Joel did an AMA on Reddit

Joel Hodgson recently did an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit, largely as promotion for the resurrection of MST3K. Though I would, of course, recommend reading the AMA for yourself, I thought I’d sift through it and highlight some of the most interesting parts.

• All the new films will be in widescreen. (“better-looking bad movies”)
• The new cast has already been chosen. In fact, the new host can be seen in the Kickstarter video. It’s unclear whether Crow and Servo’s new voices were in the video. Either way, we’ll meet the new cast soon.
• The reboot will probably be shot in Los Angeles.
• Joel broke down how the Kickstarter’s $2 million would be used. He used this handy dandy infographic to illustrate.
• He wants the new MST3K to last another 30 years.
• The reboot isn’t about an MST3K reunion, it’s about new episodes.
• The new Mad will be the “offspring” of Clayton Forrester.

All in all, a fairly informative session focusing more on the new than the old. Though, at one point, a Reddit user asked for an episode recommendation and Joel fired back with season nine’s The Final Sacrifice, which I thought was interesting.

Trace Beaulieu not participating in the reboot either

Not much to say about this one. Color me disappointed. This is beginning to look a lot like a fresh reboot of the show, both in front of and behind the camera, with Joel being the only returning staff member. I’m trying to remain hopeful, but a 100% fresh reboot isn’t really what I was hoping for.

Still no word from Frank, Kevin, Paul, Josh, or Mary Jo.

Rifftrax crew will not be a part of MST3K reboot

Mike Nelson and Bill Corbett recently took to Facebook and Twitter, respectively, to let fans know that they will not be participating in Joel Hodgson’s upcoming MST3K reboot. Basically, it sounds like they’re committed to Rifftrax, a project that is more their own than MST3K ever was, both financially and creatively; something which this exchange seems to further confirm. Which, you know, fair enough. Still, I can’t help but feel disappointed that they’ve already written off the possibility so quickly.

Kevin Murphy has yet to comment on the reboot, but one can assume he’s probably abstaining for similar reasons.

MST3K is coming back! (Like, for real)

Hey, everybody! Remember me? I sure do! I’m back, because Joel Hodgson is planning to bring back Mystery Science Theater 3000. MST3K.com now redirects to this Kickstarter page, where Joel is asking for a minimum of $2 million to get three new episodes up and running. The more money they receive, the more episodes they’ll produce, up to what seems to be a maximum of 12. Joel will shop the episodes around to TV and streaming platforms and, well, who knows what’ll happen?

As always, the Kickstarter comes with some perks for donators, including the usual stuff, like t-shirts, coffee mugs, and downloads of the new episodes. But, if you’ve got deep pockets, you can have your very own official Crow or Tom Servo for $8,000, or both for $10k. As I’m writing this, they’ve already secured over $500,000 for the project, with the full 31 days still to go. In other words, this is happening.

The only downside to this project, in my opinion, is that Joel is hoping to recast all the roles. New host, new bot voices, new Mads. The original cast is, of course, invited back to write and guest star, but this is looking to be, for all intents and purposes, a reboot. I trust Joel, but it’s hard not to be a tiny bit disappointed.

The Kickstarter has until December 12th to meet its goal.

Cinematic Titanic visits MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann

I kind of missed the boat on this one (BIG SURPRISE!) but Trace, Joel, and Josh appeared on MSNBC last week, on long-time MSTie Keith Olbermann’s show. You can see it above and, yes, it’s about as charmingly Midwest-Awkward as you might expect. With exposure like this, I expect to see not just a ton more live shows, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear of them heading into the studio sometime this year.

Not that I want to start a stupid Rifftrax vs. Cinematic Titanic discussion, but has Rifftrax ever received this level of promotion? Or is this the most mainstream exposure a Brains project has gotten since MST3K?

Josh Weinstein chats with Ken Plume

J. Elvis Weinstein just sat down for a chat with friend to all MSTies Ken Plume for what Josh describes as “a long, long time.” I haven’t listened to it yet, but I’m going to go ahead and say that it is probably “entertaining,” possibly “incredible,” and most likely not “ghetto fly.” Give a listen here.

