# What is "MST3King"??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 15, 2002, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mst3king/142905 "2002-12-15T16:40:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kwyjibo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/59ef9b/32.png) [@Kwyjibo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kwyjibo)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mst3king/142905/1 "2002-12-15T16:40:58Z")
I was reading [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=2719119#post2719119) and [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=2719059#post2719059). Both refer to **MST3King**. Now I know what Mystery Science Theater is, although I have never seen it, but what is “Mystery Science Theater behavior”? (I posted this in the Cafe as it refers to a TV show. If it is in the wrong place, just hit me.) ---
**Author:** ![TridCloudwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TridCloudwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TridCloudwalker)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mst3king/142905/2 "2002-12-15T16:46:31Z")
It’s basically making funny, sarcastic, snide, and/or ironic/obvious observations about the movie aloud. I do this a lot with movies I have seen half a billion times, or with horrible movies like MST3K did, but I never do it in a theater where it can annoy other people. I HATE it when people goof around in the theater. After I sepnd $8 on a ticket, I want to be able to enjoy the movie on my own level. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mst3king/142905/3 "2002-12-15T16:52:07Z")
It’s also referred to as “MiSTing”. ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mst3king/142905/4 "2002-12-15T16:53:21Z")
Two things: Please, _please_ don’t blindly link to a thread chock full o’ spoilers about a movie that’s just hit the theaters. Granted, the post you linked to wasn’t giving any secrets away, but… If you know **what** the show is, this shouldn’t be much of a leap. (In all fairness, if you’ve never _seen_ the show, you might not appreciate the details of how this works.) They make fun of the movie, the actors, the characters and the plot, out loud, down in the front row of the theater, making no effort to be quiet. Think “loudmouthed jerk”; you’d like to drop a popcorn bucket over his head, in the theater. Same same here. [sub]Also known as riffing, nitpicking, having a loud and boistrous time, etc. etc.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Kwyjibo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/59ef9b/32.png) [@Kwyjibo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kwyjibo)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mst3king/142905/5 "2002-12-15T17:09:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skeezix \* > **Two things: > Please, _please_ don’t blindly link to a thread chock full o’ spoilers about a movie that’s just hit the theaters. Granted, the post you linked to wasn’t giving any secrets away, but…** Erk! :smack: Sorry. Wasn’t thinking. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skeezix \* > **If you know what the show is, this shouldn’t be much of a leap. (In all fairness, if you’ve never _seen_ the show, you might not appreciate the details of how this works.) They make fun of the movie, the actors, the characters and the plot, out loud, down in the front row of the theater, making no effort to be quiet.** I know what the show is in the sense that I know it’s a TV show and it is SciFi. I don’t have any idea of what the premis of the show is. (We don’t get it up here, I don’t think.) > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skeezix \* > **Think “loudmouthed jerk”; you’d like to drop a popcorn bucket over his head, in the theater. Same same here.** Got it. Thanks. 🙂 (I was starting to gather that this is what it ment, but when it was attributed to an actual show, I thought it might be something a little different as I have no idea what that show was about.) ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mst3king/142905/6 "2002-12-15T17:20:35Z")
I’m sure if you’ve ever mentioned anywhere else on the boards that you’ve never seen the show, you’ve heard all this before, **but** if you haven’t… Try and track down some of the few videotapes/DVDs (Rhino is releasing the episodes that are openly available on disk, aren’t they?) or find someone with episodes taped from the televised run of the show. There’s a reason they only used horrible movies on the show to begin with. In particular, the Gamera/Godzilla movies are a riot. The ‘commenters’ (Joel/Mike and the bots) are absolutely brutal. Unfortunately, the Gamera flicks are not available commercially, so you’ll have to borrow these to experience them. [sub]But really, any episode is pretty damn funny.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![MrMyth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e19b73/32.png) [@MrMyth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrMyth)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mst3king/142905/7 "2002-12-15T17:26:25Z")
FTR, since one of my posts is highlighted above, I want to emphasize that we did not disturb any other moviegoers. We both had the day off and managed to catch the first showing of the day. The theater was less than a third full, and we were at the very top row. If anyone heard us whispering into each others ears over the roar of crumbling starships, then they have damn good hearing. I hate talkative theater patrons as much as the next guy - that’s why we went to an early show, ironically. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mst3king/142905/8 "2002-12-15T18:32:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kwyjibo \* > **I know what the show is in the sense that I know it’s a TV show and it is SciFi. I don’t have any idea of what the premis of the show is. (We don’t get it up here, I don’t think.)