Mystery Science Theater 3000: C/D, S/D.

Colin -- yeah, I remember you were torgotback@aol.com, but the stalking? No, not that.

The boards also attracted a number of true mental cases, most unforgettably KeijiKJ. He was similar to Gondola Blob in that he indulged in casebook net.kook behavior: delusions of professionalism, snottily dismissive of any random thing, threw around the word "clique" a lot. I've even heard stories that he scared the bejesus out of BB members during the first con. I personally had a thoroughly pointless argument with him about the population of the cities in California.

Concerning Mike, I'll say this: there are quite a few times during the Sci-Fi-era when he seemed to be sending out his performance via Fed Ex. Sad, because it was clear after CC he was capable of much better. But you know, a lot of the Sci-Fi-era episodes that initially seemed kinda minor and kinda eh to me now strike me as being thoroughly solid.

I'm waiting on Mike's next collection of essays and novel myself. The Megacheese collection was a scream.

Stalking resulted from an unfortunate IRL encounter with a nice enough person. I thought it was a lovely afternoon, she thought it was TRUE LOVE FOREVER. Eek. The story resolved harmlessly enough -- she found TRUE LOVE FOREVER again with another MSTie, and this time it was returned.

MST3K was never that big a part of my life - I watched it sporadically, and I always seemed to be in the wrong state of mind to truly enjoy it. I'll side with the Joel phreex, though, just because bald is sexy. (I'm getting sexier by the minute.)

But wasn't Mike balder than Joel? I'm confused. No matter. I'm balder than both, and I agree with David.

I think that my slight preference for Joel has something to do with a sense that the guy's a bit . . . off, where Mike is merely charming and funny.

But yes, Mike has the angst in there somewhere. He just tempers it very beautifully -- thus his legendary turn as Morrissey.

To add to the book recommendations -- Mike N.'s general essay book Mind Over Matters is another fine read (the TV essay alone is some kinda genius, the mock 19th century novel even more so), while I very much liked Kevin Murphy's A Year at the Movies. Chris Piuma mentioned he felt it was fairly Joe Queenan-like and therefore not as distinct as it could be, but I think it was handled very well and worked as both microstudy of the moviegoing experience and general reflection. Certainly any of the ILF/film-going hounds on this board should consider reading/borrowing a copy, at least. Then there's Mike's new novel Death Rat, which I really need to order next month...

And praise to all the other castmembers doing things and the continual rolling out of more DVDs, though apparently Rhino says they've exhausted what they have the rights to right now and are looking into securing more, hopefully...

"Bad touch."
"Does this mean I like guys now?"
"I feel ill."
"Spanking time!"

http://www.mst3kinfo.com/satnews/catalog/Basement.htm
http://www.mst3kinfo.com/daddyo/images/mrb5.JPG

Keep in mind that the fidelity on these files is sometimes suprisingly good considering the size, and sometimes fairly bad, but even the worst files usually have more than enough detail for a person to get what's going on.

I'm hoping the DVD is a Santa Claus vs. The Martians/Santa Claus double fun pak. It is going to come out late 2003, after all.

Later I may want to say something about MST3K in light of Mark's venting on Zappa, but right now I want to go to Central Park and maybe the Malevich exhibit before it starts raining (again).

goooch....goooch....

This show got me through middle school.

(current space on home PC C-Drive abt 700meg, it are old and small)

"Santa Claus, you're coming with us!"
"You're coming to town."

Because I'm not funny. And neither are you.

Fave all time moment ever, from any episode -- this snippet from Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, delivered and timed JUST RIGHT:

MARTIAN: "What soft, and round, and you put it on the end of a stick --"

SERVO: "An elf?"

MARTIAN: "-- and green?"

SERVO: "Oh, a DEAD elf."

Chris Fujiwara (sounding a little prim), here.

