Update: Thanks to “wotunw5o” who found this full episode. Apparently the secret to finding it online was cutting and pasting the actual cyrillic.
Further update: Alert commenter Amelik has provided us with a translation of the theme song (thanks to our obsessed pal Bill for the heads up):
In a science institute, there’s an experiment,
They’re testing the effect of movie reels on people.
How will consciousness be affected by a movie.
Of questionable quality and made long ago
A nice guy, Stephen is in need of some money
He got a job as a test subject, threw caution to the wind
He didn’t know that the process is supervised by
Professor Zamishlavkin, a bad guy [something]
Stephen watches movies, he’s now imprisoned
If it’s wasn’t for his friends, he’d be miserable
Mutants, saboteurs: a dog and a penguin
Rescue his psychie and watch along with him
:::Fidel::: [penguin's name]
:::Ketchup::: [dog's name]
:::the greatest achievement of national defense!:::
When the friends are all together, they don’t fear the bad guy
They make comments on everything, so that it’s more fun
In the face of scientific theories,
They giggle and laugh, as they watch Project Popcorn
In Soviet Russia, bad movie watches you!
I’ve seen something like this before…I just can’t put my finger on it.
Would love to see it subtitled.
Whata country!
But where’s TV’s Ivan?
Wonder what evil scientist name is???
HMMMMM…..
TV’s Ivan…LOL
Awesome!
So, if this show has a good run and ends, will Russian Mike Nelson form a new company that will then riff the movies of Sergei Eisenstein? Because that would be great.
Btw, I think Joel could make them much better bots.
Perhaps this is KGB revenge for riffing the Russo-Finnish films.
Wow, what a rip-off! And those Russian “robots look like they were shot out of a cannon” as Crow says of the visiting Russian robots during one host segment in episode 201 Rocketship X-M.
Wow.
And I totally want to see subs of this.
I gotta see it…
Featuring the comic stylings of Russo Red Dog and Russia Television’s Wise-Cracking Pengy, teaming up with Mikael Nelsonovich.
Was this a one off on some show? A fan project? A regular show? I’m curious.
It’s called Project Popcorn if I understand the title right. It’s been a while since I studied rusky jazyk.
Can anybody please transcribe the Cyrillic so inquiring minds can google the interwebs beyond?
I’ve never been able to find anything about this show outside this theme song. (And I’ve Tried)
I doubt it actually aired on network tv.
@Mr. B(ob)
It was actually in show #205 ‘Rocket Attack USA’ that the Russian and his robots show up.
Anyone notice that the mad scientist bears a striking resemblance to a certain German dictator?
OOps, that’s one of my favorites too, hence the mix-up.
What.The.Hell.Was.That?
John M.: Yeah, not to get all Godwin on this thread but I think I heard the word “Deutsche” in there too….
Maybe it’s Chip Hitler…?
My Russian is not up to snuff, but I believe the last word of the theme song is “popcorn.”
Anyone else think this sounds suspiciously like the Oscar Mayer song?
Did anyone notice the Hitler impersonator boss? I tried listening to the theme song and had to turn it off. No wonder Russia has so many problems.
It’s Charlie Chaplin’s ‘stache as well. It evokes both evil and humor, which is perfect for a goofy mad scientist.
Didn’t read John M.’s post. Yes, I did notice that too. Is thing for real, or is someone’s idea of a very bad joke?
Also, forgive the double post, but I knew I’d seen this before! The Cinematic Titanic Facebook page had a link to it back in November, and the video they posted was subtitled. However, it seems to be a fan made mockery of the original video (which makes it a video mocking a Russian show which mocks movies, which in turn is a rip-off of an American show that mocks movies). Anyway, here’s the “subbed” video if anyone is interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TNo6zvFCNM
@Cody – I don’t know Russian, but I don’t think those are the actual words of the theme song. I think it’s just parodized, like you theorized.
Dr. Hitler. Creepy puppets, too. Good old fashioned Russian nightmare fuel.
Randy
@24
Yeah, I don’t know if Russia ever had “In America, you Y your X, but in Russia, X Ys YOU!!”
Well, my biggest giveaway, is that the last two words are definitely ‘Project Popcorn’…
So, is the Russian version of “movie sign” a threat to cut off Mikhail’s vodka supply?
