In the peanut gallery with Mystery Science Theater 3000 : essays on film, fandom, technology, and the culture of riffing / edited by Robert G. Weiner and Shelley E. Barba ; forewords by Kevin Murphy and Robert Moses Peaslee ; afterword by Mary Jo Pehl.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Weiner, Robert G., 1966-

Barba, Shelley E., 1982-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mystery science theater 3000.

Motion pictures--Reviews.

Motion pictures.

Genre:

Reviews.

Physical Description:

xii, 265 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland, [2011]

Summary:

"Mystery Science Theater 3000 featured a human host and a pair of robotic puppets who provided commentary on some of the worst films ever made. This is the first full-length scholarly analysis of Mystery Science Theater 3000 which blossomed from humble beginnings on Minnesota public-access television into a cultural phenomenon on major cable networks"--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Acknowledgments

Foreword: Riffing and you (and riffing ) / by Kevin Murphy

Foreword / by Robert Moses Peaslee

Introduction / by Robert G. Weiner and Shelley E. Barba

PART ONE. DIRECTORS

There's been an accident at the studio: How we made hobgoblins! / Rick Sloane

"Remember: Only you can prevent Roger Corman": The king of the Bs under siege / Cynthia J. Miller

PART TWO. SPECIFIC FILMS

Communists and cosmonauts in Mystery science theater 3000: De-Camping East Germany's First spaceship on Venus/Silent star / Sebastian Heiduschke

The semiotics of spaceflight on the satellite of love / Matthew H. Hersch

Resurrecting the dead: Revival of forgotten films through appropriation / Cheryl Hicks

PART THREE. FANDOM

Becoming "The right people": fan-generated knowledge building / Kris M. Markman and John Overholt

Converging fan cultures and the labors of fandom / Megan Condis

"Consume excrement and thus expire": conflict resolution, "fantagonism," and alt.tv.mst3k / Jeremy Groskopf

Cinemasochism: bad movies and the people who love them / David Ray Carter

PART FOUR. MEDIA TEXTS, AUDIENCES, AND THE CULTURE OF RIFFING

Double poaching and the subversive operations of riffing: "You kids with your hoola hoops and your Rosenbergs and your Communist agendas" / Ora Mcwilliams and Joshua Richardson

Frame work, resistance and co-optation: how Mystery Science Theater 3000 positions us both in and against hegemonic culture / Michael Dean

"Not too different from you or me": the paradox of fiction, joint attention, and longevity / Michael David Elam

Mystery Science Theater 3000: a media-centered exploration / Zachary Grimm

Authorship and text remediation in Mystery Science Theater 3000 / Kaleb Havens

PART FIVE. MENTAL HYGIENE: THE MST3K SHORTS

"People were Whiter back then": film placement and in-theater commentary as sociopolitical dialogue / Erin Giannini

Endearing educational shorts / Amanda R. Keeler

Writing history with riffs: the historiography of the "shorts" / Miranda Tedholm

PART SIX. SATIRE AND GENDER

Robot roll call: Gypsy! (Hi girls!) / Michele Brittany

What's the difference? Satire and separation in that "Little Puppet Show" / Alana Hatley

PART SEVEN. TECHNOLOGY AND EPISODE COLLECTING

Design and speculative technology of MST3K: Joel Hodgson and Trace Beaulieu at MIT / Jason Begy and Generoso Fierro

"Cambot eye": the synthesis of man, machine and spectatorship / Danielle Reay

MSTies and mastery: circulating the tapes in a digital age / Joseph S. Walker

PART EIGHT. HISTORY AND PRE-HISTORY

"Hamlet will return in Thunderball": historical precedents of riffing / Mark Mcdermott

From techno-isolation to social reconciliation / E. Mitchell

Fishing with cheese on a Blood Hook: MST3K's unlikely origins on a lake in the woods of Wisconsin / Robert G. Weiner

Afterword / Mary Jo Pehl.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780786445325

0786445327

OCLC:

692291476