Grex Scifi Conference

Item 5: Mystery Science Theater 3000

This is the tiem for discussion of Mystery Science Theater 3000, which
is currently shown on Comedy Central (52 on Columbia Cablevision) at
12:30 AM, 10 AM, and 7 PM Each Saturday.

Oop,s I meant item, not tiem.

Anyway, I have a request for information on MST3K fans.  Apparently
Comedy Central wants to do promotional stuff of some sort, and they
need info.  To read this request, just type

        !more /u/robh/News/mst3k

at the Picospan prompt.

Help!  Due to a miscommunication between myself and my housemate, I managed
to tape every episode of Turkey Day EXCEPT "Teenagers from Outer Space."
Can anyone out their lend me a copy for dubbing purposes?  I'd also
like the segway with Dr. Forrester and Frank, between TFOS and "Hercules
Unchained."

For all those interested, I have two new files from Usenet in
my directory - ~robh/mst3kdrink contains the MST3K Drinking Game,
and ~robh/psxmas contains the lyrics and chords for "A Patrick
Swayze Christmas".

Now that the login has your attention...

I just received  a package from Lisa Jenkins in Minnesota.
It has two episodes from KTMA, the small independent station
which originallly showed MST3K, and nine of the first-season
episodes, which are no longer shown on Comedy Central.  I'd
love to get together and have a mass showing for everyone in
the SciFi conference, but I can't make my place available.

So, anybody want to play host?  When's a good time?

Just read in the paper today in a very small paragraph - Joel Hodgeson is
going to 'retire' as host on the Satelite of Love to write for the show.
Mike Nelson is to replace him.  

So what do you think of Joel and the Bots without Joel?

Better than no Bots *and* no Joel.

From what I heard, Joel Hodgson will stay on as a writer/consultant/
whatever.  Good enough, if that's what he wants.  Certainly Mike Nelson
has shown he's a good actor.

I like Joel.  I haven't been watching MST3K for very long, so I'm not
ready to see him replaced.  Sigh.

This show is Grrr8! Especially Crow!

"We're gonna ride our Bicycles, We're gonna fill our hearts with love..
"We'll be lost for days and days, Corn-job will be blamed...."

UGH! Joel is one of the best parts of the show. I don't think the show i'll
do too well without him.......

I dunno... Mike was great as a number of the sketch characters.  I have
fairly high hopes.

That's about as painful as a cattle prod to the shoulder can be!
AAAAARGH!

I really would miss Joel. I just can't visual`sniff'ize  some other `sniff'
guy taking TomServo over `sniff' that heatduct!!!!! BOO-HOO!!!
I go be sad now.

Remember, though, that's what people said when Josh Weinstein (Dr.
Larry Erhardt, the first voice of Tom Servo) left.  Now people barely
even remember him.

Yes, But No Man (Or woman, so shut up all you politically correct jerks) has
the soothing, almost comatose voice joel has!!!!!

How long has MST3K been in existence?

The first program was broadcast on KTMA-TV in Minneapolis on
Thanksgiving Day, 1988.  The Comedy Channel picked them up the
following fall.

Getting back to the Joel thing.... What's gonna happen to him, (Beside starting
to write for the show)

Dunno.  Everyone involved is sworn to secrecy.  They ain't tellin'.

All they have said is it won't be like "Bewitched".  There *will*
be an explanation on the show for the change.

Oyve'......This not good news....

new season on the 17th?  thats what the CC commercials have been saying...
no pictures of anyone but Joel yet, though...   <sigh> I don't know...

YES!!! Joel's a survivor.....He's here to stay.

Nope.  The change will be in the twelfth episode of the season, in
October.

For everyone's edification...

July 17th       Hercules
July 24th       Warrior of the Lost World
July 31st       Swamp Diamonds
August 7th      Secret Agent Super Dragon
August 14th     The Magic Voyage of Sinbad
August 21st     Eegah!
August 28th     I Accuse My Parents

Darn it, I deleted the rest of the list.  Anyway, this puts "Mitchell,"
the last Joel episode, on October 2nd.

(skeez, come on, Joel *wants* to leave!  What do you want to do, chain
him to his theater seat?)

"Hercules", eh?  A truly classic turkey.

I take it "The Magic Voyage of Sinbad" is not one of the Ray
Harryhausen Sinbad flicks.  Those were actually pretty good.

You're absolutely correct.  Oh, what the heck, here goes...

(Yes, 511 is missing, the person who did this list forgot it...)


x 501 Warrior Of The Lost World
x 502 Hercules
x 503 Swamp Diamonds
x 504 Secret Agent Super Dragon
x 505 Magic Voice Of Sinbad
x 506 Eegah!
x 507 I Accuse My Parents
  508 Operation Double 007 (is it "Operation Kid Brother"?)
  509 Girl In Lover's Lane
x 510 The Painted Hills
x 512 Mitchell
x 513 The Brain That Wouldn't Die
  514 Teenage Strangler - (1964)
  515 Wild World of Batwoman (1966) aka She Was a Hippy Vampire
x 516 Atomic Brain (1963) aka Monstrosity
x 517 Beginning of the End 
x 518 Radar Secret Service (?)




