"MST3K" crew finds new life in dvd commentary
David
Attacking killer B movies with stinging remarks
Mike, Tom Servo and Crow are back to make a mockery of cheesy films
By BRUCE WESTBROOK
Wooden actors are warned: The Satellite of Love's movie mockers are
back in orbit.
Chief among them is Mike Nelson, former host and head writer of
Mystery Science Theater 3000, in which he and two robots ridiculed bad
cinema while stranded in space. Now they've found new life on DVD,
doing audio commentary tracks in much the same vein.
Mystery Science Theater 3000's Mike Nelson is doing comic commentaries
for DVD, sometimes joined by the voices of Tom Servo, left, and Crow.
Reuniting with Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy, who voiced MST robots
Crow and Tom Servo, Nelson has done intros for The Three Stooges in
Color, a collection of four colorized shorts due April 26 from Fox.
Going solo, Nelson has also recorded rants for three midnight-movie
classics recently released on DVD: 1968's Night of the Living Dead,
1938's Reefer Madness and 1962's Carnival of Souls.
San Diego's Legend Films (www.legendfilms.net) has colorized each
movie, with Reefer Madness gaining green and pink smoke for its crazed
pot puffers.
For purists, original black-and-white versions are on the same discs.
But since each film is in public domain and widely available,
commentaries and color are the new hooks.
"I have no problem with colorizing when the quality is high," Nelson
said. "So far I haven't heard one complaint that the pure artistry of
Reefer Madness has been harmed."
Carnival of Souls has a local peg: The film stars Sidney Berger,
longtime head of the University of Houston's drama department. He
plays a lecherous guy whom Nelson describes on DVD as "at least 25
percent reptile."
"I think that's a compliment," Berger said with a laugh about his
creepy character. He called Nelson's MST-style mockery "very
flattering. I'm having more fame from this movie than all the work
I've done in the theater for the last 30 years."
Nelson is thrilled to be back in the saddle. He doesn't appear in
silhouette on the screen, as he did on MST. Otherwise, his diatribes
"serve almost the same purpose as the show. It's still nice to punish
movies that have punished me."
After 10 years, 176 TV episodes and a theatrical film for Universal,
MST ceased production in 1999. But the show has stayed alive on DVD,
with Rhino issuing box sets. Due April 19 is MST Collection Vol. 7,
carving up cinematic turkeys Prince of Space, Hercules Unchained,
Hercules Against the Moon Men and The Killer Shrews.
Nelson, Corbett and Murphy also are teaming with Rhino to mock more
movies on DVD, performing under the moniker "Film Crew." You can check
them out at filmcrewonline. com.
But don't expect MST to return, Nelson said. Its ownership "is kind of
spread out, and it would be difficult."
But MST-style derision remains a pioneering cultural construct — which
is why ESPN Classics' Cheap Seats adopted it.
Seen at 9 p.m. Mondays, Cheap Seats hosts Jason and Randy Sklar
merrily mock vintage TV clips of trash sports. Since it cops MST's
style, Cheap Seats' second-season premiere gave cameos to Nelson and
the robots, who mocked the mockers with new tirades.
Crow sneered that Cheap Seats was "just a great idea: a cable show
where you make fun of other people's video."
"It'll never last," Nelson added.
Oh, but their old concept has endured. Whenever Nelson speaks at
colleges or sci-fi conventions, he finds MST's fan base is "solid. I
keep wondering when the fans will wear out and grow old, but there are
new, young fans who find it."
Good writing helps the humor hold up, he said. Those cutting remarks
weren't off the cuff.
"In terms of writing and rewriting, it became labor-intensive, but it
paid off," Nelson said. "I recently saw (the 1999 show mocking)
Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders and thought it was funny all the way
through."
Nelson has thought plenty about his next target, perhaps the worst
film of all time.
"I have actually dared to take on what some people may consider
hallowed ground," Nelson said. "I'm doing (director Ed Wood's) Plan
Nine From Outer Space."
Also in his sights is House on Haunted Hill. "They were very fun, with
much more fodder than the others I've done."
Nothing like a new turkey — or a new forum — to make a man thankful.
"I'm a huge fan of DVD and the way it can (get) around TV," Nelson
said. "It's tough to get on TV, but you can always reach people on
DVD.
"I also think we've gotten better at what we do. I thought the movie
riffing improved as the years went on. Seeing how old we are, it
should be nearly perfect by now."
kilro...@usa.com
David wrote:
>
> Going solo, Nelson has also recorded rants for three midnight-movie
> classics recently released on DVD: 1968's Night of the Living Dead,
> 1938's Reefer Madness and 1962's Carnival of Souls.
so another company is re-releasing NOTLD? I checked amazon and there
was a
NOTLD Millenium Edition DVD which was released in 2002.
aozo...@aol.com
David wrote:
> from the houston chronicle
>
> Attacking killer B movies with stinging remarks
> Mike, Tom Servo and Crow are back to make a mockery of cheesy films
> By BRUCE WESTBROOK
>
Life becomes good again!