Satellite News - Archon 32 Report


 

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Archon 32 Report

Archon is a well established, medium-sized convention that takes place yearly in St. Louis. It has little of the hectic activity of a Comic-Con or Dragon*Con, and that's a good thing. It makes for a much more enjoyable experience. This year, the experience was made more enjoyable by the appearance of Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, Joel Hodgson, Mary Jo Pehl and Josh Weinstein.

The CT gang made two appearances at the convention. On Friday was the panel and Q&A session. Joel acted as emcee, fielding questions from the audience and guiding the discussion with the other cast members. Most of the questions were the standard fare, although some were updated for Cinematic Titanic ("What movie would you like to have done on MST3K?" became "What movie would you like to do on Cinematic Titanic?"). One interesting question came up that I'd hadn't heard before. Joel was asked what his favorite prop from the show was. His answer: the BGC-19, athough he joked that it nearly killed him. It seems it wasn't really built for a person to walk around in, and he was in constant fear of falling over. A particularly poignant moment came when a soldier who had just returned from Iraq thanked the cast for CT, telling how he and his fellow soldiers were able to download episodes, bringing them many hours of laughter during particularly tough times. Mary Jo related a story about a soldier who contacted her and told her that they had shown a CT movie in one of the theaters inside one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces.

Joel then directed the audience to the three screens set up in the auditorium, and the entire "Green Slime" MST3K pilot was shown. Now that I've actually had a chance to see it, look for our episode guide to be updated shortly. Joel also showed the sales reel that was used to sell MST3K to the Comedy Channel. This reel used to be available on the Scrapbook Tape sold by the old Info Club, and it was great to see it again in a theater setting.

 

The autograph signing took place on Saturday. As usual, the signing was a popular event and the line for autographs stretched nearly out the door of the small convention center. The CT crew had stacks of DVDs for sale, and there were free CT photos and posters advertising the upcoming live show at the Family Arena available for con-goers to get signed. Unlike many "professional" media guests these days, none of the former MST3K cast members ever charge a fee for their autographs.

The autograph session lasted about 90 minutes, then the CT gang were off to fly back home. But not before stopping for one more photo, with which I'll end this report.