The New Blank Slate

[krpalmer]

I was looking at the Satellite News site, wondering a bit more than before just what they were going to do each week now that the episode discussion has almost reached the last instalment of the series again, when I saw a link to "the definitive oral history" of the show that was itself more interested in a mention right at the end that Joel Hodgson was hoping to soon start "a new online incarnation of the show." That very much got my attention as much as all the other commenters on the piece, but I then had to confront once again how with the most recent "riffing" projects of the show's scattered creators I've only glanced at a fraction of the online samples. I'm afraid the reason why is quite simple. Mike Nelson and company's "Rifftrax" hit "no sale" territory for me almost at once when they recorded a savage audio track meant to be synched with a DVD of The Phantom Menace and then went on to make the familiar tiresome distinction between the other new Star Wars movies and the old movies; I stayed interested in Joel Hodgson and company's "Cinematic Titanic" for a little longer until I heard they threw some comments on that movie into their new "riffing" on the comedy relief of "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians." It was bad enough cringing through the post-series MSTings always expecting fans to jump into the general piling on; I've got no interest in awaiting "official" jabs this much later. Of course, wondering if Satellite News would now get around to beginning discussion on the "Rifftrax" was connected to the expectation that in that case it would be a very long time before I went back to the site again.

For all of that, though, (and knowing that one time I made a faintly dismissive reference to "Rifftrax" in a post someone from that project commented on it), I am curious as to whether this new project will get closer to the familiar characters and settings of Mystery Science Theater 3000, and I'm at least wishing it the best in a detached sort of way. If "Rifftrax" and "Cinematic Titanic" were like certain "non-standard MSTings" in not needing to dwell on just why people were commenting on cheesy movies, this new project might get back to the old dynamic.