Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Jim Mallon

Writers:

Joel Hodgson (television series Mystery Science Theater 3000)
Michael J. Nelson (writer) ...

Release Date:

19 April 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Every year Hollywood makes hundreds of movies. This is one of them.

Plot:

Mike Nelson and his robot companions watch and give their comments about "This Island Earth".

Plot Keywords:

Robot | Hull Breach | Puppet | Hard Hat | Dirty Harry Impersonation

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Trace Beaulieu	...	Crow T. Robot / Dr. Clayton Forrester
Michael J. Nelson	...	Mike Nelson
Jim Mallon	...	Gypsy
Kevin Murphy	...	Tom Servo
John Brady	...	Benkitnorf

Also Known As:

MST 3000: The Movie (USA) (short title)
MST3K: The Movie
Mystery Science Theatre 3000: The Movie (UK) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

73 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Australia:PG | Canada:PG | Germany:12 | UK:PG | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Energy Park Studios - 1515 Brewster Street, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

Company:

Best Brains

Trivia:

The head of TV's Frank appears on door #2 of the "theater tunnel." TV's Frank was a popular character played by Frank Conniff, who left the show after the sixth season.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Mike and the Bots are riffing their own credits, Crow's mouth barely moves for any of his lines.

Quotes:

Crow T. Robot: Into the weenie mobile, weenie man away!

Movie Connections:

References "All My Children" (1970)

Soundtrack:

Love Theme From Mystery Science Theater 3000

Excellent Example of How Studio Interference Severely Tarnishes a Brilliant Idea

Let's get things straight right off the bat: I LOVE Mystery Science Theater 3000! It was, is, and forever will be my favorite television show of all time, in all its incarnations. And the movie is very funny and good and you should see it.

That said...

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (hereafter called MST3K:TM for time-saving purposes) could of been a LOT better than it was, and it's NOT the fault of the folks at Best Brains, Inc. (The production company that made the TV show, hereafter called BBI). I place the blame entirely on the fine (HA!) folks at Universal, who forced several changes to the movie and it's wonderful riffing, forcing the folks at BBI to "dumb down" their product, mess with their tried-and-true break format, and shoot an entirely different (and stupid, compared to the original) ending, as well as trimming it down to 74 minutes (because at 88, it was TOO LONG! As Servo would say "...the HELL?) When you come right down to it, BBI makes MST3K one way, and the studio told them to do it a different way. And ANY other way is the WRONG way! I really wish that BBI had held out for an offer with more creative control, but if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, etc. I don't blame BBI for taking the offer, but the selfish part of me would of rather the film never got made than compromised so radically. Then the realist in me tells me to be grateful that it DID get made, and succeeds (somewhat) in spite of (and believe me, not BECAUSE of) the restrictions placed on it. 4 stars to the fine folks at BBI, -1,000 stars to Universal, 2 1/2 stars to the movie itself. It hurts me to say that about the movie, but it's true.