12.26.2007

Hey Joel, Don't Make it Bad..

Longtime readers of this site should be well aware of our longtime love of the long-gone cult movie voiceover comedy brilliance that was Mystery Science Theater 3000. From the ever-fading (and at this point nearly unwatchable) VHS copies taped directly from comedy central when I was in college I carry around with me like the Ark of the Covenant to Satorical devoutly keeping up with all the books and side projects that the cast members are involved in to the continual pimping on this site of any attempts by the people who created the show to revive/update/rework the premise, we've stayed with you guys.
And don't get me wrong here. I love what you do.
But seriously -- can we settle on a name already?
Now it's Cinematic Titanic, featuring (once again) former MST3K cast members in silhouette skewering bad films from the past.

This time around it seems they're going back to the things that started them off, as the commentaries for the various films are done as part of live performances in front of audiences. In addition, this time around you can buy the DVD of the film with the commentary for a half-decent price (instead of plunking down $50 or more for DVD's that include original cuts of the bad films).

I'm not up on all the details, so I could be wrong here -- but the feeling I'm getting from the site is that Cinematic Titanic is comprised of everyone who is not a part of Rifftrax, or something vice versa, giving the impression of some sort of infighting or whatever -- which, considering how important and beloved this show and it's cast are to me should feel like that time period when Paul McCartney was killing us with the soft-rock stylings of Wings and John Lennon was making albums about peace with Yoko, but in the end sorta feels like that time Motley Crue toured with a bunch of guys who weren't in the original band, and played concerts that only featured tunes from the newer albums the replacement guys worked on.

Watching the trailer, I still find myself laughing at the gags -- but like every time I hear about a new album of original songs by the Rolling Stones coming out, all it really does is make me miss the old days of Tom Servo, Cambot, Crow, and Gypsy.

4 comments:

Satorical said...

There are now two competing groups. Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and whatsisface (not Trace, Frank, or Jim) do The Film Crew. The framing show is weak, but the commentary is pretty good. Also, Netflix is carrying their stuff (much of it on Watch Instantly), which means I consume all of it. Some of their stuff is moderately ribald, which I like.

Cinematic Titanic is Joel, Frank, Jim, and everyone else. It sounds like it'll have more budget and more writers. But that may mean the comedy ends up being stuff they would be comfortable showing their mothers, which is how I felt about MST3K: The Movie.

Satorical said...

Just watched the trailer.

A) Hating the silhouettes. Far more intrusive than MST.
B) Not very funny. And that ain't good. This would be the John/Yoko half of the equation, methinks.

Satorical said...

Yes, this is my third post. Not that I have an opinion or anything.

I think the problem is that the silhouettes, with the chandeliers and them apparently wearing suits, ups the expectations; it's not like a couple of witty stoners making fun of some late-night crap, it's as if the commenters are on stage, which raises expectations.

It's almost like when the MST crew was asked to do their schtick for the Oscars. It was awful, because it killed their premise. They weren't needed to live up good movies.

Anonymous said...

As much as I love the old MST3K days, this TITANIC project simply costs too much. A burned DVD in a sleeve for $15? Come on. I would consider paying $10-$12 for a pressed DVD in a substantial case with extras. I buy every PIXAR movie for about that much. I won’t be buying this project at this price.

I predict piracy will damage sales to the point at which Joel and company will throw in the towel early. There won’t even be 12 episodes of CINEMATIC TITANIC completed. A lower price would have been so much more realistic. If they sold 10,000 copies at $8, each writer/performer might clear a couple thousand an episode.

That’s not great show-biz money, but aside from Joel it’s probably more than the other people involved have been making lately.

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