ftp.ee.pdx.edu/2014.02.ftp.ee.pdx.edu.tar/ftp.ee.pdx.edu/pub/mst3k/sol/sol.35

Internet Message Format | 1994-02-02 | 35KB

From rsk  Sun Feb 28 17:00:15 1993
Date: Sun, 28 Feb 93 17:00:15 EST
From: rsk (Rich Kulawiec)
Posted-Date: Sun, 28 Feb 93 17:00:15 EST
Received-Date: Sun, 28 Feb 93 17:00:15 EST
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Satellite of Love News #35
Status: RO

In this issue:

Important Administrivia -- FTP site, mailing list address, March schedule etc.
Looking for info on Josh Weinstein
Lyrics and Chords to "Patrick Swayze Christmas"
more articles!
Looking for the early episodes
Satellite of Love: Estelle Winwood Sketch

---------

From: rsk
Date: Sun Feb 28 16:30:29 EST 1993
Subject: Important Administrivia -- FTP site, mailing list address, etc.

The FTP site for MST3K-related material has moved here - to
gynko.circ.upenn.edu, 128.91.200.5.  This will make it much
easier for me to keep it up-to-date and keep in sync with
the various bits of documentation that talk about it.
We all owe David Arnold a big THANKS for lending us space
at UMD for the last couple of years.  May he never have to
watch rock climbing without chemical assistance!

Anyway, the archives here are largely complete, but a few things
are still being moved into place.  When you anonymous FTP in,
check the "README" files for pointers.  And by the way, please
don't use FTP to this site during normal business hours -- this machine
is used for medical research, and is usually worked hard on weekdays.
(I've also grabbed the complete archives from isis.dccs.upenn.edu,
so if somebody knows who owns that space, could you please tell them
that they can free it up now?)

The mailing list has grown to about 660 people, and so I've caved
in and established two addresses for your use:

    [e-mail]  -- For submissions to the SOLN newsletter

    [e-mail] -- For administrivia

Please make sure that you use the correct address.

The MST3K FAQ is being completely rewritten in "digest" format, which
should make it easier to use -- at least for those folks who have mailers
and news-reading software which grok digests.  I'm also incorporating
a large amount of material sent in by you, the readers, so bear with
me while I edit it all together.  I suspect that it may eventually
be split into two chunks in order to keep it from becoming completely
overwhelming.

I'm also working my way through a backlog of administrative requests,
most of which got dealt with this morning.  If yours wasn't one of them,
hang on a bit and see if I get to it tonight. ;-)

And the schedule for March is:

3/5  Hellcats
3/6  The Beatniks
3/12 King Dinosaur
3/13 Fire Maidens from Outer Space
3/19 First Spaceship on Venus
3/20 Crash of the Moons
3/26 Godzilla vs. Megalon
3/27 Attack of the the Eye Creatures

And I think that's about it, except for my continuing thanks to all
of you for contributing: thanks!

---Rsk

---------

From: [e-mail] (richard farrar)
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 18:08:37 PST
Subject: Looking for info on Josh Weinstein

Does anyone know any information about Josh Weinstein?  There was a Josh
Weinstein in my freshman dorm at college, and I was wondering if the guy
who plays Dr. Larry Erhardt is the same guy.  Unfortunately, I have only
seen the show once, and since I do not have the Comedy Channel, I have
no access, and have never seen Dr. Larry Erhardt.  Josh is about 26, 5'4",
black hair.  He was a great comedy writer, so I wonder if he also writes
for the show.  If you have any information, please email me directly.
Thanks.

---------

From: [e-mail] (John Langbein)
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 92 16:19:09 EST
Subject: Lyrics and Chords to "Patrick Swayze Christmas"

[...]

Abbreviations: Ab (A-flat)     A# (A sharp)   Am(A minor) AM7 (A MAJOR 7)
               Fm/A (F-minor over A Bass)    (You get the idea)
(Time Signature: 12/8           Key: Ab Major
 Opening chord pattern: Ab - Fm - Db - Eb - Ab

  Ab           Fm/Ab             Eb             Eb7
  Open up your heart and let the Patrick Swayze Christmas in.
  Ab                              Db              Eb7
  We'll gather at the Roadhouse, with our Next of Kin.
  Fm/Ab         Fm             Cm
  And Santa can be our regular Saturday night thing.
  Bbm                             Eb                Eb7
  We'll decorate a bar stool, and gather 'round and sing--

