Has anyone seen the MST3K version?
I know a lot of people like this movie opposed to most of the movies on there, but it's sorta funny too. It was only aired on KTMA 23, so many of you may not know about it.
Pity the soul who dont boogie!
One of the problems with MST3K was the occasional lack of film knowledge or cultural context. Now, I enjoyed the show and found much of the banter and comments thrown at the screen hilarious. However, a few films like Phase IV certainly don't belong to the catagory of schlock that was fodder for the show. This Island Earth is another example that is a more than questionable selection. Their appearance just demonstrates a lack of understanding of the genre of science fiction and the all too familiar dismissiveness of mainstream Hollywood. I can only imagine that some producer was arbitrarily selecting films for the show.
The President of the Immortals had ended his sport with Tess
Back during the KTMA days they just used whatever movies were in the station's library. They used This Island Earth to appeal to more audience members, sicne it is a watchable film.
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I certainly touched a raw nerve and sincerely apologize for upsetting you. However, selfish as it may sound, in any event I feel honored that I have astounded you.
Many thanks for screaming the word "comedy" at me in the way that only capital letters can do.
As for the art of lampooning, not every attempt is perhaps successful. "Phase IV" is a prime example. Such a comic undertaking would necessarily involve both a suitably knowledgeable host and audience. Choosing an obscure film by one of the unsung great talents of cinema is just poor programming since very few would recognize it. Lampooning "Citizen Kane" or "Star Wars" or something just as famous is a different story. The intention would be most decidedly different, and the audience would have its collective antennae (appropriately ant-like in "Phase IV" fashion perhaps) raised. On the other hand, within the confines of Mystery Science Theater the unfamiliar "Phase IV" is easily dismissed on the same level as "The Brain That Wouldn't Die."
Do you believe that those watching this episode of Mystery Science Theater would know who Saul Bass is? Or perhaps even care? We can debate whether the film is successful or not and I won't grant the film special privilege or exemption from parody. I can think of any number of ways to spoof Bass' vanity project. It's just not good fodder for the show. The same applies to "This Island Earth." See Big Quiet's comment above.
The President of the Immortals had ended his sport with Tess
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Once again, profuse apologies for pressing your buttons. But I do believe the lady doth protest too much.
I'm not championing the relative merits of "Phase IV" as you seem to insist. As a vanity project for Bass, it's instructive on what he might have done if he had pursued narrative cinema.
However, and I'll abstract my own comments here without your mediation, any film is subject to lampoon. Yet there is a difference between a child mocking "Gone with the Wind" and a knowledgeable comedian. One is puerile and expresses the obvious without an understanding of what produced the film. The other may be something that perhaps rises to the level of Carol Burnett's classic skit.
A different analogy: I may share my simple relative's views on abstract expressionism and deride it with the same intent but my lampoon will have a certain nuance based on an understanding of the movement's place in art history. It won't be dismissive.
Further, that MST3K's general audience doesn't appreciate the efforts made by the cast is indeed an important consideration. To lampoon is to dialog, to communicate ideas. The effort fails if the audience can't return the lampooning gaze. The episode contributed to that failure because it considered "Phase IV" again in the same way as "The Brain That Wouldn't Die."
The President of the Immortals had ended his sport with Tess
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I'll leave this quickly branching tree with a clarification of some remarks which you've misunderstood. I make a distinction between the puerile mocking of a child and a seasoned knowledeable comedian like Carol Burnett (or Stephen Colbert) lampooning "Gone with the Wind." Burnett had the background and weapons to attack the subject creatively, which was evident to the intelligent audience member. A more recent example would be Fox News' attempt at conservative comdey in response to Colbert, Stewart, and Franken. You can easily imagine the agony of viewing the former.
And many thanks for the commments. Farewell.
The President of the Immortals had ended his sport with Tess
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Though I did write I would forgo further discussion, I must state that personal insults do nothing to support your conclusion that much like a pair of slacks at K-Mart, comedy has an elastic-banded waist. One size fits all without the need for nuance, skill, or tailoring.
The President of the Immortals had ended his sport with Tess
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Now I HAVE to get the MST version of Phase IV. Thanks.
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Seriously! MST3K is not for high-minded art critics, it's for guys who like to kick back and laugh at silliness. Let's not forget that "Phase IV" was done in the KTMA season, which was AD-LIBBED. They purposely went into each film with no advance preparation to speak of, and only riffed on things that they happened to pick up on. The treatment of each "experiment" was much sparser and off-the-cuff than any of the later seasons. That's all I'm going to take the time to explain, so I'll just close by reiterating what FreshKosose said: "Chill out!"
shareThis wasn't even basic cable, it was UHF, for chrissakes...I couldn't pick up MST3K in my apartment in Minneapolis back in 1988.
