Mystery Science Theater 3000

[starskin]

Manos was such a weird movie that I think even they were a bit confused by it. One of my favorite parts is when The Master is staring sinisterly at Torgo in a way that is supposedly significant and finally Joel just screams "DO SOMETHING!" He just sounds so exhasperated. Hehehehe.

And poorfrances mentioned Mike's cameo as Torgo the Pizza Delivery Boy in the Worst Movie thread, but it bears repeating here. That was GOLD. And it made me crush on Mike a little.

Yeah, I said it.

[Deleted]

Mike also did an awesome Morrissey.

"Did I mention that I cried? Is it wrong not to always be glad? This is a song that I wrote at a time in my life when I was very, very sad. Breakfast, actually. It's called 'Hairdresser in a Coma.'"

I'll report my Manos vs. Monster a G-Go rant here:

There's currently a debate on Youtube as to which was worse, that or Manos. (You can watch both MST3K versions). I argue the former, and here's my flow chart:

1. With Manos, it's awful, but no one can say they're bored watching Manos. Every scene is a WTF? moment. In Monster a Go-Go, there are long stretches of tedium. For example, there are about 18 scenes of the scientists in their lab. And they're really bad scientists that whine about people demanding "precision" from them. Actual line of dialogue spoken by a scientist: "It's a radioactive something or other."

2. The movie is called Monster a Go-Go and was made in the Sixties. The title therefore promises two things: a MONSTER and some GO-GOing. Yet, there was no go-going going on. Not even a dumb superfluous go-go dancer in the background of a scene.

3. It has the most awful sound of any movie ever. Now, in Manos the cameras weren't equipped for sound, so two people dubbed in all the voices later. Yet in Monster a Go-Go, the sound in every scene appears to have been recorded while the boom operator was locked in a closet.

4. In Monster a Go-Go, there's a shot of the phone on a desk, and the movie's makers were so cheap that - instead of a real phone sound - someone just goes "brrring!" with their voice.

5. Worst ending ever! Okay, the movie sucked, but even then I was going along with it's semblance of a plot until the end. They're chasing the monster in a tunnel in Chicago, you think there's going to be the final confrontation, and the two guys who have the monster cornered shine their flashlights to reveal.....a blank wall. The narrator intones then with, "And just like that, the monster was gone. Disappeared. There had been no monster." Fuck you, movie!

I rest my case, Your Honor.

[nadia]

I just watched MST3K The Movie yesterday and I realized how much I really really miss this show. It's sad almost how much I wish it were still on.

I never even noticed the switch between Mike and Joel. In fact it never occured to me that there were two different hosts until this thread. I had to google them to see for a fact that they were two different guys. I'm not sure how I missed that.

[Deleted]

A few years ago Entertainment Weekly did a story on the making of Manos: Hands of Fate (translates to Hands: Hands of Fate) and they briefly mentioned the MST3K version as gaining popularity. But the story of the movie itself is hilarious. If I recall correctly, a fertilizer salesman (or farmer?) made some sort of loud public statement that making a movie looked easy and he bet he could make one. So he did. He hired only people in the town and most weren't paid. Pretty much the only castmember still alive was the little girl who is now a grown woman. She said that she was paid for her work with a new bicycle.

Anyway, she remembered that the premiere of that movie was THE social event of the year in that town. Everyone got all dressed up. The director told the cast that they'd be taken to the premiere in limos but was a cheap man so he only rented one limo and it had to keep going around the block to pick people up so there was about a 10 minute interval between arrivals. He also did not tell any of the actors that their voices would be dubbed over. The girl said that as soon as she heard her voice on the movie she started crying because she was sad it was not her own voice.

But the best part of the article mentioned that when the movie started, it was just stunned silence. Then after about 10 minutes, some teenager started laughing. Then quickly the entire theatre erupted into laughter and everyone in the town couldn't stop laughing at how bad the movie was. Even the director admitted it wasn't good but later said he didn't say that he could make a good movie, just that he could make a movie and he did just that.

[Deleted]

I really miss MST3K also, its my favorite show of all time. But this is the next best thing. Mike's still got it!

[Deleted]

I like both Mike and Joel. Joel is funny, but OTOH seems like he'd be a sulky comedian type in real life. Mike, OTOH, is a lot more laidback and better with characters. Plus, I agree he's adorable, and I always found it cute that he was married to fellow writer Bridget Jones (who played a "hot babe" character whenever one was required).

[starskin]

Didn't Bridget Jones also play Flavia (I think that was the name), the Roman woman who imprisons Pearl, Bobo and Brain Guy when they're all stuck in Ancient Rome?

I actually got into an argument with one of my best friends over who was the better host. I asked her who she preferred, she said Joel and looked at me with narrowed eyes: "You're a MIKE fan, aren't you?" And it kinda went on from there. It was funny, but surprisingly heated. Of course, my friends and I have also been known to get very disgruntled when arguing about which Golden Girls character we're like. I think one argument ended with me screaming: "I am NOT Rose Nylin, I am Dorothy f'ing Zbornak, and don't you forget it!" (Yes, we were drunk at the time).

Anyway, I agree that Mike was better with characters and a lot of the physical comedy. Although the "zany flying objects dance" host segment from Pod People had me in stiches, and that was largely due to watching Joel dance.

"Trumpy, you can do STUPID things!"

[iceblink]

Dr. Forrester's intro to Pod People is my favorite:
"It has nothing to do with pods...or people!"

[spinsterliz]

Jensational that story is awesome, and explains a lot about how/why such a wretched movie got made.

My favorite full-length episodes are "Girls' Town" and "I Accuse My Parents." But I have not seen many episodes, considering how many were made. Back in the day, you had to have a satellite dish to get MST3K in Canada, and we didn't have one, so all I got to see were the episodes some obscure channel would run every Saturday night, complete with corny informecial-type commercials in between. Those were the ones where Mike was dressed as an old man to host the show. In fact, I didn't know it was just a disguise, because I'd only seen the episodes with Joel, and when I heard Mike took over, I was like, "That really old man replaced Joel? Seriously?" Huh.

I'm not sure what happened near the end of it's run. Didn't Dr. Forrester's mom join the show after he left? Did she have monkeys for assistants or something? I'm thinking she had a monkey assistant named Bobo. I feel stupid even writing that. Is that really what happened?

[starskin]

SpinsterLiz, yeah, that's basically what happened. I know, I know, it's ridiculous, but what else would you expect? Wikipedia has a pretty good description of what went down with the whole Dr. Forrester/Pearl switch.