History Trivia / MysteryScienceTheater3000TheMovie

* BoxOfficeBomb: Despite not having a confirmed budget, the fact that the film's final domestic gross is $1,007,306 should be proof enough. See below for why.

** More discussion of the new parts between Cal and Joe about the new parts

* DeletedScene: In cutting down the movie for the movie, several key scenes are removed from ''Film/ThisIslandEarth'', so if you want to understand the plot a little better it's worth seeing it at least once without riffing. The editing makes the movie seem cheesier than it actually is. (But that's not to say there isn't a heap of cheese in it though!)

* DeletedScene: In cutting down the movie for the movie, several key scenes are removed from ''Film/ThisIslandEarth'', so if you want to understand the plot a little better it's worth seeing it at least once without riffing.

** But the real kicker? As Website/TheAgonyBooth's recap of ''Barb Wire'' [[http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Barb_Wire_1996.aspx made sure to point out]]:

* ExecutiveMeddling: According to Best Brains Inc., the film was horribly mangled by the distributors, Gramercy (a joint venture between Creator/{{Universal}} and Creator/PolyGramFilmedEntertainment, serving as Universal's art-house label and a distributor for [=PolyGram=]'s releases; once Seagram's (yes, the liquor company) merged them together, what remained of Gramercy became part of the core of Creator/FocusFeatures). Creator/KevinSmith said concerning ''Film/{{Mallrats}}'' (another Gramercy picture) that Gramercy "couldn't market their way out of a paper bag"; this is in full evidence here. Amongst other things, they insisted on a movie with substantially higher quality than the average ''[=MST3K=]'' fare (probably the only point on which Gramercy and Best Brains agreed, though this movie wasn't the latter's first choice), a shorter running time, and less obscure riffs to make it more accessible. They also threw in some random profanity to [[AvoidTheDreadedGRating just so it could be PG-13]]. Best Brains considered the final product to be the least-satisfying project they worked on and even included not-so-subtle {{Take That}}s at Gramercy in the host segments of ''Film/TheIncredibleMeltingMan'' episode. Trace Beaulieu, the last of the KTMA-era cast members, chose to leave the show after Season 7 because of this meddling.

* CreatorKiller: The disagreements between Joel and executive producer Jim Mallon over even ''doing'' the film led to the former's departure from the show.

* CreatorBacklash: This happened due to the heavy ExecutiveMeddling by Gramercy executives. In the behind-the-scenes feature on the DVD and Blu-Ray, Kevin Murphy seems to be the only one of the Best Brains crew (or at least of the ones interviewed) that doesn't seem ''too'' bitter over the final product. He says that he doesn't consider the film a complete failure, that it's great that most fans still enjoy it (despite all the changes made), and that at least the movie is better than ''Film/BarbWire''. He also relishes the fact that ''Barb Wire'' [[LaserGuidedKarma made Gramercy lose]] ''[[LaserGuidedKarma way]]'' [[LaserGuidedKarma more money]] than ''[=MST3K=]: The Movie'' did.
** Murphy went on record in that special as saying that "[m]aking the movie was one of the best experiences of my life. Dealing with the studio when doing so was one of the worst."
** [[https://www.avclub.com/mystery-science-theater-3000-the-movie-the-oral-histo-1846694612 This oral history of the film]] indicates that many of the Brains either never watched the movie or haven't seen it since the original release. Mike Nelson said that when he saw the movie, "all I looked at was the hard work and the pain of it" which made it impossible to enjoy watching it until years later.[[note]]Nelson devotes a chapter of his book ''Mike Nelson's Movie Megacheese'' to the movie, saying that watching it "shouldn't prevent you from doing other things like changing your vacuum cleaner bag or bleeding your water heater."[[/note]]
** Although not directly involved in its production, Creator/JoelHodgson was impressed with the movie's riffing, considering it some of the best work [=MST3K=] did. Years later, he and Jonah Ray used it as a template for how they wanted to handle the revival series.
* CreatorKiller: The disagreements between Creator/JoelHodgson and executive producer Jim Mallon over even ''doing'' the film led to the former's departure from the show.
* ExecutiveMeddling: According to Best Brains Inc., the film was horribly mangled by the distributors, Gramercy Pictures (a joint venture between Creator/{{Universal}} and Creator/PolyGramFilmedEntertainment, serving as Universal's art-house label and a distributor for [=PolyGram=]'s releases; once Seagram's (yes, the liquor company) merged them together, what remained of Gramercy became part of the core of Creator/FocusFeatures). Creator/KevinSmith said concerning ''Film/{{Mallrats}}'' (another Gramercy picture) that Gramercy "couldn't market their way out of a paper bag"; this is in full evidence here. Amongst other things, they insisted on a movie with substantially higher quality than the average ''[=MST3K=]'' fare (probably the only point on which Gramercy and Best Brains agreed, though this movie wasn't the latter's first choice), a shorter running time, and less obscure riffs to make it more accessible. They also threw in some random profanity to [[AvoidTheDreadedGRating just so it could be PG-13]]. Best Brains considered the final product to be the least-satisfying project they worked on and even included not-so-subtle {{Take That}}s at Gramercy in the host segments of ''Film/TheIncredibleMeltingMan'' episode. Trace Beaulieu, the last of the KTMA-era cast members, chose to leave the show after Season 7 because of this meddling.
** Before its release, Gramercy had to choose whether to put their full support behind ''[=MST3KA=]'' or ''Barb Wire''. They chose the latter and left this film to die in a barely-there theatrical release (that had little-to-no advertising). They also insisted on an overarching plot, so the film begins with Crow trying to tunnel his way out, he picks up a chainsaw in the next scene, and the (original) ending has him trying to tunnel out of the SOL again with the chainsaw. The bit with Crow from the original ending was cut because it was much longer, and focus groups complained that the movie was too long -- so the ending was changed to a shorter one, which meant a considerable chunk of ''This Island Earth'' had to be excised as a result.