Which, in the form of the invention exchange, also included prop comedy

Nothing wrong with attempting to keep the concept alive, but it's just the recent execution doesn't seem to be made with the focus or taste required to capture the magic.

For me the performances FEEL like modernizations such as the seemingly conscious attempt to "emulate the sensibilities of youtube/tiktok personality-driven comedy to appeal to younger audiences", but it might also just be the style of the new cast members rather than some deliberate approach based on marketing goals or whatever. Paired up with the revived thematic framework, as I mentioned, it overall has happened to come out way more juvenile than it needs to be... Like all the ingredients are thrown in the pot but upon tasting the spoon it's clear that it's not coming out the same and also not to my taste. Maybe other people like it though!

Yes, but he was seemingly respected by the "real" comedians in the 90s. Probably because he was clearly doing his own thing.

― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes)

i think it's more of a cultural thing, the way polka was derided by a generation even though there's nothing really wrong with polka per se. prop comedy: the polka of comedy.

I ask this with some trepidation, but is there a form of comedy that's currently going through its "prop comedy in the '90s" phase?

Jim Breuer-style comedy? Where you make a lot of silly noises instead of jokes.

cishet white dude edgelord comedy.

cishet white dude edgelord comedy

I mean, yes, and I hope that remains out of fashion forever

in a better world ricky gervais would be up on stage smashing pumpkins into small piles of putrid debris

the only thing that kept cishet edgelord white dude comics remotely relevant was dick jokes, and trans women have _way_ better dick jokes than any of them do

I've really tried with the reboot, but every time I sit down to watch it, I don't last five minutes.

Where have all the edgelords gone
long time passing
Where have all the edgelords gone
long time ago
Where have all the edgelords gone
gone to Netflix every one

i love the show but in the years since its return i've been kind of shocked at how much money and creative energy seems to go into the non-riffing elements. i get how that stuff is more in his creative wheelhouse than movie riffing itself, and that it was obviously an extremely fun part of making the show in the 1990s. but if the difference between doing it and not doing it is raising a big budget to pay for a cast of all these different side characters and a big workshop for robot designs and sets and all this other stuff, ffs get out of your own way dude. if someone asks me what mst3k is i dont start describing the story of a space janitor who got kidnapped from the gizmonic institute, i talk about movie riffing. he doesnt need to do it alone in his basement on twitch, but there certainly is a middle way where it doesnt have to cost half a mil per episode.

One of many reasons I'm not into the nu MST3K

It's with that stuff where the scope creep becomes a problem. Too many "oh! what if we..." ideas.

At least the guard rails are firmer with the riffing portion of the show.

I will say this: I've gone to all the nu-MST3K live shows in my area and enjoyed them. They also were kind of loose and fun and definitely less tryhard. The woman who plays Mega Synthia hosted one and she is genuinely funny.

yeah all that hamminess works much better in a live setting with an audience

the live show was fantastic, I went to one in....2021, i think?

Can we as a culture please just let something be a pleasant memory instead of trying to make it exist forever.

― deep wubs and tribral rhythms (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, November 26, 2023 6:53 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah the last live go-round was end of 2021 and that was a damn treat, with the Emily-led crew and Megasynthia. (The just pre-COVID tour that was Joel's bowing-out from live touring also pretty sharp.)

I remember this show being a thing but had never actually seen it until I watched the dreary German Hamlet episode a couple of months ago and laughed my ass off.

The last time I felt that ol' mistie magic was the Cinematic Titanic live shows. Really felt like "a night out" and everyone was enthusiastic and present.

Cinematic Titanic was great, I even traveled to go to their shows. Now there’s apparently bad blood between Joel and Trace/Frank so that’s unrepeatable.

I'm glad they were still on speaking terms when I caught Cinematic Titanic roughly a decade ago

Thought there was rumor that issues between them had been resolved at some point within recent years

"I'd shoot Donald Regan to prove my love for Lisa Foster.”

Cave Dwellers is top notch still.