The MST3K Scrapbook is compilation of video memorabilia about the show that was sold by the BBI Information Club. The first fans to see it were attendees of the 1994 convention, where a shorter version was shown over and over on the hotel TV channel, as well as at the convention.
When a videocasette version went on sale a few months later, it had been expanded to include footage of the convention.
The complete Scrapbook as sold by BBI will never be sold commercially. Brian Ward of Shout!Factory noted that the Scrapbook …
… is FULL of stuff that is, in fact, nearly impossible to release. Logos, uncleared faces, etc.
The portions they COULD clear were included as extras (“GLIMPSES OF KTMA: MST3K SCRAPBOOK SCRAPS”) on “Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Vol. XV.” But you can still see the whole thing on YouTube, in 7 parts.
Part 1
• We begin with scenes from episode K00- THE GREEN SLIME, the so-called “pilot” episode. Here again are all the now-familiar early stirrings of what would become our favorite cowtown puppet show. including poor inarticulate Beeper and the primitive door sequence (which I recall getting a HUGE laugh at the convention).
• The “chiropractic helmet,” renamed the “Chiro-Gyro,” would be an invention exchange in episode 105- THE CORPSE VANISHES.
• We also see some KTMA promos, and that is clearly Josh doing the voice-overs.
• One thing I wondered: How did they get footage of Joel on NBC that they used on the commercial? Did Joel have it?
• The commercial shows Beeper, which I always thought was interesting, since he wasn’t on the actual show. It also shows brief clips of those Super-Marionation movies they did in the first two episodes. If I had never seen this show, I’m not sure this would be much of an enticement.
• It also shows Joel alone in theater.
• We get the now-familiar KTMA opening, which I had only heard about before I saw it in Minneapolis at the convention. It was quite a revelation.
• The video gives us our only look, so far, of the host segments for episode K01.
• We then get more KTMA: Having now sat through every available minute of those shows, I’m not sure I would have chosen some of the moments BBI did to typify the show.
Part 2
• After some more KTMA, we get footage of a live show at the Comedy Gallery in the Twin Cities in “Spring 1989.” An actual date would have been nice.
• It looks like there about 12 people in that crowd.
• It looks as if Joel did some stuff from his standup act. I’d love to know who those two kids are, and where they are now.
• Then we get into what might have been the most interesting portion of the entire “Scrapbook,” the actual 9-minute “pitch tape” Joel and Jim played for TV execs in New York, to try to interest them in the show. But for some reason BBI chose to steal its own thunder on this tape, and we are subjected to several of the SAME CLIPS (including the KTMA opening) that we JUST SAW not TEN MINUTES EARLIER. I have never understood this. The Pitch Tape would have had much more impact if we had not already seen some of this material.
• However, the KTMA stuff that is fresh is a lot of fun. I remember Crow’s “Get a catcher’s mitt!” riff getting a huge laugh at the convention.
• Both Joel and Tom call Gypsy “Gypsum,” and somebody calls Gamera “Gameron.” I remember a lot of puzzled looks at the convention showing.
• We then go into some amateur footage that Jim shot as they built the first set. Then-current reference: Norm Abram. (Yes, he has returned to “This Old House,” but the show just isn’t the pop culture sensation it was back then.)
Part 3
• Jim gives us some footage of the prop room and it’s fascinating to see the work benches so empty in those early days. When I visited the studio years later those shelves were jammed with stuff.
• Trace is seen painting the set in what I surmise are the wee hours, featuring some now-forever-memorialzed random Twin Cities radio.
• Standing next to Joel is a fellow Jim calls “Tim.” No idea who he is.
• We get a look at the making of the first door sequence, and I only wish it could have been shot from a better (i.e. closer and unobscured) angle.
• At one point Jim asks Trace to move Crow’s hands. It’s clear he thought this would a feature of this new Crow. It wasn’t.
• We get the now-familiar season 1 opening and the opening segment from episode 112- UNCHAINED YOUTH.
• We then get several early Comedy Channel promos including the blackboard promo, and one that is mostly focused on the Mads.
