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Have you ever asked yourself why you love MST3K/RiffTrax/etc?
Is it "just the jokes" that make you laugh? Is it the commentary? Is it the "meta" aspect? Is it the rapid turnover of jokes? Do you mostly love the trivia of getting the references?
Why riffing? What's your main draw? Do you have one?
(Some people hate it. My mom was openly annoyed the first time I tried to turn her on to MST3K in the early '90s. And the second time. Etc.)
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The honest truth is that it often gives me an excuse to watch a movie I wouldn't bother watching without the extra jokes. Twilight and High School Musical are perfect examples. Old school MST3K got me to see classic black and white movies that I might never have gotten around to back in the day.
And Mitchell. I've seen Mitchell like twenty times.
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Jan 03, 2020, 20:38 pm
(This post was last modified: Jan 03, 2020, 20:46 pm by Meat Trademark.)
It was initially the rapid turnover, the sheer amount of riffs, that got me hooked. It moved to laughing and trying to "get" the references that became a point of pride. Every Firesign Theatre reference was monumentous. "The right people will get this." Laughing was a given, but when I really got into it spotting refs was possibly my biggest joy.
I will admit that when I first started recording VHS from CC, I sometimes clipped or skipped the host segments to make sure I could get four episodes in SLP. I regretted that soon after when I first wanted to remember an SOL joke. (I circulated the tapes, but not THOSE. Not the self-edited ones.)
(Jan 03, 2020, 20:27 pm)RealPaigeWWE Wrote: The honest truth is that it often gives me an excuse to watch a movie I wouldn't bother watching without the extra jokes. Twilight and High School Musical are perfect examples. Old school MST3K got me to see classic black and white movies that I might never have gotten around to back in the day.
And Mitchell. I've seen Mitchell like twenty times.
I've probably seen Twilight more times than half of my favorite films because the riff never fails to make me laugh. If Summit Entertainment tried to make an adaptation of TWILIGHT SPECIFICALLY for RiffTrax, they couldn't have done a better job.
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(Jan 03, 2020, 20:38 pm)Meat Trademark Wrote: It was initially the rapid turnover, the sheer amount of riffs, that got me hooked. It moved to laughing and trying to "get" the references that became a point of pride. Every Firesign Theatre reference was monumentous. "The right people will get this." Laughing was a given, but when I really got into it spotting refs was possibly my biggest joy.
I will admit that when I first started recording VHS from CC, I sometimes clipped or skipped the host segments to make sure I could get four episodes in SLP. I regretted that soon after when I first wanted to remember an SOL joke. (I circulated the tapes, but not THOSE. Not the self-edited ones.)
(Jan 03, 2020, 20:27 pm)RealPaigeWWE Wrote: The honest truth is that it often gives me an excuse to watch a movie I wouldn't bother watching without the extra jokes. Twilight and High School Musical are perfect examples. Old school MST3K got me to see classic black and white movies that I might never have gotten around to back in the day.
And Mitchell. I've seen Mitchell like twenty times.
I've probably seen Twilight more times than half of my favorite films because the riff never fails to make me laugh. If Summit Entertainment tried to make an adaptation of TWILIGHT SPECIFICALLY for RiffTrax, they couldn't have done a better job. When I explain Rifftrax to people who never knew MST3K, Twilight is my example. The "....line..." stuff was so perfect.
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This is going to sound pathetic, but it makes me feel like I'm watching movies with friends.
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(Jan 03, 2020, 21:57 pm)MalakJoe Wrote: This is going to sound pathetic, but it makes me feel like I'm watching movies with friends. I am right there with you, buddy.
Just think, when you're watching the new Rifftrax movie, a bunch of us are probably watching it as the same time as you are.
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I think because I can remember being in theaters with friends and doing the same thing...to a lesser degree, of course. (real)MST3K/Rifftrax sometimes make me pay closer attention to a film to try and see what they are referencing. But, mostly, it's just for the humour ~ that very Midwestern style they have. When it's done right...it's brilliant. When it's done wrong(like the "reboot")I really do appreciate what we have in the real MST3K and Rifftrax.
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Jan 04, 2020, 00:02 am
(This post was last modified: Jan 04, 2020, 00:20 am by Meat Trademark. Edited 2 times in total.)
(Jan 03, 2020, 21:57 pm)MalakJoe Wrote: This is going to sound pathetic, but it makes me feel like I'm watching movies with friends.
Nope. Not pathetic. Is watching a movie and feeling a connection with that movie pathetic? NO. Sure, you are not in the room with the riffers, but you feel MORE of a connection. It's MORE of a SHARED thing among like-minded people. With a riff it becomes more personal by definition.
You are too self-aware to be pathetic. The truly pathetic cannot be convinced they are pathetic in the first place.
I think you're on the right forum.
If you're pathetic, we all are; which negates it.
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(Jan 03, 2020, 21:57 pm)MalakJoe Wrote: This is going to sound pathetic, but it makes me feel like I'm watching movies with friends.
I feel the same as well. My dad my brother and i started watching season 1 and it was a perfect fit for us. Dad was a cinephile so we were already privy to alot of the movies that came on the show. Incl. Commando Cody ? also Kevin Murphy sounds just like my dad its eerie.
Anyway now hes been gone 10 years and my brother lives 1000 miles away so yeah i totally get the feeling too. Theres also a layer of familiarity too because we've all basically grown up with the mst3k rifftrax voices so in a way it really is like watching with old friends.
Reading your post and the others like Meats, I had a thought. Since theres others that have a similar feeling we should start a thread and say every other friday or saturday night at a certain time we all agree on, we all watch a movie together, mst3k or rifftrax. We could poll the week before which movie and maybe a live discussion on the thread during the viewing.
Just a thought but in any case im right with you guys on the feeling of friends while watching. Happy new year to all you guys and gals of course ?
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You might not be aware, Cabot from Coruba, that there is a 24/7 RiffTrax Twitch channel. https://www.twitch.tv/rifftrax There is a very lively chat always going on there. I'm on it most of the day under another username. I think it might scratch that itch you've got. Just drop in any time.
Pro tip: If you have Amazon Prime, you can subscribe to the channel for free and get rid of the annoying Twitch commercials.
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