Slashdot Mirror
MST3K is Back, Sort Of
Polar Star writes "Retrocrush reports that Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett are back making fun of crappy movies again in a new incarnation called The Film Crew. In the first of many new DVDs to be released, they take on a 1969 abomination called Hollywood After Dark which features a still-not-very-young Rue McClanahan as a down-on-her-luck actress who becomes a stripper. Needless to say, it's one of the scariest movies you'll ever see. There's plenty of funny jokes throughout, and they definitely prove themselves worthy of carrying on the MST3K tradition." Update 1925 GMT by SM: Corrected a few oversights and pointed to The Film Crew's actual website.
http://www.rifftrax.com/
Download mp3s, and start them up at the same time as your DVD....
Anyone have any links to prior work they've done, to know what to expect?
An I.T. motto in the hands of an idiot is a dangerous thing...
It's not the whole MST3K crew, but RiffTrax have been around for a while and are extra awesome because they finally give the treatment to mainstream movies.
What's everyone's favorite line from MST3K?
Mine: "We will be approaching speeds of... 3!"
Satellite News is still up and running for anyone who liked MST3K. They have news on the Film Crew and Rifftrax (which is Mike Nelson and guests recording downloadable commentary tracks for various movies), as well as other things that the old Best Brains crew are up to. http://www.mst3kinfo.com/
psmylie's dictionary: Godzillion (noun) Any number large enough to destroy Tokyo
MST3K without Joel isn't any MST3K at all.
There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
:wq
A few months back on Shout!'s website, fans were asked to vote on which of the four scheduled Film Crew releases would be the first on store shelves, the winner was the 1961 clunker Hollywood After Dark. Also know as Walk The Angry Beach and The Unholy Choice, the "film" features future Golden Girls star Rue McClanahan getting down to her skivvies and shaking it for all she's worth when her acting career fails - oddly enough that's the story of the film too. It might also be worth mentioning the Rifftrax effort they put together a while ago, with more info/comments on the Slashdot article.
My work here is dung.
Will they continue to encourage viewers to share with their friends- maybe updated to reference bittorrent?
And for all those who don't have a clue what MST3K is and whether you should care:
;) )
http://www.mst3kinfo.com/mstfaq/basics.html
(Q1 says "What is Mystery Science Theater 3000?"
"and less interstitial sketches - which most MST3k fans never considered to be that essential anyhow."
The sketches *were* essential. Some of them were great, and almost all of them were funny. Well, at least when JOEL was doing them.
Joel was better than Mike. By a lot. People that like Mike will be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes.
McCloud!
Some people are like slinkys. They're useless, but it puts a smile on your face to push them down the stairs.
"Wall-mounted keyboards; it must be THE FUTURE!"
Submitter needs to go back and study hyphenation of adjective phrases.
(After seeing asteroids floating around in space) "Honey bunches of DEATH!"
ok so the link on slashdot doesnt even go to the http://www.filmcrewonline.com/ website, but rather some dude's lame blog with lame ads. Oh, and I'm not even sure they even do this anymore, since they've been busy with RiffTrax, and their official website hasn't changed in a long time. What a terrible slashvertisement by man-in-the-middle proxy (go to my website to go to the real one).
What no Joel?! He was by far superior! /troll flamebait I'm wasting karma points on this.
--------========+++Dont Feed The Lab Techs+++========--------
Joel: We'll be right back after this important message.
Tom: (whispered) Let's go. Okay. Got the box. Ready? Cue.
Joel: Hey kids!
(bassline from movie begins)
All: (singing) They're Wild Rebels,
crunchy, fruity rebels.
Pouring milk on them
is like shooting off a gun.
Joel: (spoken) Wild Rebels cereal, the nutritous cereal that's like getting hit on the back of the head with a surfboard of flavor!
Tom: Look, marshmallow Fatties!
Crow: Sugary Lindas!
Joel: I got tangy, twangy Banjos!
Tom: Crrrunchy Oat-Rods!
Crow: And Jeeters, too! Die Jeeter, die!
(bassline stops)
Magic Voice: Kids? What are you doing in there?