Top word on the paper is “Contract.” I get that from the Cyrillic alone.
“Fidel” and “Ketchup.” Ha ha ha.
“He was given a penguin and an ugly dog,
Because if given robots, he might get sued for fraud.”
That’s a fantastic translation, thanks Cody Himes.
I’d still watch the show if it was in English … seems like a good premise.
The ugly dog looks vaguely like Stimpy and the penguin seems to have the look and proportion of a Gamera adversary.
I always thought other countries should have their own MST3Ks. Do we know of any others? The humor would be hard to translate and would need local cultural references anyway. This reminds me a bit of the foreign versions of Sesame Street, i guess.
My scanty high-school Russian didn’t help too much, but the subbed version is definitely not tracking. The work for ‘looking’ or ‘watching’ comes up but i can’t tell if that’s watch the movie or watch our show. The “Mike” is “Stepa Samokatov” and the evil scientist is “Prof. Zamuishlyavkin.” The puppets are as per #31.
Okay, the human character looks more like the illegitmate love child of Joel and Mike. And I hope they get the utter crap sued out of them for this! DO NOT MESS WITH MY SHOW!!!! :>(
No English-language website seems to have any info on this program, but searching for “?????? ???????” provides some results. Here’s a 15 minute clip from RuTube(!), proving there’s more than just a theme song mock-up:
http://rutube.ru/tracks/1607831.html
The Russian text got busted in the post, you can just use Google Translate on “Project Popkorn” to try this experiment at home.
#34
Laura says:
January 27, 2011 at 5:39 pm
“Okay, the human character looks more like the illegitmate love child of Joel and Mike. And I hope they get the utter crap sued out of them for this! DO NOT MESS WITH MY SHOW!!!! :>(”
Really?
If I had a nickel for every time I was given a penguin and an ugly dog……………
I’ve never commented here before, but I just had to weigh in on this. I’ve emailed Sampo a few times suggesting a weekend discussion thread about whether MST3K could work on TV outside the English-speaking world…and now this?
Personally, my feeling is “the more the merrier.” After all, my first love is game shows, and game shows get remade in foreign countries all the time. Can you imagine Match Game hosted by a drag queen in England? It happened.
So was it decided that this is a real show or a MST fan thing? I mean either way its amazing and hilarious (nearly shot for shot reproduction!) but I am just curious…
I found an episode! Here’s a link to the video:
http://rutube.ru/tracks/1607843.html
And here’s a google translation of the page:
http://t.co/WUy3z4e
#35:
Babelfish, what hilarity:
“Project Of [popkorn] – new comic series from the cast iron runner and the friends) Main hero – [Stepa] of bicycles works by experimental in the institute of the brain. Its consciousness [NLP]- processes by old films villain – professor [Zamyshlyavkin]. Its friends – saying dog ketchup and penguin Fidel help steppes not to descend from the mind and comment on films. Experiment is oboe part of 2 Be stocked by beer, potato chips and [pampersami]! “
The bootlegged MST tapes translated into the all-purpose Low Slavic paid off…
Please. You seriously want Brains to sue them? Let the Russians have their MST. I just hope it’s funny.
#34
For all we know this could have been a legitamite remake. Obviously the show isn’t that popular seeing as this is the first we’re hearing of it.
Oh great, another song to get stuck in my head til I’m on the verge of insanity.
#44: It’s not on the Russian Wikipedia, either. It must have just begun or something.
me want. me want subtitled. But really what is better than a Russian Bootleg? I love the kitsch of it all.
First off, it is a 100% rip off of MST3K and more power to them! No worries of them cutting into the sales of the our favorite show. Second, as goofy as it looks it may not transfer well with sub titles. Every riff would be obscure and we would all be scratching our heads trying to understand it.
THEY CLONED HITLER!!!
imitation is the most sincere form of flattery–or something like that! Like others have said, its not like official mst will work in any other country, they won’t “get it”!
Official MST works fine in other countries. I know many people from other countries who love the show.
Thanks for the video link. I copypastaed into google and found http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2988947153633950316#
This has seriously warped my mind (all right — warped it MORE).
And it begs the question — why don’t we find some great Russian show and make a complete rip off here (okay, I know the obvious answer, but let’s stipulate for just a minute there IS such a beast).
also, I really, really, really want to see subs of this.
