One highlight of the Turkey Day marathon was the appearance of young lady named Ashley Holtgraver (shown above) (who goes by the stage name of Christmas Disco-Marie Sagan when she performs with a band called Freezepop–she’s a web developer in real life). When she was 8, she wrote a letter to the show, which Joel read in episode 416- FIRE MAIDENS FROM OUTER SPACE.
Honestly, I would love to be able to track down ALL the people, especially the kids, who wrote in.
Which brings us to this week’s WDT: Which letter writer would you like to find out about? Me, I’d like to find that kid who complained that episodes of the show were shown during the day “…and I’m in school falling asleep.” I worry about that kid and I hope he took Joel’s advice and got into breakfast.
What’s yours?
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The first letter writer who’s letter was first read on the air.
From Season 1….I forget which episode…
All of them but especially the one that wrote *My WHO family…* I think its an Season 4 letter
I would like to hear from the letter writer who fameously proclaimed, “I hate Tom Servo’s new voice!” I wonder if he ever warmed up to it, and what he thinks of Joel’s plan to rotate the cast every few years.
Bringing in all the letter writers is a great idea and I will go it one better. Borrowing from a previous WDT why not have the letter writers form a chorus and sing the Theme Song for the new show? What do ya think, Sirs?
Seeing Santa Claus Conquers the Martians again as part of the Turkey Day Marathon made me wonder how things have been going for that Coast Guard officer and her husband (and if they still followed the show as closely over the years).
I’d like to track down the kid who drew a nicely drawn picture of Crow, Tom, and Gypsy looking like they were out of a “Curious George” book from “The Amazing Colossal Man”.
Slightly different direction but same line of thinking: I would love to know what that one KTMA caller (the guy who likened Joel and the ‘bots to “a bunch of rude junior high students”) thinks about MST3K’s transformation from a local TV show to a full-blown pop culture phenomenon.
I’d be half-scared to learn what shows he does like.
I can’t remember; did they track down the fan who called Crow “Art” in a letter, and tell that person, “You helped us script Pearl’s lines.”?
I second the creator of “Art” alias of Crow T Robert.
As most of you probably know, the robot on Other Space voiced by Trace is also an Art.
Found a few people on facebook claiming to be letter writers (https://www.facebook.com/MysteryScienceTheater3K/posts/10151705384502153):
Eric Hansen: They read mine in the show “the atomic brain” I was in high school, and I built my own crow t. Robot. They showed my picture and claimed I was in fact George Lucas trying to trick them.
Marissa Reynolds: I wrote a letter to MST3K. It aired at the end of Death Flight. I’m one of “The Babes”
I can’t remember many of the letters. We need a list in “Ward E” or in the episode guide. ;)
I don’t know which episode it was specifically, but Joel read a letter from some fans that were in prison. It may not be that hard finding them through their POs.
Definitely the little girl who called Crow “Art”. I wonder if she knows she’s responsible for one of the best running gags in the show’s history…
Also, what super adorable couple who wrote in to say they met watching the show and were engaged in Catalina Caper. I wonder how they are now…
I’ve thought of suggesting a weekend theme similar to this, one where you’d speculate or create scenarios for the lives of people who wrote in after their letter was read. How about the wacky doctors who sent in a picture (was it of Gamera?) with one of them also in it. What if they opened a children’s hospital and used Crow, Servo, and Gypsy puppets to cheer up the children, and made family hospital videos using cambot type devices?
And whatever happened to the couple who sent a wedding invitation to the SoL?
The letter writer that remembered the words “TV’s Frank” from an earlier skit, thus giving that character his ultimate character name, since they used it regularly after that. The initially one-off “TV’s Frank” in the credits was especially funny at the time.
Maybe that letter writer and the “Art Crow” one at the same time.
I used to be in contact with Teresa who infamously found the lost KTMA host segment (episode K17, I think?), and had a fan drawing shown in the episode. I think she’s a fashion designer now.
Wasn’t it revealed awhile back that one of the letter-writers from Season 1 later became a lawyer or something? I can’t remember exactly.
…..Assuming that wasn’t actually…. Frank!
I would send letters like mad in hope they would be read. But they never would.????:(
I just looked up Sampo’s entry for episode 109 Project Moonbase, and the Sam who sent the letter in became a news anchor.
I’d really like to track down TV’s Frank. I’d like to know what he’s been up to since he wrote his letter.
I like to find the kid who wrote in called himself the saltright of fun. I asked him what did you mean by that.
I’ve always wondered about:
The MSTies From Milwaukee who sent in the filled-out scorecard during Season 2;
The guy who wrote in during Season 1 who mentions that the crusty old ’50 B&W stinkers are his favorites, and that if a movie gets more than 1 star in the TV Guide, it’s too good to watch;
The medical students at the U. of Kentucky who dubbed themselves “The Gamera Team” in Season 3.
