"It's Just A Show. I should Really Just Relax."

 So went the opening titles of Mystery Science Theatre 3000, and this maybe should have been the show's mantra when it returned to Netflix, because the reboot seemed a little overthought. Can anything be more obnoxious, though, than taking a thing made with care and talent, and pointing out the one thing that you think is wrong with it? Let's see! For those of you don't know what MST3K is, the old opening provides one of the most charming eighty seconds of introduction I know (if you're reading this on a phone and see no video, try clicking "web version")...

 

 There you go: Some nasty bullies have shot an employee called Joel into space, and the show's going to be pretty much just us watching terrible films, with him and the robots that he built to keep him company telling jokes over it. However, despite the show's popularity with children – evinced by the drawings and letters Joel would read out at the end of every episode – absolutely no mind seemed to have been paid over who else would get these jokes; if someone in that week's stinker looked like New York theatre director André Gregory, or Frank Zappa's drummer Jimmy Carl Black, they'd get a mention. This might have been one of the things audiences took comfort from the most, though – the idea of being let in on something – because, ultimately, what the old show felt most like was being allowed to stay up late, with a parent or older sibling, and watch whatever was on because you couldn't get to sleep. Joel kept those robots company in the dark. That was the tone, and those were the stakes.

 

 

 

 I've adored the show for decades, and I'm sure it's had an influence. In fact – it's honestly only just occurred to me – yesterday's post was quite an MST3K-y "bit", a little esoteric but comfortable with its own pointlessness (Jesus... maybe all my videos are!) When the show's brilliant creator, Joel "Robinson" Hodgson, was replaced on the Satellite of Love by another softly-spoken Gizmotic employee, Mike, and the robots were recast, and the mad professor's mother took over persecution detail, the show's tone remained beautifully unaffected. That, to quote another science project, was its triumph, and there are possibly hundreds of full episodes on youtube if you fancy more than a sample.

 

 Fast forward twenty years or so, and turn on Netflix, and Mike is now Jonah, the robots and persecutors have again been recast, but the show is still guys telling jokes peppered with obscure references over "cheesy movies", and the material is still strong, and as tonally similar as one should expect given the different century. However. While the tone of the jokes is similar, the tone of the show itself has changed, and nothing illustrates this change more than the new introduction. I'll let it explain...

 

"I should really JUUUUST RELAAAAAAAAAX"

 

 ... Or rather, not explain. Do you see what I meant about overthinking? I loved the reboot, and I'm sorry it got cancelled, but I think this might be why. Not because "cheap-looking" isn't a word in Netflix's vocabulary, but because, honestly, how Jonah eats or sleeps are not the first questions I have after watching this. What did I just watch, for example? Which bit was the "simulation"? The shadows in the window of the moonbase? But there's also that screen. And what's Jonah's job exactly, that has him flying off and rescuing people? And is it related to the woman who's trapped him on the dark side of the moon? Who's she, and why, having trapped him there, does she then pipe him up to the Satellite of Love, which isn't a satellite now anyway, because it's moored to the moon, by a pipe? I mean, none of this matters, I know, but why, therefore, have any of it? Even more confusingly, perhaps because it was realised this introduction itself needed an introduction, every episode sees it preceded by a "cold open" set on the satellite itself, from which Jonah is routinely extracted by the same pipe that then deposits him in the shuttle, making this not in fact an introduction at all, but literally what happens to Jonah narratively at the beginning of every episode. No wonder he looks so confused. This new subject's energy isn't that of a space-bound Moominmamma either, like Mike or Joel, but of a champion doing all he can to live up to the old show's reputation. This is the energy of pretty much everyone involved; they're all so excited the show's back, and they're here for the fans, and this is wonderful, but it's also almost the exact opposite of the care-free energy of the original. 

 

 

The even firstiest incarnation, which I have never seen.

 

 I mentioned the show's material earlier. I'm not sure if the writing on a show should even be called "material" - I'm not sure that metaphor works, garment-wise. The material decides how comfortable an item of clothing feels, so the real material of a show isn't the writing, but the tone. And the tone felt really different. Who should have worn the jump-suit then? Some great young improviser who can still project a strong enough air of not giving a shit to calm down a couple of robots. I can't help thinking of Lauren Lapkus, but maybe she hadn't listened to enough Zappa. Anyway, I'm watching a lot of things in the dark at the moment. That's my point. I have not yet made any robots. Here's your moment of Lao...