For those unfamiliar, Mystery Science Theater 3000 is a cult TV show that ran from 1988 to 1999. The story revolves around a man and his robot sidekicks trapped in space. Evil scientists monitor the captive’s mind as he’s forced to watch awesomely bad films. The show’s plot intentionally matches the cheesiness of the films being roasted. A non-stop barrage of clever wordplay and improvised dialogue are framed with short skits by cast members on intentionally low-budget sets. In November of 2012 show creator Joel Hodgson launched a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign that resulted in an eleventh season of fourteen episodes on Netflix. Critics and fans alike hailed the new season, and new series star Jonah Ray, as worthy successors to the originals.
In July, Mystery Science Theater 3000’s new cast followed up the wildly successful Netflix revival with a short tour of live riffing and hijinks. That tour arrived in Richmond on August 10th to legions of obsessed geeks. Fans descended upon the Carpenter Theater for worship at the altar of cheesy movie mockery. Show creator Joel Hodgson greeted the ravenous crowd with playful observations about the theater, show insights, and his usual brand of lighthearted sarcasm. After fielding a few questions from the audience, Hodgson turned the evening over to Jonah Ray and company.
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Mystery Science Theater is incredibly meta. I can’t think of a single show before the internet age so unapologetically self-referential. Joel and company were turning popular culture on its head well before the world was ready for the likes of Community, Deadpool, and Robot Chicken. These shows are like the character Comedian in Alan Moore’s comic The Watchmen: They “see the true face of the twentieth century and chose to become a reflection of it, a parody of it.” That same self-awareness holds true to MST3K’s live show. Stage actors flawlessly preformed dialogue against a pre-recorded video of evil scientists Kinga Forrester (Felicia Day) and TV’s Son of TV’s Frank (Patton Oswalt). Without missing a beat Kinga mentions she’s a recording before continuing on with more plot driven dialogue. At one point a snake-gun malfunctioned (yes, I said “SNAKE-GUN”). Instead of playing it off, the cast drew attention to it, causing an explosion of cheers as the gun erupted it’s full snake-y glory. Uproarious laughter carried through the night as we watched skits about terrycloth bathrobes, fancy hats, and puzzle buddies. All this, and we haven’t even discussed the movie yet!
Richmond’s geek community was treated to the hilariously sexist and bawdy Argoman: The Fantastic Superman. This Italian James Bond-like superhero film has all the elements of the perfect riff movie; The dialogue is terrible, the plot is confusing and full of holes, the acting is wooden, and the soundtrack is wonderfully dated. Jonah and the bots took aim and unleashed a relentless volley of quips, added dialogue, and pointed observations that left the crowd crying with laughter. My cheeks ached from smiling, my stomach hurt from laughing, and I needed a drink. Intermission was a welcome break. The crowd during intermission was just as warm, friendly, and geeky as I remembered Jonathan Coulton crowds being. We wandered from the bathrooms, to concessions, to our seats; Masses of nerdy t-shirt clad fanboys wandering in a giggle-stupor. The second half remained as good as the first, though bittersweet. We all knew the movie was reaching it’s conclusion. Still, I learned valuable lessons when watching out for snakes (You’ll get that reference if you were at any of the live shows).
Que the dance party!
As we listened to Crow the robot discuss Argoman‘s insulting portrayal of robots on screen, I thought back to being thirteen years old and staying up past midnight to catch re-runs of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Watching with absolute glee as a man in a jumpsuit and two robots picked apart bad movies for my amusement. MST3K Live! recaptured the magic of first discovering the show, and that’s a rare feat. Though tickets to the show weren’t cheap, I ABSOLUTELY got my moneys worth. This tour is nearly over, but I will be crossing my fingers for the chance to again sit in a crowded theater with my geek brothers and sisters and sing the song of our people! “In the not to distant future, next Sunday A.D…”
A solid 10 out of 10 on the ABV Scale (Awesomeness By Volume).
