Tuesday, April 16, 1996
After years of unleashing their patented blend of sarcasm on the
worst films in history, the heroes of ‘Mystery Science Theatre
3000’ take on the big screen.By Dina Gachman
Daily Bruin Staff
Some pretty strange fan mail has been sent to "Mystery Science
Theater 3000" creators Jim Mallon and Trace Beaulieu. Every year, a
woman from Michigan knits the entire staff wool sweaters. Someone
sent them computer pornography with the faces of famous people
attached to the bodies. Once they even received an envelope holding
a full set of toenails.
Mallon (writer, director and producer of the show) claims that
he threw this letter, and its contents, away. Beaulieu remembers it
differently.
"We tried to reconstruct the person from the toenails," he
says.
Beaulieu’s comment pretty much sums up the humor of "Mystery
Science Theater," which is moving from television to theaters on
April 19. The show, with its cult-following of more than 50,000
fans, consists of evil scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester (played by
Beaulieu) and his human guinea pig Mike Nelson sailing through
space in the Satellite of Love. Forrester tries to destroy Mike and
his robot friends Tom Servo and Crow by forcing them to watch the
worst movies ever made. Forrester’s scheme fails because Mike and
his pals actually have fun, and entertain themselves by blurting
out hilarious comments to the screen.
Before "Mystery Science Theater," Mallon worked at a small
Minneapolis television station where he and "Mystery Science
Theater" writer Kevin Murphy began filming their own show at night
and on weekends. "Mystery Science Theater" was conceived in 1988
when stand-up comedian Joel Hodgson showed Mallon a sketch he had
drawn.
"We started burning out because we had a regular job," says
Mallon. "(Joel and I) met for lunch and he had a sketch of a guy at
the bottom of a movie screen with a couple of robots. That was all
it was, but that was the start."
This simple beginning was followed by a slot on HBO’s Comedy
Channel in 1989. The show then moved to Comedy Central, and the
22-show series has earned nominations for two Cable Ace Awards, an
Emmy, and in 1994 it won the prestigious Peabody Award. All of this
recognition still has not made "Mystery Science Theater" and its
creators household names.
"One of the funny things about ‘Mystery Science,’" says Mallon,
"is that we’re sort of like the people that got the ticket to the
party by mistake. We’re in this business, but we’re kind of at the
far edge of it."
This peripheral fame does not bother Mallon and the rest of the
crew. They cherish their devoted fans, and their mostly unknown
status as the makers of "Mystery Science Theater."
"I think that to have an audience of people that are that
passionate is really great," says Mallon. "I wouldn’t want to know
what it would feel like to be someone like Roseanne or Jay Leno,
with just a massive fan base."
The show’s cult-following inspired the publication of a "Mystery
Science Theater" book which outlines each episode, along with pins,
trading cards,T-shirts and posters. So why make the transition to
the larger market of movies if a small core of fans is what they
want? For Mallon the answer is simple.
"The thing about the movie," he says, "is that if you watch it
by yourself it’s fun. If you get a friend in the room it’s more
fun. If you get 100 people it starts getting really wild, and
eventually with 2,200 people it just kills you. It’s as fun as fun
gets. That was why we made the movie."
The process of actually finding the cheesy sci-fi films that
Mike and his robots watch can be grueling. For the feature, Mallon
and the rest of the "Mystery Science Theater" writers sat through
over 60 bad films from Universal’s archives. They finally settled
on a full-color 1955 movie called "This Island Earth," which
follows hero/nuclear scientist Cal Meacham as he struggles to save
the planet from big-headed aliens and mutant bugs. Sometimes the
writers have to sit through repeated eight-hour viewings of these
films to complete a "Mystery Science Theater" script. It is not
always a good time.
"You enjoy the experience the first time because it’s new," says
Mallon. "The tedium of the second viewing hurts, and eventually
it’s like spending time with a cousin you really don’t like."
Despite the sometimes painful movie watching, his experiences
with "Mystery Science Theater" give Mallon a great respect for good
filmmaking.
"I think it’s remarkable that quality films are made at all," he
muses. "Shooting a movie is fraught with possibilities of things
getting screwed up. To think about all the possibilities of things
going poorly  you understand why most films that are made are
not very good."
The "Mystery Science Theater" television show is now canceled,
but with a new film under their belts the future of the show seems
promising. Even so, Mallon is not wrapped up in the possibility of
more fame.
"It’s unclear what the future’s going to be," he says.
"Certainly the film could give us a new life. That would be great,
but films are also a very risky business, so who knows? It really
depends if we can keep it fun, and so far so good."
Trace Beaulieu plays evil scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester in
"Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie."
Jim Mallon, Trace Beaulieu and Kevin Murphy on the set of their
new film.