RiffTrax is performing two Live Shows in 2018 simulcast to hundreds of movie theaters nationwide: SPACE MUTINY and KRULL.
RiffTrax is performing two Live Shows in 2018 simulcast to hundreds of movie theaters nationwide: SPACE MUTINY and KRULL.
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RiffTrax Unveils Latest KickStarterRiffTrax is performing two Live Shows in 2018 simulcast to hundreds of movie theaters nationwide: SPACE MUTINY and KRULL.
67 Replies to “RiffTrax Unveils Latest KickStarter”Commenting at Satellite News
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He’s posting to get attention and you’re giving it to him. Repeatedly. Giving him exactly what he wants isn’t going to encourage him to leave. “As a wise old Observer once said, to constantly repeat an action and expect a different REaction is surely a sign of madness.” Or words to that effect. Faith Lehane of the Buffyverse learned much the same thing in “murder rehab.”
Not that I particularly care one way or the other, mind you, I’m just making conversation. ;-)
Although, seriously (well, perhaps not seriously, but…), if he dislikes Michael Nelson so much, why doesn’t he just go to a live performance and heckle him with a megaphone or challenge him to a game of the dozens or something like that?
(On an episode of “The Honeymooners” (one of the “lost” ones), Norton once challenged Ralph to a “chicken fight,” which in the 1950s apparently meant a form of “combat” between two people with their arms crossed, moving forward only by hopping (if I’m remembering the scene correctly); I’m guessing it originated in the schoolyards or the streets (back when kids PLAYED in the streets, y’know, stickball and stuff like that there) and is possibly unique to New York City if not to, specifically, Brooklyn. I considered suggesting that Eric challenge Michael Nelson to one of those but then consulted Wikipedia and found out that the contemporary definition of a “chicken fight” is entirely different. So I instead didn’t suggest that.)
Tom Servo as Paul Harvey: “Page 2”
Aw man, did you have to cut the original quote off right before I already did?:
(To wit: https://www.mst3kinfo.com/?p=20357
“And if any of the RiffTrax people (including Cole & Janet) DARE touch Krull for being “so 80’s”…”
– June 23, 2015
Okay, so two-and-a-half going on three. Three-ish years, if you don’t want to be picky.
At least we had the consensus at the time that Krull’s score was worthy of Horner’s talents, two years before Jonah&tB’s Wizards of the Lost Kingdom riffs.)
Old saying in comedy: When the heckler gets drunk and shouts “You’re not funny, get off the stage!”, it’s the heckler’s fault.
When he thinks that the comic’s grown so corny, predictable and stale that he starts shouting out the comic’s punchlines before he can make them, it’s the comic’s fault. Especially if the heckler keeps getting them right.
Because you don’t catch a fish by jumping into the water, a missionary doesn’t run home crying because he just found out the natives all have spears, and you don’t stop a national rise in traffic accidents by thrashing branches on car hoods like Basil Fawlty. ;)
Try reading a few back posts and looking at the big picture, it’s been outlined in layman’s terms enough times. Or do you stop reading when some meanie picks on Good People Who Make You Feel Important?
(Which is why I keep at it: In Roman times, nobility that feared their egos would flaunt the gods hired servants to walk behind them saying “Remember, thou art mortal…”
When smugly narcissistic and self-franchising comics start sheltering themselves in their own private cults, holy donations included, with no longer any need for ratings, sponsors or threats of cancellation from higher authorities with the power to say no, they need a similar appointee to walk behind them saying “Remember, thou aren’t funny…”
Some more badly needed than others.)
Actually, I usually stop reading when I see that it’s one of your posts.
It’s very nice of you to say, Gare, but I also think it’s unfair of me to come here to complain about RT, particularly when *some* of what Eric says I agree with (it would be almost impossible to agree with all of it :>).
Not that I dislike Mike — I actually liked him better as a host, but part of that might be I understood his adopted personality on the show (whereas I could never be quite sure if Joel was stoned or just pretending to be). But for me it was never a “Mike v. Joel” thing — I enjoyed MST3K almost uniformly, and when the show ended I thought The Film Crew was just as good (or maybe even a little better than some of the last MST3K episodes).
And I didn’t watch ANY of Cinematic Titanic until much later (when I found it and truly enjoyed it – although I didn’t care for many of the movies they picked as horror isn’t my thing). But what really crushed me was I started off really enjoying RT, buying every single one of their shorts and many of their movie riffs, even of more recent films. I don’t know if I’ve seen anything funnier than, say, their riff of the Twilight films (which my wife made me sit through in the theaters) or the Travolta Battlefield Earth.
