I’ve always wanted to know what other MSTies think of the episode guide–the book version, I mean. I consult it regularly, and in particular I have always been struck by the contributors’ different writing styles. For example, after awhile it got so that I could start reading a description of a movie and determine that Paul Chaplin wrote it. (I also LOVE how Mary Jo and Paul needle each other throughout the book!
An interesting topic. There a number of goofs in the book. Let’s see if we can identify all. And of course it would have been great to have Joel’s participation. In fact, wouldn’t it be great to have a new edition that includes Joel’s comments?
Anyway, your thoughts about the ACEG?
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There are two mistakes on one of my favorite episodes- “Wild Rebels” in comments on the movie Mike writes that “the sharp-featured, scaggy motorcycle slut Linda is among the dead”- well, I just watched it, and no she does not die. Secondly, they mention the episode has a stinger- it does not. Were they hitting the bong or something when they wrote this? :smile:
My copy (signed by the Titans in NYC ^_^ ) already had a huge split in the middle of the spine when I received it 12 years ago. The condition has been deteriorating naturally ever since, though I’m impressed the book hasn’t ripped entirely in two by now. (When you rest it on a table in the open position, the split always makes the book open to “Daddy-O” and “Gamera.”)
This book made me aware of the existence of the series BEFORE the Sci-Fi years. I found the show on Sci-Fi in 1997, happened upon the VHS movie at the end of the year, and beyond that knew nothing of the series. The movie’s existence hinted to me that there must have been SOMETHING before it – just as episode 801 hinted at a prior continuity that the movie matched up to – but Sci-Fi was only replaying the 1997 season. I didn’t have the internet back then, so it was difficult to investigate the matter, but I eventually discovered the ACEG in a science fiction entertainment catalog. I ordered it right away, and when I read it, my mind was completely blown. There had been EIGHT seasons before the Sci-Fi Channel?!
So yeah, this book means a lot to me, having played a huge part in expanding my MST horizons. When I watch older episodes, I always refer to the guide to re-read the cast’s reflections.
One little quirk about the book that I find absolutely charming is the use of “pseudo-captions” for the pictures. Instead of the usual blurb under a picture, they bold words from a nearby paragraph that match up to it. That adds a sprinkle of witty charm to an already great book. (Example: “SUSPICIOUSLY MIDDLE-AGED TEENAGER ALIENS”) You can quickly glance at the picture and chuckle without totally interrupting the flow of the paragraph you’re reading.
I bought a copy when it came out. I haven’t looked at it lately but I read it regularly for years. I didn’t have cable or internet then. All I had were the episodes I saw on channel 48 from Philly. I taped most of them. So I had a smattering of stuff, mostly, from seasons 3 & 4. The book gave me a sense of the history of the show and the people behind it. It made me laugh a lot too. It stinks!
I got my copy when I was 17 while on vacation with my parents. I got it signed by all the Titans and the Rifftrax crew (Bill signed the cover, right over Crow. My guess is because he didn’t do any writing).
I still want to get it signed by Jim and Paul at some point.
I have three copies. When it first came out I bought the standard edition and an autographed copy. After about a year I bought a third copy for reading and re-reading. I still keep that copy handy just in case I need to look something up.
I have two copies, one that I use from time to time and my oldest copy that I bought right when it first came out that I’ve gotten signed by everyone from the show. That one’s going into my coffin with me when I die! Ha ha!!!
I’ve never been able to find a copy, so I don’t have much grounds to talk on. I’d just be happy if the thing were re-released; I’d love to get my hands on it. Maybe a good addition to it would be if all the writers listed their favorite episodes and why. (I just now realized how corny that sounded.)
I’m on my third copy, and while I agree that aspects of the ACEG are a little slapdash, it’s a quick and easy way to remind myself which episodes feature particular host segments. Also, particular praise should go to Frank’s occasional sidebars; his analysis of “Stranded In Space” is particularly perceptive.
And yes, like everyone here, I’d buy the hell out of a new edition.
