Hi. Welcome to Deep Ape, home to gratuitous amounts of Mystery Science Theater 3000-related news and nonsense! Click the "Entries RSS" feed link above to keep up-to-date on all the latest MST3K, Rifftrax, Film Crew, and Cinematic Titanic news, as well as other assorted shenanigans.
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Gaming Today recently highlighted a video series from the excellent video gaming site The Escapist called Unskippable. In it, two guys watch video game trailers and cut-scenes and attempt to provide witty commentary over it. It’s essentially Rifftrax Presents for the gamer crowd. And judging from the few episodes I watched, it has the same hit-or-miss ratio as a Mike-, Bill-, or Kevin-less Rifftrax Presents episode.
Of course, that isn’t to say it’s bad. It’s just not amazing. The clip I embedded above has them taking on a trio of trailers. The first and third are actually pretty funny and reasonably smart. Definitely worth checking out, if your hunger for riffs is insatiable.
Those aforementioned ten Rifftrax DVDs have been up for sale on Amazon. They’re quite affordable, at just under $10. If you feel like picking them up, please do so via this link. It would help feed the children — or more specifically, me — and I would appreciate it muchly. (Sorry for the short post. It’s hot and my back hurts and stuff.)
Did I ever tell you guys (that is, if anyone is still reading) that I was going to be Internetless for a while? Well, I was, and now I’m back! Try not to get too excited! I managed to make it out to a Cinematic Titanic live show in Philly, so you can expect a recap over the next couple of days. I’m in the process of moving, so bear with me, but I hope to return to normal operations soon.
In the meantime, the guys from Rifftrax recently released a commentary for The Room, a movie that I (somehow) didn’t even know existed. It looks glorious, as you can see in the above preview clip. Enjoy!
While I’ve been off doing science and magic, the folks at Rifftrax have been wading deeper into the DVD pool, bringing their total number of Rifftrax-on-a-disc to nine — and soon to be ten. These are pretty self-explanatory, effectively playing out like The Film Crew DVDs, with Mike, Bill, and Kevin’s commentary already synced up with the video. Yeah, you know the drill. Here’s the full list:
All of the DVDs feature the newer commentaries with Bill and Kevin joining in, not Mike’s older, solo commentaries. And if you’re afraid of giving the Internet your money, these DVDs will be available at brick-and-mortar retailers on June 16th. Furthermore, there will also be a second volume of shorts coming soon, though they’re “not exactly sure when.” Here’s the tracklist, as it stands now:
One Got Fat
Lunchroom Manners
Each Child is Different
Why Doesn’t Cathy Eat Breakfast/Petaluma Chicken
Act Your Age
Harm Hides at Home
Coffeehouse Rendezvous
Are You Popular?
Good Health Practices
Of course, those shorts can also be found in digital form here, if you want to pick-and-choose and save a few bucks. (No word on whether or not Vol. 2 will have any exclusive content.) But still! DVDs! For your DVD player of choice! Buy!
The Cinematic Titanic crew has announced an additional five stops on their 2009 live tour. They’ll be doing their usual routine, this time with the as-yet-unreleased films East Meets Watts and Danger on Tiki Island (confirmed for, at least, the first two shows). Here are the dates:
June 12-13 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at The Trocadero.
If any of those dates tickle your fancy, check out Satellite News’ post for ordering/pre-ordering information. The first two dates are already up for order and pre-order, respectively. I would also like to note that I live within 40 minutes of Philly, and June 13th is my birthday. Cue me hyperventilating and trying to figure out how to make this happen. Argh! Curse my lack of both funds and transportation!
Every once in a while, a movie like Manos or The Incredibly Strange Creatures comes along, and it’s just so repulsive and completely unappealing that it leaves a thick, black layer of sin and shame on your soul that can take days, maybe even years, to shake off. Yet, even amidst all that sheer celluloid evil, you’ll still often find a Torgo or a Madison to brighten your spirits and remind you that every dark raincloud filled with urine has a silver lining.
Still, what happens when there isn’t a silver lining? When no matter how deeply and desperately you claw and scrape at the filth and grime, you just can’t find any redemptive quality, any soul worth saving? What happens when there is no sweet, smiling Torgo in that dark, dark sky? Well, you get Legacy of Blood. Click ahead to read my long-delayed (sorry!) review of Cinematic Titanic’s fourth DVD release.
Now that I’m back to posting semi-regularly, I’ve decided to finally finish setting up the Deep Ape Twitter account. So, if you want to be alerted when there are new posts, you’re one of the three people who still give a flip about the site and want to keep in touch, or you just want more MST3K / Rifftrax / Cinematic Titanic content on your Twitter dashboard, then go follow us (and by “us,” I mean “me”).
