Now I want to watch some MST3K and I’m stuck at work.

1) How many variations of the openning theme tune were there?

2) Who was the only “celebrity” guest-star to appear in an episode of MST3K? (ie: not portrayed by Mike Nelson or one of the other crew)

3) What is the name of the Chromakey process used to create the image of Joel/Mike and the Bots’ silhouettes in the theater?

4) Why does Tom Servo need to be carried into the theater?

5) Where are they now?

Answers:

1)Six. (counting the early KTMA season)

2) Leonard Maltin portrayed himself during the 9th season episode: “Gorgo.”

3) Shadowrama

4) On-air reason: there’s an air vent near the entrance of the theater that Tom’s hoverskirt can’t quite get over. In real life: Because there wasn’t a convenient way for both bot operators to slide in and out of their positions, so Kevin lays down in his usual spot while Joel/Mike brings the Tom Servo puppet to him.

5) Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy (Servo), and Bill Corbett (Crow) are working on Rifftrax, which provides MP3 audio riffing for crappy contemporary movies and public domain educational shorts. There are currently over 60 movies in the Rifftrax library, and new riffs are released roughly every 3 weeks.

Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu (Crow/Dr. Forrester), Frank Conniff (TV’s Frank), Mary Jo Pehl (Pearl Forrester), and J. Elvis Weinstein (Original Tom Servo/Larry from the KTMA season) have recently started up a direct-to-DVD project called Cinematic Titanic, which retains the MST3K ‘Shadowrama’ silhouette effects, but the cast is seated on bleachers on the sides to reduce blocking out any action (or in most cases, non-action) on the screen. There are currently two Cinematic Titanic features available: ‘The Oozing Skull’ and ‘Doomsday Machine.’ The next DVD released will probably be ‘The Wasp Woman.’

That was the awesomest quiz ever. Thank you, Stacy. Now I will think of MST3K and giggle to myself for the rest of the afternoon.

It’s been stated in a couple of episodes that there’s no oxygen outside the theater while the movie is playing. (generally when the movie is so awful that Mike weighs the benefits of going outside anyways) Also, in MST3K: The Movie, Doctor F has a very ‘Star Trek’-esque agony ray that he uses to punish Mike and the bots for disobeying his evil whims.

So Scorsese, Gore, and Spielberg are all fellow Misties?

Another trivia tidbit: Joel went on to do stage effects for Man or Astro-man?

Good quiz though.

Before Mike took over the SOL from Joel, he was both head writer and a bit player, famous for his manly portrayal of Valeria and the infamous Torgo (though he forgot the Crazy Bread).

Now, SLEEEEEP!