MST3K celebrates 20th anniversary with box set
From left, Jim Mallon voiced and operated the robot puppet Gypsy, Trace Beaulieu played Crow T. Robot, and Kevin Murphy played Tom Servo on the cult TV show “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” This photo from the 1990s shows the cast members with their puppet alter egos. (Photo courtesy Shout Factory)
A version of this story ran in Wednesday’s Life section of The Oklahoman. Check BAM’s Blog in the coming days for extended Q&As with MST3K creator Joel Hodgson and original cast member Trace Beaulieu.
Set revives MST3K at 20
Creator says lampoon show’s enduring popularity is a mystery
An assortment of thrift store junk, copious amounts of hot glue and inspiration from Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” album seem humble materials for creating a cultural phenomenon.
But that’s the stuff comedian Joel Hodgson used to make “Mystery Science Theater 3000″ in 1988. The cult TV show is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a special edition four-DVD box set released Tuesday.
The enduring success of the show, which started as a sort of low-budget lark, comes as a pleasant surprise to its creator.
“When we were doing it, people would go ‘Are you surprised that people like your show and it’s on TV?’ I would always kind of go, no, ’cause that’s why you make a TV show. You do it ’cause you think you have a good idea and you think people will like it.’ So that part I saw, but not 20 years later,” Hodgson, 48, said in a phone interview from Pennsylvania, where he recently moved.
“Every year we sell more DVDs than we did the previous year. It’s kind of like the comic equivalent of Steve Miller Band’s ‘Fly Like an Eagle’; it just keeps getting reinvented and rediscovered by new generations.”
‘A new art form’
“Mystery Science Theater 3000,” MST3K for short, centers on a man who is shot into outer space by evil scientists who force him to watch atrocious B movies in the name of science. To stay sane, the fellow builds a pair of robots – Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot- to keep him company and join him in making fun of the movie.
A prop comic, Hodgson took the idea to Jim Mallon at Minneapolis cable-access station KTMA. Hodgson played the stranded spaceman and crafted puppets to portray the robots. He asked local comedians Trace Beaulieu and J. Elvis “Josh” Weinstein to operate the puppets, voice the robots and play the mad scientists.
During the movie, Hodgson, the robots and a row of theater seats were shown silhouetted against the screen. Hodgson was inspired by a similar silhouette for the song “I’ve Seen That Movie Too” on the “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” album sleeve.
“I think it was kind of like we created a new comic art form,” he said.
Beaulieu, who played Dr. Clayton Forrester and Crow from 1988-96, said the show tapped into the universal tendency to talk back to the TV screen.
“We’d sit two feet from a green screen wall and watch these movies. … And I think out of desperation and wanting to fill the holes, we started riffing on it, talking back to it. So there was never a plan to go ‘OK, we’re gonna take these movies and we’re gonna comment on ‘em and make funny pop culture references,” he said in a phone interview from his Minnesota home.
“It was really an organic growth. An organic growth? That sounds like something that should have been cut off.”
The low-budget show became a local hit. After doing 22 episodes, the group took the concept and clips to the new Comedy Channel.
Lingering legacy
The network, which became Comedy Central, was home to the series from 1989-96. The group hired more writers, but Weinstein decided to leave the show, with former KTMA staffer Kevin Murphy taking the Tom Servo role.
It was the first of many cast changes the show would weather, including Hodgson’s 1993 departure.
“Of the things that I’m most proud of is that I didn’t just preside over it and say ‘This is a funny joke and that’s not a funny joke.’ I really just said, ‘If you think it’s funny, let’s leave it in,’” he said. “I think that it was kind of that cheap, fast and out-of-control model that allowed us to do what we did.”
After Comedy Central canceled it, MST3K ran on the Sci Fi Channel from 1997-99. The series ended after 11 years and 198 episodes. It spawned a feature film, earned two Emmy nominations and won a Peabody Award. And it gained legions of fans.
“The fans, I think, are largely responsible for the success of the show,” Beaulieu said.
The cast and crew delighted fans by coming together this summer for a packed 20th anniversary panel at Comic-Con in San Diego, which was recorded for the new box set.
“It was just amazing,” Hodgson said. “I think Josh said it best. He just said, ‘It looks like we’re geek royalty.’”
-BAM
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment