The Second Thousand Posts: Staring Tarantulas

[Tarantulas]

Before you ask, the thread name is a take off of "The Second Hundred Years" staring Monte Markham....

I decided to use this 1000th post to open up a new topic that has not yet been discussed on this board.

What brought you to MST and Rifftrax in the first place?

I originaly wrote this for my A Year in the Theater website about a year ago..  please excuse the sloppyness, its sort of a "stream of consciousness" piece anyway

I submit to you my story....

     I remember the first time I saw MST3K, it was "The Robot Vs. The Aztec Mummy" at my Grandparent's house in December of 1989.  I was flipping though channels and almost surfed on by but I noticed the silhouettes at the bottom of the screen.  I stopped and watched for a few minutes and thought to myself "Wow, this is great".  Due to the awful cable system that we had back home, we didn't receive the fledgling "Comedy Channel".  So as opportunities arose I would load up the 2 head VCR and a handful of SLP tapes and head to my Grandparent's house to load up on MST.  I did what most "Mistie's" did in those days, joined the info club, tape traded with other fans, and generally tried to keep up on the new episodes.  I followed the series off and on as I could up catching the series up until "Fire Maidens Of Outer Space". Slowly my interest faded to other things and I lost touch with the show.  A couple of years later, I was flipping though the channels at home and caught the tail end of the one and only MST to air on MTV "Alien from L.A.".  I was a little put off not realizing that Mike had replaced Joel as the host.  I remember feeling a bit betrayed by the show for changing the host.  The show had already gone through a few cast changes at that point (for the better) so I decided that I would stick it out and see what the new guy "serving the drinks" was like (No offense, Mike.. I was young and dumb at the time).  I caught "Bloodlust" a few months later at my Grandparent's place since our cable system still was stuck without the recently renamed "Comedy Central".  Getting older and with other interests, I lost touch with the show again.

    I remember reading on a couple of BBS' that the show had been canceled (in its 7th season) and that there was a fan effort going on to try and find another network for the show.  Time passed.  I went into Dalton books one day and stumbled upon the "Amazing Colossal Episode Guide", I picked up a copy and read it cover to cover.  I dusted off my old tapes (which by now where really showing their age as the fruits of a 2 head Emmerson VCR I bought at Wal-Mart in 8th grade normaly do) and watched my meager collection over and over in hopes of getting reconnected with the show and maybe the tape trading communities.  Time continued to pass.  I was in the mall one day and found some Rhino VHS episodes at a record store, I purchased all the episodes I could afford to take home (which at $20 a tape wasn't many).    Over time, I picked up the other episodes that where available.  Around this time, I started getting "online" more often and started checking out the various MST3K tape trading websites.  Alas with nothing of value to trade I was forced to locate folks who would deal on the "2 for 1" blank tape system.  I was able to build up my VHS collection a bit more thanks to the generosity of other fans.  Shortly after that I heard that MST3K was coming back and was going to be shown on the SciFi Channel.  Lucky for me, this was one channel our local cable did get.  I taped the entirety of season 8 on SP VHS on a higher end Sony VCR in hopes of preserving as nice a copy as possible.  As season 8 progressed, I found myself falling away from the series yet again due to the work and other time constraints.  I would tape episodes and not have time to watch them for weeks after an initial broadcast.  I slowly continued to watch the tapes but was so far behind I neglected to tape (or watch) the final two seasons on their original airings. Some more time passed.  I attended both of the Gateway SciFi Cons (1999/2000) in St. Louis and got the meet other area fans as well as talk to the Brains themselves.

    Surfing around the net one day I stumbled on DAPCentral (a project that was conceived on Ars Technica in 2001).  After reading a FAQ or two on the site, I was able to download my first episode.  Overtime, I finally was able to complete my collection as encoders slowly filled in the gaps.  I got involved with a subproject of the DAP to bring the encoding process over to the DVD format and have been working on that since mid 2003.  We are slowly building up our list of encodes and hope to one day have the whole series (minus the commercial Rhino episodes) available.  We look at it as an effort to preserve the tapes as they exist with minimal "fiddling", so that MST can continue to live on even after the VHS tapes have died. 

I was on MST3K.com one day and saw the anouncement for Rifftrax, and well...you know the rest.

Today, I continue to collect the Rhino DVDs and hang out online with the DAPCentral & Rifftrax crowds.

So, whats your story?

