8th Annual MST Club Christmas Marathon Social Distancing II December 21, 2021 8:52 PM Subscribe
Here we go again! It's our eighth year sending out a constant stream of riffing, Christmas specials, video weirdness and strange movies, from midnight the morning on December 23, all through the 24th, and all through Christmas Day, and slightly beyond. This is where it'll all go down. We're here if you need us, or want us, whether to use for fun background, to fill odd moments, to see really really strange things late at night, to escape from family, or to obsessively watch over long periods (as those of us running it tend to do). With Omicron running rampant and many families choosing to distance again this year, we hope to lighten what may be a second sad year apart. More info inside!
Previous years: 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014
The maintainers are, again, me (known as rodneylives in the show chat), TheSnakeOfArgument, and valkane. foop is an honorary maintainer. Hobgobling and a few others used to help in the past, and are always welcome in the future.
We do this kind of by the seats of our various pantses. We used to have a solid schedule, but then realized that it was easier, and more fun, to just pick what to show as we go along, but during different periods we do try to aim for specific kinds of things, and there are some videos we try to show at some point every year.
In the mornings and early afternoons we try to show Christmas specials, good and bad. Later afternoons and evenings we consider "prime time," and try to show MST3K episodes, Rifftrax from our large (and paid-for!) collection, and similar things. Late nights is when things get weird, something we're going to try to lean into this year. Remember those days when you could flip through the channels at 2 in the morning and, once in a great while, find something completely inexplicable that you were absolutely certain no one else in the world was seeing? If you tune in super late at night some of the things we show may not be Christmas-related (especially late on the 25th, when things are winding down anyway).
Some things we always try to show:
MST3K 321: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
MST3K 521: Santa Claus
MST3K 813: Jack Frost
The Star Wars Holiday Special (with Rifftrax, for sanity preservation purposes -- and yes, it's on Youtube! Posted by the Rifftrax guys themselves!)
Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny (also with Rifftrax, and posted by them!)
The Rifftrax
Santa's Summer House (also Rifftrax)
Rifftrax: Santa's Village of Madness (not on Youtube, but worth getting!)
The He-Man & She-Ra Holiday Special (Youtube), for that essential yuletide kid-friendly cartoon cheesecake
The bizarre, made-for-TV live-action Year Without A Santa Claus with John Goodman and a drastically altered story
We also show some better items:
Opus & Bill: A Wish For Wings That Work
Olive, The Other Reindeer
A few Rankin-Bass things we can scavenge from Youtube
and a number of other things I'm going to be mysterious about....
We hope you can make it, but again emphasize our motto is "no stress." That's why I'm linking to many of our favorite things above, so if you miss them when we show them you can still watch them later! And feel free to invite your friends along, if they seem like they'd like something like this!
Previous years: 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014
The maintainers are, again, me (known as rodneylives in the show chat), TheSnakeOfArgument, and valkane. foop is an honorary maintainer. Hobgobling and a few others used to help in the past, and are always welcome in the future.
We do this kind of by the seats of our various pantses. We used to have a solid schedule, but then realized that it was easier, and more fun, to just pick what to show as we go along, but during different periods we do try to aim for specific kinds of things, and there are some videos we try to show at some point every year.
In the mornings and early afternoons we try to show Christmas specials, good and bad. Later afternoons and evenings we consider "prime time," and try to show MST3K episodes, Rifftrax from our large (and paid-for!) collection, and similar things. Late nights is when things get weird, something we're going to try to lean into this year. Remember those days when you could flip through the channels at 2 in the morning and, once in a great while, find something completely inexplicable that you were absolutely certain no one else in the world was seeing? If you tune in super late at night some of the things we show may not be Christmas-related (especially late on the 25th, when things are winding down anyway).
Some things we always try to show:
MST3K 321: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
MST3K 521: Santa Claus
MST3K 813: Jack Frost
The Star Wars Holiday Special (with Rifftrax, for sanity preservation purposes -- and yes, it's on Youtube! Posted by the Rifftrax guys themselves!)
Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny (also with Rifftrax, and posted by them!)
The Rifftrax
Santa's Summer House (also Rifftrax)
Rifftrax: Santa's Village of Madness (not on Youtube, but worth getting!)
The He-Man & She-Ra Holiday Special (Youtube), for that essential yuletide kid-friendly cartoon cheesecake
The bizarre, made-for-TV live-action Year Without A Santa Claus with John Goodman and a drastically altered story
We also show some better items:
Opus & Bill: A Wish For Wings That Work
Olive, The Other Reindeer
A few Rankin-Bass things we can scavenge from Youtube
and a number of other things I'm going to be mysterious about....
We hope you can make it, but again emphasize our motto is "no stress." That's why I'm linking to many of our favorite things above, so if you miss them when we show them you can still watch them later! And feel free to invite your friends along, if they seem like they'd like something like this!
Yay! Thanks for doing this, will stop by!
posted by mochapickle at 6:22 AM on December 22, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by mochapickle at 6:22 AM on December 22, 2021 [2 favorites]
Yes, thanks so much! Because of the time difference, I can usually only join a bit during the Thanksgiving and Christmas marathons but however briefly I am there, the experience always makes me happy.
posted by Bella Donna at 12:34 PM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Bella Donna at 12:34 PM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
I'm a few hours ahead of you, so I'll be in and out at odd hours, but still....preeeeeeeetty nice!
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 2:29 PM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 2:29 PM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
Still rolling along! 63 hours left.
posted by JHarris at 6:12 AM on December 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 6:12 AM on December 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
I’m so excited to see that Santa Claus (fights the devil) is on YouTube! I first saw this as a child after getting home late from the Christmas Eve service, and it’s a fond memory, I watched a lot of the Joel years with my dad. I saw it again 6ish years ago when it showed in movie theaters and it was unexpectedly even better than I remembered.
I’m getting a TV soon, and I’ll drop by if I get it set up in time. MST3K while I cook sounds festive!
posted by momus_window at 7:58 AM on December 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
I’m getting a TV soon, and I’ll drop by if I get it set up in time. MST3K while I cook sounds festive!
posted by momus_window at 7:58 AM on December 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
Sidebarred - thanks for the nudge, and long live MST3K-a-thon!
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:33 AM on December 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:33 AM on December 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
We're approaching 18 hours in, that's 54 to go, and we're getting started on our first MST episode, SANTA CLAUS!
posted by JHarris at 2:52 PM on December 23, 2021
posted by JHarris at 2:52 PM on December 23, 2021
Day one has about 20 minutes left, so, 48 hours to go. We're still doing riffing at the moment.
Tomorrow our idea is to start with the riffs a bit earlier than today, we got started with them at around 6 PM this time, that was probably a bit too late.
posted by JHarris at 8:38 PM on December 23, 2021
Tomorrow our idea is to start with the riffs a bit earlier than today, we got started with them at around 6 PM this time, that was probably a bit too late.
posted by JHarris at 8:38 PM on December 23, 2021
We're into the Very Strange portion of the night now. 46 hours to go....
posted by JHarris at 11:09 PM on December 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 11:09 PM on December 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Only 42 hours to go? Yikes, the time goes by so quickly. I saw some very strange things when I dropped by about 30 minutes ago. Made my Xmas Eve morning better. Thanks!
posted by Bella Donna at 2:01 AM on December 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Bella Donna at 2:01 AM on December 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
07:35 - #vanlife
posted by valkane at 4:38 AM on December 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by valkane at 4:38 AM on December 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
Day 2. Missed call. Supervan currently on. Like a low-rent, sci-fi Smokey & The Bandit. Featuring Morgan Woodward of Star Trek TOS fame, Uncle Leo from Seinfeld, and, believe it or not, Charles Bukowski. Truly weird.
posted by valkane at 5:00 AM on December 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by valkane at 5:00 AM on December 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
We're at the halfway point now, beginning a stretch of riffing!
posted by JHarris at 9:40 AM on December 24, 2021
posted by JHarris at 9:40 AM on December 24, 2021
Thank you for all you do!
