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Weekend Discussion Thread: What Has MST3K Taught You?

Over at Tor.com, Leah Schnelbach has a nice piece: “8 Lessons MST3K Taught Me About Writing, Life, and Everything.” It was actually posted a couple of days ago, and I was just going to post an item about it, and I knew I would hear some great thoughts from you guys, but then I thought — why waste it? Why not save it for a weekend thread?

My thought is a little bit of a variation on item 5: Don’t write what you think other people will think is funny, write what makes you laugh. That’s what they did for all those years: They had no studio audience, no test groups, they had to trust what THEY thought was funny. It worked.

So what has MST3K taught you?

107 Replies to “Weekend Discussion Thread: What Has MST3K Taught You?”

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  1. littleaimishboy says:

    Wow, as of this moment there are exactly one hundred replies to this thread. That’s kind of neat, an even 100, don’t think I’ve seen that before. I won’t post myself, don’t want to spoil it.

    Oh, cr*p!

       3 likes

  2. Triple_sSs says:

    I just started watching MST3K eariler this year, but already I think I’ve learned that even some of the worst films can have a silver lining. And I shouldn’t overanalyze things too much, I should really just relax.

       3 likes

  3. Itsspideyman says:

    #102

    Welcome and enjoy Triple_sSs!

    I think that’s one of the best lessons about being a mistie. That there could be a lot of bright lining even a funny one in a bad situation.

    Just remember in your journey my friend two words:

    “Rock Climbing”.

       6 likes

  4. Nick-0 says:

    It taught me that no matter how hard I look at my hands, I’ll never be Dale.

    But seriously, MST taught me many things, but more importantly it reinforced something that I’ve thought for a long time:

    Regardless of budget, a movie is only as good as how it’s written and how it’s executed… A lot of the movies that were lampooned on the show were poorly written and suffered from bad mechanics (acting and editing) you can have a zero budget film and it can still be good so long as you know how to write, hire convincing actors, and know how to put it all together properly in post production.

    It won’t stop your movie from being riffed, but at least it’ll make it entertaining in a good way.

       4 likes

  5. Luther Heggs aka Number 6 says:

    I’ve learned that Joe Don Baker can’t take a joke. (It takes one to know one, so I don’t see what’s holding up his epiphany here.)

    JDB, I’M KIDDING! (see how that works?)

    @70
    The Japanese brought it against themselves by releasing the destructive powers of Godzilla, Mothra, et al, on an innocent world. Some things are unforgivable and result in eternal riffing.

    I imagine, like myself, you’re a big fan of Don Rickles. No? One can only imagine the fallout from a Ricklesbot.

    The world is too serious and it’s harshing my buzz. Mitchell fix! Stat!

       2 likes

  6. SOLDaria says:

    It taught me I wasn’t alone. One of the first ways I bonded with my best friend was when, during our first conversation, she mentioned the show and I was like “Holy crap, I thought I was the only one who watches that!”

    And from that it taught me which people are the most interesting to know. I can take it’s humor not being for everyone, but the second someone says they hate it because it ripped “good movies” I know there is no hope for them (and I;m one who argues some movies weren’t that bad, but they were still oh so riffable).

    @70 And the French!

    @105 A lot of people can’t take a joke. See Harry Knowles. Rob Zombie, and the Gallifrey Base thread on Rifftrax’s Dr. Who & the Daleks.

       0 likes

  7. Massage says:

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       0 likes

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