      Ab                          Eb
  Oh, let's have a Patrick Swayze Christmas this year,
  Ab                                 Db              Eb7
  Or we'll tear your throat out, and kick you in the ear (or rear?)--
  [interrupted]
  Ab - Fm - Db - Eb -
  Ab                                  Eb              Eb7
  It's my way or the highway, there's christmas at my Ba-a-ar.
  Ab                                      Db                Eb7
  I'll have to smash your kneecaps if you bastards touch my car.
  Fm/Ab                Fm             Cm
  We got the word that Santa has been stealing from the till,
  Bbm                                       Eb                  Eb7
  I think that that right jolly old elf had better make out his will.

     Ab                          Eb
  Oh let's have a Patrick Swayze Christmas one and all,
  Fm                           A7
  and this can be the haziest--
  Cm                        C7
  this can be the laziest--
  Fm                        Bbm(7)    Eb      Ab
  this can be the Swayziest Christmas of them all!
  Fm Bbm(7)      Eb(7)   Ab
  [la, la, la, la, la, la-la, la.]

  "How long til you think it becomes a standard?"
  Crow.

I'm not sure if the seventh's in the parens are coorrect, but they
sound cool. The Bbm7 could also be a Db6/Bb. (The latter, being
absolute correct, the Bbm7 may not be proper notation.)

Note:  This was originally posted to by Shawna Benson ([e-mail])
Chords Trascribed by John Langbein ([e-mail])

---------

From: [e-mail] (Lisa D. Jenkins)
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 93 17:37:19 CST
Subject: more articles!

MST becomes more and more popular every day.  And I've got the articles to
prove it!  }B-D


>From: People Weekly*
Date: December 31, 1990 to January 7, 1991
Headline: Picks & Pans
Subline: Best of Tube
Author: [unknown]
Page(s): 15
Note: MST3K one of top 10 shows.

This is an unauthorized reprint.

[...]

MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000

Joel Hodgson is main heckler at a loopy outer space drive-in movie that shows
only turkey leftovers from the '40s and '50s.  This may be TV's cheesiest-
looking series--and funniest.  (The Comedy Channel)

[...]


>From: The Milwaukee Journal*
Date: May 30, 1992
Headline: Drama's out, laugh machines in
Author: Drew, Mike
Page(s): D4

This is an unauthorized reprint.

[...]

Increasingly, cable is choosing comedy to fill its vast programing holes.
Partly because there's so much humor elsewhere on the tube, cable couldn't
support two all-comedy channels. So several months ago, the Comedy Channel and
Ha! combined.  Milwaukee's Warner and Viacom systems carry the result--CTV:
the Comedy Network.

Wisely, it salvaged "Mystery Science Theater 3000," which returns Saturday at
9 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Once again, former Wisconsinite Joel Hodgson and robot friends comment over,
around and through the sound track of a truly rotten movie.  Saturday, it's an
Italian bomb called "Cave Dwellers."  The theme: a prehistoric warrior
protects the globe from a primative bomb.

"Go, for the welfare of all mankind," says a voice on the soundtrack.

Adds Hodgson, "Take a sweater and be back by 10."  Rated ***

[...]


>From: Premiere#
Date: November 1992
Headline: Fine Tuning: Cable Ready
Photo(s): "MST3K": Say cheese.  [Servo, Joel, Crow, Gypsy, Dr. F and Frank
          with planetoid and coffee cups.]
Author: Kirk Cordero, Caroline
Page(s): 123

This is an unauthorized reprint.

