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I think you can guess what the Weekend Discussion Thread will be on Friday. :-)
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SPOILER SPACEThis thread is for comments on and reactions to the screening of episode 1101 that is available to Kickstarter backers today.
294 Replies to “SPOILER SPACE”Commenting at Satellite News
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I loved (and relate to) the last line of your post. Very healthy and zen way of looking at it.
And again, EricJ purports to have a window into Joel’s mind.
Creepy.
From what I understand, both Joel and Jonah are friendly with Har Mar Superstar (who was a recurring guest on Jonah’s podcast, Jonah Raydio), and he was among the first people they asked. Joel also has a history with MoAM?, but considering that they’ve been semi-dormant for the last 15 years (except for playing a small handful of live dates every few years, as well as the “comeback” album they released 5 years ago) I’m guessing that they weren’t able to coordinate something. As cool as MoAM? being officially linked to MST3K would have been, we’ve all already heard their version of the Love Theme, so I welcome the new Skeleton Crew version as a fresh twist on an old favorite.
Not really. They explained it more in the post screening Q&A than I can remember them talking about it now.
Only had time to finish 1103 last night (too tired to watch 1104). I imagine Joel must have been positively tickled by 1103, in large part because it seems like the movie’s special effects were designed by a stage magician. Without dipping too much into spoiler territory, the bit near the end involving Danny and the teleportation machine, why, you could probably go to any hoary old Vegas magic act and see something like that even today. And what plot relevance does that matter teleporter have, by the way? None whatsoever. The filmmakers, presumably, knew they could pull it off on camera and decided to put it in the movie.
Honestly, I’m kind of surprised they didn’t work a vent act in the movie.
Also, dig the sleight of hand involving the fast-growing orange tree, when the assistant palms the inflatable orange and swaps in a real one. It’s a fun little effect, but note that NASA has designed, basically, a real-life version of this same thing, basically a soil and light box in which crops will grow during the mission to Mars.
Two other thoughts:
“Danny” appears to have been a popular name for the dorky comic relief character in ’60s sci fi. I have only one other example to support my theory (The Doomsday Machine), but I’m sure that’s enough in these factually deficient times.
Speaking of Danny, what do you MEAN you can’t take your love interest back home with you??? Danny, are you in-SANE???!?!?!? Are you going to let her fly to Alpha Centauri with a bunch of wet blanket scientists and mouthless androids???!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!
Somewhere way back, someone mentioned that the characters don’t have their own personalities while riffing. While I sort of agree with this sentiment, I don’t find it nearly as jarring as it was at the end of the Sci-Fi run (probably because, at the least to the point I’ve reached, the actors are still ‘settling in’ to the characters).
That said, I remember finding it IMMENSELY jarring towards the end of Soultaker when Mike made a Talking Heads reference, when literally every Talking Heads reference I can remember prior to that had been made by Servo (I just always assumed Kevin Murphy was a huge fan).
So I do get the criticism, but I’ve also found it difficult to apply here – perhaps because of the ‘newness’ of the cast.
Excellent summary.
It seems like a logical deduction when you follow the timelines of the quality degradation and input from additional writers.
i LOVE that you quoted yourself two minutes later. I think we all have EricJ wrong. He’s a genius!
Hey, i found ONE thing Ericj says that I agree with.
Having Patton Oswalt forever linked to MST3K is worth this reboot for me. He really gets into the mindset of being a Mad. Plus, having him voice the commercial bumpers makes this FEEL a bit like the Comedy Central years with Penn Jillette talking over the Comedy Central station signs (I know he wasn’t to everyone’s liking and I absolutely agree that speaking over the credits themselves is verboten).
Is this sarcasm? It’s so hard to tell these days
Again, he’s said it in interviews–not just the new ones, but going to back to the final CT tours and one-man shows–about why he’s watched the SciFi episodes in “retirement” but won’t look at his old ones: “I mean ‘Rowsdower’, how is that not funny?”
…Oh, indeed. It is to guffaw.
Oh wow, *that’s* what those remind me of! It’s been bugging me all week that I couldn’t put my finger on what was so familiar about them. I always found Penn’s voiceovers oddly soothing on those nights that I would fall asleep to my VHS MST3K tapes in college.
If you are feeling adventurous and open-minded, MFT3K (not a typo) riffed Starcrash years ago, and the video is available on the internet.
