Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie
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| Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie | |
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 Theatrical release poster for Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie. |
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| Directed by | Jim Mallon |
| Produced by | Jim Mallon |
| Written by | Joel Hodgson (TV series) Michael J. Nelson & Trace Beaulieu & Jim Mallon & Kevin Murphy & Mary Jo Pehl & Paul Chaplin & Bridget Jones (screenplay) |
| Starring | Michael J. Nelson Trace Beaulieu Kevin Murphy Jim Mallon John Brady |
| Music by | Billy Barber |
| Cinematography | Jeff Stonehouse |
| Editing by | Bill Johnson |
| Distributed by | Gramercy Pictures |
| Release date(s) | April 19, 1996 (USA) |
| Running time | 73 min |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | Unknown |
| Gross revenue | $1,000,000 (USA) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996, produced by Best Brains, Inc., distributed by Gramercy Pictures) is a theatrical adaptation of the cult television hit Mystery Science Theater 3000. The date of the movie's production, between seasons 6 and 7 of MST3K, explains the absence of both TV's Frank (Frank Conniff), who left the series in the finale of Season 6, and Pearl Forrester (Mary Jo Pehl), who arrived in the premiere of Season 7 (the final Comedy Central season).
MST3K: The Movie was filmed away from the Best Brains corporate headquarters and studio in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, at Energy Park Studios in St. Paul. Like the TV series, it starred Michael J. Nelson, Trace Beaulieu, Kevin Murphy, and Jim Mallon.
MST3K: The Movie was rated PG-13 for "some sexual humor" by the Motion Picture Association of America.
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[edit] Synopsis
- For the plot of the movie-in-the-movie, see This Island Earth (film)
The movie opens with mad scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester (Trace Beaulieu) explaining the premise of the film (and associated TV series). This is a break from the TV series, where the opening theme ("Love Theme from Mystery Science Theater 3000") typically explains the premise in lyrical form. A love theme was recorded for the film by David Allen, formerly of The Blasters, but ended up being cut. A portion of this theme survives in the official screensaver for the film.
Following Dr. Forrester's intro, we are introduced to our heroes, Mike Nelson (Michael J. Nelson), Crow T. Robot (Beaulieu), and Tom Servo (Kevin Murphy), along with Gypsy (Jim Mallon). Cambot and Magic Voice play no role in the movie.
After brief introductions, Mike, Tom and Gypsy are startled to find Crow deep in the lower sections of the Satellite of Love, pounding at the hull with various digging instruments. He has convinced himself that he can tunnel back to Earth, he tells them. A hull breach soon follows (Checking his digging calculations, a confused Crow discovers that he already knew this was inevitable: "Look at that, "Breach Hull, All Die." Even had it underlined!"), which Tom Servo remedies in an unexpected way.
They return to the Bridge, as Dr. Forrester announces that he is about to make them watch the 1955 classic Rex Reason sci-fi thriller This Island Earth in an attempt to break their wills. In the process of doing so, Mike and the Bots mock (or "riff") the movie mercilessly.
About 20 minutes into This Island Earth, the film breaks, allowing Mike and the bots to return to the bridge while Dr. Forrester fixes the projector in Deep 13. On the way back to the bridge, Mike is taunted by Crow and Tom into steering the satellite himself...and promptly crashes into and destroys the Hubble Space Telescope. Mike tries to let it go back into space by using the ship's manipulator arms, but only manages to destroy it further. (If you look above the button Mike uses to summon the manipulator arms, it says "MANOS" in larger letters as well as using a quick snippet of a theme from the film "Manos" The Hands of Fate, another movie that was riffed on the show, considered to be the worst movie ever made and the best episode of the show.)
Later in the film, Servo mentions that he owns an interocitor like the one in This Island Earth. Mike and the bots swiftly sneak out of the theater, thinking that they can use Servo's interocitor to contact someone who can help them get back to Earth. They venture into Servo's bedroom to discover the interocitor beneath a pile of Servo's stuff, but the Metalunan they contact (who is credited as Benkitnorf) isn't much help.
After the movie, their wills completely unbroken, Mike and the bots unwind with a little "Metaluna mixer" (a This Island Earth-themed party), much to the aggravation of Dr. Forrester before he attempts to use his own interocitor to ruin it, only to end up beaming himself into Benkitnorf's bathroom. Mike and the bots celebrate the fact that Dr. Forrester is out of their hair...then realize that now they'll likely never get back to Earth ("Hey, wait a minute...").
The end credits are then riffed by Mike and the bots themselves.
[edit] Commentary
MST3K: The Movie is remarkable in that it is several minutes shorter than an actual television episode (73 minutes vs. 91-103). And although the movie-theater quips come, for the most part, at the same rate as on a typical TV episode (with the exception of a long quiet period early in the film), many long-time fans noted that the jokes were an order of magnitude less complex, the references less obscure. Best Brains later explained that much of their material was "dumbed down" at the insistence of Gramercy officials, who were worried the concept would not be accessible to average movie-goers.[1] A small number of riffs — actually rather conspicuous in the milieu of the series — included profanity and drug-use allusions in order to save the film from a "G" rating, which, Gramercy officials told Best Brains, would have been the kiss of death for a young adult-oriented comedy.
