MovieChat Forums > Space Mutiny Discussion > Why didn't Mike + the 'bots mention the ...

Why didn't Mike + the 'bots mention the Galactica footage?


Were there some kind of copyright restrictions that forbade any mention of Battlestar Galactica during the MST3K episode for "Space Mutiny"? I remember when I watched the episode for the first time and was stunned that there were no BSG commets made during the stock footage scenes.

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Copyright restrictions don't affect mentioning stuff, you're allowed to ref what you want. The consensus seems to be that the Brains honestly didn't notice.

-- Rob
http://robvincent.net http://nyc2600.net

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Yeah, that show got away with referencing music and mention all sorts of movies and television shows. Even some dialogue.

It seemed very strange to me. One of the writers had to of seen Battlestar, they were always mentioning obscure shows like Manimal or Then Cam Bronson.

Very strange.

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My best explanation wuold have to be that it was too obvious. There was so much else to rif on and so many good lines from Mike and the Bots that you really didn't need anyone to point out the Cylons attacking.

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Even if that's the case, I disagree with the MST writers if they made a concious decision not to comment on the Battlestar Galactica footage. Just one riff would've been just fine and not left viewers thinking,"But don't they notice what show's footage is being stolen?" By the way it also makes me wonder how the makers of Space Mutiny were able to get away with using the footage from the show.

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[deleted]

"it also makes me wonder how the makers of Space Mutiny were able to get away with using the footage from the show"

Simple. They paid for it. At the time, the footage was just gathering dust in Universal's vaults. If some low-budget filmmaker wanted to pay them to use what they considered to be useless footage, why not?

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Exactly.
I've seen the spaceships from Battle Beyond the Stars in lots of low budget productions. So it not that unusual.

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Simple. They paid for it. At the time, the footage was just gathering dust in Universal's vaults. If some low-budget filmmaker wanted to pay them to use what they considered to be useless footage, why not?


Exactly, although it's not in the same genre i've seen footage from Dawn Of The Dead featured in such low profile crapfests as Feeders. If they pay the studio for it, and it's not a major thing from that paticular film like characters or events, then half the time they're allowed to use it regardless of copyrights.

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And didn't Battlestar Galactica use spaceships from "Silent Running"? I don't know if they used actual footage from that film. But they used the spaceships for their "forests"...

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Yes, the silent running "forest ship" footage was repurposed for Battlestar (both are Universal properties). This was pretty common practice back in the day, to reuse footage to save costs.

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I remember seeing Lolita 2000 AKA O'lita2000 or something like that. It's a cable T & A, sex SciFi flick. They must have purchased and used the cityscape scenes from the 79-80 Buck Rogers series.

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they didn't pay for it - because they didn't have to. Since the film was made in South Africa with no intention of distributing it over here - until the MST guys got a hold of it - they could use what they wanted without worrying about lawsuits.

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I agree with the other guy; it was so obvious that it wasn't even worth mentioning.

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It's actually not as expensive as you'd think to obtain buy-out rights for stock footage. It really isn't a question of what the film makers want to use, but what the film library/studio vaults have got hidden away. It's usually priced per foot, so you just grab 1000 feet of special effects, then write a movie around it.

Timbo Dyes His Hair (Never Quite The Same Shade Twice)

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when an alarm goes off, mike says "and now they stole enterprise's red alert thingy!" which shows that they know they took the footage.

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believe it or not, there are a lot of b movie fans out there who have never seen battlestar galacta or other TV scifi serials...like me. i saw the mst3k space mutiny in the 90's, taped it and watched it over and over and i had no idea about the battlestar footage until last month. ive always considered space mutiny to be one of the cheesiest movies ever made (and my fave mst3k along with puma man), and knowing they just went out and bought stock space footage just adds to the delight of laughing at this POS.

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Jump Puma Man, jump!

I have to agree, every time I watch this MST3k, I find something new to laugh at. There are *so* many good riffs in this one, whenever I introduce a new friend to MST3k, I always make sure they watch this one first, since I have yet to see someone not enjoy this riff. The problem with a lot of MST3ks is that the movies are so bad, even with the riffing new viewers are too bored to pay attention. With Space Mutiny, there's just so many bad scenes with great riffing, new viewers never get bored. After they see this one, they start loving MST3k and then I usually show them Santa Claus or Agent From H.A.R.M. Oh, and of course, Manos, the Hands of Fate.

I too always wondered why BSG was never mentioned, and quite frankly, I agree that I think the Brains had just never seen BSG. Even if it was too easy, they would have chuckled when they first appeared and then never mentioned it again. I mean, they did Calgon jokes. But eh, this episode *definately* doesn't need it. Soooo many funny scenes.

A couple off the top of my head:
"My Grandmadaughter"
"Finally, Christmas comes to Santa"
"He's calling to check on his gender"
"She's really struggling I must say, but then again she isn't"
"She's got a wonderful package, I never noticed before"
"I hate when chaperons dance"
"She's got an armadillo down her trousers"
"Ohhh, why do you hate my groin so much?"

