Joel and Original Cast of MST3K Riding the Cinematic Titanic

AugstWest writes "Unfortunately it's in separate projects, but just after Jim Mallon (the man who owns all things MST3K) announced that he would be bringing back Tom Servo, Crow and Gypsy in animated Flash shorts on the web along with Paul Chaplin (a writer from the original MST3K), Joel Hodgson, the series creator, has announced that he will be launching a new venture called Cinematic Titanic. It will feature horrible movies riffed by the original cast of MST3K, including Josh Weinstein (the original Tom Servo), Trace Beaulieu (the original Crow), Frank Conniff (TV's Frank), Mary Jo Pehl (Pearl Forrester) and, of course, Joel himself. They've already got the rights to 12 movies, and will be releasing one a month starting in December for DVD purchase or download."

MST3K?

[avij]

The obligatory clarification links (from Wikipedia) -- some of us have never heard of MST3K:

Mystery Science Theater 3000 [wikipedia.org] , often abbreviated MST3K , is an American [wikipedia.org] cult television [wikipedia.org] comedy series created by Joel Hodgson [wikipedia.org] and produced by Best Brains, Inc. [wikipedia.org] that ran from 1988 to 1999.

Re:MST3K?

[albwus]

Then what are you doing on slashdot...

Re:

[TobascoKid]

Then what are you doing on slashdot...

MST3K is mostly unheard of outside the US, you insensitive clod.

Re:

[Tony Hoyle]

Youtube search came up blank.. is this really as lame as it sounds or is it actually good?

Re:

[Cheesey]

You can find some classic full episodes on Google Video. I recommend searching for "MST3K 0820 Space Mutiny". Generally the show is good, but you do have to be in the mood for laughing at an awful sci-fi movie, and some episodes are much better than others. You might also enjoy "Prince of Space", "Puma Man", and "Overdrawn at the memory bank", my personal favourites.

Re:MST3K?

[MSTCrow5429]

If you've never seen the divine greatest show of all time, MST3K, much less heard of it, please kill yourself now. We can't have philosophical zombies wandering around who have no idea how to react to "Movie Sign!," or Mike blowing up Earth, again.

Re:

[cayenne8]

"If you've never seen the divine greatest show of all time, MST3K, much less heard of it, please kill yourself now. We can't have philosophical zombies wandering around who have no idea how to react to "Movie Sign!," or Mike blowing up Earth, again."

That brings up a question...which side IS Mike on in these 2 separate adventures. Wonder why the split with them...and not a big happy MST3K family?

Re:MST3K?

[MSTCrow5429]

Joel likes Mike, supported him as being the new host. MJP worked with Mike on Rifftrax. I don't see sides, just different groups of the same former org going off and doing slightly different things. Yeah, I'd like some people swapped, want Bill Corbett as Crow, and Paul Chaplin as Pitch, but our prayers have been answered, MST3K is coming back, and Joel is doing his own great thing too. We now have Rifftrax, MST3K 21st Century, Cinematic Titanic, and Cartoon Dump. What more could you want on that front?

Re:

[AceCaseOR]

Geography, from what I understand, more than anything else. Mike, Bill, and Kevin are, IIRC, in the Minnappolis (sp) area. The Cinematic Titanic crew is in the Los Angeles area. Finally, from what I understand, Jim Fallon is not, IIRC, on the best of terms terms with Mike, Bill and Kevin after he sued them to kill their Film Crew project in, IIRC, 2002.

No question at all.

[pla]

Unfortunately it's in separate projects

Let's see now... Joel and the original cast, or some random schmuck who owns the rights to Joel's creation? Tough call.

I never "hated" Mike like some did, because he just filled a role. But I think we can almost all agree that Joel made the show (literally and figuratively), a fact supported by its demise once he left.

Re:No question at all.

[Orion_]

But I think we can almost all agree that Joel made the show (literally and figuratively), a fact supported by its demise once he left.

That's a pretty absurd claim to make, given that Joel left halfway through season 5, and the show ran 10 seasons. In truth, the show went on just fine without Joel, though personally I preferred Joel's screen persona to Mike's.

Re:

[Knara]

Mike was head writer since, IIRC, CC season 2. To say that Joel "made" the show, is silly.

Re:No question at all.

