Extended Q&A: Trace Beaulieu of MST3K
This is an extended Q&A version of my recent phone interview with Trace Beaulieu, one of the original cast members of the cult TV show “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” Joel Hodgson created MST3K back in 1988, so the show is marking its 20th anniversary. The “Mystery Science Theater 3000 20th Anniversary Edition” box set was released this week to commemorate the milestone.
From 1988-96, Beaulieu played the evil scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester, who scheme of world domination involves shooting a hapless guy (first creator Joel Hodgson, later head writer Michael J. Nelson) up into space and forcing him to watch horrible B movies until his spirit is shattered. Beaulieu also operated the puppet and provided the voice for the sardonic robot character Crow T. Robot.
In the interview, Beaulieu not only reminisced about MST3K, he talked about the new riffing project “Cinematic Titanic,” which involves Beaulieu, Hodgson and fellow former MST3K cast members J. Elvis “Josh” Weinstein, Mary Jo Pehl and Frank Conniff.
For those of you who read my expanded Q&A with Hodgson, which was posted Thursday, you might note that Beaulieu seemed more open to the prospect of a “Cinematic Titanic” crossover with RiffTrax, the movie-mocking audio commentaries created by Nelson and former MST3K cast members Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett.
Q: Where am I calling you at?
A: I am in Minnesota. I am on the Wisconsin-Minnesota border, as a matter of fact.
Q: Is this like your house?
A: This is like my house, yeah. (with amusement in his voice)
Q: It’s like your house or it is your house?
A: It is my house.
Q: Just making sure you weren’t standing on the border with your cell phone on a dare.
A: No. It’s an exact replica of my house in cardboard. So it’s like my house. And you’re in Oklahoma, I’m assuming.
Q: I’m in Oklahoma City, yeah. I’m in a building that’s very much like my office. And I just wanted to talk to you about the 20th anniversary of MST3K, which sounds funny to me. When you started this did you ever imagine that it would become the kind of phenomenon that would warrant a 20th anniversary celebration?
A: You know, really I was surprised we’d make it through the first week. We were doing it in this little crummy TV station, and nobody was getting paid much. It was just fun to do. It was such a lark at the time that (I) never thought that we’d be talking about it now.
Q: So it was just fun to do?
A: Yeah, exactly. You know, it was guys hanging around that liked each other and having fun. It was such a great idea that everybody just kept saying yes to it. And that’s a huge factor in its success, I think, because there’s so many people in the world that are ready to say no. “Oh, you can’t do that.” And had we pitched the idea rather than just made it, I don’t think it would have taken off because it’s a fairly hard concept to explain it to somebody.
Q: I remember the first time somebody had to explain the concept to me, and I believe my comment was like “Why is there a reindeer and a gumball machine watching this weird movie at 2 a.m.?” It was one of those conversations with my friend who became my boyfriend who became my fiancé who is now my husband. He was like, “Oh, that’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” and I was like “I have no idea what you just said.”
A: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. (laughing)
Q: What is it about the show, is it the idea that caused it to touch a chord with so many people? Because I thought I was going to have to fist-fight some people over the box set when it arrived in my office. [Yeah, I mean you, my sister and my colleague Matt Price.]
A: Oh, really? You know, at first I said it was a bunch of people having fun together and making a fun thing, and I think that really carried through out into the world, and into your TV set, and out into your living room. Or wherever your TV set might be. I think that spirit of having fun carried through.
And it’s something that everybody has done; everyone has talked back to the television set. We just, we put it on TV.
Q: So you talked back to the TV while on TV?
A: Yeah, but you know, everybody’s done that. You know, the TV common room in a dorm or in the student hall on campus, that’s what people did: They’d watch soap operas and make snarky comments back to ‘em. Except for people who were there just to watch the soap opera, then it was really annoying for them.
MST3K Quote of the Day
In honor of the cult TV show’s 20th anniversary, it’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000″ Week here at the blog. Here’s your giggle-inducing, bad movie-related quotes of the day:
Crow, Servo, singing:
Killer shrew! Killer shrew!
Don’t know the diff’rence ‘tween me and you!
He comes out at night to give you a fright.