2 copies – one in near-new condition, the other has dark smudges all over the edges of the pages from endless pawings (you’d think I was a mechanic!) and has completely come away from the cover which has several folds and tears. Fun reading, but I honestly haven’t touched them in a long long time. I get sort of anal about these things, but it bothers me A LOT that it isn’t complete. I open the cover and I get all hot and it hurts and stuff. That’s the way I’m expressing my desire for a revised edition.
Oh, and CaveDweller, while I may be a bit jealous of the autographs, you (according to your own moniker) live in a cave, while I live in a comfy, modern(ish) home, with hot and cold running water, tv, and the ability to make fire and use tools. :mrgreen:
The episode guide was a really fun read. My biggest problem with it when I first bought it was how much actual information was sacrificed for the sake of jokes. Don’t get me wrong, I thought the jokes were great, but I would have liked just a little more thoughts about what was actually going on. Kevin Murphy was the only one who wrote a foreward that wasn’t ficticious. But perhaps it was better that way. If there wasn’t much to say about a subject, why not just joke around a bit. When reading it again recently, I couldn’t stop laughing while reading the FAQ question of how an episode was made. “Day six: a full dress rehearsal. Nobody lifts a damn finger until the doughnuts arrive. As a rule, producer Jim Mallon downs two mugs of French roast and three apple fritters, then bounces around the room on an obnoxious caffeine/sugar high for two hours before crashing into the puppet trench and muttering to himself for the rest of the day.”
The ACEG has been a great companion book to this show for me. I love many of the anecdotes and behind-the-scenes stuff in there, and the writing is hysterically funny no matter the number of times I read it. Like others here, I have bought several copies of the book due to the poor durability they pose over time…my first copy broke apart almost after 10 years and many food and coffee stains later. I currently own two decent copies, one having been owned by someone who “checked off” each episode they either had or needed, while the other is in great shape despite it’s age. I should get covers for each to keep them as safe from disrepair as possible, as I have little to no faith that the book will ever see the day it’s republished.
Other than the errors already mentioned, the only other one that comes to mind is Kevin Murphy’s entry after the review of Village of the Giants, where he talks about the life of Frank Zappa. Murphy states that Zappa died in 1994, but the tribute in place of the stinger at the end of VotG claims Zappa passed away in December 1993. Not a big deal, just a minor detail, but I’m surprised Murphy made such a mistake with the correct info right in front of him.
Like Invasion #53, I’d only seen a few season 3 and 4 eps through a local station by the time ACEG came out, but I didn’t have the foresight to tape ’em, so the book was my only connection to the show until the Rhino tapes started piling up and I got cable just in time for the SciFi years. It was great to finally learn what order the handful I’d seen aired in, and my first ACEG readthrough saved my sanity one boring family reunion. Any lack of info was more than made up for by the Brains’ use of the opportunity to spoof the format of self-important/congratulatory books with endless forewords and asides.
Two errors I’m surprized haven’t been mentioned:
-Godzilla vs. Megalon shows a picture of the second-biggest G, Gamera instead.
-Project Moonbase’s Host Segment rundown seems to have run right off the page, leaving Host Seg 5 missing entirely! If there was a fifth skit, I’ve still no idea what it’s about, but the way Shout!’s been churning out Season 1 lately, it’ll undoubtedly get released in the next year or two, and I’ve already gone nearly a decade and a half without easily looking it up or Youtubing it, so why bother now?
And it’s not a goof, but I love how Mary Jo’s synopsis or Gamera neglects to tell us anything about the movie.
I’m on my second copy due to #1 being lost in a college move, and the cover of the one I have has several scuffs and a nasty crease from someone I showed Hobgoblins to throwing it at me, but from what I’ve read here I apparently have nothing to complain about. Just searched for a third at a mall book fair today, but naturally just found 12 riffable VHSes instead.
And no matter how much trouble the publishing industry’s in right now, if that Wikipedia-cribbing creep can publish his own “Mystery Science Theater 3000” book, an actual revised ACEG can’t be that impossible. How about, “The Incredibly Talented CT and RT Crews Who Stopped Competing Long Enough to Compile the More than Complete ACEG-II: And The Legend Continues…”
Hey that’s right! With a Boggy Creek entry, the complete guide would have some honest to Gosh-Darn new information on BIGFOOT!