Whenever Hollywood releases a stink bomb, everybody suffers: The movie
executives who produced it, the actors who are humiliated in it, and the poor
moviegoers who have to sit through it.  Everybody, that is, but Joel Hodgson
and Jim Mallon, cofounders of the increasingly popular cult cable show from
Minneapolis, _Mystery Science Theater 3000_ (Comedy Central, Fridays and
Saturdays; check local listings).  To these guys, the cheesiest, most
lamebrain movie is the ultimate piece de resistance.  Hodgson conceived the
idea for _MST3K_ some five years ago when his mother gave him a Godzilla movie
for Christmas.  "I noticed it was public domain," he says, "and realized you
didn't have to pay to do something with it."  Before long, he was on cable
playing Joel, your average lab technician at the mercy of evil bosses; they
shoot him into orbit and try to torture him and his cute sidekick robots Crow
(Trace Beaulieu) and Tom Servo (Kevin Murphy) with the worst movies they can
find, such as the upcoming doozy _Hercules Against the Moon Men_ (November 7).
To no avail--Joel and the 'bots (silhouetted at the lower right-hand corner of
your screen) have a hilarious time heckling the movies to death; during
commercial breaks, they perform insightful skits and song-and-dance numbers
inspired by whatever piece of trash they're watching.  The humor ranges from
giddy sophomorism (when Hercules lifts his ladylove onto his horse, Joel
squeeks, "I think I'm sitting on the saddle horn!") to media-savvy satire
(during an apocalyptic volcanic eruption scene, Tom solemnly intones,
"_Dianetics_, by L. Ron Hubbard--'Why do I hurt inside?' Page 54"; Crow adds,
"'When will this stupid movie end?' Page 38"; and Joel ties it up with "'How
much money can we get out of Tom Cruise?' Page 25").  "We like to pick at
Hollywood's festering scab," says Murphy proudly.  _MST3K_'s fan club is
expected to reach 20,000 strong by the end of the year, and not surprisingly,
a lot of the biggest fans are in Hollywood.  Hodgson says that Miles O'Keeffe,
the star of an abominable movie they skewered called _Cave Dwellers_, wrote in
to say the show was "wonderful."  Don't miss _MST3K_'s Turkey Day Marathon
(November 26)--30 hours of shows, including two new ones: _The Beatniks_ and
_Fire Maidens From Outerspace_.


>From: USA Today*
Date: November 25, 1992
Headline: Critic's Choice
Photo(s): by Anthony Neste/"JOEL HODGSON: Mystery Science Theater 3000 host"
          [Joel "spins" planet on finger.]
Author: Roush, Matt
Page(s): D [unknown]

This is an unauthorized reprint.

_Mystery Science Theater 3000_ (Comedy Chentral, starting tonight at 6 ET/PT):
Forget parades and football.  The bet holiday TV is this 30-hour "Turkey Day
Marathon" of the world's worst movies, lampooned by cable's funniest folk
icons: stranded-in-space Joel Hodgson and his robot buddies.  the titles
include _Viking Women and the Sea Serpent_, _Giant Gila Monster_ and _Santa
Claus Conquers the Martians_.  The worse the film, the funnier the wisecracks.

[...]


>From: Campus Voice#
Date: December 1992
Headline: Diversions
Subline: Mystery Science Theater 3000: Wiseacres in Space--Bad movies on
         cable?  Nothing new.  But bad movies made funny?  Welcome to Mystery
         Science Theater 3000, cable TV's best-kept secret.
Photo(s): Godzilla photograph from movie still archives; hand-coloring by Don
          Dudenbostel/[Hand-painted Godzilla distroys town; hand-painted
          planetoid hangs over city; silhouette of Servo, Joel and Crow at
          bottom.]
Photo(s): The characters of _Mystery Science Theater 3000_: (left to right)
          Tom Servo, our hero Joel Robinson, Crow, Gypsy, mad scientist Dr.
          Clayton Forrester (Trace Beaulieu), his henchman "TV's Frank" (Frank
          Conniff).  [All with coffee cups.]
Inset: [on other "pages" with small Godzilla picture] Mystery Science Theater
       3000: Cable TV's cult hit mixes sci-fi and sarcasm.
Author: Gardner, Lee
Page(s): [none; poster magazine]

This is an unauthorized reprint.

The premise is so ridiculous, it's sublime.  As the catchy title song
explains, Comedy Central's _Mystery Science Theater 3000_ stars a regular Joe
--or rather Joel--last name Robinson.  Mad scientists blast him into space and
force him (and the idle weekend-TV viewer to watch Z-grade movies on an
experimental basis, with only some robots for company.

Sound dopey?  It is, a little.  But while cheesy sci-fi reels or lame '60s
hipster flicks unfold, Joel and mechanical magpies Crow and Tom Servo
(silhouetted near the bottom of the screen) crack wise with a hail of jokes
and comebacks that range from seventh-grade fart humor to the kind of obscure
cultural and intellectual references that _Saturday Night Live_ gave up on
years ago.

