Around 2019, a youtuber, GaryInMotion, was creating “cinema editions” of MST3K and RiffTrax films and posting to YouTube. These were complete and uncut versions of the films/television episodes featured on the show using the best source possible (making some of the formerly terrible looking films look GORGEOUS) and would overlay the riffing from the episodes timed perfectly. No shadowrama, no outside the theater skits or footage, just the film and the audio commentary.
I actually fell in love with these versions, especially for the TV films, which in the case of Riding with Death, he restored the episode format for each part, which meant the original “Gemini Man” titles, no ADR inserts to set up the second half of the film from a different episode, and I think even the Abby insert shots of the second half were removed, as they were only put in to give her some sort of presence for the film. Of course, any time riffs were specifically focused on these moments, they were removed, but that’s okay. Another favorite was the Last Clear Chance short, which I never realized had an entire filmed segment where Officer Hal purses Robert Bainbridge on the incident that led to his death (it was exorcised during the commercial break). Even my all-time favorite episode San Francisco International had a complete version, with numerous small moments restored that kinda fill out the episode much better.
Sadly, GaryInMotion was featured in a Paste.com article last year, which many, including myself, believe led to the demise of the channel. Soon after, all episodes were wiped from the channel and, supposedly, the entire Internet, and even the Channel has been shut down for violation of terms of service. Of course, I can’t blame anyone who might have called for this. If it was Shout Factory or whoever holds the rights to the episodes, and thus the riffing, it makes sense, and if it was the rights holders of the films/tv episodes, that makes sense as well. Still, it was great seeing both the full versions of these experiments in their best forms possible and the accompanying riff that made us fall in love with them in the first place. Maybe someday they’ll return to the net for us to enjoy (and properly archive this time).
I was, sadly, totally unaware of this until just now. I’ve wondered how seeing the restored Manos + riffs would change the experience … so bummed that I didn’t get to experience these.
Those were great. I watched them all the time on YouTube before they were taken down. I remember last year sometime he made a post on his twitter account saying he’d make an announcement on the future of the Cinema Editions on (I think) Halloween of last year. Sadly nothing ever came of it and it looks like he deleted all of his tweets. I was, however, able to find copies of some of them in some dark recesses of the internet that I probably shouldn’t have been visiting.
Gary for some reason bolted very early from the encoder community and deleted his hi-res links. If he hadn’t been such a lone wolf, who knows what the situation would be now. His branding was strong, and it was taken down. There are people out there that collect his versions as mentioned, they’re not bad, but not very many are in 1080p.
Also when it comes to movies like Sidehackers and Zombie Nightmare, some of those edits I’d have preferred to keep. Though it was interesting to see what they had cut from the films. Which you watch in abject terror and silence lol.
Someone else going by the name of herod synced up at least 3 KTMA episodes to 1080p Blurays of the movies. THAT was very cool.
I know EXACTLY what you’re speaking of! He used clips from Horror on Spider Island with all the girls shouting “GARY!” and it seemed like he’d be coming back. I was so disappointed nothing came of it. HoSI is so public domain it seemed like it’d be a perfect way to come back. Real shame.
Some of those sequences were great when restored, like the one in Last Clear Chance or the dune buggy action sequence in Mitchell that saw the demise of John Saxon’s character.
I sure would like to know of these people who collected them. Lack of 1080p is sad but I’ve never let that keep me from enjoying quality riffing.
I have an UN MSTied version of Mitchell on VHS. My buddy by happenstance looked into one of those Barrel of movies they used to have at Target/Hy-Vee/KingSupers and boom. He picked it up and showed it to me. NGL I kept going to church for a few years after that because if that wasn’t divine intervention what is. It’s now signed by the Mads.
That is an absolute ridiculously AWESOME cover! There’s so much wrong with it: the helicopter with no landing gear, the ladder attached to nothing, Linda Evans’ expression, San Francisco in the background despite the film being set in Los Angeles (reminds me of the equally “awesome” poster of Godzilla and Megalon fighting atop the World Trade Center), everything about Mitchell, including the look of the title…and yet if you saw this on the theater marquee, you wouldn’t be able to get tickets for WEEKS! This needs to be blown up into poster size!
