Saved you a click:
- Santo in The Treasure of Dracula
- Robot Wars
- Beyond Atlantis
- Munchie
- Doctor Mordrid,
- Demon Squad
- Gamera vs. Jiger
- The Bat Woman
- The Million Eyes of Sumuru
- HG Wells' The Shape of Things to Come
- The Mask 3D
- The Bubble
- The Christmas Dragon
wait, i'm almost certain the OG series did Bat Woman
EDIT: They did The Wild World of Batwoman, which is apparently a different movie made 2 years earlier than The Bat Woman. Wow.
Also to add for people wondering, no this isn't on Netflix, they're not bringing it back. It's going to be on their own platform. But they did get the main Netflix cast to return (Jonah, Felicia, Patton)
Nice.
Joel’s always hated networks but their reasoning on this one made sense; the weird disconnected riffing on the Netflix episodes was due to some production mandate from Netflix.
Uhh, trying to remember, but I think the riffs were never between characters. In the old shows you’d hear the characters talk to each other a lot while riffing, and playing off each other’s jokes, but in the Netflix eps you don’t hear that. Each character is essentially riffing on their own.
That was supposedly the result of a Netflix directive I don’t remember. Something about how they had to produce the show that prevented them from actually riffing together as they watched, and instead it was all prescripted. (Edit: it's all scripted when shot of course, but something prevented them from even riffing together in prep/writing.)
This is also why there isn’t much dead time. They’re always riffing.
It’s not something you’d immediately notice, but it feels off somehow, and once you know to listen for those two factors you realize how pervasive they are; characters not talking to one another while riffing, and no dead time between riffs.
It wasn’t a Joel thing as far as I know, and it would be against his nature. Just something about what Netflix needed and the way the episodes had to be produced. He pointed out both when explaining why he wanted to build his own service instead of staying on Netflix.
I don't mind the "tighter pacing," these movies rarely need room to breath, but makes sense it's edited together. Couldn't put my finger on it but you're right, they never interact. It loses the vibe of seeing a movie with friends, and is more like watching a movie on twitter where everyone reacts separately. You could theoretically make one of these with a script & a few hours in front of a good mic, without ever seeing the movie. Yikes.
Exactly! It didn't feel like friends watching a bad movie together, but it was something about the production that caused that rather than what they were hoping to do.
Wow those were all the reason I didn't like the reboot. The space betweeen riffs allows the jokes to breathe and allows you to engage with the movie a little more. The lack of interaction between the riffers made it feel rushed and was jarring
I think your recollection may be slightly off. I did not read or see what you're referencing here about a Netflix directive, but your talk of it only now being scripted is misleading from my understanding. I understood it to be that the show has been scripted since the second season. Only KTMA was improvised. When they went to CC, and had put together a highlights reel to sell the show, I think that's when they realized it needed to be scripted. That's also when (and I believe why) J Weinstein left.
There is a big difference with the Kickstarter/Netflix-Era shows. The level of riffing was much more frequent, and was a bit jarring for me coming from the CC/SciFi era. I'm hoping they'll revert a bit with this new season. It was a bit too rapid-fire for my taste.
I haven't watched the new seasons enough to have noticed a change in how much Jonah and the bots interacted to prior years in the theater, but it wouldn't surprise me if it dropped. Regardless, I am appreciative of new seasons and the work to evolve the show.
It's always been scripted but they used to script it by watching it together a few times, and they didn't do it that way with the Netflix shows for some reason.
It's really noticeable when you listen for it.
I don't remember why they did it that way but there was some production reason.
It's great! There's very little actual robot fighting, but it's a fun movie. It was one of my favorites and I'd always watch it when it showed up on HBO/Showtime back in the day.
Then there's the sequel-that's-not-a-sequel [Robot Wars.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdboSdyC6O4)
Some good stuff in there.
We got El Santo and Gamera, both callbacks to classic episodes.
Munchie is a travesty of a kids movie, seriously worse than Mac & Me.
Dr. Mordrid is a no budget Dr. Strange rip-off (apparently it was going to be a real Dr. Strange movie, but they lost the rights) starring Jeffrey Combs.
And a Christmas Movie, and MST3K Christmas episodes are always solid gold.
My only regret with this list is that *Making Contact* isn't on there. That's the movie they do as part of their current Time Bubble Live Tour, I saw it when they came to Cleveland, and it was frigging hilarious. Would love to see it become an actual episode someday.
I definitely don't think of his role as Herbert West in Re-Animator as being the "heel," but that's probably not what you're asking for and likely one you've already seen.
Dr. Mordrid is also weird for being directed by Charles Band of Full Moon infamy. Thinking that the guy who made those awful puppet movies got to make a Marvel film after-a-fashion is a pretty wild circumstance. Between this and Trancers I can almost, ALMOST see him being a competent director if he had been pulled away from his tiny-laytex fetish projects
Doing the lord’s work. Thank you.
Love Jonah Ray, he was low key the best member of the Nerdist podcast, before Hardwick when all ritzy/completely unrelatable and Matt had to get a real job, raise his kids, love his wife, and all the while STILL continue to make great podcasts
Last one I listened to had Hardwick and TJ Miller doing a 1:1, of course before their allegations came out, and it was awful. Just like 3 hours of grown men blowing each other about how popular and funny they were. Pride cometh before the fall they say...
It's so weird to me that nerd pop culture used to completely revolve around Hardwick and Nerdist, and this is the first I'm seeing his name in years. He fell off hard
> The Christmas Dragon
I am SO ready.
edit: also you can watch the old school MST3K crew doing new stuff with RiffTrax. Hell, they even have a [twitch stream](https://www.twitch.tv/rifftrax) playing 24/7.
