Mystery Science Theater Returns
Unusual is in the mind of the beholder. My favorite teevee shows of all time include such fare as The Prisoner, Fawlty Towers, and Boston Legal – unusual to some, but probably not to most ComicMix readers. If pressed, though, I’d have to say my all-time favorite show was Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Well, in television, as in comics, the word "was" is rarely what it once was. After 11 seasons and nearly 200 two-hour episodes (including one theatrical movie that remains a cable perennial), the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 are back.
According to Satellite News, this Monday, November 5th (Guy Fawkes Day, no less), November 5th, MST3K’s parent company Best Brains Inc. will begin webcasting brand-new animated adventures of Crow, Tom Servo and Gypsy – the bots from the Satellite of Love and the only characters to survive all 11 seasons of the original show.
Available at (where else) MST3K.com, Best Brains will run approximately one new adventure each week, along with stuff from the original show and behind-the-scenes footage. They’ll also have an online store.
Jim Mallon and Paul Chaplin will return as producers/writers/performers; Jim as Gypsy and Paul as Crow. No word yet on who will be voicing Tom Servo. It should be noted that original MST3K writers/performers Trace Beaulieu and J. Elvis" Weinstein are now at liberty from the writing staff of America’s Funniest Home Videos.
Mike–Trace and Josh are both working with Joel Hodgeson (along with Mary Jo Pehl and Frank Conniff) on the newly announced
Argh, it cut me off. Continuing: they're working on Cinematic Titanic (at http://cinematictitanic.com) where they'll be writing about and riffing on films. Between that and the Film Crew, I'd say that MST is back–if a bit splintered. (And I have doubts whether Bill, Kevin, Trace or especially Joel would work with Jim again, unfortunately…)
I've been enjoying the FILM CREW DVDs – and I'll be first in line for CINEMATIC TITANIC releases. But – I'm not so interested in the animated adventures of the 'Bots. Though I will say the FILM CREW material suffers when compared to MST3K only because MST3K had established strong characters that gave the humor a good foundation. None of this has kept me from spending my cash on the DVDs.I did not know there was bad blood at Big Brains. That is a shame.
"Bad Blood at Big Brains" sounds like the next installment of Frankenstein Mobster…
That can happen.
That would be fun if we could cross over with MST3K.