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In the Peanut Gallery with Mystery Science Theater 3000: Essays on Film, Fandom, Technology and the Culture of Riffing
The award-winning television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988-1999) has been described as "the smartest, funniest show in America," and forever changed the way we watch movies. The series featured a human host and a pair of robotic puppets who, while being subjected to some of the worst films ever made, provided ongoing hilarious and insightful commentary in a style popularly known as "riffing." These essays represent the first full-length scholarly analysis of Mystery Science Theater 3000 -- MST3K --which blossomed from humble beginnings as a Minnesota public-access television show into a cultural phenomenon on two major cable networks. The book includes interviews with series creator Joel Hodgson and cast members Kevin Murphy and Trace Beaulieu.
277 pages, Paperback
First published March 4, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 17, 2021
It pains me a little that I didn't finish this book, since I've been a fan of MST3K for decades, but after four essays, I realized this collection is at odds with the very pathos of the show, itself. "If you're wondering how he eats and breathes, and other science facts / Just repeat to yourself, 'It's just a show' / 'I should really just relax.' " Yet there are essays here that wax philosophical about the existential dread Joel must feel at the possibility of an accident on the Satellite of Love, since he's the only one who has to breathe. It's right there, in the theme song, but I guess some of these folks didn't get that memo.
Some of the material here is interesting, as it delves into the history of some of the films lambasted on the show (the interview with the director of Hobgoblins stands out in particular), but a lot of it is dry and over-analytical. And that's the last thing anything associated with Mystery Science Theater 3000 should ever be.
Some of the material here is interesting, as it delves into the history of some of the films lambasted on the show (the interview with the director of Hobgoblins stands out in particular), but a lot of it is dry and over-analytical. And that's the last thing anything associated with Mystery Science Theater 3000 should ever be.
June 8, 2017
This collection of academic essays on one of the best known and beloved cult television shows (and cult movies, for that matter since Mystery Science Theater 3000 encompasses both) proves to be surprisingly readable for the most part (admittedly, a few of these are a bit of a snooze and invite skimming). The most fascinating pieces of writing dig deeply into the characters and what they represent to the viewers, along with the origins of the show, and how MST3K is a throwback to the days of early silent movies and vaudeville. I can honestly say after reading this book that I learned new things about the series, and expanded my own thinking in regards to the "Mads" and the "Bots." Must reading for the hardcore fan. Hell, there's even a chapter on Jim Mallon's infamous slasher flick "Blood Hook!"
November 29, 2012
as a newer fan of mst3k (a little less than 2 years), i knew i wouldn't get all the references in this book nor would i have seen all the episodes. still, i wanted to read it.
some of the essays were a little too far out in their theories - i felt like there was some grasping at straws to make certain theories applicable to the show (especially theories popular in science fiction culture). another criticism is that i felt it was written for people only who had watched the show when it was on and had been a fan since the beginning (leaving a lot of younger fans in the dust); i discovered the show when my boyfriend showed me it and, as a whole, the writers account for the fact that most fans come to the show through friends showing it to them. yet...it was a little too much on the early history of the show than the series and its continuing culture as a whole. gripe #3 is that they basically wrote mike off as just some dude that came in and took over for joel, not that he was a writer on the show or joel personally enjoyed his comedy or anything, just that "yeah, he was the other guy."
all that being said, i did enjoy some of the essays! the one from the director of hobgoblins inspired me to rewatch that episode (and have the song mike & the bots sing stuck in my head since). i also liked the idea that mst3k could've potentially had marxist undertones, as it's about a working class male being trapped and ruled by a powerful corporation/scientist/etc. never thought of it that way! finally, i enjoyed the pure glee of some of the writers, obviously loving writing about the series and their love of bad movies & riffing.
