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Weekend Discussion Thread: ‘Reboot Within a Reboot’Andrew writes:
Me. I’d like to see one Supermarionation movie. Maybe something from “Fireball XL-5”? What do you think? 56 Replies to “Weekend Discussion Thread: ‘Reboot Within a Reboot’”Commenting at Satellite News
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The Green Slime –
It has everything the new show needs to knock one out of the park! Silly monsters and that Europey old movie smell. — Jay
I would like to do a switcheroo with the riffing crews as well.
The Robot vs the Aztec Mummy is an extremely goofy movie on its own and the guys were just getting their feet wet when they did it. On the redo, I would want to see what Mike, Bill and Kevin can do with it.
Werewolf would be great fodder for Joel, Trace and Josh.
I wrote a blog about this just after Rifftrax released its reboot of “The Magic Sword”. It’s located here: http://impalergeneral.blogspot.com/2015/08/what-mst3k-movies-deserve-second-riffing.html. I’d also thrown in the “The Phantom Creeps”, only they riff on four of the episodes, especially the last one.
The Slime People. In the ACEG it was mentioned that was one that the Brains wished they could revisit.
Robot Monster would be fantastic. Even in its embryonic stage, MST3K still managed to churn out a watchable episode with it the first time. And I really struggle with Season 1. Seasons 2-10, I adore as much as any artistic creation ever….but, Season 1 just feels like a different show…it’s like a demo. Anyway, Robot Monster is just perfect. Ro-man is ripe for riffing.
That said, I wouldn’t touch any ep from Seasons 2-10. Those are sacrosanct.
The Mad Monster. There was just so much dead air in their first go around with that one.
Any KTMA eps they didn’t already redo. Maybe Phase IV.
Pretty sure no one would consider redoing The Green Slime as some kind of MST3K taboo, retread, or cop-out.
Riffing that film could even be seen as a symbolic nod to the show’s past.
Phase IV
I’d like to see them re-do City on Fire. It had so much potential — a stupid made-for-TV movie, a slew of B-stars and has-beens, and so on, but the riffing wasn’t up to snuff and the sound overall was pretty bad.
THE PROJECTED MAN…The audio was so glitchy the first time around it was so hard to hear the riffs…Even when they did fix the audio a few showings in, it still was not as enjoyable as other episodes.
This Island Earth (a.k.a. “The Movie”)
Two redoes. one with the same crew but movie isn’t butchered by the short viewing time. (For one thing, the Professor’s bits
were really slashed to make the tiny viewing time for The Movie- who knows. maybe he made a nuclear reactor out of coconuts).
Another with a Joel, Trace, etc. Again, full version, not one hour +).
I just wonder what kind of Battlestar Galactica riffs they’d do if they redid Space Mutiny….
You could remake the Gerry Anderson TV compilation films (Stingray and Capt. Scarlett), but there is untouched content available. I know there is a similar compilation film for the UFO series and I think one for Space:1999(both live action but with the same effects). There were also two Thunderbird theatrical movie releases… “Thunderbirds are Go!” and “Thunderbird 6”
World Without End, the first live show. Hard to believe they never tried it again, even in the spin-off ensembles!
I remember that when I had first heard the premises for Robot Holocaust and The Slime People, I had thought that they would both make for good riffing fodder. Then when I finally saw the episodes I felt a little underwhelmed. I would think that either one would make a good choice for a redo.
Well, first time commentator here, so hello. I really don’t know what to put in here, but I got into MST3K last September.
Anyway, I’d like to see a few more KTMA episodes redone, especially:
The Last Chase
SST – Death Flight
The Legend of Dinosaurs (or whatever it was called, I’m not the best with names)
Welcome, Recycle.bin!
I first saw episode K13 – SST Death Flight a few months ago, and right away it occurred to me how good it would be if they were to revisit it. Starring Robert Reed, Billy Crystal, Regis Philbin, John de Lancie, Peter Graves, and many others, they would really have a field day if they went back to this one.