I could go on for hours ;)

-shnar

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I lost a lot of respect for the MST3K crew when I watched this episode, because I realized from it that A) they were completely unfamiliar with "Battlestar Galactica", B) They didn't know who Reb Brown was, and C) They couldn't identify the South African accents.

What kind of bad movie fans are they? Ignorant ones, apparently.

The failure to note "Battlestar" footage is unforgivable. It's borderline idiotic how they deride the effects footage as "lame" when it still holds up well today (in my opinion better than the new Battlestar show). What they SHOULD have been derisive of was the liberal use of stock footage (like they did hilariously so in INVASION OF THE NEPTUNE MEN).

Then again, they surprisingly did lots of research on some of their films - even non-budget ones like TIMECHASERS and FINAL SACRIFICE. I think MST boosted the careers of those who worked on those films, as now I actually read up on David Giancola's films... and I think there's lots of budding filmmakers out there casually musing over tracking down Zap Rowsdower to cameo in a film.

That said, I'm still a *shaken* fan of the show and the episode... though the most hilarious MST3K episodes were always the Japanese sci fi's like the bad Godzilla movies or PRINCE OF SPACE... and the Russian movies like MOROZKO. The MST3K team were masters of applying American mainstream ignorance to bizarre foreign films to which our mainstream sensibility completely does not apply.

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You nailed it, bud...the MST3K people are such lame wiseasses they laugh at what they THINK they are supposed to laugh at (since they knew they had a zero-budgeted movie on their hands, they poked fun at the GREAT FX they THOUGHT had been made for the movie instead of being bought out from a very expensive tv show). They proved-once again-they did not EARN their right to feel superior to crap since they ARE crap.

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They should have said what was that spelled on the side of the shuttle, I just can't believe they re used that footage. Also u notice they mentions 13 like galacticas 13 colonies and they also called their fighters 'vipers:

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The Brains have quipped on BSG in at least one other episode (San Franciso International, when they joke, in the kid's voice, that the show will never be cancelled), so I'd find it hard to believe none of them have seen it... harder to believe than the theory that they didn't mention it in Space Mutiny because it was "just too obvious." So, yeah, I guess I'll throw my two cents behind that theory. After all, once that pandoras box of quipping is opened, they might have felt that the entire episode would have to be framed around making fun of BSG, at the expense of all the other great threads/ideas that make this one of the all-time (in my opinion) greatest episodes of MST3K.


"TELL ME WHERE THE BOMB IS!"

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With all the screaming about how ,MSTK3 did not mention Battlestar Galactica (the original seventies series) I gotta say I am surprised that no one has mention that they do actually mention---or try to mention it. I am pretty sure of this but if I am wrong someone let me know....

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Don't you guys remember the mention of massive amounts of fan mail about this exact issue back in the final insert of episode 0921 intitled 'Time Chasers' broadcast on Comedy Central (channel 39) around about 13:05pm on November 22nd 1997? They apologized already. Get over it. Some of us were bored the third time you casual fans brought this up let alone the FOURTY-third!

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I loved all the times they never mentioned something!

Nothing is more beautiful than nothing.

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I hope this is just a joke reply, because there were no letters read at the end of Time Chasers (they had stopped reading letters by then), let alone anything referring to Space Mutiny, Time Chasers didn't air on Comedy Central (the show was on Sci-Fi by then), and Comedy Central isn't on channel 39 for everybody in the entire country (you do realize that not all cable systems put channels at the same numbers, don't you? Apparently not). If you weren't joking then what you describe must have been some sort of delusional fever dream you had or something.

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It's taken me two days of searching, but I've found my log book. If they weren't reading letters at the end of Time Chasers, why is there a quote from Tom to Crow which reads, "Gumballs? The only thing anybody ever put in there was the leftovers of mike's cerebral enema!" To which a mustachioed Crow replied, "Sounds like a runny situation for everyone involved." Hah!

Unfortunately, I didn't take note of the fan name and location that day. I think the proof speaks for itself though? However, there does appear to be copious smudging in my broadcast channel column, so it appears we both hold a key to unlocking the truth of what happened on November 22nd, 1997.

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As I said, fever dream.

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Paul Chaplin mentions it here:
http://www.mst3kinfo.com/aceg/8/820/ep820.html

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They actually mention BSG in The Mixed Up Zombies movie as well, when Cash Flagg, a.k.a. Ray Dennis Steckler, comes barging into the stripper's dressing room. One of them yells: "Why'd you cancel Battlestar Galactica!" And that was the same season, so you know they knew what the show was. Moreover, in Future War when the lame model of the ship is floating through space one of them cracks: "Dustbuster Galactica!" So they've also made quips about bad models that look like Galactica. So I think they could have made one or two references without going over the top. Not mentioning it at all seems lame, especially when Space Mutiny stole SO much from BSG. Not just Galactica footage, but cylon ship footage, viper footage(they even called their ships vipers!)and the same basic plot.I adore this movie, but I do wish they'd have said SOMETHING about the BSG-stock-footage-athon.

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