- It is probably impossible to fully convey the appeal of Mystery Science Theater 3000 to someone who hasn't seen it. Fundamentally, it is one guy and two puppets cracking silly jokes over some painfully bad b-picture. There's some backstory, too, involving mad scientists and being trapped in space, but you could probably ignore those details and still get the general idea. For that matter, you could probably get through the entire series without noticing that Dr. Clayton Forrester (Trace Beaulieu) is named after Gene Barry's character in War of the Worlds, that the ship's designation Satellite of Love references either a Lou Reed or Def Leppard song, or that a lonely astronaut building robot friends is vaguely reminiscent of the 70's sci-fi classic Silent Running. My guess is that most people can accurately determine after just ten minutes whether they're going to love or hate this show.
- My favorite aspect of MST3K (as it is called by aficionados) is that it dutifully recreates the experience of sitting around watching bad movies with your immature friends. Actually, the jokes are generally funnier than anything my friends and I could come up with, but the movies are just as bad. Sometimes the problem is the budget, so you end up with the American Southwest standing in for Cuba or an alien creature stitched together from an ape costume and a diving suit. In many cases, the problem is the director, who often is also the producer, editor, and possibly an actor (see Coleman Francis and Ed Wood). Every once in a while, the filmmakers appear to be suffering from some sort of "cinematic aphasia" that causes them to completely misunderstand and misuse the medium (Manos, the Hands of Fate and Monster-a-Go-Go quickly come to mind). In rare cases, the director's vision is fully realized but insane, as in The Day the Earth Froze or Samson vs. The Vampire Women.
- You may have noticed that I haven't actually discussed any details about this specific film, the feature-length Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie. Well, that's because it is basically just a "Very Special Episode" of the show distinguishable only by more expansive sets, a slightly shorter runtime, occasional profanity, an impressive 2001: A Space Odyssey opening homage, and only one mad scientist. As expected, Mike (Michael J. Nelson) and the bots (voiced by Trace Beaulieu and Kevin Murphy) have great fun ripping into the 50's sci-fi "stinkburger" This Island Earth, a film plagued by prosthetic foreheads and the laughably insectoid Mu-Tants. During breaks, Crow T. Robot also has great fun literally ripping through the bottom of the ship in an attempt to tunnel back to Earth from space. Like I said, love it or hate it.
- In my opinion, one of the most remarkable aspects of MST3K is how well it has survived major changes to its cast and broadcast structure. By my count, it has aired on four different stations, one of which was locally broadcast, two of which were cable, and the current of which is streaming. At present, it has also featured three different human hosts, multiple voices for every robot (with the exception of the strangely taciturn Cambot), and over half a dozen different mad scientists. Everybody has their personal preferences (Joel, Dr. F, and TV's Frank for me!), but mostly it is amazing that any program could maintain such a steady level of quality through its various iterations. The point, if I have one, is that this is a damn entertaining show and the only place you could expect to encounter jokes on subjects as varied as Roger Dean, Flemish painters, waffles, and William Shatner. I have so much more to say, but perhaps I should just push the button on this review before it's too late...