[aberkvam]

Jim Mallon [wikipedia.org] is hardly "some random schmuck". He helped create MST3K back in its Minnesota UHF days, directed almost half the episodes, and played Gypsy in seasons 1-8. Joel may have provided the original creative force but he hardly could have created it alone.

Joel left in the middle of season 5. MST3K continued until season 10 and released a feature film. I am not sure what this "demise" is that you speak of...

Re:

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"But I think we can almost all agree that Joel made the show (literally and figuratively), a fact supported by its demise once he left."

It 'died' like 6 seasons after Joel left. No, the end of the show does not support the "Joel is better than Mike" debate.

Re:

[MSTCrow5429]

Yeah, the second 50% only came after Joel left, and then it died. Somehow, he controlled Bonnie Hammer.

Re:No question at all.

[elrous0]

The whole "Joel vs. Mike" thing always struck me as silly. First of all, the two worked just fine together for years before Joel left. Mike was the show's head writer from its second season onwards (the year they went national) and even appeared on-camera in many of the "Joel episodes." It's not like he was some "new guy" that they picked up off the street to replace Joel. He had been a major part of the show almost from day one.

So if Joel and Mike could work together just fine for all those years, why can't their fans get along too? No Joel fans had any problem with Mike BEFORE Joel left. And if any Mike fans had any problem with Joel when he was there, they'll have to partially blame Mike too--since he was the one writing most of the jokes and bits.

Re:

[geekoid]

Becasue fans find worth based on the arguement..I mean if you can say "My guy is best, and therefore I am better then you" then clearly you are right about 'All Thing.'.

Also applies to holy wars.

Re:

[MrCopilot]

The show was "made" figuratively and literally by Joel and Mike. Mike, as has been pointed out, was Head writer from Season 2 onward.

Two of My favorite episodes, The Amazing Collosal Man and the Amazing Colossal Beast, featured Joel and the Bots, and Mike as the Colossal Man in sketches.

We were all disappointed when Joel left, (I think to pursue standup), but saying the shows demise was due to that fact is revisionist history at best.

BTW, anyone see Joel on SNL in the good ole days, Funny, funny stu

Re:

[analog_line]

a fact supported by its demise once he left.

Um, I wasn't aware that "demise" meant "continued on for 5.5 more seasons". Last I checked there were 10 seasons of MST3K on national TV. Joel left halfway through season 5. Mike was there all the way through season 10, and was head writer from at least season 2 on. Mike is as important to the show as Joel was. If you didn't like the show after Joel was gone, that's fine, but that doesn't mean it died. Acting like it did is just silly.

And as far as Jim Mallo

Re:

[log0n]

Am I the only MST3Kr who preferred Mike over Joel? Joel always gave the impression of not having comic timing, not to mention kind of came off as a stoner. Mike seemed much wittier. *shrug*

Re:

[cblack]

You are not alone. I think Mike has much better screen presence than Joel. Joel's is much more different and low key and some people prefer that, but Mike really seems more comfortable putting himself out there in front of the camera. In my mind, Joel is more of an idea guy than a performer. Have you seen Joel's standup? It is very uncomfortable to watch (for me anyway). That said, I do enjoy Joel episodes, I just prefer Mike as a host.

Re:

[brouski]

To me, that sums up Joel's entire performance: "uncomfortable".

Re:

[elrous0]

Actually, they both look like puffy, hideous CHUD's to me. But I don't think anyone watched for their looks.

O rly?

[EveryNickIsTaken]

We can only hope that they re-review "Manos, the Hands of Fate"....

Re:

[elrous0]

No, nothing--no Joel OR Mike apisode--will EVER top the greatest MST3K episode ever:

MITCHELL!!!!

[Actually, technically, Mitchell is both and Joel AND a Mike episode]

Re:

[elrous0]

Well, he is the chubby blue line.

Re:

[RAVasquez]

We can only hope that they re-review "Manos, the Hands of Fate"....

Re-review it? Why? Has it actually gotten -- shudder -- worse?

Re:

[Dachannien]

Dirk Flanksteak!
Slap Meatrock!
Big McLargehuge!

dear-god-please-no-mike

[w.p.richardson]

Screw you. There are as many good Mike episodes as Joel. I will agree that on average Joel was better, but Mike was not bad enough to warrant that description.

