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I'm a long time Mystery Science Theater 3000 fan, way back from the Comedy Central days. I'd been suffering withdrawls for the better part of a decade since it went off the air. I've purchased most of the DVDs, but I still miss the feeling of a piping-hot fresh episode.
A couple months ago, I found out that Mike Nelson, head writer and host of MST3K, had found a way to get back on the horse without the luxury of a cable show. He started an internet service called Rifftrax. Instead of making complete shows of himself and his buddies ripping on the worst movies of generations past, now he records audio files with just the jokes and sells them for a modest fee on his website. You put in your own copy of the movie, sync up the audio from your mp3-playing device with the DVD, and it's just like a new episode of MST3K.
The downside is that the execution is slightly more awkward and it costs a couple bucks. The bright side, however, is that Mike no longer has to worry about finding a movie he can afford the rights to. Now, instead of films that have been wasting away in warehouses since the '50s, Mike is free to rip on some of the biggest (and dumbest) blockbusters of all time. There's once again fresh MST3K, being produced at about the same frequency as the TV show was, ripping on movies we've actually heard of.
That, however, is only the first part of the story. I've been faithfully collecting Rifftrax for several months now, and something is happening this week that has finally made me excited enough to start a thread about it.
Mike started doing this project by himself. But before long, he brought in some friends to help him out. Generally he has either Kevin Murphy (Tom Servo) or Bill Corbett (Crow, mk. 2) sit in with him and throw out some insults, just like in the golden days. Occasionally he has been able to lure some minor cult figures into the studio, like Chad Vader or the dude from Something Awful. But that's about as far as it's gone. And for a project like this, I was always surprised it went that far.
This week, however, shocked me. In my regular visit to the site to see what was next, I was met with an announcement so surprising I spit out my drink, let fly with an expletive, and immediately ordered this movie from Amazon rather than Netflix. And now I'm bringing the news to Hatrack, in case anyone might be as stunned and excited about this as I am.
The actual Rifftrax should be available Saturday. Meanwhile, there's a preview available. I can't come up with words to do this justice. So take a look for yourselves.
posted
Yeah, I actually read Mike Nelson's Myspace blog, where he talks about the various Rifftrax work he does and all (as well as the various funny posts he makes). It's good stuff. I've enjoyed the Rifftrax so far. I look forward to more.
I do miss MST3K. I didn't get hooked on it until its first year on Sci-Fi. I watched all the episodes there though. Such a fun show. I wish it hadn't died like it did.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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I have my blind spots, and one of these is my inability to understand how someone could not have appreciated MST3K as essentially one of the cornerstones -- if not the apex -- of Western Civilization.
That it lives on beyond its artificially premature and viciously unfair Sci-Fi-network imposed death is a ray of sunshine in the affairs of mortals everywhere.
Oh, my god. They did Phantom Menace, ees? Oh god, it's absolutely too good to be true.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: Oh, my god. They did Phantom Menace, ees? Oh god, it's absolutely too good to be true.
They just did Attack of the Clones, too, which I liked better than Phantom Menace (although both were quite good.)
One minor weak spot with Rifftrax is that Mike occasionally succumbs to the temptation to rip on movies that he likes. Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, and Star Trek VI are actually pretty good flicks. Although he still gets in a few sweet lines, it's much harder to rip movies like that down to size. However, he more than makes up for it with his shredding of Aeon Flux, The Wicker Man and Crossroads, so it works out in the end. And both Star Wars movies are dumb enough to make the riffs well worth the $3.
I'm glad I'm not the only person here that's into Mike's latest endeavour. I kept waiting for someone to start a thread on it, and it never happened. But I should have known that Hatrack was too hip a place for me to be the only Mike Nelson fan here.
Posts: 2804 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
I'm a big Mike Nelson fan. I actually wish he'd write another book (or that another book he's written would get published). I loved Mike Nelson's Mind Over Matters and Mike Nelson's Death Rat!.
