…”Sharknado.” It will be Thursday, July 10.
|
 |
The Movie for the Next RiffTrax Live is…42 Replies to “The Movie for the Next RiffTrax Live is…”Commenting at Satellite News
We are determined to encourage thoughtful discussion, so please be respectful to others. We also provide an "Ignore" button ( Comments are closed. |
|
Satellite News is a fan site for the Mystery Science Theater 3000 television and Netflix series. It is an independent publication written and compiled by Chris Cornell (msampo@aol.com) and Brian Henry (erhardt4@aol.com). Satellite of Love, LLC does not maintain this web site, nor is it responsible for this site's content.
All content posted on Satellite News is copyright © 2025 by Chris Cornell and Brian Henry, except where otherwise noted. This Date in MSTory is written and compiled by Steve Finley, Chris Cornell and Brian Henry. Copyright © 2025 All rights reserved. Please do not reproduce This Date in MSTory items in any form without express written permission from the authors. Items of MST3K news may be duplicated or reposted, as long as Satellite News is cited as the source. The views and opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of Satellite of Love, LLC. No warranty is expressed or implied that the information given herein is completely accurate, and in fact this information can and will change at any time. So there. Mystery Science Theater 3000, its characters and situations are copyrights and trademarks of Satellite of Love, LLC. Banner image created by Larry Lee Moniz. |
|
) to help our users cope with "trolls" and other commenters whom they find annoying. Go to our
And Sharknado 2: The Second One comes out July 30
I’m not sure how I feel about his one. They almost either needed to do this one 6 months ago or wait a couple years since it was so ubiquitous not long ago that I think a lot of people will just be tired of it, but it hasn’t been long enough for it to become a classic bad movie. Plus it is kind of like trying to riff a comedy.
how did they get the rights to such a new movie? this looks like it could still be on syfy channel.
Just like Birdemic, the only way to get me to watch Sharknado is to have it riffed by the guys. Modern crummy movies aren’t as good as older crummy movies, in my opinion (and by older I mean anything from the previous century).
I’ll admit I wasn’t jumping up and down at this announcement, but I’ll still go to the theater and check it out because, duh, of course I will. I’m sure it will be fun. I’ve missed three of their live shows (Plan 9, Reefer, and Starship), and I would like to not do that anymore.
“Ian Ziering is today’s William Katt.”
Yeah, I’m not really on board with this. That said, this is about as commercial as riffing gets, so good for them. Wonder if this means there won’t be a VOD?
One of my friends on FB put it this way: “Man, this really feels like a misstep to me. Sharknado is such low hanging fruit, and it was so obviously INTENTIONALLY bad, what’s the point? I mean, I don’t begrudge them doing it, but it feels beneath them.”
I’ve got to agree. I’ll still go to the show, of course, and I’d imagine it’ll be really popular (just look at the reaction on the FB page)… but still.
Looks like Conor put up a fairly good rationale on the Tumblr page. http://lastowka.tumblr.com/post/80986292678/rifftrax-live-sharknado#note-container
Thanks KidFlash25, just read Conor’s article and while I’ll go, of course, I do think that riffing an intentionally bad movie — rather than a cynically cheap one — is not exactly “worthy.”
@6, I don’t really feel like that is a good enough explanation. I’m 100% sure that they can make this movie funny, because they have proven they can make just about anything funny, but what I’m less sure about is whether or not they can make this movie funny in a fresh and unique way with jokes that I haven’t seen 100 times on twitter already.
I almost feel sorry for the movie. If Skiffy (sorry, SciFi, er, Venereal Disease) Channel insists on making MST fodder on a regular basis, it’s just begging to be made into lemonade by the boys.
Or something like that… :-)
Conor’s rational isn’t doing it for me. With Transformers 3, they were still trying to make a competent blockbuster that would please fans of the first two. With Sharknado, they were clearly just trying to make a hammy movie that’s fun to watch while drunk. The fact that the movie doesn’t look like it was made by a group of 15-year-olds doesn’t really mean it’s not trying to be the next “SO BAD IT’S GOOD” cult hit.
Well, as we learned from “Speech: Using Your Voice,” you must be John Heard.
