MST3k: The Movie screening and panel at Dragon Con 2023

MST3K Central
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Hey folks!

Daniel Griffith of Ballyhoo Motion Pictures is hosting a panel and screening of “Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie” from 1996 at Dragon Con in Atlanta this year on Labor Day Weekend.

Because he’s a very busy guy, he asked me to write and submit 20 MST3k trivia questions for this event. He was impressed with my MST3k knowledge from his MST3k Dragon Con panels from 2018 and 2019.

There will be prizes given out based on your ability to answer the questions.

The event will take place at the Hilton host hotel on Friday, September 1st at 8:30pm/

I’ll be in attendance, cosplaying as El Santo with White Dot in hand. This is the same cosplay get up I had at Blobfest for MST3Kon there earlier this year, when I met Joel, Jonah, and Emily.

Look forward to seeing any of you who attend!

http://app.core-apps.com/dragoncon23/event/54fb3ec90eef33094f9d75c19c20104d

https://www.dragoncon.org/

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Damn, I wish I could be there. That sounds awesome.

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For the funsies of those of us not attending, could you post the trivia questions here after the event?

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Will you be business suit Santo again, or will you be in proper luchadore kit? I understand that the heat in Atlanta during Labor Day weekend can be brutal.

I once wrote a MST3K trivia challenge for MarsCon 2019. Regarding the question about the name of the band Mike fronted for in his cheese factory days, everyone agreed that Sex Factory is a great name for a band.

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Ah, DragonCon. I went three times in the 90s as a vendor and performer. Long drive, but so worth it. Where else are you going to see Darth Vader flanked by stormtroopers on either side do a Rockettes dance?

Also, I got to see The Misfits and Gwar one of the times. Gwar isn’t really my sort of music but man, do they put on one amazing live show. I did stand in the back to make sure I didn’t get covered in fluids.

Wish I could go again, but I don’t have the time or the money.

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Sadly, I can’t go but I am intrigued by the reels “buried” at Gizmomic before now. I am guessing a blooper reel, and maybe a better print of the original version of the movie before focus groups and dumb executives ruined it. Maybe a future blu-ray from this?

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What, the cardigan? You mean the cardigan, right?

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I went for 10 straight years; 2001-2011. Met some life long friends there…danced so much (Nazguls doing the Macarena? Nuns doing Thriller??)…had some, er, interesting guest interactions (“Mr. Trinneer, that’s my foot!!”)…and gave up going because it just got too dang big. 2001, it was 4 days in 2 hotels. 2011, it was 5 days across 6 hotels. They’ve added another hotel and the Convention Center since, I think.

And I’m just too cash poor for it now, LOL! But I do remember the halcyon days!

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I’ll be using the suit and pants from my Pee Wee Herman cosplay outfit with my El Santo mask (I’ll take off the bow tie and put on the neck tie, as well as take off the white shoes and put on my black shoes. I don’t want to have to change into another suit. It’s close enough).

Regarding if I can post the questions after the panel has concluded, I’ll have to ask Daniel Griffith for permission first at the panel.

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That was a really fun panel. There’s really nothing like watching MST3K with a bunch of fellow MSTies.

Thanks for helping put it together!

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Wait. Wait.

Wait.

Is this what El Santo looks like without the mask?

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I know I’m long overdue on this, but Daniel Griffith gave me permission to share the questions and answers for the trivia contest held during his MST3k: The Movie panel at Dragon Con earlier this year, not that its concluded.

  1. Actor Russell Johnson, best known as The Professor on “Gilligan’s Island”, starred in “This Island Earth” and this other film featured in Season Nine of “Mystery Science Theater 3000”.

Answer: “The Space Children” (MST3k episode 906).

  1. Jim Mallon directed “Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie” and this other 1986 horror film.

Answer: Blood Hook (we can also accept Muskie Madness as an answer).

  1. The Metaluna spaceship pilot (the one the MST3k film personalities quip is sitting too close to the TV) was played by an uncredited Richard Deacon. Deacon is best known for playing Mel Cooley, on this Carl Reiner-created, ottoman-tripping TV series.

Answer: The Dick Van Dyke Show

  1. Actor Lance Fuller, who played Brack in “This Island Earth”, appeared in this other film seen on a Season 8 episode of “Mystery Science Theater 3000”.

Answer: “The She-Creature (MST3k episode 808)

  1. The actor who played the delivery man in “This Island Earth” went on to direct three movies in his career, all of which were infamously featured on the Sixth Season of “Mystery Science Theater 3000”. What is his name?

Answer: Coleman Francis

  1. Follow up to the last question. Can you name all three of the movies Coleman Francis directed that got featured on Season Six of “Mystery Science Theater 3000”?

Answer: “The Skydivers” (MST3k episode 609), “Red Zone Cuba (MST3k episode 619), and “The Beast of Yucca Flats” (MST3k episode 621).

  1. Among the three uncredited music composers for the “This Island Earth” soundtrack was a multiple Oscar and Grammy award-winning composer. He went on to score such films as “Touch of Evil”, “The Pink Panther”, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, “Charade”, and “Victor/Victoria”, as well as the music and theme for the “Peter Gunn” TV series.

Answer: Henry Mancini

  1. According to the “Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie” cast, they blamed the lack of advertising and disappointing box office gross for the film on Gramercy Pictures executives deciding to prioritize their marketing budget on this 1996 film starring Pamela Anderson from the “Baywatch” TV series.

