Makes sense, Dana is a friend of the show. He has appeared in lots of stuff, and also does the voice for the videogame character Gex.
1 Like
My favorites were The Alien Factor and Rattlers. I got to see them do “The Doll Squad” live and really wish they could have released that one. Francine York was their special guest, and I still have her business card.
4 Likes
Oh yeah. My mistake. Right. It was Herb Alpert or Chunk Mangione or somebody.
But, they really committed to that bit, I guess, as much as I disapprove. Wait a minute…no, it was Al Hirt, mister “Honey in The Horn,” wasn’t it?
I don’t know and I’m not going to look it up: it really doesn’t matter.
No, I’m sure the infamous Buddy Rich “bus tapes” are still out there on youtube, along with the Orson Welles Paul Masson outtakes among others: those are funny because, while Buddy Rich is out of his gourd, his voice is more or less not shouting…he just sounds demented, like a sociopath. Although he does get a little bit…intense. Right on the edge between shouting and being like a deranged lunatic.
Definitely not political correct, although I don’t recall him actually cursing, except maybe some mild “oaths.”
What is this? The sons of David softball team? (He was complaining about some of the kids in the horn section wearing beards, in probably the early 1970s). I think that’s as offensive as Rich got in terms of invective.
3 Likes
An anniversary to celebrate!
7 Likes
Ahh, Alien Factor. I can never not vote for that. So… incredibly…goofy.
But as has been pointed out. The live shows were the best. As anyone who has seen a live Rifftrax or MST3K show can attest. I just wish I could have seen a Mads show live.
3 Likes
The first one I ever saw was Blood of the Vampires, and it was at a theater 5 minutes from me.
Needless to say, the ridiculousness of the story stuck with me, let alone its a Mexican story but shot in the Philippines.
The film plays fast and loose with vampire “rules,” given these vampires can see their own reflection, and can even be out in the daylight.
There also is the running gag about how the father suffers chest pains, seems to be on the verge of death, yet finds the strength to whip his vampire wife and chase after her.
It also doesn’t help that the father brought this whole thing largely upon his family.
For some strange reason, after his wife died, she came back to life as a vampire. We don’t know how the father found this out, but for a really stupid reason, he seems to have had a large stone basement built into the house (that his kids don’t know about!), moved his wife’s coffin in there…but leaves her unchained, until she gets unruly, and then he whips her into submission and chains her with the help of his poor manservant.
And then I guess he unchains his wife so she can get back into her coffin and rest?
I still love the one line: “so this is the giant stone basement you want me to burn down?”
But yeah, the father’s stupidity leads to the destruction of his entire family…thanks, Dahd.
7 Likes
I think this one is my favorite, as well.
3 Likes
Agreed.
2 Likes
I was thinking about how MST3K has done films RiffTrax has previously riffed (Ator, Wizards of the Lost Kingdom and others, and vice versa (Magic Sword, Hobgoblins, Manos), and The Mads have done things riffed by MST3K and RiffTrax (Manos, Santa Claus, The Devil’s Hand). Even The Film Crew had one of theirs redone, Killers from Space, albeit by the exact same team at RiffTrax.
Cinematic Titanic rerriffed Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, but none of the other films they riffed have been touched by other members of the Best Brains crew. I was wondering if any were revisited, who would be the best to handle them?
I don’t know that any of them would touch The Oozing Skull, but I believe Doomsday Machine and The Wasp Woman are Public Domain, so that could fit The Mads’ needs. The Wasp Woman could also be a good fit for Bridget & Mary Jo.
RiffTrax riffed Don Dohler’s Galaxy Invader, so his The Alien Factor might be a good fit for them. Rattlers also has a RiffTrax feel.
War of the Insects could be a good fit for MST3K proper,
If we go for the episodes that were never filmed, The Doll Squad could be a good fit for Bridget & Mary Jo, while Samson and the Seven Miracles of the World would work with the sword and sorcery films MST3K has done.
Left field choice for The Astral Factor, which exists thanks to a fan recording: Bridget and Chris watching it on a Movie Jo Night.
What do you think, sirs?
6 Likes
I love it!
2 Likes
4 Likes
Just found this 2010 CNN article while doing some digging on CT. (Heads up: the page loaded very slowly for me, but YMMV.)
2 Likes
Buddy Rich’s tantrum and then the wasp attack happening in the YouTube marathon right now.
Never change, Frank. 
4 Likes
And OMG! I forgot that The Wasp Woman has Bruno VeSota as the night watchman, too.
2 Likes
For those of you familiar with Cinematic Titanic, how’s the content vs. MST3k? I’ve seen the Wasp Woman and War of the Insects episodes and I do remember Joel and co. cursing a bit more but still keeping everything basically PG-13.
That said, from what I can tell on IMDB, some of the other films featured on CT have some more R rated content. Do they cut down the films or edit them any or is all that left in? RiffTrax does a pretty good job giving folks a heads up about what’s in any given movie they have on their website but content information on the CT stuff is hard to come by.
3 Likes
There’s more swearing, including one usage of the N-Word in East Meets Watts (from the film, not CT) that gets an amazing reaction from the cast.
There’s some creative silhouette covering of nudity.
The Wasp Woman is probably closest to MST3K in terms of film type. Things like The Oozing Skull and East Meets Watts are 70s exploitation films, so the content is more “mature” than a lot of the films on MST3K.
4 Likes
Well, Rattlers is maybe a tad spicy in content…in a sort of tame way. I believe some of the “bathtub scene was cut” (for shame!).
I’m a bit dismayed that jazz organ legend Charles Earland didn’t get much of a mention during East Meets Watts: he created a very idiomatic soundtrack for that one…just perfect for that era and featuring some fine performances.
3 Likes
The N-word is the one that sticks out to me. The cast reaction is appropriate and priceless.
In general the movies tend in a more exploitative direction. They censor any nudity, as far as I recall. Usually with blimps. I couldn’t say if the movies are edited or cut down otherwise.
It’s probably safe to say the riffing content is closest to Rifftrax. In that neighborhood. It’s much tamer, language wise, than The Mads are Back. I wouldn’t let my 9-year-old watch, but it’s all good for me.
Imdb is probably a good source for individual movie content. You may also be able to find reviews of the individual moves or even reviews of the CT episodes.
Are you wanting to know what you’re in for, or do you have a young or sensitive audience you’re trying to look out for?
If I can find my DVD set I’ll see if it has any information included.
3 Likes
Thanks, I appreciate the help. Basically, I just wanna know what I’m in for.
How sleazy are the movies, are they cut, etc?
From what I’ve seen looking at the IMDb listings for the movies themselves, I was curious if they cut the sleazier moments out of Tiki Island, Frankensteins Castle of Freaks, etc.
Or how gory do things get cause it’s mostly 70’s grind house stuff, you know?
My wife and I enjoy RiffTrax but we definitely appreciate their efforts at self rating their movies (though they used to not do that and I have to imagine my frequent emails to them probably encouraged them to start, lol!) and we like to avoid anything that gets into R-rated territory regarding gore, nudity, language, etc. Just our personal preference.
3 Likes
I’m not a great judge of ratings by content. I feel like they kept it below an R. YMMV. You might skip the very first one, what was it? The Oozing Skull, had to look it up. I recall some goop. There was definitely oozing.
6 Likes