Don’t look now, but he’s gonna take a bite!
Doh, di-dih doh, di-dih doh, dugga dugga duh
Killer shrew! Killer shrew! K-I-double-L-E-R shrew!
He’s scary and tough, if that ain’t enough.
He’s augmented with bath mats an’ stuff!
- From “The Killer Shrews”
-BAM
DVD review: “MST3K 20th Anniversary Edition”
A version of this review was written for the Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
“Mystery Science Theater 3000 20th Anniversary Edition”
Four horrendous horror films get the hilariously snarky send-ups they deserve on the “Mystery Science Theater 3000 20th Anniversary Edition” box set.
The cult TV show, known to fans as MST3K, focuses on a poor schmuck (first creator Joel Hodgson, later head writer Mike Nelson) marooned on a spaceship and forced to watch terrible B movies in the name of scientific experimentation.
With only a pair of sardonic robots, Crow and Tom Servo, to keep him company, he turns the age-old practice of mocking bad movies into humorous high art. The series ran for 198 episodes from 1988-99.
To mark the series’ 20th anniversary, Shout Factory’s great limited edition set includes four episodes not previously released on DVD. Chosen by online fan voting, the episodes ridicule “First Spaceship on Venus,” “Laser Blast,” “Werewolf” and “Future War.”
The films’ horror plots aren’t nearly as scary as the poor quality of their acting, editing and cinematography, which provide perfect cinematic straw for Joel, Mike and the ‘bots to spin into comic gold.
The episodes capture different points in the series’ evolution, but Joel fans might be disappointed since he appears in only one.
The set comes in a collectible tin and features new cast interviews, variations of the theme song, footage of the reunion panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, lobby card art and a plastic figurine of Crow.
- BAM
Follow-up: “Cinematic Titanic” Christmas DVD
As a follow-up to my extended Q&A with “Mystery Science Theater 3000″ creator Joel Hodgson, I’d like to note that Satellite News, the official fans site of MST3K, is reporting that Hodgson has revealed the title of “Cinematic Titanic” special Christmas DVD.
According to Satellite News, Hodgson revealed today that the “Cinematic Titanic” crew will riff on “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.”
Joel and robot friends Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo riffed on this bit of Christmas cheer back during Season 3 of MST3K, but Hodgson promises new riffs in the “Cinematic Titanic” version.
The “Cinematic Titanic” DVD of “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” is due out Nov. 20.
Check out the story from Satellite News by clicking here.
-BAM
Extended Q&A: Joel Hodgson of MST3K
This is an extended Q&A version of my recent phone interview with Joel Hodgson, creator of the cult TV show “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” which is celebrating the big 2-0 with the “Mystery Science Theater 3000 20th Anniversary Edition.”
In the interview, Hodgson talks happily about getting to revisit the space-based movie riffing/puppet show he created back in 1988. He also talked about his new movie-mocking project “Cinematic Titanic” with former MST3K cast members Trace Beaulieu, Mary Jo Pehl, Frank Conniff and J. Elvis “Josh” Weinstein.
He also talks about why he left the show in 1999 and describes it as a “personal tragedy.”
MST3K fans (AKA MSTies) may find it tragic that Hodgson doesn’t give much hope for a crossover between “Cinematic Titanic” and RiffTrax, the movie-mocking audio commentaries that former MST3K cast members Michael J. Nelson, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy are creating.
Q: I just got off the phone with original cast member Trace Beaulieu a second ago.
A: Oh, good I’m right on time.
Q: I got the whole scoop from him. Now, I’m going to check in with you and see if your stories match up.
A: OK, I bet they’re pretty close. (laughing)
Q: So where are you calling me from?
A: I’m calling you from Pennsylvania. I’m at a coffee shop in Pennsylvania.
Q: How’d do you end up in a coffee shop in Pennsylvania?
A: I just moved to Pennsylvania.
Q: Oh, OK. So there’s no weird story like you were kidnapped by aliens and left there because you were wanting some caffeine?
A: I can’t talk about that. (laughing) I can’t. Actually, they’re looking at me right now. I can’t say anything.
Q: Well, we’ll try not to say anything that will upset the aliens.
