Behold, Throw Your Vote Away!: A Parody of "The Apple!"This chapter is part of Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Storybook: Mystery Science Storybook Volume 3. You are also invited to
download BOTH VOLUMES of Mystery Science Storybook ABSOLUTELY FREE!
I think it would be fair to say that
this man probably never had any idea the effect he would have on so
many lives in a unique and meaningful way. No other character in the
entire canon of MST3K or RiffTrax is more iconic than The Master. He
clearly immersed himself in the character and gave the absolute best
performance an actor could give in such a role, but it would not be
appreciated for decades and in a way that could not even be conceived
at the time of filming.
The character, the performance, and
most importantly, the man himself had a profound impact on me
personally in a way that I believe is unique. He is literally the symbol of Mystery Science Storybook.No other image in the series is
more iconic than his face on a stained glass window that happens to
grace the cover of the book itself. His image is what the entire series was founded on and funded with. This very important part of my
body of work would literally not have been possible without Tom
Neyman, and I very much regret that, despite being friends with his
daughter, the amazing Jackey, I never got a chance to tell him what
he meant to me personally. I can only hope that he knows about the
amazing impact he had on my life and the life of so many of the rest
of us in this community.
RIP Master! You made a difference in
the world, and I believe you will continue to do so in the next one.
You were not insignificant. Quite the opposite.
DISCLAIMER: THIS COMIC IS IN NO WAY AN ENDORSEMENT OR DENUNCIATION OF ANY POLITICAL CANDIDATE! IT IS STRICTLY NEUTRAL! MAKE UP YOUR OWN MIND ON WHO YOU VOTE FOR!
Please consider supporting the production of brand new full chapters by visiting our Patreon page.
Artists like me depend of the support of the reader to keep the whole
thing going, so the more donors, the more comics I can bring to you
absolutely free! Also, because this comic is free for all to see so more people can see it before the election, Patreon patrons WILL NOT BE CHARGED for this one. It's a freebie, everybody enjoy!
Because of this, I have decided to indefinitely leave both books up in their entirety on Archive.org for anybody to download completely free. You can also read individual chapters free on this website (list below.)
The only thing I ask is that you consider becoming a patron to help fund completely new chapters from here on out. Art takes time and money in order for it to reach it's full potential, and right now I have a Patreon campaign set up to help me get some income so I can focus completely on the series and bringing you new funny. If you can't donate, that's totally fine, all I ask is that you consider it. Even a $1 a month donation would make a huge difference. Thanks so much for your consideration and enjoy!
Under no circumstances will you or anybody else dictate the content of my art or speech. Attack of the Birds, which is a work of parody, will remain whole with the rest of Mystery Science Storybook. On this there will be absolutely no compromise.
As stated, you have threatened me with a ten million dollar lawsuit, but let's be real, James. You don't have the resources to do that, do you? This was a bully tactic meant to scare me into giving in to your demands. And even if you did have the resources, any lawyer, judge or passerby with a vague notion of copyright law will tell you that you have no case and parody is protected speech. And even if you did have a case, there's no way you could extract any compensation for monetary damages, because there have been no monetary damages, certainly not in the amount of ten million dollars. If you thought suing me was going to fund Birdemic 3, think again.
And if you think you've won some kind of moral victory by getting digital copies taken off Amazon, Blurb and Gumroad, think again! The project in its entirety still exists for free on Archive.org, and sooner than you think, I WILL start selling physical copies again because I am entirely within my legal rights to do so. Abusing the DMCA as you have is the move of a coward, which you are.
And let me tell you what else you are, James. You are a talentless, petty, delusional little man who won the lottery ONCE. Birdemic is a cult sensation hit, this is true, but it will be your only victory. You will never have another like it. So if you're going to sue me GET ON WITH IT! Bring your best game if you think you have it! I am calling your bluff, sir! Ten million dollars on the line! Let's do this! ...but if we're NOT going to do this, then I would kindly invite you to leave me the hell alone. Get on with your life and I'll get on with mine.
Unless we tangle in court, consider this the final word regarding this matter, and that word is “I win.”
Most sincerely
J. David Chadwick
aka Sugar Ray Dodge
September 7, 2016
Perhaps I was a bit naive when I made the post yesterday that I had decided to move on from Amazon to Gumroad to sell digital versions of Mystery Science Storybook, thinking that people had better things to do with their time than hassle me for wanting to sell my own art...