The choice of This Island Earth for the film to be riffed in MST3K: The Movie was questioned by some. Considered by many to be a classic of its 1950s genre, sci-fi buffs have a soft spot for it, and its visual quality is considerably higher than virtually all of the films seen in the series. This was intentional: Best Brains and Gramercy agreed that average movie-goers would not sit through the sort of dreary, black & white fare normally featured on the TV series, and that the concept would be more successful if the film that was featured was visually engaging and action-packed. Mary Jo Pehl also described it as "the only one we could get!" and not BBI's first choice.[2]
The movie's brevity came about as Gramercy officials, worried by test-audience reactions indicating that impatience with the concept grew steadily at about the 75-minute mark, pressed Best Brains to cut the film down.[3] All in all, because of various constraints placed on the Brains by Gramercy, most of the Best Brains team have identified the movie as the least satisfying project they have worked on.[4][2] They later used the experience as the basis for the host segments of the episode The Incredible Melting Man.
The production values of MST3K:TM were considerably higher than those of the TV series. The sets were much larger than the sets for television and showed off more of the Satellite of Love's interior than the TV show. Another interesting thing to note is the inclusion of two concepts not seen on the show since the first season: the film "breaking" as a reason for the guys leaving the theater (originally done in episode #110 during the ninth chapter of Radar Men from the Moon), and the Satellite of Love featuring a set of remotely operated robotic arms (similar to a mechanism shown in episode #104).
[edit] Release history
At its widest point of North American Theatrical release Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie was only showing in 26 cinemas.
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie was released on VHS by MCA/Universal Home Video to rental outlets such as Blockbuster Video on October 1, 1996. The film was released for retail sales on April 8, 1997 on both VHS and Laserdisc formats.
MST3K: The Movie was released on DVD in 1998 by Image Entertainment, as a discount title with an MSRP of $14.99. The disc was sold until 2000, when Image Entertainment (along with several other Universal titles) were named in a lawsuit by Universal Studios accused of under-pricing their titles. MST3K: The Movie was one of about 10 titles affected by this lawsuit and was pulled from distribution. The price of a used disc has risen considerably, to an average of $80 to $100 common in 2007. This release of the film contained no special features, deleted scenes, trailers or other form of extra content.
In 2003, another version of MST3K: The Movie started appearing online and at science fiction conventions. This special edition was created by an anonymous Internet fan (similar to The Phantom Edit although the film itself was not edited) and was a two disc set. This edition has the same print of the film as the 1998 DVD, along with the theatrical trailer, several television ads, a review from E! Television on the first disc; and has an hour long presentation on the second disc from the second official MST3K convention hosted by various members of Best Brains writers/performers. This presentation has a picture slideshow showing behind the scenes footage (along with BBI commentary), the "lost" theme song, a general discussion of the genesis and production of the film from Best Brains, and the cut host segment and the original, alternate ending to the film. This version of the film is recognizable for the tagline on the front cover that reads "Every year Hollywood makes hundreds of special editions. This isn't one of them", a play on the film's tagline.
In late 2005 there was a rumor that the creator of the Special Edition was working on another edition to be released for the film's 10th anniversary. The set did appear around April 2006 as the "10th Anniversary Hamdinger Edition". In addition to the above features, the 10th anniversary edition also had on set interviews with Mike, Kevin and Trace as well as a behind the scenes making of featurette.
Universal Pictures re-released the DVD on May 6, 2008. The movie is in anamorphic widescreen, and has an upgraded Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Though the original theatrical trailer was initially listed as a special feature, it was not included on the DVD.[5]
[edit] Deleted scenes
At the beginning of the film, it was originally planned to have a new version of the "MST3K Love Theme" by Dave Alvin, but the song was reduced to an instrumental version over the end credits.
To trim the running time of the film, Gramercy ordered one of the host segments to be cut. In this scene, Mike and the bots hide out in the ship's storm shelter to avoid a meteor shower. The barrage of meteors threatens to damage the ship's oxygen supply, and Crow, Servo, and Gypsy rush to save Mike's life. The ending of the movie was also changed - originally, the movie's final moments depicted Mike and the bots exacting revenge on Dr. Forrester by hooking up Servo's interocitor to the video feed from the Hexfield Viewscreen and sending a Metalunan mutant (played by MST3K prop man and toolmaster Jef Maynard) to strangle the mad scientist. At the end, Crow goes back to the basement to plan another escape attempt, this time armed with the chainsaw that he found in Servo's room earlier in the film.
The new theme song, cut scene, and alternate ending were shown at the "Mystery Science Theater 3000 ConventioCon ExpoFest-O-Rama 2: Electric Boogaloo" in 1996, but were not included on the VHS, laserdisc, or the original DVD version of the movie. However, both cut scenes and the lost "love theme" were included in both the fan produced editions that began appearing in 2003 and 2006.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Pehl, Mary Jo. "Episode 704- The Incredible Melting Man". Amazing Colossal Episode Guide: Season Seven. Satellite News. Retrieved on 2006-08-22.
- ^ a b Pehl, Mary Jo. "Interview With Mary Jo Pehl (conducted by Forrest)". The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Review. Retrieved on 2006-10-15.
- ^ "Part 12: Wave Your Freak Flag High (1995)". The Almost But Still Not Quite Complete History of MST3K. Satellite News. Retrieved on 2006-08-22.
- ^ Nelson, Mike. "Episode 701- Night of the Blood Beast". Amazing Colossal Episode Guide: Season Seven. Satellite News. Retrieved on 2006-08-22.
- ^ Lambert, David. "New DVD Release for Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie…at last!". DVD News & Reviews. TV Guide. Retrieved on 2008-01-29.
[edit] External links
- Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie at the Internet Movie Database
- Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie at Allmovie
- BrianOrndorf.com discusses the 2008 DVD release of MST3K: THE MOVIE
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