• We also get one that is very focused on episode 102- ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY, including the phrase “the experiment begins,” more anecdotal evidence that this ep was the first one shown.
• We also get the promo with the old console TV that calls the show “The future of television today.”
• We then get a promo for episode 103- MAD MONSTER that puts a little spotlight on the riffers, I guess helping the audience notice them.
• Then we move on to the VERY familiar Season 2-5.5 opening followed by the nicest treat of the whole tape, the complete 1991 Turkey Day bumpers.
• We also get the terrific Turkey Day promos, including Joel waving us off organ meats and Crow warning us of the dangers of l-tryptophan.
• For a comprehensive look at what happens in those bumpers, visit here.
Part 4
• More Turkey Day bumpers, including several of my personal favorites.
Part 5
• We finish up with the bumpers and move on to…
• “Scraps from the cutting room floor of ‘This is MST3K.'” featuring an extended look at the writing process.
• One interesting aspect: Joel reads off a submission from home writer Bridget.
• Note the Macintosh Classic being used to type up riffs.
• We visit with Jef Maynard, who explains how he got the moniker “toolmaster.”
• We get some shots of what taping is like, first an SOL scene, then a Deep 13 scene, then a movie scene.
• After that it’s the famous “Death & Taxes” promo.
• And then we get extended footage of the live show they did at the Uptown Theater. Some of the fans are a little TOO excited, but can you blame them?
• Are any of you in this footage?
Part 6
• We finish up with the Uptown show and move on to the first Mike-era opening and Mike’s first segment.
• After that, we move on to the footage that was added after the Scrapbook was shown at the convention. There are two Red Cross promos and then we move into the footage of the first convention.
• There are a lot of people in this footage that I know or knew. A few have, sadly, died, and it’s a little disconcerting to see them standing there.
• The footage does not try to hide the biggest problem of the convention, the endless lines.
• We get footage of people watching the Poopie! tape, and of a group of people taking the studio tour.
• Then there is footage of the “keynote/panel” the first night of the con, including the thunderous reception for Mike.
• We also get footage of the cast signing endless autographs, and of comments by guests Beverly Garland, John Humphries and David Worth at the celebrity panel. I missed this panel at the convention because my studio tour was scheduled for the same time.
Part 7
• We get more of the con guests, then we move on to the live show on the last night of the con. I love how HUGE the camera of the local TV station is.
• There all-too-few scenes from the live show itself, though we do get Frank’s wonderful dance right before intermission and some great moments backstage.
• Then we get some great footage of the costume party after the show, and again, so many people I know or knew, some no longer with us.
• This is the end of added footage.
• The final part of the tape is, I have to say, my favorite. It’s a sort of slide show of still photos all through the years of the show. There are some truly wonderful candid moments.
• Overall, I give this compilation a B+ with the completely unnecessary repetition of the KTMA footage the biggest drawback.
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I think my favorite part is the early behind-the-scenes footage showing everyone pitching in to build the sets. It was quite a labor of love for everyone in those first days. And they look so young!
What is the “if only the sun and the moon would collide” lyrics in reference to? It’s a parody/homage to some pop song but which one?
The very first invention “chyro-helmut” from the unaired pilot gets reused in episode 105.
The pre-premier commercial lists the Green Slime as an upcoming episode. Portions were, of course, used for the unaired pilot, but despite what this commercial teases it was never broadcast on KTMA or for that matter anywhere.
It’s been said before but it this KTMA pre-premier commercial reminds us of the original of Turkey Day Marathon. Half the reason for that marathon goes back to the fact that the very first broadcast of the show was Thanksgiving Day 1988.
So why does the KTMA opening credits sequence show Gypsy in the theater?
I love Crow’s Thanksgiving history lesson. The Pilgrims came to an America in a green and yellow moving van but bumped into a Plymouth and took turns starving.
Look at those two generation old Pepsi cans in the first Mad Scientist transmission. Also this segment takes the show’s first shot at Gallagher.
Why do you suppose they included the KTMA theme song near the beginning of the Scrapbook when it appears again in the sell tape?
All in all it was great to see the sell-tape. It’s not bad. It sure is a good thing the folks at the Comedy Channel saw the potential in it.