1105 – well i was never into cowboy/western flicks, even ones with monsters… so my response to this one was fairly cool. but, like the trainwreck of a flick 1102 was, the crew does great keeping things entertaining!
1106 – yay, more awesomely bad 80s heavy-metal-scifi please! the bad guy in this one looks like he could be a direct descendant of “the master” from manos. same crazy eyes! (and, funny enough, the riff i would’ve made in 1103, finally shows up in this one! weird – you guys are reading my mind, or maybe i’m reading yours! ;0)
i think maybe it’s cooler to only pre-review the movies in a most general sense, without getting specific about the skits/cameos so far… but, oh man, have there been some -great- cameo bits so far!! and i still have more than half of ’em to go, so i can’t wait to see what else goes down on the new SOL. hail hail!! :)
Indeed! It was super cool when [REDACTED] showed up in 1102, and also super cool when [REDACTED] made an appearance in 1103.
heh! that should be “when [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] show up in 1103!” ;0
and if you’ve only made it that far, wait till you see [REDACTEDs]-plural in the next few! (i already know a few future satnewsers’ll be using a certain new name from one of the cameos! lol, it’s too cool not to lift it!)
Right — and while they still might be “credited” either they are phoning it in (and, yes, I realize they might have to do this quite literally) or just don’t care anymore. I am one of Mike and Company’s biggest fans, saw all their live shows, bought each and every one of the RT stuff they did for many, many years. And a couple years ago I realized they just weren’t funny anymore. Okay, so perhaps you could say *I’ve” changed, but clearly Conor was writing more (and either none at all before that or very little) and even folks who were falling all over themselves at live shows were going “eh?”.
If RT still floats your boat then I think that’s GREAT — I mean it. And I still want good things to happen for Mike, Kevin and Bill. They kept me going with riffs long after MST3K closed shop (I LOVED The Film Crew). Just not for me anymore and I was hoping the easy answer is that new kids on the block had taken over (because it’s sad when the creative minds you love kind of lose it, or at least no longer entertain you personally. Perhaps two decades is just too much riffing).
So to be straight, just because you don’t particularly care for RT now you accused them of both a) not writing the riffs anymore and then b) Okay they write them but are phoning it in. You do know they’ve had the same credited writers for almost the entirely of the Rifftrax run, right? And that the latest riffs they’ve done are among the most highly rated and most purchased? Maybe you’re more to blame than anything for your non-enjoyment of things
..
To be clear, argument by popularity is almost always fallacious, as it is here. One need only look to an event a few months back to provide ample (and also ironic) proof of that.
Also to be clear, I don’t have a dog in this silly conflict. I like Rifftrax just fine; I just don’t like me some bogus reasoning.
My 1101 reactions: I thought the riffing throughout was good to great. I didn’t like the intro and really don’t like cameos. Having stars in our cowtown puppet show ruins the feel of it for me. For instance, having Mike do Jack Perkins is far better than actually having Jack Perkins on the show. I hated the bumpers, they seemed jarring to me and completely unnecessary now that there are no commercials in the show. Having them voiced was even worse. Also thought the Mads needed more screen time, I was concerned about Felicia Day playing someone evil but she did well. Also hopefully I get used to the voices better but I had a lot of trouble differentiating between Servo and Crow in the riffing.
This all sounds harsh but the riffing is the main thing and it was good. Host segments were hit and miss for me but I loved the one with the letters, although I am wondering how exactly there were any letters when the show hadn’t come back yet. I am encouraged for the future and hope to get to 1102 this weekend.
No, and of course humor is inherently subjective. There’s no right or wrong about what is or isn’t funny (though there are some generalizations about what usually works and usually doesn’t).
If ratings are going up on newer Rifftrax, then no, that doesn’t disprove what Mike’s said about it becoming less funny; to him, it is, that’s his opinion, it’s subjective, there is no right or wrong. But what it does demonstrate empirically is that there are a lot of people who aren’t put off by the recent efforts the way that he is.
As for my opinion, well, I guess I really don’t know, because I don’t watch them all in order. Some of the ones I’ve watched recently have been great, but I don’t know if they’re new or not. I liked the live shows I saw last year (Mothra and the reunion show), and I’ve got tickets to Samurai Cop tonight.
I do find some of the callbacks (Shia LeBeouf) to be a little grating, but that was true on the old show too (I thought you were Dale!).
