The Big Picture: Mystery Science Theater 3000

AngelSword

Castles & Chemo Founder
Oct 19, 2008
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I love me some Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Back when my brother and I were bridging the gap between rambunctious children to awkward teenagers, that was a focal point he and I could share and laugh at while still feeling like we were trying to be adults.

I honestly think that if I hadn't randomly stopped on an episode one Saturday afternoon however many years ago, I wouldn't enjoy Unskippable as much as I do.
 

kittyzero

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Apr 20, 2010
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Back when I was in highschool in the dark mysterious 90's I used to tape MST3K, I still have 4 VCR tapes of episodes, to bad no VCR. I miss this show, its where I got my sense of humor to, Whenever I say, "If you're like me and I know I am..." is awesome.
 

Worgen

Follower of the Glorious Sun Butt.
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Apr 1, 2009
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Whatever, just wash your hands.
I can tell you where to see mst3k, download second life then do a search for mst3k theater, its got every episode of it and they regularly do theme nights or play rifftrax

really it was the only thing I used sl for, for the longest time and its why I still miss sl now that I dont use it anymore
 

Frankfurter4444

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Aug 11, 2009
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And here is where I bait the trolls by saying I never really liked Mystery Science Theater 3000.

A big reason being the jokes weren't funny in the dozen or so episodes I watched before giving up, but that can easily be countered by the argument "maybe you just caught the twelve bad episodes." Which may be true, but the concept behind the show was one I couldn't get behind either. Sure making fun of a bad movie might be entertaining, but that still forces me to watch a bad movie. Why would I want to do that?

Not to mention the way a show like that has to work requires waiting for periods of silence in the movie to make the joke in, and that just breaks flow. It's the same problem RiffTrax and The Film Crew have, as well as any of its other clones, including the Escapist's own Unskippable. And I know Graham and Paul are funny, I watch (and laugh at) their other stuff, but have never once laughed at Unskippable.

Granted this is all just my opinion, but I sometimes wonder what the appeal was in Mystery Science Theater 3000? Unique, yes; but "unique" doesn't explain why those who love it as much as they do love it as much as they do. After watching this, I can conclude there apparently is no explaining this show's appeal.
 

Sandytimeman

Brain Freeze...yay!
Jan 14, 2011
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I own the Movie on VHS, and I've gotten several episodes through netflix. I pretty much only remember the last 3 seasons on SciFi channel back when it was good (relatively).
 

Gralian

Me, I'm Counting
Sep 24, 2008
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TV is weird? Chuckles! Quite the opposite. Now at least, anyway.

Now, you get TV populated with "safe" material, like endless streams of soaps (Eastenders, Neighbours etc), a veritable tsunami of "cop" or forensic drama (24, Spooks, NCIS) American sitcom shows (Two and a Half Men, King of Queens, Everybody Loves Raymond) cliché sci-fi programs that nobody watches anymore (Star Trek, Stargate, Farscape) can you see where i'm going with this? Hell, not long ago it was nothing but reality TV. Oh, and did you know here in jolly old England we still have the yearly ritual of the X-Factor, Strictly Come Dancing, and Dancing on Ice? Bleh. Ew. It's all "safe" programmes. Stuff the audience at large is comfortable with and know. Absolutely nothing weird ever really happens in any of those programs and that's how i see it for the foreseeable future. That's the state of the television listings, i'm afraid.

What's that you say? Sometimes you get stupidly long series that perpetuate themselves well beyond the sell-by-date? Okay, so you have your Heroes and your Lost. But there was nothing weird about those shows. Not really. Granted i didn't watch either of them (because they didn't interest me in the slightest), but as far as i could tell they all boiled down to one simple element - human drama and interaction. You've got your same soap stories, just presented in a different context. Like, say, a jungle island... or that the characters have one ability that makes them a bit special. Hell, even Walking Dead turned out to be about the drama between the survivors in the camp. For the two episodes i watched, i hardly saw any zombie slaying action or anything weird at all. You had your one or two token zombies show up, then it's back to camp for more drama. Someone's gone missing, or someone is throwing a tantrum. It's using tired mechanics to tell its story, the same "safe" delivery that programming has been feeding us for years.

Honestly, i have trouble even thinking of something as legitimately weird as how you described MST3K.
 

