From: Premiere#

Date: November 1992

Headline: Fine Tuning: Cable Ready

Photo(s): "MST3K": Say cheese. [Servo, Joel, Crow, Gypsy, Dr. F and Frank with planetoid and coffee cups.]

Author: Kirk Cordero, Caroline

Page(s): 123

Whenever Hollywood releases a stink bomb, everybody suffers: The movie executives who produced it, the actors who are humiliated in it, and the poor moviegoers who have to sit through it. Everybody, that is, but Joel Hodgson and Jim Mallon, cofounders of the increasingly popular cult cable show from Minneapolis, "Mystery Science Theater 3000" (Comedy Central, Fridays and Saturdays; check local listings). To these guys, the cheesiest, most lamebrain movie is the ultimate piece de resistance.

Hodgson conceived the idea for "MST3K" some five years ago when his mother gave him a Godzilla movie for Christmas. "I noticed it was public domain," he says, "and realized you didn't have to pay to do something with it." Before long, he was on cable playing Joel, your average lab technician at the mercy of evil bosses; they shoot him into orbit and try to torture him and his cute sidekick robots Crow (Trace Beaulieu) and Tom Servo (Kevin Murphy) with the worst movies they can find, such as the upcoming doozy "Hercules Against the Moon Men" (November 7). To no avail--Joel and the 'bots (silhouetted at the lower right-hand corner of your screen) have a hilarious time heckling the movies to death; during commercial breaks, they perform insightful skits and song-and-dance numbers inspired by whatever piece of trash they're watching. The humor ranges from giddy sophomorism (when Hercules lifts his ladylove onto his horse, Joel squeeks, "I think I'm sitting on the saddle horn!") to media-savvy satire (during an apocalyptic volcanic eruption scene, Tom solemnly intones, ""Dianetics", by L. Ron Hubbard--'Why do I hurt inside?' Page 54"; Crow adds, "'When will this stupid movie end?' Page 38"; and Joel ties it up with "'How much money can we get out of Tom Cruise?' Page 25"). "We like to pick at Hollywood's festering scab," says Murphy proudly. "MST3K"'s fan club is expected to reach 20,000 strong by the end of the year, and not surprisingly, a lot of the biggest fans are in Hollywood. Hodgson says that Miles O'Keeffe, the star of an abominable movie they skewered called "Cave Dwellers", wrote in to say the show was "wonderful." Don't miss "MST3K"'s Turkey Day Marathon (November 26)--30 hours of shows, including two new ones: "The Beatniks" and "Fire Maidens From Outerspace".