Has this one been done? “Dumbest comments ever said about MST3K, by non-fans”?
I got one from my dad. Whenever I put in an MST3K episode to watch my dad’s complaint is something along the lines of, “Why do you even bother watching this show for? The only reason you watch it is because of the host and the robots, and their jokes.” That comment alone shows he doesn’t get it.
What immediately leapt to my mind was “freelance scriptwriter” Eric Wallace, on the Sci-Fi Channel show “SF Vortex,” who said to Mike and Mary Jo (and, I’ll acknowledge, was probably told to be a devil’s advocate): “When people see you doing your thing to bad science fiction films, and especially people who aren’t familiar with the genre, they’re going to bring that over and say ‘Oh, science fiction’s a hokey genre.'”
You can hear all the dumb things he said here and here.
What dumb things have you heard?
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@99
You obviously has never seen the unMSTied version of Godzilla vs. Megalon. It is considered the WORST of the Godzilla movies. I’ve read where people has said they will only watch the MSTied version, it’s that bad. And it is. I saw the unMSTied version WAY before I saw it (and Godzilla vs. Sea Monster) on MST3K.
Completely off topic….
I love being a Mystie! and I love other Mysties! We are a group of normal, thoughtful people who have spent to much time reading books and watching television. Let’s face it, the references can be arcane, but they are always slick and spot on. (kit kcot …. kit kcot Don’t make me go to the larder and unseal a tin of woop ass)
It must be nice for Mike, Joel and the rest (what is this “all the rest” crap) not to be terrified of their fans.
I feel sorry for those that “don’t get it” As for me, I’m the wind baby.
A coworker insisted that the name of the show was once MST 2000, and he wasn’t refereing to early talks about what to name the show he was saying that the first seasons were MST2K. I belive his exact words were “Oh ya, that show, I used to watch that way back when it was still Mystery Science Theater 2000.”
I’m not one to argue about things that don’t matter much, people argue over so many things that don’t matter two minutes after the argument. So I just dropped it after trying one time to insist that he was wrong. I have a MST3K tattoo, a half sleave tattoo in fact, this show is probably the only thing I am more knowledgeable about than anyone else I have ever meet(in person.)
@ #102 Hardcheese
My sentiments exactly! I feel like the enjoyment and ‘getting it’ shared between MSTies sorta transcends other differences we may have. Sounds crazy, but you can tell a lot about someone by how they react to the show. I don’t think that everyone should like it – or expect that they would, but it feels like a cool, sane, witty, eccentric, thoughtful group that is attracted to this show, and that is confirmed by the behavior of posters on this site. Generally very mature, tolerant w/ few flame wars or other mean hijinx that dominate other open comment fan sites.
& for me, MST3K is an essential part of maintaining psychological health. Laughing is good for you (lowers blood pressure, adjusts serotonin levels, releases positive endorphins, increases longevity) so enjoying MST3K and even learning to riff on existence itself is to some extent healthy.
(yeah this veered way off topic …. I don’t have any negative stories to share, almost all of my friends are either tolerant of the show or fans or ambivalent – don’t know anyone who hates it.)
@94:
You’ve met far more douchebags in your time in fandom than I have. Ruining Coleman Francis? Ripping off “Family Guy”? A capitalistic conspiracy? What planet do these people live on? Even if you don’t like MST3K, those comments are WAY out there. Do these people also believe that we never landed on the moon?
#99
monoceros4 says:
August 22, 2010 at 6:57 pm
“Operation Kid Brother (or Operation Double 007) is rated 2.1 points. Secret Agent Super Dragon gets an even sorrier 1.9 points. Are these secret-agent movies really that much worse than, say, a Matt Helm movie (e.g. The Ambushers at 3.9) or even a “respectable” Bond movie like The Man with The Golden Gun (an absurdly high 6.7)?
Godzilla vs. Megalon gets 3.4 points. Immediately preceding it, Godzilla vs. Gigan gets 5.0 points; immediately following it, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla gets 5.7 points. Was there really some stunning drop in quality with Megalon?”
Operation Double 007 and Secret Agent Super Dragon are lousy movies. They’re so lousy that I rarely watch those MST3K episodes that have the movies. Yes, The Man With the Golden Gun is better than two James Bond knock-offs. Speaking of that, even a silly movie with Christopher Lee is still better than it would be without him.
Godzilla vs. Megalon does stink. Who would prefer Godzilla fighting Megalon over a robot version of himself? There are also Godzilla fans who prefer the more serious Godzilla movies. They don’t like the goofy Godzilla movies of the late ’60s and ’70s that were made for children. In fact, I used to watch those movie all of the time when I was a kid, but now I just can’t them anymore.
@ 105 Don’t get them started on the moon landing. I have to admit though, at the same college I found a MST “club” , we would watch MST and have pizza, it was fun. But then you had the weirdos like the guys I encountered.
A couple of trends by critics caught my eye from this thread;
MST3K encourages inappropriate riffing- A few folks pointed to various critics who have sentiments to this effect. Riffing has been going on since entertainment began. Ancient times they would throw rocks. In the old west they would take pot shots at acts they did not like. I grew up in the 50s and there were riffing in the theaters then. This is a very stupid allegation that has no legs.
Moral Highground argument- Anyone who stands on the moral highground that states such n such is too sacred for riffing is pompous and pretentious. Although an extreme example, Christ on the cross showed that anything is subject to criticisms, even gods.
