Althouse: "Mystery Science Theater 3000 is going a bit overboard for Turkey Day 2023, with 48 straight hours of episodes..."

November 23, 2023

"Mystery Science Theater 3000 is going a bit overboard for Turkey Day 2023, with 48 straight hours of episodes..."

"... from both the classic era and recently-concluded Season 13! Starting November 23 at 9 AM Eastern time, and watchable for free on the show's official Youtube channel, on their official Pluto TV channel, on their Twitch channel, and on their bespoke streaming solution the Gizmoplex. Two full days of cheesy movies and humorous commentary from a human test subject and their automated mocking contraptions."

Metafilter announces.

35 comments:

Jersey Fled said...: Count me in!

I loved the early episodes but the later ones left me cold. Can’t wait to see season one episode one in two hours and counting and see if it still has the old magic; 11/23/23, 6:09 AM
Temujin said...: Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I'm sure 25% of the group commenting here will 'Bah-Humbug' Thanksgiving. I don't care. Hope you all have a great day.

Go Lions!

Years ago I used to get momentarily captivated watching Mystery Theater 3000, never quite understanding what the hell it was and who was watching it. But...I'd keep going back to watch it again. It was so bizarre, I could not take my eyes off of it- at least for a short while. Can't believe that thing is still going on. But then, I take a look around and realize that at our core, not much really changes. We are who we are and though we have slicker toys, more tech in our lives, we humans...we don't change much.; 11/23/23, 6:35 AM
RideSpaceMountain said...: Best MST3K review was a little known 80s movie called Cave Dwellers. You'll never belive they made such a bad film you'll be laughing so hard. It doesn't even qualify as a polished turd.; 11/23/23, 6:45 AM
Sydney said...: Maybe I’ll catch some of those, but tonight we’re going to Napoleon.; 11/23/23, 7:04 AM
Jamie said...: Excellent! I'll send all the football watchers outside! (At least during the Cowboys have.); 11/23/23, 7:08 AM
Jamie said...: Game, not have - in my excitement I neglected to proofread...; 11/23/23, 7:09 AM
Leland said...: 48 hours we’ll never get back.; 11/23/23, 7:31 AM
rehajm said...: Too nerdy. Nerds.; 11/23/23, 7:38 AM
Kate said...: I'm about to head into the kitchen to start the cider mull. I'll put this on the TV!; 11/23/23, 7:56 AM
Cappy said...: Sez who?; 11/23/23, 8:02 AM
Joe Bar said...: Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! This is our first without any family around, so we are going out to the local hoity toity restaurant for celebration dinner. Hope it's epic.; 11/23/23, 8:14 AM
JPS said...: RideSpaceMountain:

"Best MST3K review was a little known 80s movie called Cave Dwellers."

I haven't seen that one yet – will check it out – so at least for now my favorite is "Devilfish." ("Does the Coast Guard have a lot of use for flamethrowers?"); 11/23/23, 8:16 AM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Two full days of cheesy movies and humorous commentary...

MST3K does humorous commentary?!?! Wow, that's a first!!; 11/23/23, 8:27 AM
Mary Beth said...: In the Metafilter comments about the crowdfunding not being as successful (so far) as previous years - " "There’s also issues beyond their control including the fall of Twitter".

My Twitter/X experience is better than it was before, so I'm guessing "fall" means "when we all bailed from Twitter because Musk is icky and now we don't get updates on the things we care about".; 11/23/23, 8:35 AM
Howard said...: Never seen MST, although, I appreciate that untold millions love this sort of thing like Dr Who, Dune and the Lord of the Hobbits fantasy genre.

Happy Thanksgiving. What a great family and friends holiday that reminds me how lucky we few are to be Born in (or adopted into) the USA.

In addition to football, my other favorite Turkey Day touchstone is listening to Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie. A lot of the themes about friends good times bad times and fighting bureaucratic stupidity with humor and sarcasm that somehow works out in the end. This tome is uniquely American, surprisingly libertarian and encompasses many of the blessings we should be Thankful for.; 11/23/23, 8:40 AM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: after that - Svengoolie is on.; 11/23/23, 8:46 AM
Leland said...: Happy Thanksgiving to our Host, Meade, and all the interesting commenters.; 11/23/23, 9:03 AM
Bill Peschel said...: It'll be interesting to see if they'll make it. A few years back, they raised $5 million and $6 million on Kickstarter.

This time, they've raised only half of their $4 million goal (all or nothing) on their own site, with 2 days left.; 11/23/23, 9:21 AM
Lilly, a dog said...: If you like bad movies, this is one of the best. "For Y'ur Height Only" is a 1981 James Bond ripoff from the Philippines. It stars Weng Weng as Agent OO.

Did I mention that Weng Weng is only 2 feet 9 inches tall, and kicks everyone right in the dick?

The full movie is on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQusVTrIVxg; 11/23/23, 9:24 AM
Narr said...: That's a vortex I'd best avoid. It was perfect on Saturday mornings back when my son and I were younger.; 11/23/23, 9:24 AM
BG said...: I’m not able to watch it, but I do happen to know the son of one of the writers and producers of “The Giant Spider Invasion,” which was one of the episodes.; 11/23/23, 9:33 AM
Ampersand said...: I will make certain to not mention this to a particular member of my family.; 11/23/23, 9:51 AM
Wilbur said...: Howard, I used to enjoy Alice's Restaurant, too. Haven't heard it in years.

