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Mystery Science Theater Turns 20
RimmerExperience writes "Hard to believe that Mystery Science Theater 3000 is 20 years old. This NY Times article provides a brief synopsis from the humble but inspired beginnings in a Midwest TV studio, to the making of MST3K: The Movie, to what the creators are up to today. It's interesting that the original creators are still involved in MST3K-style riffing in some way. So if you are looking for your traditional Turkey Day fix, plug in your old VHS, tune into BitTorrent or check out their current projects — Riff Trax (Mike Nelson) or Cinematic Titanic (Joel & Trace). Keep circulating the tapes, er, MPEGs."
Ah yes I think you are thinking of Mad Movies.
Shout! Factory has come out with a Box Set to mark this occasion, with four new movies and a bunch of extras. I already ordered mine and am thoroughly enjoying Werewolf (1996) complete with Joe Estevez, Emilio's uncle and Martin Sheen's brother. Oh do they rail him for his B-Rated movies in that classic. That DVD alone is worth this box set!
My work here is dung.
"Attack of The Eye Creatures" and the TV premiere of the ninja show "The Master".
I know Joel got off the ship by stranding Mike, but did Mike ever make it off the satellite of love?
SPOILER ALERT!
In Danger:Diabolik, the very last episode, they do make it back to earth in a crash landing. The funniest part is Tom Servo blowing up all the extra Tom Servos they've accumulated over the years. At the end, the three share a one-bedroom apartment and settle into eat popcorn and--you guessed it--riff on a cheesy movie on TV. Speculation: Someone told me that that was the first movie they had ever riffed before but I can't verify it and I don't think that's true with the KTMA episodes.
My work here is dung.
Yes, in the very last episode of season 10. Mike and the bots are brought to a fiery crash landing due to a malfunction of Pearl Forrester' joystick. They survive and end up watching the very first bad movie ever riffed by MST3K.
ever riffed by MST3K on cable... important distinction...
But, of course, not many people saw the KTMA run, so really The Crawling Eye is where most of us remember the show starting...
This being the 20th anniversary of the show, I really wish they'd finally dig out some copies of those first couple of KTMA episodes and release 'em. Those are the only episodes in the entire run that aren't available online.
Bow-ties are cool.
At a recent convention, a lot of the MST3k alumn met and showed the pilot episode(complete with Beeper, the precursor to Tom Servo). Its on DAPCENTRAL(dapcentral.org), you should give it a gander, but keep in mind that it pretty rough around the edges.
Monstar L
Actually, I hate to give him this credit, but the earliest example I am aware of doing something in a SOMEWHAT similar vein as MST was Woody Allen's What's Up, Tiger Lily.
(though I am sure someone else will pipe in with something earlier ans no one hit the perfect recipe for this like Joel did)
---"What did I say that sounded like 'Tell me about your day?'"---