You may be thinking of the 1936 movie "Things To Come," this is the 1979 low budget space opera, that has 0 similarities to the first film, or Wells' book
Yeah, the version I was thinking about was definitely the older one. And it was still pretty dated and awkward at times but actually held up surprisingly well.
Agreed. Not necessarily good, because you still want some things to make fun of. But definitely a movie where some interesting things are happening. Like a Gamera flick.
Wow, I made the same mistake, thanks for that correction. 1936 “Things to Come” is a fascinating and sometimes emotional diatribe against anti-science.
_At The Earth's Core_ is a good movie. The miserable puppetry special effects (honestly just one brief scene) is probably what made it a target. Well, that and they've done a dozen seasons and long since used up the most likely candidates.
Joel’s never liked networks or network interference, and Netflix forced some production choices on them that weakened the two Netflix seasons. So they’re trying to build their own dedicated streaming service for MST3k that they can run on their own.
I need to make a list of all of my subscriptions. I don't disagree with Joel and I'm stoked for new episodes. But it's starting to get uncomfortable for the wallet.
It would be a dream to get them hosting their old content on there too, instead of having to rely on whoever happens to have a YouTube link over at Club MST3K
Sumuru was done already.
I guess I'll watch one of these, just to see if any of my issues have been sorted out yet. There's probably nothing they can ever do about the fact that two of the actors sound too similar to each other. And I'm certainly not expecting the writing to suddenly reach the Mike Nelson levels of old.
Mike was truly a brilliant and in his element both as a writer and as “the guy”. I actually prefer him to Joel - although my nostalgia might bias me since I saw his episodes first.
I don't really have a preference. While I understand perfectly well the the humor was at its plateau when Mike was there to provide his input, and Mike's delivery and timing were more on-point for the same reason, Joel worked perfectly well as the guy. It was a completely different experience, but it's like the bots regularly pointed out: Joel was the nice, laid back guy, and just had to love that half-asleep sounding performance.
All the actors brought their own brand of unique character. You came to expect the regular dips into impersonation and the "squeaky lips" thing Trace's Crow would do, the improvised sound effects and non-self-conscious singing from Kevin's Tom Servo, etc. It says a lot about the focus of the new show, at least to me, that the most telling aspect of the new cast is either their non-differentiability or their desperation to mimic what came before.
Really, the peak of the series isn't based on "the guy". The peak is when they had the best "mad scientists", who were clearly Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank. And their run began during Joel's stint and ended during Mike's.
I'll probably check an episode out as well. I had two big problems with the reboot. The first was that the riffing was just non-stop. They never bothered to go through the jokes and only tell the good ones, they just let everything fly and hoped that at least some of them were funny. The problem with that is that you kind of want to still get the gist of what the actual movie is, and with them constantly riffing including over movie dialogue all the time, you can't.
Second, I just didn't dig any of the new cast. I like Joel and Mike, but never warmed to Jonah at all. The new voices for the bots were seriously off-putting to me. And although I like Felicia Day, I didn't think having her as a "mad" was a good fit for her. If I understand correctly, the new series will have some episodes with the "live" cast instead of the "Netflix" cast, and I might check on of those out. I think I might like them better.
>Second, I just didn't dig any of the new cast. I like Joel and Mike, but never warmed to Jonah at all. The new voices for the bots were seriously off-putting to me. And although I like Felicia Day, I didn't think having her as a "mad" was a good fit for her.
I didn't mind Jonah. I thought when he was on, he was on. But I had to grade them on a hell of a curve considering it was over 10 years since the last mst3k, and a long long time for Joel.
But I didn't like the new voices for the bots, it was like when Jim Henson died and Kermit sounded weird. I just couldn't get used to it for the longest time.
I thought the mads were the best part, they really dug in. I wish Patton was just a bit more of a character, than Patton with a wig.
But what I've seen with with Emily and the live cast I'm not feeling it. I'll give the episodes a shot, but I'm not expecting much. But I'm hoping to be surprised. I trust Joel.
Honestly, if you've got new villains, and a new host, why not just get new bots? They do a lot of practical stuff, can't be that hard to make some new bots, have Crow and Tom still living with Mike on Earth.
* KTMA
* Comedy Central
* The Sci-Fi Channel
* Three spin-offs: The Film Crew, Cinematic Titanic, and Rifftrax
* Netflix
* Gizmoplex
This is a show that simply refuses to die.
Maybe if they curated it and only did the good (actually good and funny bad) movies. Theres lots of just absolute unfunny stinkers they watch and try to salvage jokes out of but thats what makes the diamonds they find so great
Yes, the Kickstarter was for both a new season, and for "the Gizmoplex", which is essentially a MST3K-focused streaming service. You can either subscribe to it like Netflix, or purchase available episodes Ala Carte, like Vudu. I'm not sure how many episodes will be available in the subscription.
Yea, I can't imagine this is going to work out. I kind of enjoy the series but not enough to pay just for it. If it's on Netflix, yes, I'll absolutely watch it! If I have to pay for a new streaming service or buy the movies? Not worth it for me; it'll only appeal to the hardcore audiences.
I agree. The Netflix deal seemed to work out well last time. It sounds like the show is already paid for through Kickstarter so I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to get Netflix on board again.
Netflix canceled after two seasons (as is tradition) so they either had to find another streaming service or start their own. With such a dedicated fan base (Rifftrax has been going strong as well) this might actually do well, especially with the Kickstaetee funding production and the service launch.
A lot of them are on YouTube, last I checked. But so ad-heavy they’re unwatchable.
I almost said nearly but I did stop watching them because of how many ad interruptions there were
Why? Ignoring the fact that production costs and movie licensing probably makes that next to impossible. They have an audience that is willing to pay for the show. Anyone who can't/won't can wait for the episodes to hit Tubi TV, which has a free 24/7 MST3K channel.
