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Weekend Discussion Thread: ‘Fly on the Wall?’Our alert pal Timmy asks:
I want to go with “I Accuse My Parents” ’cause I think they got SO into the movie, it would be fun to witness the creative process. You? 58 Replies to “Weekend Discussion Thread: ‘Fly on the Wall?’”Commenting at Satellite News
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‘Diabolik’ and ‘Laserblast.’ I’ve often wondered what the mood was writing for a show knowing that there would’t be a next one.
The Wild Wild World of Batwoman –
How do you take a smoldering dog turd of a movie like Batwoman and turn it into fun? For me it would be more interesting to see The Brains work on a really bad movie and transform it into a fun experience.
The more painful episodes would have been fun to observe, due to all the despair and disbelief that the Brains felt about those movies.
Mary Jo Pehl’s write-up in the Amazing Colossal Episode Guide makes it seem like Manos would be the natural choice here, just to see their stunned silence and how they grapple with the ungrappleable (for lack of a better word that actually exists).
But since that answer seems to be an obvious one, I’d go with Skydivers to see how they fared with their first battle with Coleman Francis.
I would also like to see their progression over the course of the four Russo-Finnish films, just to see if they actually got used to all the madcap zaniness or if they reacted wildly to all the bizarre spectacles every time.
Monster-a-Go-Go must have been quite a challenge for them to get through, and I would have liked to see them try to cope with it. I’m sure there were lots of yells of “What?” and “WHAT?!!!” the first time they watched it, lots of head-shaking and glazed eyes.
Watching them come up with rock climbing jokes for Lost Continent or Uranus riffs for Hercules and the Captive Women.
For individual moments, Women of the Prehistoric Planet would be fun to see Frank Conniff lose it repeatedly over the “hi-keeba” bit.
Mr B Natural must have been a real hoot in the writing room. Can not imagine the belly laughs on that one by the writers.
Overdrawn At The Memory Bank seems like it would be fun episode to watch being made. The movie’s synopsis sets your expectations higher, making the movie that much more frustrating. With the references to “cinemas” and faux-technical jargon, I imagine that the writers had many jokes that just couldn’t fit into the final script. Plus, the PBS sketches had to be a blast to write and perform.
Last night, we watched Touch of Satan.
I’m thinkin’ that there might have been some trepidation for the first 3½ minutes, but when the titles start to roll and Chin Boy comes a-drivin’ down the coast in his orange 1971 Maverick Grabber, the only thing you would have heard in that room would have been unkind chuckles and the sound of knives coming out.
BTW, for the fifteenth time, it occurred to us that there must have been some really important and unavoidable reason that Beez McKeever wasn’t a regular in the skits.
Space Mutiny, just to hear all the names for Dave Ryder that DIDN’T make it into the show.
My wife and I made the noob mistake of trying to watch Batwoman uncut. It will mutilate you in a horrible way nobody has ever seen before. I think a great topic here would be really bad movies that NOBODY could transform into a fun experience, because Batwoman comes awfully close.
Maybe that Prop Diva work was way more time-intensive than we could’ve guessed?
Since Beez McKeever is returning to design special costumes for the ‘bots for the MST3K revival, hopefully we’ll see her in a guest role (or several) at some point, too.
Dunno – watching and rewatching the film scene by scene to nail down the funny might try my patience. But I got a charge from one of those Ballyhoo special features that had footage of Trace designing and building the bridge set for the show. THAT would have been a lot of fut to be involved with.
Sidehackers to find out if, after first viewing the infamous rape scene, the other Brains proceeded to beat up Frank (assuming he was the film screener that early in his tenure) for not warning them ahead of time.
‘Time Of The Apes’, to see everyone’s despair over “the time code incident’.
I guess what first comes to mind is Mitchell… not so much for the film (as fun as that part would be), but for the dynamic of it being Joel’s last episode. I wonder what the atmosphere was like?
anything Sandy Frank.
Gotta go with The Castle of Fu Manchu.
I would like to have seen if the pain, grief and despair seen by Joel and the Bots. Was born from the writing process of the episode.
Maons. Would have loved to have seen them watching it for the first time.
I would be curious to see how Mary Jo and Bridget reacted to Outlaw of Gor. “Really? THIS is what we’re working on?!”
Without question, it would be CATALINA CAPER. I will freely admit that it’s a favorite episode of mine, and it would have been fascinating to watch the writing process, since as Mike points out in the episode guide, it “was a difficult effort for the writers.” I would have also enjoyed watching Frank’s antics (since he was in the minority, and was apparently delighted by aspects of the movie).
Apparently, some think they weren’t at their best with comedies (or rather, the films they did that attempted to be funny), but I tend to (respectfully) disagree with that idea.
MONSTER A GO GO and MANOS because they’re so painful to watch.I can’t imagine what it would’ve been like to watch both of them over and over…
I would’ve loved to been in the writing room and see what movies they DIDN’T do..
Rather timely,given new dvds issuing. To see how they came up with the idea of Joel blocking the
nekked woman with an umbrella in City Limits. What other suggestions, altered editing, etc.
were suggested.
There are mentions of last episodes, whether they’re finales (Laserblast, Diabolik) or sendoff episodes (Mitchell). Maybe it would be absolutely fascinating to sit in on a “first” episode?
