With all due respect to the season one team, I’d be thrilled to see RiffTrax’s take on “Robot Monster.” The MST3K ep is among the best of that season, but it’s such an iconic bad movie, it’s worth another look.
What’s your pick?
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Weekend Discussion Thread: MSTed Movies that Should Be Re-RiffedAlert reader Kenneth asks, in light of the recent successful re-riffing “‘Manos’ The Hands of Fate,” not to mention Cinematic Titanic’s re-riff of “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (interesting that the two eps that have been re-riffed were the two movies in the “essentials” collection) what other MSTed movies deserve similar treatment, and which team should do it?
87 Replies to “Weekend Discussion Thread: MSTed Movies that Should Be Re-Riffed”Commenting at Satellite News
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I see several people agree with my choices: movies from ‘Season Zero” – especially Hangar 18 and Last Chase, and a more complete version of This Island Earth (I remember complaints about missing scenes after it came out).
Also, the mention of multiple ATOR movies (I Have the first of the series) also makes me want to see the other movies in series – for instance there’s GOR, the predecessor to Outlaw [of GOR], many Godzilla movies (one that comes to mind is Hedorah, with the classic ‘flying’ scene). Also, there are variations of some movies, for instance in one Gamera movie, the one kid keeps talking about “traffic accidents”, but in the alternate version, he only says that once – it’s just ‘accidents’ through the rest of the movie. (which kind of destroys the riffs about his repeating ‘traffic accidents’)
J/P=?
I’d really like to see the Rifftrax guys do “Teenagers From Outer Space” and “The Amazing Colossal Man” and the Joel era mst3k crew do “Santa Claus”. Yep that would be great to me.
All of the KTMAs that weren’t redone
And all of Season one.
Plus, I would love to see Joel’s last and Mike’s first redone.
I would love to see Rifftrax get a turn at Mitchel and Cinematic Titanic get a chance at the Brain that wouldn’t die.
What a criss cross that would be! Fabulous!
Ditto about reriffing This Island Earth. It was great to have
subtitles on it but vera disappointing to have it chopped up
so badly. Especially the latter half of the movie was savaged.
When I bought it I thought it would be more extensive then
the others, not less. Now do it again. Better yet, have two
versions, CT and Rifftrax. One aspect of the movie Mike Nelson
didn’t seem to get in his savaging of the film was the quality
production values (sort of like a failed version of Forbidden
Planet). Come to think of it, didn’t the major character in both
movies have a rich baritone? Hmm.
Crawling Eye, with Joel, Mike, Trace’s Crow, Corbett’s Crow, Josh’s Servo and Kevin’s Servo all in the theater! It was the first cable episode, was mentioned in the last episode, now it brings everybody back again :) Shout Factory, are you listening?
Re-do any movie with a riff tag team. Start out with Joel, Trace and Josh- and add Frank, Mary Jo, Bill, Mike, Kevin,well, you get the idea.
It’s been discussed plenty of times that quite a few things were edited out of MST3K episodes to cut for time and for content. And some of the movies had already been edited for TV or used alternate versions of some scenes. Mitchell is both a prime example of this and a classic MST3K outing. They riffed the TV version which had some scenes already cut out like John Saxon dying in an exploding dune buggy. And that version also used alternate cuts of some scenes with Linda Evans writing “Jerk” instead of “Bastard” and Joe Don Baker saying “Buzz of kid!” instead of “Piss off kid!” I’d love to see Rifftrax do the full theatrical version of Mitchell. I recently watched it on Amazon Instant Video and some of the missing scenes were hilarious all by themselves.
I’d also like to see Cinematic Titanic do Rocketship X-M. It was another classic episode, but the science of riffing evolved quite a bit in the years to follow. It was both cheesy and somewhat dark.
I’d like to see Cinematic Titanic do a re-riff of “Invasion of the Neptune Men”. Granted, Mary Jo may not be up for it, but I’l like a more “cheery” riffing of the movie, as opposed to the “Oh my God this movie sucks” ranting we got in Season 8.
Again?! Really??
We already had this discussion. Here’s the link:
https://www.mst3kinfo.com/?p=6187
@ #59: It happens. Maybe Sampo should write up all the used topics in a sticky post or include in each Weekend Discussion a link to a regularly updated list of used topics.
I couldn’t believe that nowhere in Teenage Caveman is there anyone who sings “Teen-Age Cave-Maaaaan!” a la Baba O’Reilly (They’re all caving!). In the same way, I couldn’t believe that Space Mutiny was thoroughly absent BSG references. But those aren’t good enough reasons to re-do either. Time Chasers is one I always felt deserved a do-over, but that’s because Mike’s turn as Eddie wears on me. Gamera (the first one) deserves another look, as the one I thought was weakest of the five. Both Mitchell and Diabolik would be good to see done over in a way that better lives up to their last-episode-ness (Merlin was a far greater last episode, when it finally aired).