Is it better with Vodka and BBQ’D Yak?
Oh wow. I think I had a fever dream like this once.
A country where movie riffing evolved from America?
They did it! They finally did it!
#39–i’m with you, i think it would be interesting and probably play in at least some countries.
#51–which countries? english-speaking or ESL? i have wanted to try MST to my ESL friends but it seems like a lot to handle.
Let’s keep in mind there are international versions of ALL KINDS of tv shows. Wikipedia lists 7 national variants of The Office and i can’t even count all the Sesame Street co-productions.
There is even a “movie sign” button on the desk. LOL
The last words of the song sound like they are referring to “Bob Dole.”
Was he THAT popular in Russia???
Does he make esoteric references to “American authors”?
(Everyone there would get the Russian ones)
So, this is another example of them ripping us off and claiming that
MST3K was a “Russian” invention.
I’m just wondering what movies they riff on. Russian dubs of bad American flicks, or home-grown bad Russian movies?
In a science institute, there’s an experiment,
They’re testing the effect of movie reels on people.
How will consciousness be affected by a movie.
Of questionable quality and made long ago
A nice guy, Stephen is in need of some money
He got a job as a test subject, threw caution to the wind
He didn’t know that the process is supervised by
Professor Zamishlavkin, a bad guy [something]
Stephen watches movies, he’s now imprisoned
If it’s wasn’t for his friends, he’d be miserable
Mutants, saboteurs: a dog and a penguin
Rescue his psychie and watch along with him
:::Fidel::: [penguin's name]
:::Ketchup::: [dog's name]
:::the greatest achievement of national defense!:::
When the friends are all together, they don’t fear the bad guy
They make comments on everything, so that it’s more fun
In the face of scientific theories,
They giggle and laugh, as they watch Project Popcorn
Oh My God. They have a letter reading segment and a stinger. Its’s perfect.
So did anyone else find the riffing in that episode kind of funny without having any idea what’s being said? It’s something in the rhythms and the inflections, clearly. Well, and that you can recognize _The Godfather_ theme in whatever language it’s hummed.
I MUST BREAK YOU.
#64: When the guy leaves the building and they say “Taxi!” I cracked up. Also the various sound effects jokes transcend language barriers.
>>64
Yeah, I was watching part of it with my buddy who’s also a big MST fan, and we were discussing how much of it is in the delivery, and you can get a feel for the sort of jokes to a vague degree.
Where’s the interview where the Brains talk about this? I think it’s great, honestly.
#64
I’m glad I wasn’t alone laughing at parts of that episode.
I hope it is as funny as it seems, and that Russian fans get to enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed MST. Lucky Russians, they get everything.
@64 During the scene where they show a street corner with railings along the sidewalk, I was certain that Stephen and the puppets were calling it like a horse race. I couldn’t stop laughing.
When is Shout! Factory going to start selling the box sets?
Hope the Brains get royalties for this. Amusing, but it is, no doubt, blatant theft.
And I thought “Apt. 51″ was the only MST knockoff in existence.
At least there’s someone here who partially agrees with me. If they are going to crap all over my favorite show, then have better looking bots and not stuffed animals. I’m going to watch the real MST3K later tonight to get this abomination out of my head.
Thank you so much #62 Amelik!
Just watched it…funny stuff…you can hear them snickering at the jokes. Wish I spoke french so I could understand it.
I have to believe that government sponsered/sanctioned/control propaganda films of the Soviet era would make excellent riffing material if you have the cultural background to get the riffs they are going to toss at it. Just think of the fun the Brains had with the handful of message movies they’ve tackled. I can’t think of a better country to have a MST knock off than Russia for that fact.
@64- Yes! I was cracking up despite not understanding a lick of Russian. Know what? Ah-heh-heh-HEEEEM…
SHOUT FACTORY- A DOCUMENTARY ON PROJECT POPCORN WOULD BE A GREAT EXTRA IN ANY MST DVD SET.
PS- By the waaaaaaay- don’t forget the two German guys who scrubbed the MST movie soundtrack and dubbed in THEIR own jokes. It was the only way you could get the dvd of the movie for a long time. I would love to see the legacy of MST live on in other countries. Oh, God- imagine a Spanish version.
Ketchup and Fidel look a LOT like Servo and Crow.
