mst3k
Latest
'Mystery Science Theater 3000' is back on a dedicated streaming platform
The world never run out of bad 'B' movies to mock, apparently, because Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) is back for a 13th season.
MST3K's latest kickstarter is funding a new streaming platform
Mystery Science Theater 3000 returns to Kickstarter to fund its latest comeback, with greater aspirations this time around.
Netflix won't back a new season of 'Mystery Science Theater 3000'
After Mystery Science Theater 3000 made its comeback via crowdfunding, Netflix backed a second season of the show's "Return" that arrived around this time last year. Unfortunately, their partnership will apparently end there, as host Jonah Ray announced via Twitter that the streamer decided against doing another season. Of course, as he notes, the show "always figured out how to survive," and series creator Joel Hodgson said "It's not the end of MST3K, It's just the end of the first chapter of bringing back MST3K." With a proven capability to raise millions on Kickstarter and new streaming outlets opening every week, the possibility of new episodes is wide open. For now, fans can look forward to the annual Turkey Day Marathon with six classic episodes starting at noon ET on Thursday.
The new ‘MST3K’ arrives on Netflix November 22nd
Thanksgiving is a special time, where you and your family can avoid talking to one another in order to marathon Mystery Science Theater 3000. Netflix and Shout Factory have revealed that this year's Turkey Day will be an MST3K marathon with a difference: it's the day that the new Season 12 arrives. Six new episodes will drop on November 22nd in the US and Canada, as well as the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.
'MST3K' will mock B movies for another season on Netflix
If Twitch's Mystery Science Theater 3000 binge-fest didn't scratch your itch, we've got good news for you: Netflix is renewing the show's revival MST3K: The Return for a second season (and the 12th season overall). A brief announcement video (featuring series creator Joel Hodgson, current host Jonah Ray, and Felicia Day) hit YouTube shortly after Shout Factory's annual Turkey Day marathon -- which diehards no doubt tuned in to for Thanksgiving b-movie wisecracks.
Next 'MST3K' DVD box set could be its last
The cult of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 is currently in full swing. There's the gleefully cheesy Netflix revival, which came off the back of a successful Kickstarter from the show's creator Joel Hodgson. And, Twitch recently aired a six-day long MST3K binge-fest for b-movie devotees. While streaming services have stepped in to continue its legacy, those seeking physical copies of the show are in for a hard time. Distributor Shout! Factory's plans to release more DVDs of the series just hit a speed bump. In a post on the show's Facebook page, it claims that MST3K Volume 39 will "likely" be the last collection of unreleased episodes of the show.
When tech nostalgia goes too far
Nintendo had a bonafide smash on its hands with the NES Classic. And it looks like the SNES mini console will fly off of store shelves just as quickly. But it's not the only company looking to cash in on your nostalgia. Nowadays, there are reboots of TV shows like Twin Peaks and MST3K. Oh, and how about Netflix's Stranger Things, a series that's basically a love letter to the 80s? These are all examples of nostalgia products done right. But not everything we've seen in recent years has been as great as you would have hoped. Because, seriously, do you really want one of the Furbys pictured above watching you sleep? And who would be caught dead toting around a Tamagotchi in 2017? You know what, maybe that is you, and who are we to judge? But if you ask us, these 10 things probably took our retro obsession a little too far.
Twitch's latest marathon is a six-day 'MST3K' binge
B-movie lovers rejoice, for social video platform Twitch is set to air a Mystery Science Theater 3000 marathon lasting a mind-numbing six days. The stream, which features 38 classic episodes, will air on Shout! Factory TV's new Twitch channel from June 26 to July 3. The comic sci-fi show, which emerged as a cult favorite despite two network cancellations, follows hapless host Joel Robinson as he's trapped by mad scientists in space and forced to watch some of the worst B-movies ever produced. Viewers are not only treated (subjected?) to the appalling films in their entireties, but also to the running commentary of our sorry protagonist and the two robot sidekicks he's built to keep him sane (which, in the face of absolute fiascos such as Manos: The Hands of Fate, is no mean feat).
