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

I've been enjoying it immensely, but making my way through it slowly rather than bingeing. I'm up to Land That Time Forgot as well, but I fell asleep watching it last night.

Yeah, "like average episodes from late seasons MST3K" sums up my response so far, but we're only partway through Time Travelers because finding time for these is tough. Still, that's a considerably higher level of quality than I feared at the outset. The biggest problems have already been nailed down here - a kind of rapid 'bunching' of riffs that feels a bit like teenage riffers afraid of silence and just blurting out anything that the words spoken onscreen vaguely reminds me of. I believe those who suggest that this gets smoothed out a bit as things go on. Some of the riffs are really good, so at least it's not just a cavalcade of groaners and awkward references.

Still wish the voices of the characters were a little more distinct (both sonically and personality-wise) and especially that the puppeteering was a little less subtle. Sometimes you can't even see a mouth move, which makes it that much harder to link up Voice X with Servo vs. Jonah. It's like the inverse of stage actors learning they have to dial it down for the movies. This too I imagine they could get better at as we go.

Gotta say though that just getting things like "Cry Wilderness" screened in front of me is kinda worth it. What in the everloving hell, such an odd execution of what would appear to be a kids' movie, until it's not, plus you get that Return to Oz vibe where the adults insisting that the kid is mentally ill and making it all up seem to be the most believable sources, so that at the end when they change their tune you assume that behind the next dissolve you'll see the kid in a rubber room imagining that too. Obviously with the Internet at large, awareness of Bad Movies is considerably broader, but something MST did, and can still do, is unearth real oddities and sort of grant them canonical status as bad movies that people know. Manos and the Coleman Francis trilogy are probably the best-known cases of this but basically every ep they did either elevated something from totally unknown, or cemented the status of things that had already been appearing in "the hundred worst movies ever!" books. Feels like the new season(s) can totally carry on that role whatever their other qualities.

I kind of wish there were a few more obscurities like Cry Wilderness in there. Back in February, I came across a list of the movies that were going to be used for this season, and at the time Cry Wilderness was the only film with less than 100 votes on IMDB (44 votes with a rating of 5.4. It has now 528 with a rating of 2.2), whereas quite a few of the other film had closer to a thousand. And some films like Repitilicus and especially Starcrash were already quite well known among bad movie buffs.

We watched "Avalanche" the other night and I admit I laughed until I cried over "This is the third time I've found you under a log this week, it's getting weird."

Yeah, I've seen at least half of Starcrash before, and had certainly heard of Reptilicus and Avalanche. But, y'know, it's not like the original show 'discovered' every one of its flicks, as I was suggesting with reference to the "worst movies ever books." Certainly it's going to be harder in 2017 to surprise anybody, whereas in 1992 even a "bad movie buff" would really have to be devoting a lot of hobby time to tracking stuff down (conventions, movie guides, pen pal contact with cult collectors maybe). So even the major studio releases that take up a huge part of the MST episode list and lent it so much of its 50s texture - all those Universal and Warner B-pictures, or even the Corman fare which saw wide drive-in release in its original run - wouldn't all be things a buff had seen, necessarily.

this was pretty good but i've only seen the first ep and Starcrash. as is, i still need to finish watching the Mike era of the original show so ill be putting the new eps on hold til then.

The final Christmas episode is pretty good.
The Christmas That Almost Wasn't is a super-weird movie

Oh and Yongary is great, well worth a watch

Here's an unexpected bit of news -- Shout Factory's releasing a compilation of Cinematic Titanic stuff. Which is great, since I only ever got around to a couple of these:

https://www.shoutfactory.com/film/film-comedy/cinematic-titanic-the-complete-collection

(As was noted over on mst3kinfo.com, normally by now we'd be hearing word of the next formal DVD set -- I suspect this is going to be something of a stopgap as they try and finish off securing the remaining batch of rights.)

Have fun, I guess:

--

MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 LIVE TOUR
FIRST EVER LIVE TOUR KICKS OFF JULY 6TH IN BOSTON, MA
TICKETS ON SALE EVERYWHERE FRIDAY, MAY 19 AT NOON LOCAL TIME

[May 15, 2017, New York, NY] – For the first time ever, join Joel Hodgson, creator of the critically acclaimed “Mystery Science Theater 3000” TV show and its new host Jonah Heston (Jonah Ray) as they bring the first live touring production of “MST3K” to a city near you on the “Watch Out for Snakes!” Tour.