DrForrester

New member
Nov 30, 2009
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Bob, I wholeheartedly approve of this video. We should... have an invention exchange sometime. Yes, an invention exchange. My invention? Oh, it's over here in this rocket. Oh, Frank's just standing next to the controls as a... precautionary measure.
 

Andronicus

Terror Australis
Mar 25, 2009
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SkullCap said:
To those new to the show here's a list of some of my favorites

Final Sacrifice
Space Mutiny
Prince of Space
SEASON 7 (All of it)
Mitchell
Werewolf "Eh, I'd take a walk" OVER TO KIRK DOUGLAS' HOUSE!
Gamera series
Godzilla vs Megalon
Zombie Nightmare

and so many more...
You forgot Hobgoblins!
(fighting with rakes) "YEAH, REALLY REALLY KILL HIM!!"

(sorry if that's on season 7, I don't know which episodes are on which season; I've only seen a few MST3K episodes, those which I could find on Youtube)

I heart MST3K. It kinda sucks, because I've shown it to all my friends, and none of them really like it. Sigh.

Bob Johnson!
 

Scrythe

Premium Gasoline
Jun 23, 2009
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Huh. So that's what MST3K is. I've somehow managed to spend my entire life not seeing this show in any way, shape or form. Not even on accident. Probably it's because I haven't owned cable TV until about a year or two ago.

Sadly, now that I know about it, it doesn't seem like it would be anything I'd honestly enjoy, for many reasons I'm not going to discuss right now.
 

NewYork_Comedian

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Nov 28, 2009
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You need not worry, as a lot of the episodes are actually on Youtube, and even more on HULU!

http://www.hulu.com/search?query=Mystery+Science+Theater+3000&st=1&fs=
 

FogHornG36

New member
Jan 29, 2011
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OH GOD! most of you might not know, but they make quite a few jokes that people from Wisconsin really get.
 

HotKakes

New member
Aug 2, 2008
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This was out of left field but I really enjoyed this episode. As you might guess, I'm also a long time fan of Mystery Science 3000 and I had moments where I wanted to purchase the episodes on dvd. As I had found out, just getting a box set of around 5 to 10 episodes cost up in the 50 dollar range. Also, I was very heart broken when the series ended on the scifi channel and I did send the network an e-mail asking why they wouldn't do episodes with some up to date films they could make fun of. Well, it seems they were thinking the same thing with rifftrax and cinematic titanic. Good work Bob.
 

olfelix

New member
May 14, 2010
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Thank you Bob

This was a truly worthy homage to a very important show. This show helped shape my sense of humor as a kid/teen (much to the delight of my wife). We still catch shows on Netflix, but there was just something about being able to see this on Sunday mornings on cable that made it very special to me.

I was considered a nerd for liking this show, and I was also the only one I knew who'd watch it. It wasn't until I was well into my 20's that I found another person who enjoyed MST3k.
 

ewhac

Digital Spellweaver
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Sep 2, 2009
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Cinematic Titanic [http://www.cinematictitanic.com/] is probably more fun as a live show. I've attended two of their San Francisco performances, and they have a couple more scheduled for this year.

What makes the live performances unique is their interaction with a live audience. Their SF performance of Blood of The Vampires took place shortly after the 2008 presidential elections. At one point, when a stone casket is opened, Joel quips, "Oh, it's Sarah Palin's tanning bed." It got a modest laugh, at which point a mildly indignant Joel turns to the audience and says, "Oh, come on! That [em]killed[/em] two months ago!"
 

supersword44

New member
Dec 25, 2009
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i know you probably wont read this bob but i can tell you how happy i am you at least brought mst3000 back to the masses i watched the show since i was in kindergarten and have been a huge fan ever since. i still dig them out for my friends and they all love it. hell were having a party soon just to watch "the movie" with an ice bar. keep up the good work bob!
 

TheBlueRabbit

Ballistic Comedian
Jan 9, 2009
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I knew there was a reason I liked your sense of humor, Bob.
And, it's been alluded to in posts before this one, but there are a TON of the episodes up for instant streaming on Netflix now. I've been having a blast reliving some of my old favorites, and even managed to catch a couple that I had never seen before.

And, yeah. They kind of helped form my sense of humor as well.

And one last note: Fuck Comedy Central for the way they treated that piece of television comedy genius.

To quote Dr. Forrester: "POOPIE"