For example, when the heroes of _Godzilla Versus the Sea Monster_ first
enoucnter the sea monster--which is actually a giant lobster--Joel shrieks,
"Quick, get some drawn butter!"  As the crustacean scarfs up some Asian
islanders, Tom Servo muses "it'll be hungry in an hour."  Cut to a Japanese
home scene and hear Joel sing-speak: "And you may find yourself living in a
shogun shack."  And as Godzilla crushes a towering building by tossing a
boulder, Crow calls, "Ohhh, picked up a spare!"  Woven throughout such quicps
are jokes involving everything from Samuel Beckett to _Laverne and Shirley_.
Suddenly a goofy setup and a waste of celluoid becomes one of the funniest
shows on TV--and one with a growing campus following.

As the Minneapolis-based production entered its fourth season, _CV_ spoke with
part of the show's brain trust: creator-writer Joel Hodgson (who plays Joel
Robinson), producer-writer Jim Mallon (voice of the reclusive robot, Gypsy),
associate producer-writer Kevin Murphy (voice of Tom Servo), and actor-writer
Trace Beaulieu (voice of Crow).  We asked about making bad film into good
television.

CV: How did the show get started?

Jim: In 1988 I met Joel for lunch to pitch the idea of doing some shows at
Channel 23 in Minneapolis, where Kevin and I worked.  He wasn't interested,
but a week later he called up and said he had an idea.  He goes, "There's this
guy in outer space, and he's watching bad sci-fi movies..."

CV: How did the robots develop such distinct personalities?

Joel: It's the evolution of characters we've done over 60 or 70 shows.  The
guys have been doing the robots for years, so they've spent a lot of time with
them.

Trace: Maybe *too* much time with them.

Joel: The guys are a lot like their robots too.

Trace: I've got a big gold nose and little spindly arms.

Kevin: And I'm kind of portly, my head is transparent, and my arms don't work.

CV: Where do you find those horrible movies?

Jim: There are people who actually own these bad movies, and they try to sell
them to distributors, who try to sell them to HBO, who we originally had our
contract with.  When HBO sees a package of these goofball movies, they send us
video-cassettes, and we set up screenings.  One of the reasons this show is so
successful is that there are so many bad films out there.  And they keep
making them.

Kevin: Watch _Highlander II_ and you'll be looking at the seeds of our future.

CV: How do you come up with the jokes for each film?

Jim: Our writing staff sits down and watches the movie we're doing a few
times--starting and stopping it--adding jokes.  Our business manager sits at a
comupter and records all the lines as we do them.

Joel: Then the writing staff has to go through all these comments, assign them
to the characters, and see how the lines fit in the movie.

CV: Do you have any favorite movies?

Jim: We're all fond of _The Amazing Colossal Man_.  _Side Hackers_ and _Pod
People_ were brutal to do--they were just excruciating to watch over and over
--but they seem to be real crowd-pleasers.

Kevin: It's really strange.  Seems like the more pain we go through, the more
people like it.

CV: What are your future plans?

Jim: We're still looking for a western to do.  And a computer-game company
called us the other day; plus we've gotten calls from book publishers and
record execs.

Kevin: And, of course, there are the plush toys.

Trace: I'm thinking a "Gold Crow" line of liquor would be good--along the
lines of Richard's Wild Irish Rose.

CV: Any last words for the college students of America?

Jim: Let everybody know that you *can* make a living watching television.


>From: Seventeen*
Date: December 1992
Headline: Cool Talk
Photo(s): _Mystery Science Theater 3000_ photo, Michael Kienitz.  _MST 3000_
          illustration, Ed Melnitsky.  [Usual promotional photo of Crow, Joel
          and Servo with drawn theater seats at the bottom.]
Author: [unknown]
Page(s): 42

WARNING!  Caps [vapor] lock ahead.

This is an unauthorized reprint.

FUNNIEST SHOW ON TV.  PERIOD.  COMEDY CENTRAL'S _MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000_
FEATURES A DOOFY GUY AND TWO DOOFIER ROBOTS WHO SIT AROUND AND MAKE FUN OF BAD
MOVIES.  WE HOPE WE'RE THIS FUNNY IN OUR NEXT LIFE.


>From: Entertainment Weekly#
Date: December 4, 1992
Headline: Credits: Look Who's Watching
Subline: Movie critics are all over TV.  Here's our view of the good and the
         god-awful.
Photo(s): Hodgson with Crow (left), Servo
Author: Appelo, Tim
Page(s): 12

This is an unauthorized reprint.