Appearing with Joel and Jonah live on stage will be robot companions Crow (Hampton Yount), Tom Servo and Gypsy, along with Synthia (Rebecca Hanson) and her Bonehead henchmen. Of course, it wouldn’t be “MST3K” without the ever-present surveillance of the Mads, Kinga Forrester (Felicia Day) and TV’s Son of TV’s Frank (Patton Oswalt), checking up on their unwilling test subjects via a video screen.

The tour consists of two separate, completely unique shows, each with its own admission. Fans wanting the complete tour experience should purchase two tickets, one for each show. Each event will include all the things expected from an “MST3K” experience: a cheesy B-movie, hilarious riffing, wisecracking robots, silly sketches, plus – for the first time – audience participation! Show # 1 is the MST3K favorite “Eegah,” featuring all-new riffs and sketches. Show # 2 is a “Secret Surprise Film!” It’s a fun, sci-fi thriller never before featured on “MST3K” and it will be performed only in select cities.

Following its record-breaking #BringBackMST3K Kickstarter campaign, the new season of the show launched on April 14, 2017, exclusively on Netflix. The two live shows are written by the cast and writers of the new Netflix Original Series, which has earned a critics’ rating of 100% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.. The New York Times hails, “At last, a revival of something actually worth reviving… a different cast but the same outlook and style — and mercifully, the same reliable, giddy humor.” “MST3K is just as hilarious as ever in rebooted form, turning its bemused eye on old, schlocky fare for some good, old-fashioned riffing,” raves Vanity Fair. And Nerdist says “The references are updated, the sets are snazzier, but the heart and soul of MST3K certainly remains intact.”

Tickets for “MST3K” “Watch Out for Snakes!” North American tour dates will go on sale to the public Friday, May 19 at noon local time via AXS.com and the venue box office. Please note where there are multiple performances in a single market, each event is ticketed SEPARATELY.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 “Watch Out For Snakes!” Tour 2017

July 6 Boston, MA Shubert Theatre 7 PM Eegah
July 7 Philadelphia, PA Keswick Theatre 7 PM Eegah
Keswick Theatre 10 PM Secret Surprise Film!
July 8 New York, NY PlayStation Theater 6 PM Eegah
PlayStation Theater 9:30 PM Secret Surprise Film!
July 9 Washington, DC Lincoln Theatre 6 PM Eegah
Lincoln Theatre 9 PM Secret Surprise Film!
July 12 Columbus, OH Speaker Jo Ann Davidson Theatre 8 PM Eegah
July 13 St. Louis, MO Touhill Performing Arts Center 8 PM Eegah
July 14 Royal Oak, MI Royal Oak Music Theatre 7 PM Eegah
Royal Oak Music Theatre 10 PM Secret Surprise Film!
July 15 Milwaukee, WI Pabst Theater 7 PM Eegah
Pabst Theater 10 PM Secret Surprise Film!
July 16 Chicago, IL The Vic 5 PM Eegah
The Vic 8 PM Secret Surprise Film!
July 18 Denver, CO Paramount Theatre 8 PM Eegah
July 20 Phoenix, AZ Orpheum Theatre 8 PM Eegah
July 21 San Diego, CA Balboa Theatre 7 PM Eegah
July 22 San Diego, CA Balboa Theatre 7 PM Secret Surprise Film!
July 23 Los Angeles, CA The Theatre at Ace Hotel 5 PM Eegah
The Theatre at Ace Hotel 8 PM Secret Surprise Film!
July 26 San Francisco, CA The Warfield 8 PM Eegah
July 27 San Francisco, CA The Warfield 8 PM Secret Surprise Film!
July 28 Portland, OR Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall 8 PM Eegah
July 29 Seattle, WA Moore Theatre 7 PM Eegah
Moore Theatre 10 PM Secret Surprise Film!
July 30 Vancouver, BC The Orpheum 7 PM Eegah
August 1 Salt Lake City, UT Kingsbury Hall 8 PM Eegah
August 3 Kansas City, MO Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland 8 PM Eegah
August 4 Minneapolis, MN State Theatre 7 PM Eegah
State Theatre 10 PM Secret Surprise Film!
August 6 Green Bay, WI Weidner Center for the Performing Arts 7 PM Eegah
August 8 Cleveland, OH Ohio Theatre 8 PM Eegah
August 9 Baltimore, MD The Modell Lyric 8 PM Eegah
August 10 Richmond, VA Dominion Arts Center 8 PM Secret Surprise Film!
August 11 Nashville, TN James K. Polk Theater 7 PM Eegah
James K. Polk Theater 10 PM Secret Surprise Film!
August 12 Atlanta, GA Atlanta Symphony Hall 7 PM Eegah
Atlanta Symphony Hall 10 PM Secret Surprise Film!