One more thing: It’s very easy to translate Russian. Just hold a mirror up to the screen. English!
Looks like a fun knock-off with enough fun differences that I’d enjoy seeing it, I think.
Funny that the penguin appears to be smoking in the first host segment. He appears to be dressed in a Russian Navy-style pull-over and cap. The red one is wearing a Russian army style cap. Wonder how that relates to their back story?
And at least the puppets are pretty comical and cute looking.
I love the Chip Hitler evil overlord, too. A great choice, rather than just a typical mad scientist. It’s changes like this that make this knock-off more than just another weak impersonation of MST3k.
It’s unique enough to be its own entity.
I’m with those here that found this weirdly charming and would also be interested in more info and/or subs.
And #77 has a great suggestion that I heartily second: A mini-doc on MST variants/knock-offs would be wildly entertaining!
I love the fact that there is an FBI Warning after the theme song.
“Yes, we know we ripped this off from a beloved American program,
AND we have no intention of paying for the rights,
but YOU had better not do the same to US or we will sic the FBI on you.”
Hooray for Amelik! Fan of the week!
I found the episode charming and surprisingly easy to follow. I have to admit they have the format and style of the show down. It certainly did a better job than a lot of fan videos I’ve seen in the past. I hope the show is a hit and those fans also have as much fun as we have with the original.
A mini-doc is a great idea.
I’d like to know who the MST fans behind Project Popcorn are–bring on the mini-doc!
Absolutely hilarious, and I think it’s great. It reminds me of the “Simpsons” episode where Krusty brought in a Russian cat-and-mouse cartoon to replace Itchy & Scratchy that turned out to be an over-the-top communist manifesto completely lacking in charm or humor.
Apparently even in the post-Soviet 21st Century you can’t have a TV show that doesn’t have political overtones, and the Russian people are still quite obviously scarred by Adolf Hitler.
I would love to see a subtitled version of the show on a future DVD release.
And, Laura (#31), take it easy. First of all, cross-pollination of TV concepts occurs all the time. Two of our greatest sitcoms ever, “All In The Family” and “Sanford & Son” (among others), were closely based on British shows. There have been many European versions of US shows as well.
For someone who loves MST3K, you don’t seem to have much of a sense of humor about things. Maybe it would help if you repeat to yourself, “It’s just a show, I should really just relax”.
“…………the Sputnik?”
As Sanford & Son was an acknowledged adaptation of a British show, Steptoe & Son, there was also most likely a licensing or similar fee paid. Borrowing ideas or abstract concepts is one thing, blatantly ripping off a show in detail is another. So I’d leave it to the owners of the show, Jim and Joel, to decide whether or not to be good humored about this ersatz-MST3K from Russia. It’s really not for the fans to decide either way is it, so how about avoiding attacking others for their opinion? One can have their own opinion without trying to squash someone else for theirs.
They probably got paid as much from this as they did from the tape-traders, DAP downloads or youtube views.
This appears to be another episode where the movie is in Color!:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-228762758084086168#
@ #90: And that episode has an FBI Warning, one would assume about unauthorized duplication, at the end of the opening titles. How’s that for irony?
The Russian show is split into 3 roughly 15 minute parts. At the end of Part I of the episode I’m currently watching it says, “In Loving Memory of MST 3000. Peace.”
I’ve watched that theme song at least 10 times already. It’s like a car wreck; just can’t look away. I just wish there were subs so I can understand what’s being said.
Wow. Catchy theme song, though.
As a copyright owner myself, I hope that the Joel and Jim some money from this. Since the Brains are already aware of it, it would be interesting to see what happens. These Ruskies might not be making enough money from Joel’s idea to be worth suing.
I watched the first ten minutes of the episode. There seem to be more riffs per minute than you find in seasons 1 and 2 of MST3K. Also, I think that the host has more Mike-ish mannerisms. That (plus the color of the jumpsuit) makes me wonder if they’re more consciously imitating the later seasons of the show. But he doesn’t interact with the puppets the way Joel and Mike do. (No eye contact, etc.)
The song playing at 14:00 in the episode link is “Wir setzen uns mit Tranen nieder” from Bach’s “St. Matthew’s Passion.” A Mozart piece is playing at 18:50. (Wow, I’m a nerd.)