[kodiakthejuggler]

Well, I can't say when I got into MST3K, because I honestly don't know! I do know that back when I was in school (must have been 9th grade or so - roughly 15 years ago!), my Dad and I would always watch MST3K on Saturday morning. It would usually run until 11 or 12 noon. Those were the days!!

I found out about Rifftrax.com from a post in another forum. I don't go to MST3K's homepage all that often, so who knows how long it might have been before I discovered this! Anyway, I came on over when I heard about the site, and downloaded The Fifth Element Rifftrak. The site was still in beta form then, which makes me feel special! Well, the rest is history, and I am proud to say I am a part of this venture until the end.

Long live Rifftrax!

Longer live high post counts!!

1000 here I come...

[jammindude]

I first discovered MST3K60min on a local station (KCPQ channel 13 in Tacoma, WA).    They were showing the second half of "Space Travellers" and beer came out my nose.     

This was painful, but I forgave them because of how hard they made me laugh.

Within the next year, I got a satellite system JUST so I could get Comedy Central.....but my timing would be both bad and good.    Bad because it was during that time when they were *just* getting ready to cancel it.....good because they were also running alot of "marathons" about that time.   So I got a chance to save a few onto VHS.

I did some tape trading for awhile....but usually was fairly ho-hum on the quality I was getting in return.

So I was ecstatic when I discovered DAP.    For a long time I DLed AVI's with E-Donkey.     But it was a bit frustrating because I had to put them on VCD in order to watch them on TV.     To do THAT I had to split the AVI....and then I would often run into problems with audio video sync.    Nevertheless....I have a few VCD's that have survived to this day....and I ALWAYS purchaced any new Rhino episodes that have been released.

When my wife got a laptop, and I got a new computer with a DVD burner (FINALLY!)....the DVD making really took off....but then I had a problem with E-Donkey and my wireless router.     No matter how many times I programmed my router to free up the port for E-donkey....I would still get a firewall message, and a ban.      I copied what I already had on hand, but things looked bleak.

Today, thanks to someone at this very site, (I believe it was you Tarantulas), I was turned on to My Spleen.com.      I've been having a great time DLing and sharing my collection of MST3K episodes.     I also purchased a VHS/DVD Recorder COMBO machine, and have begun the process of copying my VHS episodes onto DVD.

The DAP/DVD episodes look FANTASTIC....so my hats off to Tarantulas and anyone else who worked on them.    Look forward to seeing many more in the future.

I currently keep ALL my MST3K episodes neatly organized in a 208 disc Leather CD Wallet.    I have a space marked out for every episode so that there is simply an empty space where ever I'm missing one.    And since I have SO much xtra room, I'm keeping my RIFFTRAX MP3 CD's in the back.

BTW, Tarantulas.   Just out of curiousity....will you guys eventually even be bothering to make the KTMA episodes part of the DAP/DVD project?    Has DAP decided to make them last, or not bother with them at all?

[MrTorso]

Let's see I was 17 at the time living in Miami Fla. and my friend Noah had cable with The Comedy Channel. We were flipping through the channels and stumbled across the episode The Robot Vs. Aztec Mummy. It was in the middle of the Commander Cody short. We stopped on it and immediatly got hooked. We watched it when ever we could. =

By the time I was 19 I was in band and having to work so my tv viewing was non-existant. So I kind of dropped off in watching. In 93 I was living in Santa Fe and found myself with cable so I was able to start watching again. This is also when I started taping as well. (On BETA no less. I still have about 20 tapes with 3 episodes each and no BETA player to see how they have held up) I was sad to see Joel go and it took me a couple of episodes to used to Mike. I taped what I could and then in early '95 I wound up back in Fla.

When I got cable there I started to get slightly smarter with my tapes and I started taping every showing with VHS tapes set to SP. I say slightly because the tapes I used were general grade tapes from FUJI and they haven't held up as well.

I was in the info club and I also went to the second convention. I had the episode guide so I was starting to learn about the KTMA episodes. At the convention there was a dude (Slvrsurfr) selling tapes outta his hotel room so I snagged some KTMAs and Season 1's from him and also did some trades with him. I wound up moving to Tucson, AZ in 1997 and the crappy cable outfit didn't offer Sci-Fi so I missed most of Season 8. I would periodically get a tape or two from friends but not a whole lot. I eventually got Dish Network so I was able to tape the episodes I missed and I watched it religiously until the last episode aired. 