I bought my copy as soon as I’d heard about it and I read it until it fell apart. Haven’t tried to find a new copy since, though.
I’m surprised that no one has mentioned that it’d be possible, in these days of self-publishing to do any updated guide. The basics are already available: original ACEG, Whither Seven? and the Sci-Fi reviews, plus Daddy-O info. BBI would probably have to get permission from Bantam first, but I could see that as totally doable through Lulu or a similar service. Maybe have Sampo do the editing. :lol:
I’ve had mine since probably the summer of ’97, a few months after I discovered the show. I’m pretty sure I got it at a Waldenbooks in the mall (which, sadly went out of business in January 2009). Mine’s still in decent shape, I try to take care of anything that I paid actual money for. I would gladly pay for an updated version. I love the quotes (Radar Secret Service is “aggressively bland” and “violently nondescript”). Those magnificent bastards-I still read your book!
I’m in the two copies camp–got it back in 96/97, whenever it came out. Bought one at the bookstore, then ordered the second from BB and it came autographed.
My reading copy is in tatters from several read-thrus over the years. It’s kind of like comfort food, in a way. Something I return to between novels for bedtime reading or what not. Over the last few years, I printed up the online supplements for seasons 7-10 and have them all in the back cover. The binding was shot, anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal.
If you want to get quite nitpicky, no. 40 on the obscure references list identifies the character in Fawlty Towers who says “No, I won’t hear it!” as “the colonel,” when he was actually “the major.”
Another thing I noticed but which isn’t an error in that list is the classic “He’s a Woozle and his name is Peanut” reference. Of course, since this book was written, Jeff Dunham has become a LOT more well-known, and of all his TV specials that I’ve seen, he’s never used the word “woozle.” I guess he just dropped that idea somewhere along the line. He did claim that Peanut, a vaguely simian creature with purple skin, white fur, and a tuft of green hair on his head, was from somewhere in Micronesia.
#63 (the Bolem): I like your title idea.
I enjoy the ACEG and agree that a new book would probably sell well enough. Book deals and publishing is whole new deal these days, and SOMEONE would be happy to give it a try.
Like a lot of others, the ACEG taught me all about the pre-SciFi years, since I had only seen the show from Season 8-10. It gave me the impetus to find sources of fan-copy DVDs, and thank heavens for that.
Two things. One, I probably have the coolest ACEG in existence, as it’s Mary Jo’s and all of her compeers left messages in it (apparently when the show was about to be cancelled) so it’s a little like a High School Yearbook with all of the cool kids signing it (and witty, funny, and poignant messages) .
And, two, I sat at a VIP table with Tom Dupree recently at the Cinematic Titanic show in New York City. He’s currently editing Mary Jo’s new book and he was the original editor of the ACEG (which I had no idea!) So maybe all of the elements are coming together for an updated version of the ACEG. I’ll start discreetly inquiring.
RAD
I’d like to see a leather-bound re-release of the original, complete with seasons 8-10, maybe an index and glossary, sticker set, and a dvd with commentary on everyone’s experience working at BB. Plus action figures and a coupon for a free box of Honey Nut Cheerios.
I bought my copy brand-new off of Amazon in 2006 (it was one of the last new copies they had), and it’s still in pretty darn good shape four years later, especially considering the horror stories I’ve heard of weak glue and broken binding. I still take it out and re-read it from time to time – the Brains’ observations on the specific movies are always a hoot. Paul’s very acerbic take on Santa Claus Conquers the Martians is a highlight, such as how he expresses his desire to run over Milton DeLugg for composing “Hooray for Santy Claus”.
I really like TV’s Frank’s Pix, as Frank seemed to devote more interest to the movies themselves than any other Brain (you could tell just by reading the book that he was the resident film buff on staff). I like how he mentions that High School Big Shot actually cheers him up because he knows his life will never be that depressing, as well as his harrowing tale of how Time of the Apes just kept going after about five or six different false endings.
