The Satellite of Love is Still in Orbit

If you're like me, you died a little bit in January of 2004 after the last official rerun of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3k) aired on the Sci-fi network.  (For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, it looks like you were deprived of a happy childhood.)  Mike Nelson and his robot pals stole countless hours of my youth and I loved every minute of it.  Now, I often spend many-a-night scouring youtube and veoh for memorable episodes to ease my pain.

After some recent web searches, I happened upon the web site of the show's creator, Joel Hodgson, and it seems as though he's at it again.  Hodgson has teamed up with Trace Beaulieu, J. Elvis Weinstein, Mary Jo Pehl, and Frank Conniff, to revive their brand of movie riffing for a project aptly named "Cinematic Titanic."

The premise is simple; a cheesy (very very cheesy) movie plays in the background, while silhouettes of the aforementioned actors clutter the foreground.  As you and the riffers watch this steaming pile of Hollywood trash, the silhouetted actors make fun of, or riff (as it is commonly referred to) the movie at hand.  For a better illustration, just watch the trailer below.

Fans of MST3k will notice its similar yet distinctly different style to the original television show.  According to Hodgson, "[he] didn't want it to be as cute," as the original show.  Yes, that means no more puppet robots.  The show isn't scaled down in the least, however.  Now, in addition to the characters on screen, silhouetted props are utilized for added effect.

While this is all well and good, there still remains one crucial factor: Are you a Mike or a Joel kinda guy (or girl) (or zombie).  For those foreign to the series, Mike J. Nelson took over the show for Hodgson, who used to be the main character, during episode 512 until it's eventual cancellation.

Fear not my Mike-loving compadres.  Mike has his own version of MST3k too, entitled Rifftrax.  This does differ from the original MST3k episodes as well because they're audio tracks designed to accompany famous movies (rather than B-movies).  These MP3's can be downloaded for the low price of $3.99 and a player has been released to help facilitate the process.

So far, over 50 releases have been made, including "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," "Cocktail," and "Raiders of the Lost Ark."  Each has a number of various guests to help Mike with his parody fest.

If you've never experienced an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, I highly recommend you find one on the net or rent one of the DVD releases.  It is a comedic triumph not to be missed.

For the rest of us, let's help Joel and Mike keep doing what they do best and get some laughs along the way.  Keep and eye out for "Cinematic Titanic" and "Rifftrax..."  ...Because you never know when you may be abducted by a mad scientist and forced to watch B-movies against your will...