MST3K, Rifftrax, and the rest

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Thad
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MST3K, Rifftrax, and the rest

Postby Thad » Sat Mar 29, 2014 2:07 pm

Mike, Kevin, and Bill to return to basic cable with Total Riff-Off, three one-hour TV specials where they riff National Geographic shows.

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Re: MST3K, Rifftrax, & sundry

Postby Thad » Thu Apr 24, 2014 12:03 am

If anyone ever asks you what "bury the lede" means, you will never find a better example than Wired's Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Definitive Oral History of a TV Masterpiece, which puts this little offhanded aside at the very end of the article:

But this year Mystery Science Theater may finally get a long-­rumored, heavily anticipated reboot. This spring Hodgson is hoping to start a new online incarnation of the show, one that will feature a fresh (and as-yet-unannounced) host and cameos from many MST3K alumni.

Hodgson: I’ve talked to a bunch of fans about their lives and what MST3K means to them. I’m overwhelmed by how people took to that show. It really affected them. I thought, if enough people still love it, maybe we can bring it back.

Even avid viewers sometimes don’t realize that every major role in the show had been swapped out over time. So in my mind, the show is built to be refreshed with new people and new ideas. It’s like Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle as it applies to MST3K: If it doesn’t change, it’s not the same show. And fortunately for us, as long as there are movies, there are always going to be cheesy movies.


So yeah that's the money quote, but you should read the whole thing. It's really quite good, thorough, and candid -- the headline may be a bit of bluster but it may well be accurate.

Per the Hodgson/Mallon falling-out, it's enlightening to see each accuse the other of putting himself ahead of the ensemble. As far as Trace, it's interesting to hear that he left because he felt BBI should be using its resources more creatively instead of focusing on just one show. Kevin Murphy has the harshest, four-letteriest words, and, unsurprisingly, reserves them for the execs at USA who micromanaged the Sci-Fi era.

Seriously, read it. It's good.

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Re: MST3K, Rifftrax, & sundry

Postby Thad » Tue Jun 17, 2014 4:35 pm

Rifftrax interview.

Kevin seems the most insightful of the bunch, as usual; I like his discussion of craft and why Twilight is ridiculous.

Bill echoes what a lot of the other alums have said about the lack of royalties from MST3K. Pretty unfortunate; I miss the puppets and the host segments but I respect Rifftrax as more rewarding to the performers. (Cinematic Titanic, too; they're not touring anymore but you can still send some money their way by ordering their DVD's or watching them on Hulu.)

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Re: MST3K, Rifftrax, & sundry

Postby Thad » Thu Jun 26, 2014 7:36 pm


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Re: MST3K, Rifftrax, & sundry

Postby Thad » Mon Jun 30, 2014 7:31 pm

MST3K reruns to start airing on something called RetroTV, one of those low-budget over-the-air stations where networks pad out their bandwidth with cheap programming, like MeTV or that channel that shows He-Man in the middle of the night. We don't seem to have it in Arizona.

Everything they're airing is already available on DVD, so nothing spectacular. But hey, it's MST3K, on TV again!

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Re: MST3K, Rifftrax, & sundry

Postby Mothra » Mon Jun 30, 2014 7:39 pm

I'll bet good money RetroTV isn't one of the 800 pointless channels Comcast offers, but I'll definitely take a look.

Also, I'm pretty sure I'm just late to the party on this, but has anyone ever read the production backstory to Manos? It's... something else.

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Re: MST3K, Rifftrax, & sundry

Postby Kayma » Mon Jun 30, 2014 8:33 pm

Oh lovely, I get all of those junk stations in my metro area. That is wonderful!

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Re: MST3K, Rifftrax, & sundry

Postby IGNORE ME » Mon Jun 30, 2014 10:47 pm

To portray his character Torgo as a satyr, John Reynolds wore a metallic rigging under his trousers made out of wire coat hangers and foam by costar Tom Neyman. Reynolds unintentionally wore them backwards, meaning the effect conveyed made him look nothing like a satyr and more like a man with oversized knees who had difficulty walking. No one ever corrected Reynolds' mistake on-set, so the device damaged Reynolds' kneecaps, causing him chronic pain in the months before his death; reportedly, Reynolds attempted to overcome the pain by self-medicating with drugs, visibly affecting his performance in the film.


Every single thing about this.

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Re: MST3K, Rifftrax, & sundry

Postby Caithness » Mon Jun 30, 2014 11:03 pm

That's actually horrifying.

