The official MST3K youtube channel just uploaded a clip from The Incredibly Strange Creatures which contains a bunch of transphobic jokes.
The fact that these jokes exist, I can live with. These episodes were made in another era. I would just ask that you refrain from using those jokes in promotional materials.
I think this should go for at least the blatant jokes at the expense of all LGBTQ+ groups, ethnicities, etc. I agree: let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater, but let’s not make T-shirts advertising boiled children either.
Probably a good idea. But, the redeeming quality is that due to this one and other experiments, the “little sizzler” is now part of my active vocabulary. Strange bit of slang never encountered elsewhere by me.
They were way harsh on the main woman dancer: she did have a kind of mannish square jaw, I suppose, but she didn’t really deserve all she got from the riffers.
I concur with the original post. It is mean and counterproductive to focus on the small minded bully humor of the 90’s. That’s why I don’t watch those seasons.
So this video is still up and I can promise you it’s lost you more fans than it’s gained. Can someone please have a word with whoever is in charge of the channel about removing or unlisting it? Or pick a different bit of the movie?
I think that’s a reasonable take. It’s one thing to say “Sorry, we didn’t know better at the time,” and keep the episode as it originally ran. It’s another thing to say “Here’s one of our greatest hits!” and post two minutes of trans jokes.
Would it really hurt the YouTube channel to take the clip down? It’s been eight months, and it’s just one clip.
We can all still sing about blowing up Canada, though, right? Right?
I mean, personally, I wasn’t particularly happy about that one even back in the day.
I think we’re approaching Ship of Theseus philosophy then
nah
Hmm, well i backed it because I liked the humor from the 90s… i thought thats when it aired?
pal, very few are talking about removing jokes.
the concerned seem to want to take focus away from the jokes which have become more offensive over time. the theseus reference might be a bit hyperbolic, but congrats on playing the contrarian & talking down to your forum mates.
keep on foruming
Hey, no problem
(You can vote to edit me next)
I don’t think the episodes need to be edited. There’s humor in the original series – especially in seasons 9 and 10 – that kind of made me cringe at the time, where the riffing started going beyond commentary on the movie and just started getting into making fun of different groups of people – Japanese culture in Prince of Space and Invasion of the Neptune Men, Canada in The Final Sacrifice, that weird sort of obsession that Crow had with Maltese men, I think it was in The Final Justice? Like… the joke wasn’t even that the writers had anything against Maltese men, they just thought it would be funny if Crow did for no reason? Some humor just hits different twenty years later.
Do I think these episodes should be taken down? Not really. I still think there’s a lot of good episodes from that era, and I’m willing to put up with a little cringing to get through them. Thing is, the MST3K teams, past and present, have shown a certain awareness of the fact that times have changed and they’ve been good enough to just sort of politely stop. Like, watch Bill Corbett during the live stream of Werewolf, he’s groaning about some of the jokes he said. Just one example, but y’know. Sometimes you’ve just got to say, they apologized, let’s move on.
The problem with highlighting that clip for the YouTube channel is that it was a conscious choice made fairly recently. People could reasonably watch it and wonder, if they chose this particular 4-minute clip out of a 90-minute episode, does this reflect their current values? Are they proud of this? Do they still think this is fine?
I guess the question is, now that they have posted the clip, what should be done about it? Is it important that it stays up? What is the purpose of having those clips on YouTube, are they ads for the full episodes, or just fun little freebies to share with the community, or some other purpose? Is it serving that purpose anymore, eight months later? The clip is only a part of a larger episode, which is still available. What would it mean if it was removed? Would the people who were offended by it feel better? Would the people who weren’t offended be angry? Why would they be angry?
It’s as if they never got the word that dancing is a form of athletics and so dancers will have visible muscles. 
My word, Mrs. Potroast, you are an oak! I was just summoned, so I arrived!
No, I don’t have anything to add to the thread: it is an odd choice to promo/bumper stuff that is pretty much well in the past.
OTOH, maybe that’s a nostalgia market, or something.
I don’t really know. I think I agree with @CPFace’s take, though. But, I don’t know any of the motivations, if any, behind any choices made for advertising purposes.
Hello! Thank you!
Well, there’s always the dolphin killing festival and Tojo’s death car,.
I think at least one value of releasing the clips regularly is just to maintain a YouTube presence. The content is already made, so it’s relatively easy to just pull clips and post them, it’s something to entice people to subscribe, and then when you have a major announcement like your Kickstarter or the debut of the Gizmoplex, you’ve got a platform with an established audience to broadcast it to.