I’d like to see a reboot of “The Crawling Eye”.
Definitely Hanger 18. With a full staff of writers and our conspiracy-theory-happy world, it could be a masterpiece.
And, just because I loved the movie, Robot vs the Aztec Mummy (and they really should do its predecessors, as well, especially the second film when they tried to turn the series into a Mexican Wrestler Hero movie – not for the squeamish).
As for the SciFi era, definitely Space Mutiny. So many missed opportunities there, but then, they can never repeat the many names of Dave Ryder from the original.
Two of the Robots of Season 1 (Holocaust and Aztec Mummy) were riffed too early in the “Improv” days, and could have benefitted from written riffs. Robot Monster, though, was just innocent enough that the S1 riffing fit.
And while KTMA was just Sandy Frank S3 episodes and 70’s movies, The Green Slime needs to bring the show full circle.
Green Slime
Million Eyes of Sumuru
Cosmic Princess
For whatever it’s worth, I agree that they should revisit some of the KTMA movies that weren’t redone at Comedy Central.
The “General Hospital” episodes they riffed showed that soap opera material can work for the show with the right approach, so I’d love to see them tackle “Superdome” again. I can see them setting it up in much the same way they did “Hamlet”: the Mads lose a bet, Jonah asks them to send him some football to watch thinking that it’s a safe bet, and after the Mads commiserate, they send him a football movie … WITHOUT ANY FOOTBALL!!! MWAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!
“SST Death Flight” worked pretty well the first time, but I’d love to see what they could do with it with a full writing staff. Same with “City On Fire”, “The ‘Legend Of Dinosaurs'”, “The Last Chase”, and “Hangar 18”. Movies like “Phase IV” and “Humanoid Woman” are almost too intriguing to work as riffing targets, but it would be great to see “The Green Slime” finally get the full treatment.
Generally speaking, I’m not going to be in favor of a whole lot of redos. It’s one thing if Cinematic Titanic or Rifftrax does it because it works as a sort of experiment where we’re seeing that they can do it again without repeating anything, but the new guys need to stand on their own without people comparing it to what came before. Too many redos won’t help in that regard. That said, if anything were to be redone it ought to be the KTMAs, and of those Phase IV would not only be fun but also a movie that shouldn’t be too hard to get the rights to.
Something else that might be likely that’s not exactly a repeat is doing a remake or reboot of a previously done movie. There’s a remake of The Giant Gila Monster and a sequel to The Killer Shrews now that could be fun, but I think what we’d all really like is one of the 90’s Gamera movies. Am I right, people? ;)
I’d have to agree ROBOT HOLOCAUST is right up there with movies I’d like to see them take another pass at. THE CORPSE VANISHES might also work. But ultimately, I’d imagine if recycles were done, they’d probably be movies Joel wants another go at, either because he wasn’t thrilled by the way they turned out the first time or because he wants to play with them again with the new group.
YES! I am partial to ant movies that could now include callback riffs about Joel’s Gizmonic Ant Site from the mid 90s. Phase IV or any giant ant movie.
:rotfl: With more licensing budget, maybe they could even get Them! or Empire of the Ants?
Robot Holocaust had some fun creature puppets (at least one?) and horrible acting. In the original version I loved Mike’s appearance on Hexfield as Valeria. With that not an option this time, there could be a narrative holocaust or apocalyptic story arc. Oh wait, that makes it one to do as a last episode, huh?
I am very curious about Cosmic Princess. Su Maru is packed with political incorrectness but has interesting visuals that move along with a spy story that feels like What’s Up Tiger, Lily, which no doubt tempted the writers early on. It’s frought with Asian culture stereotypes and is in rather poor taste as I recall with a Western actress as a “dragon lady” villain though I don’t remember her character’s backstory.
Moon Zero Two has animated titles, then a lot of tedium, reminds me of CT’s Doomsday Machine.
