2014 began with fans still stunned from the
announcement and quick demise of Cinematic Titanic. After all CT had
been a hit in person and on DVD. Fans felt a little uneasy about what
might happen next and if after all these years were things beginning to
wind down? Not likely. It was a little comforting to see MST3K
mentioned once again as an answer on Jeopardy on 1/9/14.
It wouldn't be long before MST alums began showing up everywhere. On 1/19 Mary Jo was a guest riffer at the Alamo Drafthouse in San Antonio, TX when they riffed the movie Twilight: New Moon. Then on 2/4 J Elvis appeared at the Acme Comedy Co. in Minneapolis, MN performing stand up with Chris Bliss. Josh took the time to let us know that the reason he was unable to perform at some of the Cinematic Titanic appearances toward the end of 2013 was due to having to deal with a cancerous kidney, which was now removed and mended.
Joel continued touring with his Riffing
Myself show, appearing at the Brava Theater during Sketchfest in San
Francisco on 2/7 followed on 2/8 by another show at the Tower Theatre in
Sacramento, CA. That same day Trace presented his Silly Rhymes at the
Negative Space Art Gallery in Cleveland, OH where he was joined by
illustrator Len Peralta.
The RiffTrax gang got in on the action when the live tweeted riffs over
the Academy Awards presentation, where the selfie craze reached a new
low (or high).
The new class of inductees into the Horror Host Hall of Fame was
announced on 3/7 with Joel, Trace and Josh, the original cast of MST3K,
being among the honorees. They would actually be inducted as part of
the 2015 class. (Included below is the 2014 ballot.)
Trace and Frank began making regular appearances together as “The
Mads.” They were invited to attend the 14th Sci Fi Festival in London.
They started a Kickstarter to help fund the trip, where they raised 3092
pounds to their goal of 2800 pounds.
MST3K DVD set XXIX was released 3/25/14. The episodes included Untamed
Youth (112), Hercules and the Captive Women (412), The Thing That
Couldn't Die (805) and The Pumaman (903). Extras are interviews of
Mamie Van Doren and Walter G. Alton, Jr. (Pumaman himself) plus the
unMSTied Pumaman, Joel discussing Riffing Myself, the Posters of MST3K
(a gallery of images by Steve Vance), The Movie That Couldn't Die
documentary, new Joel intros and movie trailers.
Also on 3/25 Luken Communications announced they had the right to 26
episodes of MST3K (covering seasons 1 through 10) that would start
airing on RetroTV.
During the end of March 2014 stories began to arise about a special evening of programming on TV featuring the RiffTrax team. The fact that it was on the National Geographic Channel made some people wonder if it was a hoax. When it came out that the date was going to be 4/1 everyone began to assume it was just an April Fools’ joke. To the delight of fans it was no joke. Nat Geo and RiffTrax had made arrangements for Mike, Kevin and Bill to riff three hours worth of prime time shows. The day started with the guys on Reddit AMA talking about the evening’s festivities. The shows skewered were Bad @$$ Animals (Killer Shrimp 'n Friends), Man vs. Monster (Demon Bat) and Unlikely Animal Friends (A Guy and a Goose).
Wired on-line posted a feature called MST3K - The Definitive Oral History of a Masterpiece on 4/22. In it Joel mentioned that he is trying to start a new on-line version of MST, but had nothing definitive to report yet. Besides being a very good article the item also featured some very cool photos of Joel and the bots.
Trace and Frank made their appearance at Sci-Fi London on 4/25 and 4/26. The first night was an on stage tribute with host Bunny Galore. The second night was a now traditional MST all-nighter at the Stratford Picturehouse.
Also on 4/26 Kevin performed in a live episode of the Thrilling Adventure Hour in Chicago at DePaul University's Merle Reskin Theatre.
The DVD of the RiffTrax Live version Manos: The Hands of Fate was released on 5/6. The event had used the newly restored version of Manos in all of its HD glory. Then on 5/8 Kevin performed the part of “Voice” in the Tex Murphy Adventure Game Tesla Effect, a full motion video game.
5/11/14 saw the delayed release of the beginning of the animated web series called The Begun of Tigtone featuring Bill Corbett as the voice of the Ghost Wizard.
On 5/13 RiffTrax began a Kickstarter to see if there was interest in paying up to see the 1998 Matthew Broderick version of Godzilla get riffed on the live on the big screen. They announced that it would take $100,000 to get the rights. That amount was quickly reached so on 5/29 a stretch goal was added to also riff the SciFi big monster movie Anaconda if $250,000 could be attained. By the time the pledging was complete they had reached $255,000.
Joel kicked off his summer long series of Riffing Myself shows across the country on 5/30-6/1 at Indy Pop Con, Indianapolis, IN. Over the next few months he would also appear at Monster Bash, Mars, PA 6/20-22, Albuquerque Comic Expo 6/27-29, CONjure, Orlando, FL 8/1-3. Wizard World Chicago 8/22-24 and Dragon Con, Atlanta, GA 8/29-31. (The following three pictures are all from Monster Bash.)