Re:

[Davenport Spiff jr]

Yeah, Mike was OK, but having Joel AND FRANK and TRACE back - I'm looking forward to that.

It's raining MST

[Tetsujin]

Yeah, Mike was OK, but having Joel AND FRANK and TRACE back - I'm looking forward to that.

And Josh: The mighty Mighty Voice of old! The maddest of the mads!

Re:

[poot_rootbeer]

Josh: The mighty Mighty Voice of old! The maddest of the mads!

Eh. I always preferred Kevin Murphy's Tom Servo to Josh Weinstein's, but YMMV.

(Incidentally, the guy we're talking about is aka "J. Elvis Weinstein", writer from "Malcom in the Middle" and "Freaks and Geeks", and not the Josh Weinstein that was show runner on "The Simpsons" and "The Critic".)

Re:

[Tetsujin]

Josh: The mighty Mighty Voice of old! The maddest of the mads!

Eh. I always preferred Kevin Murphy's Tom Servo to Josh Weinstein's, but YMMV.

Kevin was good, this is true... But Josh is highly underrated. It's sad that he stuck around the show for such a short time...

hoped your comment would say...

[CarpetShark]

Damn. When I saw dear-god-please-no... I thought this comment would be the one I was looking for.

You know. The one that said, "WTF? TFA's headline isn't even in english. But it seems to conclude with something about an orgy."

Re:

[Bluesman]

Yeah, Girls Town has to be one of the best episodes ever, and that was a Mike one. He had a number of my favorites. I think Joel had a certain drugged-out-genius quality that made him funnier on average, but the bigger reason most of the later episodes don't stack up because Trace left and Mary Jo Pehl was annoying as hell.

Trace did the best Crow, I thought the show deteriorated after he left. I've heard the very last few seasons were great, but I had stopped watching by then.

Re:

[angst_ridden_hipster]

Trace was great. I've heard Mary Jo is good when she's doing the writing, but I can't stand to watch her acting. I feel like I'm watching a refugee from the Ren Faire imitating MST3K episodes.

I agree that Trace added a lot to the show. I think he and Mike were a great writing team.

Re:

[Blakey Rat]

I guess I'm not "nerdcore" enough, but all my favorite episodes are Mike episodes, and most of them are Sci-Fi episodes as well.

How can you deny the quality of episodes like "Werewolf?" (Warhlwealf!) "Timechasers?" "Future War?" ("I'll be generous and not point out that it's not the future, and there's no war.") "Space Mutiny?" The plotline where they're captured by the Brain Guys which has that skit where they explain that all their bodily needs can be met by a simple pill-- they just have to eat bowls and

Don't have the MST3K DVDs, but I'd like this:q

[blind biker]

I have some idea of what the Mistery Science Theater movies look like, and my long-time desire is to acquire the DVD set(s). However, it would have much greater value for me, if the DVDs contained both the original version sans satellite crew, and the version with the wisecracks. That way I could first ascertain myself of the crappiness of the original movie, and then enjoy the ripping with the crew.

Re:

[cblack]

Some of the DVDs do come with un-riffed versions on the flip sides of the DVDs. I don't recall which ones though. Also, I don't think it is worth viewing the movies without the riffing.

Re:

[aberkvam]

Some of the DVDs do come with un-riffed versions on the flip sides of the DVDs. I don't recall which ones though. Also, I don't think it is worth viewing the movies without the riffing.

This list [mst3kinfo.com] shows which releases come with the original movies.

Re:

[poot_rootbeer]

Some of the DVDs do come with un-riffed versions on the flip sides of the DVDs.

A lot of the movies that got the MST3K treatment were also things that were in the public domain and/or had become low-value shovelware content, so it may well be possible to find un-riffed versions of the movies in the Discount DVDs bin of your local discount store or supermarket.

Re:

[toleraen]

I'd avoid that request if I were you. Remember, the whole plot of the show is to force Joel/Mike to watch terrible movies with the anticipation of driving them mad. The commentary is there so the audience doesn't go mad themselves. Think of Joel/Mike & the bots as safety buffers for your brain.