A: All right, sounds good.
Q: Did you ever imagine when you started MST3K that I would be calling you about the 20th anniversary?
A: Oh, absolutely not. It’s so funny. I’m just thrilled and it’s so great. But no, I didn’t have the faintest idea. I mean, it’s funny, 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, and we actually 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.
Q: What is it about it that makes it like that, that makes it strike such a chord. Because I will tell you that I never had to defend something I got in the mail as vehemently as I did the box set. I was stiff-arming people like Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings.
A: Wow, that’s good news. That’s great. I don’t know, I think that it was kind of like we created a new comic art form and because of that we were able to kind of fill it up. I mean, the real trick of the show is that we did 22 shows locally to really figure it out. We spent a year doing it on a local UHF channel and so when we went and did it nationally, we really had it figured out.
So, I feel like that was kind of the magic secret ingredient. And I think if we would have done it traditionally like oh I go to a network and I have an idea and I go ‘This is what it’s going to be like,’ and then they go, ‘OK, write a script,’ it just never would have happened. It was really about getting it on its feet and kind of roughing it out. And that’s the way I am, too. I don’t like writing scripts; I like making the visual elements and seeing if it all makes sense visually and then all the other things kind of fall into place.
I don’t know, it’s kind of a long way of saying we kind of invented this new kind of weird little thing, and then because we were kind of open-minded we were able to kind of figure out how to master it. It’s a niche, I guess.
Q: Was there any particular moment or little idea or something that kind of sparked the whole thing? Obviously, you’re the creator and came up with the idea, and it is kind of an idea where you think, well how did you come out with that, making fun of movies with robot puppets?
A: I can tell you the exact moment I thought of it. It was in high school. I was at my friend Mike Wilkinson’s house and we were folding flowers for the homecoming float. I don’t know if you did this, but in Green Bay, you made floats out of chicken wire and then you got tissue paper and you kind of crumple it and stuff it in; it kind of looked like a plush toy or something.
But for some reason, we’re all at his house, and we’re making these things, and putting them in garbage bags and hanging out and I was probably 16 and the Elton John album “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” was like playing on the stereo. And there was like this image in there of an illustration of this song called “I’ve Seen That Movie Too,” and there’s a silhouette of three characters looking at a movie screen. And I looked at that, and I said, ‘You know, that’d actually be a really great show if you ran a movie and you had people saying stuff.’ And so that’s when I thought of it, and I knew enough about how green screen worked from the weatherman; in Green Bay they stand in front of Green Bay, they’d stand in front of an orange screen and they could superimpose stuff. So technically I knew it was possible.
And then it kind of set dormant until I got to a position where I could actually do something about it, and that’s when I had gotten done doing standup and went back to Minneapolis. And that’s when I kind of pulled together and got to it. So that was really the Gestalt moment, really when I saw that record cover.
Q: You really remember that in like scary detail.
A: It’s really weird but actually yeah, I do remember it. And you know, you just have those moments occasionally where you go, ‘OK I think that’s a genuinely good idea.’ But yeah, high school, I thought of it in high school. (laughing)
MST3K Quote of the Day
In honor of the cult TV show’s 20th anniversary, it’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000″ Week here at the blog. Here’s your giggle-inducing, bad movie-related quotes of the day:
[Dave, one of the movie's characters, is fiddling with the radio as Donna watches.]
Dave: Will you go out and ask Steve to come in here a minute?
Tom Servo [as Donna]: Okay. STEEEEEEEEEEEEVE!
Mike [as Dave]: I could have done that…
__
[Dave hears something.]
Dave: Steve?
Mike: Not everyone is Steve!
__
[Steve, Julie, and Dr. Wyman are examining Johnny's body. Donna enters.]
Donna: Steve.
Mike [as Julie]: Yes?
Tom Servo [as Dr. Wyman]: Yes?
Crow [as Steve]: Yes?
__
[After Dave is attacked, the rest of the scientists rush to the scene.]
Tom Servo: And the Steves are there!
Crow: Steve One, you go that way. Steve Two, come with me!
__
Crow: Hard to trust somebody not named Steve.