Joel is interviewed on today's WTF. It's cool, though there's not a ton of MST3K stuff as Maron doesn't seem to have ever watched the show.

That's...rather weird.

Hmm

That's different.

xpost Maron had a show on Comedy Central at the same time, so there was probably some jealousy.

I do like Joel's idea that Comedy Central had the misunderstanding that he and his robot puppets were just going to be introducing comedy clips, Short Attention Span Theater style.

watched Wizards of the Lost Kingdom I and II episodes yesterday and they were both exquisitely terrible movies, each with their own unique brand of unappealing adolescent lead character. It's making me laugh, doesn't feel like "zombie MST3K" for the most part, I wish them many more seasons of success.

I finished the season. The overload of these riffs comes back in the final episodes, or maybe I just noticed it more because I watched some of the old Gamera episodes at the same time. The focus is definitely on the riffs instead of the movies. Lots of the new show feels like a Rorschach test of images and the test subjects shouting out things that they bring to mind as 'riffs'. Dr. M OTM on it feeling like the later seasons but without the highlights.

I noticed that Jonah does some riffs as exclamations done in a snarky "I'm telling a joke" voice. Don't force it, dude.

What I recommend watching, if you don't watch the whole thing:
- Reptilicus
- Cry Wilderness, up to the first skit. The rest of the movie gets derailed and they hadn't figured out how to deal with that at this point.
- Beast of Hollow Mountain, good riffs and one Birdemic-like moment
- The Land That Time Forgot
- The Loves of Hercules
- Yongary

Starcrash is probably better without the nonstop riffs over it.
The Wizards movies are amazing as bad movies and endurance tests, but the riffs are some of the worst.

Loved the old seasons as a kid and still enjoy them now. Got through an episode and a half of this and really hated it. MST3K for the Nerdist era; no thanks. Really put into perspective all over again what talented voice actors the previous casts were as well.

last night i watched the second episode of the new series. very nice to see the Mike-era mads drop by! the riffs are pretty good too, helps that "Cry Wilderness" is a hilariously bad movie. that bigfoot suit is so silly.

i've been watching rifftrax on amazon. it's good.

that bigfoot suit is so silly

Like in that Simpsons episode, I kept expecting to see the guy's watch

I was more blown away by the weird attempt to combine Bigfoot with the mythos of Santa Claus, E.T. and, like, Calvin & Hobbes or something.

http://unratedfilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Cry-Wilderness-01.jpg

cinematography was pretty cool in parts. there was some real cinematic lighting in the forest, one shot you could tell was using red and green lights.

http://dailygrindhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/vlcsnap-00589.png
http://www.mondo-digital.com/searchbigfoot2big.jpg

https://media.giphy.com/media/HrDHPRoCr6tlS/giphy.gif

glowing magic crystal was cool

yeah the slightly above-average production value for what seemed like a canadian made-for-TV project or student film reminded me very much of final sacrifice.

I just watched Cry Wilderness, which I thought was a considerable improvement on Reptilicus. The riffing seemed more comfortable, and had a higher hit-to-miss ratio, plus the movie is so consistently and delightfully WTF that I was sort of carried along by it even when the jokes lagged.

I'm up through Starcrash now. Yeah, agree with abanana that that movie might be funnier without the riffs. There were some scenes of what looked like hilariously terrible acting that got talked or sang over, and the riffs didn't hit the mark a lot, for what was an easy target

Beast of Hollow Mountain might have been my favorite this season so far though. Not an obvious choice for them to do, but they had a good time with it. I honestly thought the titular Beast was referring to the villain, until near the end... nope, real Beast. Loved the constant riffing about the hero's limited Spanish

They just started a 38 episode marathon on Twitch, like turkey day came early
http://www.twitch.tv/shoutfactorytv

So the Cinematic Titanic set is about out, and they'll be doing Vol. 39 after that -- but that may be it, per this announcement from Shout:

http://www.mst3kinfo.com/?p=24768

The set will be available Nov. 21, 2017, and available for pre-order on the Shout! Factory website and Amazon later this week. We hope you’ll share this update with your readers.

