Update: Thanks to “wotunw5o” who found this full episode. Apparently the secret to finding it online was cutting and pasting the actual cyrillic.
Further update: Alert commenter Amelik has provided us with a translation of the theme song (thanks to our obsessed pal Bill for the heads up):
In a science institute, there’s an experiment,
They’re testing the effect of movie reels on people.
How will consciousness be affected by a movie.
Of questionable quality and made long ago
A nice guy, Stephen is in need of some money
He got a job as a test subject, threw caution to the wind
He didn’t know that the process is supervised by
Professor Zamishlavkin, a bad guy [something]
Stephen watches movies, he’s now imprisoned
If it’s wasn’t for his friends, he’d be miserable
Mutants, saboteurs: a dog and a penguin
Rescue his psychie and watch along with him
:::Fidel::: [penguin’s name]
:::Ketchup::: [dog’s name]
:::the greatest achievement of national defense!:::
When the friends are all together, they don’t fear the bad guy
They make comments on everything, so that it’s more fun
In the face of scientific theories,
They giggle and laugh, as they watch Project Popcorn
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In Soviet Russia, bad movie watches you!
I’ve seen something like this before…I just can’t put my finger on it.
Would love to see it subtitled.
Whata country!
But where’s TV’s Ivan?
Wonder what evil scientist name is???
HMMMMM…..
TV’s Ivan…LOL
Awesome!
So, if this show has a good run and ends, will Russian Mike Nelson form a new company that will then riff the movies of Sergei Eisenstein? Because that would be great.
Btw, I think Joel could make them much better bots.
Perhaps this is KGB revenge for riffing the Russo-Finnish films.
Wow, what a rip-off! And those Russian “robots look like they were shot out of a cannon” as Crow says of the visiting Russian robots during one host segment in episode 201 Rocketship X-M.
Wow.
And I totally want to see subs of this.
I gotta see it…
Featuring the comic stylings of Russo Red Dog and Russia Television’s Wise-Cracking Pengy, teaming up with Mikael Nelsonovich.
Was this a one off on some show? A fan project? A regular show? I’m curious.
It’s called Project Popcorn if I understand the title right. It’s been a while since I studied rusky jazyk.
Can anybody please transcribe the Cyrillic so inquiring minds can google the interwebs beyond?
I’ve never been able to find anything about this show outside this theme song. (And I’ve Tried)
I doubt it actually aired on network tv.
@Mr. B(ob)
It was actually in show #205 ‘Rocket Attack USA’ that the Russian and his robots show up.
Anyone notice that the mad scientist bears a striking resemblance to a certain German dictator?
OOps, that’s one of my favorites too, hence the mix-up.
What.The.Hell.Was.That?
John M.: Yeah, not to get all Godwin on this thread but I think I heard the word “Deutsche” in there too….
Maybe it’s Chip Hitler…?
My Russian is not up to snuff, but I believe the last word of the theme song is “popcorn.”
Anyone else think this sounds suspiciously like the Oscar Mayer song?
Did anyone notice the Hitler impersonator boss? I tried listening to the theme song and had to turn it off. No wonder Russia has so many problems.
It’s Charlie Chaplin’s ‘stache as well. It evokes both evil and humor, which is perfect for a goofy mad scientist.
Didn’t read John M.’s post. Yes, I did notice that too. Is thing for real, or is someone’s idea of a very bad joke?
Also, forgive the double post, but I knew I’d seen this before! The Cinematic Titanic Facebook page had a link to it back in November, and the video they posted was subtitled. However, it seems to be a fan made mockery of the original video (which makes it a video mocking a Russian show which mocks movies, which in turn is a rip-off of an American show that mocks movies). Anyway, here’s the “subbed” video if anyone is interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TNo6zvFCNM
@Cody – I don’t know Russian, but I don’t think those are the actual words of the theme song. I think it’s just parodized, like you theorized.
Dr. Hitler. Creepy puppets, too. Good old fashioned Russian nightmare fuel.
