Yes, those Mads. Mike, Kevin and Bill are incredibly happy to announce that MST3K legends Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff will be the guest bad guys on the fourth and final show of this run.
Trace and Frank will return to their iconic roles of Dr. Clayton Forrester & TV’s Frank, taking the reins for one cheesy movie experiment (title TBD) – tormenting Mike and the bots just like in the good ol’ days.
In addition to that, Trace and Frank will be cowriting this episode along with the RiffTrax gang. We’re over the moon to work with our old friends again!
Given that Joel Hodgson is still a consultant to the whole shebang, I think this indeed counts as “Getting the band back together.”
Something colossal is happening in the not-too-distant future — Mystery Science Theater 3000: The RiffTrax Experiments! For the past two decades, we’ve been serving up fresh movie riffs as RiffTrax, but in celebration of our 20th anniversary this year, we’re going back to where it all began.
We’re thrilled to announce that for 2026, in partnership with Shout! Studios, we will be making FOUR brand-new episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000! Mike Nelson is returning as host, alongside Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett as his robot friends Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot.
The entire production will take place this spring/summer in Minnesota with Mike, Kevin, and Bill as creative leads. We’ll be building all-new, hand-crafted sets and props. And the hilarious MST3K host segments WILL, of course, be back! We plan to release all four episodes by the end of 2026.
Well, people have been asking for the original cast back since the first reboot, and now they’re getting it (though I think many have preferred Dr. Forrester and TV’s Frank involved).
(Donaldson, Stephen R.) W. A. Senior. Stephen R. Donaldson’s Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: Variations on the Fantasy Tradition. Kent State University Press, 1995. First edition hardback (“03 02 01 00 99 98 97 96 95 5 4 3 2 1” numberline), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket (although, oddly, it seems quite like a heavy grade of red construction paper). Critical companion to the Thomas Covenant books. Added mainly because Kent State has put out a number of interesting SF/F/H related books over the years, some of which (like Bleiler’s Guide to Supernatural Fiction) have gotten quite pricey on the secondary market. Bought for $8 at Recycled Books in Denton.
Moskowitz, Sam. Explorers of the infinite: Shapers of Science Fiction. World Publishing Company, 1963. Hardback reprint (Currey says First Edition stated on copyright page, and I’m not seeing it anywhere), a Near Fine copy with bend at head and heel and a few pinpoint spots to boards, in a Near Fine- Mylar-protected dust jacket with wear at head and heel, slight age darkening to spine, some rubbing, and slight darkening to white portions of rear panel. Mostly essays on individual writers, arranged chronologically, from well-known figures like Lovecraft, Stapledon and Burroughs to more obscure ones like Fitz-James O’Brien and Frank Reade Jr. Moskowitz was tremendously important as one of the field’s first historians and critics, but also tremendously controversial due to many tendentious opinions. Bought at a DFW Half Price Books for $6.99.
Westwood, Emma, editor. Midnight Movie Monographs: Bride of Frankenstein. Electric Dreamhouse/PS Publishing, 2023. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Essays on the celebrated second film in the Universal Frankenstein series. The only other volume I have in this series is their Plan 9 From Outer Space book. Bought for $6 from Recycled Books in Denton.
Allston, Aaron. Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Betrayal. Del Rey, 2006. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight bend at head and heel and slight bumping at points, in a Fine- dust jacket with trace of bumping at points, signed and dated (“2006/6/24”) by Allston. Bought at Half Price Books for $9.99.
This sketch comedy TV show from 1979 features what is probably the first ever TV appearance of Spinal Tap. I was planning to post this right before Spinal Tap II: The End Continues came out, but I got distracted by shiny objects and the movie came out last week.
Alas, the sequel seems to have done very poorly at the box office, so I might just have to wait for it on DVD…
Haydock, Ron. Deerstalker! Holmes and Watson on Screen. Scarecrow Press, 1978. First edition hardback (no additional printings listed), a Fine- copy with wear at points, sans dust jacket, presumably as listed. Filmography of Sherlock Holmes films and TV shows. Bought for $10.
It seems that every six years or so I put up a song from semi-obscure Japanese Shoegaze/Post-Rock band Speaker Gain Teardrop, so here’s Metaphorville.”
What’s more Halloween than an iconic horror movie directed by iconic director Stanley Kubrick from an iconic horror novel by Stephen King mocked by iconic Ryan George?
Honestly, I remember not being all that impressed with The Shining when I saw it back in the 1980s. A rewatch is probably overdue.
(And for fans of The Shining, this odd item might be of interest…)