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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?”Commenting at Satellite News
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MST3K has taught me that it is possible to always interject a pithy and/or hilarious comment into an otherwise serious conversation.
Giant Spider Invasion taught me that my impressions of Wisconsin were accurate.
that ‘life’s so hard when you’re stupid.’
MST3K has taught me to laugh at the stupid and mundane things that would ordinarily get most people down. It has taught me to deal with life with humor and it helped me get through some pretty serious times. Not that funny, is it? It has also taught me that a 5 year old with a developmental delay can memorize and sing the original MST3K theme song perfectly.
MST3K has taught me to always, no matter the situation, watch out for snakes.
Droppo:
Samuel L. Jackson learned that the hard way, on a plane. If he had just watched MST3K, he could have save himself a lot of aggravation.
As Joel always said, the right people will get the gag. That has always been a good guide for making snarky comments about stupid people…
MST has taught me that no matter how horrible the situation you find yourself in, or how horrible a movie you are making, it can always be made better by seeing women wrestle in their nightgowns.
It definitely aided in giving me a unique outlook on reality, and, in doing so, made me weird in the eyes of others. I don’t consider it negative though.
First of all, Sampo, thanks very much for the link to the article.
MST3K taught me (going along with #4 in the article that art can be ritual) that it was very important — more important that I realized at the time — to say the hell with my chores on Saturday morning and sit down with my two kids and watch the show on Comedy Central every week. I like to think that the show shaped their senses of humor, which, now that they’re adults, I can see are considerable.
Also, the show taught me that when you’re alone and blue, nothing is so bad that you can’t still laugh at Space Mutiny.
MST3000 has taught fashionistas to never wear two kinds of plaid.
(Of course, even naked robots know that).
Time Chasers taught me a bicycle can outrun a truck.
The Final Sacrifice taught me Canadians are either alcoholics or ineffective megalomaniacs.
Werewolf taught me it’s okay to talk in accents that get progressively worse and that continuity is fluid.
For most of my life I reflexively hated Fleetwood Mac because my mother played Rumors repeatedly throughout my childhood.
Then I saw Werewolf. Sweet wonderful Werewolf.
Now I understand that Lindsey Buckingham is a freaking genius.
TUSK!
Tires can squeal on dirt roads, and sometimes the moon is super super bright. Also they started my fascination of Cheryl Rainbeux Smith.
MST3K has taught me that there should be a rule, and that rule is that films should be made by film makers.
MST3K taught me even if you get killed, you can still keep your job. ala Space Mutiny. :-D
There are hidden treasures everywhere. Lots of B-movies have a certain, unmistakable charm that just can’t be found in big-dollar Hollywood these days. B-movies are most often made by people who are, at least, passionate about what they do. They may not have skills or money, but darnit, they LOVE movies, and they love making them. As a musician, I totally respect that. As I’m walking through the store, my eyes are immediately drawn to any 5-movie pack within a 50 foot radius.
Thanks for posting the great article, Sampo.
MST3K has taught me to never take life too seriously, and that no matter what your life’s burden is, you can just give it up for 90 minutes. I know I have used this sentiment before, but it’s true. Oh, it’s true!
The show has taught me in school and in life that cheating is bad and Richard Basehart is good.
To never tamper in God’s domain.
Even a dinner roll-chinned nerd can find true love in the produce aisle.
Lesson one:
That pasta flinging brats with Kajagoogoo hair get their comeuppance.
More lessons will follow.
It taught me two things: A: Never try and kill someone with a forklift, and B: When you get lemons, make lemonade
When ever possible, always WATCH OUT FOR SNAKES!!!!
More lessons:
Only love pads a film
Wild Rebels cereal is part of a complete breakfast
Watching Rock Climbing is more painful than the actual Rock Climbing
Gamera is friend to all children, especially little boys with shorts that are too tight
Johnny doesn’t care
Man is a feeling creature
Ross Allen is evil
How Max Keller leaves a bar
That Gene Hackman is good in any movie
I sing wherever I sing
Indestructible men aren’t really indestructible
Being a fat barkeep is a dangerous position
There was no monster
What a Sampo is
Never stay at valley lodge
To watch out for snakes
To always fill my tires with water when driving around in the California desert
Being a second rate shoe salesmen gets you hot chicks and in trouble with the mob
That Lassie is a cold blooded cur
That baby oil is gross
To always look at railroad crossings
Bread salesmen once ruled the world
There is a flag on the moon, but we don’t know how it got there
Guardian angels help couples consummate their relationships
Crackers are a good plot point
That the south is gonna do it again
That going down is pretty funny
Giant spiders are on sale at Menards
Sam Casey is a secret agent
One can go into the past, die, and leave a spare there
Puma men are pussies
Random bowler wearing men show up in movies for no reason
There are two David Warners
That there is no stairway to heaven
That one can pretty much write their own ticket in life with Boggy Creek studies
New stew recipes
Joe Don Baker is a serial killer
That Babs played linebacker for the Detroit Lions
That this has been the official bio pic of Larry Fine.
