Hard core fans of MST3k can stop reading now because you know all about this. This is my appeal to the casual fan and people that have never experienced the majesty of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3k for short). MST3k is that TV show where a you watch a guy and two robots silhouetted over a bad movie as they make fun of it. The movies they riff are diverse so it’s hard to find someone that finds at least one episode appealing. The show went on for ten years from 1990 to 2000 spanning local television, to Comedy Central, to the SciFi channel. Still, their success was largely limited to cult status.

The bots, Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot are dead, really dead (probably owned by some company that won’t do anything with them). Their personalities live on however as the SciFi Channel era crew, Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett play themselves in two new properties: RiffTrax and The Film Crew. Mike and “the bots” are sorely missed by fans, but I hope the removal of MST3k’s sci-fi image will open the concept to people who once shied away from such things. The more the merrier. Considering these guys are now working for themselves I welcome anything that will keep them going. Both of these properties are unique, and appeal to differing audiences, yet still remain true enough to their roots to make fans rejoice.

RiffTrax
RiffTrax began over a year ago as a solo project by Mike Nelson. It quickly grew to include many guest riffers in addition to Murphy and Corbett. With RiffTrax, you purchase an mp3 file for two to three dollars through their web site. You’ll need to obtain the DVD for the movie they riff. Then, you play the DVD while listening to the riff track on your portable mp3 player. It’s a little bit crude but it allows them to explore far beyond the B films of MST3k because they don’t need to pay royalties on the movie. Recent RiffTrax include Independence Day, TheBourne Identity and 300.

The Film Crew
The Film Crew is much closer to an episode of MST3k. The premise is that Nelson, Murphy and Corbett are now employed by a movie studio and tasked with adding commentary tracks to all the films in archive. They produced three DVDs, through Shout Factory, featuring some films truly worthy of Mystery Science Theater. It’s missing the trademark MST3k silhouette but they include bumper skits that were often my favorite part of the old show. I first heard about The Film Crew from Mike Nelson’s interview on Retro Crush, and I was a bit skeptical. I rented “Killers From Space” and was hooked after the first 10 minutes.Netflix has all three DVDs so that would be a good way to try them out. I think they’re doing this to test out the market; So if you like it, buy at least one.

If you’re new to this, Rifftrax is a great way to get in to the whole concept. Think of it as a gateway drug. The Film Crew is the best way to re-live seeing an MST3k episode for the first time, when all the jokes are fresh. One thing I really hope to see is the studios jump on RiffTrax and release their commentary with the DVD. Imagine seeing new movies come out with the RiffTrax logo on them, “with bonus commentary by RiffTrax”. I think that would only help DVD sales. All us fan boys will have to buy DVDs of movies we would otherwise not watch at all. While we’re waiting for that to happen, head over to their site and buy a track. For three bucks you can breathe new life into your tired DVD collection. Though I don’t have it yet, I’m told that The Fantastic Four is the best. There’s a perfect example of a movie I wouldn’t otherwise buy. My personal favorite Daredevil. If you don’t like Ben Affleck, that one’s for you. Their collection is growing fast so you’re bound to find something there to enjoy.

I’m a big advocate for speaking one’s mind, especially when large corporations are involved. I have this habit of sending out long winded letters to customer service departments, you might even call it a hobby. Believe it or not, I do get enough responses to justify my doing so. A free month of service here some coupons there, it’s amazing what you can get with a little tactful complaining. My latest letter is a perfect example…

Not too long ago I wrote a post on this blog titled WTF Nintendo?. In it I expressed my frustration toward the button layout on the GameCube controller when playing Super Mario World on the Wii. There were many similar postings on various forums, so I felt justified in my position. I knew that a single post on a no-name blog wasn’t going to do anything so I turned my blog post into a letter; Presented in a slightly more diplomatic fashion of course. I mailed it out the next day but really never expected a response.