some of the essays were a little too far out in their theories - i felt like there was some grasping at straws to make certain theories applicable to the show (especially theories popular in science fiction culture). another criticism is that i felt it was written for people only who had watched the show when it was on and had been a fan since the beginning (leaving a lot of younger fans in the dust); i discovered the show when my boyfriend showed me it and, as a whole, the writers account for the fact that most fans come to the show through friends showing it to them. yet...it was a little too much on the early history of the show than the series and its continuing culture as a whole. gripe #3 is that they basically wrote mike off as just some dude that came in and took over for joel, not that he was a writer on the show or joel personally enjoyed his comedy or anything, just that "yeah, he was the other guy."
all that being said, i did enjoy some of the essays! the one from the director of hobgoblins inspired me to rewatch that episode (and have the song mike & the bots sing stuck in my head since). i also liked the idea that mst3k could've potentially had marxist undertones, as it's about a working class male being trapped and ruled by a powerful corporation/scientist/etc. never thought of it that way! finally, i enjoyed the pure glee of some of the writers, obviously loving writing about the series and their love of bad movies & riffing.
April 23, 2011
This collection of essays regarding Mystery Science Theater 3000 manages to pull off something I would have thought impossible. It made MST3K seem boring. The articles written are far too academic for the subject matter, as if they were meant to appear in scholarly journals. There are a few exceptions, the interviews with the cast and crew are fun and interesting, but mostly these articles are just dull.
As Joel and the bots would say, "It stinks!"
As Joel and the bots would say, "It stinks!"
November 6, 2023
The fish-nor-fowl nature of MST3K makes life difficult for critics, some of whom can't decide if it's really a TV series at all. One book celebrating the best of American television opines that the show's an umbrella title for an anthology that "consists of maybe 90% annotated film-watching and 10% character-based comedy," a neat way of saying "It's brilliant, but on the binary choice of sitcom/sketch comedy, we don't know what it is."
The essays in this collection are attempts to tell us exactly what it is, in terms that even a cultural studies researcher can understand. So, imagine Adorno's worst nightmare: a pop culture product that turns its audience into passive, mute, smug, lazy, gullible consumers -- say, a mad scientist's weapon of choice in their plan for world domination. Never mind that the plan is consistently foiled by a quick-witted janitor and his robot friends: Adorno and his ilk didn't give pop culture audiences any credit for thinking critically about anything.
The essays get a lot of mileage from Susan Sontag's 1964 "Notes on Camp," itself indebted to lines from the novelist Christopher Isherwood: "You can't camp about something you don't take seriously. You're not making fun of it, you're making fun out of it." Thus MST3K invents a new kind of television comedy, one that lampoons the banality of poorly executed pop culture products with jokes that reference everything from Sophocles to SANFORD & SON, from PETTICOAT JUNCTION to Paul's letter to the Philippians; jokes loaded with the full force of (Western) cultural memory. It's a show, many of these essays argue, whose fans become active participants -- co-creators -- in repurposing the cinematic detritus of the past into texts that speak to the frustrations (the "contradictions and self-parody") of the present. The term "hegemonic culture," referring to a past that tries to control the future, gets used a lot, but why shouldn't it? Just think of the licensing issues that continue to keep eleven episodes of the original series in legal limbo.
I won't pretend that this is an easy book to read if you're not comfortable with academic writing, but it's worth thinking critically about this show, 'cause MST3K is the FINNEGANS WAKE of television comedy: dense, allusive, playful, profoundly weird, and very funny.
The essays in this collection are attempts to tell us exactly what it is, in terms that even a cultural studies researcher can understand. So, imagine Adorno's worst nightmare: a pop culture product that turns its audience into passive, mute, smug, lazy, gullible consumers -- say, a mad scientist's weapon of choice in their plan for world domination. Never mind that the plan is consistently foiled by a quick-witted janitor and his robot friends: Adorno and his ilk didn't give pop culture audiences any credit for thinking critically about anything.