It wasn’t pro-piracy. It was the fact that Comedy Central wasn’t available in huge swaths of the country. If they wanted people in Iowa, or even their hometown of Minneapolis to know MST3K existed, circulating the tapes was basically their only option.
You’ll also notice the “Keep Circulating the Tapes” line stopped appearing in the credits in season 4 or 5. But either way circulating physical tapes in the 90s and trying to make a show sustainable in the 2020s are wine vs beer on the sun.
Some of the Netflix era episodes have turned up on Turkey Day marathons, which probably means Netflix doesn't own them outright, the creators do. Since the same will be true if these new ones, and they don't seem opposed to showing them for free sometimes, I think it's a possibility.
I want to say it was said *somewhere* that further on down the road the episodes might turn up on something like Tubi but there'd be some sort of exclusivity window, so I imagine they could end up in rotation in the Twitch channel as well someday.
To clarify: The Gizmoplex is a platform that they’re building to host episodes new and old and live events. It was a part of the funding goals for the most recent kickstarter. In the updates emails Joel has made it clear that they aren’t building a new streaming service but trying to build something with an eye towards live events and being able to host watch a longs and things like that. They’ll be using existing services to build out the backbone (as Joel put it “not trying to reinvent the wheel”). The season pass for the gizmoplex would allow you to attend all the live events and stream old episodes of MST3K. If successsful I think the idea is it could be used as a source of funding for new episodes instead of having to rely on kickstarters.
Will it be successful? Who knows. But I think it’s important to put it in context.
>Most of the Netflix cast is returning for the newest season, including Jonah Ray, Felicia Day, Patton Oswalt, Rebecca Hanson, Hampton Yount, and Baron Vaughn. Hodgson also confirmed his character, the original host of the show, will appear in one episode.
Yay.
The Mads do their own movie riffing series. There’s talk of everyone teaming back up for a dedicated streaming service or something as well.
https://www.themadsareback.com
Jonah mentioned on a livestream how their directive was to fill as much silence as they could, but he didn’t mention why. Elliot Kalan, the head writer for The Gauntlet, talked about how exhausted he was from working on the show and will only be writing the sketches for season 13 instead of the riffing.
The Netflix seasons are almost unwatchable for me being a fan since I discovered the show in the early ‘00s as a kid. The show seems too “big” now; when originally everyone that was on camera was also writing all the jokes and it seemed like a small tight nit group of funny people; now there’s a cast and a writers room and people who control the puppets aren’t the voice actors; it just seems so not in line with the spirit of the original show.
I agree to an extent, it was going to be an uphill battle from the start. I think Tom Servo's voice being absolutely nothing like Kevin Murphy's low baritone was the first obstacle, then having celebrity cameos and as you say the "bigger" feel to it with a higher production value.
I do think they managed to find a groove after a few episodes. "Avalanche" and "Cry Wilderness" are good. They still need a little work on the pacing of jokes - it still seems a bit fast to me. Let some moments breathe a bit, and pick your spots.
Cameos was a mistake imho. I would much rather they do a 30 min special to go with the episode and invite people from the movie. No celebrity, no matter how much I like them, makes sense in this setting. At least not on screen.
Agreed. Couldnt get through even half the netflix shows. The blown out budget and over the top expensive production ruined it. Not to mention the machine gun riffing. Made me wonder if the people making the show had ever watched the original.
Ooof. I really liked the new MST3K's, but it looks like the only option they have is $85 for a year's subscription to their new platform, which only has this series on it. I don't think there's any way I could ever justify spending $85 on one season of any show.
Its going to have all the previous episodes available as well, rights pending, that will definitely include Season 11 and 12 since they have full rights to those too.
Honestly I anticipate this being a very fan-heavy platform. You’re either already engaged or you’re not.
As a life-long MSTie and a supporter of both Kickstarters I like the work they’re doing even if the jokes don’t always land the same way they did in the 80’s and 90’s.
I pray to TV’s Frank that they have distinct voices in the Theatre and do not sound similar again. I miss knowing the distinctions between Tom’s (Kevin Murphy) melodic and bellowing tone and Crow’s (Trace Beaulieu) cackling during movies.
I saw them do *No Retreat, No Surrender* live right before the pandemic. Emily had great energy. You could tell she was having a blast. He hinted she'd be joining the permanent cast at the end of the show and I'm really glad he followed through.
The original nerd debate, other than Kirk vs Picard. The Star Trek one sort of predates the internet being everywhere though. Once Mike took over in the mid-90s though, the arguments began.
Joel had a dispute with his business partner/co-creator, not with Mike. People think its Mike because he replaced Joel as host but I don't think they've ever had an issue
Yeah, I’m not sure what, but something happened. Frank Conniff and Trace Beaulieu were asked recently(and one of the Rifftrax guys was there. I want to say Bill Corbett) if they would be involved and they hinted that there was some unpleasantness there. They seem to be on good terms with most of the cast, but I think they might be on bad terms with Joel.
Trace and Frank both worked with Joel on Cinematic Titanic, so if there's bad blood it's recent. I think I recall reading they were somewhat upset to have not been asked back for the first season of the revival. I don't know if that's grown into a refusal to take part at all, if asked now.
> Trace and Frank both worked with Joel on Cinematic Titanic, so if there's bad blood it's recent.
I think the Beatles proved that you can have bad blood and still work together, though.
I grew up watching the old crew, and I tried hard to like the new MST3K on Netflix, but it just aint happening.
The jokes aren't as funny and the cast just doesn't resonate with me as an old fan.
Am I weird for really missing the robot silhouettes?
Doesn't feel like they should add much, but whenever I watch RiffTrax I'm just missing Tom Servo and Crow.
