Archive for the ‘Movies’ Category

Mads Join Rifftrax MST3K Kickstarter

Wednesday, February 11th, 2026

More good news on the Rifftrax MST3K Kickstarter, where I said “I think many have preferred Dr. Forrester and TV’s Frank” to be involved.

Well shiver me timbers! I spake thus, and lo, it has come to pass!

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.”

MST3K With Rifftrax Crew Kickstarter

Monday, February 2nd, 2026

Well, this is some news.

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.

I’m assuming this is a direct result of Shout factory buying out Joel Hodgson’s share in MST3K.

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).

I would totally back this is I weren’t broke.

Library Additions: Three Science Fiction Reference Works

Friday, December 26th, 2025

Three reference works I picked up on my DFW trip.

  • (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.

  • Library Addition: Signed First of Aaron Allston’s Betrayal

    Friday, December 5th, 2025

    Another Metroplex find:

    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.

    Aaron died in 2014.

    Halloween Horrors: Del Toro’s Frankenstein

    Friday, October 10th, 2025

    Guillermo del Toro has directed his version of Frankenstein. Here’s the teaser trailer:

    And here’s the second trailer:

    It looks pretty good, and more faithful to the original novel. And sthe ubject matter plays right to del Toro’s thematic strengths.

    It starts a theatrical run next Friday, and goes to Netflix a few weeks later.

    Halloween Horrors: Kevin Pollack Greets Trick-or-Treaters as Christopher Walken

    Wednesday, October 1st, 2025

    To kick off the Halloween season, here’s Kevin Pollack on the Rich Eisen show talking about greeting Trick-or-Treaters as Christopher Walken:

    “Which one of you little freaks can guess what I’ve buried under the house?”

    Good times, good times…

    The First Appearance of Spinal Tap?

    Friday, September 19th, 2025

    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…

    Library Addition: Ron Haydock’s Deerstalker: Watson and Holmes on Screen

    Friday, August 22nd, 2025

    Another purchase from that Facebook seller.

    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.

    Shoegazer Sunday: Speaker Gain Teardrop’s “Metaphorville”

    Sunday, April 27th, 2025

    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.”

    Halloween Horrors: Pitch Meeting for The Shining

    Friday, October 25th, 2024

    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…)