First, I got sent a preview copy of the next Shout!Factory set recently and one of the most interesting extras on it was the interview with Walter George Alton, who played The Pumuman. And I was a little taken aback about his opinion of the MST3K riffing. He said “some of it was a little bit offensive,” or words to that effect. He really did not appreciate it. The last time this happened was with the late Peter Graves, who expressed a very similar opinion of MST3K riffing.
Second, it was Lisa Loeb’s birthday the other day, and I noted the day on Twitter (using her twitter handle, so she would see it) and I included a link to a YouTube video of the host segment in which Bridget, as Lisa, visits the SOL. A while later I got a tweet back from Lisa! She tweeted “I LOVE THIS!!!”
So, there you have it, two MST3K targets, two very different responses.
And it got me thinking. I bet it would be interesting to find out what more movie cast members think of the MST3K version.
So here’s your topic: What other MST3K targets would you like to hear from and why? I’ll compile a list and see who I get in touch with. The whole thing may collapse and fail, but it will be interesting to try.
If you have any contact info or suggestions, that would help!
Have at it!
(Keep those WDT suggestions coming!)
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Without a doubt, Ben Murphy. He had two mst3k movies actually. But ‘Riding with Death’ is the one I’d want to know his opinion of. They weren’t mean to him so he really shouldn’t be too offended.
Too bad shout won’t release the damn movie already. But I’m sure it can be found on youtube. I know I’ve seen it there in the past at least.
“Ben Murphy-ing’s going good”.
Johnny Longbone (Track of the Moon Beast) would be interesting too.
@46 – The “Ran over Mike’s dog” factor is pretty evident in Mitchell–We see a peephole of Baker’s eye in the credit scene, and they’re in with the fat-slob jokes bang out of the starting gate…Gee, that must’ve been some eye.
As for any “transitions” in S5, there’s a lot of the Mike-era high-school humor starting to surface in Warriors of the Lost World (even though it’s a funny Joel-era episode for being a riffably silly movie), but Monster-a-Go-Go wasn’t “mean”, it was probably the best example of what the Joel-era show set out to do: There wasn’t a fat character, or drunk character, or other gag-baggaged character to single out and bully, we just had an entire jawdroppingly UN-made movie, and the comics kidding us about struggling to get through it. (The “Outstanding in his field” scene being the obvious example–“Evidently I was wrong, the horror must’ve been elsewhere.”)
The Sci-Fi years didn’t seem to functionally understand the absurdity of sharing a strange reaction with the audience; M&tB believed they were there to “punish” movies they didn’t like, which meant punishing any one or any thing responsible for it. If it wasn’t Coleman Francis’s fault, then it came from Canada, so it was Canada’s fault…Unless it came from the 70’s, then it was the 70’s fault. It was more like a vigilante lynching, grabbing at any scapegoat they could grab, than being a spectator of the audience in that same spontaneous moment and sharing the joke. And, in most cases, the people were easier to lynch than the movie, if you didn’t really know HOW to make jokes about the movie.
I’d love to hear from Critter Jones in “The Girl in Gold Boots”, just to find out what it’s like to be in one of the stranger 60’s movies.
I think that Raul Julia would really have been the most interesting person to talk to on this subject. It would have been great to get the opinion of someone who is very highly thought of as an actor on the lampooning of a project they clearly did because they needed a paycheck at the time and whether he was able to laugh at the horribleness of Overdrawn at the Memory Bank in retrospect or if he would have defended his performance and the movie itself despite the fact that anyone not directly involved with the production can see it was a mess.
If she were still among the living I would love to hear what Lynn Frederick would have to say about making Phase 4 and her response to it’s riffing and place in MST history.
Burgess Merideth, Henry Fonda and Ernest Borgnine as well.
The Paper Chase guy, Robert Ginty, to see what he really thought about “Warrior of the Lost World”, and MTS3K’s treatment of it.
Regarding how Shakespeare buffs would react to Hamlet being riffed, I imagine whether or not they think the plays were written by Edward de Vere would be a factor. Such deluded individuals would get their knickers in a twist for them daring to desecrate such a great work of art. While there may be some of that sort among those who believe Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare, I imagine that there would be more tolerance among that crowd.