Revenge of the Creature would be something, given that the Brains were shaking off the ring rust since Laserblast, getting ready to debut on a new channel, and establishing Bill Corbett one of the principal players.
I’d have to pick Marooned, to see how the writers dealt with all that star power — Peck, Hackman, etc. — in such a crappy movie. It must have been an odd disconnect.
I’d pick “The Incredibly Strange Creatures That Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies.” The music numbers must’ve been a hoot to write for – some sounding like popular Christmas music, others that were just “out there” – addressing the Schick vs. Gillette controversy, Having all that music stuck in your head all week (Little Drummer Boy’s stuck in my head as I write this) – there must’ve been at least one rousing “sing-along” – and of course the dream sequences and the introduction of the classic Ortega character.
There must have been a collective “Oh HELLLL no!” when they got to that one part in ‘Child Bride’.
Exactly! Mike also said on that interview with him and Kevin that when the name Joe Don Baker appeared on the screen,he said NO!! and took the movie out.I wonder what movie it was and was also wondering,if they didn’t watch the movie because of Joe Don Baker in it,then why did they do FINAL JUSTICE? Or was this after they did that one?
Great thought. Yeah, The Crawling Eye surely would have been fascinating, as the the 1st “big time” Comedy Channel episode, and if I understand rightly, when they first moved into a much more scripted mode of riffing than they had in the KTMA years.
The whole “Script negotiation” sketches from Incredible Melting Man feels like we ARE watching a fly-on-the-wall for the Brains dealing with Universal over the Movie.
“Hobgoblins”….. ’cause I wanna see who it was that dished out the “I’d hate to get beat up by a Kevin” riff, and see Kevin Murphy’s reaction to it.
Unless, Kevin himself was the one that came up with that.
I’ll go with “Eegah”, one of my favorite episode.
Probably the first Fugitive Alien. I’d love to see how that whole forklift song got started. I think that would become one of my all time funnest days ever.
This would be my second choice, for the whole PSA stuff.
off topic:
A gentle reminder to fellow travelers who have not purchased the now OOP Vol. 14 but plan to:
I just purchased via Amazon from a private dealer for $26. I had to go the private route as Amazon proper had a “temporarily out of stock, will ship when available” notice up. Maybe that’s true, or maybe the supplies are depleted permanently, depending on where Amazon would get any future copies. We know the Shout supply is officially closed. Now might be the time to get this OOP before dealers raise prices.
Most here who want it, already have it, since it’s older, but the occasional new fan or procrastinator (like me) should be made aware that Vol 14 is truly winding down.
Yeah, Space Travelers/Marooned came to mind for me, too. I’m thinking less about the disconnect and more about the motherlode of career references they could debate using.
You could extend this more generally: Pick your favorite good and/or prolific actor to appear in a MSTed film, and wonder what other references to an otherwise storied career they could have used.
Hamlet, believe it or not. I can imagine jokes and references to the entire Shakespearean canon being thrown around in bad English accents. Throw in a few Laurence Olivier impersonations as well.
You’re forgetting the two most critical episodes anyone would wish to be in that writing room, “Mitchell” and “Brain That Wouldn’t Die”. That must have been a stressful time.
A more enjoyable process would have been “12 To The Moon”, where Bridget would try out all the dance moves she’d do as Nuveena
Laserblast or Girl in Gold Boots. Totally bad cinema from the sweet spot of my youth. The fact they reference the Dixie Dregs, and, Different Drum would make the jokes left on the cutting room floor cool to listen to.
Manos…..just to see the look on their faces as they watched it for the first time…
Stuff like this needs to go on the front page. I’m horrified about missing one. I’m about 4 behind now but I believe those are all newest ones.
Definitely Angels Revenge. The movie was pure gold and the riffs were them at their best. “You, shine your love.”
who is this “Dunno” of which you speak?
but for me, the Master Ninja episodes would be great to sit in on.
Sorry – wasn’t calling out anyone in particular. “Dunno” is just a lazy contraction for “don’t know”.
Riding With Death. Just classic.
You’re right. And it was indeed posted by Sampo as a main page stand alone topic a while back, which is how I discovered it was happening.
Perhaps a “currently endangered volume” side button/banner that didn’t rotate out of sight could be utilized whenever a volume is going OOP. Heh.
Thank goodness we will always have Paris CheesyFlix as a backup.
Some of us believe that the only way the Susan Hart Barrier will ever be traversed will be as virtual CheesyFlix avatars.
So to speak.
Mitchell and Diabolik, for obvious reasons.
Let ’em sing you to sleep after the lovin’, eh?
I’d pick Pod People or Cave Dwellers just because those are probably my all time top favorite episodes. I’d want to know how Trace hit upon the little winged potato voice for Trumpy and who came up with the Ator hang-gliding song, for starters.
Ator flies, and so does my heart
In his kite made of string and sticks and bamboo
I fly along with you
I go along for the ride
I’m not stupid like the rest of them
Ator, Ator my sweet friend
So high, fly!
So high!
Deathstalker. Because they hated Ren-festivals so much. I’m sure there was plenty of anger in the writing room.