Welp, some dudes on here aren’t on board. Better scrap the whole idea
Tweeting Computer Ignitors is the name of my acapella Radiohead tribute band.
I’ll probably check this one out (I skipped out on SCCTM and NOTLD), but riffing any new DTV/Made-for-Scifi Channel crap just seems a bit low. Those movies KNOW they’re bad, and it’s more often than not intentional. BIRDEMIC turned out hilarious, though that felt more like a home movie than anything, so I’ll give this one a shot.
I REALLY miss Cinematic Titanic already. :(
I haven’t seen the movie; I only know it by reputation. I think it’ll turn out OK and am planning to see it.
Who knows? Maybe this is just an easy warm-up for them before they tackle something more challenging later in the year.
Should be fun, why not? Some of you people are way too serious about this Riffing biz, lighten up and plan on an evening spent laughing this summer.
Well, the members on Rifftrax active on the forums weren’t too keen on the idea last summer, and they used the excuse that it was *too* self-aware to be a worthy Riff target. So to see them pull a 180 and say they can do it was quite surprising, but not shocking considering people have been begging them to do it since the first trailer hit.
It feels like we’ve crossed a cultural tipping point when people are actually trying to make bad movies. But having said that, I’ll give Rifftrax the benefit of doubt. Starship Troopers was a lot fun, despite the naysayers.
IMO the majority of people saying “it’s intentionally bad” haven’t even seen it. And to other people’s points, the day(s) this movie aired, everyone on Twitter was asking “Where’s MST3K when you need them?” So I think it’s safe to say that this one was pretty highly requested.
@Big61AL: “how did they get the rights to such a new movie? this looks like it could still be on syfy channel.”
It was on SyFy.
Plus it was out in the movie theaters for a one night run with the same company that simulcasts the live Rifftrax shows. So it would seem they would know how to get the rights to it for another night.
I have seen this movie. I have read interviews with the writer. He was not aiming for a serious product. He was only going to do it if he could have fun with it.
http://blogs.denverpost.com/nerd/2013/08/02/sharknado-writer-thunder-levin-interview/816/
This is a bad idea. You don’t riff a movie that’s being silly on purpose. I’ll go see it anyway since MST is the nearest thing I have to a religion.
I see what the logic behind what you’re saying, but I humbly submit Catalina Caper, Santa Claus Conquers The Martians, and Quest Of The Delta Knights, among others. (Though I will admit that the RiffTrax of Little Shop Of Horrors was quite weak.)
Jeebus. You’d think the were riffing Monty Python And The Holy Grail.
Nah, it’s just kind of a boring choice.
For Rifftrax as a business I think this was a great call. Intentional badness or not, it’s a *known* bad movie with a high kitsch factor and a sequel coming out a few weeks later. It gets them involved with Asylum, too, which is, again, a very known entity in the world of terrible films and may appeal to a bunch of people who know and watch the Syfy movies and may not be aware of Rifftrax. “Wait, they’re going to show Sharknado in theaters with the guys from MST3K making fun of it? Sold!”
Starship Troopers is intentionally corny and bad in a lot of ways (yes, yes, and smart and satirical in a lot of ways, I agree with whoever is about to defend it) and it made a perfect back-up choice for Twilight. Films with comedic elements can absolutely work with riffing, it’s just a question of how they approach it.
Obviously anyone can disagree with this, but I think from a marketing and business perspective this is a great choice. They are going to get a lot of attention for this one, I guarantee it. It’s the perfect combo of bad movie and people who make fun of bad movies and it’s such a gimme for a Rifftrax Live show.
That said, we all have our preferences. I, myself, really like the VODs because I prefer riffing over bad, weird movies instead of generic Hollywood blockbusters like the Transformers or Twilight or whatever. It’s a preference, but if I got to magically choose between them doing the show with something like Daredevil or Sharknado I would pick Sharknado every time. It’s gonna be a hit.
This one is BAD. I couldn’t even last half an hour watching it, but I will definitely go see this! Hooray!
And what was John Heard doing in this piece of s–urely quality, quality TV movie.
It’s certainly going to get people out. It’s not for the hardest of the hardcore, but 600+ theatres all over North America packed with people isn’t bad for Rifftrax at all.
