Why Didn't I Think of That????

I remember when I was in ninth grade, seeing a TV show on Nickelodeon called Mad Movies. Basically, the idea was to show an old movie (public domain, I’m assuming), but the movie would be chopped up and re-edited into a half-hour show, and re-dubbed with new audio, and in a sense “changing” the script of the movie. The result was absolute hilarity. I only saw about 4-5 episodes, and loved it!

In the early 1990’s, Mystery Science Theatre began its run on Comedy Central. It was in the same mold as Mad Movies, taking a movie that was public domain, but instead of redubbing it, three characters would “watch” the movie and make funny comments. I loved it, but at times it was a little long – it would’ve been great to have this in ½ hour formats. On a side note, I hear that MST3K is making some sort of comeback – I’ll be interested in seeing where this goes.

I’m reminded of these two shows, because a coworker gave me a link to a website which reminds me of the shows. The site takes clips from movies, and a guy makes comments about what is going on in a particular scene. For instance, during the movie Cocktail, there is a scene where Tom Cruise and the other guy are bartending and making fancy drinks during a song, and the crowd by the bar is cheering them on. The “narrator” is making comments like, “Sure, they only serve two drinks per song, but it’s worth it.”

These guys basically are cashing in on stuff we probably all do … which is making fun of movies, TV shows, commercials, etc. Sometimes I wonder why I didn’t come up with these ideas … sigh. Anyway, if you’re interested in this site, check it out - http://www.rifftrax.com/samples.