--->They put all of their marketing money behind Pam Anderson, and dumped [=MST3K=] in the theaters with [[InvisibleAdvertising no advertising whatsoever]]. As a result, [=MST3K=] tanked. (Even so, [[http://boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?view=main&yr=1996&wknd=16&sort=avg&order=DESC&p=.htm in its first weekend it had a higher per-theater average than anything else that weekend]]. So, just imagine the business it could have done if people had actually known it was out.)

*** According to Daniel Griffith (an intern on the movie, and later producer a documentary on the film for Shout! Factory), Gramercy execs showed up to one screening of ''[=MST3K=]'' and handed out ''Barb Wire'' merchandise to all attendees. ''Everyone'' was confused over this.

** While screening the movie on Jonah Ray's podcast ''Let Me Watch Your Movie with You'', Trace revealed that Servo was originally supposed to exclaim "Music/BootsyCollins!" as the Metalunan mutant appeared, a much more fitting and funny reference that had killed when they'd done the show live. One of the executives, no matter how much the humor or proven appeal of this joke was explained to him, [[ViewersAreMorons didn't get it and thus didn't think anyone else would]]; the reference was changed to "Leona Helmsley!", which he ''did'' understand.

** Hodgson stated in interviews that the real reason he left was because of CreativeDifferences with Mallon over this project. Hodgson admitted he was afraid of splitting BBI (he didn't want anyone taking sides against each other) and damaging the show itself, so he left. One wonders how the history of ''[=MST3K=]'' would have been different had the movie never been made.
** Before picking This Island Earth, the crew rifled through everything in Creator/{{Paramount}} back catalog of films and made for TV movies that were ripe for riffing, some films in particular that were up for grabs, as remembered by Kevin Murphy was the 1989 horror film Clownhouse, and When Worlds Collide.
** Creator/{{Paramount}} head Brandon Tartikoff was interested in producing a movie circa-1993, but he wanted an OriginsEpisode about how Joel got onto the SOL and built the Bots, with far less movie riffing than expected. Hodgson turned him down and was backed up by the entire BBI crew.
** A deleted scene had the Satellite of Love caught in a meteor shower, and [[spoiler:Mike nearly dies when the air supply is cut off and Crow and Servo have to save him.]] The original ending also involved the crew warping Scrotor (the alien from the film) down to Deep 13 with the Interocitor to get revenge on Dr. Forrester. It also provided a CallBack to Crow using the chainsaw that he'd found in Servo's underwear collection, and ending the film on a HereWeGoAgain moment. Gramercy had them cut for being too long (and "scary"), and the special features show that the Brains were not happy about either scene being cut.
** Gramercy also wanted the credits to be a WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue instead of the crew riffing the credits -- but Best Brains actually won this battle, so the credits are as they originally planned.
** A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t0FvZ56fSM country-style remix of the MST3K Love Theme]], performed by former Blasters member Dave Alvin, was to accompany the film. This was dropped before release, however, and an instrumental version was used for the end credits instead. Although most fans think [[{{Narm}} the remix isn't even that good anyway]]. The Alvin version was used in full for the menu screen on the Shout Factory DVD/Blu-Ray release.

* MarketBasedTitle: In Brazil, it was released under the title ''The Stupidest Movie in the World''.

** [[https://www.avclub.com/mystery-science-theater-3000-the-movie-the-oral-histo-1846694612 This oral history of the film]] indicates that many of the Brains either never watched the movie or haven't seen it since the original release. Mike Nelson said that when he saw the movie, "all I looked at was the hard work and the pain of it" which made it impossible to enjoy watching it until years later.

** A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t0FvZ56fSM country-style remix of the MST3K Love Theme]], performed by former Blasters member Dave Alvin, was to accompany the film. However, this was dropped, and an instrumental version was used for the end credits instead. Though, most fans think [[{{Narm}} the remix isn't even that good anyway]]. The Alvin version was used in full for the menu screen on the Shout Factory DVD/Blu-Ray release.

** A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t0FvZ56fSM country-style remix of the MST3K Love Theme]], performed by former Blasters member Dave Alvin, was to accompany the film. However, this was dropped and an instrumental version was used for the end credits instead. Though, most fans think [[{{Narm}} the remix isn't even that good anyway]]. The Alvin version was used in full for the menu screen on the Shout Factory DVD/Blu-Ray release.

** A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t0FvZ56fSM country-style remix of the MST3K Love Theme]], performed by former Blasters member Dave Alvin, was to accompany the film. However, this was dropped and an instrumental version was used for the end credits instead. Though, most fans think [[{{Narm}} the remix isn't even that good anyway]].
*** The Alvin version was used in full for the menu screen on the Shout Factory DVD/Blu-Ray release.

---->They put all of their marketing money behind Pam Anderson, and dumped [=MST3K=] in the theaters with [[InvisibleAdvertising no advertising whatsoever]]. As a result, [=MST3K=] tanked. (Even so, [[http://boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?view=main&yr=1996&wknd=16&sort=avg&order=DESC&p=.htm in its first weekend it had a higher per-theater average than anything else that weekend]]. So, just imagine the business it could have done if people had actually known it was out.)

* An early script had the Mads hosting a booth at a mad scientists convention in Las Vegas. The ending would have had the Satellite of Love plummeting towards Vegas, then get rescued by a {{Kaiju}}.