My husband and I watched it back on Comedy Central, not much on Sci-Fi. We recorded as many as we could manage, mostly from seasons 2-4. Awesome stuff! I joined the information club and got the Satellite News, sat up through the Turkey Day marathon and broke into guilty silent giggles in church because the commercials for it included their version of a famous Thanksgiving hymn:
"We ga-ther together to watch cheesy movies
At Co-medy Central on Thanksgiving Day
On My-stery Science (breath) The'ter 3000
It's 30 straight hours and it's called Turkey Day! La!"
We were on the old Prodigy message boards (billboards, they were called) where there was a big group of fans gathered... Sampo, Antinea, Kitty, The Great and Powerful Turtle, Muzzy the Dunce, Fish, Crow's Dog Who Used to something something... sidewalk... dang, I forgot... and Doug, we just got to know him as Doug so I forgot his screen name. Here in California, we had a little group that did gather for the really good broadcasts, but of course we lost touch as people do. That's about as close as I've ever gotten to being a rabid fan.
I kinda miss how TV programming had turned at the time because of the surprise success of MST3K. There were any number of other stations trying to get in on it, and, rather than finding them pretenders or copycats, we were enjoying the additional sources of fun. Monstervision with Joe Bob Briggs was pretty good too. He relied mostly on the cheesiness of the movies because all the commentary was in the bumper things around the commercials. The best was at the beginning, when he summed up the film... Big hairy monster fu, hot bikini chick fu, etc.
Now, back to MST3K; yeah, it is indeed different from Rifftrax, but we love both. Because I found the show when Joel was on, I tended to think Mike didn't hold up to the standard, and watching Rifftrax has shown me that he has a very sharp wit indeed. In fact, I feel downright indebted to those guys for some of the blockbuster films they've taken on... The Star Wars Prequel really get to me, for some reason, even though I'm not a big Star Wars fan. Anyone who grew up in the 70s and 80s is going to have a certain automatic personal investment in the Star Wars franchise. It was part of our formative years. So to see what's become of it is rather a strain. And to have 3 guys cracking jokes on everything that makes you cringe is kind of a relief. But I even enjoy their jokes in a good movie. Iron Man was a terrific Rifftrax, and that was an outstanding film.
But of course, the cheesy ones are the best, it's just going back to the roots of the thing... People sitting around at home, finding a silly movie on tv, and laughing at the prepared stupid with very little personal effort, getting some buddies to join in and crack jokes to make it better. Finding MST3K was almost like having my older brothers (long since grown and moved away) hanging around again for a little while. Sometimes they would be there and watch 'em with me.
Favorites are hard to choose. The first on I ever saw has a special place for me... Wild Rebels. The thing about the older ones is that they were quoted through movie after movie ever since. "You'n your friends the creeps'n dis joint!" "Man, you messing wi' private stock!" Or Rocketship X-M: "We're on our waaaaay!" "I could tell you about a thousand wonderful hours..." Or Jungle Goddess: "Oh, Bob's alright, a little trigger happy, perhaps, but he's alright."
I have to say, though, that some of the best were Godzilla and Gamera movies: "Godzilla, a tree? That's not like you!" "Gamera is friend of children!" Also Pod People: "Trumpy, you can do stupid things!"
That's right, I'm a recovering MST3K nerd. And by recovering, I mean that it isn't on TV anymore.
For the record, Rifftrax does still take on the cheesy. The 3-riffers Plan 9 From Outer Space was terrific "I'm goin' tuh Leveetown!" And I suppose it's a matter of personal opinion whether the Star Trek movies they've done count as cheesy, but for my part, I really enjoyed their riffs on Generations and on Star Trek 6 (can't recall the name). And they've simply continued the work with those corny old short educational films, seeing as how there are so many, it's a great resource for them.
Well, I've rambled a long time. Yeah, I've seen the show and I could list more favorites if I had time.
_________________
"Pack up my head, I'm goin' to Paris!" - P.W.
The world loves diversity... as long as it's pretty, makes them look smart and doesn't put them out in any way.
There's the road, and the road less traveled, and then there's MY road.
25 Mar 2010, 5:58 pm