But somewhere along the way they lost me, and while Eric blames Cole I don’t think it was him or that he had anything to do with it. IIRC, it’s some other kids, one of which is even active on this site (can’t remember his name right now but you’d recognize if he posts, as he speaks “officially” for RT, and he’s listed as one of the main writers on all their shows). As soon as his name started popping up the writing changed, it was distinctly not the writing I was used to, geared to a far more younger, snarkier crowd.
Eric would probably say it’s less clever, but I don’t think that’s the problem — it’s just *meaner*, and I think it’s because that’s what younger folks like. Look, clearly the internet has made folks more divisive, I think we could all agree on that (see what I did there? That’s called irony). And so this world, so very different from when MST3K started, has made RT evolve to fit their target audience.
Which just saddens me — to me (and let me empathize that — TO ME) they just aren’t funny anymore. My wife and I, who attended all their live shows, stopped about four years ago and haven’t missed them. From time to time I still buy one of the shorts… and am invariably disappointed (although Bridgit and Mary Jo are a bit sweeter and have made me laugh). So it’s me — the times have passed me by.
And unlike Dana Carvey’s grumpy old man, I’m not mad about it, just very, very sad. And with that I won’t comment more on the passing of RT, at least in my household.
Although I agree back with your sentiments about RT, MxgK (I don’t want to use the M-word and confuse fans who go into rage paroxysms every time I do), you have a tendency to tear pieces of your clothing and throw babies out with bathwater–Which we kidded you about back during your anti-Netflix “martyrdom”.
While the Joel, Trace, Frank, & Jonah train (there, see what I did there?–I pointed that the early “old” humor was the product of a lot of talented people who have never worked for SciFi, Film Crew or RT) stayed more or less on track, the Mike, Kevin & Bill train went derailing miles off theirs, and picked up speed the farther they went, once they were convinced the Kids WANTED To Be Angry.
One of the problems, likely, is that M&K can’t quite distance themselves from the material–like all good professional comics should–and go into the riffing convinced we’re exactly as angry and time-impatient at the movie as they are after sitting through it in the writer room six or seven times…Um, we’re just some guys in the audience, y’know? When we heard the Sandy Frank song in “Time of the Apes”, and thought it was a little, um, excessive and personal, keep in mind that we’d only been watching Apes, Fugitive, Gamera and Mighty Jack once…Not counting KTMA. Problem is, MK&B think that that sort of finally being able to dogpile upon the movie is Perfect Comedy, and rush into every movie wanting to “avenge” themselves upon it, turning every joke personal. Which accounts for the, yes, “meanness”–Whether it’s deserved or not, it still is.
And that brings us to the one issue everyone here rages about and calls the other half of the fandom “meanies” and “old-grandpa Joel-lovers…Why don’tcha have sex with him, already?” over: Kids who have literally never known MST3K–or Film Crew or RT–to be anything other than “Mean”. They discovered the show in ’96, or later, like the older fans did in ’90, but six years later, the humor wasn’t about Commando Cody hating to shoot a butt like that, it was about fat drunk people from Canada whose arteries would explode, especially if they happen to be the actors of the movie. A generation younger than 22 years old has never known React (since their “reactions” to watching Transfomers 2 in AMC Cineplex 12 can’t be printed here), they’ve only been wooed by the wonderful cathartic promise of Punish. And when new writers join their childhood heroes, that’s the tradition they want to carry on…Only now the humor can be meaner, ’cause we have new actors and trends to annoy us! If Mike and co. wanted to punish Laserblast or Touch of Satan for “causing” the 70’s, then New-Kid Cole wants to punish Lost Boys and Krull for “causing” the 80’s.
Even the complaints of the fans here have personalized the issue–It’s not about the change in tone, it’s not about the loss of the show’s ideas, it’s not even about the poisoning of the very franchise with anger and hatred, it’s that somebody, gasp, HATES MIKE! It’s not about the show, it’s about the Man, the God, the Message, the Holy Sayings and the Way of Life that someone dared speak against…How could anyone hate him, when everyone LOVES him, and looks to him for wisdom? Some meanie accused the humor of being that of a high-school bully, so let us follow our lord’s example, and dump his books in the hallway and give him a double-jock-lock till he cries!…That’ll teach Grandpa for standing in the way of our generation’s future! (That’s why Gare does the “Delete Your Account” bit, it was hysterical against the nerds back in sophomore year, to remind them that they wouldn’t get to hang with the cool crowd.)