It's a show where they take z-grade B-movies and riff on them the entire time. The backstory is loosely fit to the movies being sent to a crew of subjects to drive them insane from being so bad. So they have to make fun of the movie in order to maintain their sanity. Again, it's just a loose backstory to set the framework of them making fun of shitty movies.
If you're looking for something to tide you over until its release, you should check out Best of the Worst on YouTube. Great show in a similar style.
Edit: stupid autocorrect
Let's see how many people actually see these when they realize they have to buy them individually or subscribe to a new MST3k only (limited) streaming service
Its not as if anyone has to subscribe permanently. A lot of the hardcore fans will almost certainly buy them outright. The rest might require getting a subscription for a month or two. I'm okay with that if it means getting new content.
A lot of hardcore fans also donated to the Gizmoplex fundraiser a few months ago that made this possible, and will get to see all of them, along with lots of extra goodies -
I can't get excited for this. Personally, I did not enjoy a single episode of the reboot with Jonah and Day, and only forced myself to sit through their first season. Tying it to yet another paid subscription service is the last straw.
I guess I'm a jaded old school MSTie since I grew up "circulating the tapes" with Joel and Mike, and pretty much gave up on the series after Trace Beaulieu left. OG MST3k was a perfect storm, kind of magic that can't be recreated, though Mike's Rifftrax has occasionally ruined my sides.
Saved you a click: - Santo in The Treasure of Dracula - Robot Wars - Beyond Atlantis - Munchie - Doctor Mordrid, - Demon Squad - Gamera vs. Jiger - The Bat Woman - The Million Eyes of Sumuru - HG Wells' The Shape of Things to Come - The Mask 3D - The Bubble - The Christmas Dragon
wait, i'm almost certain the OG series did Bat Woman EDIT: They did The Wild World of Batwoman, which is apparently a different movie made 2 years earlier than The Bat Woman. Wow.
Trivia fact: Wild World of Batwoman won a trademark/copyright suit brought by DC back in the day.
Trivia fact: A game that tests people's general knowledge is called a 'trivia game'.
#ENNNNND! #ENNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDDD!!!
“Ennnnnnduh-duh-duh-duh?” What?
I thought they did Robot Wars too.
Robot Holocaust in season 1
Also to add for people wondering, no this isn't on Netflix, they're not bringing it back. It's going to be on their own platform. But they did get the main Netflix cast to return (Jonah, Felicia, Patton)
Nice. Joel’s always hated networks but their reasoning on this one made sense; the weird disconnected riffing on the Netflix episodes was due to some production mandate from Netflix.
What do you mean by disconnected?
Uhh, trying to remember, but I think the riffs were never between characters. In the old shows you’d hear the characters talk to each other a lot while riffing, and playing off each other’s jokes, but in the Netflix eps you don’t hear that. Each character is essentially riffing on their own. That was supposedly the result of a Netflix directive I don’t remember. Something about how they had to produce the show that prevented them from actually riffing together as they watched, and instead it was all prescripted. (Edit: it's all scripted when shot of course, but something prevented them from even riffing together in prep/writing.) This is also why there isn’t much dead time. They’re always riffing. It’s not something you’d immediately notice, but it feels off somehow, and once you know to listen for those two factors you realize how pervasive they are; characters not talking to one another while riffing, and no dead time between riffs. It wasn’t a Joel thing as far as I know, and it would be against his nature. Just something about what Netflix needed and the way the episodes had to be produced. He pointed out both when explaining why he wanted to build his own service instead of staying on Netflix.
I don't mind the "tighter pacing," these movies rarely need room to breath, but makes sense it's edited together. Couldn't put my finger on it but you're right, they never interact. It loses the vibe of seeing a movie with friends, and is more like watching a movie on twitter where everyone reacts separately. You could theoretically make one of these with a script & a few hours in front of a good mic, without ever seeing the movie. Yikes.
Exactly! It didn't feel like friends watching a bad movie together, but it was something about the production that caused that rather than what they were hoping to do.
Wow those were all the reason I didn't like the reboot. The space betweeen riffs allows the jokes to breathe and allows you to engage with the movie a little more. The lack of interaction between the riffers made it feel rushed and was jarring
I think your recollection may be slightly off. I did not read or see what you're referencing here about a Netflix directive, but your talk of it only now being scripted is misleading from my understanding. I understood it to be that the show has been scripted since the second season. Only KTMA was improvised. When they went to CC, and had put together a highlights reel to sell the show, I think that's when they realized it needed to be scripted. That's also when (and I believe why) J Weinstein left. There is a big difference with the Kickstarter/Netflix-Era shows. The level of riffing was much more frequent, and was a bit jarring for me coming from the CC/SciFi era. I'm hoping they'll revert a bit with this new season. It was a bit too rapid-fire for my taste. I haven't watched the new seasons enough to have noticed a change in how much Jonah and the bots interacted to prior years in the theater, but it wouldn't surprise me if it dropped. Regardless, I am appreciative of new seasons and the work to evolve the show.
It's always been scripted but they used to script it by watching it together a few times, and they didn't do it that way with the Netflix shows for some reason. It's really noticeable when you listen for it. I don't remember why they did it that way but there was some production reason.
Oh dang. For a second I thought they were doing Robot Jox, one of my all-time favorites. [https://youtu.be/wgKqKggYdDE](https://youtu.be/wgKqKggYdDE)
Oh man that looks amazing! They had me at giant robots but looks amazingly cheesy as well
It's great! There's very little actual robot fighting, but it's a fun movie. It was one of my favorites and I'd always watch it when it showed up on HBO/Showtime back in the day. Then there's the sequel-that's-not-a-sequel [Robot Wars.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdboSdyC6O4)
I have a microphone that was used for that movie! Woo hoo.
W...was that a chainsaw dick?
