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Mike and the 'bots

While flipping through the pages of today's Houston Chronicle, I came across a nice little write-up about Mystery Science Theater 3000. Right under the headline, it says:

“Mike, Tom Servo and Crow are back to make a mockery of cheesy films.”

Well, that’s not entirely true, of course. What the article’s really about is Legend Films’ colorized DVD releases of some movies featuring commentary tracks with the Mike and the guys who voiced the robots on MST3k. Basically, it’s MST3k minus the silhouettes and the host segments. The first will be The Three Stooges in Color, a collection of four shorts due on April 26. Mike Nelson has already recorded solo commentaries for such films as Reefer Madness and Night of the Living Dead.

It’s all good news, but Nelson sort of puts to rest any hopes for a return of MST3k by saying its ownership "is kind of spread out, and it would be difficult." Now, is he talking about the old episodes and movie rights or the MST name and its characters? My guess would be the latter. Still a caption under the photo in the article suggests "new installments of Mystery Science Theater 3000." Being the nerd that I am, I sent the writer of the article a polite e-mail asking what the real deal was. He sent back an interesting response...

Hi, Mr. Westbrook.

I enjoyed your write-up in today's paper about MST3k. But I'm curious. Most fans have written off any idea of a full-fledged return of MST3k. And while Legend Films' upcoming DVD releases are exciting, the caption under the photo of Mike and the 'bots reads:

"Play MST for me: Mike Nelson is joined by his robot companions, Tom Servo, left, and Crow T. Robot, in new installments of Mystery Science Theater 3000."

"New installments of Mystery Science Theater 3000" and DVD commentary tracks are two different things. Nelson said in the article that ownership is spread out and [a return] would be difficult. Is he talking about the movie rights in old MST3k episodes or ownership of the MST3k name and its characters?

Thanks,
Clint Keene


Clint:

I share your pain. The only thing I wrote is what's under my byline: the story itself. Cutlines, headlines and the page one promo for the story were all written by various copy editors, who didn't seem to read the story. Sorry for their perplexing confusion.

As for what Mike what talking about, I think it's the ownership of the MST3K brand, if you will, which is a legal situation. I'm not so sure that would keep MST3K from flying again if there was genuine interest by a cable channel, though.

Thanks for writing.

Bruce Westbrook
Houston Chronicle

Here's a link to the online version of the article. (EDIT: The Link is no longer active. Too old, I guess. And I will not pay for a "Houston Chronicle Archive Pass")