All: (innocently) Having a good breakfast, Mom!
(bassline begins again)
Crow: Pour on the milk!
Tom: One, two, one two three four.
All: (singing) Wild Rebels,
punchy, crunchy rebels,
don't bust your teeth on
something sweet and hard!
Joel: (spoken) Wild Rebels cereal, part of a complete breakfast.
Crow: Hey! There's a cheap surprise inside!
Joel: I got a gun!
Tom: I got a sawed off pool cue with a leather strap!
Crow: I got a chunk of hose filled with lead shot!
Tom: All right, let's take it home!
All: (singing) They won't get soft or squishy,
better eat 'em or your a sissy,
just pound 'em down, you stupid clown,
they're Wiiiiild!
Joel: Wild Rebels cereal, just eat 'em. (movie sign goes off) Whoa! We've got movie sign!
One of my favorite songs from the show.
Swi
Here's a link to the actual Film Crew Online page. They've got an open vote to determine which of the four movies they're doing in their initial set is published first...Thankfully, not a winner in the bunch.
Oh, and nuts to "thom walker" from the UK!!!
What's to hate about a horny GILF?
Heck, I'd a still boned her in the late 1980s. I'd likely of sixty-nined her in '69.
Arsenio Hall was right.
There are no MST3K fans, Santa is not a benevolent dictator, and there is no angry mob quetly forming outside your door.
Puuuuuma-maaaaan... when will he find love?
Classic.
Open Source Sushi
They even a reference to MST3K in it.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Coincidentally, July 25th 1998 was the first showing of Episode 910 - The Final Sacrifice.
Larry Csonka unavailable for comment...
Rue McLanahan the slutty "Golden Girl"?
I am going to go hang myself now...
It would be helpful if you would show the specific error and also show the corrected version.
Of course, maybe you don't want to be helpful, but just want to take any opportunity you have to insult others. Does pointing out the flaws in others make you feel good about yourself?
"It's easy to get hurt..."
"Like when I got my butt caught in the toaster."
"Flag on the moon. How did it get there?"
I mean the bots were aresome, they interacted with the screen and thast just brought even more fun into the show.
Maybe someday there will be a MST3K reunion movies or movies, LOL
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
Mike as the CO: I understand you're stuffed with cheese.
Best abdominal workout I'd had in months.
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Deeeeeeppp hurrrtttinnnggg
Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep HUUUURRRTTTTINNNGGGG
No, as "The Santa Claws" revealed to us, Santa is a commie.
Sorry to be dense, but is that a gay joke or something?
Seriously, the one thing they DIDN'T make fun of in this one was actually the funniest part--the fact that all the "special effects" footage was stolen from Battlestar Galactica.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Rented this from Netflix just last week. Scary indeed. There are a couple of moderately attractive, scantily-clad women (think pasties) in this movie, but Rue McClanahan isn't one of them. (Okay, she does get scantily clad, assuming that wasn't a body double.) In terms of the underlying movie, it was bad (which is good), didn't make a whole lot of sense (though not as confusing as some MST3K'ed movies), and provided plenty of fodder for the Crew. As for the Crew themselves, well, they're still as funny as ever when making fun of bad movies.
The downside is that there's something missing from the Film Crew that MST3K had. In MST3K, of course, there was an underlying premise of being forced by a mad scientist and his/her assistant(s) to watch cheesy movies, maintaining one's sanity with the help of one's robot friends. Everybody loves robots, and Crow and Servo were the best.
In the Film Crew series, the underlying premise is that Bob Honcho, a voice heard only through a speaker phone, wants to add commentary tracks to all the many movies that don't have them. Think Ted Turner's obsession with colorization, except with commentary tracks, crossed with Charlie's Angels, but without the Angels. That theme, sadly, is weak by comparison, and it doesn't give them enough flexibility to reach the levels of hilarity that the 'bots provided. They attempted to do a funny intermission-type sketch based on a lunchtime brainstorming session, and while it was amusing, it lacked the energy that the MST3K sketches had.