Samson vs the Vampire Women could have been more fun if a cast member weren’t leaving and some writers were closer to Mexico maybe?
The Melting Man was in terrible taste with children in peril and lots of futile doom and gloom but rather impressed me with how awfully painful its makeup effects looked. Possibly one of the darkest souls of any filmmaker ever devised this one. So, a record for making the audience feel awful.
Time of the Apes was pretty good on Comedy Central. If I were riffing it myself I am afraid I would try to be too factual to the point of being not funny, or too negative when my perspective is actually that I love Japan. It’s interesting not so much as a bad Planet of the Apes clone as a TV series (Saru no Gundan) butcher-edited to less than half the episodes. Plus there are some really old-fashioned Japanese settings and social behavior patterns even while they are I think working out anger about the United States occupation. Minus the one episode of the original series where there’s a character with hippie flower designs painted on his guitar. I have no idea what that’s about but it comes up if you search for the original series on Google Image Search.
But above all I am hoping for not the same Gamera movies but the rest of the set if licensing can happen. Gamers Vs. Viras has a flashback clip of scouts and a bumblebee spaceship that we’ve already seen. Gamers vs. Jiger (alt. title Gamera vs Monster X) has Omura Kon who played Officer Kon, or Cornjob as we know him.
No we didn’t give our money in the kick starter for them to redo old episodes.
Robot Monster and The Crawling Eye are obvious choices. I think The Incredible Melting Man could also benefit from a 2nd look. Finally, I’d finish off with Blood Waters of Dr Z. It’s a personal favorite of mine, but I’d LOVE to see Joel take a stab at it..
There’s 2 I can think of offhand:
1)SST DEATH FLIGHT
2)ROBOT HOLOCAUST…
Nah, I’d rather see all new stuff done. And I really hope the reboot does shorts.
Mitchell and Final Justice.
SHORTS! –
Yes, please! Not the Japanese Juvenile Upsetting Shorts type, thank you, but the unintentionally hilarious, who thought this would be a good idea type. — Jay
I generally dislike attempts to re-riff previous episodes. However, I might be ok with doing some of the Season 1 films, since they weren’t up to par with the later episodes.
True, they shouldn’t overdo it with the repeat riffs, but I think one or two per season would be acceptable, and would also be a nice callback to earlier seasons. The KTMA movies are good candidates for another reason: many fans of the show–perhaps even a majority–have never seen the KTMA episodes, so those movies will be new experiences for them.
I just realized that the original discussion topic specifically asked about the Comedy Central and Sci-Fi shows (oops!). I think the Season One shows are the most obvious candidates; as #4 already mentioned, Mike says in the ACEG that “The Slime People” was one movie he wished they could re-do with a full writing staff, so that’s one that even the Brains would agree with. It’s hard to think of a movie in the later seasons that I’d like to see them re-do, although I wouldn’t mind seeing them choose another movie from one of the movie series that they started on the original show but didn’t finish, such as “Master Ninja III” or another “Rocky Jones, Space Ranger” movie.
Joel’s Update #15 (click my name for a link) is really worth re-reading; Joel has evidently given a LOT of thought to how to handle 4:3 versus 16:9 framing and the selection of movies. Taking 4:3 movies off the table completely would seem to limit their choices, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see them cropping and scaling 4:3 movies to fit better in a 16:9 frame.
I’m in the “only if Joel wants to revisit a riffed movie” camp.
That said, however, I have a split-the-difference idea:
When Mike came on board as host, the bots mentioned training him with prior movies. It stands to reason Crow and Tom would do the same with Jonah.
So, this time around, we might see clips of those training sessions, complete with movie clips (to keep it inexpensive), or whole shorts. That would make a good extra Kickstarter backer bonus, or an appetizer promo/intro for whatever network picks it up, or DVD extra.