Trace doesn’t say too much in the book (it’s mostly Paul and Kevin and Mary Jo and Mike), which is a shame because he’s my favorite Brain. He was planning to leave BBI at the time, though, so I don’t blame him for his mind being elsewhere. I do get a guffaw out of his warning that The Wild World of Batwoman should not be “exposed to human tissue at temperatures over 72 degrees Fahrenheit.”
“and offer a Rapidshare link when finished.” (#49)
============================
Sounds good to me!
I got my copy through BB when they were offering the autograph deal. It’s held up very well considering how heavily used it was for awhile there (and since), and how many moves it’s survived.
I love the guide as it is, but with hindsight I wish it was made in a less chaotic time period.
The funny thing is that before I heard of The ACEG, I made my own homemade guide by poring over the episodes I had taped. I was a little miffed that I had “wasted” my time doing this, but then what was I going to do? NOT watch MST3k all the time?
I also have a BB autographed copy. It would have been nice if they did what Simpsons did, have an original episode guide then print supplements with the later episodes only. I would think if any printing was done that it would be for CT and Film Crew and not MST3K as I think they have all moved on from that series. But we’ll always have our memories. ;-)
Anyone out there savy enough to make an episode guide application for the droid and iPhone. Could link to which episodes are available on disc and what the best prices are as well as help you remember an on the spot
I agree #23 that my fav part also.
I’m pretty tough on books, but I bought my ACEG back when it came out in ’96 and it’s held together just fine. Maybe I just lucked out.
An updated version would be good, but what would really intrigue me would be a no-holds-barred oral biography. Seeing as how the Brains don’t seem like the blab-all-kiss-and-tell types (and probably want to maintain cordial relations), I probably shouldn’t hold my breath.
One thing I would love to see in an updated ACEG is a flow chat showing the actor/director links of all the different episodes. Thing “6 Degrees of MST3K”. I suspect such a chart could end up being huge.
…aahh my ACEG! I love it! I read it almost everyday. I bought it in 98 and still is in mint condition cause I knew it would be an MST3k gem. The only goof in this book, that I could see, was Show 518 The Atomic Brain where they forgot to mention the short “What About Juvenile Deliquency?”
i have two – one i use and one i keep in plastic….
I have two copies of the ACEG, one that is signed by everyone from MST except Bill Corbett (this includes Jim Mallon, and Bridget Jones as well, and Mary Jo has signed it twice, with about 12 years between the two), and another copy I bought at Half Price Books seven or eight years ago just to have on hand. Honestly I almost never use it to look anything up anymore. The last time I took either copy out of where I have them stashed was when I took the signed one along to the Cinematic Titanic launch show in Minneapolis a few years ago to finally get Joel, Trace, Josh, and Frank’s signatures (and Mary Jo #2). With the internet and everything it’s WAY easier, and much faster to just look anything I need to know up on Google, here, or on Wikipedia. Over the years I have occasionally looked through it for fun, just to read the various funny stuff in it, but as far as purely looking up information I haven’t used it for that for a very very long time. That being I would still welcome an updated version VERY much. I too don’t think it would be very hard to do it. Just edit the original to correct any mistakes, add in the season seven internet material, and get everyone to contribute a little bit for the remaining episodes. I could easily see it being published by someone given how much attention CT and Rifftrax have been bringing to MST recently. Even if it was just a small time publisher, a meager first print run (they could always print more if they needed to) and just sold on the MST3K website I think that it would sell quite well. I’d buy at least one copy, possibly two, and I’m sure pretty much every other Mistie would as well. If they can get someone to make DVD box sets with metal boxes and plastic figurines and all I think they could get someone to publish a second edition ACEG. As for having to get Bantam’s permission, I can’t see that being an issue. I personally wouldn’t be surprised if Bantam no longer has any rights over the book after so many years. I don’t know much about publishing rights, but I know that the authors (or more likely Best Brains) own the copyright on the actual material in the ACEG. I can’t imagine Bantam thought it would be a book that they’d still be printing and selling fifteen years later, and obviously they haven’t been since it’s been out of print for so long. Did it ever even get a second printing? So I wouldn’t be surprised at all if their publishing rights have expired by now.
