MSTies unite!

[mupcollector1]

As for the history of changing out characters:

Originally, Joel's concept was that he was the last man on earth, and was in a spaceship, trying to come in contact with any other survivors (shades of I Am Legend). So he won't get lonely, Joel built some robot companions. Eventually, this idea was changed to Joel originally working as a janitor for mad scientists Forrester and Ernhartd. The Mads needed a test case for their experiment, so they blasted Joel up into space. The experiment: send Joel cheesy movies to see how many awful flicks it takes to drive one's brain insane. In order to keep his sanity, Joel and his robot pals riff during the movies.

After Ernhartd went "missing", Forrester hired a former Arby's employee named Frank (or TV's Frank). Later in the series, Forrester and Frank hired a temp worker named Mike. Gypsy overheard the two Mads talking about killing Mike, but misheard, and thought they were talking about Joel. With the help of Mike, Gypsy prepares an escape pod for Joel. After Joel leaves, the Mads need a new test case, and so they conk Mike on the head, an shoot him into space.

Unlike Joel, who treated the bots like a surrogate father, Mike was more of a buddy to the bots, somebody that they could pick on, but still pal around with. In addition, Mike had more of an average Joe persona, while Joel's was more laid back.

Later, TV's Frank was summoned to "Second Banana Heaven". Pearl moves into Forrester's place in order to look after him. At the end of season seven, Forrester's funding is cut, and he plans to end the experiment and move back in with his mother and cut loose the Satellite of Love (the spaceship). However, Mike and bots manage to find a way of escaping, and head back to earth. The episode ends with Mike and the bots becoming pure enery (as they're at the edge of the universe). Meanwhile, in a hilarious parody of 2001: A Space Oddessy, Forrester tries to grab a giant videotape labeled "The Worst Movie Ever Made". Ultimately, he's reborn as a star-baby. Pearl sees this as an opportunity to try again at raising her son.

When the Sci-Fi era begins, Mike and the bots learn that they have been traveling for centuries, and our now heading back towards earth in the year 2525. Much to their shock, earth is now ruled entirely by apes, one of whom is Prof. Bobo. As demanded by earth's new ruler (which is later revealed to be Pearl), Bobo sends the guys another bad movie to watch. It's soon revealed that Pearl gave up on raising her son, and smothered him to death with a pillow. His dying wish was that Pearl take over the movie experiment. Thus, Pearl froze herself and woke up in the year 2525, becoming the ruler of the apes. Earth gets blown up, but Pearl and Bobo manage to escape. They land on another planet ruled by "observers". It, too, gets blown up, with one survivor, Brain Guy. Eventually, Pearl, Bobo, and Brain Guy reside in a castle known as Castle Forrester.

During the last season, Joel returned for a brief apperance. He manages to save the SOL just as it was getting ready to be blown up (Dr. Forrester had it set to do this earlier on). And for one brief moment, Joel and Mike finally meet. Frank also appears. It's revealed that Frank was kicked out of Second Banana Heaven, and eventually became a Soul Taker.

At the end of the series, Pearl accidentally sends the SOL to crash back on earth (even though earth had already been destroyed, but who cares? It's just a show). Pearl gives up on saving Mike and the bots, and gets a job as dictator of Qatar. Brain Guy and Bobo are also getting new jobs. Mike and the bots finally crash on earth, and Mike, Crow, and Servo rent a small apartment (Gypsy started "ConGypsoCo", and opted not to move in with the guys).

Wow cool, I didn't think there was a plot in the series. Interesting. So whenever there's a cast change, there's a story to go with their characters. I like that What episode is the one where Joel leaves? So they didn't just have him disappear instantly and up comes Mike then?

You seen the one where they turn Mike into a puppet, well ventriloquist dummy rather. lol I think it's on Vol 7, I watch the three puppets watching the movie and I'm thinking "Alright, now this is just getting silly." lol

There's so much I got to catch up with on this show. lol Thanks for the info.

I remember reading on how they can't release all the episodes onto DVD because of copyright reasons for the films and possibly lawsuits on some of the jokes, etc. I read it on Wikipedia awhile back.