501 - WARRIOR OF THE LOST WORLD (Italy, 1983) Science Fiction;
Robert Ginty, Donald Pleasence, Persis Khambatta. Directed by David 
Worth. A professor and his daughter recruit a cycle riding daredevil
to overthrow a malevolent tyrant.

502 - HERCULES (Italy, 1959) Adventure; Steve Reeves, Sylva Koscina,
Fabrizio Mioni, Ivo Garrani, Gina Rovere, Arturo Domenici, Directed
by: Pietro Francisci. The King of Colchis sends the Greek strongman
on a series of perilous missions in an effort to turn Hercules'
attentions away from his daughter.

503 - SWAMP DIAMONDS, aka SWAMP WOMEN (USA 1955) Drama; Michael Connors,
Marie Windsor, Beverly Garland. Directed by Roger Corman. Three tough female
prisoners escape from jail and make their way to loot concealed in a swamp.

504 - SECRET AGENT SUPER DRAGON (USA 1966) Mystery; Ray Danton, Marisa
Mell. A secret agent discovers that college students are being drugged
through candy and gum by an international organization that seeks to conquer
the United States.

505 - MAGIC VOYAGE OF SINBAD (USA/USSR 1962) Fantasy; Edward Stolar,
Anna Larion, Maurice Troyna, N. Malishyovskiy, B. Surovtsev, Y. Leonidov.
Directed by Aleksandr Ptushko and James Landis. Sinbad sets out to find
happiness for his people by capturing the legendary Phoenix.

506 - EEGAH! (USA 1963) Science Fiction; Arch Hall, Jr., Marilyn Manning,
Richard Kiel, William Watters, Directed by Nicholas Merriwether. A
lovestruck prehistoric caveman kidnaps a modern-day teenager in the desert.

507 - I ACCUSE MY PARENTS (USA 1943) Drama; Mary Beth Hughes,
Robert Lowell. Due to parental neglect, a young man becomes involved
with fast women, smuggling and manslaughter.

510 - THE PAINTED HILLS (USA 1951) Western; Paul Kelly, Gary Gray,
Bruce Cowling, Art Smith, Ann Doran. Directed by Harold Kress. A wealthy
gold prospector is murdered by his greedy partner and his dog sets out to
avenge his master's death.

512 - MITCHELL (USA 1975) Drama; Joe Don Baker, Martin Balsam, John Saxon,
Linda Evans, Merlin Olsen, Morgan Paull. Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen. A
maverick cop stalks a major narcotics trafficker in his quest to destroy a
big-city drug syndicate.

513 - THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE (USA 1959) Horror; Jason Evers,
Virginia Leith, Adele Lamont, Paula Maurice, Bruce Brighton, Doris Brent.
Directed by Joseph Green. A mad scientist keeps his dead fiancee's head
alive while searching for a suitable body.

516 - THE ATOMIC BRAIN, aka MONSTROSITY (USA 1964) Horror; Frank Gerstle,
Erika Peters, Judy Bamber, Frank Fowler, Marjorie Eaton, Margie Fisco.
Directed by Joseph Mascelli. A mad scientist creates a trio of horrible
creations after being hired to transplant an elderly widow's brain into a
younger woman's body.

517 - BEGINNING OF THE END (USA 1957) Sci-Fi; Peter Graves, Peggie Castle,
Morris Ankrum, Richard Benedict, James Seay, Thomas Browne Henry. Directed
by Bert I. Gordon. The US Army is called to action when radiation transforms
normal grasshoppers into mutated giants.

518 - RADAR SECRET SERVICE (USA 1950) Drama; John Howard, Adele Jergens,
Tom Neal. RADAR is used to search for a gang that hijacked a load of uranium
ore.

Wow -- thanks for the preview.  Some interesting choices there.  No Sandy
Frank Japanese scifi, thank goodness.  I always relate best to the good
ol' made-in-America turkeys.

Re: the end of #24:   Kill him with a forklift!  Hi-ki-ba!  Hoi!

You die joe! Jim kata!

To the contrary :) I find Mike Nelson's voice to be very velvety and
smooth!  I enjoyed his cameo appearances as Jack Perkins, etc.
I think it'll be a good change.

MST3000 makes me laugh so hard I need to keep a box of Kleenex
to wipe away the tears and blow my nose.  It's the only TV show
that's ever cracked me up so consistently.  I've been watching
the late-night repeats whenever I can, and might start taping the
ones I don't catch.  

Well, my response is not quite that extreme but it's in the same
direction.  Since I'm relatively new to MST3K-watching, a lot of the
late-night repeats are new to me.

I agree with md....Funniest thhing iv'e seen since that response hoolie made
about how in shape he was.....hahah...Crack-up city..

Ugh.