Today is Bill Corbett’s 89th* birthday! Looks good for his age, doesn’t he? Why not shoot him a birthday tweet on Twitter and tell him that you don’t hate Crow’s new voice? Deep Ape salutes you, sir.
According to Satellite News, the official Mystery Science Theater 3000 website will be getting a little bit of new content, as well as a few sweet items for the store. In the not-too-faraway future, an “MST3K Genesis” section will be debuting, which will include videos, images, and “memoirs” from the first two seasons of the show (that is, KTMA and season one).
As for the merchandise, the shop will be getting another amazing t-shirt, the design from which can be seen at the top of this post. (It’s a reference to a host segment from episode 612, The Starfighters.) You’ll also be able to pick up a cool set of four mini-posters (which you can see by visiting the Satellite News article), and a probably-overpriced copy of the forthcoming Volume XV DVD set.
Shout Factory’s next DVD set is up for pre-order on Amazon. It’s out on July 7th.
Yep. I really don’t have anything else to say about that. Other than, please do me a favor and use the above link, if you’re interested in using Amazon. It will give me a dollar, with which I will go buy an ice cream cone and be happy.
Every year, The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films hosts the Saturn Awards, honoring the year’s best in movies, TV, and home video releases. For this year’s 35th edition, Shout Factory’s first Mystery Science Theater 3000 DVD set has made their list of nominees, specifically in the category of Best DVD Collection.
While the set certainly had some high-quality episodes, as well as some nice extras, it faces some stiff competition from the likes of Planet of the Apes, The Godfather (WHA?!), and Dirty Harry (THE HELL?!). Not sure what definition of “science fiction, fantasy, and horror” they’re using there, but I wish Shout Factory the best of luck.
The 35th annual Saturn Awards will be held on June 24th in Burbank, CA.
What is the deal with these Clonus rip-offs? It looks like yet another film is in the works that borrows liberally from Robert S. Fiveson’s b-grade classic, Parts: The Clonus Horror. The movie, which now has Keira Knightley attached, will be based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2005 novel, Never Let Me Go. The book tells the story of a dystopian society in which people are cloned for the sole purpose of being organ donors, but are kept in the dark about the nature of their existence. Sound familiar?
In fact, this is more like a case of double deja vu. Also in 2005, Michael Bay directed The Island for Dreamworks, a Ewan McGregor-Scarlett Johansson action flick about — guess what! — clones raised for the sole purpose of organ donation. In that case, Fiveson & Co. raised a stink about what amounted to outright plagiarism and filed a lawsuit, which was ultimately settled out-of-court.
Despite the basic similarities, there may actually be more to Ishiguro’s particular variation than Bay’s movie, according to the descriptions that I’ve read, with a lot less action and a bit more intrigue. Still, the similarities are extremely noticeable. We’ll have to see how itchy Fiveson’s trigger finger is, this time around.
This doesn’t really explicitly have anything to do with Mystery Science Theater 3000. However, the premise and nature of this video game may be appealing to a number of MSTies out there, and I felt it was worth mentioning.
Recently released for the Nintendo DS handheld system, Retro Game Challenge is based around the premise of a “Game Master” trapping gamers in the past and making them play old video games. As The A.V. Club pointed out, this just smacks of our favorite show. Kind of. The games they’re playing aren’t bad, per se… but give me a break. I like video games and I wanted to post something. Work with me!
I know that there are a fair number of MSTies out there who are also gamers, as well as currently non-gaming MSTies who grew up playing old NES games. So, if nothing else, this might be an amusing trip down memory lane.
If you’ve been keeping up with Brain-related news — and hopefully you have, despite my prolonged, shameful absence — then you know that Michael J. Nelson has been eating nothing but bacon, for the entire month of February. Why? Because the internet kids love the dead-pig product, and Mike Nelson loves the internet kids.
Evidently, the stunt caught the attention of the local news, and San Diego’s NBC affiliate did a story on Mike’s pork-fest. It now seems that what, to the naked eye, would appear to be suicidal madness, is actually turning out to be kind of beneficial: Mike’s lost some weight, and his blood pressure’s even gone down.
So, assuming that Mike survives the month, what should the Rifftrax crew tackle next? Should March be Bill’s month of chicken? Or maybe Kevin should spend April supping on Slim Jims? Will Cinematic Titanic counter with a month of veggies?