I'm actually watching it right now, on the computer. Not a great episode, but it's the first season, from 20 years ago, they were still feeling out what they were doing, and only working with the films within the vaults of KTMA. And you know, love Saul Bass all you might...it's not that great. So what .
Bass was a genius designer, and made a nice film. This parody was seen by very few people. Who gives a crap about their riffing on a small Twin Cities station 20 years ago.?
If you get all bent out of shape that someone doesn't love what you love, you have a long life ahead of you.
If finding myself contorted in the shape of a pretzel means extended mortality, I'm all for bending.
The President of the Immortals had ended his sport with Tess
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Sadly, your words are some solace to me after the less than civil discourse that ensued previous to your arrival.
The President of the Immortals had ended his sport with Tess
Chill guys, clearly to everyone reading the board the problem is bws-2 is a pompous ass who is either purposely f-ing with everyone to get a rise or too dim to see how asinine he's being. Stop throwing flame on the fire and ignore his bigotry.
shareI got home from a screening of this at the New Beverly Theater in Los Angeles. I've seen the show's take on it (while it has its moments, it's just basically a play on of "ant" puns and making fun of the statues. Understandable, considering that its only the 6th (?) episode in their cable access days), but never in its uncut form on the big screen. It's a really cool oddity that demands some patience and probably some mushrooms. The camera work is amazing. The storyline...ehhh. I could instantly tell that a majority of the crowd was the "MST type". It's funny how the very nice fellow, who by the way allowed me in and to pay next time due to forgetting my wallet at home, presenting the movie told everyone to "keep the MST3King to a minimum" while going through the "turn off your cell phones" speech. haha. While there was chuckling at Nigel Davenport's odd post-ant bite behavior and Michael Murphy's overacting, the audience was very respectful for the screening of this remastered gem.
Anyhow, it never ceases to amaze me how polarizing MST3K is: People either think it's the most best thing EVAR (smile inducing most of the time, side splitting hillarious once in a while, but no...its really best in small doses) or it's some insult to film. As someone has stated before, they were just picking random, cool/weird looking movies out of the station's library. They didn't have the time to nitpick about "is this is a well regarded classic", as it was original intended as airtime filler. If anything, many of the films chosen for show have enjoyed a n resurgence in interest because of it (To The Stars By Hard Ways / Humanoid Woman / whatever-the-hell-the-Russian-title-meant, Diabolik, Hellcats, Million Eyes Of Sumuru, to name some entertaining curios). It's well regarded in a lot of online MST communities that some of these films ARE good, tolerable or aesthetically charming. And yes, familiar behind-the-scenes people such as Saul Bass as well as famous actors who took odd roles are recognized, in an odd backhanded way, on the show. Actually a lot of the humor and references on the show REQUIRE you to have some knowledge of classic film.
As for the show "making" its more easily suggestable fans think that every movie it covered is the worst ever, there is some truth to that (just look at the Bottom 100). On the other hand, it's no different to how some movie viewers form their opinions based on what well-respected critics say, how some people will force themselves to enjoy an B&W arthouse movie for the sake of appearing intellectual and such.
Just my two cents. No touched nerves here
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Bravo on the use of the hyphenated expletive. Well played, Sirrah, well played! This popinjay may indeed choose to nest elsewhere after such a thrashing.
The President of the Immortals had ended his sport with Tess
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One of the problems with MST3K was the occasional lack of film knowledge or cultural context. Now, I enjoyed the show and found much of the banter and comments thrown at the screen hilarious. However, a few films like Phase IV certainly don't belong to the catagory of schlock that was fodder for the show. This Island Earth is another example that is a more than questionable selection. Their appearance just demonstrates a lack of understanding of the genre of science fiction and the all too familiar dismissiveness of mainstream Hollywood.
In my personal opinion no film is above riffing. As long as the one-liners are funny any movie is worthy of the MST3K style treatment. Some of my favorite Rifftrax commentaries include films like RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, RETURN OF THE JEDI, CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER, and HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN, among many, many others.
THIS ISLAND EARTH made for a great choice in MST3K: THE MOVIE. And while I do wish they had featured more of the film, I can't entirely blame the studio for shortening it either.
I can only imagine that some producer was arbitrarily selecting films for the show.
They would make due with films available to them on the network that aired MST3K. Some episodes would only broadcast once due to rights issues.
I don't think it was just one producer picking films at random. As the show was picked up for national television they scripted their riffs, and had to watch films numerous times. Early in the series it is true sometimes they wouldn't finish the film before deciding on it, but they stopped that after discovering THE SIDEHACKERS featured a rape scene.
