“Mystery Science Theater 3000” stars Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett know a thing or two about bad movies.
With the news that the show is being revived for four new episodes and the veteran “MST3K” trio are returning, fans have wondered which movies they might skewer. In an interview with Variety, Nelson, Murphy, and Corbett said that they are zeroing in on just the right choices.
“[Our] eyes are on films that are more like the ones that we used to do — sort of corny, nothing too absolutely current,” Murphy told Variety. “Sort of classic bad, if that makes any sense, rather than modern bad.”
Given that their Kickstarter campaign for the new episodes blew past its funding goal in a matter of hours, the audience’s appetite for cheesy movies (and seeing these three riff on them) is as strong as ever. Corbett calls the excitement around their return to the show “great and vindicating and exciting and a little terrifying.” But as they are celebrating the 20th anniversary of RiffTrax — largely the spiritual successor to “MST3K” — the trio has certainly not been sitting idle.
Still, this marks their first return to “MST3K” both in front of and behind the camera since the original show signed off the Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) back in 1999. It is also the beginning of a new era of the show since it was officially announced just a few weeks ago that original creator Joel Hodgson had sold his interest in the series to Shout! Studios parent company Radial Entertainment.
But fans seemingly have little to worry about, as these three are as game as ever to try to keep their sanity with the help of their robot friends.
Check out the full Q&A below.
This interview was conducted on Feb. 4. It has been edited and condensed.
The Kickstarter campaign has raised over $1.3 million in just two days. How does it feel to see that kind of support right out of the gate?
Bill Corbett: It feels great and vindicating and exciting and a little terrifying. We have to justify that now, and I think we can. But, you know, it’s been a while.
Kevin Murphy: It’s really nice that even after all this time, people still have a fondness for the show, the way we did the show. And I think that’s what we’re seeing there.
I looked this up and the budget of the Joe Don Baker film “Mitchell” was $1.16 million, so you did a “Mitchell” in one day.
Murphy: Wow, we did a “Mitchell!”
Michael J. Nelson: We’d have to look at the dollar amount in the calculator and see are we still ahead in today’s money.
Well, no one is ever going to be ahead of Joe Don Baker.
Corbett: I wouldn’t recommend it. He’d knock you right over.
But seriously, when did the conversations between RiffTrax and Shout! Studios to bring back “MST3K” start?
Corbett: That that was at least six months ago, but more, really, I think. Right, guys? Like maybe nine months ago, eight months ago?
Murphy: Yeah, it was last year, I think in the spring, but in the meantime, Shout! Factory went through this merger, which sort of delayed things for a while…And they were in the middle of, as everyone learned, acquiring all the rights to the show from Joel.
Corbett: I just want to make it clear, we are perfectly happy AARP guys. They asked us. And I think the thing that we came up with that sounds exciting also sounds risky too, like if we don’t recapture the magic, or if somebody gets a glimpse of me and goes, “Oh my god, what happened to him?!” Me specifically. But the thing that I think ameliorated it for us was we said, “Can we take a relatively small bite and do four?”
Kevin, you referenced doing the show the way you guys used to do it. What does that mean specifically?
Murphy: Well, when I first heard that they might want to do this, I talked to our old DP, Jeff Stonehouse…And he said, “Oh, do it old school. We need to do this old school the way that we did it then.” He was such a wizard at doing in-camera effects. And then having all our props hand built, and not relying on any sort of digital compositing or green screen beyond what we need to do in order to make the shadow work and go through the doors, simple things like that…It really makes the thing that much more fun for us and for everyone involved, because it’s all hands on.
And you guys are celebrating the 20th anniversary of RiffTrax this year. What sorts of things have you learned in that time that you want to bring to these new episodes of “MST3K?”
Nelson: Well, I would speak for Kevin here. Kevin has learned nothing in 20 years.
Murphy: Not a damn thing. Really, one thing I know that we’ve learned to do better is to is how to riff. We’ve learned to take our time, let the movie be the straight person, and set up the jokes for us better. So we have a lot of punch lines. And I know we’ve learned to feel like dead space is not what we think it is. People aren’t yearning for us to keep doing an endless stream of jokes.
It’s strange to me that outside of “MST3K” and RiffTrax, not too many people have tried to take riffing to the level you all have taken it to. Why do you think that is?
Nelson: I think one of the reasons for that…It’s that it’s really hard to to riff the way that we do. And it’s a writing that’s not very rewarding for the average person who just wants to be a writer…This is very technical writing. I happen to enjoy it. I think everyone that works with us enjoys it and loves that outcome of it, but it is really, really difficult. And I don’t mean to say that — we’re not nuclear sub runners here or anything — but I’m just saying it’s hard. And people often go like, “This sounds like fun!” Then they do it for two minutes and they go “Wow, this is really hard.”
Corbett: There is almost an element of masochism in writing it. I mean, I think we’ve gotten over it because we’ve gotten good at it. It’s a weird thing to be good at, but we are absolutely the specialists in the world…We are not intimidated by many movies, although some we just feel like that’s not going to be fun, or that’s one we should just pass on. We have a pretty good nose for movies that are just not going to work. And that’s most of them, really.
Nelson: We always have some people complain. They’re like, “Hey, why would you do this movie? That’s a good movie!” We’re like, “Yeah, we’ve done a lot of good movies, movies that we like,” but the commentary then would match the thing. If you sit with a good friend of yours and you’re watching a movie that you like, and then he’s riffing on it, you’d say, “Hey, man, come on.” So that’s our intent. We also enjoy this movie, and therefore the comments match it, but we’re still being funny. So that’s a challenge that I actually love.
I know you guys are going to reveal the four movies you’ll be doing over the course of the Kickstarter campaign, but what can you share about them? Are you targeting older movies like “MST3K” typically did or more modern ones?
Murphy: Well, I’d say since we know that we’re revisiting “Mystery Science Theater,” the way that we knew it and loved it, that our eyes are on films that are more like the ones that we used to do — sort of corny, nothing too absolutely current. Sort of classic bad, if that makes any sense, rather than modern bad…We’re casting the net to find just the right bad for us that fits with the puppets, rather than the three of us and our voices. And there is a little bit of a difference there. “Mystery Science Theater” was always more family friendly. RiffTrax tends to be a little bit…more out there these days.
Nelson: We hate families at RiffTrax.
Then you announced that all four episodes will be released on RiffTrax later this year. Was there any discussion about partnering with a platform like Netflix like they did for the other revival seasons?
Murphy: I think we always wanted to do it ourselves, because once someone like Netflix is involved, as good as they are what they do, you’ve got more people maybe wanting to tell you what to do with it, rather than just us. We’re responsible for the success or failure of this thing ourselves, and that feels right. And to have other people –as well meaning as it might be — sticking their fingers in the pie, it’s just not something that I think any of us would be comfortable with. We like finger free pies.
Corbett: Get out of my pie! I will also add that…we have had RiffTrax stuff go out on other platforms and the way that they pay you changes depending on what mood they’re in. And it only goes in one direction. So, we don’t want to be at the mercy of that so much either.
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