Speaking of self-delusion, there seems to be a false belief that the Joel era riffing was wacky good-natured ribbing all in good fun while the Mike era riffing was a torrid stew of hatred. The other night, I was rewatching The Day the Earth Froze, and their riffing of Here Comes the Circus probably has more venom directed at that one short than you see most Mike era episodes.
I wish the Mike era haters would ease up. And btw, I think Final Justice
is a better movie, with better riffing, than Mitchell.
On the whole the Mike era was on balance better than the Joel one, though
both are quite good. The trio of villains (Mrs. Forester, Bobo, and Brain
Guy) tilt the balance towards the Mike era.
@58 – Here Comes the Circus has a little bit of the other writers transitioning into the “mean” humor of the later series (the whole “Guys, that is too dark” gag seems to be a harbinger of the internal creative differences that were coming), but the short itself is perfect Joel in that it emphasizes that one key difference: “Found humor” means that it’s there for anyone to find, and in the Joel years, we’re laughing more at their unseen reactions to something strange, just because it’s a comic extension of our own reactions. In HCTC, I was already laughing at the strange clown-trapeze act, and when Crow burst out, “They’re doing it clown style!”, that just put the silliness into the words I was trying to find watching it.
(Oh, and for the “Edward DeVere” theory put forward by crazy paranoid disaster-movie directors, check out BBC’s “In Search of Shakespeare documentary–Apparently, most anti-Shakespeare theorists tend to overlook all that Catholic-vs-Protestant stuff going on during Elizabeth and James, and that tends to shed some new light on Will’s, quote, “illiterate” background, and why he traveled so much.)
Unless you like picking on the fact that an actor IS unappealing, there’s not as much for the audience to sympathize with in the Baker-bashing in Mitchell–it’s a pretty boring straightforward 70’s cop movie they got from public-domain, nothing to see here–as much as there was to pick on Arch Hall Jr. personally as a failed teen heartthrob in Eegah. In the latter, it’s just one small part of the incompetent silliness that we had a lot of crazy homemade ideas that didn’t work out like the filmmakers hoped.
I’d like to know what Neil Connery thought about the Brains’ treatment of him, especially in that host segment where they speculate about his life being a total failure compared with his brother’s. That seemed a bit harsh, even though he obviously knew he was doing a cheap Bond rip-off. It was still funny, though.
If I may weigh in on the interesting side-discussion: I guess I’ve never been conscious of a striking difference between what others seem to perceive as Joel’s tasteful edginess and Mike’s clumsy viciousness. To me, there was always a thin line in the show’s writing between teasing the creation and attacking the creators. For the most part the writers walked that line pretty well, whether it was Joel at the helm or Mike – and you could argue they both crossed the line quite often. (How much of Joel’s humor in “Eegah!” is based on Arch Hall Jr.’s “butt-ugliness” after all?) Anyway, that’s comedy, or a big part of; ever watched a Friar’s Club Roast on Comedy Central?
Now, with all that in mind: Jim Stafford.
So let me see if I have this straight — Joel Hodgson is a saint, the Mahatma Gandhi of movie riffing, while Mike Nelson is Pol Pot, or even Hitler, if not Satan himself.
Geez, and here I thought it was just a show and I should really just relax.
Spare me from people who think a basic cable TV show changing hosts is the equivalent of a moral upheaval signaling the beginning of the End Times. I thought we were through with that childish nonsense years ago.
As to the topic of this discussion — remember that, people? the topic? — from various interviews, it’s my impression that Arch Hall, Jr. has NO sense of humor about his movies, but it’s based on his desire to protect and defend his father’s legacy, not because of a personal touchiness. He’s very protective of his father’s reputation.
I attended the Birdemic 2 premiere in New York City and during the Q&A afterwards, I asked the elephant-in-the-room question — how did they feel about the Rifftrax treatment of Birdemic, seeing as how, on the one hand, it was brutal, but on the other hand, it turned a lot of people, like me and my wife, on to the movie?
