Update: Joel has just sent along a clarification: “Cinematic Titanic does intend to put out more DVDs in the future - we’re just not recording any this summer — sorry for any confusion.”

On the Cinematic Titanic blog, Joel has announced that the CT team is going to take “a much-needed break for the rest of the summer,” though they are working on a new title they’ve just acquired.

He also announced that the team has signed with talent agency APA, which is “the agency I worked with when I was a young stand-up: they helped me land my first bookings on SNL and Letterman as well as being the company that helped make that very important MST3K deal back at Comedy Channel. It’s great to be back working with them, and they will be representing Cinematic Titanic for theatrical gigs as well as bringing our live shows to various media too.”

Finally, he also revealed that “we’ve decided not to record our last three live features (’East Meets Watts,’ ‘Danger on Tiki Island’ and ‘Alien Factor’) in the studio, as I previously announced. Instead, we will continue to present these features in future live dates.”

First shown: 3/2/96
Opening: Crow’s charity auction
Intro: Crow starts a fire on the SOL, Dr. F. puts his mother in a “home”
Host segment 1: Mike helps Crow try bio-feedback, a fire starts
Host segment 2: Men’s night on the SOL
Host segment 3: Dr. F. has a plan to boost ratings: Timmy Bobby Rusty
End: Letter, Servo arrives by helicopter, and Toblerone visits Deep 13
Stinger: “PTOO!” “HA, HA, HA!” sez Toblerone
(95 votes, average: 4.42 out of 5)
 Loading ...

• This one is hit and miss for me. Some funny segments, some “meh” ones. Some great stretches of riffing, some quiet sections. And the movie: wow. Boy, is it stupid but, wow, does it have some wacky characters. But above all, there is Toblerone, Dablone, or whatever his name is.
• Mary Jo also provided the commentary for this episode in our season seven episode guide. Did she mention she loves Dablone? Yes. Yes, she did.
• Fans had been getting episodes pretty regular for the past month, but this was the last one we would get until mid-May (about 10 weeks away) and THAT would would the last one we’d get for close to a year…:::sigh:::?
• By this time, fans knew the show had been canceled on CC and suddenly, on this brand new thing called World Wide Web, there were already hundreds of “Save MST3K” sites. It would be several more months before Sci-Fi Channel would make the announcement that the show was coming back.
• Between this and the next episode, “MST3K: The Movie” hit theaters. Indeed, by the time the next episode aired, the movie was already fading fast.
• My copy of this episode has a lonnng commercial for the movie “Fargo.” I haven’t timed it, but it feels like more than a minute. I’d forgotten there were commercials that long.
• The opening is a cute idea but it kind of gets driven into the ground. The intro, in which Dr. F puts Pearl “in a home” is a very nice reveal. And nothing says “We’ve been canceled” having a big fire for no reason.
• Nice reference to the Spinal Tap song “Sex Farm.”
• The “men’s night” bit is great, with poor Crow completely unfamiliar with Mike’s 700 different slang requests for a brewski. Nice and breezy.
• Sometimes in an MST3k episode, they’re going along, riffing the movie, minding their own business, then all of a sudden a larger than life character appears. Torgo is like that, of course. And later there would be Rowsdower. But in season seven, there was Toblerone. Ha-ha!
• The Timmy Bobby Rusty stuff definitely reflects the kind of notes I’m sure they’d been getting from the suits at Comedy Central at this point. Not terribly funny, but probably cathartic for them. Segment 3 is also the first reference in a long time to Dr. F “selling the results of his experiments to cable TV” as Joel used to tell us all the time.
• Annoying commercial: Apparently some sort of flower shop association ad in which “Buzz the bee” suggests that we “think flowers.” Well, okay, then.
• Callbacks: “I’m Cherokee Jack.” (Red Zone Cuba) “No, Lupita!” (Santa Claus)
• With only one episode to go, BBI seems to have created a brand new bumper for this episode, one with the planet Earth in the background and the SOL going by. It’s pretty, and we never see it again, I don’t think.
• Somebody makes a riff that is premised on the notion of a Kinkos being on every corner. I’d forgotten that era 15 years ago when Kinkos was aggressively expanding. They’ve now been absorbed by FedEx and the brand is fading away.
• Fave riff: “Kill us! … Thank you!”