Their puppets are UGLY, though.
Wow, this sure beat working!
McBoddhi says:
January 28, 2011 at 6:34 am
Hope the Brains get royalties for this. Amusing, but it is, no doubt, blatant theft.
There’s only one Brain, just Jim Mallon. As we’ve been told on other occasions, he’s the only one who actually holds the rights to the MST3K.
The dog puppet thing kind of sounds like Bill Corbett’s Crow at his most agitated (I know it’s not him).
@ # 96: Incorrect I do believe. Jim Mallon holds the control over the name and use of images from the show, Joel has made it clear he kept his piece of the pie and gets royalties from DVDs, etc. and from when the show was still on the air after he left.
@#91
The “FBI Warning” simply says that the show should be watched with beer and chips, and in the company of friends. It may or may not be an actual FBI warning.
I would also like to say that this is the most awesome thing I’ve seen in years! Excellent way to practice my rusty Russian. And yes, it’s a rip off, but from what I understand of the riffing, these guys “get it”.
@ # 99: Thanks, that’s hilarious, a gag FBI Warning, and in Russia yet. Reminiscent of “keep circulating the tapes”.
Hilarious! Reminds of a sketch from that old SCTV episode CCCP1!
Maybe this aired between Uposcrabblenyk and What Fits into Russia….
I can’t take this place anymore.
The back-and-forth has been removed.
Everybody has a right to their opinion, and everybody has a right to disagree with your opinion, and we can debate the validity of our opinions cordially without attacking the holder of the opinion you disagree with.
Those who repeatedly fail to do this will find themselves banned from the comments thread.
Also, in “Goboi,” there was a bit where “Stepa” rocked out with Ronnie James Dio “devil hands” to one of the classical bits. That was pretty funny as well.
Anyone else things the guy looks way too much like Randal from “Clerks” ?
Any one know where I can get a translation of what the characters are saying? Other than the whole clarinet sputtering, I have no clue what’s going on.
I’m the guy responsible for the video posted by #24. Wow! I made this thing years ago. It truly is an honor to get recognition for it by the community though. Thanks, guys.
I love the intro!!! I haven’t laughed this hard in weeks! Thanks, Russia! Shout!, PLEASE get the rights to one episode, subtitle it, and put it on a future MST3K release!
sorry, LMD, guess i should have specified all of the “other countries” that mst would NOT work in–like russia!
Folks, I think we have our “Sputnik Moment”.
“Laura” is obviously a FBI agent who is trying to
get us to reveal the people behind this controversy.
His day job is convincing 45 year old men that he’s a 14 year old and inviting them over to her home to be interviewed by someone from CNBC.
You know I’m joking…don’t you?
I am sorry.
That was over the top.
and off the topic.
Very Incredible Movie Theater 4.
@106: Wait… You made the parody YEARS ago? How long has this show been in Russia without us finding out? I wonder if it’s still playing or if it was canceled.
A perfect country for an MST3K remake: Chile. I lived there several years ago and that nation has a great appreciation for quick thinking, verbal wordplay, satire, and parody. It’s the perfect MST3K audience.
Hey, more power to them, as long as as give credit where credit is due. I may have to learn some Russian to appreciate this. I wonder how they would handle Invasion USA?
On an added note, have you noticed how much hotter Russian women are since they dumped communism?
“A perfect country for an MST3K remake: Chile. I lived there several years ago and that nation has a great appreciation for quick thinking, verbal wordplay, satire, and parody. It’s the perfect MST3K audience.”
I think it’s interesting that Jim Mallon didn’t franchise the format/concept to other countries as a thought of seeing MST3K being re-invented for those markets too, much in the way we may have seen it done with game shows and Sesame Street. The basic format is simply a guy stuck in space being fed movies from a crazy scientist while having a couple robot pals to keep him company with. It would certainly be different characters but much the same thing, and many countries probably have a good arsenal of stinky films to fill the void on such a show.
The most vile, disgusting, disturbing, creepy, scary, movies and videogames have never given me a single nightmare. This however, just might do it…
i just got here myself, its weid, love it.gotta see it
This is officially the greatest thing I’ve seen all year. (Okay, more impressively, in the last twelve months.)
I have no idea what they’re saying, but the extended Godfather riff was still hilarious.