I think that, generally speaking, I’ve liked the B-movie riffs a whole lot better than the Just the Jokes ones, and it seems like the former have been the emphasis over the past couple of years. So I’m tempted to say I think it’s gotten better, not worse. But again, I haven’t sat down and broken it down by which ones were made when, so for all I know maybe I just haven’t seen the ones that Mike’s so put off by.
While I can readily agree with the substance of many of EricJ’s criticisms, particularly with regard to a dramatic tonal change and gradual decline in quality during the Sci-Fi Channel era, as well as my general distaste for most of RiffTrax’s output, his clear misanthropy and his hypocrisy in claiming to detest the very cynicism he himself displays make it hard to take him seriously as anything other than a troll…
I played Gypsy. :). It’ll be interesting to see it re-riffed on MST now.
A quick question for anybody who’s seen more than the first episode of the season: Does it matter if I watch them out of order? If the list I’ve seen is accurate, there are episodes I’m looking forward to more than others…
The main complaint for the decline of quality, fatigue or new writers aside, is that unlike the Return’s concern that they had to put everything into it or fail, RT may have gotten a little too contented with the state of their own riffing once they’d established a generational cult that would praise them just for their history of just being MK&B, regardless of the material. And then usually for the audience’s own reasons they brought with them.
When the Shorts Live riffing could riff a character looking at a clock with “Look, it’s 4:20!” and get a knowing cheer from the same audience that went to see Reefer Madness live, they know they’re not worried about trying to get crossover audiences when some of the particular ones they have are too faithful to care one way or the other.
By the poster’s same diehard-loyal logic, if diehard-faithful fans buying everything they make on cult-loyalty and pumping up sales numbers to show the world is “proof” of established quality, then Batman v. Superman would have swept last year’s Oscars.
i’d say yes, in terms of invention exchange… there’s a progression at play there so far, and they make a point of that, i think at the beginning of 1107. just sayin’… hope that helps!
1106!!!
By far, my favorite so far!
Pacing, chemistry, movie choice…all perfect.
5 out of 5 from Droppo!
IMO, the only ones you HAVE to watch in order (other than 1101, which of course you should watch first) are 1111, 1112, and 1114. 1113 is the Christmas episode and isn’t necessary to the overall continuity. I would also recommend watching 1114 last. There are things in some of the other episodes, besides the specifics in 1111 and 1112, which will help greatly in understanding what’s happening.
Oh, I don’t know. I’m seriously considering joining his cult.
Free Cherry Kool-Aid for eternity.
Just watched 1101 on Netflix! I LOVE THE NEW SHOW!! There, I said it.
I love how the robots that Joel envisioned in the 80s have finally reached their full potential. I always felt sorry for poor Tom Servo who had to be carried into the theater or when he was stuck in there because Mike didn’t know he was supposed to pick him up in 513. Now that he has a properly functioning hover-skirt, I love how he floats through the movie frame to play with this guy’s hair, or to kiss this other guy on the lips! Also, how Gypsy now hangs from the ceiling and pops into the theater every-so-often to make a quick quip. I never understood why Gypsy’s “body” was coiled around the set before, but it all makes a lot more sense now.
I don’t know if I like the new doorway sequence, but that’s honestly the only thing I can think of that I don’t like. The pacing of the riffs are a lot faster, which takes some getting used to. Not that I’m worried about what I missed–it’s almost as if they know I’m gonna re-watch this over and oven again! But for now, I’m gonna keep it fresh and take these new episodes slowly, one at a time.
The new cast is great! I can’t wait for the Joel vs. Jonah arguments to break out all over the internet, but for what it’s worth I think Jonah did a fine job! Thank you MST3k & thank you to all the Kickstarters who made this happen! You rock!!
heh! callback to “sidehackers,” remember the lame joke-about-jokes – “nuuummm-ber eight!” that’s how i feel now about referring to the new eps by number! at least we’re near-time to lift the embargo… i’ll wait till sampo says so! meanwhile…
i daresay 1109 is the first PERFECT ep of s11… great ones more or less so far, but 09 is everything we’ve come to expect from those kinda movies (and more! with an “omg” ending!).
no special cameos in it; nothing “special” about it really – it just hits all the marks smooth. good laughs and hit my “smile” button repeatedly!