This would only work if Joel and company have enough left over after they negotiate for the fourteen movies they wanted. The training doesn’t even have to be stuff we’ve seen with Joel or Mike; it could be of something the writing team decided ultimately not to do, such as an educational short because the movies are all long enough to not need such episode padding.
(And that would make for a nice twist: The bots think Kinga is going one way with her movies, and train Jonah accordingly, only to be sent something different but still bad.)
If they covered a CT movie, I’d want it to be Alien Factor. It has a very Pod People meets Giant Spider Invasion feel.
Rifftrax is tougher. Many of their movies are much more recent than we were used to with MST3k. Still, McBain is a good choice. Warriors of the Wasteland for that Escape 2000 feel.
Just straight out of MST3k…I’m against redoing any of the greats, which is to say a handful of Joel eps and all the really quotable Mike eps. A nice black and white feature from the Joel era: The Rebel Set. Runner up: Sidehackers, preferably uncut. While the Brains were shocked at it, I’d imagine the new generation of edgesters wouldn’t even blink.
Phase 4
Robot Monster
I say take on “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians”. Let’s see if they can squeeze out a FOURTH set of new jokes. Might be easier with a new writing crew…
I would be disappointed if the revisited Manos: the Hands of Fate. They’ve already done that one, and done it well. So has Rifftrax. Move along, nothing new to see here…
I highly doubt they’re going to redo anything at all in the revival series. Joel seemed clear that there are plenty of movies out there, so why should they even bother? I’d love them to do some Sandy Frank, some Supermarionation and the like, but ones they *haven’t* done, not ones they have.
If any had to be redone, it should be Green Slime and the KTMA episodes that weren’t redone in Season Three. But I don’t see any need to re-riff in the new MST3K. Too many untouched movies. I wouldn’t mind Master Ninja 3, but that’s probably not going to happen, as 4:3 is out. More than likely, RiffTrax may take on Master Ninja at some point. I really hope 4:3 isn’t out completely, because that limits a lot of older movies, unless cropped, then the whole purpose of widescreen is defeated. But new MST3K, it’ll be the carnival funhouse effect, I have no idea what I’m going to see next!
Slime People for sure
There are a couple of Rifftrax offerings that wouldn’t seem to out of place if they turned up in the new series. Night of the Lepus and Prisoner of the Lost Universe come to mind. But overall, I think they should avoid tinkering with the past products, or else we’ll get an MST equivalent of “Greedo shoots first”.
To quote Umberto Eco: “The author should die when he has finished writing, so as not to disturb the flow of the text.”
Sean #41: NOOOOOooooOOOOO!!
Maybe they could do some mashed together eps of TV shows that they didn’t do on the original, but were mentioned: Supertrain! Manimal!
We only got the CT and RT Martians (and RT’s Magic Sword and Manos) because both groups had to find something public-domain, and CT at least had the self-awareness to joke about the fact that they’d already riffed the movie before.
If Joel’s staying away from PD movies, that’ll open up the field for holiday movies, even if RT’s already barged in on some of the more deserving ones.
@47 – ARE there Master Ninja-like mashup movies of Supertrain and Manimal? I’m geezer enough to remember them being on the air, just not long enough for them to have enough episodes for one.
I’m with the fans who think that Joel doesn’t need to re-do anything, it’s a new cast and crew, let’s go forward. I think someone mentioned doing one of the newer Gamera movies, that’s a great idea. It has the feel of an MST episode, but isn’t a re-do. If they wanted to re-visit some MST legends, like say Bert I Gordon, Coleman Francis, Robert Lippert, etc… then great. Take another of their movies and go at it in with the new cast. That would be a way to tip the hat to the old days while still doing something new.
For me, it’s “Quest of the Delta Knights”. The riffs were sparse (7.2 RPMs, 14th worst) but the movie was colorful and stupid enough for me to expect much more and the host segments that concern the movie aren’t the best. It all leaves me overwhelmingly underwhelmed because I WANT to love this episode!