ICYMI: Watching plants grow and playing 'Mario Kart' with an actual car
Today on In Case You Missed It: The thought of watching a plant grow seems, well, boring. But researchers from the Institute of Science and Technology in Austria used lasers, fluorescent lights and a microscope to track the growth of a flowering weed's roots. The end result is a close-up 3D video that looks more like a glowing burrowing worm than a plant. The researchers also twisted the plate the plants are growing on to see how the roots adjust to changes in gravity, which could be helpful when we need to grow food in space.
Watch the 'MST3K' reboot's gloriously campy first trailer
The first trailer for the new Mystery Science Theater 3000 is here, and it's full of camp, cheesy special effects and sassy robots. Felicia Day and Patton Oswalt are restarting the MST3K experiment, and they're subjecting captured comedian Jonah Ray to bad B-movies to study their effects on the human brain.
Netflix offers 20 classic 'MST3k' episodes to the world
In the not-too distant future (April 14th, 2017 AD), a brand-new season of crowdfunded Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes will hit Netflix. Before then, however, 20 classic episodes of the show have been added to the streaming service globally both to whet appetites and create new fans of the cult classic. The episodes include fan favorites as Manos: The Hands of Fate, Time Chasers and Space Mutiny.
Crowdfunded 'MST3K' revival hits Netflix April 14th
Tonight, after a "Red Carpet Kickstarter Screening" of the first new Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode, Netflix announced the revived series will launch April 14th. In a message to backers of the biggest crowdfunded video project, creator Joel Hodgson promised that backers with rewards including new episodes or a live screening of the new episodes will "have them by April 14." Netflix didn't have anything to share other than the cast photo above, but at least fans can mark their calendars.
'Mystery Science Theater 3000' comeback lands at Netflix
You won't have to go out of your way to watch the Mystery Science Theater 3000 revival. Netflix has picked up the crowdfunded make-fun-of-movies show and will be the only place to stream it in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand. The move isn't exactly shocking (Netflix has already offered classic MST3K episodes), but it's that much sweeter if you're already a Netflix subscriber and would rather not head to another service to watch. Just don't be in a rush to catch up with Joel, Tom Servo and Crow. In keeping with the tone of the series, Netflix will only say that MST3K is coming back "in the not-too-distant future..." and we don't think it means "next Sunday, AD."
'MST3K' is the biggest crowdfunded video project to date
If you guessed that a Mystery Science Theater 3000 crowdfunding campaign would rake in a lot of cash... well, you guessed correctly. Joel Hodgson's quest to revive the poke-fun-at-bad-movies show has ended its campaign with nearly $5.8 million raised through Kickstarter, making it the biggest crowdfunded video project so far -- it just edged past the $5.7 million of the Veronica Mars movie. Between this fundraising and the $600,000 raised outside of Kickstarter, you're going to get 14 new MST3K episodes (including a holiday special) next year.
'MST3K' needs Kickstarter cash to make its comeback
If there's a much-loved but commercially unsuccessful TV show with enough of a fanbase, then someone's probably tried to resurrect it on Kickstarter. Now, following in the success of Veronica Mars and Thunderbirds 1965, Joel Hodgson is going to use the platform to bring back Mystery Science Theater 3000. He's looking to raise anything up to $5.5 million in the hope of producing a whole new season of 12 episodes mocking classic movies. It's hoped that, after demonstrating that there's enough of an audience out there, a cable channel or online service will help bankroll future episodes after that.
The Perfect Ten: My biggest gaming moments in 2012
I am a complete sucker for three things: novelty soft drink flavors, Tom Servo's singing voice in MST3K, and end-of-the-year lists. Egads, I love the end of the year just for the lists alone. Everyone does them (copycats!), and I like to see how my opinions stack up against them. Plus, often I learn of cool things that happened or came out during the past year that I missed. So this is my list. My end-of-2012 list. I am devoting the 26th Perfect Ten of 2012 to the top 10 moments in MMO gaming and blogging. It was a rollercoaster of highs and lows, and looking back, I don't think I could've predicted half of the major events that happened in this industry. That's what I like about this gig: It keeps me on my toes.