SEASON AFTER SEASON, the only stars who have truly lived without fear are the
movie critics on televison.  Siskel and Ebert and the legion of TV flick-chat
types they have launched could nit-pick movies to their hearts' content
without getting nit-picked in return.  But not anymore.  Isn't it high time
somebody turned the tables?  Herewith are our reviews of the reviewers--graded
not with regard to their power, prestige, or audience size, but for their
intrinsic entertainment value.

_Mystery Science Theater 3000_, Comedy Central

VOLUME, VOLUME, volume--nobody offers more insights per show than _MST_'s Joel
Hodgson and his robots, Crow and Tom Servo, who appear silhouetted in movie
seats at the bottom of the screen, yapping to each other while the worst films
ever made unreel in front of them:  _The Slime People_, _Teenage Caveman_,
_Fire Maidens in Space_.  Caustic as alien blood, faster than Shaquille O'Neal
on the rebound, the two make up to 800 smart remarks per movie.  Of _Crash of
the Moons_, they bray, "Two frat boys in a butt-on collision!"

  o Physical appearance:  C- (Hodgson) B (Servo) B+ (Crow)
  o Elocution:  B+ (Hodgson, Servo, Crow)
  o Critical acumen:  A+
  o Degree to which costumes would please Cindy Crawford:  F
  o Ability to balance Anne Sexton references with flatulence jokes:  A+
  o Overall amusement value:  A+

[...]


>From: Cyberspace Vanguard Magazine
Date: January 1993
Headline: "JOIN US:" INSIGHT INTO THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED _MYSTERY SCIENCE
          THEATER 3000_
Author: Jenkins, Lisa
Page(s): [none; electronic magazine]

Re-printed with author's permission.

Thanksgiving Day was a doldrum of football games and unending parades --
except for Comedy Central, an all-comedy network shown in 35 million homes
across America.  Comedy Central offered "Turkey Day," 30 straight hours of the
worst movies ever made.  Just because the movies are bad doesn't mean they're
unwatchable, because the viewers aren't watching them alone.

_Mystery Science Theater 3000_ is the newest, hippest, coolest comedy on
television today.  After all, what else can you get when you take two mad
scientists who shoot a well-meaning innocent janitor out into space and force
him to watch bad movies with his robot companions?  Is this a complicated
science fiction concept?  Not really.  If the viewers have any questions about
the science facts, the theme song reminds them to repeat to themselves "it's
just a show, I should really just relax."

And quite a show it is, too.  _Mystery Science Theater 3000_, or MST3K, has
been acclaimed by many of America's top critics, including Tom Shales of _The
Washington Post_, _People Weekly_'s "Picks and Pans," and _TV Guide_'s "Cheers
'N' Jeers."  _OMNI_'s August issue featured a five-page spread on Joel and his
robot sidekicks, Crow and Tom Servo who all must endure the painful cinematic
features dished to them by their evil overlords, Dr. Clayton Forrester and
TV's Frank.

The show is not strictly science fiction, although its premise certainly
appeals to science fiction fans.  It's a comedy, a "monster movie" show, a
forum for society's commentary, imaginative, and very funny.  It's homespun
look and cheap B-movies appeal to any television viewer's sense of humor,
including the ever-watchful eye of TV critics.

Critics and celebrities alike got a chance to brag on their favorite comedic
television show for Comedy Central's special, "This is MST 3K."  The half-hour
special, repeated several times during the months of November and December,
featured interviews with the likes of TV critics Tom Shales (_The Washington
Post_) and Matt Roush (_USA Today_) along with other celebrities like Neil
Patrick Harris (star, _Doogie Howser, MD_) and Bob O'Shea (producer,
_Cheers_).

Fans of the program were treated with a glimpse of MST3K's beginnings,
including footage from KTMA TV23, an independent station in Minneapolis where
_Mystery Science Theater_ first aired.  Appropriately, MST3K's anniversary
falls on Thanksgiving Day as its first locally-shown episode aired November
24, 1988.

_Mystery Science Theater_ has come a long way since the days at KTMA.  The
program's very existence seemed in jeopardy when KTMA no longer could fund the
show's minuscule budget of $50 a week.  However, with the support of local
viewers and the determination of show's creator, Joel Hodgson, MST3K was
bought by HBO's Comedy Channel.  When the merger between Comedy Channel and
Showtime's HA! came to pass, MST3K survived and thrived with a growing number
of viewers across the country, including the number of members in the show's
fan club.  Best Brains, the show's production company, receives hundreds of
letters a week from fans of all ages, and the fan club has grown to nearly
20,000 members.

