Anyone here ever write anything about MST3K? There’s quite a lot of Fan Art but did anyone here write Fan Fiction or factual articles about MST3K?
I used to write for some fanzines as a teenager, but I’ve been fortunate enough to get paid to cover MST3K for Screen Rant as an adult.
Here’s a few quick lists to things I’ve written, professionally and for my own blog.
Well you’re in luck. I found a couple of good MST3K fanfics on both fanfiction.net and archiveofourown.org!
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11043548/1/Mystery-Science-Theater-3000-Sick-Daze
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2725874/1/Evolving-Tradition
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11251413/1/Mystery-Science-Theater-3000-Powerless
I’m currently working on a few longer/multi-chapter fics that I haven’t started posting yet, and I’ve posted some shorter ones on my Archive account (remylebae), which I’ll link below. I think there are some really wonderful fics on archiveofourown.org and if you’re interested in reading fic for the show, definitely check them out! Also, I’d love to see older fics that might not be on Archive or Fanficdotnet if anyone has them!
I interviewed Rebecca Hanson right before the Kickstarter ended:
And Kevin Murphy right before Samurai Cop came out:
I also interviewed him back in 2008:
I’ve also interviewed Har Mar Superstar a few times, but most of them were before he sang the MST3K theme song, and since his recent behavior has been s3x petish, I’m not as proud of that one anymore.
I’ve also interviewed Patton Oswalt, but before he was Max, and the Internet seems to have lot that one.
I’ve also got a lot of MST3K/Rifftrax/Cinematic Titanic posts on my blog:
OMG you even have the Eye Of Argon and the Marrissa stories!
I laugh myself silly everytime I try to read the Eye of Argon.
(side note: if you want to jump directly to that, (which I highly recommend starting out with) the URL is here: The Eye of Argon)
I once finagled my way into a freelance writing gig over on syfy.com and they let me write this, which sums up my feels as a female MSTie:
I wrote MiSTings of other fanfics back in the late 2000’s using the crew of the Satellite of Love and I’m extremely embarrassed by them, as they have aged like fine milk. They will not be linked here but that is something that I did. For those not in the know, MiSTings were basically like riffing on fanfiction, and I remember my first exposure to the concept was a website that did it for webcomics in the early 2000’s, though they did not use any MST3K characters. Instead I remember them using a lot of OCs and characters from video games, Space Ghost and anime. It was extremely early 2000’s. I wish I could remember the name of the site. They MiSTed a lot of David Gonterman’s comics, which were… something, alright.
Perhaps someday I might try one again because I remember I had a lot of fun writing them but I doubt it. I don’t want to come across like I’m bullying some poor fic author over something they wrote in high school that they’re probably embarrassed about by now anyway… unless it was something like, I don’t know, the Jeff the Killer Creepypasta or something. I feel like that thing has taken on such a life of its own I might be in the clear. Or maybe Sonic.exe because the guy who wrote that turned out to be a creep, so screw 'em.
One reason I find MSTings of fanfics to be rather cruel, is that this is amateur writing, often by very, very young people, learning how to write.
Pretty much every published SF writer I ever met started out by writing Star Trek fanfic. I have to think that MSTings can crush the spirit of potential writers.
So I would say, like the fanfic or don’t like the fanfic, but there’s no good reason the mock the efforts of others.
Unless you have their permission, of course.
I’ve been thinking similarly. I know the people that tend to write fics that are REALLY BAD are often times usually 12 year olds in fandom spaces for the first time. The way we grow as writers is through failing a lot, and it sucks when you’re failing publicly and risk having those failures mocked and ridiculed. I’ve seen people on twitter talk about how MSTings of their fics at a young age messed up their confidence as writers. IDK, I’m just not a fan.
We may not see eye to eye on every last thing, but Good Gravy I wish I could like this 50 times.
I have tried to read MSTings of other fandoms’ fanfics, but apart from the points you made, I simply couldn’t make my poor brain work on that many levels at once. Trying to form visuals for whatever the fandom was, then the contributed story over that, and layering (imagined) visuals for the riffers over that… [sigh] It was just too much work.
I can only really chalk it up to me being younger and dumber and it just being a different time on the internet. I made sure to only do it to fics written by adults but… like I said, I don’t like those MiSTings I made, they weren’t good, but MiSTings are a part of fanfic history, I guess. I got exposed to a lot of crazy stories I would have otherwise never come across if it weren’t for the MiSTings. They don’t really fit into the modern internet landscape and are now just a curious relic of the internet’s past, when it was open season on just about any kind of bad writing or art. It was an interesting time, trying to find the next My Immortal or Christian Humbler Reloaded.
To be honest, I do get a lot of genuine joy from some of these bad fanworks. It’s hard to explain, but I appreciate them and I’m happy from reading them, even if that joy is mixed with confusion, laughter, and sometime horror. I love that all these weird stories exist on the internet and I can read them, even if they’re old and the authors have since moved on and matured. It’s a part of internet weirdness and I love the weird parts of the internet.
MiSTings were an attempt to express that enjoyment but yeah, I can see how they were mean-spirited and not very constructive or helpful. Like I said, the culture online was just… different. I think now we, as netizens, are more sensitive to hurting beginner and young creators, and I think that’s a good thing. It’s just weird looking back. It’s hard to explain.
Years ago, I wanted to submit a MSTing I did with Mike and the Bots of the 1984 Care Bears TV special The Care Bears Battle the Freeze Machine to Shinji’s Vault of Anime MSTings…which is now long gone.
I never had the chance to do it. And I had some good riffs. I’m still debating whether to redo it.