 

[Princeton]

Joel's last episode was "Mitchell". The one where they turn Mike into a dummy is "Devil Doll".

I just got another Rifftrax DVD: Little Shop of Horrors. I've actually seen the unriffed version (based solely on the stage play being my all-time favorite musical) and I made it as far as the hooker scene and gave up. LSoH is the third Roger Corman movie I've seen (the other two are The Wasp Woman and Gunslinger, which was done on MST3K) and easily the worst of those three.

 

[mupcollector1]

Joel's last episode was "Mitchell". The one where they turn Mike into a dummy is "Devil Doll".

I just got another Rifftrax DVD: Little Shop of Horrors. I've actually seen the unriffed version (based solely on the stage play being my all-time favorite musical) and I made it as far as the hooker scene and gave up. LSoH is the third Roger Corman movie I've seen (the other two are The Wasp Woman and Gunslinger, which was done on MST3K) and easily the worst of those three.

The Frank Oz version or the more earlier versions? I barely remember the Frank Oz version. I think Brain was one of the puppeteers and Heather made a cameo in there I think.

 

[Mo Frackle]

Joel's escape and Mike's introduction, (from the "Mitchel" episode).
Part 1:

Part 2:

Joel meets Mike (from the sesason 10 episode "Soultaker")

 

[Mo Frackle]

MST Scrapbook (go to youtube to see the remaining parts):

MST Poopie! Outtakes from the CC era (go to youtube to see th remaining parts):

Poopie! 2 Outtakes from the Sci-Fi era (sequel):

Poopie Parade of Values (infomerical featuring Mike, Kevin, and Trace:

 

[Mo Frackle]

Also, check out:

MST TV Specials:
http://www.mst3kinfo.com/?page_id=6423

As you can see, I'm addicted to this show.

Btw, the KTMA stuff can also be found on youtube (including bits from the unaired pilot). However, because no fans were able to record the first few episodes, they aren't available (although Jim Mallon has the original masters).

 

[Princeton]

The Frank Oz version or the more earlier versions? I barely remember the Frank Oz version. I think Brain was one of the puppeteers and Heather made a cameo in there I think.

The 1960 B&W version.

 

[newsmanfan]

------------
Very nice work Mo! I have only one small correction: you say that "10 minutes" of a bad film would be screened in the KTMA days. Nope. I have a few of those, and they are, frog help 'em, full-on bad movies with VERY adlibbed riffing, which is still often a blast. I know several of the KTMA eps were re-done for later seasons, esp season 1.

Frank is doing a new podcast of radio plays! I listened to the first one last night (free on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/podhouse-90/id567057144 ) and it's hilarious, if a bit raunchy. Frank scripted and directed and plays a Flying Monkey in it. It's about idiotic pundits, politics, and the Wizard of Oz. Great stuff, though not for the faint of ear...
---------------

 

[Mo Frackle]

------------
Very nice work Mo! I have only one small correction: you say that "10 minutes" of a bad film would be screened in the KTMA days. Nope. I have a few of those, and they are, frog help 'em, full-on bad movies with VERY adlibbed riffing, which is still often a blast. I know several of the KTMA eps were re-done for later seasons, esp season 1.

Frank is doing a new podcast of radio plays! I listened to the first one last night (free on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/podhouse-90/id567057144 ) and it's hilarious, if a bit raunchy. Frank scripted and directed and plays a Flying Monkey in it. It's about idiotic pundits, politics, and the Wizard of Oz. Great stuff, though not for the faint of ear...
---------------

No, I mean the guys would screen 10 minutes of a movie BEFORE shooting. In other words, they'd look at a film, and see if it was MST-worthy.

 

[Mo Frackle]

According to Josh Weinstien, the KTMA shows were done in one day. After watching the first 10 or so minutes of a movie and quickly writing the host segments, the guys would go in and do the SOL scenes. Then, right before lunch, the mad scientists scenes were done. After lunch, the guys would come back and do the theater scenes. While that was going on, the editors would be putting it all together so that the show would be in the can literally by the end of the day. And the guys had to make sure they were out of the studio by 5:00 pm before KTMA did a wrestling show. Trace said something along the lines of "We made sure to get out by then becauase we knew better than to mess with the wrestlers".