MST3K may perhaps get the acclaim its critics and fans believe it deserves on
January 17, night of the ACE Cable Awards.  This is its second year for an ACE
nomination.  Last year, HBO's _Dream On_ walked off with "best comedy," but
this year _Mystery Science Theater_ is up for "best writing in a comedy
series."

_Mystery Science Theater 3000_ airs on Comedy Central Friday nights late at
12:30 AM and Saturdays at 10:00 AM with a repeat at 7:00 PM (all times
Eastern/Pacific).


>From: Newsweek*
Date January 18, 1993
Headline: Television: Hip Lips Dis Yucky Flicks
Subline: A cable cult hit roasts moviedom's turkeys
Photo(s): Michael Kienitz/One-liners for every level of brow: Shooting up
          another dog on MST3K [Dr. F pulls out the Amazing Colossal needle
          while Frank holds the cotton wad.]
Author: Waters, Harry F.
Page(s): 65

This is an unauthorized reprint.

You're restlessly roaming the cable band when, at a click of the remote, the
screen fills with a movie title: "Teenagers From Outer Space."  You groan and
start lowering your thumb again.  Then you notice three tiny heads silhouetted
against the bottom of the screen--as if watching the movie with you.  At the
first sign of the alien teens, one head quips: "They're all wearing V-necks.
This must be 'Student Council From Outer Space'."  You giggle and freeze the
thumb.  A moment later you hear: "That spaceship looks like a silo top...  No,
it's a giant metal falsie...  No, no.  It's Audrey Hepburn's hat from
'Breakfast at Tiffany's'."  By now you're fishing through the listings.  What
*is* this?

Like a lot of lucky viewers, you've just stumbled on cable's hottest cult hit.
It's "Mystery Science Theater 3000" (MST3K to initiates), airing Friday and
Saturday nights on the two-year-old Comedy Central channel.  The premise is a
hoot.  As part of a fiendish experiment, mad scientists subject a bumbling lab
janitor (played by comedian Joel Hodgson) and his two robot pals to an endless
screening of the world's lousiest movies: "The Slime People," "Godzilla vs.
Megalon," "Jungle Goddess," "The Amazing Colossal Man," "Santa Claus Conquers
the Martians"...you know, *baaaad*.

The trio preserve their sanity by riddling the theater screen with nonstop
one-liners--as many as 800 per two-hour show.  Some are as dumb as their
targets, the verbal equivalent of spitballs.  Others aim surprisingly high.
ALIEN HUNK (on screen): "Man's destiny is predetermined."  HODGSON (off-
screen): "Oh, he's a Calvinist!"  Funny or not, the zingers fly from every
imaginable point on the pop-cult compass.  Monitoring just a few episodes
yields references to Keith Richards, Harold Pinter, Willie Mosconi, Tom
Stoppard, Curt Gowdy, Jimmy Durante, Oscar Wilde, Yoko Ono, the Milwaukee
Brewers, "Of Mice and Men," karaoke and the Kurds.

Sass act: No wonder MST3K draws such eclectic devotees (yes, they call
themselves Mistees [sic]).  Emilio Estevez is hooked, as are the star of
"Doogie Howser," a producer of "Cheers" and the Harvard/Radcliffe Science
Fiction Association.  Then there's the MST3K fan club, whose 20,000 members
range from juveniles to doctors to computer hackers.  Obviously, what bonds
them all is the universal urge to sass back at the set.  Everyone does it:
these wise guys are making a career of it.  But there's more to this show's
appeal.  For a generation of viewers, woofers like "Fire Maidens in Space"
were part of the diet of their tube-fed childhoods.  Now MST3K lets them hoot
at the same junk--only this time through three hip surrogates.  As for
Hodgson, who created MST3K when his comedy act foundered, what matters most is
keeping up all those upscale allusions.  "We never say, 'Who's gonna get
this?'" he says.  "We always say, 'The *right* people will get this'."

Spoken like a true Calvinist.


>From: The Milwaukee Journal*
Date: [unknown]
Headline: From UHF to Cable
Author: Drew, Mike
Page(s): [unknown]

WARNING!  Obvious MiSTy facts in brackets.

This is an unauthorized reprint.