So now that it’s on Netflix, we can spoiler away! :) I can’t add too much to what everyone else has been saying, but it looks like they have a good blend of old and new. I’ve only had a chance to see the first episode (and I plan to space them out and savor them), and I have to agree that the riffing is really fast and feels a bit forced. But others have said that later they settle in a bit, so I’ll look forward to that, and I’ll just rewatch the episodes to catch what I missed the first time (like I wasn’t going to do that anyway). And they have subtitles, so that should help.
Someone else has said that the song is really where they felt the old show was back, but I didn’t really feel that way. I enjoyed it, but it too seemed a bit forced (there were probably a lot of nerves involved in the first show). Where I really felt it was back was in the next host segment. Crow was making more Servos and asked Jonah if he could stop, and Jonah said “I never asked you to make more. In fact I told you not to!” It was a bit of a throwaway line, but it brought back the feeling of the bots as unhelpful helpers, like they always were. But probably my favorite line was “They only gave me this jumpsuit and hat because I’m tall and I look like I know what I’m doing!” – said the tall guy in the yellow jumpsuit. :)
In short, MST3K is BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!
Due to other obligations, I had to wait until last night to watch 1101, but I can’t wait to get on the boards with my fellow MSTies and read the Spoiler thread. I just hope it hasn’t turned into an EricJ-inspired flame-w—well crap.
That’s not what I came here to talk about.
I liked it. I wish there had been *more* host segments, believe it or not, because I want to get to know these new (old) characters more. I love the song, but the letters bit didn’t do much for me. I also thought the intro went on too long. Neat to see the cameos, but not sure what they added other than “Hey!”. But the riffing was spot on. I forgot to keep a scorecard of which jokes were True To The Spirit Of The Original or Targeted To Millennials, but that was because I remembered it was just a show, etc. etc. I laughed throughout. I can’t wait to see more. I just wish my blu-ray player could stream Netflix without pausing the image while the sound continues (it’s a Sony thing, I’ve learned). But I’ll get the DVDs (if they ever become available to folks who didn’t pledge that much) or download them. I’ll also still stream them from Netflix, just to bump up the numbers :)
Love the new season big time…love the look,the theme song,the host segments.the riffs..I really hope we get a season 12 out of this..Jonah is right up there alongside Joel and Mike as far as being the host and the riffing..Money well spent..Thanks Joel and the rest(what is the “and the rest” crap?)
Someone wanna explain to me why Crow’s mouth barely moves when he’s riffing in the theater?
Here’s something that caught me off-guard! They brought back the LETTER-READING SEGMENT!
MST3K: Stranger Things!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkOMAQAcBKE
Why break with the original opening? Especially when the new one is not an improvement. Crow and Servo also sound the same. Still seems like a missed opportunity to me. Hope it gets better.
You’re serious? Why remake the SOL? Why have new hosts?
It’s The Return, and a few years have passed. There’s now a thing called HD and I understand all the cool kids are using it. That original sequence HAD to be redone, so why not do it in a way that fit the new guys?
Crow and Servo do not sound the same but are close, and that’s great — just like when Kevin and Bill took over their respective bots, so do the new guys now try and have similar voices. Indeed, the only thing that really jars me is Gypsy — wish they had a guy doing the goofy voice, but I’ll get used to it, I hope.
To me, the riffing was the only weak part of episode 1 (and I guess I’ll get jumped on here from those folks who think RT is just wonderful and has NEVER changed its quality — I’m sure they are the same guys who think SNL is at the peak of its writing as well and thus their opinion doesn’t matter a single whit to me). I’m hoping it gets better but as someone said on one of these threads (maybe even early on in this one) even bad MST3K is better than most good other shows (certainly better than RT in the robots add a tremendous amount both in terms of concept and execution).
Jimbotron, you made me rethink that. I love the Man or Astroman? version of the theme song but it’s pretty cool getting a new take on it.
I remember reading a MoAM interview where they said they wanted to cover other MST3K songs, esp. the Waffle Song. That would be very very cool if they would be asked participate in some way, maybe even non musically. How about an album of covers of MST3K songs by various artists.
“Doctor Dalby?”
‘No, these are just his glasses. Doctor Dalby was much taller.”
Man, I love the ‘cigarette’ type jokes.
“Cigarette? *offers one*”
‘Yes, I know.’
DO NOT FEED THE MONKEYS