MST3K - Coming back via Kickstarter

[JCR]

I loved the Mac & Me episode.

[Rev+]

I'd seen the famous wheelchair plunge from Mac & Me before but fuck me the whole thing's brutal for a kid's film.  The finale at the supermarket is just wrong on every level.

As for the treatment - they've slowed down and it feels a bit more natural, but they jump the gun on several gags which makes it feel more scripted (it was always scripted, it just didn't always feel like it was).  Very much expecting 'Atlantic Rim' to be a slog as even if the commentary is top-notch that looks completely joyless.

[Alberon]

The one thing Mac and Me does right (I had to look it up after) is that the actor playing 'me' is not 'crippling up' for the role. Very forward thinking for the time.

The rest of the film is a mostly hilarious clusterfuck though.

[JCR]

Yeah, I'm disappointed they did Atlantic Rim, Netflix has a deal with the Asylum so maybe they got it cheap or were asked to do it, but really it just feels like a waste of time.

[Shit Good Nose]

The finale at the supermarket is just wrong on every level.

In the original version, when the cop shoots in the car park it hits the kid, so he dies from being shot by a policeman.  Everyone still brings him back to life, though. 

I think that version can still be found on the Japanese laserdisc.

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

It's true - Mac & Me is the better film.


OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH MYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!


I've seen Atlantic Rim sans riffing (it's been on the Horror Channel a few times) and yeah - it's utterly dull.  It's got respectable actor Graham Greene (the Canadian one) in it.  Doesn't save it, though.

I think whoever does the posters and DVD covers for all those Asylum (and similar) films deserve a prize.  And a kick in the balls as well.

[Attila]

From time time they hit the McDonalds for the kids' party, Mac and Me really went off the rails for us. The wheelchair over the cliff was a WTF, but yeah...the exploding supermarket came as a bit of a shock.

I'm glad the jokes are delivered more slowly, as well, but agreed it's still feeling a bit scripted. Still, I'm sure they'll approve if they're allowed to have further series -- the initial Sci Fi series also had some faff from the network (which is why series 8 has only films in SF's library) -- I'm looking forward to more of the weird black and white films, strange genres, outsider things that ended up on MST3K and these days amongst the VOD on Rifftrax (dithering over whether to get the Rifftrax Yulelog).

[Attila]

In the original version, when the cop shoots in the car park it hits the kid, so he dies from being shot by a policeman.  Everyone still brings him back to life, though. 

I think that version can still be found on the Japanese laserdisc.

Kudos that they had an actor who was actually wheelchair bound for playing a wheelchair bound kid, but both of us, at the resurrection scene, commented, 'So they can bring the kid back to life, but can't fix his legs?'

The film did seem awfully grim for a kiddie film -- the baby alien being sucked up by a hoover, smashed into a car windshield, the alien family getting horribly ill in the desert, the final supermarket shoot-out...

[Rev+]

'Atlantic Rim' wasn't quite the slog I was expecting, due some daft running gags and what I assume was some judicious pruning to get it to fit the shorter running time.  I'd imagine the fighty bits go on a hell of a lot longer in the full version.

I know they want to keep it relatively family-friendly but dipping the word 'bitch' a couple of times seems a bit odd, particularly on Netflix.  A 'motherfucker' I could understand.

[Alberon]

Atlantic Rim was quite 'good'. The hero was one of the biggest twats I've ever seen fronting an action film (even in a Z Movie like this), maybe The Asylum were having a little fun there.

I'm halfway into Lords of the Deep, which is at the shittier end of Roger Corman's many films.

As to the bad words being dipped, I'm not too surprised. Joel always had it as a series for the whole family so I suspect he's the driving force there.

[Shit Good Nose]

As to the bad words being dipped, I'm not too surprised. Joel always had it as a series for the whole family so I suspect he's the driving force there.

Interesting that the BBFC have given it a 12 here - which would generally mean one or two "fuck"s would get a pass - but purely based on the regular drug references, whilst the mild swears get dipped.

[Attila]

We're  parcelling them out one a day, so last night was Lords of the Deep. Much of the film was spent explaining Priscilla Barnes and Three's Company to Mr Attila (the latter of which baffles me as he's well familiar with Man About the House).

Fair play to Priscilla, though; looking at her imdb, she's been in steady work up through to this year :)

We both lost it as 'We shouldn't have let Ringo drive the submarine'. And props to the Toast of London reference.

Also, I'm finding that how Kinga says 'The Gauntlet' never gets old. Am considering adapting the tone and gesture into my lectures with something that gets repeated a lot, like 'The Augustan Settlement' or 'the Res Gestae.'

Now that we've figured out what the random numbers in the opening sequence mean, it's an incentive to revisit series 11.

[McChesney Duntz]

Looks like Netflix has decided not to go forward with any further seasons. Bastards.

[Rev+]

Yeah, full statement from Joel:

Endings & Beginnings
As some of you might have guessed, we won't be making new seasons of the show for Netflix. However, I want you to know that we've had a wonderful time working with the Netflix team, and will always be grateful to them. After all, they gave us the opportunity to spend the past few years aboard the Satellite of Love, and made it possible for new generations to discover the joys of riffing cheesy movies with your friends.

I couldn't be more grateful or proud to our incredible cast and our wonderful crew for bringing this incarnation of the show to life, and hope that we'll get the chance to continue collaborating on MST3K as we enter our next chapter.

And, I'm pleased to confirm that The Return and The Gauntlet – along with a healthy selection of classic episodes – will continue to stream on Netflix, bringing some of the show's best episodes to cheesy movie lovers around the world.

Now, I know you might have questions about the future of Mystery Science Theater, but as you've seen over the last four years, we are just as dedicated to keeping MST3K alive as ever. And I want to remind you that there are still lots of options for us to explore in the years to come. This isn't our first rodeo! So, while this might be the end of the first chapter of bringing back MST3K, don't worry: it's not the last chapter.

Not that big a surprise, as part of the appeal of the first series for Netflix must have been that they didn't have to put any money into producing the thing.  Mentioning exploring options 'in the years to come' sounds like they don't have much of a plan right now, so this is probably completely dead again.  Still, we're in the boom-and-bust streaming era, and it has an audience, so who knows, next stop Crackle exclusive.

[Famous Mortimer]

I guess if it had been a success for Netflix they would have happily funded a second series, given all the props and sets are already built. Can't say I'm too upset, as it was never the format that was the big thing for me, it was the writing and chemistry of the group of performers that created it.


I've said this so often, though. I'm sorry, anyone reading through this entire thread. I promise I'll stop talking about it.

[madhair60]

Glad it's cancelled tbh

[dr_christian_troy]

https://www.twitch.tv/mst3k

[Famous Mortimer]

I completely forgot that they're actually on tour at the moment, seemingly doing "No Retreat, No Surrender" live in theatres round the US. They played St Louis a month or so back, but no-one I asked was bothered about going. It appears there's a whole new cast doing this, as I didn't recognise anyone - and the website doesn't exactly seem desperate to tell us the names of the performers. Or maybe I'm an idiot.