Fans who miss hanging out in the Satellite of Love with wiseacre puppet robots Tom Servo, Crow and Gypsy can look forward to new animated adventures of the automated trio from the cult favorite SCI-FI Channel series Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K). Series producer Best Brains Inc. is re-launching MST3K.com on Nov. 5 and plans to feature one new animated adventure each week.
On MST3K, the trio of robots joined human hosts Joel Hodgson and Mike J. Nelson in heckling bad science fiction movies they were forced to watch while floating through space. The animated web series is being produced by Best Brains president and series writer Jim Mallon, who also provided the voice of Gypsy. He will be joined by veteran MST3K writer and performer Paul Chaplin, who will voice the role of Crow. New writing and performing talent are being brought on board as well.
Mallon told official MST3K fan site mst3kinfo.com that the new MST3K.com and the animated project “are going to grow in a very organic fashion and we’re going to let the characters and the story take us in the direction they want to take us.”
The Web site will also feature video from the original series, which Best Brains is now calling “the legacy series,” behind-the-scenes footage and other material from the vault. Best Brains is also launching its first online store, featuring all new merchandise based on the show.
In related news, MST3K creator Joel Hodgson, original Crow voicer Trace Beaulieu and original Tom Servo performer J. Elvis Weinstein are kicking off a new movie riffing venture titled Cinematic Titanic. Fellow MST3K veterans Frank Conniff and Mary Jo Pehl are also on board for the project, which has licensed its first movie and is now in preproduction for a Christmas delivery. The December world premiere will involve a private live show for ILM/Lucasfilm employees in San Francisco. For updates on Cinematic Titanic, sign up for the newsletter at http://cinematictitanic.com/infoclub/subscribe.html.
