So first there was the Film Crew which for various reasons were delayed several years but the DVD’s are now getting released regularly.
Then there was Mike Nelson’s Rifftrax from Mike Nelson.
Next Frank Conniff took on animation with Cartoon Dump.
And now in the past week two more MST3k spin-offs have been announced, one of them official!
The more impressive of the two is Cinematic Titanic which features Joel Robinson, Trace Beaulieu, and Josh Weinstein. It’s not completely clear what they’re doing yet but it sounds like they’re using the classic MST3k formula of licensing a terrible forgotten movie and then riffing over it. From the site:
The other announcement is that Best Brains Inc is reviving MST3k with new animated adventures of Gypsy, Crow, and Tom Servo. They’ll be available at mst3k.com starting November 5. The only person who is returning at the moment is Jim Mallon who is voicing both Gypsy and Crow for this.
I don’t have much hope for the official MST3k release but all of the talent of MST3k is back to riffing. It’s the best time to be an MST3k fan since the show went off the air…
What I think has happened is that the Film Crew DVDs must’ve raked in a pile of cash, and Jim Mallon and Joel Hodgson each decided, separately, to try and cash in on that.
Though Hodgson’s effort seems more well-rounded.
The Mallon MST bots-only revival sounds half-assed.
Call me cynical, but that’s what it seems like to me too. I have to think Joel’s probably a little annoyed that Mike’s as successful with Rifftrax as he is.
Still, it’s good to see him getting back into the act. I’ve been enjoying Rifftrax, though, so I’ll probably stick with that.
While I miss MST3K proper, I can only see Mike AND Joel doing their thing as great news. Trace Beaulieu returning to the fold with Frank is also very exciting, although my ideal combo was the Mike-Forrester-Frank period.
I’m a little confused about the 'bots idea. I always did prefer Mallon’s version of Gypsy, though.
Oh yes. They’re very worth it. We’ve made RiffTrax a weekly get-together at our house. It takes a little practice getting the dvd synced up with the audio, but once you’ve got it going, it’s pretty easy.
We love 'em. Rifftrax night is happy night at our house. We have particularly enjoyed the Star Wars ones and the Matrix, but they’re all good, esp. Battlefield Earth and the dragon one and…oh. Sorry. Yes, get one.