Sometime in the last hour or so, another abusive and fraudulent DMCA complaint was filed against me and my book on Gumroad, and my account there has been suspended. This has happened less than 24 hours after I announced the move. I do not know yet if James Nguyen, director of Birdemic, is behind this latest assault on my freedom of expression and attempt to deprive me of making a profit off my work, but I will update you in this post when I have all the details.
In the meantime, looks like we're back to square one yet again. You can still download both books for free at Archive.org and please consider becoming a patron. Thanks again to everybody for your support and I will keep you updated as details become available.
UPDATE: It has been confirmed that James Nguyen is behind this latest assault on the Freedom of Expression. He threatened Gumroad with a ten million dollar lawsuit that he has absolutely no case for or even the resources to file. Looks like this guy is not going to go away quietly.
For everybody who has supporting me in this whole Birdemic vs. Storybook ordeal, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. The support of my friends and fans has gotten me through what one could consider a very rough and emotional time. Here's some of the coverage in other outlets we got, if you're not included, send me an email and I'll be sure to update this list.
I know a lot of people have suggested that I take counter-legal measures against James Nguyen for causing me all this trouble, which sounds like fun, but quite frankly, probably wouldn't even be worth it. I am therefore playing my "Moving On!" card and taking my business away from Amazon, who have made it clear to me that they have no intentions of even considering my side of the story and will not be putting the digital versions of Mystery Science Storybook back up for sale. Instead, you will now be able to purchase digital versions of both Mystery Science and Night of the Living Storybook on Gumroad.com! Links on this website will be changed to reflect the new digital home of the Storybook series.
I know many of you may be saying "why are you putting them back up for sale so soon? He'll just issue DMCA notices to Gumroad!" Perhaps, but please remember that I have done nothing wrong! Mystery Science Storybook is my intellectual property and I have a right to sell it! I doubt Mr. Nguyen is even still paying attention to me at this point, but in case he is, I'd like to publicly state that I am doubling down on my right to sell Storybook in it's entirety, and that includes the parody chapter "Attack of the Birds." You don't own my work, Mr. Nguyen, and you never will! If you want to keep harassing me, I guess that's a road we'll have to go down together, but you will eventually lose! So how about we just go our separate ways now, what do you say?
In any case, to use a cliche that I don't entirely know from where it originates, I will never give up and I will never surrender. Mystery Science Storybook is back up for sale, and I am very glad that, for as far as I'm concerned, is in my rear view mirror.
Unfortunately friends, both Amazon and Blurb have caved to the lying, unfounded DMCA notices sent to them by James Nguyen, director of Birdemic: Shock and Terror. I have taken the precaution of removing Night of the Living Storybook from Blurb and a new file for the second volume will be uploaded to the Kindle version too. This is a huge blow, but I'm not done fighting. In the meantime, the best thing anybody can do to help is to:
1. Download the book FOR FREE on Archive.org. 2. Share the hell out of this story on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, EVERYWHERE you can! In the world of DMCA, you are guilty until proven innocent, and showing the world what a greedy, pathetic, talentless a-hole James Nguyen is the only way to get justice! Please share THIS LINK as it has all the details. 3. Consider making a donation or becoming a patron. I know times are tough and I
honest to god won't hold it against you if you can't, but I'm about to
lose a ton of sales and dollars because of Mr. Nguyen's actions, so if
you have ANYTHING to spare to keep the series afloat, it would be VERY
MUCH APPRECIATED
Will keep everybody updated as events continue to unfold.
JAMES NGUYEN IS BULLYING, THREATENING, AND ATTEMPTING TO CENSOR MYSTERY SCIENCE
STORYBOOK! IN AMERICA PARODY IS PROTECTED SPEECH! BULLYING TACTICS,
MISREPRESENTATION AND GROSS IGNORANCE OF AMERICAN PARODY AND FAIR USE
LAW, WILL NOT STAND!
James Nguyen is attempting to get Mystery Science Storybook removed from both Amazon and Blurb! But you can still download BOTH volumes FOR FREE AT ARCHIVE.ORG! Please consider making a Paypal donation (sidebar) or becoming a Patreon donor to help compensate with the loss of business I am about to receive because of Nguyen's actions.
