September 7th, 2008

This Date in MSTory

BORN TODAY
1901: MARSHALL “MIKE” POLLOCK, sound effects editor for the movie in episode 423- BRIDE OF THE MONSTER.
1902: ROY BARCROFT, who portrayed Retik in the season one serial RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON and Parker in the season two serial THE PHANTOM CREEPS.
1922: LORETTA AGAR, who portrayed a woman on a boat in episode 801- REVENGE OF THE CREATURE.
1923: PETER LAWFORD, who portrayed Burke in episode 622- ANGELS’ REVENGE.
1929: JOHN MILFORD, who had a role in the episodes of the TV show “Gemini Man,” which comprised episode 814- RIDING WITH DEATH.
1931: CARLOS CAMILLERI, the musical score composer for the movie in episode 323- CASTLE OF FU MANCHU.
1935: NORMAN OLLSTEAD, who had a role in the movie in episode 206- RING OF TERROR.
1937: JOHN PHILLIP LAW, who portrayed Commander Elijah Kalgan in episode 820- SPACE MUTINY and the title role in episode 1013- DIABOLIK.
1947: LUIGI COZZI a.k.a. LEWIS COATES, who wrote the original story for the movie in episode 911- DEVIL FISH.
1956: pianist MICHAEL FEINSTEIN, parodied by Mike Nelson in episode 312- GAMERA VS. GUIRON and again in the 1995 Turkey Day segments.

DIED TODAY
1967: TOM JACKSON (age 81), who portrayed George Haskell in episode 311- IT CONQUERED THE WORLD.
1972: MILTON CARRUTH (age 73), editor of the movie in episode 802- THE LEECH WOMAN.
1977: TIM PELT (age 31), who portrayed Linus in episode K13- SST: DEATH FLIGHT.
1992: ARTURO DOMINICI (age 74), who portrayed Eurysteus in episode 502- HERCULES.
1996: JOSEPH BIROC (age 93), cinematographer for the movies in episodes K13- SST: DEATH FLIGHT, 309- THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN, and 615- KITTEN WITH A WHIP.

EPISODE PREMIERES
1991: episode 312- GAMERA VS. GUIRON first shown.

EVENT
1984: The movie “SHARK ROSSO NELL’OCEANO” shown in episode 911- DEVIL FISH is released in Italy, its country of origin.


This Date in MSTory is written and compiled by Steve Finley, Chris Cornell and Brian Henry. Copyright © 2008 All rights reserved. Please do not reproduce This Date in MSTory items in any form without express written permission from the authors.

September 6th, 2008

Weekend Discussion Thread: Fill In the Missing Stingers

The following episodes (not counting KTMA) do not have stingers.
101- THE CRAWLING EYE
102- THE ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY
103- MAD MONSTER
104- WOMEN OF THE PREHISTORIC PLANET
105- THE CORPSE VANISHES
106- THE CRAWLING HAND
107- ROBOT MONSTER
108- THE SLIME PEOPLE
109- PROJECT MOONBASE
110- ROBOT HOLOCAUST
111- MOON ZERO TWO
112- UNTAMED YOUTH
113- THE BLACK SCORPION
201- ROCKETSHIP X-M
202- THE SIDEHACKERS
203- JUNGLE GODDESS
204- CATALINA CAPER
207- WILD REBELS
805- THE THING THAT COULDN’T DIE
806- THE UNDEAD
807- TERROR FROM THE YEAR 5000
808- THE SHE CREATURE

I say, let’s give ‘em one! I’m not going to do them all, but just to start off the conversation:
102- THE ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY–A snippet of the silly Aztec ceremony and the singing lady.
104- WOMEN OF THE PREHISTORIC PLANET–”Hi-keeba!”
106- THE CRAWLING HAND–”No dancing. Not allowed.”
107- ROBOT MONSTER–”I cannot! But I must!”
108- THE SLIME PEOPLE–The Tom Waits guy in the theater.
110- ROBOT HOLOCAUST–”Yoo and yur dawtah ah doomt!”
111- MOON ZERO TWO–The girl walks into the locker room and gets a good look at our hero.
201- ROCKETSHIP X-M–”Mars, extending us a welcome!”
204- CATALINA CAPER–A shot of Little Richard, looking high on goofballs
806- THE UNDEAD–”STAAAAY!”

Some of them are obvious. But maybe you have a better choice? Let’s hear it! (And any KTMA fans who want to suggest stingers for them are welcome.)

September 5th, 2008

CT Reviews

Cinema Fromage reviews Cinematic Titanic’s latest.

So does “Reviews from the Couch.”

September 5th, 2008

“Max the Hero” Wins Dragon*Con Award

“Max the Hero” was screened at Dragon*Con in Atlanta over the past Labor Day weekend and won the festival award for “Best Animated Comedy.” The award was presented to producer Mike Salva by Chucky himself, actor Brad Dourif.

Congratulations, Mike, Mike Kevin and Bill!

Want to see why it won? Check it out.

September 5th, 2008

Now Available from RiffTrax Presents…

Spidey2

Joining Kevin and Bill will be Josh Fruhlinger, aka The Comics Curmudgeon.