Stevens Point native Joel Hodgson, 30, was educated there and in Fort
Atkinson, Green Bay and Minneapolis.  He also started out on the traditional
route to comedy glory--TV late night.  Actually, "Late Night With David
Letterman" and "Saturday Night Live."

But after two years on the Los Angeles comedy treadmill he returned to
Minneapolis, quit performing and went to work in a T-shirt factory.

Hodgson also built robots and wrote for other comics, including Jerry
Seinfeld, another up-and-comer whose NBC series return soon.  Then Hodgson
edged back into performing with "Mystery Science Theatre [sic] 3000," on a
Twin Cities UHF channel.  HBO's new Comedy Channel, seeking offbeat providers
of laughs, picked it up.

The series features gosh-awful old movies ("Untamed Youth") and forgotten TV
series ("Captain Video" [sic; MST has never done this series, but rather old
serial movies such as "Commando Cody." ldj]), with Hodgson and two robots
sitting in the front row kibitzing.  The original dialog sounds pretty funny
in this context and Hodgson inserts a neat comic spin.

If this recalls "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" that occurred to Hodgson and the
Comedy Channel.  And look what's happened to Woody Allen.  Who ever thought
recycling could make "Robot Holocaust" fun?


>From: [unknown]
Date: [unknown]
Headline: Upclose
Subline: Joel Hodgson and his sci-fi space cadet sidekicks turn trash into
         treasure on Mystery Science Theater 3000
Photo(s): "MST 3000's Crow, Joel Hodgson and Tom Servo"
Author: E.K. [unknown]
Page(s): [unknown]

WARNING!  Obvious MiSTy facts in brackets.

This is an unauthorized reprint.

Alchemists failed to turn lead into gold, but Joel Hodgson has taken bad--nay
horrible--B-movies and turned them into comic gems.  The result is that
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST 3000) has become one of cable's cult hits.

Hodgson plays himself, a lab tech for Gizmonics [sic] Institute, who is
marooned in space on the Satellite of Love by mad scientists Dr. Clayton
Forrester and Dr. Lawrence Erhardt.  There, he and his robot pals--Crow and
Tom Servo--are forced to watch cheesy movies transmitted to them by the evil
doctors.

And while Joel and the viewer are subjected to such dubious "classics" as
_King Dinosaur_ and _Lost Continent_, he and his robot friends appear
silhouetted on the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, where they mock,
mimic and just plain make fun of the movies and actors on the air.  It's some
of the funniest stuff here on TV today.

It looks simple.  It seems simple.  But what appears to be a spirited
improvisation is in fact a tightly scripted two-hour program with
approximately 700 gags.  The jokes range from blatantly horrible puns, to
references to old movies, "Star Trek" and even classic literature.  No jokes
are dirty.

Hodgson is ringleader to his sidekicks, Crow and Tom Servo (voiced by writers
Trace Beaulieu and Kevin Murphy Crow is a wisecracking, sarcastic robot with a
beak.  Tom Servo has a bubble gum machine for a head.  "I'm kind of, in a way,
a Fran Allison from 'Kukla, Fran and Ollie' with those two...the adult
element," Hodgson said.

While MST 3000 has devoured mostly sci-fi fare, it has expanded to spoof biker
films and Godzilla movies.  Hodgson adds that he longs to get a hold of Irwin
Allen-like disaster movies.  "It's funniest if there are really absurd visuals
that are interested to the eye, like giant monsters or werewolves or fantasy."

You have to like someone who uses terms like "funnest" and "coolest" and
"neatest" in his everyday vocabulary.  Joel Hodgson is one such person.
Hodgson and his cohorts began the program on a local UHF station in
Minneapolis in 1988.  The show was picked up by The Comedy Channel at its
inception.  Hodgson has now suffered through some 50 films.

But the question remains, after having watched so many bad films, has he seen
the worst?  "Each week, somebody stops and says, 'Okay, this is the worst
movie we've ever done.'  But we get through it and it starts to work and then
you can't tell anymore.  It's hard to get any distance from them.  I'm always
baffled that we can do it.  I think the biggest reason the show works is
because everyone has fun doing it.  It was just one of those situations where
everyone left us alone and let us play, and this is kind of what came out.