Bill and Kevin celebrate Paul (of Paul and Storm)’s birthday

You might recall the names Paul and Storm from the Tron Rifftrax entry, which they performed with Jonathan Coulton. You might recall it, and hopefully you do, as their names have resurfaced once again in MSTdom. See, it was Paul’s birthday recently, and Storm sought out recorded messages from their friends for a special video birthday present. Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy, among others, answered the call.

Bill went for a somewhat more straightforward message than most of the other participants, and you can find him around the 7-minute mark. Kevin, on the other hand, decided to go any which way but straightforward, dusting off the United Servo Academy Men’s Chorus name (or in this case, the academy’s “Liturgical Ensemble”) and serenading Paul in (I believe) Latin. It’s at the end of the video, around the 13-minute mark, and well worth a listen.

The rest of the video is pretty funny and, assuming you like funny (you do), you would probably do well to watch it as well. If you’re as big of a fan of the United Servo Academy as I am, this is a really nice surprise.

Cinematic Titanic update: Tour dates and new live DVD

Josh sent out an update on the current state of affairs at Cinematic Titanic Central today. In addition to dropping in a new tour stop in Massachusetts this April, he also announced a new DVD release. Like the previous DVD, this one is  comprised of live footage, this time of their assault on The Alien Factor. I wouldn’t be surprised to see one or two more live releases this year, since it’s a relatively easy way of releasing new, well-received content with minimal effort involved.

The DVD is set for release on February 23rd, which is… next Tuesday? Really? I hate the passage of time. As I said, the CT crew has also added an extra tour date. I’ve listed it below, along with what I believe is a complete list of their upcoming shows.

2/19 @ Royal Oak Music Theatre, Royal Oak, MI — 1st show: War of the Insects, 2nd show: Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World

2/20 @ Turner Hall, Milwaukee, WI — 1st show: sold out, 2nd show: Samson

4/15 @ The Calvin Theatre, Northampton, MA — Danger on Tiki Island (NEW DATE)

4/16 @ The McCarter Center, Princeton, NJ — Movie undecided; vote here!

4/17 @ The Nokia Theatre Times Square, New York City — Danger on Tiki Island

Wait, a New Jersey show? You’d think I’d be better at finding out about these things. I am not. Anyway, go see them live, if you can. As I’ve said before, it’ll be well worth the time, effort, and cash-moneys. It’s a fantastic experience.

Mike Nelson racing an RC car at Rifftrax HQ

Yep, you won’t find a more descriptive post title this side of the Internet, let me tell you what. I’m not really sure why posting this is at all relevant, but since when has being relevant ever been relevant? The Internet is for internetting!

(via TorgosPizza’s twitter)

Next on Rifftrax: Paranormal Activity

The next Rifftrax commentary, out today, is Paranormal Activity. In other words, it is something I will never watch, because I’m a huge pussy when it comes to horror films. As such, I have selected a header image to encourage happy thoughts and not evil ghost-demon-monster thoughts. You’re welcome.

You can pick up the DVD here… IF YOU DARE!

MST3K: Volume XVII announced

Ugh. Hey. What’s up? Yeah, I’m still here. Had a hell of a time these past few months (which I’ll spare you the details of) but I’m hoping to slowly get back in the habit of updating Deep Ape. Needless to say, hopefully you’ve been reading Satellite News for all your MST3K needs in the interim. There’s certainly a good amount of news that I’ve missed while I was away.

One such piece of news is the announcement of yet another volume of MST3K DVDs. Man, Shout Factory is really pumping these out, aren’t they? Good on them.  This 17th(!) set is pretty darn decent, with a reasonable selection of episodes and a surprisingly excellent load of extra content. Here’s the rundown of the set’s contents, as listed in the press release:

EPISODES

• 0101 The Crawling Eye
• The Beatniks
• The Final Sacrifice
• The Blood Waters of Dr. Z

BONUS CONTENT

• special Crawling Eye introduction with Joel Hodgson
• Mystery Science Theater Hour wrap segments for The Beatniks
• The Main Event: Crow vs. Crow at Dragon*Con ’09 (with Trace and Bill)
• an interview with Final Sacrifice‘s Bruce J. Mitchell (Rowsdower!)
• Blood Waters of Dr. Z photo gallery
• original theatrical trailers
• And, allegedly, “more.”