The essays get a lot of mileage from Susan Sontag's 1964 "Notes on Camp," itself indebted to lines from the novelist Christopher Isherwood: "You can't camp about something you don't take seriously. You're not making fun of it, you're making fun out of it." Thus MST3K invents a new kind of television comedy, one that lampoons the banality of poorly executed pop culture products with jokes that reference everything from Sophocles to SANFORD & SON, from PETTICOAT JUNCTION to Paul's letter to the Philippians; jokes loaded with the full force of (Western) cultural memory. It's a show, many of these essays argue, whose fans become active participants -- co-creators -- in repurposing the cinematic detritus of the past into texts that speak to the frustrations (the "contradictions and self-parody") of the present. The term "hegemonic culture," referring to a past that tries to control the future, gets used a lot, but why shouldn't it? Just think of the licensing issues that continue to keep eleven episodes of the original series in legal limbo.
I won't pretend that this is an easy book to read if you're not comfortable with academic writing, but it's worth thinking critically about this show, 'cause MST3K is the FINNEGANS WAKE of television comedy: dense, allusive, playful, profoundly weird, and very funny.
November 29, 2024
This book is fun for a fan of MST3K, but it’s actual a fairly academic book, and actually seemed a bit too long to me. The articles varied in quality of the writing and analysis provided. The book is obviously also behind the times on distribution models of TV shows generally and MST3K specifically, and how social media has evolved in the last few years as well. The book is most fascinating as an example of media studies as am academic field, which I haven’t personally encountered very often.
February 12, 2017
This book has several feminist critiques on Gypsy that I found to be fascinating. Not every day that you read several essays in a row about the critical theory in regards to a purple tube robot that sounds like a cow.
January 22, 2020
If you love MST3k, are deeply nerdy and or an academic, you will enjoy this publication. Tying the act of riffing to theory! Why would'nt you want to read this? (unless you are too busy 'hanging out with your family').
April 17, 2018
mostly academic articles so a bit dry
September 5, 2011
I thought this was going to be TOO academic, and I am happy to say that I was wrong. Of course it's going to have academic jargon--it's a collection of essays on MST3K from a cultural studies perspective! If you're looking for a book of interviews with the cast and crew or behind the scenes-type info, this may be the wrong book for you. If you've wondered, however, exactly HOW this amazing show could actually be fodder for cultural studies and a DEEPER, serious analysis of a very funny, seemingly "light" show, you may want to consider giving this book a shot.
My only complaint was that the section on gender, if it can be called a section proper, had only two essays. As someone who's pretty into Gender Studies (it was my undergrad major), I think the question of gender on MST3K is one that deserves further exploration. Overall, though, it's an interesting and perceptive collection that will appeal to MSties who are also into gender studies, cultural studies, media criticism and sociology.
My only complaint was that the section on gender, if it can be called a section proper, had only two essays. As someone who's pretty into Gender Studies (it was my undergrad major), I think the question of gender on MST3K is one that deserves further exploration. Overall, though, it's an interesting and perceptive collection that will appeal to MSties who are also into gender studies, cultural studies, media criticism and sociology.
December 10, 2016
I've been a fan of this show ever since my then-boyfriend, now-husband, introduced me to its peculiar brand of humor about fifteen years ago. I'd been riffing back at the screen for years, and now I knew I wasn't the only one!
So, this book. Some essays delighted me and others made me roll my eyes, but overall it was awfully fun to see MST3K presented as something worthy of academic study. On the one hand, it's a silly puppet show that makes fun of cheesy movies, but on the other hand, it's a very *smart* silly puppet show, that trusts its audience to be smart as well. All the more exciting that we're getting new episodes soon!
So, this book. Some essays delighted me and others made me roll my eyes, but overall it was awfully fun to see MST3K presented as something worthy of academic study. On the one hand, it's a silly puppet show that makes fun of cheesy movies, but on the other hand, it's a very *smart* silly puppet show, that trusts its audience to be smart as well. All the more exciting that we're getting new episodes soon!
July 8, 2012
Like most collections, In the Peanut Gallery with Mystery Science Theater 3000 is uneven, but it’s a decent, if padded, collection of essays that focus on the power of riffing and the evolution of fan communities. If you’d like.
May 16, 2014
Some things shouldn't be over-analyzed; MST3K is one of them.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews