Books by Sampo!

 

 

Support Us

Satellite News is not financially supported by Best Brains or any other entity. It is a labor of love, paid for out of our own pockets. If you value this site, we would be delighted if you showed it by making an occasional donation of any amount. Thanks.

Sampo & Erhardt

Sci-Fi Archives


Visit our archives of the MST3K pages previously hosted by the Sci-Fi Channel's SCIFI.COM.

Social Media


The MST3K Concept Gets Borrowed Again

The Starz network has launched a YouTube comedy channel that will include a series, “Captain Cornelius Cartoon’s Cartoon Lagoon,” in which animated characters sit in a theater and watch/comment on cartoons.

Take a look.

This isn’t the first time the concept has been appropriated and I doubt it will be the last.

29 Replies to “The MST3K Concept Gets Borrowed Again”

Commenting at Satellite News

We are determined to encourage thoughtful discussion, so please be respectful to others. We also provide an "Ignore" button () to help our users cope with "trolls" and other commenters whom they find annoying. Go to our Commenting Guidelines page for more details, including how to report offensive and spam commenting.

  1. Graboidz says:

    The production values look great, but the writing was pretty spotty. Given some time it could be a fun diversion.

       3 likes

  2. Professor Gunther says:

    There’s good stuff in there (the classic, “ah, someone hand me a magazine” gag, for example [yes, that’s an easy one, but there it is]), although I’m not sure about the differentiation of voices. There was no mistaking either Kevin’s or Josh’s Servo for Trace’s Crow. I’m not hearing that kind of clear distinction here (and I think it matters), but perhaps over time I would (and I say that because when I first got into MST3K it took me a long time to figure out the different Crows!).

    Nevertheless, it just makes me miss the Ur-MST3K that much more.

       1 likes

  3. Thanos6 says:

    Better than I thought it would be. Some of the jokes were a little too on the nose (reciting a pop culture catchphrase word for word instead of tweaking it), but overall, not bad. I’ll give it a chance.

       1 likes

  4. Thomas K. Dye says:

    #3: Eh, but Joel and the bots would have just recited it word for word. The RT guys tend to “twist” something a bit more, perhaps feeling like reciting the phrase verbatim is too easy.

    I thought it was pretty good. I laughed a few times. (“Dude, you’re a ghost, you don’t need the subway.”) It helps that Harveytoons are pretty terrible indeed.

       2 likes

  5. derp says:

    I’m always disappointed that the MST3K formula isn’t borrowed way more than it is. I really wish some decent comedians would get on TV with something like this – not that these guys are bad, but this is obviously more for kids than anything.

    I’ve seen people like Adam Carolla and Doug Benson release rifftrax-like audio on itunes, I just wish someone would get someone like that a TV show. Is it really so expensive to produce?

       2 likes

  6. Trilaan says:

    Pretty cute. That Richard Belzer line. LOL

       3 likes

  7. Tarlcabot says:

    “Borrowed” is such a charitable word…

       8 likes

  8. Triple_sSs says:

    Looks interesting, certainly very MST3K-inspired. The riffs on the old Casper cartoon were rather funny, though the wrap-around segments were kind of bland. Still, it doesn’t look too bad so far and it could get better as it goes along.

    Also, wasn’t the “That’s not a moon, that’s a space station!” riff also one of the first riffs from the unaired KTMA pilot? At least someone behind the show must be a big fan.

       3 likes

  9. underwoc says:

    What has me curious, in the series bumper there was a clip of one character saying, “It stinks!” It’s out of context, so I can’t tell, but why else use a beloved MSTie catchphrase, if not to try and hook the faithful?

       2 likes

  10. David Mello says:

    Actually, they had a DVD of this a while back. I think it’s available at Amazon. Hopefully they will make more of these videos.

       2 likes

  11. littleaimishboy says:

    ???????????????????? There’s no similarity at all.

    In MST3K, the riffers sit on the RIGHT side of the screen, but in THIS show they sit on the LEFT!

       7 likes

  12. Tarantulas says:

    So is this something new, or the DVD that came out last year cut into a billion little pieces and sold as “new?”

       2 likes

  13. Jgainesdog says:

    I thought the ” must be out of five dollar foot long” comment as people were running out of the subway was a good line. I’d have to see more to be able to tell if it is flattery or just plain stealing.

       0 likes

  14. Frederick J. Barnett says:

    I like it.

       2 likes

  15. Steve Vil says:

    LMAO! I thought this was hilarious! I’m a fan!

       1 likes

  16. Dirty D says:

    While I found it to be funny, I have to agree with Tarlcabot; “borrowed” is VERY charitable.