- From “Night of the Blood Beast,” a movie clearly obsessed with the name “Steve.”
-BAM
MST3K Quote of the Day
In honor of the cult TV show’s 20th anniversary, it’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000″ Week here at the blog. Here’s your giggle-inducing, bad movie-related quote of the day:
[Everyone is being sucked into the vacuum of space]
Crow T. Robot: Hey, Mike, you think you can toss me my calculations? Thanks! Ah, here it is. “Breach Hull – All Die.” Even had it underlined.
[after breaching the hull in an escape attempt]
Crow T. Robot: Well believe me, Mike, I calculated the odds of this succeeding versus the odds I was doing something incredibly stupid… and I went ahead anyway.
- From “MST3K: The Movie”
-BAM
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
New releases: Special Oklahoma Country Music Day edition
As I indicated Monday, it’s a huge week if you’re a country fan from Oklahoma, with three big releases coming out today.
Toby Keith, who was born in Clinton, raised in Moore and lives in Norman, has his new studio album, “That Don’t Make Me a Bad Guy,” hitting today. The album already has scored a No. 1 hit with the embittered ballad “She Never Cried in Front of Me.”
I’ll be reviewing Keith’s latest offering in the coming days, so keep an eye out.
Country trio Rascal Flatts, which includes guitarist Joe Don Rooney of Picher, releases its first compiliation, “Greatest Hits Volume 1″ today.
Reba McEntire, who was born in McAlester and raised in nearby Chockie, comes out today with the huge hits collection, “50 Greatest Hits.”
In honor of these big releases, I’m declaring it Oklahoma Country Music Day here on BAM’s Blog. So, crank a little something with a good drawl and a great beat on your stereo and play it loud and proud.
In the DVD arena, it’s MST3K Week here at the blog in honor of today’s release of the “Mystery Science Theater 3000 20th Anniversary Edition,” or “MST3K 20AE,” as the commemorative box is labeled. Enjoy a bad movie with Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo, as well as the host of your particular preference, Joel or Mike. (I’m not going to get into that long-standing debate at this time, fellow MSTies, so don’t even start with me.)
I’ll also be bringing you a review of that limited edition box set in the coming days, so again, be on watch for that.
In the books section, Charles R. Cross, author of the biography ”Heavier Than Heaven: The Biography of Kurt Cobain,” revisits the troubled late Nirvana singer in “Cobain Unseen,” a collection of photographs, facsimiles of journal pages and other personal items, many of them previously unseen, that give insight into the rocker’s too-short life. The books comes with an audio CD of Cobain’s spoken-word material.
Here is the list of this week’s new releases, from Amazon.com, VideoETA.com and BarnesandNoble.com.
CDs
Toby Keith, “That Don’t Make Me a Bad Guy.”
Rascal Flatts, “Greatest Hits Volume 1.”
Reba McEntire, “50 Greatest Hits” (box set).
Snow Patrol, “A Hundred Million Suns.”
Pink, “Funhouse.”
DVDs
The 4400: The Complete Series
Animal House
Dead Space: Downfall
The Flintstones: The Complete Series
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
The L Word: The Complete Fifth Season
The Little Rascals: The Complete Collection
Mystery Science Theater 3000 20th Anniversary Edition
The Polar Express
Sister, Sister: The First Season
Tinker Bell
Zombie Strippers
Books
“Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics” by Ina Garten
“Cobain Unseen” by Charles R. Cross
“Flat Belly Diet” by Liz Vaccariello
“Gate House” by Nelson DeMille
“Good Woman” by Danielle Steel
“Irish Country Christmas” by Patrick Taylor
“Songs for the Missing” by Stewart O’Nan
“With Strings Attached: The Art and Beauty of Vintage Guitars” by Jonathan Kellerman.
-BAM
MST3K Quote of the Day
In honor of the cult TV show’s 20th anniversary, it’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000″ Week here at the blog. Here’s your giggle-inducing, bad movie-related quote of the day:
Joel (as Michael, one of the movie’s characters): Hey, look, I know you’re an evil hellbeast, but could you hold it down?! It’s after 9, and we got kids!
- From “Manos: The Hands of Fate” (1993)
-BAM