Zeebox adds Viacom to its list of second-screen partners
We love riffing on TV shows like a latter-day MST3k, which means that companies are desperate to harness our homespun satire to their own ends. Second-screen start-up Zeebox has inked a deal with MTV and Comedy Central owner Viacom, offering exclusive content in exchange for on-screen advertising. That said, we're not sure if the promise of behind-the-scenes clips would be enough to draw us away from just cattily judging the Project Runway contestants on Twitter, where we're less likely to be moderated into oblivion.
RiffSync for Mac perfects RiffTrax from the MST3K gang
RiffSync (US$9.99) in the Mac App Store has found very clever way to perfect RiffTrax, ... but before I get to the Riffsync app, you might need a little background about RiffTrax. If the names Gypsy, Tom Servo, Cambot and Crow T. Robot sound familiar, you know about Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K). The premise was that Joel Robinson was trapped in space on the Satellite of Love by Dr. Clayton Forester and was forced to watch horribly bad movies, mostly science fiction stinkers. With the assistance of four robot pals, Joel (later replaced by the show's head writer, Michael J. Nelson) and the robots provided running commentary as the movie played. A large cult grew around the show. After the show was canceled, some of the MST3K gang created RiffTrax. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett and a host of guest riffers sell audio tracks (usually about $3.99 each) to be synced with movies, bringing the MST3K experience to a huge catalog of current films. By running the film in the DVD Player application, VLC, iTunes or a physical DVD player, and simultaneously playing the MP3 RiffTrax in iTunes or QuickTime Player (if iTunes is playing the film), the guys recreated the art of skewering movies for the current generation of bad movie enthusiasts. Though the results are hilarious, syncing the RiffTrax to the movie is a challenge. RiffTrax tries its best to help by giving you a chapter listing of how the RiffTrax relates to the film. They even give you a DisembAudio robot narrator that repeats a line in the film every so often to help sync. This can be tricky when you're trying to figure out whether the movie or the RiffTrax is slower. If you want to pause the movie, you have to pause the film and the RiffTrax audio separately. RiffSync solves this audio-sync problem and gives a few additional options to improve the movie experience. Read on for a full review of RiffSync.
SCEA files patent for interactive movie technology
"Interactive movie technology," you may find yourself asking, "isn't that just another word for video games?" Well, grandpa, yes and no. While this recently filed patent from Sony Computer Entertainment America will likely be implemented in some form of game -- our guess is PlayStation Home -- it doesn't really resemble anything we've ever seen from a ludological offering. Basically, SCEA is designing a framework for "avatars" to interact with a film in a number of different ways, such as tossing tomatoes at on-screen actors, or climbing into the film to deliver a swift kick to one of the characters' behinds. The patent's illustrations resemble pencil-drawn versions of Mystery Science Theater 3000, where a player's avatar can be seen sitting in a chair in front of the interactive movie. These interactions can even be scored, granting bonus points for a well-aimed tomato toss. We have no idea how well this type of technology would work, but our deep, deep fondness for Mike and the 'Bots makes us more than a little interested in how SCEA is planning on using it. [Via Siliconera]
MST3K crew appears during the Summer Olympics broadcast?
Now look, we're not sure if this was someone's drug-induced fever dream or not, but if it did really go down, it might be the best thing that's happened at the entire 2008 Summer Olympics. According to the Dirty Red Commie, sometime on August 17th between 2:00 PM and 3:13 PM Mountain Time, Joel, Tom Servo, and Crow T. Robot from Mystery Science Theater 3000 appeared on NBC's broadcast of the summer games. The DRC says they were simply static -- no hilarious jokes or animated banter -- but cut out during local commercials, giving him the impression that this was coming from the NBC mothership rather than his local station. Apparently a video of the action was set to go up on YouTube, but was "copyright-killed before it was even done processing." If anyone out there on the interblogs is able to confirm this, we'd love to hear from you. Update: While not exactly proving the authenticity of this, we've now got video of it after the break. Update: Aaaaaand... the video has been taken down.