Season Five (the current season) has been -- without any doubt -- the
most consitently funny season.  "Girl in Lover's Lane" and "The Painted
Hills" were outstanding again.  No clunkers so far this year!

Yat another of vidar's irrelevant responses.

Supposedly, there is going to be a showing of "Mitchell" -- the transfer
episode -- at EMU on the 23rd.  I don't know the times and/or places or
requirements for being in the au~rdience.  This is part of some kind
of college tour.  Anybody at EMU know the poop?

I've asked for info on alt.tv.mst3k - as soon as I get anything, I'll
put it here.  Some of the other stops have limited it to students of
the college they're visiting.  Bad sign.

I have seen the new MST3K, with "Mike"......Not funny

They're nervous.  I'll give them a chance.

I think Mike was doing pretty well, though I think Frank needs serious help
when it comes to the songwriting department...  (I'm a janitor song)
with Joel completely gone for the time being, we might see how much he
was in every show, from a jokewriting perspective, based on what is now
missing.  That part of the show, I think, is much more critical than who
is sitting up front between Tom and Crow.

Everybody seemed more relaxed on last night's show, and I thought the
jokes worked pretty well.  Featured movie was a fairly recent one, 
a Golan Globus production called "Alien from L.A." with Kathy Ireland,
a model attempting to be an actress and equipped with one of the most
irritating squeaky voices in the history of cinema.

So Joel is not involved at all with the show now?  I thought he was
going to continue as a writer.

He is, after a hiatus of three months or so.  He had gone to Hollywood
to act as a "creative consultant" on the Paula Poundstone TV show,
but its cancellation after two weeks may mean his early return.

A lot of the comments now are more toilet humor.  It used to be a little
more punny, but I as many, consider puns to be the lowest form of 
humor.  

As if we cared what you think...

Show a little more respect, lest I give you a new face!  We're supposed
to be polite here, unless someone demands disrespect.

robh:  I realize it was a long time ago, but do you still have copies of
some KTMA episodes?  Or does anyone else?

No, Mark, I threw them all away.  >8)  Of COURSE I still have them!
Mail me.

A New Season is about to start!!! Is everyone as ready as I am to have new
episodes of MST3K?!  Saturday they start, with several in a row after that!!
Hooray!!

        Pattie

To tell you the truth, I still miss Joel too much to like the new guy.

Bringing another item back from the dead...

The MST3K College Tour is coming to Ann Arbor!!!  October 21st,
at both 8 PM and 10 PM, at the Modern Languages Building.
And it's FREE!!!  They'll be showing "Zombie Nightmare", a
1966 film starring Adam West.

So, can anybody give me a ride home afterwards?  >8)

Yay!  Do you have to get tickets, or anything, or is it just whoever shows
up first gets in?  Do you think one will have to get there mighty early not
to be locked out?

If it's free, I doubt you'll need a ticket (why complicate the situation;
well, I guess the U bureaucracy can do that if they want...).  I'd come
way early to either show, but especially the later one.  (Way early...
well, how long do you want to wait in line?  Half hour?  Hour?  I can't
see much more than an hour...beyond that it's not worth the trip).

What I told you in #51 was just about everything I read in the listing
in _Current_ magazine.  No tickets were mentioned, I assume it's free
to all who show up.  Of course, if I can't arrange a ride home
afterwards, I won't be going to either show.

Definitely get there early, though.

Caught an apparently brand-new episode of MST3K last Saturday (October
8).  Truly hilarious.  They seem to have hit their stride again after
the trauma of changing hosts last season.  Movie was a 1950's juvenile
delinquency opus with an Ed Wood script (though he didn't direct).

Yeah, I think "The Violent Years" is only the second Mike episode I've
really liked, after "Alien from LA".  The skits were still nothing to
write home about, though.

I enjoyed last night's "Mirror, Mirror"-inspired episode, though I would
have liked it if Dr. Forrester and Frank had done the whole movie.

I agree, this was a great show; all the better becasue the movie really
stank.

        Pattie

So, what's the word on the show Friday? Anyone going? Should we try to get
a  Grexpidition going?

        Pattie

I plan on going.

Which show?

        Pattie

I think I'd like to make the 8pm show.  Anybody else going?

Wish I could, but I can't find a ride back to my house
afterwards, and I don't love MST3K enough to walk 20
miles afterwards.  >8)

where is the modern languages building?

        Pattie

Ok Rob, I'll give you a ride back to Ypsi.  The MLB is at the corner of
Thayer and Washington Streets.

Thanks, but I'll skip it.  I have enough stuff I need to do
around here, anyway.

If you want to return those tapes, though...  >8)

Ok, can do Rob, we finished watching them the other night.
I thought Zombie Nightmare was pretty entertaining.  I liked the skits
better than any others they've done lately.  But I was pleased that the
biggest cheer of the night came when they showed Joel's name during the
credits.

I just typed this in for a friend; thought you all might enjoy it ...