On top of that, there was just something about the MST3K silhouette that grounded the viewer in the riffs and tweaks that Joel/Mike, Crow, and Servo dished out. It's still funny without it, but there's still just something about the silhouette that tells you that you're home again. With RiffTrax, the lack of a silhouette is understandable, but the Film Crew offerings could easily add a silhouette of Mike, Bill, and Kevin in front of the movie. For that matter, they could use the DVD subtitle overlays to allow the viewer to turn the silhouette on and off.
Still, despite its shortcomings, the Film Crew still do a great job at the actual task at hand - making fun of a really bad movie. My criticisms here are offered (though perhaps not to the right forum) in the hopes that things can be polished up a bit for future releases, because they're still working with a very strong foundation here.
...not to mention that Santa and Satan are one & the same. Sounds like we're building a real profile now: Communist dictator of wayward souls forced into the bodies of elves, who, while enslaved, are treated well by their benevolent acting master because they now make the very toys that once trained them into the materialistic lifestyle that brought them to "Santa's workshop" (Hell). These toys will now go out into the hands of children of parents who have unknowingly been slated for the very same fate as they too once received these toys and feel socially pressured to continue the "tradition". Santa/Satan has manufactured a cycle that takes all to Hell who have or will ever receive a 'gift' from him. Santa is on sick and creative bastard. Makes me glad that my parents never celebrated Christmas (not for the reasons outlined above). ...by this point, I've well passed when my fiancée would roll her eyes at me and say, "You're weird."
Spoke French and knows history.
The first movie listed for voting is incorrectly titled in the English translation. It should be The Battle of Marathon.
First, "bataille" means battle not giant. even a non-French speaker should get a clue from the spelling a lot of English is influenced by French.
Second, anyone who has a decent knowledge of history knows about the famous battle on the Plains of Marathon--and the story of the runner who ran 26 miles from Marathon to Athens in order to bring the news about the Persian Army's defeat, then collapsed and died. Which is how the marathon race was named.
I wonder how funny these guys are if they are that ignorant.
That bit was one of my favorite moments at the first con. They had Pod People playing in a viewing room packed full of die-hard MSTies, and every time they did the calling-out-in-the-fog routine, as soon as someone said "Chief...?" The whole ROOM would yell out "McCloud!!!!!"
Anonymous T. Coward
Preemptively divorce her, immediately.
(don't remember the exact lines here...)
Phantom (of Crank-whore): "Each of you will get into a space capsule..."
Frightened Earth Gentlemen: "What??!?" "What's that??"
Servo: "Oh, for crying out loud... EACH - OF - YOU - WILL - GET - INTO - A - SPACE - CAPSULE!"
Also from Prince of Space (Ah! Oh! Prince of Space?)
"A deadly exchange of film scratches!"
"I'll throw my doll at you!"
"Allow me to reiterate my previous assertion that neither myself nor my ship can be harmed by your weapons!"
Few episodes, however, can compare with the... Robot Holocaust. Somehow, when downloading and watching all the old episodes, I missed that one the first time around - so I had no clue what Mike was doing in ep. 201... But, man, that was good times, once I finally watched that one...
Oh, and perhaps my favorite Invention Exchange line of all time: from season 1...
"YOUR MOTHER FLOSSES IN HELL! GAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Dr. Earhardt, wherever you are, I salute you and your fine contributions to evil science...
---GEC
I'm but the humble pupil, seeking to snatch the scratchbuilt pebble from the master's fully articulated hand
It's all true. Every damn thing they had to say about those things is true. They charge you money to get in, then make you pay more to be insulted by them. They call you a fool - and in some bizarre self-fulfilling causality loop they're right - 'cause you just paid upwards of $80 to eat fried dough (er, "peasants' bread"), drink mead you coulda bought yourself at the liquor store, and get called a fool.
---GEC
I'm but the humble pupil, seeking to snatch the scratchbuilt pebble from the master's fully articulated hand
Reminds me of a little something called SPACOM...
"Cuts through this tomato like it was a tin can!"
"Snapples caps off of jugs, jars, and the baby!"