Look who’s included in Entertainment Weekly’s list of 23 Sci-Fi Characters You Want on Your Buddy List.

Thanks to Eric from Kalamazoo for the heads up.

Reader BIG61AL sent us several pictures of Mike, Kevin, Bill and Frank from the recent San Diego Comic-Con. You can see them after the cut. Thanks, BIG61AL!

Also, if you went to the RiffTrax panel, this is the trailer you saw:

Click fer pics

Download it here.

Plenty of chances to catch Frank onstage in the next few weeks, provided you’re in the Los Angeles area.

• Cartoon Dump is happening tonight at the Steve Allen Theater in L.A., with special guests comedian David Feldman and Dave “Gruber” Allen. And Josh tweeted that he will be doing some puppetry tonight. More info here.

• Starting Wednesday, July 29, and then every Wednesday in August, Frank will be co-hosting, along with comedian Eddie Pepitone, a weekly comedy show at the Fake Gallery, 4319 Melrose Ave. in L.A. Call (323) 661-0786 for more information.

• Frank will also be in “12 Shiny Nickels,” a stand-up show Saturday, August 1, at 11 p.m. at The Sunset Gardner Stages, 1501 N. Gardner Street (At Sunset Blvd.) in Hollywood. More info here.

• And Frank was interviewed by comedian Jackie Kashian on her podcast “Dork Forrest.” Listen here.

Thanks to Beyond Home Entertainment, the 20th Anniversary Collection has been available Down Under for about a month now. Aussie site Digital Retribution gives its review.

Mary Jo was interviewed in the Austin Decider about her fascination with a local attraction called the Cathedral of Junk.
And, in passing, they mention that she will perform with local pro riffing group Mister Sinus Master Pancake Theater tonight.

First off, several folks have sent me discussion thread ideas, some I will use in future weeks, some not so much. But keep ‘em comin’!

Alert reader Matthew writes:

What is the lamest scientific explanation and/or plot device given in a MST movie?
For me it’s tough to choose, but I think my top three are:
1) Beginning of the End: Peter Graves’ “radiation makes photosynthesis, the growing process, occur day and night.” So be sure to fertilize your plants with lots of uranium!
2) Space Mutiny: David Ryder’s “high-density de-atomizer escape system.” If only it really had pulled apart all his atoms.
3) The Undead: Quentis merging with Diana’s brainwaves to travel back in time, sans clothes. Of course his wristwatch survives the psychic teleport perfectly intact.”

Good one!

I’d have to go with the cheesy “invisible” face shields in “12 to the Moon.” It’s amazing how invisible they are!

What’s your pick?

Update: If you were interested in seeing the show live at the Belcourt Theater in Nashville, and you didn’t manage to buy a ticket when they went on sale this morning, you’re out of luck. The show sold out in a matter of minutes, then the theater freed up a few more seats at mid-morning, which were also gone lickety-split.

RiffTrax is planning a live event Thursday, Aug. 20: a riffing of “Plan 9 from Outer Space” which will be performed at the Belcourt Theater in Nashville, Tenn., and beamed into movie theaters nationwide live at 8 p.m. eastern, 7 p.m. central, 6 p.m. mountain and tape delayed at 8 p.m. pacific time.

The event will be hosted by Veronica Belmont, the Host of Tekzilla on Revision3 and Qore on the PlayStation Network (whatever the hell THAT means), with musical guest Jonathan Coulton and a special segment by Rich “Lowtax” Kyanka of Something Awful.

All event attendees will receive FREE exclusive digital goodies: A URL and code will be revealed on-screen at the end of the event.