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Wow, I was completely oblivious to his site. The minute I made the link, I downloaded X-Men (because it's a movie I already have and I'm waiting to do the Star Wars ones with my husband) and stayed up entirely too late watching it.
It's more funny to me to hear the comments with a movie I'm already familiar with. And this is so great because I don't have to endure something as horrifyingly painful as "Manos, Hands of Fate!" to get the comedy.
Thank you Thank you Thank you for showing me this site!
Posts: 293 | Registered: Sep 2006
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But I LIKE Willy Wonka. I think it'd be annoying to sit though a MST3K for a movie I actually like. I mean, they should go after the NEW version of the movie. (Not that I could stand to watch it again -- even to have it MST3K'd -- but it's the 2nd one that deserves our scorn and ridicule.)
Posts: 2911 | Registered: Aug 2001
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hmm, your ideas intrigue me. i wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
however I must also curse you for making me really want to go out and pick up copies of all the existing MST3Ks and start picking up these as well... so many fond memories of sitting in my best friend's basement in HS rolling on the floor as Trumpy tried to eat some more baby potatos or Mitchell! made a pathetic attempt to haul his out-of-shape posterior over a chain linked fence, or watching as The Head that Wouldn't Die mysteriously became The Brain that Wouldn't Die by the end of the film (or vice versa, I forget).
I'm a little torn about his ripping on movies that I actually enjoy (see Wonka, LOTR, etc...) but I do imagine that I'd still enjoy those, just in a different light.
Posts: 1038 | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote:But I LIKE Willy Wonka. I think it'd be annoying to sit though a MST3K for a movie I actually like.
I LOVE Willy Wonka. And yet a few years ago I watched it in a particular mood and wrote a scathing essay(in jest) about how evil the character of Willy Wonka is.
I think any movie(good or bad) can be MST3Ked. You just have to come at it with a particular angle in mind. Look at the LOTR movies...I love them all, and yet they're all perfect fodder for MST3K.
edit - I'd like to note that I mentioned LOTR without first seeing Grimace's post or even knowing whether he's actually done a rifftrax for them or not. Just a happy coincidence...
Posts: 8741 | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
I absolutely adore Neil Patrick Harris! A.Dore. I'll definitely have to check this out, it looks like it'll be fantastic. Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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I'm wondering if mph ever gets confused for NPH... i.e. if women just start tearing their cloths off in his presence, or expect him to cure their ailments while trying to maintain a relationship with Winnie... hmm, the curiosity of internet musings.
Posts: 1038 | Registered: Feb 2006
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I totally missed a chance to say that this will be "Legendary!" Dang it!
(Actually, since I got the first season of How I Met Your Mother for my birthday last month, my whole family walks around saying that everything is 'legendary.' It's rather amusing.)
Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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Update: It's now available for download, and there's a preview available.
I haven't watched it yet--I'm waiting to freak out my wife, who is doesn't much care for MST3K, but is a huge fan of "How I Met Your Mother." However, I did watch the sneak preview.
Rifftrax has a habit of never putting the best jokes in the previews, so the movie is always better than you'd expect by watching the clip. If that's the case, this one is, indeed, going to be legendary. The clip they gave is hilarious. I can hardly wait.
Posts: 2804 | Registered: May 2003
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quote:But I LIKE Willy Wonka. I think it'd be annoying to sit though a MST3K for a movie I actually like.
I LOVE Willy Wonka. And yet a few years ago I watched it in a particular mood and wrote a scathing essay(in jest) about how evil the character of Willy Wonka is.
I think any movie(good or bad) can be MST3Ked. You just have to come at it with a particular angle in mind. Look at the LOTR movies...I love them all, and yet they're all perfect fodder for MST3K.
I enjoy parodies like Molly Ringwraith's LoTR parodies -- but those are written parodies, I think I'd have a hard time enjoying a MST3K commentary track for a film I actually like; it'd be too much like going to watch a good movie and being stuck behind some annoying people who won't shut up. (But, I haven't listened to the Rifftrax, and if they make it clear that they LIKE the movie and will say things like "oh, this part is great" occasionally, then maybe...)
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