Unsure if this was ever shared here — early last year, Jonah did an episode of his podcast “Let Me Watch Your Movie With You” that guest-starred Trace Beaulieu and Kevin Murphy. The episode is designed as a running commentary for MST3K: The Movie and has a lot of insight about the production’s tumultuous history.
Some awesome anecdotes here, including the fact Jonah’s favorite riff/episode is The Movie itself. Plus, it is AWESOME to hear the current co-host of MST3K share stories with, and ask questions for, the actors he grew up watching.
To anyone who listened before or is listening now, what did you think? I personally think it’s awesome seeing the current and former casts interacting this way, and that there’s so much mutual respect and support there.
EDIT: It also shows how difficult things were for Trace near the end of his run. He and Kevin both wishing they asked Frank to come aboard for the movie was heartwarming.
The worst part of the movie is Frank’s absence. Dr. Forrester is a bully, and without someone to bully (or when he’s the bullied one himself) is just sad.
May be an unpopular take, but I honestly wasn’t a fan of Pearl turning the bullying tables on Clay either, especially before Pearl became an awesome Mad in her own right. I know Clay getting his comeuppance is funny, and some Clay/Pearl moments were legit awesome. But I feel the joke just lost its appeal after a while.
Thanks for the tip. I remember going to see the movie in the theater back in '96; I think it was a limited run at the Brattle Theater in Cambridge, MA. The audience was pretty excited, and it was fun at first, but I remember feeling a little underwhelmed. Does that track? Haven’t seen it since then; didn’t even remember that it was Mike & not Joel.
I remember at the time thinking it was a good, but not great episode. Over time it has really grown on me and become one of my favorites. Except for lonely Clayton.
Thanks for sharing! Just finished listening to it! I realized towards the end that there was video of the movie playing as they were speaking…which made WAY more sense! But I thoroughly enjoyed the info and back stories they told!
I think Trace did the best he could. His performance is one of my favorite parts of the movie. But I can’t help but think it could have been so much better.
The fact the movie is shorter than most MST3K episodes is also a headscratcher. Kinda makes you wonder what kind of movie we’d receive if Universal didn’t demand so many changes. I think this episode does a lot to clarify that.
It’s especially disappointing if you’re familiar with the unedited (and actually not all that bad) This Island Earth, which definitely had a lot of potential missed.
That’s exactly how I felt when I first saw it back in the theaters. Just watched it again about 2 weeks ago and loved it so much. I definitely didn’t appreciate it at the time. I’d say check it out again if you can!
Does anyone have a working link for this episode? I’ve searched high and low and every site/podcast that I try to listen to for this says the show is no longer available or gives an error.
Thanks for the heads up! Sadly, I went and checked and Spotify would not play it for me. Maybe you have to be a paying member? I just tried playing it for free.