"And boy does it catch fish!"
---GEC
I'm but the humble pupil, seeking to snatch the scratchbuilt pebble from the master's fully articulated hand
Download burn copy transfer sync or play in any mp3 player you want or with any software. Rifftrax made a very wise choice going DRM Free. I feel no qualms giving them 3 dollars when I know I can back them all up and save them any way I wish forever and ever.
Web Developers: Celebrate to our roots! Animated Gifs and Tiled Backgrounds, dont let our history die!
In the not too distant future
Somewhere in cyberspace
Mike Nelson and his robot pals
are caught in a nasty place
They have to survive the wrath of Bill
just an evil guy who wants to rule the world
From his castle in Redmond, he sets his sights above
Just to torture all the captives on the Website of Love
GET ME DOWN!!!
"I'll send him cheesy movies,
The worst I can find la-la-la.
He'll have to sit and watch them all,
And I'll monitor his mind la-la-la."
Now keep in mind Mike can't control
Where the movies begin or end la-la-la
He'll try to keep his sanity
With the help of his robot friends.
Robot Roll Call:
Cambot! "You're on!"
Gypsy! "Oh, my stars!"
Tom Servo! "Check me out!"
Crooooooow! "I'm different!"
If you're wondering how he eats and breathes
and other science facts la-la-la,
Just repeat to yourself, "It's just a show,
I should really just relax..."
for The Film Crew Online dot com!
The Rapture is NOT an exit strategy.
Eh... the first season has its moments, but feels largely unwatchable at times. It suffers severely from cable-access-showitis, which they grew out by the third season.
LegendMUD
>Nelson just played a looser.
What did he loose?
Then Michael J. Nelson became head writer. Kevin Murphy and Frank Conniff took over for Josh, which was a big loss. The jokes started to became a little stale, but the show was still good. Frank simply was not funny, but Trace did what he could to keep the sketches interesting.
Mike Nelson was head writer from season 2 on... MAYBE from season 1, I don't remember. Joel may have stepped down as host midway through season 5, and he may have been the show's creator, but he was far from the only creative voice behind it, and Mike has been the major editorial voice behind the show's jokes since nearly the beginning of the cable era.
Next, extremely oddly considering the show's history and how people left it, no cast member has ever had a bad thing to say about any other cast member. The closest was when Joel once said about Josh "J. Elvis" Weinstein, of his leaving the show after the first season, "He was eighteen." Even if the Usenet MSTie community engaged in epic flame wars when Joel left and Mike stepped in as host, there has never been an indication that anyone was angry behind the scenes. The word about Joel leaving, from a very recent interview with Kevin Murphy (the one at Quick Stop Entertainment) is that he had always planned to leave because he was just that kind of restless guy.
Finally: no one can argue that there was anything that brilliant about the first season, or the KTMA episodes, other than the premise and some of the sketches. The jokes were only occasionally good back then. The show was definitely riding on the strength of the premise from that point, to the degree that the Brains were always reluctant to show episodes from the first season after they had built up a good body of repeat shows. I saw many of the episodes, and even one the one they released on DVD; take my word for it.
That all cleared up? Thanks for playing, buh-bye.
Not having Joel and dealing with Mike is one thing but, to me, it's not MST without Trace Beaulieu, the original crow and Dr. Forrester. I've seen tons of the Dr. Forrester-era episodes, but I haven't the slightest interest in the Pearl-era stuff. Rifftrax are also somewhat lacking, so it looks like that golden age (when Penn Jillette was the V/O guy on Comedy Central) is dead and gone.
Just a heads-up...Netflix has Hollywood After Dark available for instant viewing. (streaming video) Couple that with a free netflix trial and you could be watching this in about 5 minutes.
Rue would have been 35 in 1969. Thats just a bit long in the tooth for a stripper. Most quit the business in their mid 20's. Some stay on to 30. I suppose some could stay on to 40, but some are already grandmothers by that time. Granny pole-dancing? Pass!
