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MST3K - Coming back via Kickstarter

Started by dr_christian_troy, November 10, 2015, 08:32:17 PM

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Stonefish

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on May 03, 2017, 02:47:28 PM
Rifftrax pretty much started off as Mike's baby - he wrote, produced and recorded it all on his own, in his garage and watching the films on a portable DVD player if memory serves - as an extension of a couple of others he did on his own[nb]the reason he started off solo was because the previous Nelson/Murphy/Corbett vehicle The Film Crew was a spectacular business disaster[/nb] for other companies (Reefer Madness, for example), just as a way to see if the main concept of MST could be reworked for mainstream films.  But it was so popular, unexpectedly so, that he quickly called in Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett to help him out.

Interesting stuff. The Film Crew passed me by. Was wondering what went wrong and checked Wikipedia:

Quote from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Film_CrewThe episodes were produced in association with Rhino Entertainment, which was to distribute the episodes on DVD. However, Jim Mallon of Best Brains approached Rhino, and threatened to pull future releases of MST3K from Rhino's distribution unless they passed on The Film Crew (Mallon claimed that it was "too similar to MST3K", forcing Rhino to choose between MST3K or Film Crew).[citation needed] Rhino then ended its relationship with The Film Crew.

Seems a bit petty of Jim Mallon. Good for Mike for responding with RiffTrax instead of crawling in to a hole. I'd love to read a "Live From New York" style book about the history of MST3K someday.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: Stonefish on May 03, 2017, 03:26:30 PM
Seems a bit petty of Jim Mallon.

Mallon has long been the MST "bad guy" - he's the reason Joel left, the main reason they all got paid next to nothing, and, as de-facto head honcho, he did practically fuck all when the Sci-Fi channel started tightening the thumbscrews (in other words, some blame him for the show being cancelled in the first place).  He also wrestled away the rights to MST and was the sole owner of the brand until Joel managed to get the rights back after years of negotiating, hence this revival. 

To give him his due, he did some excellent writing and directing on the show, got the film made under very difficult conditions (all things considered, it probably never would have made it had Joel still been involved) and, of course, provided the voice of Gypsy.  Aside from that, literally the only good business thing he ever did was MST merchandising, but even that has been a bit of a shit show thanks to very poor customer service and a limited choice of wares.

The fact that he's the only regular from MST history who has not even been approached to be involved with any related projects since tells you all you need to know.

Lemming

Finally finished the last couple episodes of the new series, having watched them very very slowly. Going against what seems to be the general opinion, I think they actually got a little worse as they went on. The first half up until Yongary was almost consistently great, but shit like Carnival Magic and The Christmas That Almost Wasn't were rarely making me laugh, and any laughs I did get were more from the movie itself rather than the riffs. Overall though it's still an impressive revival of MST3k, and I'm really hoping for a second series. I think Reptilicus was actually my favourite episode for riffs.

The biggest laugh of the entire series for me wasn't even in a theatre segment, though, it was Crow in the final host segment... but we seem to have lost spoiler tags, so I can't even quote it. Shit.

Phil_A

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on May 03, 2017, 10:00:41 PM
Mallon has long been the MST "bad guy" - he's the reason Joel left, the main reason they all got paid next to nothing, and, as de-facto head honcho, he did practically fuck all when the Sci-Fi channel started tightening the thumbscrews (in other words, some blame him for the show being cancelled in the first place).  He also wrestled away the rights to MST and was the sole owner of the brand until Joel managed to get the rights back after years of negotiating, hence this revival. 

To give him his due, he did some excellent writing and directing on the show, got the film made under very difficult conditions (all things considered, it probably never would have made it had Joel still been involved) and, of course, provided the voice of Gypsy.  Aside from that, literally the only good business thing he ever did was MST merchandising, but even that has been a bit of a shit show thanks to very poor customer service and a limited choice of wares.

The fact that he's the only regular from MST history who has not even been approached to be involved with any related projects since tells you all you need to know.

I could've sworn I heard Joel approached him for a potential reunion years back and he said no.

This may have been around the time he (Mallon) was trying to get an animated series off the ground based on the bots, with none of the original cast voices, surprise surprise. That seems typical of the man, trying to find a way to exploit "his" brand in a way that didn't involve financially recompensing any of the other crew members. But no-one cared about the cartoon anyway.

Oh look, it's on youtube. Relive the magic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw6SXaDkjjg

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: Lemming on June 05, 2017, 03:49:26 PM
shit like Carnival Magic

Which was actually my favourite one in terms of riffing.

As I said in an earlier post, though, I don't see myself repeat watching any of these in future, and I certainly won't be looking to "procure" them for keepsies.  I'm open to a second series of this iteration, but I still can't get over Kevin Murphy not being Servo.


Quote from: Phil_A on June 05, 2017, 04:26:32 PM
I could've sworn I heard Joel approached him for a potential reunion years back and he said no.

