Selecting the movies

[ChrisDalek]

OK, I know that the Brains have said that for each film they eventually picked to use, 20 or so were checked...but how did that work? Who provided them? Was it always 20 different ones? And did films that had been rejected once ever come back for a further screening?

[Torgo]

I know at different points in time, Frank and Mary Jo were the ones who selected movies. How they did it, I'm not sure. I think VH has some info on this.

[Da Worm Fizzle]

I've also always wondered where those movies come from and where they can be found by us. That one flick about the uy who dies and comes back as a tree to seek his revenge sounds interesting. If I had access to crazy movies like that I'd be lovin life!

[Mr. Atari]

I'm fairly sure that there was a distributor (or distributors) who sent them films for consideration. If MST used a film, that meant $$ for the distributor, so I'm sure they were inundated with options.

Poor Frank and Mary Jo had to sample the bulk and choose a select few for the rest of the staff to approve.

[Afgncaap5]

I heard the story of how Manos was picked in an interview with Mike. They said, "We'd get these movies in the mail, and sometimes you could tell just by looking at how nicked or dented or faded a film was that it would be bad.

One day, we received this barely playable, banged up cassette with a logo so faded that we could barely read it. Frank and I started to watch it. We never thought we'd convince the others to go for it..."

Or something. That's based on memory.

[vanhagar3000]

From what I can tell it changed through the first few years.

During the KTMA days, they'd get something random from whatever movies KTMA had. At the beginning it was to the point where they had never seen the movie before in their lives in some cases. Of course by the end of the season they were previewing the movies (before riffing) so maybe by then they also would reject a few movies.

It seems at least early in season one, they were essentially given the movies. In the ACEG Mike sort of says that they were given Robot vs. Aztec Mummy and actually asked the network if they could have another. Jim Mallon said at Starcon '92 that they were originally GIVEN public domain movies by the network early in the run (so that's about up to Slime People). Kevin said he fought to get the Radar Men from the Moon serial though, so they probably had a word in that. I’m not completely sure about this, and this is one question I sent Phantom to ask Kevin, which he answered, but I think Kevin misunderstood my question somewhat (I realize now, that the way I asked it wasn’t clear).

Then for a while, they looked at movies and simply chose if they found something good. However, that changed with Sidehackers which they didn’t view the whole way. Midway through the movie, it had a nasty rape scene and they ended up having to change everything because of it, and cut it out. In fact, isn’t that episode a little short? Most episodes from then were 97 minutes long, I think this one was only about 93 minutes (which would be what season four through sevens lengths would be).

So then Frank Conniff would be the one assigned to previewing. But I think others were in the process too. Mike has said he watched Manos along with Frank and I think Mary Jo Pehl. Various people have said that it would take viewing 20 movies, just to find one good one. Also, Frank’s word was not absolute. Kevin said they all had a word in choosing the movies really. Plus Frank seemed to push for Mexican movies, but it only got through twice during his run (Santa Claus and Samson vs. The Vampire Women).

As soon as season seven Mary Jo Pehl took over duties for Frank, evident by her note in the Amazing Colossal Episode Guide. I think she had it until the shows end.

I think they were sent movies by distributors they may have a good relationship with and then would view those movies. That doesn’t mean it would be absolute to get any movie from them. Several times they couldn’t get movies they viewed. Some of them were even scheduled as episodes. Off the top of my head there was Charro! (421), Moment by Moment (I don’t know, I think sometime in season six), Beyond the Bermuda Triangle (623), Master Ninja III (624), Starship Invaders (sometime season seven)m and The Land Unknown (803).

[Da Worm Fizzle]

I find it hard to believe that so many distributors would willingly send the show movies to be verbally destroyed, even if it was for money. I mean, Edgewood Studios appearently had no idea what the guys were going to do to Time Chasers (aka Tangents) because the studio had a big party when it was shown, and came out surprised at what happened.

[Chuck]

They did another Mexican movie: "The Robot Vs. The Aztec Mummy"!

[Blackmarket Jazz]

I am amazed at the amount of inside knowledge some of you guys have. You would think that you had worked for BBI from they way some of the commentary runs. How have you managed to gain such incredible insight?

[Da Worm Fizzle]

I assume you're talking to Vangahar3000. But I'm going to giv emy two cents anyway. A lot of that stuff I read about in the episode guide. It'd go into detail about How Frank picked movies until Mary Jo took over. I don't remember where I heard about how they just snagged movies from the KTMA library, but it must have been somewhere. You're right though, these guys are deep in their knowledge. That's why I joined this site, I wanted my kung fu to be strong and I figured throwing my lot in with the Fan Boys would be the best way to increase said knowledge. It's working. Now all I have to do is camp out in a tree outside Kevin Murphy's house with a set of binoculars, and I'll be the ultimate MST Jedi Master.

[ChrisDalek]

dawormface said:

I mean, Edgewood Studios appearently had no idea what the guys were going to do to Time Chasers (aka Tangents) because the studio had a big party when it was shown, and came out surprised at what happened.

Doesn't the thingy...you know, the interview thingy that guy did, with those guys, sort of imply that they did know what was coming and loved it?

[Mr. Atari]

blackmarket said:

I am amazed at the amount of inside knowledge some of you guys have. You would think that you had worked for BBI from they way some of the commentary runs. How have you managed to gain such incredible insight?

There have been a lot of interviews over the years with the Brains. Check out Don's review site for some of them, as well as Satellite News (both links are at the top of this board). Especially the FAQ on Satellite News...Many of the questions that come up in these threads have been answered there.

It also doesn't hurt to own a copy of The Amazing Colossal Episode Guide. Or two copies.

[Da Worm Fizzle]

I think that perhaps the director might have known. But it would seem more than likely most of the other people involved with the movie, including Pink Boy, had no clue what was in store for them. All references Mike has made to Edgewood studios implies that the studio was unaware of what would happen before it aired, and perhaps not so happy, after it aired.

[vanhagar3000]

From what I can tell, they knew what they were getting in to. The harness of the riffing is something they didn't expect, at least according to Mike Nelson. David Giancola says he loved it, and a few people took it the wrong way. To be fair, the show had really had a sudden shift in writing format as they stayed pretty darn harsh on movies after Invasion of the Neptune Men until around the end of the series.

[vanhagar3000]

dawormface, back then it was an easy way to make money for distributors. Remember in some (if not most) cases they weren't the director who thought they created a piece of art, it was a businessman looking to get the most financially out of his stock of films.

chuck said:

They did another Mexican movie: "The Robot Vs. The Aztec Mummy"!

Robot vs. Aztec Mummy wasn't during Frank runs. Frank joined the crew at the end of season one.

blackmarket, dawormface pretty much hits the nail on the head with what he said. Also, to a degree there is some connecting of the dots done, I think that may be the key. But there have been many interviews, the one by Rhino is a good source for basic info. Reading through Tom's MST3K Temple history is a great way to learn more. Anything like Starcon '92 is a good source for information.