Re:

[blind biker]

You underestimate my powers of amusing myself watching crappy movies. Seriously, I find plenty of hilarity without outside help. The MST3K crew will then come in later with their version of funnE, but why do I necessarily have to have only that, and not my own, too?

By the way, did you watch "Deadly Heroes"? Well, I can have fun watching that, too - I know for a fact that not everyone could.

Re:

[ChodeMonkey]

Holy crap you have a lot of time on your hands.

Mike Nelson has already been doing this

[elrous0]

Actually, Mike Nelson has been doing this for some time already with Murphy and Corbett (the later Servo and Crow) at Rifftrax [rifftrax.com]. Looks like we've got a Joel/original-bots vs. Mike/new-bots slapfest a-brewin'.

Re:

[Xzzy]

Clearly the only way to settle it is riff each other's riffing of bad movies.

Re:

[elrous0]

Well, I was hoping for Thunderdome. But I guess that would work too.

Re:

[Boinger69]

Oh come on... Can't we just get beyond Thunderdome?

Re:

[An ominous Cow art]

Yeah, no need to get Mad. Max out your mellowness.

Re:

[Joe Tie.]

And they're surprisingly good. I'd heard the quality was a bit lacking, and as a result waited until this week to check any out. I've been burned so many times by shows coming back from cancelation as zombified mockeries of their former selves to make that a default assumption. However, the two I've seen so far, battlefield earth and troll 2 were just as good as mst3k. I'd assume that the ones with 'only' mike wouldn't be nearly as fun, but those seem to be the minority.

Re:

[vistic]

Well Mike was head writer after all, I guess.

The only one I've checked out is Fifth Element. The problem with Rifftrax is I need them to make fun of movies I already own on DVD. And most of those movies simply aren't GOOD enough to buy WITHOUT a Rifftrax.

Re:

[elrous0]

I think I might have just discovered a way to finally get something out of my Netflix subscription.

Re:

[AceCaseOR]

Well, the solo ones, like Fifth Element, I have to say aren't nearly as good with Mike and someone else (when Mike's going solo, the only person he has to play off with is Disembaudio, which doesn't work nearly as well.) But, anyway, Rifftrax is one of those things that shows how much of your friend Netflix (or GreenCine or whatever service along those lines you prefer) is.

Rifftrax, and now this!

[cblack]

I think this is great and will definitely be checking these out. I am a huge mst3k fan and am really pleased that many of the people that were involved with the show are putting out new material. For those who don't know, Mike Nelson and friends also have a project called RiffTrax [rifftrax.com] where they do more popular and high profile movies like The Phantom Menace, Daredevil, and Cocktail. Also, I don't care if I'm starting a flame war: I prefer Mike Nelson and Kevin Murphy as Tom Servo :)

Timmybighands.com

[vistic]

They've always had something going on since the show ended... I'm not sure if anyone remembers timmybighands.com (you'll have to go to archive.org now if you don't) which had fun essays and comics by most of the staff.

(My favorite line up on the show was Mike, Kevin as Servo, Trace as Crow, and definitely WITH Frank... for me the show wasn't as fun without Frank.)

They forgot to mention

[antifoidulus]

that the "final" crew of MST3K(onstage anyway) is involved in yet another project(well, projects): The Film Crew and Riff Trax, both lampooning movies. RiffTrax is interesting in that you buy mp3s of the riff online and play them over the dvds of the films. The Film Crews is closer to MST3K in that it comes in 1 package and even has some filler sketches in it....

Re:

[zippthorne]

If the new shows are technically movies, will they (or their counterparts) rip on the MST3K movie movies?

Selling DVDs? Wrong vehicle, boys.

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

They've already got the rights to 12 movies, and will be releasing one a month starting in December for DVD purchase or download.

Selling DVDs? Wrong vehicle, boys.

I used to watch MST3K, but it was only because it was ON FOR HOURS and you felt safe dropping in and out of the viewing session. (It was a basically a crappy movie, so you weren't missing anything.)

I didn't go see the MST3K movie (there was one, right?) for the same reason. The show's fun for free at my leisure, but not at $6 and the feeling that I'd be compelled to watch it for 2 hours.

So...if you can get MST3K back on TV where it can serve as the background for whatever I'm doing with my kids or my computer, I'll tune in. Otherwise...buy it? Way too much commitment.