I wouldn’t mind having “Hangar 18,” re-riffed, especially with post- “X-Files,” and “Coast to Coast A-M,” info currently available.
@Sampo..I don’t know if you already posted this,but it just came to me: MST3K Movie characters you would like to go on a road trip with…Thanks!
I think “Teenagers from Outer Space,” one of my favorites, is great just the way it is and doesn’t need to be re-riffed. But one that I think could use a new treatment and jazzier riffs is “The WWWW of Batwoman.”
Here’s a best of both worlds scenario: I know a number of serials were later edited into features to show at drive-ins, on television, any way to squeeze a few more bucks out of them. I don’t know if that was ever done with Radar Men From The Moon, but a coherent, much less repetitive Commando Cody movie would make great (re)riffing material.
And Robot Monster should absolutely be a future RiffTrax Live event. So much untapped potential there.
Anything from season 6 or 7. The movies were cheesey as hell.
Basically I think any episode from Season One could be improved by either crew. Those guys were so much older then, they’re younger than that now (thanx Bob Dylan). Uh, I guess I mean they’ve just really become better writers.
I have to agree with the calls for the KTMA movies that didn’t get re-done on the national show. There’s a lot of gold there, much of it being stuff that must have been hard to properly license for CC/Siffy.
@Bling “Columbo” Stabbity (#44)
I’ll agree with you on “World Without End”, if for no other reason than the only version available to fans only features the 2nd half of the movie. It’s a similar situation to what I noted for the full version of “This Island Earth”.
As for “Day the World Ended”, that’s another special case since they’ve never actually riffed on it to begin with. Still, the material is there, so it’d be a good choice.
thanks
Robot Holocaust seems like the obvious answer here. It was an above-average effort by Season 1’s standards, but that movie was absolutely perfect fodder for MST3K. Having the gang tackle it after they’d honed their skills would have generated electricity.
Late to the thread……
Would like to see the Gamera movies re-riffed by the Rifftrax group, and would like to see The Undead/Terror from the Year 5000/The Thing That Wouldn’t Die re-riffed by the CT group. Would be an interesting juxtaposition. :)
A possible Discussion Thread, sorta listed here……..which serials would you like to be completely riffed? Rifftrax did a bang-up job with the whole Twilight thing (some of their best) and Star Wars (ditto), wonder what others would be cannon-fodder?
There’s absolutely no reason to re-riff anything. Move on to new (or old) movies. There’s an endless supply.
But I like the idea of doing further Ator, Deathstalker, etc movies.
I would love to see how a full writing staff would handle “Hanger 13” and “The Last Chase. ” But it would definitely have to be CT doing these (just to get back at Josh for bragging that he never did “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.) ” Ha.
Bring on the Kolchak and $6 million man gags!
For Rifftrax, definitely “Teenage Caveman. ” That way they’ll have an excuse to diddle Corman’s stupid “remake. “
How about re-riffing Gorgo, and make every other joke about Leonard Maltin. That’s what he gets for being Pearl’s lackey
Wild Rebels or Hellcats
Rocketship X-M and Pod People
Time of the Apes and Teenage Crimewave
Mitchell uncut. Sure, it means we get the addition of a nearly-decent action sequence (the dune-buggy chase scene in which John Saxon bites it), but we’d also get the riffers’ reaction to such heartwarming moments as Mitchell stepping on Merlin Olsen’s foot, the random encounter with Martin Balsam in a grocery store, and Mitchell beating the living hell out of the Mustang driver in the guy’s own garage! Oh, and more squicky scenes with Linda Evans.
I agree with everybody in this thread. I would add Superdome and Monster A GO-GO, by Rifftrax, and another take by Cinematic Titanic on Castle of Fu-Manchu.
Well, I’ve always had a rough time with the KTMA episodes, although I’ve watched a few just to get a feel for what MST3K was like in its embryonic days, and have a few episodes in my collection for the sake of completeness; still, I thought they did a standout job on SST Death Flight. It’s a classic ’70s made-for-TV dumping ground for has-beens, never-wases and B-listers of the era, and I really wish it had been one of the KTMA movies that was re-riffed by the Seasons 2-5 cast.
I’ve never been crazy about Season 1 as I’ve always thought Weinstein’s portrayal of Servo was kind of weak, but there are a few that they pull off really well, and which I’d love to have seen re-done by the Seasons 2-7 casts:
Women Of The Prehistoric Planet: The wooden John Agar and the lushed-up-sounding Wendell Corey are a real one-two punch. Contains one of the original MST3K call-back lines, “Hi-keeba!”
The Slime People: Another MST3K “calling card” movie, complete with stupid monsters, corny characters, wafer-thin plot. What’s not to like?
Project Moonbase: I still can’t believe this was adapted from a Heinlein story. This flick would’ve been like raw meat for the Nelson/Murphy/Beaulieu cast from Seasons 5-7.