It will be a four-disc set, here are the titles:

The Amazing Transparent Man
Girls Town
Diabolik
“Satellite Dishes”

The 4th disc, called “Satellite Dishes” is a collection of the host segments from episodes from the remaining unreleased episodes. They are:

Ep #201 Rocketship X-M
Ep #212 Godzilla Vs. Megalon
Ep #213 Godzilla Vs. The Sea Monster
Ep #309 The Amazing Colossal Man
Ep #311 It Conquered the World
Ep #416 Fire Maidens from Outer Space
Ep #418 The Eye Creatures
Ep #807 Terror from the Year 5000
Ep #809 I Was A Teenage Werewolf
Ep #905 The Deadly Bees
Ep #906 The Space Children
Ep #913 Quest of the Delta Knights

Despite our best efforts to include the remaining unreleased episodes, due to licensing issues, it is very likely that Volume 39 will be the last collection of never-before-released episodes, and that these remaining episodes may never get a legitimate release. With this in mind, we decided the next best option was to release the remaining host segments by themselves.

I figured the Godzillas would never make the cut, and a lot of the remaining ones are those caught up in the AIP rights breakdown. Guess I need to finally download some clean copies of these from YT or whatever, as my tape copies are rather long gone.

Guess we finally know the answer to your question in the first response itt ;)

I'm just astonished they got as far as they did with this effort. A 39-volume series of DVDs for a show that basically embodied "rights issues" is kind of stunning.

Ep #807 Terror from the Year 5000
Ep #809 I Was A Teenage Werewolf
Ep #905 The Deadly Bees
Ep #906 The Space Children
Ep #913 Quest of the Delta Knights

My VHS copies of these are so worn out it's not even funny.

Guess we finally know the answer to your question in the first response itt ;)

As I said, '...what episodes *don't* I have on tape.' And since the tape copies are thrashed or gone now, thus.

Girls Town easily in my top 10 eps.

Yeah it's great to have that one and Diabolik at least. Transparent has some good bits but the Auntie McFrank segments may be funnier in the end.

Full details on Volume 39

https://www.shoutfactory.com/product/mst3k-volume-xxxix?product_id=6406

The bonus disc with the preorder will be the collection of all the Poopie tapes plus the infomercial style thing they did, which is hilarious in its own right. Seems like a good way to go!

Good time for a thread bump, as I just watched The Time Travellers this afternoon. Not a great episode, though it does illustrate the point that the quality of the episodes does have a lot to do with the material they have to work with. The Time Travellers] is actually not too terrible a film--I liked the rather thoughtful turn it took in the last 10 minutes or so, plus the ambiguous ending--but it is plodding and mediocre enough that there are stretches of it that simply don't give them much to riff on (though they do get off some good jabs in specifically on the subject of the film's clunkiness and padding). An Alison Bechtel reference and a spot-on riff on an improbable line of dialogue about "lovely liver" gave me my biggest LOLs here.

god but i wish the pace of knee-jerk, fear-of-blank-space riffing would drop. really got fed up near the end of the hercules one, it's like hanging around with hyperactive kids. guys... you write this stuff in advance. take a deep breath, pick the funniest of the three to five jokes you've thought of for this bit, let the other ones go, and give the good one space for the delivery to feel natural.

Yeah, it probably sounds like I'm contradicting myself a bit here, as I complained about the pace of the riffing in the Reptilicus episode (though that was more to do with their tendency to riff too quickly, to the point that some of the jokes were coming out in advance of what they were responding to in the film). My issue with this episode wasn't so much that pace of the riffs was too much, but rather that the film didn't always give them a lot to work with. Or maybe it is just that the film was boring and average enough (for the bulk of its running time, anyway) that I was unable to be carried along by the film itself--as I was with the spectacularly odd Cry Wilderness, for example--and just noticed the blank spaces more. Less a matter of dead air in the commentary than one of dead air in the film, I suppose.

i left during intermission at the live show

I was going to ask if anyone went. So...that bad?

I didn't get a chance to go to the live show, but my brother enjoyed it. He said the way it was put together was handled well, felt like watching the real show

Finished the new season, the last few episodes were a slog. the amount I enjoyed the movie depended more on the movie than the riffs, and after the two Wizards of the Lost Kingdom movies (season highlights), the movie quality goes way down. I don't know who said the pace of the riffing gets more comfortable - I thought the riffs were overdone even in the better movies towards the end, and too wordy a lot of the time. There are times they rush through a line so fast you can barely understand it. Overall, the season was fine: mixed quality, with some strong highlights

This is AMAZING.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/16/movies/once-a-mystery-science-theater-in-joke-now-playing-comedy-clubs.html

In a weird way this might be even more of a revive-from-the-dead than Manos, because at least that actually got released.

that's so awesome. I always thought it was a made up movie

Uh. It's turkey day isn't it?

Yep. Twitch steam is region locked for me & YouTube buffering like crazy, gave up watching it :/

aw...

Well the youtube stream is working fine for me!