1996 was the year I bought the ACEG, graduated college, and spent two months bumming around in Europe with a friend. Shortly after I returned home from my travels I received a sweet letter from a girl I’d met on the plane to Germany and who’d joined my friend and me in our travels for a week or so. Can’t remember why, but I ended up placing the letter inside the ACEG. It’s still there to this day, which makes my copy a little time capsule for 1996. Every time I open the guide to, say, find out if the Brains had any tips for getting through the interminable Castle of Fu Manchu, there’s the letter, and it’s 1996 all over again.
Oh Erin…
I’d pay some coin for a guide for all seasons
Like most of you, I’ve gone through two ACEG in the years since its release. I happened upon my first copy while walk in the mall with my girlfriend. We passed the bookstore and there was the ACEG as a featured new release. We both gasped! She was the one that introduced me to the show and so we were both fans. We pooled our money and picked up a copy right then. Spent the rest of the evening reading and laughing.
The book saw a lot of use. It ended up at my home, and since I didn’t have Comedy Central at my house, it was like being able to know about all the episodes I’d never seen. I took that sucker to work and my coworkers at the video store got a big kick out of it. I remember the description of “Red Zone Cuba” being a real favorite.
But over time, it fell apart from reading and re-reading. I did refer to it less often as the internet resources became better. I eventually gave the broken and battered book to my brother in law, who is also a big fan, but never wanted to shell out the cash for the book, even though he borrowed it enough times.
I picked up my second copy in the mid-2000s. I’ve been very careful with it, since the binding seems to be especially weak. I don’t reference it too often, usually just to get a laugh or to see what the brains thought about a particular episode. It now sits next to our other humerous books.
I don’t know how I feel about an updated version. It would be nice and I’d certainly pick one up. But I don’t think the brains would be too keen on going back and re-watching those episodes just to create the book. As others have mentioned, I’d love to have Joel’s imput on episodes he remembers fondly or not so fondly. All in all, I don’t see it happening, but if it did, I’d pick up a copy or two.
Good post/avatar combo there.
I love my dog-eared mess of a copy too. If I do skim through it these days, it’s to read TV Frank’s recollections of certain episodes and especially all of the chapter intros. Hopefully, a truly definitive book will come out some day, with all participants, uh, participation. And if not a book, maybe a warts and all documentary. C’mon, gang. You’re too Midwestern to still hold grudges about a basic cable puppet show.
I bought it when it first came out and held on to it through many moves (NY, NJ, GA, TX, etc.) and it is still holding up well even though we read through it all the time. We even had it autographed by the Cinematic Titanic crew last year! At first I didn’t think they would sign it but for the most part they were all nice about it too. I could tell Josh wasn’t too pleased to be signing next to his old picture :shock:
Since I missed most of the CC-era episodes, I go back to the ACEG whenever a new episode comes out on DVD that I have never seen. I only have one copy and the cover is ripped up a bit, but other than that it has stayed in good condition.
Most importantly, it answered the age old question- Why did they do Starfighters? Answer: They were desperate!
First, thanks everyone for not ragging on me for being the ONLY one to post here (#17) who does not LOVE this book. I expected more criticism, either for my take on it or for the product itself.
I only discovered the show in 2002 and saw the ACEG in a bookstore back then, but didn’t buy it because it didn’t include the more recent episodes I had caught on the Sci-Fi Channel (currently in repeats, but I didn’t realize the show was already over). So I waited for a second edition/update. A few years later, now aware of the fact that a “complete” edition did not/would not exist, I added it to my Amazon Wish List, but still never ordered it. Back then it was around $14.00 for a new copy.
Finally, after a previous discussion here on Satellite News (must have been an Anniversary of it’s release or something), I realized I had to own it (by this time, I had committed to obtaining the full run of the show via DAP). So I ordered it from Amazon and months passed. Eventually they notified me that it was out of print/unavailable. So I went to the secondary sellers and ordered a “Very Good” copy of it for about $40.00 total. Got it, and while pleased that it was in fine condition (“near mint”, actually) I was irritated at how thin it was. It felt insubstantial, far less than what I felt the show deserved. Reading it was a frustrating experience as I found the series of endless intros painfully unfunny. The meat of the book, the episodes themselves, were a graphic design nightmare. And multiple pictures of the cast with Kevin’s dog did not bring me joy. I felt the tone of the whole thing was not in the same spirit as the show: too sarcastic/cynical/mean-spirited.
