I'll admit that I've watched (http://krpalmer.livejournal.com/4547.html) both Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie and This Island Earth, and both of them worked for me in their own way. I wasn't offended when Dr. Clayton Forrester called This Island Earth "a stinky cinematic suppository," because after all his character is a mad scientist...
However, this could be significant. I once saw an article attempting to defend Mystery Science Theater 3000 to an audience of 1950s SF movie fans, and one of the points it made was that the frame helps distance us from the thought that the movies are just plain targets to demonstrate how much more discernment the audience has. It's not a case of Joel Hodgson going to a studio after an evening spent enjoying better works to record a contemptuous commentary (and this isn't how I saw the creators anyway), it's a case of Joel Robinson, stranded in space and subjected to an unceasing barrage of bottom-of-the-barrel cinema... and perhaps in MSTings, the offputting viewpoint of the authors could come through a little more clearly at times.
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However, this could be significant. I once saw an article attempting to defend Mystery Science Theater 3000 to an audience of 1950s SF movie fans, and one of the points it made was that the frame helps distance us from the thought that the movies are just plain targets to demonstrate how much more discernment the audience has. It's not a case of Joel Hodgson going to a studio after an evening spent enjoying better works to record a contemptuous commentary (and this isn't how I saw the creators anyway), it's a case of Joel Robinson, stranded in space and subjected to an unceasing barrage of bottom-of-the-barrel cinema... and perhaps in MSTings, the offputting viewpoint of the authors could come through a little more clearly at times.