Now, that’s a nice selection of extras. And we finally get both the first (non-KTMA) episode of the series and fan favorite Final Sacrifice officially released on DVD. The set is scheduled for release on March 16th, 2010, and can be pre-ordered here.

MST3K: Vol. XVI is out now

Hey, guess what came out today? Mystery Science Theater came out today. Specifically, the sixteenth volume of four-DVD box sets, released by Shout Factory. The set includes episodes Night of the Blood Beast, The Corpse Vanishes, Santa Claus, and Warrior of the Lost World. There are also a few substantial movie-related extras included and, if you act fast, a small Tom Servo figurine to accompany Shout Factory’s previous Crow figurine. All in all, a pretty solid set.

Once again, if you plan on picking this up from Amazon, I would ask that you use this link to help support this site, or more to the point, support me. One of the reasons for my absence has been a slew of ridiculous health problems. Currently, I’m barely functional and on painkillers, though I should hopefully be up and running before Christmas. So, if you prefer Amazon for your Christmas shopping, please head there via this link, if you’d be so kind. Thank you.

So, Comic-Con happened — and I got to go!

Well, Comic-Con 2009 is officially over, and what a great time it was! There’s something very special about seeing so many geeks in one place, and this year was no exception. The convention hall was filled to the brim with various nerd treasures, from comic books to elaborate figurines, and even Star Trek perfume!

But of course, the real draw for me  (and Deep Ape!) were the various Rifftrax events that were going on over the weekend. Click past the break to read about it!

Woot has Shout Factory’s MST3K DVDs cheap, today only

I just wanted to throw up a quick post to let you know that Woot.com has Shout Factory’s first three MST3K DVD box sets for sale today (and today only) as a set of three — for only $50 total. That’s right. Twelve episodes for the retail price of four! Billy Mays himself (God rest his soul) couldn’t give you a better deal.

Make sure you pick them up quickly. Woot operates on a first-come, first-serve basis, offering up a great deal on a different product every day. Once they sell out, the sale is over and, either way, these DVDs will definitely be gone by midnight tonight, at the latest. So if you’re going to buy, buy now!

Hey. So, Comic-Con is happening…

Heh. Once again, it looks like I’m the slowpoke. I was preparing to type up some sort of Comic-Con post, and the good folks at Satellite News beat me to it, as usual. Instead of rehashing the specifics, I’ll just give you a general rundown of what MST3K-related shenanigans are going down this weekend, and then point you over to the Satellite News post for more details.

Friday, July 24th @ 2:30pm: Mike Salva’s Max The Hero animated short will be shown in room 26AB. The well-received short features the vocal talents of Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett. (Here’s my original post about the short.)

Friday, July 24th @ 3pm: Immediately following that, Mike, Bill, and Kevin will be in Sails Pavilion AA8 signing autographs. There’s something about there being a “line ticket drawing” at 10:30am, so you may have to do that first. On Saturday, July 25th at 12pm, there will be a second autograph session in Sails Pavilion AA6. Both sessions will last a couple of hours.

Friday, July 24th @ 7:15pm: It’s a Rifftrax Live show! The usual trio of riffers will be mocking an unnamed short in-person, in Ballroom 6D/E. Presumably, there will also be a Q&A session of some kind, as The Internet’s Veronica Belmont is listed as hosting the panel.

Sunday, July 26th @ 10:30am: You can catch the sole official Comic-Con appearance by a Cinematic Titanic crew member by attending this live performance of The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd podcast, in room 8. TV’s/DVD’s Frank Conniff will be performing one of the show’s characters, as he’s done before.

And throughout the weekend, Rifftrax/Legend Films will be at booth #3251 in the Exhibit Hall. They’ll be peddling plenty of merchandise, and you may even see Mike, Bill, or Kevin lingering around like the unemployed bums they are. Furthermore, if any of this information is still relevant to you, you’re probably at Comic-Con right now and I’m jealous and I hate you.

(Image taken from Amanda Palmer’s Twitter.)