This may have been around the time he (Mallon) was trying to get an animated series off the ground based on the bots, with none of the original cast voices, surprise surprise. That seems typical of the man, trying to find a way to exploit "his" brand in a way that didn't involve financially recompensing any of the other crew members. But no-one cared about the cartoon anyway.

Oh look, it's on youtube. Relive the magic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw6SXaDkjjg

You're right - Joel tried to rekindle some working relationship with Mallon a couple of years after it was cancelled and Mallon refused.  IIRC (from third-hand accounts from other principal MST cast members), Mallon's refusal was more about him not wanting Joel to have any involvement, rather than him not being interested in breathing new life into it.  Which is a bit cunty.

But yeah, that flash series was REALLY bad, despite Paul Chaplin's heavy involvement.

Attila

Series 12 has been announced (appropriately at the end of yesterday's Turkey Day marathon).

Shit Good Nose

Heart warming news.

I wonder if the it'll be the same cast again, or if there'll be any changes after feedback...

I doubt Patton will have the time to return now.

Alberon

Depends how long it would take to film all his scenes for the series.

Expected a renewal announcement for ages, though everyone involved suggested it was strongly likely. Glad it's official now. It's great to see a fun series like this at the top of its game.

Stonefish

It would be nice to see Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff be part of the next one.

kngen

Surprised (and delighted) that Bill turned up on Chapo Trap House last week to lend a hand skewering a ridiculous Republican wank fantasy film where one of the founding fathers travels to the present day to teach an idiot family about the constitution.

Makes me think what kind of political conversations him and Mike must have during downtime at the Rifftrax recordings - that is, if Mike is still a gung-ho neo-con 'bomb the Middle East'-type, which he turned into after 9/11. Hope he's mellowed since then. I was always a Mike fan, and never could warm to Joel.

colacentral

Was he a "bomb the middle east" type? I know he identifies as a Republican but I assumed that was in a small c conservative way, being from the midwest where that seems common.

Old Nehamkin

Quote from: colacentral on November 26, 2017, 01:54:52 PM
Was he a "bomb the middle east" type? I know he identifies as a Republican but I assumed that was in a small c conservative way, being from the midwest where that seems common.

The original link seems to be down, but this snippet from a 2004 interview makes him sound fairly far-right:

QuoteQ33 (Forrest):  Have you seen The Passion of the Christ?  If so, what did you think?

A33:  I have seen it.  I have mixed feelings about movie depictions of the central event in the Christian faith.  For myself, I have the Bible and that works well for me.  Also, I'm a Protestant, and we tend to be more Easter focused, while traditionally, Catholics have been a little more Passion focused.  So it did me good to spend a little time there.
All that being said, I think it was a pretty fine movie, and darned if it didn't get people talking about religion again, a subject that some are trying to close off from the public square, a pet peeve of mine.  Though the Judeo-Christian worldview has served us well for more than two hundred years and underpins the finest society in the history of the world, there are those fighting hard to throw it all on the scrap heap and replace it with radical secularism, a worldview that has brought us Nazism, Communism and some of the greatest horrors of all time.
   
--snip--

Q54 (Forrest):  Believe it or not, there have actually been discussions on our discussion board about whether or not you are independent, republican or democrat.  Paul Chaplin and Kevin Murphy have often shared their political views with the world.  So what are yours?  Are you an elephant, a donkey, or neither?
A54:  Well, let me say this, I read the National Review cover to cover.  Check in at Townhall.com every day.  Check the Washington Times daily.  Listen to Dennis Prager and Michael Medved on a regular basis.  Read Mark Steyn with regularity.  Read the Weekly Standard.  So, yes, I do vote Republican.  As the pundit Hugh Hewitt has observed, there are indeed two Americas: Serious America and Silly America.  The Democrats seem bent on turning this into Silly America, so I stick with those who wish this to remain Serious America.
Of course, in addition, as angry as it makes me, I check in with the monolithic press: the NY Times, the L.A. Times, the Boston Globe.  One thing I can't do, that makes me just insanely angry, is read my local paper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, known to many as the Star and Sickle, or the Red Star Tribune.

I wonder if he's still as confident in the "Silly America Vs. Serious America" idea now that the Republicans have given us Trump.

Twed

Quote from: kngen on November 25, 2017, 02:29:34 PM
Surprised (and delighted) that Bill turned up on Chapo Trap House last week to lend a hand skewering a ridiculous Republican wank fantasy film where one of the founding fathers travels to the present day to teach an idiot family about the constitution.
Bill is great. He has the politics of a 24 year old lefty, he has no time for the right or the center and it's absolutely fantastic. He doesn't need to be this way, but he just is.

Small Man Big Horse


Famous Mortimer

That seems sort-of low rent, right? They already raised record-breaking amounts of money and got themselves on Netflix (or wherever this show is). Why not just sell merch if they have legions of people desperate to give them cash?

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: Famous Mortimer on July 14, 2018, 12:30:48 AM
That seems sort-of low rent, right? They already raised record-breaking amounts of money and got themselves on Netflix (or wherever this show is). Why not just sell merch if they have legions of people desperate to give them cash?