This is the third skit in the movie "Monster A-Go-Go".  Joel speaks
in his usual sleepy voice, Crow is slow and deliberate, and Tom
Servo is manic.

(doors close)
Joel:   Ok, change furnace filters, done; jettison dry cleaning,
        check.  Ok young fresh fellows, I've got the rest of the
        afternoon off to talk about some of the questions of the
        universe.  So, any question you might have, ask me - you
        have my undivided attention.
Crow:   Oh no, uh we meant to prepare for this.
Servo:  Please Crow, lets don't make it like last week when you
        asked what was the deal with Jane Pauley's hair, ok?
(Tom and Crow whisper to each other)
Crow:   I just...  Ok not Jane Pauley...  Ok...  Well then you do
        it, you ask...
Servo:  Joel, The Pina Colada Song.
Joel:   Well uh, could you phrase it in the form of a question?
Servo:  Ok.  Joel, what's the deal with The Pina Colada Song?  Oh,
        and I have a follow-up.
Joel:   You mean, "If you like pina coladas, gettin' caught in the
        rain, if you're not into health food, and you have half a
        brain, if you like makin' love at midnight, on the dunes of
        the cape..."
Crow:   That's the one.
Joel:   Well ok, um, all right in the early 1980s Rupert Holmes
        wrote The Pina Colada Song because pina coladas and personal
        ads were on the forefront of, uh, the American
        consciousness, and you know pop song writers do just that -
        they write about pop culture.  You know, like, you know
        there's Ray Stevens' "The Streak", Larry Groce's "Junk food
        Junkie", uh, C. W. McCall's "Convoy", and others.
Servo:  Not so fast Sir Neon Peon.  Ok, so this man and woman are in
        this relationship for oh, let's say 8 months (that's the
        average national length of a dating relationship of males 18
        to 34) and they don't even know that each other likes pina
        coladas?!  What, would they always panic and order
        Manhattans or something?
Crow:   Yeah, and wouldn't they probably already've got caught in
        the rain together?  And then one of them at least
        *mentioned* that they *liked* getting caught in the rain?
Servo:  Mmm-hmm and if this couple (well we'll call them Rick and
        Julie for the purposes of this argument) if Julie and Rick
        had been together for any amount of time, well doesn't each
        of them have a responsibility to communicate to the other
        his or her dissatisfaction with the relationship?
Crow:   Yeah, 'cause by responding to the personals ads, not only
        are they cheating on each other - they're cheating on each
        other *with* each other.
Servo:  Yeah and since 72% of the population of North America lives
        in a landlocked state or province, in actuality this couple
        has *no idea* whether they like making love on the dunes of
        the cape!
Crow:   And it's probably one in a kazillion chance that Rick and
        Julie would actually answer each other's ads!
Servo:  Bingo!  And although the song tries to paint a rosy picture
        of a relationship reborn, it *is* human nature that either
        Rick or Julie (maybe both, I don't know) would harbor at
        least a *fragment* of resentment that the other set out to
        cheat on him (or her), which would unleash itself in fits of
        passive-aggressive behavior and bitter recrimination!
Joel:   (softly) Ok listen.  All I'm saying is that Rupert Holmes
        wrote a song about a couple of popular trends, all right?
Crow:   (close to tears) It doesn't make the hurt go away.
Servo:  We don't blame *you*, Joel.
Crow:   Hey!  Rupert Holmes wrote "Timothy"!  That was about
        cannibalism - when was *that* popular?
Joel:   Listen, uh, Crow, it's a well-known fact that Timothy was a
        duck.
Servo:  Uh wait a minute, let's review here - hungry as hell...  gee
        that leg looks swell...
(Commercial sign)

   This was posted to rec.arts.tv.mst3k - it tells how to vote via e-mail for 
the episodes they'll show this Friday and Saturday.  My roommate and I are 
voting for Atomic Brain (because of its short, "What About Juvenile 
Delinquency") and Gamera Vs. Guiron (because we think that's the one with the 
aliens from Indi-yana).  

--------------------------------------------------
From: mike.pearce@his.com (Mike Pearce)
Subject: Viewers Choice (12/2 - 12/3)
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 1994 05:22:24

December 2nd brings us the next 'viewers choice'.  You can
vote for the episode (from seasons 4, 5 and 6) of your choice
from a group of shows of a specific 'theme'.  The same episode
will be shown at 8am, 8pm, and 2am (E/P).  This week we have:

From the Neck Up:

1.  [513]  The Brain That Wouldn't Die
2.  [518]  Atomic Brain
3.  [605]  Colossus & the Headhunters
4.  [608]  Code Name: Diamond Head

December 3rd at 10am (E/P) uncut episodes of seasons 2 and 3.  This week:

Gamera Galore:

1.  [302]  Gamera
2.  [304]  Gamera vs. Barugon
3.  [308]  Gamera vs. Gaos
4.  [312]  Gamera vs. Gurion
5.  [316]  Gamera vs. Zigra

Don't let this be a *P* thing.  E-mail to: comedymst@aol.com
Over 1000 votes comes from Prodigy, and less than 100 from the internet.
So let's show Vinnie our presence.

