Future Live Event Feature Suggestions

The Gizmoplex The Virtual Theater
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After hearing the Q&A Discussion from S13 E02, I have one suggestion for a way to enjoy a communal experience. This would be a bit code-intensive, but I would love a Periscope-like feature during live screenings on the Gizmoplex wherein people can spam different emoticons (potentially MST3K-specific emoticons) while they watch and see the volume of emoticons in real time. Thus, everyone can react with joy and/or despair as an event goes on in real time. This would be also good to experience for those who want to participate but the chat goes too fast for.

What other ideas would y’all like to see implemented to enjoy a live-audience experience?

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What I’m discovering in watching the live events — which I really enjoy — is that the chat streams are really overwhelming to me to follow and participate in, so I end up texting separately with my friends who I know are watching. I’m wondering, is there maybe a way of making these two things meet in the middle? My first thought was to allow for private chat rooms where I could just invite a bunch of my friends (and their friends, and so on, and so on) to watch and chat — but if that’s too technically complicated or exclusive, maybe even just having more “rows” of the Kingadome would work, so we could say “Let’s all meet in row 14!” and have a space where we know we could all hear each other without being drowned out by the flood of comments.

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As for suggestions to make it feel like more of a special event for everyone, what if you had people send in a quick 10 second clip introducing themselves, saying where they are watching from, etc… and you pick a handful of them at breaks or intermission to show? Or ask viewers questions during intermissions and then show the answers later or at the end of the broadcast.

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Allow people to have Zoom-esque watch parties, where friends can watch together, or open ones for people who are friendless or near it. Not that I know anyone like that.

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I worked with some magicians during the height of the pandemic, and that’s a model that has some similarities here. The challenge was to keep audiences engaged with a medium they are often not engaged with… people are checking their phones or doing chores while watching screens, which is not something you do in a theater. What absolutely failed with online magic was someone who did their act to the camera, so even though it was live it was no different from watching a prerecorded video. It was personal interaction that made it work. And the best ones brought participants into an immersive fiction. It wasn’t just “I need someone to pick a card” but “can you help me with this situation we all find ourselves in?”

While it’s not practical to interact with every person, perhaps if hosts and bots, in character, brought in a select few members to the hexfield viewscreen for an improvised moment can bring that sense of community. “It may not be me up there, but it’s someone like me.” These people could be given the title of Gizmoplex Interactive Vice Executive Uber Presidents, or GIVEUP for short.

(Yeah I went for a joke there at the end, but this is a legit suggestion.)

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It might be tough to pull off due to Universal, but I would love to see an event with a screening of MST3K: The Movie.

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If possible, I can think of a couple of live events that I would like to see that may not even require showing an actual movie.

Specifically, I really enjoyed seeing the cast and crew playing Jackbox Games together as the Kickstarter campaign was going. I think it could be fun to do those as a monthly event. It was fun just to hear everyone bounce off of one another. I am not sure about the rights issues regarding streaming the game, but I feel like the developer could be open to that.

Other things along those lines could be fun, even more of the watch-alongs with the writers and cast just watching an old episode over a zoom meeting. It was really fun to experience these sorts of things during the Kickstarter campaign and I am hoping for more. Maybe not in this first six months or so, but in the future as a bonus. I would be very interested in tuning into things like this.

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Here’s something that I hope happens for future live events. Given that this one was pre-recorded, I think I’d be fine in the future for the post-show Q&A to be presented in-person (with those from LA or MN maybe Zooming in for brief segments) at the Alterniversal Offices. Take a look at something like Talks Machina for Critical Role, just a very laid back Q&A every week about the most recent episode.

I think one of the things that hurts the post-show right now imho is the fact that it’s a zoom call. You get a lot of “Oh I’m sorry, let me just, oh no… whoops. I’m sorry, you go,” kinda talk on these shows and it kind of takes me away from the fun “communal experience” to remind me that I’m sitting alone in my room watching on my laptop.

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Someone had mentioned in the chat that it would be cool to show the movies on their own and it got me thinking. I was thinking it would be really cool to see a feature where people can do private riffs for their friends. Maybe have little avatar silhouettes that kinda bounce when they talk. They could do watch parties where they riff with friends. Maybe some people could come in and watch them do it. Hopefully family friendly, of course.