MST3000 airs on Comedy TV Fridays and Saturdays.


write to the following address to request an articles list and "Read More
About It"!  }B-D

----------

From: [e-mail] (Bill Kyrouz)
Date: 17 Feb 1993 14:19:06 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Looking for the early episodes

Hi there, I became a big fan of MST3K sometime during the second
or third season, so have never had the pleasure of seeing the
first season with pre-Frank sidekick and first voice of Tom
Servo.  Since it seems apparent that Comedy Central won't
be airing these episodes again due to the cast change (if
I'm wrong someone please correct me), I was wondering if
anybody going mail me tapes of some of the first couple of
episodes (particularly the pilot)-- I'll reimburse you of course.

If you prefer I could send an 8 hour tape to you if they
aren't available in your area (I find that T-160's are hard
to come by).

Anyway please resond to [e-mail] if you
can help me out...

Thanks much!
Bill

----------

From: [e-mail] (Derek G Bacon)
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1993 01:48:19 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Satellite of Love: Estelle Winwood Sketch

I don't know if this has already appeared, but I thought I'd send it along
just in case.

Lovingly transcribed using a VCR without a remote control (Heavens to
mergatroid!)...

MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 SKETCHES:

             "A Song for Estelle"
             from The Magic Sword

CROW:    Fellas, I got something to say, and there's only one way to do
    it.  So, give me center stage.

JOEL:    Hey, be my guest.  It's all yours.

[Song Begins]

CROW:    As you guys I'm sure remember,
    I think it was last December,
    I fell, pell mell,
    for Kim Cattrall

TOM:    (speaking) Yeah, we remember, please don't remind us.

CROW:    But now, I'm over that.

TOM:    Well, that's good.

CROW:    We had our little spat.

TOM:    In your dreams, buddy.

CROW:    I'm older, wiser, and I know that my true love is really named...
    Estelle.

TOM:    Winwood?!

CROW:    (speaking)  She's swell!
    (singing again)
    She's cute.
    She's rooty-toot-toot.
    I bet she smells like Juicyfruit.
    She can really play a witch

TOM:    Ridiculous!

CROW:    (continuing)  She was even on Bewitched!
    And I'm bewildered and bothered!

JOEL:    (speaking) Oh but Crow, hold on a second, hold on a second.

TOM:    Thank you.

JOEL:    (singing)  Crow, you are my buddy
    and maybe I'm a fuddy duddy
    but step back please,
    and think about some stuff.

CROW:    (speaking) Like what?

JOEL:    I'm sure that she seems nice.        CROW:    Oh yes!
    but I bet she's more than twice
        your age.                 Well...
    and with your love it might not matter.

TOM:    But can she control her bladder?

CROW:    Shut up!

JOEL:    Tom, come on.

TOM:    Ok, but Joel, there's a whole other set of issues here.  If I
    may Crow, as a friend, as a trusted advisor?

CROW:    Well.

TOM:    Ok, (singing)  Here's a quick list of people much better looking
    than Estelle.

CROW:    You're so shallow.

TOM:    Brenda Lippinhoff, Brandon Tartikoff, Sid & Marty Kroft.

CROW:    Very funny.

TOM:    Fred Gwynne and Anthony Quinn and Rin Tin Tin
    And Pearl Bailey, and Marv Bailey, and Mayor Daley, and
        Hank & Phoebe Snow
    Ethel Merman, and Pee Wee Herman, and Strom Thurmond,
    and Vince Lombardi, and Borgnine's Maryann George, and Jesus Jones
    Edith Hedd, and Mister Ed.  Nostradamus, and Danny Thomas,
    and Leona & Sherman Hemsley!

CROW:    Joel, make him stop.

JOEL:    Tom, you're not helping things at all.  Can you go and cut those
    coupons like you promised?

TOM:    Oh, OK.  [Goes away and continues singing]  Willy DeMille, and Agnes
        DeMille, and Cruella DeVille, and Roscoe Tanner...

JOEL:    Crow, listen.  Don't Worry about him.

CROW:    (singing again)  She's a vision.
    I got a new mission.
    Somehow I got to meet her.
    So she's older, 2...3...4...
    She's got a great motor, 2...3...
    There's nothing that can beat her.

CROW:    She's cute.        JOEL:
    She's rooty-toot-toot        Crow, you have my blessing.
    I bet she smells like
         Juicyfruit            And I feel, like confessing.
    She can really play a witch    You're my little pal.
    She was even on Bewitched!    Go on and give it a try.
    Cos I'm bewildered and         Cos you're bewildered and
         bothered                        bothered