On August 17, 2016, as part of an
awareness raising campaign for my Mystery Science Storybook series, I
published a post that featured my parody of Birdemic: Shock and
Terror entitled “Attack of the Birds,” which is the third
chapter of the first volume of the series. Like all Mystery Science
Storybook stories, “Attack of the Birds” is a loving parody of
it's source material, and the word parody is featured
prominently in the story's subtitle, and a work of parody constitutes
Fair Use of it's respective source material.
I would also like to
point out that all drawings and dialogue were created from scratch by
me, and I and I alone can claim sole intellectual property of every
single element of every single page in Mystery Science Storybook.
Later that day, I received two emails
from Mr. Ngyuen, one sent to me on Facebook and another sent to me to
my personal email account.
Two more emails were later sent to me,
the first being a copy of these emails, but with several members of
the Birdemic cast and Severin Films employees CC'd. The other was
this, a forwarded message to me that he has placed a copyright
infringement claim on the Kindle edition of Mystery Science Storybookwith Amazon.
I responded with this email, and he responded again.
I did not respond. Earlier today he forwarded me confirmation that Amazon was in the process of removing Mystery Science Storybook based on his ignorant claims!
It is clear that Mr. Nguyen has
declared war on Mystery Science Storybook and does not have an
operational understanding of the concept of parody and Fair Use. I will appeal Amazon's decision and will most likely win such an appeal. I have worked too hard on this series and will not let James Ngyuen's ignorant bully tactics push it out of existence. You can still download BOTH volumes FOR FREE AT ARCHIVE.ORG! Please consider making a Paypal donation (sidebar) or becoming a Patreon donor to help compensate with loss of revenue I am about to take, and share this post on your social media feeds to spread the word about this injustice.
Our good friends at ICWXP are maxing and relaxing on set with Mystery Science and Night of the Living Storybook. This is a really cool thing to see, to be honest. These guys are hard workers and deserve to keep going with their hilarious independent television show! Check out their YouTube channel and hit them up on Patreon to keep their lights on!
This month marks the 10th anniversary of RiffTrax, the reincarnation of Mystery Science Theater 3000, which, in my opinion, has surpassed it's predecessor in creative accomplishment. It features Michael J. Nelson, the second host of MST3K and star of the 1996 film of the same name, Kevin Murphy, the second and most iconic Tom Servo, and Bill Corbett, the second and more versatile Crow T. Robot. RiffTrax's first release was Mike's solo riff of the 1989 kick-fest, Road House, on July 21st, 2006. 10 years later, they have a catalog of over 200 riffs by the main team, as well as dozens more from their RiffTrax Presents teams, featuring Matthew J. Elliott, Ian Potter, Janet Varney, Cole Stratton, Bridget Nelson, Mary Jo Pehl and others.
Before I delve into why RiffTrax is so important to me and my life, I suppose I better give some back story as to how I came to be aware of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and, later, RiffTrax itself. Back in high school, my older sister worked at Blockbuster Video and she brought home a copy of Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, where Mike and the bots took on the film This Island Earth. From that point on, I was hooked. I was amazed that something like this could even exist, and I knew I wanted to be a part of it. I started watching it on the SciFi Channel, by which point Mike, Kevin and Bill were the starring lineup, and that became the version of the show I became most familiar with and fond of. I have very distinct memories of seeing Riding With Death, Time Chasers, Jack Frost, Space Mutiny, The Deadly Bees, The Final Sacrifice, Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, and The Pumaman all for the first time during those years, and I still can't see any of those episodes without being transported back to the late 90s, watching them after track meets on a Saturday afternoon.
Upon my graduation from high school, MST3K was cancelled, and it seemed almost fitting that this awesome thing during that part of my life to end along with it. I joined the Army, went away, but I always thought about MST3K when I would see bad movies and think “this would be a PERFECT episode!” I was reintroduced to the series during my second deployment to Operation Iraqi Freedom in late 2005, when a friend of mine let me borrow some DVDs he had bought, and I became a fanatic all over again. It's amazing what you forget over the course of 6 years. I bought more than a few DVDs in 2005 and 2006, and I even heard that Mike Nelson had formed RiffTrax, but given the nature of that project and where I was at the time, I ended up not checking it out until much, much later.