Just a quick heads-up that the Cinematic Titanic crew are kicking off their 2009 tour. This time, they’re going all over the U.S., even giving some of us East Coasters a taste of the Kool Aid. Pre-sale begins this Monday, the 19th, at 10am (the venue’s time) and the pre-order code is ‘MST3K’. Here’s the schedule:
February 13th/14th, San Francisco – Marines Memorial Theatre [tickets]
February 20th/21st, Boston – Somerville Theatre [tickets]
February 27th/28th, Cleveland – Playhouse Sq., The Hanna Theatre [tickets]
March 13th/14th, Seattle – King Cat Theater [tickets]
Remember to use the code “MST3K” when pre-ordering. Josh says that they’ll be “performing a different movie each night in each city – titles TBA,” so if you’re psychotic and want to attend every performance, you will not be let down.
Hardcore MSTie and Rifftrax contributor Josh Way is continuing his transition into the world of professional riffing, with the release of three actual, proper, real, professional-looking, feature-length DVDs. Last week, Josh released Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet, Phantom From Space, and his take on Corman’s The Wasp Woman, part of his “Fun With Flicks” series. They’re $12.99 each and on Amazon.
Josh is a really good guy and he’s pretty darn funny, so I definitely recommend checking out his stuff and supporting him. You can sample his wares on his YouTube account. (And if you want to purchase his DVDs, I’d love you like a ho’ if you’d buy them via this link, or the above ones. Thank ye.)
Pardon the juvenile headline, but I think it’s what Ray would’ve wanted.
The infamous director of The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies, Ray Dennis Steckler, passed away last Wednesday. The cause of death was cardiac arrest. He was 70. Steckler had just finished post-production on the sequel to Strange Creatures, subtitled One More Time. The original film is one of the most loved and hated Mystery Science Theater episodes.
Say what you will about Steckler’s films and his approach to filmmaking — he may have acted somewhat self-importantly at times, he may have lacked talent in areas — but the man appeared to truly love film. He was never especially fond of MST3K’s use and treatment of Strange Creatures, particularly taking issue with the riffs centered around his wife, who portrayed the somewhat masculine dancer.
Ray was also good friends with Arch Hall, Jr., the protagonist of Eegah, a film in which Steckler’s acting persona, “Cash Flagg,” also appeared briefly. Wikipedia has a good summary of Ray’s career. One More Time releases direct-to-DVD in June 2009.
Are you as fed-up as I am about living in a part of the country devoid of Rifftrax or Cinematic Titanic live shows? Well, now we can complain slightly less, as Mike, Bill, and Kevin will be performing a live riffing of the short Self Conscious Guy via the interwebs, 100% free-of-charge!
The performance is tonight (Thursday, January 15th, for the inattentive) at 9pm EST, and will be broadcast here. There will also be a Q&A session with the guys afterward, utilizing the Ustream chat interface here. So, uh, be there. Or don’t. But you should.
Guys, I realize that Mr. Carrozza was an absolute jackass in his anti-MST3K post, but was it really necessary to start voting down his YouTube videos, and whatever else the more extreme MSTies did? Tear into him for insulting the Brains and having somewhat irrational, poorly thought-out opinions, but remember that he’s well within his rights to dislike the show. I guess what I’m saying is, let’s not be too cruel, here. We should be holding him down and snicker-snagging on him — not burning down his treehouse and pissing on his cat. Take it easy.
Or “Why I Should Learn To Get My Head Out of My Ass and Stop Being a Douchebag”.
I couldn’t resist spreading the love on this one. Over at Cinematic Damnation, another cinema nut has gone off his rocker with a heaping dose of MST3K hate. After all, as we all know, when you don’t like a TV show that’s been off the air for ten years, you should focus all your “fiery passion” on hating the living hell out of it. Grrr.
He heaps a ton of scorn on the Brains themselves, calling them pretentious, with the help of some five-dollar obscenities to bolster his arguments. Then, he commits the great, grand cardinal sin of all MST3K haters: He treats the movies like they’re the stars of the show. As if the people who want to watch MST3K give a flying frak about whether the movie is pan-and-scan! If you want widescreen, go buy it sans robots, Scorsese. This show is clearly not for you.
But the worst of his acidic tirade, is his claim that the Brains are pretentious. Pardon my salty language, but what a fucking judgmental prick! I (and many others) have spoken to some of them personally and can vouch for not only their kindness, but also their genuine love for movies in general. If this film school dropout spent five minutes alone with Joel Hodgson and Kevin Murphy, he would be blown away. Hell, Kevin has more passion for cinema in his left thigh than this guy has in his entire body.
I don’t mind if he doesn’t find the show funny. Everyone’s sense of humor is different. And yes, he is just some schmuck on the internet, just like me. But still, if you’re going to personally insult and judge the people behind the show, at least find some evidence to back up your claims. Saying that a comedian is a pretentious asshole because he makes fun of something, is like saying that a painter is a horrid vandal because he likes marking things up.
In closing, may the Brains rot in hell for preventing us from seeing Godzilla flying across the screen in full widescreen glory, the way that The Good Lord intended.