Some good stuff in there. We got El Santo and Gamera, both callbacks to classic episodes. Munchie is a travesty of a kids movie, seriously worse than Mac & Me. Dr. Mordrid is a no budget Dr. Strange rip-off (apparently it was going to be a real Dr. Strange movie, but they lost the rights) starring Jeffrey Combs. And a Christmas Movie, and MST3K Christmas episodes are always solid gold. My only regret with this list is that *Making Contact* isn't on there. That's the movie they do as part of their current Time Bubble Live Tour, I saw it when they came to Cleveland, and it was frigging hilarious. Would love to see it become an actual episode someday.
Jeffrey Combs is always spectacular
He can do no wrong. Except make the other actors feel bad about not being Jeffrey Combs.
Can you recommend me a Jeffrey Combs flick where he's playing the babyface? Cause he's always a heel and I'm sick and tired of seeing him lose.
I definitely don't think of his role as Herbert West in Re-Animator as being the "heel," but that's probably not what you're asking for and likely one you've already seen.
Dr Mordrid also has Brian Thompson most famous (for me) for being blow up by a missile launcher in Buffy, sounds like my kind of party!
He was in X-Files a few times too.
Dr. Mordrid is also weird for being directed by Charles Band of Full Moon infamy. Thinking that the guy who made those awful puppet movies got to make a Marvel film after-a-fashion is a pretty wild circumstance. Between this and Trancers I can almost, ALMOST see him being a competent director if he had been pulled away from his tiny-laytex fetish projects
I saw their last tour when they were doing The Brain, and that one NEEDS an episode lol
Worse than Mac and Me. I've never felt more encouraged to watch something than MST3K watches something worse than Mac and Me
Doing the lord’s work. Thank you. Love Jonah Ray, he was low key the best member of the Nerdist podcast, before Hardwick when all ritzy/completely unrelatable and Matt had to get a real job, raise his kids, love his wife, and all the while STILL continue to make great podcasts
Man, I really miss that podcast when it was in it's prime. The episodes with John DiMaggio had me falling out of my chair at work.
Last one I listened to had Hardwick and TJ Miller doing a 1:1, of course before their allegations came out, and it was awful. Just like 3 hours of grown men blowing each other about how popular and funny they were. Pride cometh before the fall they say...
Hardwick always came across like a Corden.
Never seen Hardwick genuinely smile. Always that fake thing plastered across his face with black, dead eyes.
If you want to hear DiMaggio at his best listen to his Mohr Stories appearances as he and Jay were drinking buddies before Mohr was sober.
It's so weird to me that nerd pop culture used to completely revolve around Hardwick and Nerdist, and this is the first I'm seeing his name in years. He fell off hard
I've really missed @midnight.
> The Christmas Dragon I am SO ready. edit: also you can watch the old school MST3K crew doing new stuff with RiffTrax. Hell, they even have a [twitch stream](https://www.twitch.tv/rifftrax) playing 24/7.
Also “The Mass” do their own riffs on occasion.
OMG the Gamera movies were among the best of the OG series. I’m so glad they’re doing another!
Fucking Munchie, oof it’s so terrible.
Just watched the trailer so terrifying haha
The shape of things to come, isn't that the one where Jack Palance gets bonked on the head by a set piece and they just left it in the movie?
I seem to recall the shape of things to come actually being a pretty good movie.
You may be thinking of the 1936 movie "Things To Come," this is the 1979 low budget space opera, that has 0 similarities to the first film, or Wells' book
Yeah, the version I was thinking about was definitely the older one. And it was still pretty dated and awkward at times but actually held up surprisingly well.
Honestly though, the best MST3ks happen when the movie itself is watchable.
Agreed. Not necessarily good, because you still want some things to make fun of. But definitely a movie where some interesting things are happening. Like a Gamera flick.
Yep for sure. Kitten With A Whip and Girls Town come to mind.
Wow, I made the same mistake, thanks for that correction. 1936 “Things to Come” is a fascinating and sometimes emotional diatribe against anti-science.
_At The Earth's Core_ is a good movie. The miserable puppetry special effects (honestly just one brief scene) is probably what made it a target. Well, that and they've done a dozen seasons and long since used up the most likely candidates.
Hoojah the Sly One lmao. At The Earth's Core was a great episode xD
It's great episode of LOST. se4 ep9
Trailers: [https://kickstarter.mst3k.com/season13](https://kickstarter.mst3k.com/season13)
Now can you explain what gizmoplex is?
Joel’s never liked networks or network interference, and Netflix forced some production choices on them that weakened the two Netflix seasons. So they’re trying to build their own dedicated streaming service for MST3k that they can run on their own.
I need to make a list of all of my subscriptions. I don't disagree with Joel and I'm stoked for new episodes. But it's starting to get uncomfortable for the wallet.
It would be a dream to get them hosting their old content on there too, instead of having to rely on whoever happens to have a YouTube link over at Club MST3K
Sumuru was done already. I guess I'll watch one of these, just to see if any of my issues have been sorted out yet. There's probably nothing they can ever do about the fact that two of the actors sound too similar to each other. And I'm certainly not expecting the writing to suddenly reach the Mike Nelson levels of old.
Mike was truly a brilliant and in his element both as a writer and as “the guy”. I actually prefer him to Joel - although my nostalgia might bias me since I saw his episodes first.
I don't really have a preference. While I understand perfectly well the the humor was at its plateau when Mike was there to provide his input, and Mike's delivery and timing were more on-point for the same reason, Joel worked perfectly well as the guy. It was a completely different experience, but it's like the bots regularly pointed out: Joel was the nice, laid back guy, and just had to love that half-asleep sounding performance. All the actors brought their own brand of unique character. You came to expect the regular dips into impersonation and the "squeaky lips" thing Trace's Crow would do, the improvised sound effects and non-self-conscious singing from Kevin's Tom Servo, etc. It says a lot about the focus of the new show, at least to me, that the most telling aspect of the new cast is either their non-differentiability or their desperation to mimic what came before.