It's not made clear in the link, but they've had a shit-load of people saying they want to pay extra for all the stuff that Joel talked about in the very early stages of all this that was, at the time, just pipe dreams.  So even though they made enough money for season 12, they've now got the opportunity to go WAY beyond that.

I don't see a problem with it - it's a new way of funding media and those that want to give always will when asked.

Alberon

They have to be careful not to abuse it, but there is a lot of goodwill for Joel and MST3K. As, indeed, there should be.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: Alberon on July 14, 2018, 09:23:37 PM
They have to be careful not to abuse it

Oh, indeed so.  And I think the wording of that update is unfortunate, but it seems like it was written and posted in a rush.  I certainly don't think for one second there's any greed or beggary behind it.


Quote from: Alberon on July 14, 2018, 09:23:37 PM
but there is a lot of goodwill for Joel and MST3K. As, indeed, there should be.

Indeed so again.  I've mentioned before, several times, that the show almost single-handedly helped me through an incredibly difficult few years, as I'm sure it has a lot of other people as well.  It's a show that gives so much, and has given so much for a long time, but asks for very little in return.

JCR

It's $50- £39.10 when I bought it- for the new episodes via VHX.tv. I didn't mind paying it as I've enjoyed MST3K a lot for free over the years, (also the VHX app works well on Apple TV so I've got an easy way to watch if I'm not subscribed to Netflix at the time).

I can see them having the opinion that if folk are willing to pay $75 to have their name flash by on the credits, then why wouldn't we offer it? It's how RiffTrax' live shows function, and no one seems to mind.

JCR

They are now saying that Netflix is not covering the whole budget of the next run, and they need $300,000 from their 'pledge drive' to continue.

Attila

Six episodes debut on Netflix on, appropriately enough, 22 November (Thanksgiving Day in the USA, aka Turkey Day. Also the 30th anniversary of the debut of the show).

I have to lecture on the Thursday itself, but then I have no teaching Friday through to Tuesday morning.

Huzzah!

Shit Good Nose

Great news.

Although it will just make me pine for Kevin Murphy again...

RedRevolver

Gone through this thread, not seen anyone link to this Twitch stream for Rifftrax.

Awesome to hear about the new series. Need to rewatch some of the old ones. Gonna get some hash and get myself high.


Attila

Click the link if you want to see the [possible] titles of five of the six new MST3Ks (season 12, just 6 in this lot).

https://www.bbfc.co.uk/search/releases/MYSTERY%2BSCIENCE%2BTHEATRE%2B3000%253A%2BTHE%2BGAUNTLET

George White

Hmm - one seems slightly too high profile for MST3K (though they did two quite well-known films last year, at least fondly remembered in this part of the world)
One I'm kind of surprised the original series never did (that shows up constantly on Movies4men)
I've always hoped they'd do Battle Beneath the Earth, an absolutely dire and xenophobic British-pretending-to-be-American sub-ITC action film where "Chinese" (played by mainly white actors including Martin "Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz" Benson) burrow under "America" (Borehamwood), to be fought off by valiant US soldiers, played by the likes of Earl Cameron, Ed Bishop and Bill Nagy, with Bessie Love as a Matron, setbound recreations of Vegas and the tropics.

Alberon

Quote from: George White on October 14, 2018, 04:28:21 PM
Hmm - one seems slightly too high profile for MST3K (though they did two quite well-known films last year, at least fondly remembered in this part of the world)

Do you mean Atlantic Rim? That's the cheap rip-off of Pacific Rim.

Watched the other SF film 20th Century Fox released in 1977, Damnation Alley, on Talking Pictures TV the other night. Apparently the execs expected this one to do far better than Star Wars and yet it is utter dogshit. Brilliantly poor special effects, crap plot and one of the least believable presentations of the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse I have ever seen. Just googled it and Joel said this was the first bad movie he saw in a theatre. I'd love for them to take a pop at this.

George White

So, they're doing Ator the Fighting Eagle, and Killer Fish I am kinda fond of, cos it's ITC, and has a soundtrack by both the De Angelis Brothers and Simon May, in a rare non-soap soundtracking. IIRC has a scene where Roy Brocksmith as a rotund bisexual fashion designer/photographer gets ravaged by piranha in a swimming pool.

Shit Good Nose


Alberon

Just watched the first one. Great movie to start with - MAC and Me. I don't think I've seen such a shameless rip off combined with such high levels of product placement. You should know you've gone too far when the alien is literally saved by Coke Cola.

Attila

Happy Turkey Day -- despite having a 4am start today, I cut out of school early to come home and watch Mac and Me (well, to start it -- finished it with Mr Attila in the evening).

So....the aliens could perform that one amazing miracle but skipped over the lesser issue (don't know if I'd be spoilering a 30 year old film by mentioning the specifics).

What a strange little film...I've never seen ET (and plan to keep it that way), and I guess I don't have to now.