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MST3K-OZ #2

Welcome to the second issue of the Antipodean MSTie Newsletter ....

I didn't get a lot of feedback from the last issue, but what feedback I
got was positive, so it seems reasonable to inflict it all on you again!

As always, anyone who wants to stop getting this drivel, let me know.
If you know someone else who might want to see this, please get them to
e-mail me to add them to the list. I won't add anyone who doesn't
request it directly. Feel free to print this, show it to your friends,
blow your nose on it - whatever works for you.

Remember, I think this will work best (if it's going to work at all) if
this is a co-operative effort. If you've got something you want to
share with us all, even if it's only a paragraph long, send it to me and
I'll include it! I'm not fussy! As long as it's got something vaguely
to do with MST3K and is somehow relevant to us, I'm happy to see it! As
an editor I plan to have a pretty relaxed style <g>.

For those who may not have previously been aware, I've changed my home
e-mail address since the last time I posted a newsletter. The old
address, bprobst@melbpc.org.au, will be cancelled sometime in the near
future; don't use it! The new one is bprobst@ibm.net. It's only a
co-incidence that I've recently become an IBM employee, honest! All the
correct current addresses are at the end of the newsletter.

New to this issue's mailing list are Daniel Dekok and Louis Patterson,
from Melbourne, Andrew Parkinson, from Brisbane, and April Herzog, from
Canberra. Wave hello to them, everyone!

Last Saturday, the second Melbourne MST3K Open Day was held at my house.
Mike, Andrew, Renee, Dan (?) & Paul showed up for "Manos", "The Sinister
Urge" and "Earth vs. the Spider". It's remarkable just how good Ed Wood
can look after a dose of "Manos". The room was filled with deep
hurting! Poor Dan had turned up not even knowing what MST3K was! The
effect of "Manos" on the unwary is interesting - a deep, gnawing pain
accompanied by a strong urge to sleep and never wake up. Mike and
Andrew also brought their new huge water cannon, freshly purchased at
Toys'R'Us. I must say, my childhood memories of how neat "spud" guns
used to be were crushed when confronted with these monstrosities. It's
good to know that with modern technology we can now easily impress on
young children the importance of pumping phallic power!

(The following is lifted from the MST3K Infosite web page.)

Rhino Home Video has posted a list of new MST3K episodes on their web
site. As always, we wanted to get the complete dope from Rhino before we
posted the information here. And here it is:

Due February 17
424 - MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE
511 - GUNSLINGER
MST3K 3-pack -- Includes above episodes, plus MST3K Poopie I

Rhino informs us that everything is on schedule for the February 17th
release. The Poopie I tape will only be available in the 3-pack, and
will not be sold separately.

Due June 16
622- Angel's Revenge
Mystery Science Theater: The Shorts -- Compilation of the best short
subjects from the series

We are being told that the June 16 date is *extremely* tentative at this
time. Also, the Shorts tape is still in its early planning stages, and
neither Rhino nor BBI know exactly which shorts will be included.

For those unaware, the Sci-Fi Channel agreed to a ninth season, and
filming on the first of the new episodes (a little flick entitled "The
Projected Man") started just recently. Full details are on the MST3K
Info Club website. The good news is that the audience for MST3K in the
US has grown considerably since the migration to the SF Channel. Maybe
it will grow big enough that somebody will decide to air it here ....

On a more personal note, something you'll see a lot of if you hang
around the MST3K news groups on the Internet etc. is that a lot of
people have trouble coping with "change" - people who got all hot and
bothered when Joel was replaced by Mike, when Frank left, when Trace
left, etc. etc. Let me take this opportunity to state my official
editorial position on all that:

Phooey.

MST3K is what it is. I've only seen one episode of the new season, but
I liked it, and I've seen no reason to assume that the show has, or
will, "go downhill". There have been a lot of changes in the show since
its beginning and while some may be regrettable on a personal preference
level, the show has taken them all in its stride. The writing hasn't
changed substantially, the bad movies are still bad movies, and that's
the reason we all watch it, right? So if you like Joel and hate Mike or
if you think the show without Frank isn't worth watching or if you think
that Mrs Forrester is stupid without being funny ... I don't care. I
like 'em all. So you won't see any bias on this newsletter one way or
the other.

The thought had occurred to me that people might like to see short
reviews of episodes - any episodes, new or old. If anyone wants to
volunteer to write some, I'll happily include them here. To kick off,
let's have a quick review of the one that most of us are probably most
familiar with, The Movie.

The interesting thing about The Movie for Australian fans is that for
some it's the only example of MST3K they've seen. This is an
interesting contrast to many fans in the US who, until the movie was
released on rental VHS there, had never seen it at all. That's because
of the appalling distribution deal that The Movie was given. For more
details, please check the relevant portions of the MST3K FAQ at
www.mst3kinfo.com.

Surprisingly, it *was* released here in Australia, but you'd be forgiven
if you didn't know it. So far as I'm aware, it was only shown in one
cinema in one city (the Valhalla in Sydney) and had a fairly limited
run. It has subsequently made its way to rental video, but many video
stores don't carry it, presumably because they have no idea what it is.
Some of us just circumvent the issue by buying our own copies <g>. For
myself, I bought it on laser disc, which is the only way you can see it
in the original widescreen, but you can also buy it on VHS for those
unfortunate enough not to own a LD player <g>. In both cases the TV
format is NTSC, so you need a TV (and VCR) that are compatible, if you
want to go that route (as well as arranging to import it from the US).
I suppose you could get your local video store to order in a copy of the
Australian PAL version for private purchase, but it will be *expensive*
- videos intended for rental cost in the order of $90 (or more).

Enough of that, on to the movie itself. Taken as a whole, it's by no
means the best MST3K ever done. There are several reasons for this - it
was "dumbed down" to be more appealing to a wider audience, it's short
(much shorter than a standard episode) and the subject of the movie,
"This Island Earth", while kinda cheesy, is not really "bad" in the
usual MST3K sense. It's my personal opinion that the worse the movie,
the better the episode - there's more to laugh at. What saves The Movie
for me is the fact that the writing is so good - the jokes hit the mark
almost all the time, whereas I find many episodes have "flat" spots.
And, of course, the fact that everything just looks gorgeous - it almost
looks *professional* <g>. When you're used to the TV version, this
comes as something of a shock <g>.

The opening scenes are great, especially if you're a big "2001" fan -
something I didn't notice until the third or fourth time I watched The
Movie is that the markings on the interior of Mike's "exercise wheel"
are identical to the floor panels of the Discovery in "2001". It's the
fine attention to details like that that just make the joke richer ....
(What's that? You've never seen "2001"? Go out and rent a copy! Now!
Better still, find a cinema showing the 70mm print - it's the only way
to get the *full* experience.)

My one real complaint about the film is its length (or lack of it).
Huge chunks of the original "This Island Earth" are missing, so much so
that the version shown in The Movie just doesn't make any sense. The
original, while not necessarily *better*, is at least *coherent*. While
I understand that this sort of thing was dictated by the studio, and was
out of Best Brains' control, it doesn't make me feel much better about
it. More of the original would mean more riffs, which could hardly be a
bad thing.

Overall, I'd give it 3.5 out of 5.

That's it for this time around. Please let me know about anything you
liked (or didn't like)! Keep those cards and letters coming!

Time to push the button ....

Bruce
MSTie #72759

Any of these e-mail addresses will get to me, all are checked regularly:

bprobst@vitgbsd3.telstra.com.au <-- work
bprobst@ibm.net <-- home generic internet
100372.1643@compuserve.com <-- Compuserve (duh)