I’ve already got this burned to a DVD and will be making a Rhino-style DVD case soon. I need a subtitle track – STAT!
Buckets of Awesome.
@109
I get it you’re joking. I just wish I could understand what the heck the characters were saying. And I wish the “robots” actually looked more like robots and not modified stuffed animals. Now I’m going to watch this video about 30 million more times. I just can’t look away!!!
I have been watching the episode that “wotunw5o” linked to, and I am fascinated by the apparent English words that come up occasionally in the theme song or the riffs. As noted earlier, the words “experiment” and “popcorn” are clearly heard in the theme song, and “project” and “filma” seem to be there too. In a riff at the 32:14 mark, Stepa clearly says “such a bad boy”. And in the letter segment at the end, when Fidel and Ketchup get into an argument, Stepa yells “Stop! Stop! Stop!” To anybody who knows Russian culture better than I do, are these words commonly used in Russia, or are they maybe copying dialogue they hear from US TV shows and movies? The cross-pollination of languages is really interesting.
Is Stephen voicing the puppets via ventriloquism?
#121: I don’t think so. There are credits for “Fidel” and “Ketchup” at the end.
Is there anyone who might be able to at least translate a few random riffs in there? Just for fun?
After watching the clip provided by #24 Cody, I have to admit that I’m intrigued with this. The riffing does seem to be much more fast-paced (although there were moments where I couldn’t tell who was talking, people in the movie or the riffers- I have next to no knowledge of the Russian language). I will say that these guys aren’t afraid of getting silly, as the repeated sounds of guys slurping their drinks and the continued hiccupping of one character would suggest. I found myself laughing at alot of the goofier stuff, mostly because the riffers seem to put alot of energy into their material. As much as I’d love to see Shout! do some bonus material on this, I wonder how difficult it would be to translate it; after all, you’d have to have two different sets of subtitles to get the full effect.
@112: Yeah, just under two years ago was when I made that parody video out of my own amusement. Clearly I had no idea what the names of the puppets were supposed to be, so I just took a wild guess. Guess I was half right, hahaha.
I have no idea how old the Project Popcorn is but I don’t think it was very long lasting, whenever that was. I love these ripoffs of a cultural phenomenon that other countries do all of the time. Russia at one time also had a Harry Potter ripoff series that was a lot more popular in that country than the official novels. That was the Tanya Grotter series, about a magical girl with a mole on her nose and flies on a bass guitar. You gotta love other countries and their blatant lack of respect for intellectual property. ^_^
In the rocket movie that @90 referenced, at time mark 19:07, Stepa and the Pets break out a Beatles riff – “It’s Been a Hard Day’s Night!” I’d love to know who these guys are.
@ 120
That’s what I’m talking about! I need someone like you to sit next to me and tell what they’re saying. I really want to get behind this, but it’s just that much more difficult when there is a HUGE language barrier. I know 0 foreign languages. Russian isn’t availiable where I live.
The movie riffed in @90′s link is called “Ziolkowski”, which apparently refers to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, who, according to Wikipedia, was “an Imperial Russian and Soviet rocket scientist and pioneer of the astronautic theory. Along with the German Hermann Oberth and the American Robert H. Goddard, he is considered to be one of the founding fathers of rocketry and astronautics.” He was also apparently strange and eccentric even by scientist/engineer standards (I can say that, as I are one). The early part of the movie looks to be sort of a biography of his early years, but the last part appears to be all propaganda, as the Russian cosmonauts land on the moon first. Also, as Cyrillic letters are similar to Greek, there are some decipherable words on signs toward the end of the movie, such as “Biological Laboratory”.
Two other things I learned from watching this movie:
1 – Russian movies always seem to have great background music!
2 – Fart sounds and snoring are funny in any language!
The intro with the catchy theme song has scenes from riffed movies, a la MST3K. It appears that the two films we have Video Google links to, “Oboe” and “Ziolkowski”, are the only ones in the credit sequence. I wonder if these are the first two shows that they did, or if they are the ONLY two shows they ever did. They do list a website at the end of their show, http://www.project-popcorn.ru, but I’m not sure I want to venture that far out on the Internet.
I though this was pretty charming, really. The puppets being animals instead of robots somehow gives it even more of a “kid’s show” feel than MST3K had. And I have a hard time being offended by the “ripoff” when it seems to be done with such affection.
I do wish there was less of a language barrier, though. I’d love to see at least a partial subtitle track.
I’m shocked, but strangely drawn.
Somebody translate a full episode, please. *grin*
@128
Already tried. It comes up with a “page not found” message.
@131
Darn it! I’m guessing these guys weren’t on the air very long. That’s too bad, they looked like they were doing a great job. I think the guy who is Stepa (whose name is all over the credits, by the way) is named Anton, but I can’t figure out his last name.
Actually, using Google Translate, Anton’s last name appears to translate as “Newmark”. I’m sure that’s not exactly right, but it’ll do for now.
@120, I can’t speak or understand Russian, although I can occasionally pick out a written word here or there because Cyrillic is awfully close to Greek. (I can’t speak Greek either, but since so many words in English have Greek roots, if you know what each letter sounds like, you can sort of figure out written Greek sometimes.) I’d love for someone who REALLY knows Russian language and culture to give us some insight here. What I found fun was watching the video, and out of the blue hearing an English word or phrase in amongst the obvious Russian. (By the way, toward the end of “Ziolkowski,” Stepa and the Pets throw in a “Sieg Heil” riff with perfect timing.)
I’m going to venture to say that the guys behind this are true fans of MST3K. They get it.
I’m surprised that so many people here never knew about this. It was talked about on the Cinematic Titanic forums almost two years ago, so I would have guessed that the word would have spread around by now. I’m sure that the CT forums must be where the Brains heard about it since RAD was always around on there reading and commenting on posts. Back then Google Video allowed you to download nice mp4 versions of the two episodes, and so I watched them both on my PS3 and enjoyed them quite a bit despite not knowing any Russian. These guys definitely have their timing, mannerisms and delivery worked out very well, so if their writing was good I imagine this would be pretty fun for any Russian speakers to watch.
And I am VERY VERY VERY much thinking that this is just a fan made production a’la Incognito Cinema Warriors XP, and NOT an actual TV series. Besides the fact that it just feels very no budget, fan made to me there is also the fact that the episodes are each such different lengths. One is 35 minutes and the other is 44. I doubt that even in Mother Russia they would have a TV series where the episode had such varying and random lengths. I also doubt that it was actually on TV or that there is any more of it out there other than the two episodes we know of simply because after almost two years now no more episodes have surfaced. I’d be delighted if more episodes surfaced and we found out it was a real TV series, but to me it just looks like some Russian MST fans got access to some puppets, a camera, and a bluescreen, and decided to make their own movie riffing show which they or someone else then put up online.
#135: The more I think about it, the more you seem correct. It’s a homemade Russian fan production. Still cool.
The production values on this really aren’t too bad either. Especially if it really is a fan production.
I think it’s great they have their own version of MST3K. I honestly don’t see any reason to sue and I doubt Best Brains, Rifftrax and CT will not lose money or royalties over this. I doubt any of the 3 shows are available in Russia anyway, and they are not likely to get a lot of the humor of the show (trust me I have Russian relatives, and no I don’t speak Russian)and likely we would not get their humor (I sure don’t)
The show seems to have that KTMA budget and quality level, but I say more power to them!!
@ 104
Nailed it.
#138: Heck, most Americans don’t get MST as it is.
I think it’s good that there’s a Russian MST3K. So much of MST3K’s humor came from the culture in which it was produced. It’s enough of a task for MSTies to learn about things they don’t know in order to get each riff.
Joel should sue! It’s so obviously a ripoff. But I still want to see a translated episode (grin).
Awesome awesome awesome !!
These guys have done a professional and fantastic job !!!! must be a Thue Fan Vid or hey whatever it is I am well surprised.
And the song HA HA HA HA))))
DA, Russia )
ENForces to start learning Rus Language he
MST3K will save the world.
Next: Muslim Science Theater 3K
Good Golly ! Laughed myself inside out during few spaceship moments/!! Wish I had a clever Russian girlfriend for a smarttranslate, cause i think any kind of subs or whatsoever just won’t work
How about somehow finding & contacting ‘em (howto with no skills in Russian…?) and inviting to the blog? Those must be some sort of irregular Russians with SUCH an MST3K sense of humor living over there anyway !
Thumbs up folks !
Peace/