MST3K: James' Robots

As I mentioned in Tuesday's post, I felt there was something missing from this year's Dragon*Con: Mystery Science Theater 3000.  Every other time we've gone, some folks from the show were there to talk about old times, Cinematic Titanic or Rifftrax.  On one night, Joel, et al, would even show a whole CT episode to a room of hundreds.  Big fun.

I was disappointed when I saw none of the Brains were coming this year and I was even more surprised when I emerged from the weekend with a Satellite-of-Love-shaped hole in my heart.

There's a legit reason for this and it's all about my son, James.

When he was about two (maybe less), he toddled into the living room and saw me watching an episode.  He saw the 'bots goofing around on the bridge.  He looked at me and asked, "What's that?"  I answered, "Robots."  He said the word himself and plopped onto the floor and kept watching.  He got bored during the movie but he always perked up during the host segments.

Since I watched one episode every week at that time, he sat with me and watched with me.  He said the "La, la, la"s in the theme song, laughed at the shenanigans and said, "Robots silly."  After a couple of months, I had an idea.  I'd make a MST3K storybook for him.  We read a couple of books to him every night so why not one about MST3K?  I got the lyrics to the theme song, pulled some screencaps and made the thing.

Here it is.

I kid you not, he learned how to count to six because of the door sequence on that page.

I planned on making a Mike version, but time got away from me.  (In case you're wondering, James doesn't have a preference.)

So, you're wondering, exhaustedly, what the poopie does this have to do with Dragon*Con?

Beginning with our first trip some years ago, I took the book with me to Atlanta.  It was just me and my wife; the boy stayed with relatives given his age, natch.  But since folks from both Cinematic Titanic and Rifftrax were there, I got them to sign the book.  Bill and Trace signed Crow's page; Kevin and Josh signed Servo's page; Frank signed the Mads' page; Mary Jo signed the page with the feather cannon.  (Haven't met Mike, Jim Mallon, Patrick Brantseg or Paul Chaplin yet.)

One year, Joel was there.  I had gotten a couple of the CT crew's signatures and I moved down the table.  He saw the book and immediately seemed intrigued.  He said, "Tell me about this."  I explained, in condensed form, how James first saw the show, his love for it, how he learned to count to six ... Joel smiled, nodded and said, "That's really cool."  And then he signed a page:

"To James, from your friend, Joel Hodgson"

Couple ALL of that with the fact that this year, the first of any year we went to Dragon*Con, was the first we took him with us ... I think you'll understand why I came away disappointed that nobody was there.

"'Waa, waa, waaa,' emo-Trey."  Yeah, I know.  James had fun and he's eager to go again.  Maybe next year he can meet the Best Brains himself.

A Few Batman Tidbits

Don't worry.  NO spoilers for The Dark Knight Rises follow.  I haven't even seen it yet.

First up, a really sweet Nolan trilogy desktop.  It's 1920 X 1080:

Here's a little something for your "out-of-office" emails tomorrow:

Next, here's an observation I made after seeing an episode of The Twilight Zone:

This is a still from the 1964 Twilight Zone episode “Caesar and Me.” Jackie Cooper plays a down-on-his-luck ventriloquist with an evil (maybe possessed) dummy named “Little Caesar.” Obviously modeled on gangster Al Capone, the dummy even has a scar on its face. The dummy talks the man into committing crimes.

This is a still from an episode of the fantastic Batman: The Animated Series. The man is The Ventriloquist and he first appeared in print in 1988. The dummy is named “Scarface.” Obviously modeled on gangster Al Capone, the dummy even has a scar on its face. The dummy’s personality derives from the cracked psyche of the operator and it convinces him to commit crimes.

Watching Twilight Zone recently, my mind immediately went to pitiful Arnold Wesker. Twenty-four years separate TZ and Batman and I can’t help but think that a seed was planted …



Next up, here's Jill St. John, who played one of the Joker's hench-people in an episode of old school Batman wherein she doubled for Robin:

And here's Carrie Kelly, from Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns:

Coincidence?  Maybe.


Next, here's a great little video:

That's Jimmy Fallon providing the voice of Pee-Wee Herman.


And one last thing:

And I'll see you at the movies!

Killing Time: Annotated MST3K

I've been a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000 since the mid-'90s ... and we didn't even have Comedy Central on our cable.

My dad was a television repairman.  Doesn't get much work now, as you can imagine.  He traveled to some workshop in a different area that had a different cable system and while he was working on a set, he saw "a show with a guy and some robot puppets watching Amazing Colossal Man."  The riff on the giant syringe (by Tom Servo, I believe: "Where's the giant cottonball?") hooked him.

It was a couple of years before I managed to see an episode myself.  Staying at an aunt's house, I got to see Last of the Wild Horses.  The movie bits were OK, but it was the "Mirror, Mirror" host segments that really ensnared me.  I mean, Mike Nelson as evil Mike, Crow T. Robot singing the Star Trek fight song ("Die-die-DIE, die-die-die-diedie!"), Dr. Forrester & TV's Frank in the theater, Gypsy as Uhura, the flipping Satellite of Love ... good stuff.

Thankfully, a few episodes were available for rental and then the show moved to SciFi, which we had.  Once the Internet became dominant in the late '90s, I was able to find and procure every episode.  (I'm an anal retentive completist that way.)  I started watching one episode a week and it takes me about three years to go through the whole series.