Re:Selling DVDs? Wrong vehicle, boys.

[Tetsujin]

So...if you can get MST3K back on TV where it can serve as the background for whatever I'm doing with my kids or my computer, I'll tune in. Otherwise...buy it? Way too much commitment.

Step 1: Put DVD in player.
Step 2: Press Play.
Step 3: Do things while movie plays.

You haven't seen a DVD in a while, have you?

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

Step 1: Put DVD in player. Step 2: Press Play. Step 3: Do things while movie plays.

You haven't seen a DVD in a while, have you?

It's more like this:
1. Put DVD in player
2. Wait for stupid menu to come up
3. Play the DVD
4. Wait for stupid previews to go away
5. See DVD distributor's logo again
6. See silly FBI warning
7. After 5 minutes of farting around with pressing buttons and fast forwarding, you finally have what you're looking for

(And, you forgot steps 0, .25 and .5: Buy the DVD, figure out how to break thro

Re:

[Tetsujin]

Step 1: Put DVD in player. Step 2: Press Play. Step 3: Do things while movie plays.

You haven't seen a DVD in a while, have you?

Granted, I skimmed over a bit of trivial crap. But nevertheless, once the damn thing's playing you can leave it on in the background. Or you can get yourself a non-crippled DVD player and skip the parts you don't like... But I watch MST3K "in the background" all the frikkin' time...

Re:

[rrkap]

You do realize that most DVD players can be set up to just play the main movie automagically, don't you? The procedure then becomes:

1. Get Disk
2. Insert Disk
3. Play movie

That being said, if you can't handle opening the DVD case or using the menu on your cable box, then changing the settings on your DVD player might be too much for you.

DVDs/dig. cable aren't built for the modern family

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

That being said, if you can't handle opening the DVD case or using the menu on your cable box, then changing the settings on your DVD player might be too much for you.

I'm just a guy who doesn't like to wait. Most of the social regressions on this site have free time coming out the ying-yang, but when you've got a busy job, young kids, busy wife and friends constantly complaining that "we never hang out anymore", you learn to watch movies 5-10 minutes at a time or not at all.

DVDs and digital cable just aren

Re:

[Constantine XVI]

You assume my DVD player actually conforms to all the guidelines the MPAA assigned it.

Have a recommendation for one that doesn't?

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

You assume my DVD player actually conforms to all the guidelines the MPAA assigned it.

Do you have a recommendation for one that doesn't? Seriously. (I've got a program on my computers that lets me skip all the menu/preview/advert/warning BS on DVDs, but I'd really like a piece of hardware that does the same because I don't feel like hooking my computers up to the TV/stereo.)

Re:

[GiMP]

In my experience... show me one that does all of the terrible things that people describe here on Slashdot. I've never seen a DVD that I couldn't skip right to the menu. Sometimes you have to push the menu/title key a couple times, but I've never had to fast-forward.

I've always used the cheap DVD players. They're simply a lot better bang for the buck. They support more formats, features, and they come unlocked by default or are often easily unlocked if you live in a region where it isn't legal for them

Re:

[Constantine XVI]

If you've got a HDTV, the Helios H4000 http://helios-labs.com/us/products/H4000/h4000_tech_Specs.shtml [helios-labs.com] is a pretty nice unit. It's got a solid upscaler (all the way to 1080p), plays DivX/XviD and MPEG4, is region free if you import movies, and has a "Smart Play" button that overrides UOP and lets you skip the warnings and etc. It's only real flaw is that the controls are on the top instead of the face, which means you have to use the remote if it's not on top of everything. It's $150, and worth it IMHO

Re:

[Jackie_Chan_Fan]

I agree. It was always nice when it was on at 12 on comedy central, and you could just pop the show on and chill :)

Re:

[east coast]

My guess is that you're not the target audience. And considering the number of people who have gone on to make a career of it my guess is that they have enough of an audience to worry about it.

And that's not to be rude but let's face facts, MST3K (for all it's brilliance and majesty) simply isn't a serious contender for a two hour slot on any of the larger stations today. It's an extremely sad statement but it's all too true.

I will agree with whomever that Sci-Fi and Comedy Central did their best to kill

Re:

[vistic]

I, for one, saw MST3K: The Movie opening weekend, and own at least half of the DVDs (not sure how many there are now). I can easily pop one in and spend a few hours laughing, even if I've seen it many times before.