Stephen King’s magnum opus, a story that has spanned his entire career, finally has a film adaptation! With a stellar cast, amazing source material, Stephen King and Ron Howard producing, what could go wrong? Well, let me tell you.
The Dark Tower is a series of books that tells of Roland Deschain and his Ka-tet’s journey, as well as tying together several of King’s other novels. The Dark Tower is the nexus of the Stephen King universe. You’d think a story this vast would be told through multiple movies right? After all, the main series contains eight books. Instead, we receive ninety minutes of film that barely scratches the surface.
This movie is like the worst case of blue balls!!!! Giving viewers just a glimpse into the relationship between Roland Deschain (Idris Elba) and Walter Padick (Matthew McConaughey), aka The Man in Black. And with only one other main character, Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor)!! They left out two very important characters, Eddie and Susannah Dean. If you want to know who they are, you’re gonna have to check out the books.
Ka-tet
The series is not a PG-13 rated action packed revenge story. It is a hard R rated Sci-Fi/Horror/Fantasy/Spaghetti Western that is set in a dystopian future. It’s about one man’s destiny, and what he will sacrifice to achieve it. Where he finally reaches his level of the Dark Tower, only to be thrust back to the dessert in which his story began. Our protagonist has been repeating this journey over and over, with no recollection of past events. Though each time he starts, there’s a slight change.
Gunslinger on the beach
Early in the production, it was announced that the movie serves as a sequel to the books. It’s really the only saving grace. Apparently the ending of the last book is the beginning of the movie. Giving us some kind of explanation for the injustice done to this masterful storytelling.
Please don’t judge the REAL Dark Tower by this movie. Read the books, listen to the audio books, SOMETHING!! Don’t miss out on one of the greatest stories ever told.
“The Man in Black fled across the desert and the Gunslinger followed”
-NSFW- *SPOILERS!*
Lowdown Brown hosts a conversation about the Dark Tower book series by Stephen King, and our feelings on the newly released film adaptation.
● Track Info ●
Trivia Plug Music:
SKGB – Ridin Dirty Wit Ganesha
Disclaimer Music:
David Mumford – Night Without Sleep (Instrumental)
What We’re Drinking music by:
audionautix.com
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Join Us Every 1st and 3rd Monday at Fallout, and every 2nd and 4th Tuesday at Wonderland for GUI Trivia! 8-10 pm
A GEEKS UNDER THE INFLUENCE weekly “Pre-Cap.”
The Bruce fills you in on must see TV shows and movies for the week of 8/08/17!
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Join Us Every 1st and 3rd Monday at Fallout, and every 2nd and 4th Tuesday at Wonderland for GUI Trivia! 8-10 pm
Lately Netflix has been dropping a metric f@*k ton of original content, and I couldn’t be happier. For the most part, they’ve been killing it!!
One of the latest series I’m super stoked for is Mindhunter. Partly because it revolves around real life serial killers, and partly because three episodes are directed by David Fincher.
David Fincher’s return to True Crime!! If you haven’t seen his film Zodiac, you’re doing yourself a disservice. It’s recently been dubbed the best true crime film of the 21st century.
In the trailer we see our two main characters, FBI agents John E. Douglas and Robert Ressler, persuing some of the most notorius serial killers of the 1970’s. Most notably we see who appears to be Edmund Kemper, a man that killed his mother and grandparents. As well as abducted and murdered women from 1964-1973. There’s a lot of other grisly details that I won’t go into, just know that he was a real peach.
● Track Info ●
Trivia Plug Music:
SKGB – Ridin Dirty Wit Ganesha
Disclaimer Music:
David Mumford – Night Without Sleep (Instrumental)
What We’re Drinking music by:
audionautix.com
_________________________________________________
Join Us Every 1st and 3rd Monday at Fallout, and every 2nd and 4th Tuesday at Wonderland for GUI Trivia! 8-10 pm