** The premise of _Mystery Science Theater 3000_, if you can call it a “premise”, is: Evil scientist(s) send a human being (Joel or Mike) into space, in order to perform cruel experiments on him. The experiments consist of forcing him to watch really really bad movies, the kinds of movies that are so bad they snuff out your very soul and make you weep over how humanity has fallen. Fortunately, Joel and/or Mike have come up with a way to endure the toxic wasteland that is their weekly experiment. They have two robotic companions, Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot (played by little plastic puppets), who watch the movies with him. You can see their silhouettes against the bottom of the movie screen as the movie is being shown. Whenever an opportunity avails itself during the movie, Joel/Mike, Tom, and/or Crow will make a wisecrack. There can be over **700** such wisecracks during a single movie. Most of these wisecracks are obscure enough that only a few people watching the show will get any given joke, but those few viewers who **do** get one of these obscure jokes will usually double over with uncontrollable laughter because they’re **really** good jokes. Three times during the movie, Joel/Mike and the 'bots are allowed a few-minute break outside the movie theater. They fill this time with little comedy sketches known as “host segments,” some of which make fun of various aspects of the movie they’re watching and some of which deal with unrelated topics. For example, Crow T. Robot might sing a song about how he’s enraptured by Estelle Winwood (with poignant counterpoint by Joel and Tom about how Estelle is way too old for Crow). Some of the songs they’ve come up with over the years, such as “Let’s Have a Patrick Swayze Christmas” and “Hired! The Musical”, have even been compiled onto _MST3K_ music CDs for the fans. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mst3king/142905/9 "2002-12-15T23:00:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skeezix \* > \*\* > Try and track down some of the few videotapes/DVDs (Rhino is releasing the episodes that are openly available on disk, aren’t they?) \*\* They’re gradually rereleasing all the episodes that have been released on VHS on DVD. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mst3king/142905/10 "2002-12-15T23:02:54Z")
I stil chuckle at my single favourite MST3K joke, which objectively is not really all that clever. During _The Magic Voyage of Sinbad_, a woman is shown holding a small bird in her hand. One of the robots (I don’t know which) says: “Hello, breakfatht!” …and I was laughing for a good five minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mst3king/142905/11 "2002-12-16T06:37:59Z")
**Smeghead** : Yeah, that’s what I _meant_ to say. See what dropping two little letters ( **re** releasing) does to ya? :smack: My question was actually, “is it Rhino that’s doing this, or some other distributor?” ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mst3king/142905/12 "2002-12-16T11:13:58Z")
My favorite line was from their torching of _Space Mutiny_, a 1980s South African sci-fi flick where much of the action took place in a giant warehouse/power plant which was supposed to be a space ship. The comment was: “Oh! Good! Back the rusting septic system of this _futuristic space ship!_” ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mst3king/142905/13 "2002-12-16T13:34:28Z")
An old circus documentary- -clowns chasing & beating each other with brooms- “This is the town’s Passion Play!” -two clowns kinda embracing & swinging back & forth on a high-wire teeter-totter- “Oh no! Clown sex!!!” VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS- little Ronnie Howard- a boy scientist called “Genius” concocts a pinkish slug in a test tube- -“Cthulhu!” A documentary promoting joining a school band, hosted by a woman dressed & prancing like Peter Pan but calling herself Mr B Flat- “Oscar Wilde only wanted to be this gay!” A movie where some character is invoking a demon- “(Demon’s name) loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” SANTA CLAUS (Mexican film where SC battles a devil who tempts little kids)- An Eye on a stalk is among Santa’s surveillance equipment- “It’s Sandy Duncan!” ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mst3king/142905/14 "2002-12-16T14:08:43Z")
An old circus documentary- -clowns chasing & beating each other with brooms- “This is the town’s Passion Play!” -two clowns kinda embracing & swinging back & forth on a high-wire teeter-totter- “Oh no! Clown sex!!!” VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS- little Ronnie Howard- a boy scientist called “Genius” concocts a pinkish slug in a test tube- -“Cthulhu!” A documentary promoting joining a school band, hosted by a woman dressed & prancing like Peter Pan but calling herself Mr B Flat- “Oscar Wilde only wanted to be this gay!” A movie where some character is invoking a demon- “(Demon’s name) loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” SANTA CLAUS (Mexican film where SC battles a devil who tempts little kids)- An Eye on a stalk is among Santa’s surveillance equipment- “It’s Sandy Duncan!” ---
**Author:** ![jenex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71e660/32.png) [@jenex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jenex)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mst3king/142905/15 "2002-12-16T15:59:06Z")
FINAL SACRIFICE: “Do you know how fast you were going, Rowsdower?” SPACE MUTINY: “Big McLarhuge.” Yes, I’m a nerd, geek, whathaveyou…Sad thing is, I could have gone on for pages quoting this show. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mst3king/142905/16 "2002-12-16T16:01:16Z")
Two Bots!? \ Tom Servo, Crow, **Gypsy** and who could forget **Cambot** our trusty camera-bot? Four bots, people, FOUR. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mst3king/142905/17 "2002-12-16T16:32:05Z")
I rather enjoy the _Blade Runner_ jokes that I’ve had to explain to my roommate. There’s one Gamera movie, in full color, where some other monster is battling this thing (who will be Gamera’s foe, of course) that has a head like a butcher knife and these shinjukus coming off the sides, and the comment, when the other monster is cut with the head, is: “He say you blade runner.” Cracked me up, and then I had to explain it. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mst3king/142905/18 "2002-12-16T17:01:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FriarTed \* > \*\*An old circus documentary- > -two clowns kinda embracing & swinging back & forth on a high-wire teeter-totter- “Oh no! Clown sex!!!” \*\* nitpick- “oh no! they’re doing it clown-style!” Love that show! Brian ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mst3king/142905/19 "2002-12-16T17:22:18Z")
The worst is sitting in a room with someone who doesn’t ‘get it’. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mst3king/142905/20 "2002-12-16T17:24:12Z")
Sorry for the extra post: Anyone know the Gamara theme…the unofficial MST3K Gamara theme? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mst3king/142905.md?page=2)