Here’s an idea. Assuming the original puppets arn’t around still, would it be possible to do a kickstarter that would COMPLETLY refilm the original KTMA episodes?
The script would be exactly the same, the sets would be re created as closee as possible. and new jokes could be added in to padd out the quieter moments.
I kind of feel like these need to be updated to widescreen just for posterity :).
They’re doing The Million Eyes of Sumuru this season. I am guessing it’s hard to get the rights to some of them.
Modern technology allows anyone to give it a shot for little cost.
There once was a great hero named GaryInMotion who took MST3K episodes, remastered them with high-quality versions of the movie and inserted cut scenes. He was harassed by copyright owners so badly he finally unplugged his YouTube channel. MST3K gave value to some really crappy films and the copyright owners will squeeze every penny out of them that they can.
I begged with him to upload to DailyMotion where they don’t give a damn, but he wouldn’t do it.
I was working on a recreation of K03, the lost episode. If you’re interested, here’s a link to that project. The K03 Recreation Project
Personally though, I’m not for recreating the old episodes. I would like to see reriffs to the KTMA movies, but doing identical remakes seems like a waste of time to me.
I’d be more happy if they’d finally “find” episode K03…
Methinks he’s unable to, for legal reasons. Sad to say, because some of those experiments become very engaging when seen in full.
I have wanted them to re-riff Moon Zero Two*, SST Death Flight, Superdome and City on Fire for literal years.
Let’s wait until they really get their chops honed.
I think this cast has been good since the beginning, but that’s me. The rhythm in Santo is perfect.
I just watched K01 yesterday while building a chair, and I’m glad I had something to occupy me, because the jokes were like one every 3-5 minutes on that episode. Joel doesn’t even enter the theater until like 2 minute into the film. The jokes pacing picks up a bit when Crow joins him halfway through the film, but it’s still far slower on the jokes than even season 1 on Comedy Channel. They’re also not necessarily the sharpest jokes, but due to the improv nature, often the simplest obvious jokes. Like, Joel repeats a “pull my finger” gag 3-4 times through the episode.
I can see the appeal the show had when it first aired, since the episode has the feel of watching a cheesy movie on TV with your roommates, especially with both Crow and Joel entering and leaving the theater at random point. Crow even asks “what did I miss?” a few times. At the time, the show was basically a bonus over just watching a b-movie on its own, which was a common practice for many, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the later joke-loaded episodes. Likewise, with the host segments, they’re ok, but the bots act very differently and there’s not a lot to them. To me, the episode has interest as a historical artifact of a show I like, but this episode is not likely to get many rewatches from me, if at all.
In terms of the show remaking them, aside from the monetary costs, one has to consider the time and effort in just taking the time to refilm them, which would take away time they have to make all-new episodes or shorts. Also, I don’t think Joel is all that enthused about these episodes. Like, he’s proud in one sense in that they’re the origin of the show, but also a much weaker version of the show before they figured everything out and hit their grove. They’re like a rough draft; necessary to get to the final work, but not necessarily something one wants to share with the whole world.
Likewise, I think for the fans, the KTMA episode are a niche within a niche. I’ve been watching the show since the Comedy Channel years, but I never sat down and watched a full KTMA episode until yesterday, and I wasn’t impressed. So I think to suddenly spring on most fans a “new” episode that’s a much slower pace and more scattered in joke delivery would lead to a lot of confusion and questioning of why the show was releasing these.
I’m all for preserving, and even remastering the KTMA episodes to provide them in as high as quality as possible, but I think remaking them as-is would be going to far. I am fine with them redoing a movie from that era though.