How about that guy who had the audacity to accuse the show of being just a show, and the bots of being puppets? The nerve of some people…
I was going to say the kid who called Crow “Art”. And of course, that’s the popular answer here. That letter shaped a lot of Crow’s character on the show. It would be nice to know what she thinks of it today.
As soon as she learned that MST3K was my favorite show, one of my best students revealed to me that her father had had his letter read on the show — Women of the Prehistoric Planet. I had the pleasure of meeting him at a reception given by my department the semester my student graduated (with her BA in English). He was a fan almost from the beginning (he was one of the first fans to sign up for the newsletter), and while I am typically very uncomfortable at receptions of any kind, I actually forgot my discomfort while talking MST3K with my student and her father (a very cool guy).
I mean, what were the odds of my ever teaching a student whose father had had his letter read on the show?
Probably the most single important kid-letter contribution to the show, apart from the girl who asked whether “Dickweed” was a swear word. (It’s botanical.)
I’d still rather have seen the Art Crow kid.
The officers and crew from the USS Missouri from ‘Master Ninja I’. Their letter was the one being read while the Bots sang the ‘Master Ninja Theme Song’.
How about the guy who called in demanding MORE MORE MORE from K04 Gamera vs. Barugon
While I’m sure the letter was key in reviving the nickname, it was a one-off Honeymooners ref at the end of the My White Goddess host segment in ep 203, where Joel (as Gleason) credited him as “Art Crow”. It would be nice to get confirmation that the kid had never heard of Art Carney and just assumed Art was Crow’s real first name.
Ashley Holtgraver would probably have been my #1 choice if she hadn’t appeared in the Turkey Day video; her letter was very cute, and it was well used in #416. If we can include the KTMA voicemails, I would love to hear from the “MORE! MORE! MORE!” guy from #K04 (some have referred to him as “the first MSTie”), and also the boy from #K06 who invited Joel and the robots to his birthday party (they put up a birthday banner for him on the SoL, which was sweet). I’d mainly want to know about their reactions to hearing their messages on the air, and whether they continued to follow the show after it made the big move to cable.
my favorite would be the one I did track down: Sam Litzinger, who wrote a letter read after 109 Project Moonbase. I confirmed that this is the same Sam Litzinger who grew up to become a CBS News anchor and reporter. I sent him an email a couple years ago asking about it, he replied:
Ha! You’ve discovered my secret!
I used to watch MST 3000 all the time when I was supposed to be studying out in Hawaii. The highlight of my life so far (apart from meeting Lemmy from Motorhead!) was having my card read on the show.
Thanks for writing and reminding me of it.
I’m think I might track down this one. Isn’t that called stalking?
Wasn’t there a guy who wrote from prison? Would be curious what happened to him.
I remember Crow getting snippy with a young artist who had drawn a picture of the crew of the SOL. He said “not very good” and Joel grabbed his head and dragged him off screen while he cried mommy. Tom had to finish by himself. I wonder if little Leslie suffered permanent “deep hurting” from Crows heartless jab.
Remember the cool thing contest? Dan Reamers trippy, Rush thing? why did Joel think He liked Rush?
Or the randy and late night “Joel and the bots” by Tom Maher and Dan Pat Wark Nark, mmmm whats in the pipe Joel?
Humphrey Bogart may never have said “play it again Sam” my little whisper thin robot pal, but I want to know what happened to these fine young artists.
Maybe someone could spearhead a committee.
Oh, god, that had to be one of the funniest viewer letters ever… “…and that you’re not in space, but actually transmitting from somewhere in Minnesota…”
That had to be one of the funniest — and most adorable — letters they ever read on the air. “…and my brother is turning into Tom Servo. I want to know if you are cloning.” An amazingly witty and smart letter for a kid that age.
The letter writer who mentioned that her husband worked for a bomb squad (I think in Germany) and their unit had named a bomb removal robot “Crow.”
Also would like the bomb robot itself tracked down for an update whether it is operational or not.
You know who I would like to track down? Whoever wrote the letter Joel did not get to read at the end of Mitchell because of his escape. It didn’t even get on still store because of all the sirens and lights during Gypsy’s countdown. Which brings up another point… it seemed that after Joel left they read fewer and fewer letters. I know that early in Mike’s tenure, as he said in The Brain That Wouldn’t Die, they weren’t for him. But fewer were read during the rest of the Comedy Central days and none at all in the Sci-Fi era. So was it a conscious decision by Jim to eliminate them(which would be another reason to hate him) or was it more about getting more sketches in or another reason?