ON SCREEN: MST3K: The Movie
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eye WEEKLY July 25, 1996
Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday
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ON SCREEN ON SCREEN
MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATRE 3000: THE MOVIE
Starring Trace Beaulieu and Michael J. Nelson. Written by Michael J.
Nelson, Trace Beaulieu, Jim Mallon, Kevin Murphy, Mary Jo Pehl, Paul
Chaplin and Bridget Jones. Directed by Jim Mallon. July 27, 11:30
p.m. and July 29, 9:30 p.m. Bloor Cinema, 506 Bloor St. W., 532-6677.
(eeee of 5 eyes)
by
ALEX PATTERSON
Until now, Canadians have been deprived of a right Americans enjoy.
No, not a 3:55 a.m. last call, or newspapers without the words
"constitutional crisis." It's the freedom to watch a grown man and two
crummy-looking robots heckle, harangue, harass, satirize, deride and
otherwise insult the living Jesus out of ancient exploitation movies.
It's a TV show called Mystery Science Theater 3000, a long-running
cable sensation that has been mysteriously unavailable north of the
border. Now, Canada's about to be let in on the joke -- not through
the weekly series, but through its big-screen debut, Mystery Science
Theater 3000: The Movie.
How's this for high-concept: Mike (Michael J. Nelson) has been
unwillingly shot into space by the mad Dr. Forrester (Trace Beaulieu),
who forces him to endure ghastly, grade-Z garbage -- Ed Wood, Steeve
Reeves, Godzilla Vs. Gamera, etc. -- for a sadistic experiment in
mind-control. To fight back, Mike hauls along a couple of low-tech
'bots, Crow (Beaulieu again) and Tom Servo (Kevin Murphy), into the
screening room with him. Silhouettes of their heads run along the
bottom of the frame as the trio supply a stunningly vicious play-by-
play, making massively clever wisecracks at the expense of the dreck
Dr. F. compels them to view.
In other words, MST3K is manna from heaven for overeducated couch-
weenies, giving them all the pulpy goodness of bad movies plus the
inspired lunacy of a running-commentary. Now, none of this would work
if the gags weren't good. But they are -- and abundant, too (an
estimated 700 per two-hour broadcast). Which means that if a few
should fail, well, there's always a bunch more heading down the pike.
This radical interpretation of the term "Separate Audio Portion" has
won a fierce following: the 60,000-member fan club ("MiSTies") holds
its second "ConventioCon and ExpoFest-A-Rama" this Labor Day at MST
headquarters in Minneapolis, Minn. And it may even serve some larger
social purpose: their (I promised myself I'd never use this word)
deconstruction represents a (here's another term I hate) close reading
of the text that promotes media-literacy by making audiences think
critically about what they're seeing.
MST's astronaut (and co-creator) Mike Nelson explains it: "Our fans
have come up with a term for what we do: 'MiSTing,' and we're proud to
have our name attached to the process." Yet because their "job is to
point out, even if it's obvious, how absurd and dated some of these
ideas are," the salutary effect of this brand of comedy is rather to
demystify.
"But when we're really clicking," Nelson humbly adds, "we're merely
giving voice to what people are thinking anyway. Although the pictures
we do are mostly old and contain things that are really dated, our aim
tends to be more towards Hollywood in general. It's something like
being a real-time film critic."
In Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, the opus under scrutiny is
1954's This Island Earth. It's a daring choice: not the defenseless
shlock they usually rip to shreds, but a Universal Pictures production
in Technicolor that is, in some quarters, highly regarded.
Budget and status aside, however, This Island Earth is pretty
ludicrous: snowy-haired aliens hijacking Earthling eggheads to save
their war-torn planet from destruction. And MST's shadowy jeering-
section is in fine form. The robotic riffage from the peanut gallery
attacks Earth's inanities with merciless abandon, and the nonstop
mockery is, for the most part, hilarious.
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie is one of the funniest
releases of the year. Sure, it's disrespectful -- but, hey, This
Island Earth deserves a good tongue-lashing. And Mike, Crow and Tom
Servo are just the weenies to deliver it.
This is the first of a month-long series on campy, hot-weather
entertainment. Three episodes of the MST TV show are now available at
select video stores. MST3K Fan Club: P.O. Box 5525, Hopkins, MN 55343,
USA.
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