Mystery Science Theater 3000: Difference between revisions
Added wikilink
(→A-C: replaced: [[Lord of the Rings → [[The Lord of the Rings) |
(Added wikilink) |
||
Line 3:
{{quote|''"WE'VE GOT MOVIE SIIIIGN!!!"''}}
'''''Mystery Science Theater 3000''''' — '''''MST3K''''' for short — debuted on the local [[Twin Cities|Minneapolis]] UHF station KTMA (currently CW station WUCW) in 1988. Somewhere between [[Sketch Comedy]], improv, and a late-night movie anthology, ''MST3K'' showed some of the worst films imaginable—or at least the kind of crappy [[B-Movie|B-movies]] a third-tier UHF station could afford the rights to — intercut with framing sequences following the life of the hapless Joel Robinson (Joel Hodgson), who is stranded on the "[[Fun with Acronyms|Satellite of Love]]" by [[Mad Scientist|mad scientists]] Dr. Clayton Forrester (Trace Beaulieu, a reference to the hero of the 1953 film adaptation of ''War of the Worlds'') and Dr. Lawrence "Larry" Erhardt (Josh Weinstein). During the movies, Joel is joined by Crow T. Robot (Beaulieu) and Tom Servo (Weinstein), two robots he'd contrived from spare parts, and the trio would mercilessly [[MST|riff]] on the [[So Bad It's Good|comically low quality]] of the films they watched. (Joel and The Bots were portrayed in "Shadowrama" as if they were sitting in the front row of a theater showing the movies.) The show was partially aimed towards a young audience, which made the riffing generally good-natured, unlike the bitter sarcasm of (for example) the Medved brothers of ''Golden Turkey Awards'' fame.
''MST3K'' quickly achieved cult status; after one season, the show was picked up by the fledgling Comedy Channel (now [[Comedy Central]]). Although the riffing was a lot more sophisticated—it was now written in advance, rather than improvised—the show never betrayed its low-budget roots, featuring production values which deliberately mimicked the string-powered pie plates and papier-mache aliens of the films it mocked. After the first season on Comedy Central, Weinsten left; he was replaced by the big-voiced Kevin Murphy (as Tom Servo) and the generally big Frank Conniff (as TV's Frank, who became Dr. Forrester's hapless sidekick). With this cast in place, the show hit its stride and ran for six more seasons, eventually spawning [[The Movie|a feature film]]. During the fifth season, Joel left and was [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute|seamlessly replaced]] by head writer Mike Nelson.
| |||