Re:

[Blakey Rat]

What's the difference between it playing (aired from a network) on your TV while you're out and about doing stuff and it playing (from your DVD player) on your TV while you're out and about doing stuff?

This strikes me as the dumbest complaint ever. Is your concern that it takes too long to put the disk in the drive?

The return of the original Mighty Voice!

[Tetsujin]

Man, just think of all the babes, the hot oil, the mango juice!

The summary is a bit confusing given that it lumps the two announcements together... There seems to be a bit of confusion about who's doing what and how...

Story 1: (announced earlier) The cast from the end of the series are doing some animated web shorts, using the MST3K characters
Story 2: (new) The cast from the beginning of the series are doing some live performances and DVDs and such of movie riffing - with no details yet on the exact format...

Re:

[AugstWest]

They changed my original title on the submission, the summary made much more sense as "Joel and the Bots are back!"

Re:

[Tetsujin]

They changed my original title on the submission, the summary made much more sense as "Joel and the Bots are back!"

Well, Joel is back, the bots are back, but they're on separate projects... :D The Cinematic Titanic site doesn't say anything about there being bots involved...

Re:

[LMacG]

Do you mean Magic Voice?

Mighty Voice 101

[Tetsujin]

Do you mean Magic Voice?

No, I don't mean Magic Voice...

Servo went through a few iterations in the show's pre-cable era... First he didn't talk, then he talked in this kinda Kermit-the-Frog or low key Pee-Wee Herman voice, and then he switched to the deep voice he used until the end of the first season on cable... It was at that point that he started calling himself "Tom" Servo, and talking about how his new "Mighty Voice" would get him all the babes...

All the early versions of Servo were voiced by Josh - the "Mighty Voice" was

Just wait for the lawyers...

[PornMaster]

Anyone started a betting pool as to when Twentieth Century Fox is going to sue for an injunction against Cinematic Titanic for trademark violation for use of the name Titanic?

Re:

[PornMaster]

Trademarks are domain-specific. This is in the same domain (movies / movie production) as 20th Century Fox, and quite far from White Star Line's (if they still exist) domain (transportation, tourism).

Re:

[crawling_chaos]

White Star was merged with Cunnard, which I believe still exists.

will this be any better than rifftraks?

[jollyreaper]

I was wanting to check out what they did for Battlefield Earth but, to do so legally, one would have to buy the rifftraks AND a copy of Battlefield Earth. I'd be happy to do the former but not the latter.

Re:

[porcupine8]

Ever heard of renting? They even have it on Netflix.

Re:

[jollyreaper]

Ever heard of renting?

I'm morally opposed to Blockbuster. Hell, I could just download the damn thing but it's the part about keeping the tracks in sync that sucks -- no one-button pause.

Re:

[AceCaseOR]

Again, Netflix. (Netflix even has some of the MST3K episodes from the boxed sets that are no longer available, due to rights reasons).

In honor of Halloween,,,

[digitaldc]

MST3K ~ Samson vs. the Vampire Women
[We see an ominous castle in a deserted forest.]
[The camera zooms in on a dessicated woman's corpse in a casket.]
Crow: Let the Cher jokes... begin.
Servo: Hey, it looks like Cher! Heh heh heh...

[Vampire priestess Tandra calls on the goddess Selene, changing from her withered form to a hottie.]
Servo: Another successful José Eber makeover.
Crow [as Tandra]: I'm pretty, so I have value now.

[As Diana plays the "Moonlight" Sonata, four bats hover outside her window.]
Servo: Hey, the woodland creatures love her music!
Crow: I don't get the physics of a hovering bat.
Servo: The Vampire Precision Flight Team in formation!
Crow [as Bat]: I don't know how long I can keep this up!

Wanna catch up with old MST3K episodes?

[g_adams27]

Wanna see what all the MST3K fuss is about? Old episodes (just about all of them, except for those that are commercially available) can be found at the Digital Archive Project [dapcentral.org]. Old episodes of the show encouraged viewers to "keep circulating the tapes", and the DAP guys are doing just that. For legal purposes they pull down any episodes whenever Rhino decides to package and sell them, but otherwise, just about everything is there.