But I admit I may have missed the point. After reading all the above comments I can see that veteran MSTies adore this volume. Maybe one day I’ll be able to get over my unrealistic expectations and find the funny in it. But for me now, it is like finding the Holy Grail was merely a Dixie Cup.
So, that being said, I do have a copy and hope to have it autographed by the Brains someday. I wonder, where should the Titans/RT Crew sign it? On the cover or the title page? I’ve never gotten an autograph in my life, so this is a sincere question.
^^^Yea, Finnias, HOW DARE YOU! :grin:
I found the book in June, 1996 (I happened to keep the receipt) while on vacation. I was looking through a ma&pa bookstore when I happened upon it in the entertainment section. I had to repress a “WHOO!” Because of that, I had no expectations for the book and since I didn’t hadn’t even known of it’s existence I loved it. Still do.
The mistakes I can think of are Gamera’s picture on the Godzilla vs Megalon page and the “Yoow and yoo dawta ar doowmed’ quote on Robot Holocaust, which was never said in the movie.
Um…Ignore the “didn’t hadn’t” part of one of my sentences. Pretend that it doesn’t exist and that I typed the sentence correctly. No really, trust me. ;-)
The only flaw in The Guide that has always stood out to me is the aforementioned goof in the “Wild Rebels” run-down…. Stating that the skank Linda ends up among the dead, when Linda was the only one of the unsavory crew to survive… But then, Linda was just “in it for the kicks, Baby !” :cool:
Overall, I love The Guide… I recall giving copies of it to MST friends as soon as it came out because it was THE PERFECT gift and I did not want to wait until Christmas to give it ( …and `cause they would already have it by then!)
I had the autographed copy…until one of my dogs chewed it up!…That really tested my love for that dog….
Since there has been a consistent wish for a new version expressed herein; why doesn`t the site start A Petition ?
I never bought a copy. :( For some reason i never got around to grabbing one up. Ibought a Botbuilder’s Manual though.
By the way I brought this up when we were talking about those idiots who were selling the MST3K Wiki books. But if you’re willing to pay the money you can get a digital book printing company online to make a custom 7 through 10 guide. Course it’s more cost effective to do a run of 100 to 1,500 copies or so but that would be wrong. Unless Jim got a cut. (Hint to Jim to do this. ;-))
I also have two copies, both in really rough shape. I bought the second one to keep and put away, but when I thought I’d lost the first one in a move to our new house, I kept the new one in the bathroom, where I do most of my reading. Found the other one eventually but the newer one now looks worse than the first copy…
I really do hope that if they do re-issue the Colossal Episode Guide that (since it’s all already written) they’ll include the complete series from KTMA to Sci-Fi, and with way better glue this time.
I got a copy easily recently from Borders Bookstore, although it
wasn’t in the store. I used their instore computer ordering
system and got it in a week or so.
I still have my autographed edition, it is very well worn and I wish I had taken better care of it. I keep mine in a fire safe. My wife makes fun of me for that.
An updated or second volume would be nice but I do agree that it wouldn’t likely have any information that couldn’t be found on this very site, esp considering how many interviews that have been done with the cast and crew of the show.
I want that CD-Rom that never came out.
I got mine at Barnes and Noble pretty close to the time when it first came out. Page 5 and 6 is the only one that has come loose. Other than that, my ACEG is in pretty good shape. (The binding up top is starting to split ever so slightly). I didn’t even THINK to bring my copy to Boston when I saw CT. How dumb!
Anyway, I liked the book. I found it funny. I would love it, too, if they came out with an updated edition.
An updated version would be nice. It’s a bit disconcering
to read MJ’s overview of Season 7, with apparently no
idea yet of the good chemistry that would result from
her, Brain Guy, and Bobo aggravating Mike and the bots. ;-)
it’s a fun read for me, especially on the john, but I’d be content if it was only an episode guide and nothing more. It’s the most helpful thing I have when trying to figure out which MST to watch for the night.