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."

Comments

MST3K?

[avij]

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

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

Re:MST3K?

[albwus]

Then what are you doing on slashdot...

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: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:MST3K?

[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.

Re:MST3K?

[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.

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:No question at all.

[aberkvam]

Jim Mallon 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: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.

O rly?

[EveryNickIsTaken]

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

Re:MST3k

[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 :(

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:dear-god-please-no-mike

[Davenport Spiff jr]

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

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

[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 shows which releases come with the original movies.

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. Looks like we've got a Joel/original-bots vs. Mike/new-bots slapfest a-brewin'.

Re:Mike Nelson has already been doing this

[Boinger69]

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

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 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 :)

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....

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.

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: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 through the seals without cutting off your own fingers and then try not to lose/break/scratch it.)

If I want to watch something on TV, it's many times faster (no, I don't even use digital cable - way too slow when you're just trying to flip channels).

DVD's just suck if you're an "instant gratification" guy like I am. I've got my kids hooked on old Transformers cartoons, er, "delivered digitally" without DVDs and I don't think I'm ever going back.

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. 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.

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!

Re:MST3k

[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