The Tuesday before at 9am (E/P) is the cutoff time for
the polls (in this case, November 29th).

"The Brain that wouldn't Die" and "Gamera" won the last round.  Here's
the choices for this week:

Friday, 12/9 at 8am, 8pm, and 2am:

1. [508] Operation Double 007
2. [510] The Painted Hills (Lassie) with "Body Care and Grooming"
3. [517] Beginning of the End
4. [604] Zombie Nightmare
5. [614] San Fransisco International

Saturday, 12/10, at 10am:

1. [310] Fugitive Alien
2. [318] Starforce (Fugitive Alien 2)
3. [306] Time of the Apes
4. [212] Godzilla vs. Megalon
5. [314] Mighty Jack

Email your choices to comedymst@aol.com .  The guy who posted the note
above (mike.pearce@his.com) wants everybody who votes to CC him too, so he
can check the voting process, just this once.  This was probably prompted
by the victory of "Wild Wild World of Batwomen" a couple of weeks ago and
"The Brain that wouldn't Die" this week.  :-P
   I'm voting for "Painted Hills" and "Godzilla vs. Megalon".

Haven't looked at this item in a while.  Just wanted to note that
the "pier" sketch is one of the funniest things I have ever seen
on TV -- Mary and I laughed so hard we couldn't see straight.

I think my favorite skit is still "What's the *deal* with the Pina Colada
Song?", but there are so many good ones it's hard to choose.  "Rock Paper
Scissors" is definitely up there...

Well, we're into October, so I'll ask: What's up with MST3K. Will
there be a new season? Is a schedule available?

I don't get cable, so I had never seen MST3K. However, channel 50 began 
carrying it about a month ago. It's on in 1 hour segments at midnight  on
Saturday. This thing is a hoot!  I consistently get a couple of really good
laughs out of the show. question: The shows I've seen have a "joel"
character in them. I re-read through the above item. Was the Joel character
replaced with a new Mike character, or was just the actor replaced? Is the
character still called Joel?

I'm trying to figure out if the shows I've seen are new shows or if they are
replaying old episodes. The first 2 parter I saw was called either "Cave
Dwellers" or something with the main character's name in the title, which was
"Aton". Aton was the typical Conan-lookalike broad chested barbarian with
a brain the size of a pea. The whole thing was a stitch, both from the comments
from the front-row-3 to the movie itself, which was *B*A*D*.

Re 73 - We're all eagerly waiting announcement of the season 7 debut,
whenever Comedy Central decides to show it.  >8(  Some good news,
though - The three days before Thanksgiving, Comedy Central
will be showing three season one episodes, which haven't been
shown in about four years.

Re 74 - Yep, Joel was replaced by Mike back in late 1993.

Re #73:  Yes, Remmers, a schedule is available, in postscritp in fact.  I have
it on my refrigerator.  I'll ask my roommate where to get it from.

Re #74:  As Rob said, in shows through first half of season 5, the main
character was Joel Robinson, played by Joel Hodgson.  In episode 513,
"Mitchell", Joel escapes from the Satellite of Love, with Gypsy's help,
because Gypsy thinks the mads are planning to kill Joel (this is done as a
great parody of 2001, when HAL reads the astronauts lips as they're planning
to turn him off.  Mostly, I can't bring myself to watch that episode, but
objectively I guess it's a very good one.)  The mads replace Joel with a
character named "Mike Nelson", played by an actor named "Mike Nelson".  Mike
had been the head writer (and frequent guest) for quite a while before his
ascendence.
   Those who revel in the movie quips and are indifferent about the skits
seem to think that the show is no worse for the change.  Those of us who think
that Joel's delivery, energy, and inventions were perhaps the best thing on
TV, however, were heartbroken.  Personally, I think the show has never
recovered and never will recover, because Mike is just plain boring.  (And I
think all the ideas for the skits must have been Joel's, because they have
been just awful since he left.)

   One other thing:  They just finished filming an MST movie a few months ago.
No one (including the creators) knows when it will come out.  Season 7 will
be shortened as a result.  I think originally they were only going to have
only 6 episodes, but that number has increased.

(Mitchell was actually episode 512.  Episode 513 was The Brain
That Wouldn't Die, or The Head That Wouldn't Die, depending
on whether you watch the opening or closing credits, and was
Mike's first episode.)

Ooops, my mistake, should have looked it up.

Glad to hear there's a new season in the works. I'd be interested
in seeing the schedule if anyone can point me to it. Actually, I
can probably find it by browsing the MST3K web pages.
  Mike's not the performer Joel was, but I don't feel all that
strongly about the changeover. On the average the skits aren't as
good as they were in the early seasons, but I'm not sure that
wouldn't be true even if Joel were still at the helm--creativity
does tend to stagnate when people do the same thing year after
year. The funniest MST3K skit I've ever seen was an Ingmar Bergman
parody, done under the Mike regime.
  I started watching MST3K when Ann Arbor cable got Comedy Central,
which was only two or three years ago, so I'm looking forward to
the repeats from the first season, which I've never seen.