James Ngyuen (spelled wrong, I’m sure, sorry, James) basically gave a non-answer, Alan Bagh (“Rod”) claimed he never saw it (yeah, right!) and Whitney Moore (Natalie) loved it, and even said she had hoped they’d be meaner to her! She also said she was a long-time fan and was thrilled to be riffed by the guys.
So, as many different reactions as there are people. Probably be true with anyone involved with an MST movie. Though I would like to hear Kathy Ireland’s reaction – I bet she agrees with them about her voice!
I’m surprised that neither Bert I. Gordon nor Roger Corman seem to have an opinion on Mystery Science Theater, seeing as MANY of their films had been featured there.
EricJ, please, show me on the doll where Mike hurt you.
Frank Finlay(Manfred) Suzanna Leigh(Vicki Robbins)are still with us, from the Deadly Bees, one of my top 5 episodes all time.
Not to take this any further off-topic, but I think some of the people here are taking the discussion a bit too far into argumentum ad absurdum. The Mike years were a “torrid stew of hatred”? Joel is a “saint” while Mike is “Satan”? I’m not aware that anybody actually said anything that extreme, or even anything that could objectively be read that way. I’m just pointing out that, over the evolution of the show, there was a perceptible change in the approach to writing jokes increasingly toward the more “vigilante lynching” style (as EricJ calls it) that we got at the end, and that this could in part explain the negative reactions by the various actors and other targets (which, remember, was the original topic of this thread). Nobody said that Joel never crossed the line into that type of humor, nobody said that Mike did it all the time, and nobody said that they “hated” the Mike shows because of it. I personally count a number of the Sci-Fi shows among my favorites. In general, though, I don’t enjoy them as much as the older Comedy Central shows, for all the reasons I stated earlier.
The leading actress of “Space Mutiny” hated MST3K.
Eddie Deezen said on Facebook that the MST3K riff was better than the movie itself, and called MST3K one of the greatest shows on television. Awwwww…
Roger Corman hates MST3K. In fact, I can’t remember who said this, but I think it was someone close to him (Joe Dante?) that even bringing up MST3K in his presence isn’t the smartest idea.
Clint Eastwood was amused at “Revenge of the Creature” getting riffed, and many other Universal flicks getting riffed. Eastwood told my cousin’s husband (who does audio equipment setup for sports shows and conventions), that MST3K riffing Universal’s old B-movies is almost poetic justice because because back then they really treated people horribly, and the movies turning out the way they did is essentially Universal exec’s fault.
He also commented that the “This guy’s bad, this is his first and last movie” riff is pretty ironic, because he was essentially told this by an executive that he was no good, and this would likely be his first and last movie. Eastwood speculates he may have mentioned this in an interview, and The Brains were referencing that.
Joel vs Mike. Yawn. By the way, remember Mike was the head writer from season one on. Just saying.
I have loved MST3K for 25 years, enjoyed every episode (or almost every one), and I have a great respect for all of them involved as artists. That said, I think it takes an exceptional sense of humor and coolness to be made fun of by strangers for your physical appearance, acting or movie-making shortcomings, or whatever, I could see feeling like that’s a personal attack on some levels. I wouldn’t think any less of someone who didn’t like their riff-lashing on the show.
I’m not sure I have any choices for who I’d like to hear from about their MST3K celebrity. I’ll go ahead and say the late Patrick Swayze, who had a significant amount of time after MST3K to encounter and perhaps speak on his razzing. But he probably didn’t care, he had a life of his own to deal with. Still, I always find these nuggets of information fascinating. MST3K / CT / RiffTrax always take shots at things I like, I have learned over the years that I can have my own tastes and still be a fan of the show(s).
Joel has gone out of his way to speak well of B-movies over the years, and maybe that’s helped people forgive when a joke is pretty cutting. I don’t think anyone involved with the show is genuinely nasty or has a personal grudge against anyone in anything they’ve seen. It’s entertainment. Mike was the head writer all the way through, so if there was a change in the nature of the show’s comedy, I don’t think it was because nice people left and mean people came on board. It’s comedy, as I see it, and what gets a laugh is game. Maybe the biggest mistake anyone on MST3K made was assuming that all viewers would understand it was all just in the name of fun.