There’s one Season 1 episode, though, I’d like to have seen re-done by the SF Channel cast as Bill Corbett brings a special kind of biting, sarcastic edge to Crow, and I think it’d be perfect for this one, and that’s Robot Holocaust; That woman playing the Mistwess Of The Dahk Wan is so obviously a model, not an actress, and her lisping accent is so thick that I think the SF Channel cast could’ve had a field day with her.
I’d also like to have seen the Hodgson/Murphy/Beaulieu cast finish up The Phantom Creeps. I have a copy of the original, downloaded from archive.org, in its full-length movie form, with all the chapters cut together (Radar Men From the Moon was also re-released this way), and if you think the first three chapters break the Goofy Meter, the rest of that series is a riff gold mine. Speaking of which, I’d also like to have seen the Seasons 2-5 cast re-riff Radar Men From The Moon in its full-length re-release version.
Also, I have to have a friendly disagreement with “pablum” on a couple of points:
Re: Wild Wild World Of Batwoman: I’ll admit this is largely a matter of personal taste; we all have our personal faves. Hell, there are actually some MSTies out there who don’t dig Manos. Still, I’ve always thought Wild Wild World Of Batwoman was a totally killer episode. The movie itself is made of stupid, and Nelson and the Bots show it no mercy. If I found myself stranded in space and allowed only ten MST3K episodes to watch, Wild Wild World Of Batwoman would definitely be one of them.
Re: Season 10 episodes: Overall, I’d prefer to leave Seasons 2-10 alone, as it was Season 2 where they finally assembled the first “classic” cast and the writing really got into a good groove. As far as Season 10… the jury’s still out for me as I haven’t seen all of it, but I think the big problem with Season 10 — if you can call it a “problem” — is that a good number of the movies in Season 10 are fairly new (for 1999) and don’t really have the kind of campy “flavor” to them that crusty old “B” sci-fi/horror from the ’50s and ’60s have, that kind of crusty old feel that makes for easy, ironic riffing. In fact, it took me a long time to get into episodes riffing movies from the ’80s and ’90s (just for reference, I graduated college in ’79), but I finally got into it after getting a load of stinkburgers like Warrior Of The Lost World and Space Mutiny. I’m still not sure I dig Soultaker; granted, there’s Joel’s guest appearance for his “maintenance call” at the SOL, and there’s plenty of savage riffs ripping the ’80s a new one, but… I dunno. I mean, if you really wanted to see the SOL crew beating up on the ’80s, you need to check out Space Mutiny in Season 8. Ironically enough, somehow, one of my favorite Season 10 episodes — and one of my all-time favorites — is Horrors Of Spider Island, a crusty old dubbed foreign black’n’white crapfest from the ’50s.
Season 10, I think, suffered not from bad writing or performing by the SOL crew, but weak movies. Nelson, Murphy and Corbett could’ve done a great job re-riffing stuff like Robot Monster or The Crawling Hand, and they could’ve totally teed off on SST Death Flight.
Phantom Planet (by RT)
Creeping Terror (by CT)
Squirm(by RT)
Quest Of The Delta Knights(by RT)
Girl In Gold Boots (by CT)
The Human Duplicators (by CT)
I think the only movies that should re-riffed are the KTMA episodes. Some of the Season 1 episodes might be considered, but not before the KTMA episodes have been done. I would love to see them re-do the made-for-tv movie episodes, particularly SST Death Flight, Superdome, City on Fire, Cosmic Princess (the reason why I have Space: 1999 in my Netflix queue), and The Last Chase (was that a made-for-tv movie? It doesn’t matter; it’s got Lee Majors and that’s enough for me).
I like both versions of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, and Manos. I understand why each group wanted to redo them: to see how much more juice (read: jokes) could be squeezed out of these movies. But I really hope they will be able to work out some deals with the distributors of the KTMA movies so they can re-riff these. I’d like to see these without all the VCR deteriorating tape interference.
The big problem is that both CT and Rifftrax seem to be a little, skiddish maybe, about doing Black and White movies. I think they feel that if you are in a theater these days then it has to be color.
I think their fans would love to see the more polished cast of either group re-do the KTMA episodes. I would have rather seen that then the re-do of Mannos and defiantly the upcoming “Birdemic” which was not the best effort on either side of the screen.
If you have to stick with color movies, then how about INVADERS FROM THE DEEP and REVENGE OF THE MYSTERONS?
Could they do the fully restored “Mr. B natural,” or would that be like trying to repaint the Mona Lisa???
@82, I always thought the sci-fi years brought their sharpest writing. Soultaker in particular has a lot of the same naive and convoluted assumptions about the afterlife that writers of the ’50’s had about the effects of radiation. And of course, Joe Estevez. But it’s also watchable, which strengthens the material.
Phase 4 by CT.