In The Golden Turkey Awards (which Joel has cited as an influence on MST3K), the Medved Brothers stated, “We know our choices will not please everyone -— least of all the actors, producers, writers and directors who are honored in the pages that follow. We further recognize that the number of bad films is so enormous and the competition for the very worst is so intense, that all decisions reached here are subject to considerable second-guessing.”
So let’s do a bit of our own second-guessing and name MST3K films we think should have been nominated. I would pick “The Corpse Vanishes” for Most Awkward On-Screen Marriage Proposal.
For reference, a list of the Awards and their “winners” (as well as the MST3K films that were nominated) can be found here: The Golden Turkey Awards.
Have at it!
Keep those WDT suggestions coming!
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A Case of Spring Fever –
In the spinoff Mrs. Golfer grows disenchanted with her husband’s new found spring religion and begins to cast her eyes upon the handsome fellow in her husband’s golfing group. They run off together to Palm Springs (get it?) and he buys her a new couch. With a new spring in her step the now ex Mrs. Golfer ventures into the world of toy merchandising and promotes the Slinky.
Castle Rock or Cabot Cove? I’m kidding, of course. ;-)
No, I rather like the idea of Murder She Wrote Meets Adam West, Jon-Mikl Thor and “Voo-Doo Lady Molly” in Zombie Nightmare! Jessica Fletcher could help the good cop crack the case, she and Molly could have a senior bonding moment, she could exchange Down-East drolleries with the hulking zombie . . . Actually, that kind of stuff happens in Maine all the time–that’s why I was worried about my response to Starcrash.
?
Castle Rock is Stephen King country. I’m not sure Zombie Nightmare was even set in the USA, much less Maine.
But whichever. :-)
To follow my irrelevant posts with an even more irrelevant post (there’s really just no bottom to it, folks), according to multiple sources on Google, during the twelve-year run of “Murder, She Wrote,” at least 274 murders (some sources give even higher numbers) were committed in Cabot Cove, population 3500, which allegedly comes to eighty-six murders per 1000 people or to over twenty murders per year (I think; math can perplex me very easily).
Apparently, one is actually safer in a Stephen King town than in Cabot Cove. At least the massive body counts of Stephen King towns only occur once every twenty years or so at most, and they’re usually more attributable to [super]natural disasters than anything else.
To my dull surprise, apparently none of H.P. Lovecraft’s fictional towns are located in Maine (I’d have thought at least one or two but no, it’s Massachusetts all the way), but I’d imagine that even one of Lovecraft’s towns has a lower human-on-human murder rate than Cabot Cove.
My grandmother was an avid fan of this show and even SHE jokingly remarked on the frequency of death throughout the series. I say jokingly, because she was a sweet lady who would never take things too dark. Except her coffee!
So from watching the show with her, I became a fan myself. Angela Lansbury was always charming as the widow novelist turned amateur sleuth. Excellent theme music, writing, support and guest casts.
Fast forward to moderm times with dark internet theories to popular shows being the norm, and I cannot rewatch this show without believing that I am watching a show about the greatest serial killer ever, J. B. Fletcher!
Perhaps Jessica Fletcher is just another incarnation of the Stephen King baddie Randall Flagg?
Flagg in dragg! Lol
Ha, this reminds me of what I’ve read about my favorite-ever detective series, Inspector Morse: Morse served in Oxford, England, and solved multiple murders a week for years and years, but the actual murder rate in Oxford is infinitesimally small by comparison! Oh, how my mother loved Murder She Wrote. She once interrupted a visit on Sunday night with the last grandchildren she’d ever have by looking surreptitiously at her watch and hissing at my father, “Oh! Jessica is on!” As for Stephen King . . . I am reminded of a scene in Santa Claus where Santa is tip-toeing around some living room with his bulging sack and one of the ‘bots quips, “Oh, Santa is delivering the latest Stephen King manuscript” . . .
Perhaps Cabot Cove is known for its charming BB&Bs — Bed, Breakfast, & Burial.
;-)
The series itself commented on it (with occasional comments like “What the hell’s wrong with this town, anyway?!”) but, having raised the point, they declined to offer even the flimsiest explanation (a curse? ghosts? the grim reaper briefly seen in windows or mirrors, following Jessica everywhere she goes? anything would be SOMETHING).
IMHO one should either ignore a plot element of that sort or explain it. Tell us why it’s there or pretend that it ISN’T there and we’ll just sort of play along.
Instead the show’s creators refused to do either. Tsk. And tsk.
The fact that she has only to show up somewhere else and someone dies, that (to borrow a metaphor from author Matthew Stover) death follows her like crows follow an army, well, that COULD have been “explained” by at least changing the scripts so the murders happened BEFORE she came to town and that whoever selects locations for her book tours just has this really odd sense of humor…
But enough of that. Unless it isn’t. It’s up to you folks, I can’t make all your decisions for you. ;-)
And, technically, shrews aren’t rodents. :)
Speaking of “Murder She Wrote”, I’m reminded of the time they did a MSW/Magnum P.I. crossover, and it gave me an idea for a weekend discussion thread:
What MST-ified movies would be good subjects for a crossover movie? I’d suggest “Wild World of Batwoman + Manos: The Hands of Fate. Two groups of cult-ish women face off in a battle of Good vs Evil.
Neither are rabbits (despite any number of references in Bugs Bunny cartoons), which reminds me: Has ANYONE riffed “Night of the Lepus” yet? The rights can’t be THAT hard to acquire…
I don’t know how likely it is that any random MST3K fan would be unfamiliar with “Night the Lepus,” but just in case:
https://www.agonybooth.com/night-of-the-lepus-1972-part-1-12683
Yes, please, can we do this?
Rifftrax has it: https://www.rifftrax.com/night-of-the-lepus
Cool. Thanks. :-)
Having finally taken the time for a closer look, it seems that Rifftrax has riffed about 305 movies and about 314 shorts. Unless I’m wrong. Not that anyone asked. :-)