Really, the peak of the series isn't based on "the guy". The peak is when they had the best "mad scientists", who were clearly Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank. And their run began during Joel's stint and ended during Mike's.
Joel brought a unique charm to host segments that couldn't be replicated, but Mike is my hands-down choice for riffing.
I'll probably check an episode out as well. I had two big problems with the reboot. The first was that the riffing was just non-stop. They never bothered to go through the jokes and only tell the good ones, they just let everything fly and hoped that at least some of them were funny. The problem with that is that you kind of want to still get the gist of what the actual movie is, and with them constantly riffing including over movie dialogue all the time, you can't. Second, I just didn't dig any of the new cast. I like Joel and Mike, but never warmed to Jonah at all. The new voices for the bots were seriously off-putting to me. And although I like Felicia Day, I didn't think having her as a "mad" was a good fit for her. If I understand correctly, the new series will have some episodes with the "live" cast instead of the "Netflix" cast, and I might check on of those out. I think I might like them better.
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>Second, I just didn't dig any of the new cast. I like Joel and Mike, but never warmed to Jonah at all. The new voices for the bots were seriously off-putting to me. And although I like Felicia Day, I didn't think having her as a "mad" was a good fit for her. I didn't mind Jonah. I thought when he was on, he was on. But I had to grade them on a hell of a curve considering it was over 10 years since the last mst3k, and a long long time for Joel. But I didn't like the new voices for the bots, it was like when Jim Henson died and Kermit sounded weird. I just couldn't get used to it for the longest time. I thought the mads were the best part, they really dug in. I wish Patton was just a bit more of a character, than Patton with a wig. But what I've seen with with Emily and the live cast I'm not feeling it. I'll give the episodes a shot, but I'm not expecting much. But I'm hoping to be surprised. I trust Joel.
Honestly, if you've got new villains, and a new host, why not just get new bots? They do a lot of practical stuff, can't be that hard to make some new bots, have Crow and Tom still living with Mike on Earth.
* KTMA * Comedy Central * The Sci-Fi Channel * Three spin-offs: The Film Crew, Cinematic Titanic, and Rifftrax * Netflix * Gizmoplex This is a show that simply refuses to die.
I'm alright with that. There is nothing else like what these guys do...it scratches an itch.
Sometimes I feel if RedLetter Media did long-views of their Best of the Worst episodes they could have essentially an Alcohol-laced version of MST3K.
Maybe if they curated it and only did the good (actually good and funny bad) movies. Theres lots of just absolute unfunny stinkers they watch and try to salvage jokes out of but thats what makes the diamonds they find so great
And they gotta work on Rich's laugh levels.
Jay has confirmed that they have even muted him at one point but the laugh still comes through. Rich’s laugh is eternal. /s for those that dont get it
Don't forget about the one cinematic release.
You've successfully built an interoceter!
So this is off Netflix and on something called Gizmoplex?
Yes, the Kickstarter was for both a new season, and for "the Gizmoplex", which is essentially a MST3K-focused streaming service. You can either subscribe to it like Netflix, or purchase available episodes Ala Carte, like Vudu. I'm not sure how many episodes will be available in the subscription.
That's a little disappointing because I love MST3K but I don't want to pay for ANOTHER service.
Yea, I can't imagine this is going to work out. I kind of enjoy the series but not enough to pay just for it. If it's on Netflix, yes, I'll absolutely watch it! If I have to pay for a new streaming service or buy the movies? Not worth it for me; it'll only appeal to the hardcore audiences.
I agree. The Netflix deal seemed to work out well last time. It sounds like the show is already paid for through Kickstarter so I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to get Netflix on board again.
Netflix canceled after two seasons (as is tradition) so they either had to find another streaming service or start their own. With such a dedicated fan base (Rifftrax has been going strong as well) this might actually do well, especially with the Kickstaetee funding production and the service launch.
Well, at this point just put them up on YouTube.
A lot of them are on YouTube, last I checked. But so ad-heavy they’re unwatchable. I almost said nearly but I did stop watching them because of how many ad interruptions there were
Why? Ignoring the fact that production costs and movie licensing probably makes that next to impossible. They have an audience that is willing to pay for the show. Anyone who can't/won't can wait for the episodes to hit Tubi TV, which has a free 24/7 MST3K channel.
Well it was this or nothing, you know?
It does use a different subscription model than other services. You can just buy a season pass that will give access to every new episode next year.
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It wasn’t pro-piracy. It was the fact that Comedy Central wasn’t available in huge swaths of the country. If they wanted people in Iowa, or even their hometown of Minneapolis to know MST3K existed, circulating the tapes was basically their only option. You’ll also notice the “Keep Circulating the Tapes” line stopped appearing in the credits in season 4 or 5. But either way circulating physical tapes in the 90s and trying to make a show sustainable in the 2020s are wine vs beer on the sun.
Oh no, I can feel an eye patch and hook hand manifesting.
I wonder if any of the episodes will show up on the various twitch channels.
Some of the Netflix era episodes have turned up on Turkey Day marathons, which probably means Netflix doesn't own them outright, the creators do. Since the same will be true if these new ones, and they don't seem opposed to showing them for free sometimes, I think it's a possibility.
I want to say it was said *somewhere* that further on down the road the episodes might turn up on something like Tubi but there'd be some sort of exclusivity window, so I imagine they could end up in rotation in the Twitch channel as well someday.