I bought every Rhino tape that came out and I bought the DVD single releases and then the box sets when they came out. However I didn't really watch them. I bought them because I knew I wanted them but I had so much other stuff to watch I didn't really have time. I don't think I sat down and watched an episode from 2003 until this year.

On March 18th of this year my little brother Patrick died at 20 years old. He was a fan of MST3K. I was visiting the family when season 8 started and I made him watch it with me and he was hooked. After his death I had the task of going through his computer and saving stuff and what not. I found his stash of DAP episodes. He was in some bands and they had a song that sampled Rowsdower from Final Sacrifice, he loved the show. Probably about May or so I started to watch the DAP episodes my brother had and it made me laugh! I hadn't really laughed or felt good since Patrick died. MST made me feel good again! I started to watch my DVDs, I started to rip my VHS tapes I really have been on a MST overload the last few months.

I knew that Mike had done the commentary tracks for the Legend releases, but I was wary. I thought I needed the shadowrama and host segments and BOBO!  In June I bought the release of NOTLD and I freaking loved it! Within a couple of weeks I had all the Legend releases and was jonesing for more. Just a couple of weeks after my last Legend purchase (Reefer Madness) RIFFTRAX launched. At this point I feel the best I have felt since my brother died and I have Mike and Rifftrax to thank for it! I look foward to each release. I love participating in these forums (you probably could add up all the posts in the 6 other forums I belong to and it wouldn't add up to my post count here!)

That's my story.

[Skiptastic]

Saw Cave Dwellers at a friends house in 1998.

Watched a few more at local library after moving to Indiana in 1999.

Learned about the DAP in 2001 after downloading The Sinister Urge from KaZaa during first year in college.

Been going to the DAP for the past 5 years.

The end.

[Bipolar:Bear]

I was channel sufing one faithful day and came across a silhouette of a guy and two robots in movie seats making cracks about a stupid looking movie.  That movie was "Pod People".  While watching the "Flying over trout" parody, I knew I discovered something special.  I found myself in anticipation of waking up, grabbing a big bowl of cereal, and laughing hysterically for 2 hours!  I continued to watch the captives on the Satellite of Love zing movie after movie.  Then Joel was replaces with the show's head writer, whom we all know and love.  I found this a vast improvement of the show.  While Joel started this legendary series, Mike took the show to a whole new level.  I missed the sleepy-eyed captive, but I was much more impressed with this new more animated one.  I mean, come on, Mike is a MUCH better actor! 

The riffing became funnier and more abundant. The show just keep getting better and better! Then that sad day came when Pearl's joystick broke and brought the S.O.L back to Earth. By the way, I really enjoyed that the show ended with Mike, Crow v2.O, and Servo v2.0  on there couch, remarking that the "Crawling Eye" seemed familure, even though Mike, Crow v2.0, and Servo v2.0 never saw it before! When I heard that "The Screaming SKull" was to be the last episode re-run SciFi would air, I insisted my Mom and I not miss it, and we didn't.

Even with my taped episodes, I couldn't satisfy my addiction.  Then I came across "Shorts Vol. 1" on VHS at a local Goodwill.  Once I relized that I could BUY episodes, I started hitting all the movie stores I could find!  Once I had all the Rhino's, I was satisfied, for a while.  Now I needed ALL the episodes.  I found a seller on Ebay who was selling all Non-Rhino Episodes.  He put two episodes on a dvd, which an interactive menu.  The disks were in white sleeves with clean printed labels.  I could only afford two seasons at first, so I bought KMTA Season 0 and Season 10.  I watched the first and last episodes back to back.  I soon bought the rest of the Seasons.  I took all my Rhino tapes and put them on DVD.  Then they all went into in a long black CD-holding box.

Having the all 11 sesaons was nice, but I wanted more!  I checked daily with the Satellite News site, for me MST3K fix.  I bought Mike's books and kept up-to-date on what everyone was doing.  Then I came across the announcement for Mike's commentaries on Legend Films.  I listened to "Reefer Madness," and was pleased to see that Mike had not lost his touch.  Then, over time, I came across another announecment...the one that introduced me to Rifftrax.