It is weird seeing everyone out of make up in the Birth of Best Brains footage. Man have they changed. I guess nearly 25 years will do that.
I love seeing the old promo commercials.
It was a great decision to include the first Turkey Day bumpers. That first year was the best. I’ll say they make me wish we saw more of the Mad’s during the day. Now I’m not saying there was too much of Joel and the Bots, because I love that too. But these bumpers highlight the wonderful chemistry between Trace and Frank. It was under utilized.
There weren’t many callbacks in the bumpers, but I loved the Daddy-O Want some/I want answers fruit slapping callback.
I love at the end where Clayton is looking for some leftover pie but Frank had already used it up on his sandwich?!?!
The footage from the live show sure feels just like attending Cinematic Titanic today. The audience is into it and the laughter is contagious.
I would love to see this as an Extra in one of the DVD box sets!!
The slide show at the end uses instrumentals of two MST3K songs. One is “Clowns in the Sky” and I’ve used this track several times to sing that song live in front of an audience.
Speaking of instrumentals, I’d like to have many more of these … not the least of which would be the instrumental of the main theme, seasons 2-5.5.
Untamed Youth is 112.
The reason Gypsy’s in the theater for the KTMA intro? The pilot seemed to imply they’d all take turns in the theater.
As part of my attempt to get a complete catalog of MST3K video releases, I recently purchased this BBI tape on eBay. It arrived in the mail yesterday. Huzzah!
Popped it in the VCR — yes, I still have one of those; it’s near my Roku and Apple TV devices. I watched the first few minutes of it, but didn’t get a chance to really sit and watch the whole thing last night. It’s on the schedule for this weekend. After reading your post on it, I’m know I’m gonna enjoy it.
I caught The Green Slime on Turner Classic Movies a couple weeks ago so naturally watched with the idea, how good an MST3K movie would it be?
I suspect the movie would have just been too much for the gang in KTMA or Season 1 days. There’s some good patches, but there’s a lot of slogging through the film and they needed a couple seasons of practice to take on a challenge like ninety minutes of this one. The movie starts off with a nice First Spaceship On Venus-y vibe, so maybe late second or early third season they’d have been up to the challenge.
Oh wow, I just saw this about a month ago, and I wanted to watch it again, but I didn’t think to check YouTube! Thanks Sampo! My favorite part is with Beverly Garland, “Mikey,” and the guy who directed Warrior of the Lost World explaining what went wrong!
I like how after Mike’s “Cheese Factory” joke, there’s a shot of a kid in the audience burying his head in his hands. He’s probably just shy about being on-camera, but it actually looks like he’s “facepalming” at Mike’s joke.
So many people with video cameras at the cons. Do there footage still exist? We have YouTube now!
I really wish a full version of Mike, Kevin, and Trace singing “Let Me Be Frank About Frank” had been included.
It looks like only Kevin stayed behind for the panel with Beverly Garland and the other MSTed actors. Why only him? Did the other castmembers leave out of fear that they’d get grilled for being riffed?
I think that’s Billy West doing the promos for The Comedy Channel in it’s first days. Sounds a lot like him.
I think “the sun and the moon could collide” isn’t a parody of any specific song, but just of cheesy 70s/80s love song lyrics. Love that song though, and when the instrumental is played over photos is almost moving.
I went to the con in 96. It was definitely one of the highlights of my youth.
Brandon> The full Let Me Be Frank About Frank is an Easter Egg on one of the Shout! Factory sets. I couldn’t tell you which until I get home and check my notes.
This tape is just wall-to-wall fun from start to finish–it seems a lot shorter than 90 minutes, and it would be great if BBI could re-edit and re-release it with some additional footage that covers the SciFi years. Some of the duplicate material that Sampo mentions could easily be excised, and the SciFi stuff could round out the program to a full two hours. It could be a great stand-alone DVD from Shout!, with some bonus features, like more promos or more fan footage from the conventions. Hands up all those who would gladly pay an extra few bucks to see it as a “fifth disc” in an upcoming Shout! box set.