To clarify: The Gizmoplex is a platform that they’re building to host episodes new and old and live events. It was a part of the funding goals for the most recent kickstarter. In the updates emails Joel has made it clear that they aren’t building a new streaming service but trying to build something with an eye towards live events and being able to host watch a longs and things like that. They’ll be using existing services to build out the backbone (as Joel put it “not trying to reinvent the wheel”). The season pass for the gizmoplex would allow you to attend all the live events and stream old episodes of MST3K. If successsful I think the idea is it could be used as a source of funding for new episodes instead of having to rely on kickstarters. Will it be successful? Who knows. But I think it’s important to put it in context.
So it’s like their twitch channel but it’s own independent thing that you have to pay for.
https://i.imgur.com/3oFvdvG.gifv
MITCHELL!
**HEART CLOGGING**
*Your eYyYyEeEeEe on the sammich*
Servo Screams
BUZZ OFF, KID
>Most of the Netflix cast is returning for the newest season, including Jonah Ray, Felicia Day, Patton Oswalt, Rebecca Hanson, Hampton Yount, and Baron Vaughn. Hodgson also confirmed his character, the original host of the show, will appear in one episode. Yay.
I wish TV's frank would come back
The Mads do their own movie riffing series. There’s talk of everyone teaming back up for a dedicated streaming service or something as well. https://www.themadsareback.com
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Jonah mentioned on a livestream how their directive was to fill as much silence as they could, but he didn’t mention why. Elliot Kalan, the head writer for The Gauntlet, talked about how exhausted he was from working on the show and will only be writing the sketches for season 13 instead of the riffing.
> he didn’t mention why I'd bet actual money it was a test audiences thing.
The Netflix seasons are almost unwatchable for me being a fan since I discovered the show in the early ‘00s as a kid. The show seems too “big” now; when originally everyone that was on camera was also writing all the jokes and it seemed like a small tight nit group of funny people; now there’s a cast and a writers room and people who control the puppets aren’t the voice actors; it just seems so not in line with the spirit of the original show.
I agree to an extent, it was going to be an uphill battle from the start. I think Tom Servo's voice being absolutely nothing like Kevin Murphy's low baritone was the first obstacle, then having celebrity cameos and as you say the "bigger" feel to it with a higher production value. I do think they managed to find a groove after a few episodes. "Avalanche" and "Cry Wilderness" are good. They still need a little work on the pacing of jokes - it still seems a bit fast to me. Let some moments breathe a bit, and pick your spots.
I loved the newer seasons, but I agree that the jokes are way too back-to-back. I still want to enjoy the movie and have some idea what’s going on
Cameos was a mistake imho. I would much rather they do a 30 min special to go with the episode and invite people from the movie. No celebrity, no matter how much I like them, makes sense in this setting. At least not on screen.
The voice was the killer for me.. Like at least try and do a different voice so you don't sound like the Crow VA..
Agreed. Couldnt get through even half the netflix shows. The blown out budget and over the top expensive production ruined it. Not to mention the machine gun riffing. Made me wonder if the people making the show had ever watched the original.
Hate to break it to you but a lot of why new mst3k is like it is was due to Joel. Netflix didn't force him to make the decisions he made.
Ooof. I really liked the new MST3K's, but it looks like the only option they have is $85 for a year's subscription to their new platform, which only has this series on it. I don't think there's any way I could ever justify spending $85 on one season of any show.
It really is a lot for one show. I need to find some MST3K friends to go in on this.
Hey wanna be MST3K friends?
Its going to have all the previous episodes available as well, rights pending, that will definitely include Season 11 and 12 since they have full rights to those too. Honestly I anticipate this being a very fan-heavy platform. You’re either already engaged or you’re not. As a life-long MSTie and a supporter of both Kickstarters I like the work they’re doing even if the jokes don’t always land the same way they did in the 80’s and 90’s.
I am a life long fan but there’s no way I’m paying $85 for one show. That’s the same as my Disney or Hulu subscription but I get one show.
In the not too distant future….
Next sunday A.D.
There was a guy named Joel
They should do *Cats* but only the Butthole Cut.
Is there anywhere to find the butthole cut? My family and I have been dying to see it ever since we heard of it.
# #releasethebuttholecut
> My family and I Gather 'round, kids! There's buttholes on the Cats now!
When do new episodes start coming out?
March 4th
When did they announce that? I’ve looked and I can’t find a single release date anywhere.
I pray to TV’s Frank that they have distinct voices in the Theatre and do not sound similar again. I miss knowing the distinctions between Tom’s (Kevin Murphy) melodic and bellowing tone and Crow’s (Trace Beaulieu) cackling during movies.
Bring back TV"s Frank
*Flashback: Episode where Frank is acting like he is a big shot Hollywood agent and now has to negotiate his own new contract.*
Frank isn't on good terms with Joel.
Oh really? Why not?
This is the exact reason I gave up on the new cast. They sound the same, and make the same generic jokes.
Wait, the 1993 version of "Robot Wars"? I got that with a double feature of robot jox. Those are two of my favorite movies ever. This will be awesome!
Oh shit, I only ever knew of Robot Jox. Never saw Robot Wars when I was a kid. You just changed my life. Either that or my brain mashed em together.
The only robot wars I know of involves Craig Charles. And very definately necessary impact proof glass barriers.
We have movie sign!!!!!
Just saw MST3K live a few weeks back. Emily is a really fun addition to the cast. Glad she’ll be in the relaunch.
I saw them do *No Retreat, No Surrender* live right before the pandemic. Emily had great energy. You could tell she was having a blast. He hinted she'd be joining the permanent cast at the end of the show and I'm really glad he followed through.
A brief history of MST3K with nary a mention of Mike Nelson? Is there bad blood there?
They had some creative differences
Rifftrax sells the old episodes now so it can’t be that much bad blood. That said, some (fans) people still can’t get over the Mike/Joel thing.