       1 likes

  17. EricJ says:

    I doubt it’s the last time anyone will borrow Vannelope Von Schweetz’s “duty” joke, either. 9_9

    The last time we actually saw anyone TRY to do an all-out professional MST3K cribbing, though?:
    Anyone longtime CC watcher old enough to remember that short-lived “Drive In Theater” show, with those two guys who didn’t really seem to know the difference between riffing and just being obnoxious?
    Remember they got Danny Bonaduce to make a suitable cameo, before CC dropped it.

       1 likes

  18. Barry the Nomad says:

    Nobody has said “rip-off” yet? Production values are nice, but it’s just too much like MST3K to be an homage. The silhouettes, purposefully placed on the opposite side to differentiate and the blatant use of the hatch that opens and closes into the theater?

       0 likes

  19. Leave Crow T. Robert Denby Alone says:

    I liked it – I was afraid of the wrong flavor popping up, where the humor is fast-paced but low-brow and sophomoric. I always liked MST’s ‘innocent observation of outlandish connections’ approach, while the truly vicious stuff is posed in a right-neighborly manner (Bill Corbett is a master of this). This was fast-paced with MST directly in mind.

       0 likes

  20. Laura says:

    It was okay, I guess. :idk: I’m going to have to see more of that before I really decide whether I like it or not. Will bookmark the site and watch next Tuesday.

       0 likes

  21. tvsfrank2 says:

    Three characters in a special craft go into a theater and crack wise about the show that’s playing. If that’s not a rip-off of MST, I don’t know what is.

       0 likes

  22. EricJ says:

    “Dude, you’re a ghost, you don’t need the subway.”

    Well, y’know, maybe he hangs out with that Vincent Schiavelli ghost on the subway, after Patrick Swayze left.

    (Oh, and as Casper flies toward the camera–“Casper in 3-D!”
    Er, actually, “Boo Moon” WAS in 3-D, one of Paramount’s only two, apart from Popeye in “Ace of Space”. They showed the restoration at the big 3-D Expo in LA this week, and here I am on the other side of the country.)

       2 likes

  23. Leave Crow T. Robert Denby Alone says:

    My only real trouble with it is that the two “mateys” look and sound too alike (at least, their differences aren’t memorable). I watched one where one of them left the theater, but he wasn’t missed because the Capt and the other guy keep going. Because Joel, Mike and the ‘bots are all distinct, the absence of one always deflated the riffing of the other two, on MST, so it usually only happened at moments where they were about to go to commercial anyway (Crow leaving in Magic Voyage of Sinbad, say). Maybe if the show was poorly written or executed, I’d agree with the rip-off thinking, but it’s clearly done with MST homages in place (the hatch segue, the positioning of the silhoIuettes), and the writing is pretty good. If the voice artists can find their characters’ voices, and drop the occasional snide deliveries, the riffing would be great.

    “Don’t compare yourself, Man. It isn’t healthy.” -Tom Servo

       1 likes

  24. Tony says:

    As David(#10) mentioned, there is a DVD of this. Here’s a link to it:

    http://www.amazon.com/Captain-Cornelius-Cartoons-Cartoon-Lagoon/dp/B009G47AJU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379816912&sr=8-1&keywords=cartoon+lagoon

    The description mentions watching Casper (among other things) and about Axel (who’s depressed about his birthday), so these clips are probably from that DVD. I didn’t think it was too bad, though. I wished MST had riffed more cartoons.

       1 likes

  25. I'm not a medium, I'm a petite says says:

    I expected it to be painfully bad, but it was not. Some elements were actually pretty good. huh.

       0 likes

  26. goalieboy82 says:

    i thought this was talk about a year or two ago. also isn’t MST3K a sort of rip off of Silnet Running.

       0 likes

  27. nekouken says:

    It’s a rip-off, but we know that the Brains don’t mind rip-offs. Mike Nelson put his stamp of approval on Incognito Cinema Warriors XP, and Rikk Wolf outright calls it a rip-off himself.

    This was OK; I like my riffing to have character attached to it, though. If you only exist to mock movies, then you’re pretty one-dimensional. That’s why the host segments matter, at least in my opinion.

       1 likes

  28. Neptune Man says:

    They are plagiarizing IT CAME FROM HOLLYWOOD!!! The horror!

       0 likes

  29. Kamagra is highly recommended to any male requiring erectile
    assistance with a signed prescription from a Doctor.
    It is always encouraged to discuss erectile dysfunction issues with your doctor, so that he or she may prescribe
    the correct dosage that is necessary.

       0 likes

Comments are closed.