Get it here.

September 5th, 2008

Coming next from RiffTrax…

Bill and Kevin join Mike. Due out Sept. 9. Arr!

Also: Showbits.net has an overview of RiffTrax empire (including one element he just made up) that also mentions us! Thanks Ken!

September 5th, 2008

Episode Guide: 511- Gunslinger

First shown: 10/9/93
Opening: “Blowing” up Tom’s head
Invention exchange: The scanner planner, new whiffle items
Host segment 1: Funeral talk
Host segment 2: The Gypsy Express
Host segment 3: Tom demonstrates quantum linear super-position
End: The ’70s: A pretty foul decade, deep fried letter, Dr. F. scans Frank!
Stinger: “What about our clothes?”
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (34 votes, average: 3.82 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...
(ratings thingy now working again)

• “This is like Silverado, except it’s good…”
• Well, here we go, the penultimate episode, the last regular episode before big changes occur. I generally like this one. Corman always brings out the best in them, and while it’s isn’t a slam dunk, it’s pretty consistently entertaining.
• Did Gypsy mean to throw the dice onto the floor behind the desk or what that a goof?
• Jim blows a line in the opening bit. They keep going…
• The opening bit it downright hilarious, a brilliant melding of attitude and great prop building.
• I love how Frank does the classic Harpo Marx “gookie” when being scranned.
• Dr. F. says this is their first western. Doesn’t “The Painted Hills” count?
• Segment 1 is great. It’s kind of a funeral for the Joel years (at least it feels that way to me) and it’s got great writing. However, is it my imagination or is everybody a little short with each other in this sketch?. I may be imagining things.
• Segment two: meh. It goes on a little too long. Oh and: peanut butter and Dijonnaise?? Ew!
• One of the season’s funniest running gags; the riffs about the doors that open the wrong way. They just get funnier.
• Joel, seeing the end approaching, seems to be a bit impatient with the movie. “Man, this movie is just sitting on my head and crushing it.”
• I forgot this episode has a “I thought you were Dale”!
• Crow wasn’t far off when he said Corman did “Swamp Diamonds” on Tuesday and this on Friday. According to Daddy-O: “The seven-day shooting schedule for this movie was laden with accidents. JOHN IRELAND and BEVERLY GARLAND were attacked by red ants during their romantic tree-sitting scene. In another accident, Beverly Garland’s ankle became so swollen after she twisted it that her boot had to be cut off. ALLISON HAYES broke her arm after falling off a horse.”
• Segment 3 is one of the best of season 5, witty and intelligent, but not too talky.
• We are entering the “Honey” period of this show—the epoch when everyone was calling each other “honey” constantly. There are at least four instances in this ep.
• I imagine they had a ton of letters to Joel laying around. Deep frying them seems like a nice bit of closure.
• Fave riff: “Oh, rut like crazed weasel. You?”

September 5th, 2008

DragonCon Reports

At the MST3K/Cinematic Titanic panel at DragonCon it appears they showed a portion of the “Green Slime” pilot/pitch tape during the panel. They also showed the Comedy Channel pitch tape, which was included on the “MST3K Scrapbook” tape that was sold by Best Brains.

Regular reader Jenny Erdahl sent in some photos.

September 5th, 2008

Well! Let’s Not Do THAT Again!

After many battles to get our database restored, we’re back! Sorry for the downtime, gang. Welcome back to Satellite News!

September 5th, 2008

Catch the Phrases!–Updated yet again

T-shirtblack shirtlady shirt

Close readers of this site may have noticed a small change in our navigation bar: three of our least-performing (make that non-performing) merchandise stores at Cafepress.com have been closed.

(If there’s anybody out there who’s been procrastinating buying a Ward E, Daddy-O or Tradin’ Post T-shirt for all these years, and you still want one, let me know and I’ll throw one back up on the main Satellite News store.)

In its place has come our latest brainstorm: The MST3K Catchphrases T-shirt Store!

The idea came to me after our recent weekend discussion thread, where we listed the many many many phrases that have been made popular by the show. It occurred to me that what MSTies would love would be shirts that proudly and boldly proclaimed a phrase that would make 90 percent of general public say “Huh?” and the other 10 percent say, “Hey! One of my own kind!”

Now, we know the economy’s tough, so with your wallet in mind, we have only used the most inexpensive T-shirt CafePress offers (it’s still 100 percent cotton; I bought one myself and I think it’s a good-quality shirt) and we are only charging two smackers over the base price. Your welcome.

So, check it out, find a phrase you like, and buy it!…um, if that’s okay.

UPDATE–Okay, I have added 48 more catchphrases, based on the suggestions and requests. The new ones are on top. If you suggested one and I didn’t include it, I decided it wasn’t quite right for this. But thanks for everybody’s suggestions.

SECOND UPDATE–Okay, I have added another 20 phrases and ALL the phrases on the white shirts are now also available on dark-colored (including black) shirts. Check them out here.

THIRD UPDATE–There is now a section for woman-shaped shirts. We now have a total of 135 phrases. I’m probably not going to add too many more but if you think I have missed an obvious one, let me know.