesting thing that I did not know, but learned thanks to Bill Corbett’s Funhouse podcast, was that Jim Mallon approached Mike, Kevin, and Bill about making new episodes of the show right before Rifftrax was founded, but turned it down once they saw the sample contract that Mallon was offering to them. Bill didn’t go into detail, but said it was laughably one-sided. As for how things stand now, Josh and Mary Jo are going to work on the new season and the Rifftrax crew are going to host a live event on the platform Joel is creating for the show. I’m hoping that the show benefits from being away from Netflix’s restrictions (a hurried production schedule brought on by needing all the episodes ready at the same time) and their excesses (Joel will have to be more careful with the money since he won’t have the funds Netflix paid to license the show).

 

[XYZpdq]

that reminds me we never got that coffee table book of concept art from the early days of the show that was being discussed before Season 11 was in the works

 

[Someone in a Tree]

that reminds me we never got that coffee table book of concept art from the early days of the show that was being discussed before Season 11 was in the works

It came out, but it was exclusive to Kickstarter backers. The few remaining extra copies were offered as add ons for the most recent campaign

 

[XYZpdq]

thinking about it I'm surprised that the time they riffed Motorhead's Ace of Spades doesn't get more attention

 

[BScCollateral]

I just rewatched the MST3K Castle of Fu Manchu and I think they failed to appreciate the subtlety of Christopher Lee's performance as Fu Manchu, which is not a sentence I ever expected to type.

In the bit at the end where the castle is blowing up and Christopher Lee looks confused, it's not a case where Christopher Lee is confused. Lee is playing a part and Fu Manchu is confused and unable to decide what to do. It's not something I say lightly, but I think Lee deserves respect as an actor and for bringing his life experience to his roles. In other contexts he's pushed against the usual portrayal of evil masterminds in that situation: Fu Manchu isn't afraid, or angry, or swearing revenge: he is trying to deal with an emergency and he can't.

It's a terrible film, but I think Christopher Lee is legitimately good.

 

[Starscreams Cape]

Some of you might find this interesting. A YT'er made a pretty watchable video finding the LA locations for many of the classic MST3K movies.

 

[ditto]

I wonder if there's beer on the sun

I just rewatched the MST3K Castle of Fu Manchu and I think they failed to appreciate the subtlety of Christopher Lee's performance as Fu Manchu, which is not a sentence I ever expected to type.

What really makes Castle unwatchable is the print. It had some pretty cool fight scenes IIRC.

Unlike Agent From H.A.R.M - the globe-trotting spy movie that hangs around that one beach house.

 

[Jesus Goldstein]

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZmgMIPRww56fNlkBHZJmfA/videos?view=0&sort=dd&shelf_id=0

I've been enjoying this Youtube channel. Watching MST3K with the commercials break from the 90's left in has been a fun bit of nostalgia.