What are we talking 'bout here?

Mystery Science Theater 3000.  Imagine a Henny Youngman standup
routine.  He throws out one one-liner after another, most of which
barely get a chuckle from you, until finally one of them grabs you
and you start laughing.  From that point on, all the one-liners seem
hilarious to you.  You can't stop laughing.  You have to go get a
box a Kleenex to wipe your tears and blow your nose.  Now, replace
Henny Youngman with a human and two (sometimes three) robots, who are
sitting in the row right in front of you at a movie theater where
there's a really bad movie showing.  The psychology is exactly the
same: one-liners in rapid succession, until one of them grabs you
and you start laughing and never stop.  A brilliant idea.

And a very well written and well executed show.  You can currently find it
every weeknight at midnight on Comedy Central.

I was really getting into MST3K until the one I saw last week on Channel 50.
The intro skit with Crow and the cannon(and the look joel gives the camera
as he lights the fuse) was cute, but I didn't like the movie they did.
Normally I thought the idea was to take a bad, and I mean *B* *A* *D* movie
and point out all the flaws, inconsistencys, bad editing, bad science,
irrationallitys, and continuity problems. But the movie they did last week
was _Marooned_. Yeah, it's got some problems, but all in all, it's one of
the better current-space-program-style SF movies that has been made.

BTW, what is the story with the intros on the movies they use? Something
about "Vista Entertainment" or some such? The opening and closing credit
sequences have been replaced, and the titles all get changed. For instance,
_Marooned_ and been renamed to _Space Travellers_.

Marooned -- Is that the one with the all-star cast?  I love
the line where Joel and the bots talk about how Gene Hackman is
great in everything he does.  Then a bit later, the three astronauts
are sitting motionless in the space ship and Hackman moves his head
slightly to one side, and the three go into raves about what a great
actor he is.

I must admit, "Marooned" is probably the least-bad movie I've
seen them do.

Vista Entertainment was (and may still be, for all I know)
a company that made its money by buying the rights to a movie,
changing the name, redoing the opening and closing credits,
and re-releasing it, fooling innocent people into thinking
they were watching a new movie.  >8)

Gack.  I'd rather see the movies without extra processing... I like weird old
films like that, used to watch them all the time when UHF on the weekends was
all old goofy films.

Leonard Maltin describes _Marooned_ as "Alternately boring and excruciating",
and I tend to agree.  To be fair, though, Joel and Co. had to chop out quite
a bit of it to make it fit their format; it was originally 134 minutes.
"Ten-four killer Peck".

I believe the Vista International version was also trimmed down.
Remember, these folks marketed mainly to TV stations...

I do have a slight problem on those rare occasions when MST3K shows
a movie that I've seen before and that I didn't think was all that
bad. I'm not familiar with "Marooned", but an example for me would
be "The Witch Who Stole the Sun" (that might not be the exact title),
a Scandanavian (I think) fairy tale about a wicked witch who does
exactly that. I saw it a number of years ago and although it's
certainly no cinematic masterpiece, I thought it was effective for
what it was, with some striking scenes, good special effects for its
time, and a good amount of quaint, innocent charm. The MST3K crew
gave it the standard gag treatment--one of their cleverest, actually,
with a lot of laughs. I felt distinctly uncomfortable watching scenes
I liked getting trashed, though.

This week MST3K is showing some episodes from the first season that
haven't been seen for years. I taped the one last night but haven't
watched it yet, except for the first few minutes. Being a relative
newcomer to MST3K, the differences are startling--the sets look like
they're cardboard, Dr Forrester's sidekick is not TV's Frank but
some guy with dark hair (and he's pretty weak, I can see why he was
replaced), Tom Servo has a different voice, and Joel looks younger.
The opening Invention Exchange was pretty good, but when the short
subject started--a Commando Cody serial episode--the rhythm of Joel
and the robots' repartee seemed slow and lifeless. That's as much
as I watched--more when I've seen the whole thing.

You may want to note that the fellow playing the other
scientist also played Tom Servo.  When he left, both
roles were recast, using two different actors.

OTOH, I've seen a number of big budget movies that I'd love to see an
MST3K treatment done on. A couple of nights ago, I saw part of an Irwin
allen disaster movie(isn't that redundant?) from the late 70's called
_The Swarm_. Yet another "attack of the kill bees" movie. Big budget, all-star
big-name cast, big special effects, inane,dismal,completely unbelieable plot.

In one scene, one of the scientists is at a nuclear power plant plant trying to
convince the plant manager to shut it down becuase the bees are on the way.
In the scences from the plant, they have the control room *inside* the
containment building about 10 feet from this glowing and pulsing reactor core!
Well, the bees attack, the reactor goes critical, an A bomb like blast goes
off and 30,000 people are killed. It would take days to explain everything
that was wrong with that few minutes of the movie alone.
I could just hear all the MST3K lines rolling out.....