I always liked how Mike announced literally announced her name as ‘Lisa Loeb and Nine Stories.’ I always assumed that was her full name.
Adam West once hosted one of the Turkey Day marathons and seemed pretty cool with the ribbing they gave him. It was his agent he had a problem with for getting him the job.
If younz guys will take a gander over to the Track of the Moon Beast thread a few posts down, you can read an awesome letter written by lead actress Donna Leigh Drake (Kathy) about being riffed in that movie.
Also, over at the Rifftrax site, take a look at the comments at the bottom of the page for the movie ‘The Apple’.
It seems that the lead actress in that has posted a nice little comment of her own.
Did Graves make his remarks before or after working on Darkstar? You know, that computer game from the people who made MST3K?
I suspect when he commented on the show, tongue was planted firmly in cheek. He certainly didn’t having a problem making fun of himself in the Airplane! movies.
Ava Gardner. Leslie Neilson. Tom Sellek. The guy who played Q on Star Trek. Anyone else who helped make Phase 4, City on Fire, or SST-Death Flight.
The guy who played Q on Star Trek.
John de Lancie.
Here’s a little-known fact: John almost made a guest appearance on MST3K. His daughter was a fan of the show, so he contacted Best Brains about appearing. A deal was hammered out and everything was ready to go, but when it was presented to the Sci-Fi Channel, the channel refused to approve the additional budget required. So John’s appearance was cancelled.
@ #73: IIRC Graves did not like being in the Airplane movies. My understanding is that he’s not fond of doing comedy. But there are more actors in Hollywood than roles and the rent don’t pay itself, so sometimes you take what you can get.
I often wonder how Mike Connors a-k-a “Touch,” feels about his “MST3K,” legacy, especially that “Mannix,” references seem to be common (since original station KTMA in the Twin Cities carrier those reruns before the episodes). It was a jackpot when “Swamp Diamonds,” aired!! Here’s to hoping for foe a special edition of the movie with Touch as guest riffer!!!
I would nominate Akira Takarada, who played Yoshimura (the bank robber turned hero) in Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, since he’s a pretty well known actor in Japan and has appeared in quite a few kaiju films. On the other hand, I’m not sure that riffing translates very well into Japanese, though I do understand that Takarada-san’s English isn’t too shabby.
Wow, what a great topic. I’d have to go with Alice Lyon, Elaine from “Horror of Party Beach”. I’d ask her why she was dubbed. Plus, I see Horror as the quintessential 50’s-60’s monster movie. I think it’s a shame though that so many riffed people are so negative about it. I mean it’s just a show, they should really just relax.
I think next weekends discussion thread should be Guess Volume 30 since Volume 29 is coming out next Tuesday and we usually get the announcement the day before or of the release !
@70, I know he enjoyed “Patrick Swayze Christmas”.
I know that the people from Time Chasers had a cast reunion to watch the MST3K episode when it premiered. Most were cool with it, but Peter Harrington, “Pink Boy”, got a little annoyed. Funny since Matthew Bruch got most of the comments. I know that Bruce “Rowsdower” Mitchell as of the Shout interview never saw the episode, but his son had and loved it. I’d heard that Vivian Schilling had never seen Soultaker MST’d, either.
I’d like to know Herschell Gordon Lewis’ opinion or Bill Rebane’s opinion on the films they made. Or Fred “The Hammer” Williamson’s opinion on their take of Warrior of the Lost World.
I find it equally fascinating to hear opinions about MST3K from people who are merely in the movie business. Joe Dante is a director that I greatly admire, yet his tolerance for MST3K is below zero. He’s easily the highest profile dissenter I’m familiar with, and you can see that big-time in the This Island Earth documentary that Ballyhoo produced for the new MST3K: The Movie DVD.
@#75: That’s a VERY interesting bit of trivia! It’s infuriating that the Sci-Fi Channel wouldn’t approve the budget request; I would MUCH rather have seen DeLancie on MST3K than most of the other things Sci-Fi was spending money on in the late 90s!