It’s not that simple, no-issue, movie-poking humor, with no axe to grind, is seen as different from the ones the new kids look to, it’s that it’s now Old. Only old folks, who stubbornly and constipatedly sigh over shows from almost thirty years ago wishes it would come back, like Lawrence Welk and Laugh-in, so let’s all now give that mentality what it deserves.
Or, as this charming exchange from earlier in the thread put it:
Who likes the simple WTF? silliness of Robot Monster, Cry Wilderness or Magic Voyage of Sinbad? Ida Know…Not Me!
But it’s not exactly something we should wring our hands about and say “Well, guess it’s the way of the world now, with the YouTube kids eating their Tide Pods…” in our best Eeyore voices. Some people do give up their moral principles that easily, but that usually IS a sign of being Too Old.
(And yeah, yeah, we f***in’ know, Gare, and you know EXACTLY where my account’s going, hard, fast and unlubricated.) :)
And, presumably, that’s all that counts in your world. How astonishing.
I’ve never understood why do so many people equate calm, relaxed, at peace with oneself, enjoying life to the best of one’s abilities, with “stoned.”
Personally, I think the Joel era tended to have better host segments and the Mike era tended to have better riffs. Neither era was flawless in either department and that doesn’t prevent me from enjoying both eras. And the fact that Rifftrax IMHO isn’t as good as either of the two MST3K eras *or* as good as Cinematic Titanic doesn’t prevent me from enjoying it for what it is. 68-73% is more than 0% every time. ;-)
ADDENDUM:
Really, I suppose the Sci-Fi Channel episodes count as a separate, third era, and I won’t deny that it’s my least favorite of the three (due almost entirely to Bill Corbett and Mary Jo Pehl), despite the fact that I watched multiple episodes of it LONG before I was in a position to watch multiple episodes of the Comedy Central incarnation, which I consider to have been just THAT MUCH BETTER. The SFC era’s still pretty good, though.
None of the eras are perfect. Just like everything else. As author Theodore Sturgeon once noted, “Ninety percent of EVERYTHING is crap.” ;-)
Oh, I had this sudden borderline insight: If they’re going to riff movies that have already been riffed…why don’t they riff the movies (Doll Squad, Astral Factor, Samson and the Seven Miracles of the World) that Cinematic Titanic riffed but INCREDIBLY STUPIDLY AND WRONGLY didn’t think to record for DVD sale? “Space Mutiny” and others proves that they have no problem with having the same riffers (Mike, Kevin, Bill) riff the same film twice, I’m not sure why it wouldn’t work for Joel, Trace, Frank, Josh, and Mary Jo. Think about it, won’t you? Thank you.
Sometimes Joel seemed calm, relaxed, at peace with himself, and enjoying life to the best of his abilities.
Other times, he seemed stoned.
Why the hell are people talking about Cole Stratton? He, along with Janet Varney, released a few “Rifftrax Presents…” titles, but he has NOTHING to do with the regular RiffTrax releases.
I agree with Cinematic Titanic’s poor choice of not releasing those other flicks (perhaps rights issues?), but I have no problem at all with RiffTrax doing “Space Mutiny” again. In fact, I’m very excited about it. Not only will we get an entire new set of riffs, but we will (more than likely) get the entire film (which we didn’t get on the MST3K version). And, damn it, I need to hear at least one acknowledgement of the re-used Battlestar Galactica visual effects so I can die happy.
And as someone who went to see Krull in the theater the week it was released, I think that is a great choice.
Well, that just never conveyed itself to me. Shrug.
Per Bartcow in the Soultaker thread:
“I asked Trace in person at a Mads Are Back show in 2016, and he said The Doll Squad and Astral Factor were never filmed, so they’ll never be available. Didn’t ask about Samson, but I would assume that’s in the same boat. There are some fan-made videos out there on YouTube that take the audio from the shows and sync it up with the movies. It’s not great, but about as good as you’re going to get.”
So presumably Cinematic Titanic could release them if they but had them to release yet they do not. :-|
Because on those three Live Performance occasions they evidently made decisions that were INCREDIBLY STUPID AND WRONG.
So it goes.
Oh, by the way, the Kickstarter’s funded now.
Shrug.
TOTALLY ENTIRELY SEPARATE DIFFERENT SUBJECT:
Looking at the The Mads Are Back site, I can’t find any information on which movies are to be riffed at each live performance. Is it just not there or am I just not doing it right? Anyone? Thanks.