Answer: “Barb Wire”

  1. The editor of “This Island Earth” was Virgil Vogel. Name the movie he directed that got featured on a Season 8 episode of “Mystery Science Theater 3000”.

Answer: “The Mole People”

  1. The movie theater sequences for “Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie” were filmed at this Minneapolis-area production complex that also served as the private estate of the music artist Prince.

Answer: Paisley Park

  1. In “Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie”, upon first seeing the Metaluna Mutant, the MST3k theater gang reference business woman and convicted tax evader Leona Helmsley as a joke regarding the monster appearance. Universal Studios executives deemed the original reference and joke too obscure for mainstream audiences, demanding it be changed. Originally, the riff and joke for this scene was to reference this funk music singer and bass guitarist, who the MST3k talent felt better and more closely resembled in appearance to the creature.

Answer: Bootsy Collins

  1. “This Island Earth” producer William Alland previously worked and performed as part of Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre radio troupe. He played reporter Jerry Thompson, tasked with finding the meaning of “Rosebud”, the dying last words of Welles’ titular character in this 1941 film.

Answer: “Citizen Kane”

  1. While Joseph Newman is credited with directing “This Island Earth”, Universal Studios expressed displeasure for some of his work on the film, causing them to hire someone else uncredited to re-shoot the Metaluna scenes. He directed such films as “It Came From Outer Space”, “Tarantula”, “The Incredible Shrinking Man”, “The Mouse That Roared”, “Creature from the Black Lagoon”, “Revenge of the Creature”, and “The Space Children”, with the latter two seen on “Mystery Science Theater 3000”. Name this man.

Answer: Jack Arnold

  1. The “hard copy of the status report” is actually of copy of the official newsletter of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Info Club published by Best Brains Productions. What was the name of the newsletter publication?

Answer: The Satellite News

  1. The prop painting in Exeter’s office that prompts the MST3k gang to quip resembles a hamburger, was re-used and displayed again in this 1960 Universal Pictures film, seen in a Season Eight episode of “Mystery Science Theater 3000”. (Hint: “Look! She has an original Ray Kroc on the wall!”).

Answer: “The Leech Woman” (MST3k episode 802)

  1. A replica of the Interocitor was featured in a 1985 music video for this music artist’s song, “Dare to Be Stupid”.

Answer: ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic

  1. Footage from “This Island Earth” is seen on a television set being watched by an alien in this 1982 Sci-Fi blockbuster film.

Answer: “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial”

  1. While Jim Mallon was the voice of Gypsy in “Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie”, most of the physical puppeteering of the character in the film was performed by this Best Brains crew member, who took over as the voice and puppeteer of the character in the middle of the Eighth Season of the “Mystery Science Theater 3000” TV series.

Answer: Patrick Brantseg

  1. When Mike Nelson activates the manipulator arms to free the Hubble Space Telescope, the name on the panel and accompanying theme music contains a reference to this classic Season Four episode of “Mystery Science Theater 3000”.

Answer: “Manos, the Hands of Fate” (MST3k episode 424).

  1. The rough experience the cast and writers of “Mystery Science Theater 3000” endured during production of the movie, from dealing with demanding Universal Studios executives and making changes based off test audience feedback, was memorably lampooned in the host segments of a Season Seven episode of the show. Said episode chronicled Crow T. Robot’s efforts to produce his “Earth vs. Soup” script into a feature film. Name the movie riffed in that episode.

Answer: “The Incredible Melting Man” (MST3k episode 704).

People were handed out raffle tickets, and if your number on the ticket was called, you were called up to be a contest for that round.

Here’s a rundown of the success of the contestants and the questions asked:

Question #1 from the list: None of the contestants on stage were able to answer correctly.

Question #2 from list: No contestants answered with “Blood Hook”.

Question #3: A contestant correctly answered “The Dick Van Dyke Show”.

Question #4: A female contestant (who works as an embalmed) answered correctly with “The She Creature”.

Question #8: A male contestant incorrectly answers with “Barbarella”. Next contestant incorrectly answers “Stripperella” (the animated show Pam Anderson did voice work). I believe another contestant or we asked the audience for the answer, which finally produced the correct answer, “Barb Wire”.

Question #9: The earlier winning embalmer contestant gave the answer of Virgil Vogel to the contestant standing next to her, so he could answer correctly.

Question #10: Stage contestants fail to come up with Paisley Park as the answer, so Griffith asked the audience who answered correctly.

Question #12: A contestant correctly answered “Citizen Kane”.

Question #13: None of the contestants answered correctly with Jack Arnold.

Question #14: I think one of the contestants or an audience member in the crowd was able to answer “The Satellite News” correctly.

Question #16: A contestant correctly answered with “Weird Al Yankovic”.

Question #17: A contestant correctly answered with “E.T.”.

Question #19: A contestant correctly answered with “Manos”.

In addition, Daniel Griffith prompted me to take the mic and ask one of the questions from the list to the contestants. I read question #5, but no one answered with “Coleman Francis”. Daniel Griffith prompted me to list the names of the films C.F. directly gradually until someone answered. I had to read the names of all three of the C.F. films before an audience member in the crowd correctly answered “Coleman Francis”.

Daniel Griffith also tossed in some easy questions as well.

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