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Re: MST3K, Rifftrax, & sundry

Postby beatbandito » Mon Jun 30, 2014 11:16 pm

Than don't read how the drugs and pain helped lead to his suicide. Manos may have just gotten legit credit for being a profile of a man's life deteriorating.
Image

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Re: MST3K, Rifftrax, & sundry

Postby Blossom » Mon Jun 30, 2014 11:35 pm

It's a shame, because even with all that Manos is, he was really good in it.
Image

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Re: MST3K, Rifftrax, & sundry

Postby Thad » Thu Aug 28, 2014 4:53 pm


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Re: MST3K, Rifftrax, & sundry

Postby Thad » Wed Sep 17, 2014 6:25 pm

Vimeo buys streaming rights to MST3K. AV Club explains why we should care:

This isn’t news in and of itself, considering these are the same 80 MST3K episodes that were already available for purchase on iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon Instant Video (and Vudu, for people who just have to be different). 25 of those 80 episodes are currently streaming on Hulu, and 15 of them are on Netflix.

So why should MST3K fans be interested in Vimeo’s offer, especially at the positively Amazon-esque price of $2.99 for a rental and $9.99 to purchase each individual episode? They shouldn’t—at least not yet. See, Vimeo has also secured exclusive streaming rights to the MST3K episodes that aren’t already available; due to the complicated nature of securing rights to a show that has entire feature films embedded within it, less than half of all extant MST3K episodes are currently on streaming services. However, Vimeo says it is actively working on disentangling the rest of the MST3K back catalog and plans on having a dozen more episodes available within the year.

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Re: MST3K, Rifftrax, & sundry

Postby Thad » Wed Sep 24, 2014 6:46 pm


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Re: MST3K, Rifftrax, & sundry

Postby Thad » Thu Sep 25, 2014 5:03 pm

There's not much to it but Asbury Park Press has an article called Joel Hodgson on the return of 'MST3K'.

"Obviously, the 'bots stay the same, right? They stayed the same when we rotated in the new cast, Kevin took over for Josh, Bill took over for Trace, there were like three different guys who ran Gypsy," Hodgson said. "So, the 'bots stay the same, naturally they'll be coming back, but with new people running them, and new hosts and new antagonists.

"But then, of course, I want to take advantage of the talent pool of people who did 'Mystery Science Theater,' so they'll be coming back, too. The original cast will come back and interact and produce and do cameos and train the new people on how it's done. So, that's kind of the plan."

While it's too soon to say what outlet will carry the revived series, Hodgson acknowledged that the Internet would most likely be the initial way to connect with fans of the show.

[...]

"Obviously, I think there's going to be a huge fan component of the new shows," Hodgson said. "They will probably be initiated with a crowdsource campaign, the people who want to bring it back and want new shows will be able to get involved that way financially. And then, I'm sure there will be a place online where people can watch them once the shows are done.

"And, somewhere along the line it might end up on cable, but I think that's a bit down the stream, the different ways people can get it. Obviously, the most direct way is online, and then it could reside on a cable channel too, one day."

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Re: MST3K, Rifftrax, & sundry

Postby Mothra » Fri Sep 26, 2014 11:04 am

Oh my god that is the worst website I have ever seen.

Obviously, I'd absolutely love to see an MST3K revival. I know it would be a different kind of show, but I'd like to see a few new comedians in the mix, if they did bring it back.

Frank Conniff needs to be in the mix, though. He's funnier these days than he ever was.

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Re: MST3K, Rifftrax, & sundry

Postby Thad » Fri Sep 26, 2014 1:05 pm

Mothra wrote:Oh my god that is the worst website I have ever seen.

I think it's the same template my local paper uses.

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Re: MST3K, Rifftrax, & sundry

Postby Thad » Tue Oct 14, 2014 2:19 pm

Wow, how has Yahoo managed to become interesting?

"Mystery Science Theater 3000" Stars Reunite in Paul Feig's Comedy "Other Space" wrote:In the not-to-distant future, 2015 B.C., Mystery Science Theater 3000 fans are in for a treat: original MST 3K host Joel Hodgson and co-star Trace Beaulieu will be back on the small screen. Production has begun on Other Space, the new half-hour comedy from Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, Freaks and Geeks) about a group of space explorers—including bickering siblings, burned-out veterans and, of course, robots—in the 22nd century. "I'm thrilled to be cast with my old buddy Trace Beaulieu in the new comedy sci fi series Other Space,” Hodgson tells Yahoo TV. “I also think fans of MST3K will be very interested in this new work that mastermind Paul Feig and his cast and crew have cooked up for Yahoo.”


I'm not sure about that "BC" part, but the rest sounds pretty good!

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Re: MST3K, Rifftrax, & sundry

Postby Mothra » Tue Oct 14, 2014 2:45 pm

I would definitely watch that.

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Re: MST3K, Rifftrax, & sundry

Postby Thad » Tue Oct 14, 2014 2:47 pm

OH MY GOD THEY'VE GOT TRACE PLAYING A ROBOT NAMED ART.

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