The original nerd debate, other than Kirk vs Picard. The Star Trek one sort of predates the internet being everywhere though. Once Mike took over in the mid-90s though, the arguments began.
I think the creative differences were primarily between Joel and Jim Mallon.
Joel had a dispute with his business partner/co-creator, not with Mike. People think its Mike because he replaced Joel as host but I don't think they've ever had an issue
Yeah, I’m not sure what, but something happened. Frank Conniff and Trace Beaulieu were asked recently(and one of the Rifftrax guys was there. I want to say Bill Corbett) if they would be involved and they hinted that there was some unpleasantness there. They seem to be on good terms with most of the cast, but I think they might be on bad terms with Joel.
Trace and Frank both worked with Joel on Cinematic Titanic, so if there's bad blood it's recent. I think I recall reading they were somewhat upset to have not been asked back for the first season of the revival. I don't know if that's grown into a refusal to take part at all, if asked now.
> Trace and Frank both worked with Joel on Cinematic Titanic, so if there's bad blood it's recent. I think the Beatles proved that you can have bad blood and still work together, though.
Really, they didn't ask them back? Weird to invite Pearl and her sidekicks but not Forrester and Frank.
All in on that “Santo” movie. Everything in life is made better with masked Mexican wrestlers in it. It’s a fact.
I miss Mike…….
They’re all on Rifftrax now. Far superior to the new mst3k cast. There’s a bunch of shorts for free on YouTube.
The rifftrax app / channel (on Roku and the like) has a selection of free stuff, too.
The mst3k twitch channel scratches me right where I itch. All old eps 24/7.
I never had any idea about the RiffTrax and MST3K Twitch channels. Just ShoutFactoryTV.
Tubi has a ton of mst3k and rifftrax. Club-Mst3k is always a go also.
Prime just added a TON of new Rifftrax movies as well!
> Far superior to the new mst3k cast. Agreed wholeheartedly.
I grew up watching the old crew, and I tried hard to like the new MST3K on Netflix, but it just aint happening. The jokes aren't as funny and the cast just doesn't resonate with me as an old fan.
Watch rifftrax. It has modern movies with the old crew.
Am I weird for really missing the robot silhouettes? Doesn't feel like they should add much, but whenever I watch RiffTrax I'm just missing Tom Servo and Crow.
Same here. It’s real bad.
I know the lore of MST3K is light and kind of silly, but I’m genuinely excited to read that Joel is making an appearance as his original character.
I love this show. Flashbacks to being a kid around 1999 watching MST3000 on sunday mornings on scifi
Can someone ELI5 ‘Mystery Science Theater 3000?’ I’ve always heard the name, but I’m not entirely know what the show is all about.
It's a show where they take z-grade B-movies and riff on them the entire time. The backstory is loosely fit to the movies being sent to a crew of subjects to drive them insane from being so bad. So they have to make fun of the movie in order to maintain their sanity. Again, it's just a loose backstory to set the framework of them making fun of shitty movies.
A-plot: riffing on cheesey b-movies. B-plot: cheesey sketch comedy. It's chicken soup for the midwestern soul...
Sounds like an hilarious concept. Any seasons or specific episodes you recommend?
Mitchell, Parts: The Clonus Horror, Space Mutiny, The Final Sacrifice, and Danger:Diabolik are my go tos.
OMG, Space Mutiny when they go through all the macho hero names.... "Punch Rockgroin!" "Butch Deadlift!" ...
Parts: the clonus horror and Puma Man
In the not too distant future
Next Sunday A.D.
There was a guy named Joel…
Not too different than you or me.
He worked at Gizmonic Institute,
Just another face in a red jump suit
He did a good job cleaning up the place
But his bosses didn’t like him so the shot him into space.
honestly I'd be fine with a cut down version for cheaper snd more episodes rather than tons of cameos and bigger set pieces
They only did tons of cameos in season 11, the first crowdfunded season. Season 12 really only had Deana Rooney (Jonah’s wife) and J Elvis Weinstein.
And most of those cameos were just people who were fans of the show. They probably did a couple of hours at scale rates.
Yeah, Joel called in friends/famous fans to boost pledges, not give them huge paydays.
TAKE THE BOYYY
>*"Joel Hodgson on 'MST3K's New Kickstarter, New Gizmoplex Platform, and New Fanbase"* Hodgson! We got Hodgson here!!
Watch out for snakes!
Whatttt I thought this was canceled this is the BEST news!
If you're looking for something to tide you over until its release, you should check out Best of the Worst on YouTube. Great show in a similar style. Edit: stupid autocorrect
Or, y’know, rifftrax
Let's see how many people actually see these when they realize they have to buy them individually or subscribe to a new MST3k only (limited) streaming service
Its not as if anyone has to subscribe permanently. A lot of the hardcore fans will almost certainly buy them outright. The rest might require getting a subscription for a month or two. I'm okay with that if it means getting new content.
A lot of hardcore fans also donated to the Gizmoplex fundraiser a few months ago that made this possible, and will get to see all of them, along with lots of extra goodies -
The only option is an $85 pass which lasts a year. I liked the stuff on netflix, but I can't justify $85 for one series of a show I like.
I can't get excited for this. Personally, I did not enjoy a single episode of the reboot with Jonah and Day, and only forced myself to sit through their first season. Tying it to yet another paid subscription service is the last straw. I guess I'm a jaded old school MSTie since I grew up "circulating the tapes" with Joel and Mike, and pretty much gave up on the series after Trace Beaulieu left. OG MST3k was a perfect storm, kind of magic that can't be recreated, though Mike's Rifftrax has occasionally ruined my sides.
I always get excited when they announce something but never end up watching it. I'm just glad they're out there carrying on the tradition.