Hard to find a favourite moment, but I thought the second Red Cross promo was especially brilliant. Maybe it’s just me longing for a world where Joel/Mike and the Bots pop up on your TV outside of normal programming and do a few seconds of great riffing. What a delight. I also liked the slide show at the end, but thought the images went by a bit fast (I know, I know, that’s what the Pause button is for…)
Joseph Nebus (#8): Interesting note about “Green Slime.” Does anyone know why they didn’t revisit it during Season 3, when the Sandy Franks got a makeover? Rights issues? Or maybe they just didn’t find it inspiring enough?
Re: Dan In WI
That Easter Egg of the song is still not complete. It still begins with Crow’s, “We’ve had a lifetime of Frank”. That’s not where the sing begins.
Thanks Sampo for this treasure from the archives. I was one of the “late” arrivals to MST3K, starting when it was on the SciFi channel. I was stunned to learned 5 years ago from a friend that MST3K had a much richer history, and started a quest to understand its heritage. I look at MST3K in phases; The Joel Years, “The Merge Years” with Mike, Clay and Frank, and the SciFi Years. This is great to see. Thanks again.
“Det…” “Taxes…” “Det…” “Taxes…”
My favorite part is Joel’s Aretha Franklin cover, with animotronic backup kidz. You’re out of your mind, dude! Well, that’s pretty good! That’s what he said! Chili peppers burn my gut!
Why won’t YouTube allow embed for Pt 3? I think they just randomly mess things up to keep people on their toes, ala the recent Onion headline “Google Shuts Down Gmail for 2 Hours to Show Its Immense Power.”
I loved this tape and I always wished they would have released another with more promos, Turkey Day bumpers, and behind the scenes footage. I would have taken anything.
I misplaced this tape years ago – glad to see it’s on YouTube. I still chuckle thinking about Jim helping Trace hang himself. Wait, that came out wrong…
I think I like the KTMA title sequence better than the cable version, esp. when the “MST” rockpile collapses. Cool stuff. As Gertrude Stein once said, “Eat big salty loads of lead death, you pasty-faced morons.”
For a while, this tape was sort of “glimmering off in the unknown” for me; I suppose having got to see this through “non-videotape means” produces thoughts of both “what an age we live in” and “maybe it’s too easy when even somebody like me can see something like this.” Anyway, this and the “pilot host segments” that turned up not that long ago seem to satisfy me so far as seeing the KTMA days…
The “tiny little Apple computer” in segment five is a Macintosh Classic (unless it’s a “Classic II”; I couldn’t quite make out the name on the case…)
It’s weird seeing myself as a dorky teenager in the ConventioCon footage. Of course now, I’m a dorky thirty-something, so really, not much has changed!
This is pretty neat. I had never seen it before. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezsJbu6JQqs
First, it’s Norm Abram, not Abrams. Second, I’d argue that he’s still a current reference. He hosted New Yankee Workshop up until 2009 and is now back on This Old House.
Unfortunately the complete scrapbook tape can never be officially released on DVD, according to Brian Ward on the Shout Factory message board:
The route they found was to release portions of the Scrapbook as extras on Volume XV.
RE: Joseph Nebus (#8)
Someone made an iRiff for The Green Slime if you’re interested. They also went to the trouble of avoiding topical references so it would be more in the style of a KTMA episode.
http://www.rifftrax.com/iriffs/kitmah-predicts-green-slime
Why doesn’t someone just make ep 1-3 appear? They must be in “someone’s” collection. We won’t tell.
For that matter, release all the KTMA season on shout! Why not? For historical purposes.
Rex Dart, in which parts of the con footage do you appear in?
I agree that it would be great if BBI and Shout! Factory would revise, expand and update this one. And I also agree that the true highlight of the tape is the whole run of Deep 13 segments from, I believe, the second Turkey Day marathon.
I first saw this during ConventioCon I; they ran it in the ballroom while we were waiting for our turn for autographs. Back then, the photo montage at the end was scored with Nat King Cole singing “L-O-V-E”. I got my copy at ConventioCon II.