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Years ago I edited together rough drafts of a few short films (Last Clear Chance, etc.) that had parts cut out of it at the usual commercial break. I believe Rhino or Shout! did this with a release or two, but showing the MST3k portion of the episode, then what portion that was cut was a different experience.

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Yes! The Jackbox games were, far and away, the most fun, engaging, and interactive events last year, during the Kickstarter. They were an absolute blast, particularly as they involved audience participation. In our house, these were the special events that had us the most excited.

They should absolutely setup regular Jackbox game events–with that special MST3K flavor–in the Gizmoplex.

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I’d be all for this.

The magic acts as part of the MST3K telethons were so much fun, and to have an element of that brought into the Gizmoplex live events would be something inspired.

Also, welcome to the forums!

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This was discussed in a previous thread. They didn’t want people to “sneak” off with friends, they are trying to get more people to be together, who maybe wouldn’t normally be. There are separate chats now, but they are created by them.

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I wonder if they plan on doing a live riff. Like they do on tour.

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I’ll make a list of a few ideas I had in the live thread. About to doze off, so I’ll come up with more creative stuff later:

-“The Mindless Summer” Strikes Back, but only if it has the cast dressed up the same way again. One or two Gizmoplex events maximum, if only to bring back the vibe of the live re-riffing. Yes, this means Jonah and Tim have to do their “ranty guy in sunglasses” intros again after Matt introduces them, no exceptions. :stuck_out_tongue:

-MST3K plays Rifftrax: The Game?
Team MST3K vs. Team Rifftrax in either Rifftrax: The Game or something similar?

-THE MADS event (providing that all is well between Joel, Trace and Frank)

-Another appearance from a past MST3K actor (Reb Brown? Arch Hall Jr.?)

-Servo Night, Crow Night or Host Night. May be easier said than done, but getting most (or all) actors who played a character on screen might be great. A conversation between Joel, Emily, Jonah and Mike would be awesome.

-Shout! Factory Night At The Gizmoplex: Shout has way too many licensed properties. Maybe fans can vote on a movie or TV episode from their library that they’d like to watch live, and Shout can work out a one-night-only stream of the MSTies’ choice, with reactions by the MST3K crew before, after and during intermission? The tough part is going to be whether or not I want to see SCTV, Evangelion or Escape From New York… :thinking:

-Live Tour Night: Trace mentioned on Jonah’s podcast that Jim Mallon might still own a lot of the “official” footage of the early MST3K live performances…but if Joel or Shout has any footage, it’d be awesome to see. Also, if any of the MST3K live shows of the past few years were professionally recorded, this would be an awesome way to see them.

-KTMA Night: Similar to the above - if more master versions of KTMA episodes exist, they would be awesome to see. Opportunity might be there with Million Eyes of Sumuru considering that was originally a KTMA episode. And it would be awesome to see J. Elvis and (perhaps) Trace in a discussion with Joel and Matt post-show.

I can’t think of anything else right now, but kudos to Matt for bringing the idea up. There are a ton of possibilities here and I’m sure we’ll be able to brainstorm some awesome ideas.

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The Waverly & Growler Power Hour. W & G take live calls from MSTies Worldwide.

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In all languages!

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I’ve been doing some soul searching since the after-show and I think I decided that what I liked most about Endless Summer and the Kickstarter streams was watching the cast get a chance to be hilarious together. The talking over the episodes wasn’t as much fun as watching everyone talk to each other afterwards and the Jackbox streams were a total blast.

The behind the scenes peeks are fun, but watching the cast goof off together really endeared them to me. Not sure what that looks like as a regular event, but those are my thoughts.

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I really, really hope that the Rifftrax Live events in the theaters have the option to see it in the Gizmoplex, too. I don’t feel comfortable going to the theaters still, but I want to be able to support the Rifftrax crew.

Having a partnership with the Gizmoplex might reduce costs for them, give them broader ticket sales options, and allow them to continue producing more live events!

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Rifftrax is able to do their live shows thanks to a deal with Fathom, and Fathom demands exclusivity. It’s why they can’t offer any downloads or DVDs of the live show until 3 months after the shows. Pretty sure that rules out a Gizmoplex stream.

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