Ever since Joel Hodgson left Mystery Science Theater 3000, the domain
of making fun of bad movies has belonged totally to Mike Nelson. He
ruled the roost on MST3K for years, and after the show ended he has
gone on to do the Rifftrax website and a new straight to DVD series,
The Film Crew. Joel has been off doing nobody seems to know what; he
showed up in a couple of great episodes of Freaks and Geeks and he has
some TV writing credits to his name. That’s about it.
But now he’s back with a vengeance, and he’s staking his claim to the
genre of talking over films. His new project is called Cinematic
Titanic, and it will feature Trace Beaulieu (the real Crow and Dr.
Clayton Forrester!), J. Elvis Weinstein, Mary Jo Pehl and Frank Conniff.
Yes, TV’s Frank.
The crew has licensed their first film, which Joel describes as making
‘Manos the Hands of Fate look like Santa Claus Conquers the Martians in
a car wreck
with Eegah! with notes of peach.’ That should be out (presumably on
DVD) by Christmas; in December the gang will be making their live debut
in San Francisco for an ILM/Lucasfilm only crowd. I have to imagine
they’ll be tackling a Star Wars film. That show could make its way to
us sometime after.
The Joel vs Mike debate has been largely academic, but now they’re in
direct and fierce competition. I can’t wait to see what Joel and his
original MST buddies have got up their sleeves. Stay tuned for more
info, and visit the Cinematic Titanic website to sign up for the
newsletter!