[mrbasehart]

MST3K isn't that well known over here in the UK, as it was only shown on the Sci Fi Channel early in the mornings (and only repeating season 8, if I recall).  I managed to watch a couple of episodes, but because it was shown in the morning, I rarely saw it.  It was only till I saw on Amazon.com that they were selling individual episodes of MST3k on DVD that I started watching it properly.  I think I also bought MST3K: The Movie on DVD before any of the TV episodes.  Now I've got all the box-sets and the rest of the episodes take up about 60 gbs on my hard-drive.  I recently bought a DVD player which plays AVI files, so I'll probably start transferring them over to DVD's. 

Congratulations on 1000 posts.  Here's to 2000 by next week! 

[SaucyRossy]

There is entirely too much for me to read in this topic at the moment. At first I thought it was going to be Tarantula's egomania trip out post....where we all rebelled and declared him the SECOND best Rifftrax fan ever and Mr. Torso #1 but....alas the revolution is on hold. 

[ScottotD]

Heard about the show and the movie but had never seen it (VERY hard to find the DVDs here in Australia and when you do they're about $100 for the packs) then stumbled across the movie on TV late one night.

Watched the tape about 50 times until it died and now I'm getting rifftrax and slowly importing the DVDs from Canada (only got 1-3 at the moment)

[M.gunnerQuist]

I might save my MST3 story for another time and another thread. But I'll briefly sum up my experience.

I was in art school in 1992. I met up with and became fast friends with a fellow from Chicago. He told me all about this show and at first I thought it was silly. Eventually, when I moved into an apartment, I started watching the MST3K Hour that aired on the CBS(?) station. The first episode I loved was Viking Women VS The Sea Serpent. Waffles! I still have that tape. Later, I moved to another apartment and got cable. I ate up MST3K whenever it came on Comedy Central. I taped a number of episodes. Then I was shocked that it was cancelled. I was even more shocked when I found out about the movie liscensing issues! Being a videophile and a nitpicker about recording onto quality tapes, I am forever kicking myself that I didn't loyally record the show when I could. Still, I had a dozen or so episodes. And since they were on high-quality tapes, they're still in good shape today. When the show started on SciFi Channel, I taped them religiously. But then, believe it or not, I moved to another city that didn't have the SciFi Channel! I missed half of season 8 and 9! But then I taped everything I could. Later, I finally got into tape trading. And then, when I got a DVD burner, I was one of the first people on the internet to actively encourage the transfer of episodes to DVD. I tried to get a trading gig going, but it didn't work out. Since then, I've become skilled with creating DVDs. And, believe it or not, my MST3K collection is still incomplete. I'll collect all the DVDs someday.

I heard about Rifftrax over at the Rotten Tomatoes forum. I don't recommend those forums for the weak of heart. It's packed to the gills with abusive fanboys. (Yuck!)

[Variety of Cells]

I've only seen two episodes of MST3K on television, and never from the beginning.  I'm relatively young, I got into it right as they stopped showing re runs. 

So my history with MST3K is a dark one, full of piracy.  I downloaded a few episodes off of Kazza.  Some how I was fortunate enough to download the Puma Man.  I remember sitting at my computer with my headphones on, laughing like and idiot.  I'm sure I looked insane.

After buying all the box sets I could find I started to get depressed.  They rarely came out, and I had given up hope of ever seeing all the episodes.  But of course, I found the DAP.  It has a way of attracting those lost souls in search of the show.  Like a lighthouse in the night.  And once you reach the lighthouse, you can say goodbye to your despair by pushing it over the edge as you would an unwanted girlfriend.    Recently I bought myself a 600 gig HD to store all the avis and dvds and I share them day and night. 

[Tarantulas]

BTW, Tarantulas.   Just out of curiousity....will you guys eventually even be bothering to make the KTMA episodes part of the DAP/DVD project?    Has DAP decided to make them last, or not bother with them at all?

Eventualy... We did finish up the SciFi era a while back, Season 7 is close to completion.. KTMA is on the horizon.

The problem is good source material.

[SaucyRossy]

Tarantulas....I think your scared of me. In fact I know you are. You do not respond to my post in here....and you totally didnt accept my myspace friend request....I am so upset.

[Sharktopus]

I promise I will edit my own story into this post later, but it's late and I'm tired. (If you really want to read a long post there's my contribution to the "most riffable movie" thread.) Right now I just want to say that "staring tarantulas" would be really creepy. Stop looking at me with your numerous beady little eyes!

[Tarantulas]

Tarantulas....I think your scared of me. In fact I know you are.

Actualy, its spelled "you're".  It's a contraction of "you are".

Not scared, just unable to use MySpace properly... please send me the request again, I deleted several that day on accident.