But it needs to be mentioned anyway: For the last year or so, Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bridget Nelson, Mary Jo Pehl, Bill Corbett (and even Neil Patrick Harris) have been doing commentary tracks in mp3 format to accompany existing DVD releases. See http://www.rifftrax.com/ for more.
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
Please quit trying to bring a ~12 year old flame war back to life! I thought it was agreed by everyone that the Joel people move to one side, and the Mike people moved to the other.
:o
As for hating it because one guy isn't there or another, well maybe if you kept up with MST3k you'd know why. I'm not your damn google though, so sitting here spouting off crap like "Since so&so isn't here this is crap." is an exercise in proving ignorance.
Well, to be honest, there's a reason why they don't reproduce nor distro the KTMA eps. The beginning is always rocky while people try to find a rhythm. If you've done something a thousand times, an 8 year break (barring rifftrax), is a long time. Mike Nelson himself explains how Rifftrraxx and thus TFC is formed. Surprise Surprise, he even expresses his wish to work with the old crew.
They don't have the full staff, Trace & Joel have been writing for America's Funniest Home Videos. So if you're damned and desperate for their humor watch ABC. I'm not kidding. If you're looking for Mary-Jo Pehl, she's on NPR from time to time, and teaches at UofM. BTW, one of her NPR segments about having to move back home (she hasn't done as well as some of the other crew) was hilarious.
If you miss any of the other cast, Look it up.
Spouting hate with no reason, just makes you look bad.
-Shoe
A girlfriend introduced me to MST3K years ago... It was perfect late night viewing on the Sci-Fi channel. I was so hooked that I scoured the internet for information about the show. Being in the UK meant that we only had access to the Sci-Fi era show, but in recent years, thanks to the likes of Google video, I have been catching up... Only this last Saturdady I had a marathon sessions of on-line viewing when something else I was supposed to be working on got cancelled - best eight hours I have spent recently. And without a doubt - THEPUMAMAN - is my favourite line.
Sad part is i was being serious when I posted (didn't grow up with a tv, and they didn't do books...). Thanks to an infusion of caffeine and re-reading, no longer thinking movies are being made here...
An I.T. motto in the hands of an idiot is a dangerous thing...
I am looking forward to the Film Crew because they are going back and doing old bad movies. The Rifftrax just didn't do it for me because they were commentaries for popular movies. I watched Matrix and X-Men with Rifftrax and while they did have funny moments since I already knew (and liked) the movies there were no surprises. I think part of the fun with the old movies in MST3K was that you never knew when someone was going to come out in a horrible monster costume and that added another level of comedy. "Remember use only genuine interocitor parts."
Oh man, that was the peak moment for me. This was back when Joel was the human, the show was still on Comedy Central and Friday nights meant everyone in the dorm would gather to get 'faced and laugh. This one in particular featured a woman calling herself "Mister B#". Yep. It was a shill from a certain brass musical instrument manufacturer. Some highlights:
Joel, Crow and Tom, singing to the opening theme: "Come on and buy some crap from uuuuuus! You know that you want too! And the White race will salute you!"
Mister B: "If you wanna be as big as a giant, blow a Sousaphone!"
Tom: "Oh now you're in your own weird area here."
The industrial films as opening pieces were often better than the full flicks... or maybe I just had a shorter concentration span from all the chemistry. Another favorite was the Union Pacific safety film feature the line that still haunts me, "gentle pressure". The bots wound up doing a mockery piece afterwards about getting your eyes welded open from lack of safety.
Oh wait, what about TV's Frank and his production company? That rules too. TV's Frank was what I lived to see. "Oh yeah Crow, I'm shopping the option for your 'Earth Versus Soup' script..." he says on a headset phone as he plays with a desk chochke (or is it his fingers? Man, chemistry...).
The whole episode "Cave Dwellers" is PRICELESS. Highly recommended!
"Who is this gentle stranger with pecs like melons and knees of fringe?"
But wait, there's also the song from Fugitive Alien, "He tried to kill me with a fork lift".
Scene where a shirtless archaeologist is digging in the sand: "Why's he burying his shirt?"
"Rock-n-roll truu-uuk!"
Mr. B. Natural: "Bad touch!"