Personally, I’m wondering if they’ll ever be able to release the full footage of both the “MST Alive!” show (partial fan-shot video is around) and the live riffing of “This Island Earth” from Con I. I was there for the latter and it was fantastic.
By the way, will there be a review of the “Poopie Parade of Values” infomercial, where Kevin, Mike & Trace hilariousy shilled for this tape and the “Poopie!” video?
I saw this tape for the first time a few years back, when I got back into MST. I remember being blown away by live performance and convention footage, thinking what a great time to be a fan. Then, Cinematic Titanic started up about a month later, and the next thing I knew I was seeing them live and meeting them!
Love the Turkey Day stuff, and anxiously await Shout! releasing the remaining Turkey Day clips.
This tape is a lot of fun, but I would say only for those who are devoted MSTies and/or interested in the backstory of the show. The KTMA stuff has a better context for me, as I watched those eps last year, but my favorite stuff on here is the behind the scenes at BBI Inc (the “hanging” joke was great) and the Turkey Day bumpers and the promos (the Red Cross ads are funny). Also, I agree with Sampo, the end montage of behind the scenes photos is great stuff, some cool shots in there.. The stuff from the Convention reminds me of how I really really wanted to go to the Convention back then, but I was only 14 or 15 and my family wasn’t really in a financial position to do such a thing (plus, they didn’t like the show, so there was that..) and ever since then, I’ve vowed that I would go to the next MST Convention no matter where it was or the cost. I’m still waiting……..
A friend of mine and I made custom MST-Shirts with artwork and catch-phrases from the show. We wore them to the ConventioCon and had a great time.
We had a nice thrill after getting the Scrapbook tape when we discovered that we had ‘made it’ onto the tape.
We recalled when the guy with the camera came up to us at the Registration Check-In and asked us to do a turn-around so he could get a shot of our shirts, but we had no idea at the time that it was for Best Brains.
It was a hectic time…People at the Check-In were tearing open their Convention Welcome Packets in a frenzy and not noticing that the little give-away Servo, Crow, Gypsy and SOL Pins were in the packets. The floor was littered with those pins that had fallen out unseen.
That was a great convention.
Anyone remember Max Cervantes and his Tom Servo?
Good Times…(sigh)
Ah, the humble beginnings. From a small local puppet shows to a Cultural Icon, I salute you sirs. Keep riffing, keep America strong!
Brandon: Oh, okay, that’s me and my dad in Part 6 at 7:08. I remember we were both amazed when watching the video the first time that we were caught on camera!
The Scrapbook tape has become a Turkey Day staple at my house – every year, I hunker down to watch “The Beatniks” (a fan copy, recorded from Turkey Day ’92 complete with commercials), the complete collection of Turkey Day bumpers from ’91 to ’95, the Poopie Parade of Values infomercial, and this.
I remember watching this on Turkey Day 2010 with the girl I was dating at the time, and she was shocked that the writers had to build their own sets all by themselves. And I never really thought about it, but that is pretty rare in television, isn’t it? :) I think you’re right about the footage we see being shot in the wee hours. Trace looks and sounds like he’s about to fall asleep on his feet. (He also lets an f-bomb slip while he’s building the door sequence.)
The Turkey Day ’91 bumpers are hysterical. Though I’m personally a little more partial to the ’95 bumpers, as they feature a wider selection of characters (and Bridget’s Mr. B Natural is absolutely hilarious). In Season 3, they hadn’t really built up a huge gallery of side characters that weren’t played by Mike yet.
I wish I could have gone to that live show in 1992. (Granted, I was six years old at the time and had never seen MST3K, so I guess it’s more accurate to say that I wish I was born ten years earlier.) Apparently, the only home video footage of it that exists is incomplete, which is a damn shame. I’ve always said that if they had ever done a second MST3K movie, World Without End would be a good choice.
And in the same vein, I wish I could have gone to the ConventioCon. Still, seeing so much of the footage here is almost as good as actually having been there. :)
The montage at the end, set to the instrumental strains of “Who Will I Kill?” and “Clown in the Sky”, becomes doubly poignant when you remember that the Scrapbook tape was made at a time when the Brains thought they were as good as cancelled. This was meant to be their personal heartfelt goodbye to their loyal and loving fans. Everyone involved with MST3K was so passionate about their work, and they really loved sharing it with people. That’s a very admirable trait, and it’s a big part of why I love this show so darn much.