#23 Meh I wouldn’t put those in the same category as Sharknado. Whereas those movies attempt to be funny and silly (QOTD only occasionally), Sharknado is self-aware and is attempting to be bad. It’s really two different types of movie.
Well then, how about “Hobgoblins”? Didn’t the director of that one admit he was making an intentionally bad movie?
Which is why I don’t care for that episode.
I don’t want to sound like a jerk, because I’ve bought nearly every VOD that RiffTrax puts out and I see as many live shows as I can. I’m just not very excited that they picked a movie that I didn’t want them to do, that’s all. Kind of selfish, but I’m probably going to crack and go to this one anyway.
I might be in the minority, but I think a lot of the Asylum movies are pretty much in the vein of the 50s and 60s B-movies.
I don’t think they are always intentionally bad, any more movies like The Giant Claw or Deadly Mantis were meant to be bad. They just were done really, really cheaply.
Yeah, I’m not buying the “intentionally bad” line. Heard it too often before – Hobgoblins, Squirm, Final Sacrifice, Delta Knights … “Oooh, I’m really a GOOD writer, I just couldn’t RESIST writing a crap script, I mean, how FUN is that?” Yeah sure pal. Sharknado & the like are today’s equivalent of Roger Corman’s work, quick cheapo junk made for a quick buck. Totally valid target.
I consider myself somewhere near “the hardest of the hardcore” (though I wouldn’t self-describe as such, unless I was joking, but you know what I mean) — I think this is a fantastic choice, in part BECAUSE it’s so difficult to riff something that was marketed as basically pre-riffed. When it originally aired, Twitter practically crashed from the traffic as everyone riffed it in real time. Takes some courage to make a choice like this, and I’m willing to bet seasoned professionals know more about the biz than I do, so I have no desire to complain about the choice.
Also, I can tell you with as much authority as “braved the whole movie twice in one day” bestows upon me that the “intentionally bad” excuse only goes so far with Sharknado. A significant amount of the film is simply bad in terms of technical gaffes and acting, er, eccentricities, plus a tendency to set up something that sounds spectacular and rarely follow up on it.
Like Littleamishboy says, this is the exact kind of thing Corman used to do, and not that long ago. In 2007 his SciFi movie Supergator was marketed as intentionally bad, too. Sharknado is a valid choice. I’m fer it, not agin it.
I think we’ll skip this one as well (my wife and I passed on “Starship Troopers”, the first time we have ever not gone to a RT event). Like others here, I just feel this is a poor choice.
And — in many ways — this feels like a “sold out” choice. It may well be that our beloved boys (well, old men, now) are as cynical as the folks who made “Sharknado”. We scorn the folks who try and turn a quick buck by using their talents to create pop entertainment — how does RT differ in that respect this time around? Oh, right — THEIR talents are making fun of people (and this is somehow a higher purpose than trying to entertain folks a different way).
I’m sure this event will make a lot of money… just like “Sharknado” did. So, another similarity. (I’m just waiting now for some young group to come along and riff the Rifftrax riffers — a meta riffing event. Now THAT would be refreshing).
Meh, I try not to look at it that deeply. If the show makes me laugh (and I haven’t been disappointed yet), I’m all for it. But I certainly respect anybody’s reasoning for not going. Different strokes and all that.
I’m buying tickets for the first screening and the encore
No one overthinks their way out of fun more than a Mystery Science Theater fan
After the way Sci Fi treated MST3K in the end, this will be sweet revenge. :heh:
Don’t understand the backlash. Mike, Kevin and Bill can make any movie funny. Who said there had to be rules or criteria?
This is probably a better move for Rifftrax than Starship Troopers was. The movie sort of became an instant cult classic on the day it was released. There will definitely be people who see promos for this and think it will be fun.
Between this and Total Riff Off on NatGeo, it’s a good time to be a fan of movie riffing.
I am just happy they are going to have a Tuesday showing and I will be able to go. I never have Thursdays off, so I have missed out on a lot of riffing fun at the movie theater!
Tuesday showing is my birthday, so more than likely I’ll attend :cake: