Why can't they just bring back the old cast? - Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988) Discussion

[–] fritzfassbender 8 years ago

Personally, I don't think Joel wants them. Maybe he wants fresher talent that he can mold, maybe he feels that a more youthful crew would be more commercial, or maybe they just don't get along. Who can say?

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[–] Chris12955 8 years ago

The cast needs to change every now and then. The old cast can make cameos, but we need new blood. If anything, Joel should have accepted that the bots are with Mike on Earth, and get new bots. But I get the impression Joel wants to pretend the show disappeared after he left. They need a femmebot in the theater. There are some jokes that are funnier(or more acceptable) when said by a woman rather than a man. Another thing I don't want back, the Invention Exchange, more often than not they stunk.

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[–] threenails10 8 years ago

Anyone else see Jonah ray on talking dead tonight? Anyways, New episodes of mystery science theater 3000 are coming in march on netflix. It was announced on there like it wasn't new news. Weird. Can't wait though.

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[–] panzermeyer44 8 years ago

Mike, Bill and Kevin are already very busy with their Rifftrax business.

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[–] Chris12955 8 years ago

I think the real issue is that having any of them(they live in Minnesota) would require not filming in the location that most of the crew agreed would have ruined the charm that the show had, L.A.

Doing it in California would have made it another show filmed in L.A. with the usual Hollywood nonsense on the production end, and standard California cultural attitude/references. They never would have made those too skinny jokes(among many other jokes) in the show if they didn't do it in Minnesota.

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[–] Otkon 8 years ago

And that is part of the problem. The original show was homespun. They had no ties to either coast. It was made by barely professional Heartland comedians who did every aspect of the production themselves. They wrote, produced and performed to their sensibilities. They had free rein until the Sci-Fi days.

Much different world and much different production scenario now. I know they nabbed the Rick and Morty guys. I am sure Felicia and Patton will have a ton of creative input. And don't get me wrong, these people are very talented in the nerdily nerd sci-fi fantasy genre. But best I can tell, nearly everyone new to this franchise is straight-up LA or East Coast. Dan Harmon is from Wisconsin but he is very much a Hollywood type at this point. Would all the Packers bashing and Dells references and Upper Plains old lady voices have seemed as genuinely funny coming from outsiders?

So much of MST3k's charm and appeal was its golly-gee folksy approach to nearly everything. Did Joel sit up the night before the first rehearsal of the new series, hot-gluing Tupperware panels together? Or did some shop in Tarzana pop out the new Crow on its state-of-the-art 3D printer? The low-budget production values of the original were hilarious and integral. If the new one is all Hi-Def accoutrements and fully-armatured puppets and TMZ references from and for LA/NYC types, I will watch it for about 4 minutes.

Let's see who takes the bait.

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[–] panzermeyer44 8 years ago

Great post Otkon and it's so on the money it's unreal.

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[–] Chris12955 8 years ago

Eeyup, this is exactly why I despise the move to L.A. for the new episodes. I will give it a shot if I get Netfilx, but I am still very concerned about the tone of the show. That uniquely Minnesota brand of humor is what made the show to me, and I will most likely enjoy it less without it. Even with the cast spinoff riffing shows, I enjoy rifftrax more, and they are still living in, wait for it... Minnesota!

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[–] Rudd-12 8 years ago

Excellent post. And I agree with the sentiment. I remain optomistic, however, I may be fooling myself, lol. If the new version is lacking the charm of the original and overpolished and sterile, possibly mean or dark even, then I'm sure I'll be cringing and running back to the re-runs.

Just wanted to add: The show has already demonstrated it will tolerate some changes. It's kind of a miracle that it even continued after Joel left and not only that, in some aspects improved. I think it can successfully be brought back...and maybe Joel can pull it off. Let's hope so.

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[–] Chris12955 8 years ago

It's kind of a miracle that it even continued after Joel left and not only that, in some aspects improved.

The Invention exchanges often let the episode down with humor that wasn't as good as the other Host Segments. Joel wanted the Invention Exchange. He also wanted other jokes and reoccurring things that just were not that funny. I think it was a natural course that it improved when he left. The whole exponentially unfunny waffle gags from "The Viking Women and the Sea Serpent" were in the Joel era. I have no idea what was going on when they made that episode.

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[–] wallacesawyer 8 years ago

I'm not really against a new cast. After all I think Mike Nelson and Bill Corbett were wonderful. Kevin Murphy was certainly a better Tom Servo than J. Elvis Weinstein.

However I'm disappointed there won't be a reunion film. And I don't mean getting the cast together for a live riff show, I mean an actual story with the characters. They could riff a public domain film, and release it direct-to-video or something.

Mike, Kevin and Bill seem to be busy with Rifftrax. Joel is helping get the reboot off the ground, but it would be nice if he at least made a cameo in the first episode.

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