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Your opinion is indeed personal because it lacks merit. Rifftrax commentaries are merely the embarrassing, intellectually offensive parasitic pablum that has passed for comedy for the last quarter century, displaying to its audience an ignorance and unsophistication worthy of the typical uninformed member of IMDB. Whether or not "This Island Earth" was in the public domain or in an equally accessible broadcast or screen use category simply means that it was one of hundreds of thousand, not a member of an exclusive infinitesimal club, and I stand by my assertion it was chosen arbitrarily by virtue of its genre.
Please withhold your comments until you've actually screened more films instead of numbly absorbing the least among them secondhand, filtered through the lowest comedic prism that may comfortably reflect your own challenged understanding and cinematic aesthetic but finally cheapens the experience of us all who actually possess the intellect and tools to appreciate and discuss the artform seriously.
Your opinion is indeed personal because it lacks merit. Rifftrax commentaries are merely the embarrassing, intellectually offensive parasitic pablum that has passed for comedy for the last quarter century, displaying to its audience an ignorance and unsophistication worthy of the typical uninformed member of IMDB. Whether or not "This Island Earth" was in the public domain or in an equally accessible broadcast or screen use category simply means that it was one of hundreds of thousand, not a member of an exclusive infinitesimal club, and I stand by my assertion it was chosen arbitrarily by virtue of its genre.
Please withhold your comments until you've actually screened more films instead of numbly absorbing the least among them secondhand, filtered through the lowest comedic prism that may comfortably reflect your own challenged understanding and cinematic aesthetic but finally cheapens the experience of us all who actually possess the intellect and tools to appreciate and discuss the artform seriously.
A real sense of humor you must have. Whether or not you agree, no film is above riffing like you've so eloquently tried to deny. Where there is comedy found, there is comedy found.
THIS ISLAND EARTH had already been featured during numerous MST3K Live Shows. They didn't after all want to choose any old film for MST3K: THE MOVIE, as they not only wanted the audience to be entertained by the commentary, but also the film itself.
I shouldn't even bother pointing out the flaws of THIS ISLAND EARTH, as they will likely go right over your head.
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Someday too if your are one of the fortunate, the Immortals may grace you with a sense of decency, taste, judgment and dignity. Continue your filmgoing apprenticeship until that time by asking yourself always how this commentator would react and mimicking his critical assessment to the best of your ability.
The President of the Immortals had ended his sport with Tess
Someday too if your are one of the fortunate, the Immortals may grace you with a sense of decency, taste, judgment and dignity. Continue your filmgoing apprenticeship until that time by asking yourself always how this commentator would react and mimicking his critical assessment to the best of your ability.
The President of the Immortals had ended his sport with Tess
Well anyway back to reality.
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We thank and welcome you to Team Immortal.
The President of the Immortals had ended his sport with Tess
One of the problems with MST3K was the occasional lack of film knowledge or cultural context. Now, I enjoyed the show and found much of the banter and comments thrown at the screen hilarious. However, a few films like Phase IV certainly don't belong to the catagory of schlock that was fodder for the show. This Island Earth is another example that is a more than questionable selection. Their appearance just demonstrates a lack of understanding of the genre of science fiction and the all too familiar dismissiveness of mainstream Hollywood. I can only imagine that some producer was arbitrarily selecting films for the show.One of the problems with making comments about MST3k is the blatant lack of show knowledge or production context.
1) Phase IV appears in the early KTMA days when the show only had the station's available movie library to choose from. In its nascency, the show really didn't know what it was doing and clearly was winging every part of the process, especially in those first ten episodes. As the show progressed, creators of bad movies would actually beg to have the show mock their crap. In its heyday, TV's Frank was responsible for screening suitable candidate films. For every twenty he watched, he would present one to the writing table. If they all thought it had merit, it proceeded. The films didn't have to horrid, low-grade, kitschy or trashy. They just had to have ridicule factor. There was no faceless producer picking willy-nilly from all movies every made. Not in the cable TV days.
2) This Island Earth was chosen for the film because of the very fact that it was not inherently terrible. Universal, the production studio behind MST3k:The Movie, insisted that they choose something from the studio catalogue and that it not be of abysmal quality. Universal was not going to pay another rightsholder for a film when they had a vast repository of sci-fi movies at their disposal for free. They didn't want a film of exceedingly poor AV quality because they were not going to clean up a print just to put it back in the theaters. And they didn't want something amateurish because they didn't want people bored or associating something like Manos with the studio's reputation. The movie was NOT for the established fanbase of the show. It was supposedly about garnering a larger audience, albeit via massive and exacting studio executive interference.
You can rest assured that the people behind MST3k had a far greater grasp of film knowledge and culture than just about anyone.
Let's see who takes the bait. share
I congratulate you on a well written but contorted response contradicting the very points it seeks to assert.
The President of the Immortals had ended his sport with Tess
Interesting.
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