Two weeks later, the phone rings and my wife answers. “Matt. Nintendo’s on the phone.” My flight response started to take over, especially since I didn’t include my number in the letter, but I had nowhere to run so I took the phone. Amanda, a customer service rep for Nintendo of America, was on the other end. Much to my surprise she gave me a very detailed and thoughtful response to my letter. Here were the basic points:

• Not much QA is done on Virtual Console games, after all these games were well tested 15+ years ago. They just make sure the game runs and send it out.
• If you compare the button letters of a GameCube controller to a Super Nintendo controller you can see that they match up perfectly. It’s the GameCube button layout that’s messed up.
• Nintendo does not have a mechanism in place to “recall” a VC game.
• Nintendo designed the Classic Controller for the virtual console and thus it is the preferred method of input. (read “Cough up the cash, that’s what we made that classic controller for.”)
• Nintendo reps have no fore-knowledge of upcoming VC games (I had to ask about Pilotwings).

I was impressed just to get a response, not to mention that she tracked down my home number. Then Amanda pulled out the big gun. She sent me a free Classic Controller, in the hope that I would refrain from calling it “useless” in the future. Touche; consider my silence bought. The controller came in the mail yesterday and I’ve been using it quite a bit. I can honestly say that I like it a lot. Do I now think it’s worth $20? Barely. But I will no longer call it useless.

There are only two television shows I watch, Heroes, and Battlestar Galactica. I consume both series in a slightly unconventional method; I download them from iTunes. So, I was rather perturbed to read that Apple was pulling all of NBC’s content from their store. The reason? NBC feels that their episodes are worth $4.99 each. They’re welcome to think what they like, but I’m behind Apple on this one. I always thought $1.99 was high, but I’m willing to pay a premium to avoid commercials. Plus, I believe inInternet distribution and want to support it. But $4.99 an episode? In all seriousness, this stuff isn’t worth $4.99 a season. That’s a rather big conceit NBC. You have some good shows, but they’re hardly my sole form of entertainment.

Needless to say, I won’t be watching Heroes or Battlestar Galactica this season. Yes, I could steal the shows (In less time and higher quality than iTunes mind you) but they’re simply not worth the hassle. Eventually I will see them all. In just a few months the entire season will be out on DVD and then I can rent it onNetflix. Plus, I’ll have saved all that cash from iTunes. No matter how this plays out I win. Thanks NBC! I don’t know what your plan is, but I think I like it.

The other day I went do buy a song (yes, people do buy music) on the iTunes store. There’s nothing unusual about this, I’ve probably spent a couple hundred dollars on the iTunes store by now. But this time was different. “This computer is not authorized” it told me. That’s odd, it was authorized a month ago. Then I remembered, I recently upgraded the mother board and had to do a partial reinstall of windows to get it running again. That must have thrown it off. “No biggie”, I say to myself, “I’ll just re-authorize.” My computer responds, “5 computers have already been authorized with this account.” Hmm, let me think…

1. My Primary Desktop Computer
2. My Wife’s Laptop
3. My set-top computer (a Mac Mini)
4. My Laptop that I re-formatted and no longer have iTunes
5. My Work computer that I re-formatted and no longer have iTunes

Gee, I guess Apple didn’t realize that Windows users reformat their computers a lot. This is most troubling since I’m still running the same iTunes install on my desktop. I can just hear the Apple fan boys screaming now ( I know, because I used to be one ), “Wait Stupid! You can de-authorize all 5 computers at once!” Not so, you see I had already done that once before, 6 months ago (long story, I had some trouble with computers at work for a while). And, like Christmas, Apple’s magic de-authorization can only happen once a year.

So I did the only thing I could do. I bought the song on my Mac Mini, stripped the copy protection, and copied it to my desktop PC. There’s just one tiny problem that I have with this. This seemingly innocent act qualifies me as a felon under the DMCA. I believe the RIAA says it’s worth $750 to them.

Because of the DRM, I was forced to break the law just to make a purchase. Don’t forget that I couldn’t even buy the stupid song, let alone play it. When Apple forces you to commit a felony just to use their product, that sounds like entrapment to me. In fact, I would love to see the argument brought to court some day. Then maybe we can all move beyond this DRM absurdity. But I’ll leave my argument against DRM for another rant.