Much, much later took the form of the Christmas break in 2008. By this time, RiffTrax had already been around for a couple of years and had a well-defined library of blockbuster movie commentaries ready for my to dive into. It was my second-to-last Christmas in the Army, and I had spent several months that year traveling all over the country, so I decided not to go anywhere. I was all alone and bored out of my mind. I decided to finally check out RiffTrax, wondering what had been preventing me from doing so. I bought and downloaded their riff of The Dark Knight, and once again, I was an immediate fanatic. I spent my final year in the Army catching up on all the essentials I had missed, as well as all the new releases as they came out.
In early 2010, I received an Honorable Discharge after ten years of service and went back home to Utah. My reintroduction into regular society that year was both a joy and a nightmare. So many great things happened that year, but I also had no idea how to be a civilian, which led to some serious emotional ups and downs as I navigated this brave new world in which I was no longer wearing an Army uniform. One of my anchors that year was RiffTrax, it provided a strong sense of continuity between my previous life and this new one, that everything that had happened before meant something, but also that it was okay to let go of it and embrace the new. Ultimately, that's what I feel RiffTrax represents. We all loved MST3K, but it's the past. RiffTrax is the present and the future. While it's okay to honor and celebrate the past, we must always remember that we live in and for the present, and that our future can be whatever we want it to be, all we have to do is make it happen.
When I ended up dropping out of Pharmacy school to pursue a career in graphic design, RiffTrax served as a muse for much of my art. In fact, in the last five years, I have produced more RiffTrax related art than anything else. My last two books, which are essentially my doctorate thesis of everything that I've learned and grown into these past five years, would not be possible without the existence of RiffTrax. So it has fundamentally shaped my ever-evolving worldview and self-image. It informs everything that I do and everything that I strive to become in my life. RiffTrax has made me a better artist and a better person, and amazingly, it's somebody I like being quite a lot. I can't imagine what my life would be like right now without it.
And it has also introduced me to a great number of people I would have never met without it. A lot of really awesome people who provide a lot of new and unique takes on not only the product, but on life itself and I am very happy that I know all of them. You all know who you are and I love you.
So, to Mike, Kevin, Bill, Conor, Sean, Matthew, Ian, Cole, Janet, Bridget, Mary Jo, Erik, Jason, Jeff and everybody else behind the scenes, I want you to know that your work IS having a profound impact on at least one person on this planet, and I am so very happy to be that person and that you keep providing me with something that brings me quite a bit of happiness.
Get Mystery Science Storybook on the Kindle here! Get Night of the Living Storybook on Kindle here!
Hardcover and paperback special editions can be ordered below!
Welcome, once again, viewers of RiffTrax Live! Tonight is a very special night for all of us as we took part in RiffTrax Live: MST3K Reunion, something we have all been wanting for a very, very long time. If you missed the show tonight, you can still catch the encore broadcast on July 12!
And, as usual, if you are here tonight, you are most likely coming to us from the Digital Downloads page! I'd like to thank everybody at RiffTrax once again for allowing me to participate, it is a thrill and an honor to be able to do so. For those of you who have visited here after past live shows and have pre-ordered physical copies of Mystery Science Storybook: Bedtime Tales Based on the Worst Movies Ever, GOOD NEWS! All Kickstarter and Pre-Order books HAVE BEEN SHIPPED! They will be arriving at your homes this week if you haven't already received them.
For those of you new to my work, I have a little graphic novel series based on movies from both MST3K and RiffTrax. So far, two books have been finished and published, the first volume is the aforementioned Mystery Science Storybook, and the second volume being Night of the Living Storybook. They are both available digitally through Amazon.com (follow the links,) but if you're among those who like to have physical copies of things, you can get in on the 2016 Special Edition printing of both books by ordering them below! All books in this printing will ship before August 2016! But hurry, in order to keep these special editions special, they won't be available forever! GET IN ON THE ACTION BELOW!
Night of the Living Storybook
And what does the future hold for the Storybook series? Right now I am gearing up for Volume 3, Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Storybook? I will be making announcements about that volume in the next little while, so stay tuned if you'd like to be a part of it. In the meantime, you should totally check out our friends at INCOGNITO CINEMA WARRIORS XP! They're a great MST3K tribute show, who also grace the cover of Night of the Living Storybook. They are awesome at what they do and they deserve to keep going, so give them a chance, why not?! Again, thanks a ton to RiffTrax for letting me be a part of the fun and to all of you who have been so supportive of this project. I can't do it without you, and thanks again!