This is Thanksgiving Day, and MST3K is having an all-day marathon.
Just finished watching "The Crawling Hand"--hadn't seen that episode
before, looked like it was from the first season. Very good repartee
from Joel and the bots. Right now they're doing "Manos, the Hands of
Fate", a truly classic baddie. This evening they'll finish up with
a BRAND NEW EPISODE (yay!!), the first this season. Dunno what the
movie will be.

(So you'll know now - yes, I should have mentioned this
ealier - the host segments for the new episode later tonight
will only be shown on tonight's broadcast.  And the ones
this weekend, I believe.  All future showings of that
episode will have a different set of host segments.  Yes,
it's the first collectible MST3K episode with two different
printings...)

The new episode was "Night of the Blood Beast", a scifi cheapie from
the 50's, produced by Roger *and* Gene Corman--such impeccable
credentials! Good show.
  TV's Frank wasn't in the host segments. I hope the absence is
temporary.

Oh dear, remmers, you are a bit behind, eh?  Frank left Deep 13
for good in the previous new episode, Samson vs. the Vampire Women.
He ain't coming back.

(The actor wanted to do other things.)

Didn't know that. When was that episode telecast?

About six months ago, I believe.

Are they going to start airing new episodes on a regular basis?

Bad news from the folks who make the show:

From: juliewa@aol.com (Juliewa)
Subject: press release from bbi
Reply-To: juliewa@aol.com (Juliewa)

PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release.
December 3, 1995

Contact Julie Walker
612-941-8024

Best Brains to tape last Mystery Science Theater 3000 for Comedy Central.

The final episode of the Peabody Award winning series Mystery Science
Theater 3000 (MST 3K) will be taped on December 22.  The program which
features Mike Nelson and robots Tom Servo and Crow lampooning the worst
movies ever made, will finish its commitment for Comedy Central this
month.  

According to Producer Jim Mallon, "Comedy Central has indicated to us that
they will not be renewing the series." Contractually, Best Brains, Inc.
which owns the copyright on the series will be free to negotiate for new
episodes with a different network beginning in January of 1997.

Fans of the series will have a feature film, book, CD-ROM, and a second
convention to look forward to.  In April of 1996 Gramercy Pictures will be
releasing Mystery Science Theater 3000:  The Movie  which was shot last
summer in Minneapolis.  Also in the spring, Bantam Books will be
publishing the  Mystery Science Theater 3000:  The Amazing Colossal
Episode Guide, the definitive review of all the episodes and  Voyager will
be publishing a MST 3K CD-ROM .  Over 4000 people are expected to attend
the 2nd Conventio-con Expo-fest-a-rama  which will be held on Labor Day in
Minneapolis. 

The show which began on UHF station KTMA in Minneapolis in 1988 has shot
132 episodes in the course of its 7 season run.  Over 60,000 fans have
registered with its Info Club and some 2000 fans attended its first
convention in 1994.

In addition to the Peabody Award MST 3K has garnered two Emmy and six
Cable Ace  nominations. 


# # # # #

Bummer.  and I was just getting over a lack of Tv's Frank!

Re: (Way back there)  I agree with you, Remmers, that "The Day the Earth Froze"
was not at all a bad movie by MST standards.  (Nor was "The Sword and the
Dragon", which was made by the same production outfit.)  But I think TDTEF
is one of the best episodes Joel and the Bots ever did - I particulary enjoy
the sequence where Lemonkinen is surfing down the river on a log and sees
the girl of his dreams for the first time.  "My other log's a Redwood!"

Because MST has just gone into syndication (well, 3 months ago), Best Brains
has opened their vaults and is selling some Joel paraphernalia to go with all
their regular, Mike paraphernalia.  I just got my Joel and the Bots cast photo
and a really cool Joel and the Bots coffee mug.  Oh, and I got three tie pins,
one of Crow, one of Tom Servo, and one of Gypsy.

Hm, I wonder why Comedy Central isn't renewing MST3K. Isn't it just
about their most popular show?

Oh my--MST paraphernalia! Is there anything featuring Cambot?

(Sorry for the long delay - I haven't been in the Scifi conference for a
while.)  No, John, I'm sorry, there doesn't seem to be anything in the catalog
featuring Cambot.  :(  There's a couple of pages worth of stuff, though;
remind me to pass it on to you sometime.  (My mug is truly cool, by the way -
TS Taylor quality.  :))

I haven't been in Scifi either for a while, but here I am now.

I'm disappointed with MST3K's current season. Few new shows,
the sketches tend to be labored and uninspired, and the depar-
ture of TV's Frank was a definite loss. His replacement --
the Dr. Forrester's mom character -- should go right back to
wherever she came from.

Definitely.  I almost thought it was a blessing when Comedy Central
tried cancelling the show.  The movie should be released next
month, let's hope it's better.

