MacGYVER YOUR ENTHUSIASM (2)
By:
January 5, 2025
One in a series of enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, analyzing and celebrating favorite TV shows from the Eighties (1984–1993). Series edited by Josh Glenn.
MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 | 1988–1999
The early years of Comedy Central were glorious — messy and experimental. It was a low-budget network free to try out ridiculously brilliant shows like Mystery Science Theater 3000.
The premise is that janitor Joel Robinson (Joel Hodgson) is shot into space by Dr. Clayton Forrester (Trace Beaulieu) and his Igor-like sidekick, TV’s Frank (Frank Conniff). Their plan is to monitor Joel’s reactions to horrific A- B- C- … all the way down to Z-list movies spanning decades as well as generations of actors, from 50-something Lee Van Cleef to 10-year-old Pia Zadora. Being an inventive sort, Joel uses the flotsam and jetsam around him, including a gumball machine and a lacrosse face mask, to create robot pals who’ll join him in riffing on these films, their heads silhouetted at the lower corner of the screen. The show premiered when I was 14; I still wish I’d thought of it first.
Like its network, MST3K was also lovingly low-budget, with sets reminiscent of Tom Baker-era Dr. Who. And they picked some fantastic “experiments”: Operation Double 007, starring Sean Connery’s brother Neil; Eegah, with Moonraker’s Jaws as a caveman in beach-blanket Southern California; and Manos: The Hands of Fate, a favorite that was written, directed, produced by, and starred a fertilizer salesman. Sometimes the jokes write themselves.
It was the jokes that made this show so brilliant. A panting impersonation of Jack Palance in Outlaw of Gor. (“Spent my entire per diem on bunch of crap,” they imagine Palance writing in a non-existent memoir.) Regarding the beefy and shirtless star of Cave Dwellers:
“How much O’Keefe is in this movie?”
“MILES O’Keefe!”
The show boasted references to everything from Kurosawa to Frost to John Sununu, with liberal sprinklings of Minnesota-isms, don’tcha know. I learned more from any given season of MST3K than I did in a semester of college — and enjoyed it way more too.
College… a time and place where young adults are supposed to make enduring friendships and learn important life lessons. But I was largely on my own watching MST3K during the Minnesota-like winters at Ithaca College. Maybe it’s my lone-wolf nature, maybe it’s an only-child thing, or maybe college just sucked. But damn the frat parties, I was lucky to have Joel and the Bots.
PS: During 1993’s showing of Mitchell (the titular heartthrob is Joe Don Baker), though, Joel was rescued and replaced by janitor Mike Nelson. It was art imitating life — conflicts led to Joel Hodgson leaving the show he’d created, and the head writer became the star. Many predicted its demise, but dammit we couldn’t help but love Mike, who wrote great gags and had movie-star good looks. Dare I say MST3K got even better?
MacGYVER YOUR ENTHUSIASM: INTRODUCTION by Josh Glenn | Michael Grasso on MAX HEADROOM | Heather Quinlan on MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 | Mark Kingwell on CHINA BEACH | Judith Zissman on SANTA BARBARA | Adelina Vaca on TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES | Deborah Wassertzug on MOONLIGHTING | Josh Glenn on VOLTRON | Adam McGovern on A VERY BRITISH COUP | Alex Brook Lynn on STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION | Nikhil Singh on CHOCKY | Sara Ryan on REMINGTON STEELE | Vanessa Berry on THE YOUNG ONES | Dan Reines on GET A LIFE | Susannah Breslin on PEE-WEE’S PLAYHOUSE | Marc Weidenbaum on LIQUID TELEVISION | Elina Shatkin on PERFECT STRANGERS | Lynn Peril on THE SIMPSONS | David Smay on THE DAYS AND NIGHTS OF MOLLY DODD | Annie Nocenti on THE SINGING DETECTIVE | Tom Nealon on MIAMI VICE | Anthony Miller on ST. ELSEWHERE | Gordon Dahlquist on BLACKADDER | Peggy Nelson on SEINFELD | Nicholas Rombes on TWIN PEAKS | Ramona Lyons on ÆON FLUX
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