So what do we have? Well, if you're determined to never look at the site yourself, you can at least look here at the pictures I took.
Here we are. The official Mystery Science Theater 3000 website is all flash, which means that you better have have Adobe Flash Player 9 installed. I mean it! You better stop reading if that's not the case.
The first thing that I noticed was that it didn't fit in the browser I had opened. I couldn't read the bottom part until I right clicked and used the Show All option. I think the site needs to be resized or it needs to recommend the appropriate size.
So anyway, we have the MST3k spaghetti ball, or whatever the icon is called, and the Sattelite of Love in the background. I guess this answers the question over when this takes place. It's not about the robots' adventures after it crashed into earth at the end of season 10. We're back in space, baby! And after the short intro, we're at the bridge.
Oh, dear. When MST3kinfo.com announced this cartoon last week, I thought the poster was just an ad, but I didn't immediately think it was going to represent the style. That's not to say that I'm already turned off and I hate the thing, but I'm sure there are several people who's first reaction was that.
(That's not to mention the bad blood between the fans and Jim Mallon which I wasn't aware about until I checked the rifftrax forum and the MST3k forum that shall not be named. I may be one of the few people who'll constantly check this site in the near future.)
Let's first check out the videos, because that really interested me.
Ok, we get to follow the umbilicus cord into a room with a file cabinet full of vidoes. Gypsy opens it with her mouth, because she's sorta a purple cow. Right now, it's just a few classic skits. Nothing you couldn't find on youtube, but at least you don't have to feel dirty about watching those clips. The video quality is ok. My favorite clip is from "The Incredible Melting Man" where Crow is a director. Great clip. Still, I hope we see some rare stuff in the future.
How about that brand new cartoon? Let's push the yellow button!
Of course, this was taken after the first day, so we only have one cartoon, and it's called Reel Livin'. Let's have movie sign already.
Ah, this looks familiar. I love the rifftrax I've listened too, but I do miss small stuff like this. The animated doorway sequence includes a drawbridge and a gate, but needs a little work. Where is the crawling bug?
Now to episode one, "Reel Livin'."
MSTies may remember during the sixth season where there were several host segments where Tom Servo blew up or ran over Crow for no apparent reason other than sibling rivalry. This first cartoon is like that. We find Crow on a boat on a lake that just happens to be in the Sattelite. Crow goes on and on about fishing until Servo runs him over. Gypsy suddenly surfaces in the funniest moment. The end.
The animation is probably going to be a sticking point for a lot of people, but I can live with it. It could have been better, but they do resemble our favorite robots. Isn't that enough? As for the voices, I think Paul Chaplin's Crow is ok. Of course, I think that Crow's voice is the least important of the two, mainly because it seemed like Crow had several different voices. Watch a season one episode, a season four episode, and a season seven episode and convince me that Trace was using the same voice for each. The new guy who does Servo, James Moore, didn't get as many lines, and he seemed to sound better when his character was in the distance with an echo. Hopefully he'll have time to make his Servo work. Jim Mallon's Gypsy is good as it always was. It was always superior to Patrick Brantseg's.
I was going to give a full review for the episode, but I'll put that off for now. We'll just call this a mulligan or a pilot episode or something. Hopefully next week they'll figure out where they're going with this, because it doesn't seem like this episode is going to branch into a natural story.
Let's move onto the Store, which will probably be the most important area to look at, assuming the Sattelite News no longer has access to it.
Right now the store seems to be bare minimum. There's all the DVD sets whose rights haven't expired. There's a tshirt, mousepad, and beanie cap with the newly designed bots and MST3k logo. Don't forget the post-it notes. The prices for the DVD sets are a little cheaper than retail value, but more expensive than amazon price.
Anyway, I ordered a 'bots tshirt and a mousepad. While ordering, I wrote "I bet I'm the first to order these things" in the customer text box. To my surprise, and embarrassment given how rude my comment was, Jim Mallon himself replied, "Not the first but among the first." So they're will be plenty of MST3k fans who'll do more than bitch about the site. So take that, haters!
4 comments:
Hmmmm.... you're far more generous than I am, Torrk. I thought the robot voices (except for Gypsy, of course) were terrible. The cartoon itself was one of the most unfunny things I've seen in a long time -- not a laugh, smirk, chuckle or smile to be had in the entire thing. I think overall they have a long way to go before they can convince old and new fans alike that it's worth even bookmarking the page.
To get nitpicky about it all, I didn't like that there was no sound when you went through the doors. Just utter silence. I also noticed, as you did, that the start-up page didn't fit completely in my browser, but I guess they'll fix that at some poin. I thought the store blew -- where is all the old merchandise? I don't want a shirt with a picture of lame cartoon robots. Where are the "Oh poopie!" and "It's absolutely fascinating" bumper stickers and the original planet logo shirts?
I think Onil put it best when he said, "Oh my god, it's like Jim Mallon went and took a dump all over my memories!"
I tried. I really tried to find the positive.
The store thing is weird. You'd think at the very least they would be like, "Yeah, the cartoon needs work/sucks, but at least our store is still awesome/new and improved!" I'm assuming that they'll move all the MST3kinfo merchandise to it within a couple weeks, but it's not helping.
I think the idea that the cartoon is going to destroy the old show is a bit much. Still, rumor has it that the second cartoon is even worse. Just a heads up.
By the way, when I get my tshirt, I'll take a photo of myself wearing it and you can all make fun of me!
"It could have been better, but they do resemble our favorite robots. Isn't that enough?"
No.
I'm surprised you didn't know of the fans' dislike for Jim Mallon. He's always come off as an imperious jerk and his stranglehold on all things MST comes as no surprise. Even though Joel is the creator, I still think that the heart and soul of MST3k were Kevin and Mike. Whither they go, there shall I follow.
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