I definately think the departure of TV's Frank was a great loss.
It was one of those things I did not think would make that big a difference,
but it has.

Super-fantastical tubular-boobular news, everyone!

MST3K has been picked up by the Sci-Fi Channel, with thirteen
new episodes scheduled for 1997.  More info can be found in
/u/robh/mst3k

Interesting.  I couldn't tell from the press release whether they'll be
showing old episodes, too, or just new ones.  It's also interesintg
that they'll only show episodes in which the movie is a scifi/horror movie.

Comedy Central will hold the rights to the old episodes until
they expire.  (Remember that cable channels only buy the rights
to a movie for a certain period of time, and this includes CC's
rights to the movies MST3K makes fun of.)  I don't know if anyone
else will be able to purchase the rights after that.

Is it true that Dr. Forrester's mom will be the only villain left?
I heard that Dr. Forrester has left the series.

You heard correctly.  No idea who they've got to play Crow now.

(Less than two months until new episodes!)

The new episodes are here!

The new episodes have been here for nearly a month, which gives you
some idea how quiet this conference has become.  >8)

        I saw tmy first MSt3k episode after Saturday Night Live.  (Oddly, I
found the theme song mor amusing then the show, but it's grown on me since
I've started watching it on the sci-fi channel.)  This is probably one of the
few things the sci-fi channel has done that has not been disappointing to
the science fiction fan who doesn't care for horror movies orMarvel's series
about their own super heroes.)
        Howvever, they shouldn't have blown up the planet with the apes on
it...

Consciously or unconsciously, MST appears to be paralleling the old "Man from
Atlantis" show.  In that show the arch nemesis started out with a whole
empire and lots of cool stuff and gradually degenerated until all he had was
some guys in a van.  It was kind of pathetic, really.

Actually, I like Pearl a lot better this year than last.
But you do have a point there.

I've been watching the new shows and find the skits to be mostly
tedious, although the movie commentary seems as funny as ever.

Yeah, I think skits are not really Mike's thing (with a few exceptions - I
know you liked that Ingmar Bergman one, John.  :))  Joel was a lot more into
them.

I'm going to have to go against the grain, and take issue with Mystery Science
Theatre. I think it's a shame the way they shamelessly ridicule quality
classic films. Films like the ones on their show are to be studied, absorbed,
mesmerized by....not made fun of, laughed at, put down, and made a mockery
of. Think of the shame of the actors and actresses who brilliantly portrayed
the roles that will be remembered forever. I've said too much. I will go.

I don't know whether that was serious or not (coudln't find a smiley
anywhere) but hee's a serious response: Many of the actors who
appear in those films write to the guys at MST3K and thank them
for their treatment.  In particular, the guy who starred in
"Cave Dwellers" (remember that one?) felt that it really put
that part of his life in perspective.

heh,,,nobody ever gets my humor,,,rob, I was absolutely kidding ;->

Well, I do agree with #119, sort of.  I saw a lot of those awful films on TV
and in film coops back when I was growing up in the 70's... and I'd rather
see them straight, and draw my own humor/conclusions.  There is a lot of
interesting little things to be mined out of generally made-fun-of movies or
shows.

(for a music example, listen to all the really cool stuff Beck does with
littles bits, pieces and motifs from a variety of sources)

You're not the first person to suggest that, scott... but I've
never known an MST3K fan who didn't draw their own humor from
the episodes at the same time the on-screen characters were.
If anything, I think they encourage participation, rather than
steal it.

scott, I think both ways are fun. Catching one of those movies on late at
night after coming in with a few friends is a real treat. But I enjoy hearing
other people's take on it as well. MST reacts to these movies completely
differently than my friends and I do. I enjoy them both.

        I don't hit this conference very often, but I'll throw
        in my 2 cents on MST3K these days -- I still watch it,
        although I think the skits have become almost totally
        lame (with occasional exceptions). The movie commentary
        still has bite though.

Yeah, i agree with that.  I have watched a few lately, including one that
looked as if it were made by the same people who made "The Day The Earth
Froze".  It wasn't as entertaining a movie, but I enjoyed watching it.

In watching the 1950's movie of H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds"
on video a few months back, I did a mental double-take when I heard
the hero addressed as "Dr. Clayton Forrester."

<robh remembers hearing about that ages ago, and is embarassed
that he hasn't seen WotW since he was a child>

What's with the mst3k halt?, no messages since 1998, granted mst3k is down
to their last season with sci-fi, but it's still a great show.  I for one will
be a devoted Mstie for a long while, and will continue to watch my tape
archive. One thing we can do is contact TCM (Turner classic movies), as it
is rumored that they are interested in picking up mst3k.  With enough
mails/letters, they might lean more to picking it up than dropping it.

  But the problem with that is some places, like Ann Arbor are TCM free and
expect that to be the case for a long time to come.

The tenth (and final) season will be starting up next Sunday.
More news when I'm awake.  >8)

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