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 9:28 AM on December 25, 2021
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 9:28 AM on December 25, 2021
We're moving to the last major portion of the show, the Star Wars Holiday Special portion and accompanying pieces. Less than three hours left!
posted by JHarris at 6:18 PM on December 25, 2021
posted by JHarris at 6:18 PM on December 25, 2021
That was so fun! Thank you again!
posted by mochapickle at 9:12 PM on December 25, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by mochapickle at 9:12 PM on December 25, 2021 [2 favorites]
Thank you all. Really was a very welcome presence during this hibernation time.
posted by profreader at 2:30 AM on December 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by profreader at 2:30 AM on December 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
While y'all were (are?) sleeping, I cleaned up my kitchen this morning to the lovely background of Yellow Submarine. So the holiday spirit lingered a long time at my apartment here in Sweden thanks to y'all. Much appreciated, thanks!
posted by Bella Donna at 3:28 AM on December 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Bella Donna at 3:28 AM on December 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
Thank you, organizers, that was really awesome!
posted by whitewall at 4:51 AM on December 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by whitewall at 4:51 AM on December 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
Yes Virginia, there is a Merrython.
posted by valkane at 6:32 AM on December 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by valkane at 6:32 AM on December 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
Thanks y'all! That was very strange and wonderful and I am grateful for the laughs and absurdity.
posted by youarenothere at 8:38 AM on December 26, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by youarenothere at 8:38 AM on December 26, 2021 [4 favorites]
Thanks for coming everyone. I thought hard about format changes this time to try to keep it interesting for people. As a result we did fewer specials this time than before, showed more MST3K (even when they weren't holiday-themed), and tried to show weirder things overnight. Of course we're only human, it's impossible to show ever person something they'd really want to see at every moment, but there's always space to grow.
We usually do something for New Year's Eve too, as a kind of coda for the marathon, if you guys are interested. Today, I plan on getting a lot of sleep--but not too much, I still have a zelda day post to make....
posted by JHarris at 12:00 PM on December 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
We usually do something for New Year's Eve too, as a kind of coda for the marathon, if you guys are interested. Today, I plan on getting a lot of sleep--but not too much, I still have a zelda day post to make....
posted by JHarris at 12:00 PM on December 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
As usual, we're doing something for New Year's Eve as well, if you want to drop by.
posted by JHarris at 2:25 PM on December 31, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by JHarris at 2:25 PM on December 31, 2021 [2 favorites]
Much gratitude for the folks in the world who put in time and work to make small spaces for community--thank you JHarris, TheSnakeOfArgument, and valkane for both recent watch sessions. Really appreciated being able to pop in again and spend time with the whole charming & hilarious lil' crew. Also thank you for finally, finally, finally punching both the MST3K and Dr Who* slots on my nerd card--long, long overdue.
Happy new year!!!
[*I know, I know, this one was more of a half-punch but I am kind of delighted to be able to curveball someone with talk of that weird-ass movie the next time Who knowledge is required of me.]
posted by youarenothere at 9:13 AM on January 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
Happy new year!!!
[*I know, I know, this one was more of a half-punch but I am kind of delighted to be able to curveball someone with talk of that weird-ass movie the next time Who knowledge is required of me.]
posted by youarenothere at 9:13 AM on January 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
My connection kept interrupting, I think because of the snow, so I'm bummed I missed most of the NYE fun. I do hope to stop by another time -- you're all really good company!
posted by mochapickle at 11:10 AM on January 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by mochapickle at 11:10 AM on January 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
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posted by JanetLand at 5:19 AM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]