Fast forward a bit and I discovered some really cool sites with info about the show, the movies they watched and more.  Satellite News is a great site for news about the show and what all of the Best Brains are doing these days and Annotated MST is a fun site to use to follow along as you're watching the show in case you hear a riff that gives you the Linda Ronstadt treatment.**

Problem is, Annotated MST doesn't have most of the episodes done.  So, I decided to pitch in.

About a year ago, I started with the KTMA episodes (Season Zero).  I just finished Season One, too.  I'll be starting in on Season two soon.  You can see all of the episodes done here (some of the ones I've finished haven't yet been encoded and uploaded by the webmaster; takes a while, as you can imagine).

How does it work?  Well, I watch an episode of MST3K and have a Wordpad window open.  I type everything they say while they're in the theater.  It takes about an hour to transcribe twenty minutes worth of riffing.  (That's about four hours of transcribing per ep.)  As I type, if I spot something with a reference (meaning, a pop cultural, historical, scientific, etc. -- anything that may need explaining), I put an asterisk under that riff.

Once I'm done transcribing, it's time to annotate.  I go to all of the asterisked riffs and explain what's up.  My only real rule is that I don't try to explain the joke.  This takes a bit longer ... maybe six hours per episode.  Yes, I do this on days when I'm not really planning to write.

Here are a few examples from Episode 105, The Corpse Vanishes:

Why does the Earth have a shadow? –Why are there clouds in space? –Why are we watching this? –Daddy, what’s Vietnam?
Ah, the 1980s. Without the Internet, people had to buy overpriced libraries of books from the Time-Life Company cataloging stretches of history. This line, specifically, refers to a commercial for their History of the Vietnam War series. In the ad, a father and son are at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the son asks, “Daddy, what’s Vietnam?” Buy the books and find out.
...
Can’t believe those thugs are taking orders from a guy dressed in spandex. –Yeah.
Spandex (also known as Lycra or elastane) was developed by DuPont’s Joseph Shivers in 1959. The name originates with the fiber’s elasticity: “Spandex” is an anagram of “expands.”
...
Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away.
Variations of this phrase originated with cards inserted in silent films of the early twentieth century. In westerns, this was often “Meanwhile, back at the ranch ...” Once audio became a common component, the phrase was still used by narrators for films, radio, and television shows. Most recently, it was used in the various Superfriends animated series of the late 1970s. Narrator Ted Knight or Bill Woodson would say, “Meanwhile, back at the Hall of Justice ...” or “Meanwhile, at the Legion of Doom ...”
...
We gotta go. Carry me back to the ol’ Satellite, Joel. –Carry me, too. –No. –You’ve got legs.
“Carry Me Back to Old Virginny” was written by African-American minstrel James Bland in 1878 and is about a former slave who struggles in the post-Civil War economy. It was Virginia’s state song until 1997, when it was retired because the lyrics were deemed offensive (well, they do include the word “darkie,” after all).

And here's a bit of trivia: what film, book or TV show is the single most referenced on MST3K?  Highlight below to find out:

The 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.

"Why in the name of Zeus would you want to do this?"

Well, I've seen every episode a minimum of four times now.  And there are still references I miss.  I don't like that (see? "anal retentive").  Doing this helps me catch every single joke they throw out there.  I'm getting humor now that I never really caught before.  In the future when I rewatch these shows, I'll remember the annotations and appreciate what it means.

There you go.  If you want to watch old eps of MST3K and you miss some of the references, go to Annotated MST.  It'll help.


** You know, "Blue Bayou."

My Dorkmas Tree and the Star Trek Museum

I had some fun last week posting pics of my #Dorkmas tree on the Twitter.  I thought I'd post the pics here, with additions, as well as some pictures of my Dad's "Star Trek Museum."  (Click any of the pics to enlarge.)

First up, here's the JJ Enterprise, Thomas the Tank Engine and one of many Scarletts O'Hara my wife has:

Next, here's Lord Vader mere inches away from Yoda:

Clu's Light Cycle from Tron: Legacy near the USS Defiant:

Harry Potter and Superman:

Batman and Speed Racer:

Scooter (ornament circa 1979) checks out Scarlett's bustle:

Pewter Potter and little Godzilla:

Big Godzilla, with lights and sound:

X-Wing:

The Battlestar Galactica (why not the Hallmark Cylon ornament?  Read this):

The One Ring:

And, finally, the whole tree:

I think you can guess which stocking is mine.

More after the JUMP:

Funny Galactica Video & Song

Thanks to everyone who visited the site last week for my BSG/Trek birthday post.  Lots of great pictures and nice comments, too.

In case you didn't know, I'd appreciate it if you guys could 'like' me on Facebook.  CLICK THIS, please.

Secondly, Lords of Kobol - Book Three: The Final Exodus is still on track for release the first week of October.  Please download Books One & Two at the various links scattered around this page.  Also, let me know what you think.  I appreciate reviews and thoughts but I haven't gotten nearly enough.

OK, enough with the felgercarb.  Click the JUMP for a great and hilarious BSG Season 3 gag reel.  Also, you MUST stay until the end so you can hear the song, "I Wanna Frak."  Let's just say the video and song are NSFW.