Should MST3K be criticized? You bet it should be if only not to become like those who point fingers.
I never got the idea that the MST3K crew was riffing on movies because they hated the movies and couldn’t wait to tear them apart. Now, it’s true that they didn’t hesitate to point out the worst aspects of a film and *why* it was so bad, but it seemed *to me* they were more annoyed at the filmakers because They Just Didn’t Care (but should have).
I think RiffTrax proved that you can absolutely joke on any film, no matter how good or how bad. Riffing on a bad film both makes it bearable and can actually teach you what makes a film/story bad, and riffing on a good film keeps you from taking it too seriously and teaches you to look for the humor in anything because it’s always there.
Fortunately, I have not heard many disparaging comments about the show. I’ve always loved it and it’s right up there with *Twilight Zone* and the original *Star Trek* as my favorite TV ever. I was learning to be a novelist when MST3K was first on, and I did learn a lot from them about bad storytelling and what to avoid. I did end up selling nine novels to a New York publisher. All I can say to the MST3K crew is – thanks!
Do you think those people who don’t “get” or hate the show have a hard time watching the movie and listening to the silhouettes at the same time?? I’ve known a few people who were that way.It made them use a part of their brains they don’t do with regular sit-coms or shows.Some people hate something because it’s different usually.I’m just asking is all.Just thought I’d throw that out there…To me,what MST3K did was made people(those who love it/like it)discover(or re-discover)filmmakers like Roger Corman,Ed Wood and actors like Peter Graves,Beverly Garland;just to name a few and movies like Manos,Red Zone Cuba,Monster A-Go Go and so on..
#96 Stacia: “…I don’t see why it’s so “dumb” for someone to say they would prefer to see the movie rather than the riffed version…”
That’s not the dumb part. If people like what they see in the movie itself, they can seek out the unriffed version. People were saying it was dumb of others to say the comments in the SHOW were bothering them, when that was what the show consisted of.
I know that we know better than heckle movies in the theater but I can see how people like Harry Knowles might get the idea that MST encourages it. Back in the super psychdelic 70s, Gene Rayburn of Match Game would announce a game question saying something like It was so hot outside… and the audience would yell back on cue, How hot was it?, and then Rayburn would finish the question. It was a motif for the show and was part of it’s air of naughtiness but then people started doing it to Johnny Carson during his monologue and he got so disgusted he nearly quit.
My only point is that some people have done it. I’m glad we know better.
@ 87 Cronkite Moonshot: Don’t get me wrong about “Beavis & Butt-Head”…looking at it years later, I now know that it’s more satirical than anything else. Mike Judge is brilliant, and I think “King of the Hill” and “Office Space” prove that. But just because B & B riffed on videos during parts of their show, that doesn’t automatically make it comparable to MST3K, and that’s what my uncle was doing when making that comment.
About Beavis & Butt-Head, they really didn’t riff on the videos in the same way as MST3K. I agree that it would be incorrect to draw a direct comparison. Furthermore, had they made intelligent riffs, they would be out of character for Beavis & Butt-Head. The main portion of that show was the story in each episode, not the riffing of the music videos.
Speaking from a Godzilla fan perspective, I can definitely say Godzilla vs. Megalon was not the one I dreaded to see. That would be the horribly misnamed Godzilla’s Revenge, which is mostly about a boy who learns from Godzilla’s son (yeah, that gray Jim Henson reject named Minya) how to fight back against bullies. Or something. That one definitely deserved Joel & the bots ripping it to shreds, even now it deserves comparison with the lesser Gamera movies.
As for dissing MST3K, this guy completely fails to understand the point. I remember exploring his website a few years ago because he had reviews up for quite a few obscure movies, and then I saw his completely wrong reaction to The Movie. Plus, he’s really not a good writer – look around at all the clunky phrasing and bad grammar he uses. “… it is an undiscriminating sarcasm that ignores any virtues or artistic merits that a film may have and is founded solely around deriving humour out of the less-sophisticated effects and corniness that dialogue has or may appear to have when isolated out of context” is a good example of how this guy thinks.
I was watching Radar Secret Service on Youtube tonight, and spotted a real doozy! See if you can spot the logic flaw in this guy’s comment. ;-)
“Ah, that’s no fair! The “whistle” – “no waffles” bit refers to a? line during one of their horrible between the scenes “skits”, which I never watch!
Movie riffing = funny, Skits = Community Theater frustration, not funny.”
More than one person said to me, “I used to watch it when it was ‘Mystery Science Theater 2000.'” or something like that. I just nod and end the conversation.
I was talking chatting with a “friend” some time ago and asked him if he had ever watched MST3k. He said that he had but he couldn’t stand the “low-budget quality” of the show.
Do I even need to explain how utterly stupid that reason is?
There was a guy on IMDb complaining that the Brains ruined “Racket Girls” saying the movie had a strong feminist(sp?) message.
A friend said that he heard it was “a show for people who didn’t have any friends”. I thought that was a ****ty thing to say. We are no longer friends, not for this reason but it helped in making the decision.
#12, I got the same comment from one of my acquaintances. The only way he saw it was that he was in my Short Story class in high school, and our teacher let me bring in “Bloodlust”, because we had just reading “The Most Dangerous Game.”