Randy
@24
Yeah, I don’t know if Russia ever had “In America, you Y your X, but in Russia, X Ys YOU!!”
Well, my biggest giveaway, is that the last two words are definitely ‘Project Popcorn’…
So, is the Russian version of “movie sign” a threat to cut off Mikhail’s vodka supply?
Top word on the paper is “Contract.” I get that from the Cyrillic alone.
“Fidel” and “Ketchup.” Ha ha ha.
“He was given a penguin and an ugly dog,
Because if given robots, he might get sued for fraud.”
That’s a fantastic translation, thanks Cody Himes.
I’d still watch the show if it was in English … seems like a good premise.
The ugly dog looks vaguely like Stimpy and the penguin seems to have the look and proportion of a Gamera adversary.
I always thought other countries should have their own MST3Ks. Do we know of any others? The humor would be hard to translate and would need local cultural references anyway. This reminds me a bit of the foreign versions of Sesame Street, i guess.
My scanty high-school Russian didn’t help too much, but the subbed version is definitely not tracking. The work for ‘looking’ or ‘watching’ comes up but i can’t tell if that’s watch the movie or watch our show. The “Mike” is “Stepa Samokatov” and the evil scientist is “Prof. Zamuishlyavkin.” The puppets are as per #31.
Okay, the human character looks more like the illegitmate love child of Joel and Mike. And I hope they get the utter crap sued out of them for this! DO NOT MESS WITH MY SHOW!!!! :>(
No English-language website seems to have any info on this program, but searching for “?????? ???????” provides some results. Here’s a 15 minute clip from RuTube(!), proving there’s more than just a theme song mock-up:
http://rutube.ru/tracks/1607831.html
The Russian text got busted in the post, you can just use Google Translate on “Project Popkorn” to try this experiment at home.
#34
Laura says:
January 27, 2011 at 5:39 pm
“Okay, the human character looks more like the illegitmate love child of Joel and Mike. And I hope they get the utter crap sued out of them for this! DO NOT MESS WITH MY SHOW!!!! :>(”
Really?
If I had a nickel for every time I was given a penguin and an ugly dog……………
I’ve never commented here before, but I just had to weigh in on this. I’ve emailed Sampo a few times suggesting a weekend discussion thread about whether MST3K could work on TV outside the English-speaking world…and now this?
Personally, my feeling is “the more the merrier.” After all, my first love is game shows, and game shows get remade in foreign countries all the time. Can you imagine Match Game hosted by a drag queen in England? It happened.
So was it decided that this is a real show or a MST fan thing? I mean either way its amazing and hilarious (nearly shot for shot reproduction!) but I am just curious…
I found an episode! Here’s a link to the video:
http://rutube.ru/tracks/1607843.html
And here’s a google translation of the page:
http://t.co/WUy3z4e
#35:
Babelfish, what hilarity:
“Project Of [popkorn] – new comic series from the cast iron runner and the friends) Main hero – [Stepa] of bicycles works by experimental in the institute of the brain. Its consciousness [NLP]- processes by old films villain – professor [Zamyshlyavkin]. Its friends – saying dog ketchup and penguin Fidel help steppes not to descend from the mind and comment on films. Experiment is oboe part of 2 Be stocked by beer, potato chips and [pampersami]! “
The bootlegged MST tapes translated into the all-purpose Low Slavic paid off…
Please. You seriously want Brains to sue them? Let the Russians have their MST. I just hope it’s funny.
#34
For all we know this could have been a legitamite remake. Obviously the show isn’t that popular seeing as this is the first we’re hearing of it.
Oh great, another song to get stuck in my head til I’m on the verge of insanity.
#44: It’s not on the Russian Wikipedia, either. It must have just begun or something.
me want. me want subtitled. But really what is better than a Russian Bootleg? I love the kitsch of it all.
First off, it is a 100% rip off of MST3K and more power to them! No worries of them cutting into the sales of the our favorite show. Second, as goofy as it looks it may not transfer well with sub titles. Every riff would be obscure and we would all be scratching our heads trying to understand it.
THEY CLONED HITLER!!!