I heard a record on Sirius this morning that I had never associated with Thanksgiving, but it works: Be Thankful for What You Got by William DeVaughn.

A classic from almost 50 years ago.; 11/23/23, 10:29 AM
rcocean said...: I watched a few of their shows and liked them. I wish they'd gone after bigger more well known movies, that needed some satire too.

Red Letter Media did their shtick and updated it for the 21st century.; 11/23/23, 10:41 AM
Josephbleau said...: My favorite MST3000 scene is when a van full of aliens pulls up to an old guy on the road and one of the commenting robots says “ Get in the van, we’re going to Iowa City to see the Dead.”; 11/23/23, 11:37 AM
Oligonicella said...: MST was a limited genre. There's only so many movies mock-worthy for over an hour. First couple of years were good then it got stale. And, without Joel, it wasn't all the good.; 11/23/23, 11:54 AM
Joe Smith said...: "If you like bad movies, this is one of the best. "For Y'ur Height Only" is a 1981 James Bond ripoff from the Philippines. It stars Weng Weng as Agent OO."

It has competition:

"The Terror of Tiny Town is a 1938 American musical Western film produced by Jed Buell, directed by Sam Newfield and starring Billy Curtis. The film was shot at a sound studio in Hollywood and partly at Placeritos Ranch in Placerita Canyon, California. The inspiration came when Buell overheard an employee jokingly say "If this economic dive keeps going, we'll be using midgets as actors".

Using a conventional Western story with an all-diminutive cast, the filmmakers were able to showcase gags such as cowboys entering the local saloon by walking under the swinging doors, climbing into cupboards to retrieve items and dwarf cowboys galloping around on Shetland ponies while roping calves. It is considered to be one of the worst films ever made."; 11/23/23, 12:56 PM
Robert Cook said...: I never liked MST the few times I ever saw a limited parts of it. I never sat through an entire episode. I object to its premise, which was: these films are shit! Certainly, most of the films were badly made, with poor budgets, bad scripts, cheap effects, and often inept or wooden actors. However, there were a percentage of low-budget sci-fi and monster movies that actually had clever ideas and/or managed in other ways to achieve some degree of dramatic pizazz and artistic success, (e.g., THE TIME TRAVELERS, which had a knockout ending. I don't know if it was ever featured on MST3K).

Let the viewers discover and process these films for themselves. When the premise of the presentation begins with the notion that all of these films, because of their meager budgets and special effects, were, by definition, stupid and worthy of contempt, that the only enjoyment to be had in these films is in presuming one's own superiority to them, it teaches the viewers to be dismissive and contemptuous of films that do not meet an expected level of slick professionalism and polish. It presumes to tell the viewers how to perceive these films, preempting beforehand the possibility some viewers might actually find some actual filmic gold among the dross, and that some of the films might rise above their lower-than-modest means. It teaches viewers to reject any artistic product that deviates from predigested norms of "professionalism," presentation, "respectable" subject matter, familiar ideas, etc.

FUCK MST3K!; 11/23/23, 1:07 PM
Howard said...: Thanks Wilbur. What a treat! Haven't heard that one in a decade. The bongos and bass are sublime. The lyrics are a great philosophy I could relate to cruising Van Nuys Boulevard in a Country Squire station wagon.

Though you may not drive a great big Cadillac
Diamond in the back, sunroof top
Diggin' the scene
With a gangsta lean
Gangsta whitewalls
TV antennas in the back
You may not have a car at all
But remember brothers and sisters
You can still stand tall
Just be thankful for what you've got; 11/23/23, 1:14 PM
Gerda Sprinchorn said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/23/23, 1:45 PM
Dr. Unknowable said...: @rcocean The problem is that they have to pay for the broadcast rights. That puts bigger more well known movies out of reach. RiffTrax (MST3K alumni) tries to get around that limitation by selling the riff only and giving you a way to synchronize to your own copy of the movie.

One of the problems this year is that they switched off Kickstarter. I've backed them for the Netflix and the Gizmoplex campaigns there. I know when I went to back them this year I hesitated a little because I had no idea what Crowdfundr was.

@RobertCook Yeah that's the problem watching MST3K. The movies are deliberately chosen to be awful, and you have to hope the riff makes up for that. There are episodes I've never been able to get through because of the movie was just unwatchable. Their riff of what's widely considered to be the worst movie ever made, "Manos: The Hands of Fate" is worth watching, though. RiffTrax sells a riff of the "Star Wars Holiday Special" which is one of the only ways to get that.; 11/23/23, 2:49 PM
Narr said...: Most of what was featured on MST3 would never be seen by anyone if it wasn't for latter-day mockeries. Is it better to be forgotten entirely or ridiculed by smartasses?; 11/23/23, 4:29 PM
Rusty said...: rcocean said...
"I watched a few of their shows and liked them. I wish they'd gone after bigger more well known movies, that needed some satire too.

Red Letter Media did their shtick and updated it for the 21st century."
I watched MST3 with my daughters. Along with Space Ghost they're memorable because of that.; 11/24/23, 8:41 AM
Narr said...: Space Ghost!

Brilliant stuff. I was a big fan of Zorak--even had a sticker on my car.

"Sissypants" still makes me chuckle.; 11/24/23, 9:18 AM
dicentra63 said...: If you can't make this Turkey Day Marathon, you can watch MST3K 24/7 on the official Twitch channel and chat with fellow MSTies.

https://twitch.tv/mst3k; 11/25/23, 1:25 AM