MST3k has taught me to always buy a DVD set as soon as it goes on sale. Yes, I have the Rhino Collection #10 with Godzilla vs. Megalon.
MST3k showed me how to walk the very fine line between enjoying something and ridiculing it; I can make fun of movies without insulting the people who like them or even diminishing my own love of the film in question. MST3k shows how you can appreciate even the most terrible films by bringing out the funny.
That you should pay attention when you are admonished (with ample proof)
that your weapons are ineffective against a fey superhero.
MST3K has taught me to never be a “fuddy duddy” and be a complete mystery to my children. When my (almost) 16 year old asked to watch a movie with me the other day, I got out my DVD/Blurays. “Billy the Kid vs. Dracula,” “King Kong vs. Godzilla,” “King Kong Escapes” “Godzilla vs. Megalon,” “Invisible Invaders, various Old School Doctor Who’s, and the list went on. After showing her my collection she just shook her head and said, “We have REALLY got to talk about your taste in movies!”
LOL, I love being the geek in the house!
I learned that truck farmers, electric appliances, trains, and telephones are all worthy of being worshiped.
I learned how to guess the number of turkeys which will a given volume of empty space. #TVGM
Sorry, that should be:
I learned how to guess the number of turkeys which will fill a given volume of empty space. #TVGM
trickymutha #24 – Either MST3K has taught you a WHOLE bunch, or you’ve eaten a LOT of fortune cookies lately. Great list!
MST3K has taught me that man is a feeling creature.
MST has also taught me that life is really a show and i should just relax…
It’s not so much that mst3k has taught me so much, more that it’s opened new worlds. As a child it was pivotal in the development of my sense of humor from an early age. It’s been a source of zingers to use in everyday life and since the show draws jokes from so many sources, it has opened my mind to music, art and movies that I otherwise would have never heard of.
What robot rump! said.
I learned that if my hands were made of metal it would MEAN something.
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
Laughter is the best cure-all for anything.
Rock climbing, Joel. Rock climbing.
MST3K has taught me your weapons are useless against me.
It’s also taught me that the easiest way to get away from mutant shrews is by sacrificing a bunch of boozehounds and disguising myself as a cardboard box.
And there ain’t nothin’ quite like Dixieland jazz.
MST3K has taught me janitors can make sentient, independently functioning robots out of found objects on space stations if they’re bored enough.
The world as we know it could not function without springs.
Canada has no right sharing a border with countries far superior to it.
This is where the fish live.
MST has taught me that building a movie around hot bikini women dancing with guns can lead to utter failure, and that some villains, no matter how many times you tell them, refuse to comprehend that their weapons are useless against you.
Furthermore, if you plan to run a clone farm of prominent social figures, lobotomize them ALL; resist the urge to create whiny control groups with spongy mid-sections and truncated noses.
MST has taught me that, in the future, it’ll cost nearly nothing to get doppled into one of my family.
To not take anything too seriously to the point where I can’t have fun with it.
And that I possess too many polo shirts to be considered a beatnik
The MST3K movies have taught me radiation is some sort of magical force that is capable of:
Turning a man into a colossal man.
A innocent Gila monster into a giant Gila Monster.
Turn a common octopus into a murderous rubber octopus, and give Bela Lugosi an atomic army of supermen with whom he will conquer the world.
A giant parrot like creature that Roger Corman will use twice for budget reasons.
Radiation can melt your body, and make your wife forget to buy crackers.
Turns a well regarded scientist into a beast, you touch a button, a beast appears, caught in the windshield of progress.
Thanks to radioactive waste, a peaceful corpse will transmogrify into a fish-beast with a lust for panty raids.
However, all that power can’t compare with the awe-inducing, majestic, sacred power that is RADAR!!!
Another important lesson is that the Apocalypse can be really neat(Warrior of the Lost World, City Limits), or incredibly goofy (Teenage Cavemen, Time Chasers). Japanese kids are all named Ken, and wear shorts, it’s a fact, a scientific law.
One more thing, when riding with death, always remember to buckle up.
It takes fourteen hours from Torrance to Long Beach.
This wonderful, clever, well written show has made me grow more and more convinced that the wisest and the best is to fix our attention on the good and the beautiful. If you just take the time to look at it.
You’re quite a guy, Neptune Man.
Mst3000 also has made one muse philosophical.
For example: Flag on the Moon. How did it get there?
Think about it. Won’t you?
I learned how to make a great stew.
Always clip your toenails after a shower, when they’re softer
There’s no such thing as a too obscure reference.