Most episodes were encoded years ago in MPEG4 format, but there's an impressive (and growing) number available in higher quality DVD format.

Re:

[Cheesey]

You can also find some episodes on Google Video. (Most, if not all, seem to be copies of the DAP releases.)

trumpy

[trybywrench]

from Pod People: boy> wow trumpy you can do magic!! Tom Servo as trumpy, an alien> it's called Evil, kid

Awesome news

[MrCopilot]

I have the complete set, My kids and I watch em all the time.

I miss Joel, although I prefer the later bots.

Every thanksgiving, we re-enact Turkey day from the days of yore on the Comedy Channel. Remember, way back in the days when Penn Gillette was th voice of Comedy Central? 24Hr MST3K Marathon.

I just want to take this opportunity to say, Thanks for coming back Joel!

All I ask....

[British]

...is no more black & white movies from the 40s and 50s. They are so lacking(IMO) that they are almost too easy to rip on. The more bizarreish sci fi films from the 1970s to the 1990s are much more fun to watch. I like bad movies in general, but black & white dramas are typically a snooze-fest even with the MST treatement.

My favorite episodes are from the era of bad early 1980s sci-fi flicks, usually by Italian producers(plenty of movies to rip!). One of my favorite all-time bad movies was Laserblas

Re:

[geekoid]

I like the old B&W stuff. I would have liked them be able to rip apart 'Star Wars'. That would be a blast.

The forking of MST3K

[Anonymous Meoward]

Let me see if I have this straight:

• Joel, Mary Jo, Josh, Trace, and Frank are putting together a show, called "Cinematic Titanic", that riffs bad B-movies with snappy one-liners and occasional skits.
• Mike, Kevin, Bill, and Jim are working on a show, "The Film Crew", that riffs bad B-movies with snappy one-liners and occasional skits.
• Mike and Kevin have a side project, rifftrax, that riffs current blockbusters, which have the quality of bad B-movies, with snappy one-liners and possibly the occasional skit

Re:

[Rik Sweeney]

Note to self:

Don't spend so much time making sure the grammar and prose are correct, otherwise someone else is going to post your information ahead of you and your post will be modded redundant :(

Re:

[brkello]

How long does it take you to do grammar and prose for 3 sentences? :)

Re:MST3k

[Some_Llama]

yuod be surprisd how much tiem and effert is needad for soem peopal

Re:

[thepotoo]

yuod be surprisd how much tiem and effert is needad for soem peopal

--
Mod Psychology: How does this post make you "feel"?

Confused, mostly.

Re:

[Some_Llama]

taht sig toke me 5 hours to complate, well woerth the tiem

Re:

[poot_rootbeer]

Oh, come on -- "Mr. Sinus Theater 3000"? There's no question about whose intellectual property they were attempting to make money off of.

Contrast with something like Randy and Jason Sklar's series "Cheap Seats" on ESPN Classic. A couple of guys riffing on old TV sports footage. Familiar in concept, yes, but not a blatant knockoff. Mike and The Bots even make an appearance in once episode -- riffing on the Sklars' riffing.

Re:

[AceCaseOR]

From what I understand, that was Jim Fallon, owner of Best Brains (which holds the rights to MST3K) who filed the suit, not any of the actual actors or writers of the show - in fact, Fallon filed suit against Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett (The Mike & The Bots of the Sci-Fi channel seasons of MST3K) over their Film Crew series of DVD releases, which, while similar to MST3K in concept (characters were assigned films to comment upon by a 3rd party, generally very bad films that were in the pu

Re:

[aberkvam]

From what I understand, that was Jim Fallon ... Fallon filed suit against Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett ... over their Film Crew series of DVD releases

First of all, it's Mallon, not Fallon. His name is even in the Slashdot summary of this article!

I found some forum posts mentioning "a lawsuit", "legal trouble", or "threats" but I wasn't able to find anything reliable. Do you have any confirmed sources about a suit being filed?

In any case, the Film Crew DVDs [filmcrewonline.com] are available so nothing ca

Re:

[cblack]

I moved to Wisconsin a few years ago and noticed that I now get lots more of what I now understand as Midwest-specific jokes. There are a few about the Wisconsin Dells for instance.