I’d love to see a Scrapbook sequel, one that covers the movie, Season 7, and the SciFi years. Though I suppose the boat has pretty much sailed on that by now, being 13 years after the fact and all.
I was the lucky one to get the last available tape! I called the info club after talking with Barb through e-mails who told me to call her and when i did Jim Mallon answered the phone. I left my info and she called me back the next day to let me know there was one tape left to which i promptly ordered and received about a week or 2 later. I thought it was pretty cool i got to talk to Jim for a few minutes.
The scrapbook got me more into the KTMA episodes. It was also cool to see behind-the-scenes footage and montages of clips and commercials. :) Real shame it won’t get a DVD release, though. :/
who can I hound at Shout! to get this on an upcoming box set?
Yup, that’s me (in a striped shirt) and my wife in the front row at the live show (part 7, 2:56), sitting next to Sampo (offscreen). I think Mike spit on us a couple times, we were so close… I’m not sure if that particular aspect was a “special moment to remember” or not…
….and we were disturbingly close to Frank’s skin-tight skin-tights. THAT was memorable, to say the least…
RE: Trickymutha (#27). Jim Mallon posted some short clips from the “missing” episodes on the official website if you haven’t already seen them. Joel and Jim have no current interest in releasing the “unofficial” episodes that were produced for KTMA on DVD. There’s still plenty of official episodes that they’d rather focus on getting the rights to. I think they might reconsider their stance when they get to volume 40 or so, but don’t expect something like that anytime soon.
They should just release the sound of the KTMA’s as Rifftrac’s. Then have two versions. The original and Mike and the gang fill in the blank version.
In the first Turkey Day bumper, Frank mentions “a new recipe that turns a potato into a po-great-o!” That sounds like it has to be a line from some commercial or other, but danged if I know which one. Anyone know?
I too wondered why more of this tape didn’t pop up as extras. I guess we have our answer.
I order and received my tape back during season 7. I only transferred it DVD about a year ago. It was fun to see it again.
Now any word on “The Last Dance RAW!”?
The Last Dance: RAW! is a must-include on an official release of Diabolik, as far as I’m concerned.
It is a pity that legal issues prevented the full Scrapbook tape from appearing on DVD, but we always have Youtube, I suppose.
Love Trace’s impression of Jack Nicholson, interrupted by Frank to say goodnight.
The slideshow at the end was the highlight. Take a look at Part 7, at 7:34. Is that Josh trying out Crow? Kevin is behind Joel, but who is the woman on the left?
Judging from the presence of the vacuum flowers, this must have been very early on, like Day 1 or close to it.
iirc the Convention version of the slideshow used Sinatra’s L O V E as the song
In segement 6 at the 5:37 mark, I am in the black shirt (Andy) with my friend Blake in the foreground (with the mullet).
The nineties were a different time!
We ordered this and “Poopie” on VHS way back in the ’90s via the newsletter they used to put out. Good stuff. If I recall, one tape came in a blue box, the other red (red pill, or blue pill?) ha
what is the legal issue anyway (is it the crowd shots mainly). i know the logos can be cleared more easier then the crowd shots.
Last time we did this discussion, I was still on dial-up (go ahead and laugh, everyone else did), so I couldn’t watch the videos and properly participate.
Has anyone ever tried to use Crow’s Thanksgiving origin story in a school project?
So glad Josh dropped the Pee Wee Herman voice.
Weird seeing Dr. F. and Larry as equals.
I like how they used a shot of Cornjob in a state of confusion during the promo at, “But some people still don’t get it.”
I thought those Red Cross promos were a hoot.
So who was handling Crow when Mike, the Bots, and the Mads were singing Satellite of Love?
@ #27: Perhaps that person will also have an intact recording of Power of the Daleks and The Wheel in Space and other Hartnell and Troughton goodness stashed away.