Oh man, DeLancie with the Sci-Fi Mads would’ve been a hoot.
A DATE WITH THE FAMILY : Would love to talk to the actress who played the teenage girl about why she started laughing when she tried to deliver her lines (DATE WITH THE FAMILY outtakes are on YouTube and Internet Archive.)
YOUNG MANS FANCY: Wish I could chat with Bonnie Baken about the short.
WEREWOLF : Adrianna Miles !!!!
ANGEL’S BRIGADE : Susan Kiger !!!!!!!
I doubt Herschell Gordon Lewis would have minded MST3K. He had a sense of humor about himself and his films.
I’ll admit I might enjoy a feature on the grown-up lives of the child actors who appeared in MST3K films. I understand Pedro from SANTA CLAUS is now in prison, or was, last time I heard. (His ex-wife accused him of child abuse; he claims it was a frame-up.)
“Did Graves make his remarks before or after working on Darkstar? You know, that computer game from the people who made MST3K?
I suspect when he commented on the show, tongue was planted firmly in cheek. He certainly didn’t having a problem making fun of himself in the Airplane! movies.”
I remember years ago, Leslie Nielsen told an anecdote about how the only thing he really disliked about working on “Airplane!” was working with Peter Graves, because between takes he was ALWAYS griping about how this film was beneath him, and couldn’t understand why Nielsen agreed to do the film either (of course in Nielsen’s case, it’s because he’d been wanting to do comedy for a long time).
In one of his Cinematic Titanic interviews in which Darkstar was mentioned, Trace Beaulieu unequivocally said that “Peter Graves hated us”, so I don’t think it was a tongue-in-cheek remark. Graves did the narration on Darkstar, and I’ve read that it was his last performance before his death.
What part would DeLancie have played? A send up of Q? Mike could have had a Janeway relapse. ;)
Sorry to hear Peter Graves had a stick up his wazoo. I’ll always enjoy his work though!
Fine, the Mike-era jokes were a little meaner. They were also funny- which, to me, is all that matters. Joel wasn’t exactly kind to Sean Connery’s brother, and Cinematic Titanic gets plenty nasty at times.
Reb Brown has gone on record (youtube, people) as being amused by the MST3K’ing of Space Mutiny, and really enjoying the bevy of silly names. Which is great, because he was pretty much 90% of my list of people I wanted to see react to their episodes.
Otherwise, Guy Pringle.
Miguel Angel Fuentes, Vadinho from Pumaman and Deathstalker. Love to see something from him. The jokes they do about him are much kinder than the ones about Pumaman himself.
@#12 & #16, LASERBLAST producer Charles Band thought the MST3K episode was geat.
http://www.dvdverdict.com/interviews/charlesband.php
Tommy Kirk from CATALINA CAPER and VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS. But mainly for CATALINA CAPER, because it’s one of my favorite episodes.
Ron Howard. He was also in GIANTS.
Anyone from ROBOT HOLOCAUST. Not just about the MST3K episode, but the film itself. And what they think of THE MATRIX, another film about a world ruled by robots, and a hero named Neo.
George Lazenby in MASTER NINJA II, when he played (not) James Bond.
Actor Ian McShane and director Jeanott Szwarc for CODENAME: DIAMOND HEAD.
Clu Gulager for SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL.
Clint Eastwood for his bit part in REVENGE OF THE CREATURE.
Anyone for BOGGY CREEK II.
And of course, we all know Bridget Jones put a contract out on Joel after Joel had Mike assassinated and replaced by a lookalike in retaliation for Mike setting him up for that drug bust in Japan…
Ah, me. Could I have avoided all this by stating it usually seems to be Frank Conniff who comes to the defense of the actors and film-makers in convention panels and the like?
Should note, one of the things I liked about ‘Buzz’ in MISTER B NATURAL was that he really came across as a decent young actor trying to do his best in this ridiculous little film. I mean, he knew it wasn’t Shakespeare but he was making an effort to play the character as believable and endearing.
I would love to hear from any of the kids who starred in a Gamera movie!
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