' The Michigan Daily - Weekend etc, - Thursday, October 20, 1994 - 5
'Fresh Cheese' pleases MST fans
By TED WATTS
Searching the tube for something to
vicariouslyexperience lateone evening,
a hypothetical couch potato runs across
Comedy Central. Pausing because he
needs to belch, and therefore blink and
run the risk of missing entertainment,
our fictitious spud might realize some-
thingdifferentison. Thisthingiscalled
Mystery Science Theater 3000.
On the screen is a dopily happy guy
in a jumpsuit and his two everpresent
robot friends, Crow T. Robot and Tom
Servo, located on the Satellite of Love
(or SoL) in orbit around the Earth.
Depending on what point the channel
surfer has arrived, the threesome may
be engaged in talking to us out in TV
Land, conversing with the evil scien-
tists (Dr. Clayton Forrester and his
assistant, TV's Frank) who sent them
into outer space or watching a horrible,
horrible movie and making fun of it.
Just using percentage of show time, it's
most likely to be the last activity.
Ever since its inception six years
ago, Mystery Science Theater 3000 (or
MST3K for short) has been wowing
people with its ability to do in public
and with puppets what people have
been doing in the privacy of their own
homes for thousands of years: making
fun of awful B-movies. The frame for
ripping these atrocious celluloid toilet
paperreels apart is eccentric but simple:
a guy gets shot into space by his bosses
so they can perform insidious experi-
ments on him. Theexperiments consist
of monitoring his mind while he
watches bad films (as explained in the
show's theme song).
What the bosses, located in an evil
scientist bunker called Deep 13, get
from the experiments isn't really clear.
A good guess is that they are simply
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sadistic and are only looking to inflict
their own special brand of "deep hurt-
ing" on the hapless space-based trio.
The guy has built himself some
robot friends to share his pain and ease
his lonliness. In addition to Crow and
Servo, there is the service robot (and
maternal figure) Gypsy and Cambot,
the presumed reason that the camera on
the ship moves. They are actually made
out of various knick-knacks like.
gumball machines, plastic bowling pins
and lacross equipment. It's such an
obvious comedic ploy!
The reason the guy keeps being
reffered to as "the guy" is because there
are actually two guys: Joel Hodgson,
one of the original creators of the show,
played Joel Robinson until June 1993
when he left and head writer Mike
Nelson took over to play the guy on the
ship. This incarnation was named, sur-
prisingly, Mike Nelson.
Well, Mike's been on screen for a
year now, and the second college tour
for MST3K is on its way again. This
one has been impressively dubbed
"Fresh Cheese - The Fall 1994 Mys-
tery Science Theater 3000 College
Screening Tour." An episode yet to be
seen on Comedy Central (and notMike
and the 'bots at the front of the theater
in the flesh and plastic), the coming
offering is a skewering of an Adam
West/ Tia Carrerra flick known as
"Zombie Nightmare." Certainly
enough to instill no small amount of
fear in the hearts nor nausea into the
stomachs of a lesser production com-
pany than MST3K's Minnesota-based
See CHEESE, Page 6
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rank Conniff (TV's Frank) and Trace Beaulieu (Dr. Clayton Forrester) decide who gets use of the brain for the day.
'NYPD' won't have the Caruso blues
N E S
plight!
By JOSHUA RICH
ere is no question that "NYPD
le" is an adult-oriented television
rogram. In the first episode alone,
1ere were two sex scenes which dis-
layed brief, yetfull frontal nudity and
YU mom uo
son, proven itself to be much more. It
features Detectives John Kelly (David
Caruso) and Andy Sipowicz (Dennis
Franz), a team of aggressive, intelli-
gent policemen, who, although listed
as the show's stars, are not really the
main focus. Rather, the central charac-
ters are the residents of the lower east
side of New York whose lives are
touched by these unorthodox lawmen.
Unlike in most other prime time dra-
mas, these characters are real. They
have normal, human problems. They
aren't rich, spoiled lawyers or vice
cops who driveFerraris. "NYPD Blue"
is revolutionary because it is not a
fantasy drama; it is real.
Now, however, the show has a
very real, potential problem. After
garnering twenty-six Emmy Award
nominations - tying a record for
most in a single season by one show
- including Best Actor nods to both
Caruso and Franz, Caruso made a
surprise decision. Even though he was
a favorite to win the acting prize,
Caruso decided to leave the show
after only one season in order to pur-
sue a movie career. He is scheduled to
star in the remake of the classic "Kiss
See BLUES, Page 8
.,.and yes,
we do have 16 pound bails.
Every Thursday Night 10p.m.i-a.m.
Guest DJ "the Buckster?"
1950 South Industrial
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
665-4475
e famous line: "Suck on this, you
issy littlebitch!" was barked by one of
e main characters. But since then the
uestionable nature of this program
as decreased - nudity is rare, al-
ough "asshole" is a favorite color-
netaphor for the actors - and
peccable screen writing and daring
cting are now the show's main at-
actions.
Touted as the first television show
display nudity and profane language,
NYPD Blue" has, after only one sea-
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the future: Shorino What We Are Learning
October 20, 1994, 10am-6pm
October 21, 1994, 10am-2pm
The Michigan Union
530 South State Street
The University of Michigan
The M-Quality Expo-a good place to talk with others who are interested in
improvement and innovation, to learn more about M-Quality, and to CELEBRATE
the creative ways people are using M-Quality to contribute to the excellence of
the University.
*More than 50 exhibits highlighting how
people from across campus are using
M-Quality to: help ensure the excellence
of the University, find ways to better serve
others, promote teamwork and wholesome
work environments, and experiment with
various ways of problem-solving.
*Professors Marvin W. Peterson (Education),
and Kim Cameron (Business Administration and
Education) reporting the results of the recent
survey of staff perceptions of the workplace
environment. Thursday, October 20, at
11:00am in the Kuenzel Room.
*Professor Edward D. Rothman (Statistics) talking
about how common sense, which serves us well
in some circumstances, leads us astray in others.
Quality Management will be the context for his
examples. Thursday, October 20, at 2:00pm
in the Kuenzel Room.
*Professor Richard W. Andrews (Statistics)
delivering a humorous talk to "half-heartedly"
support 15 "half-baked" ideas for Quality
management with the goal of convincing people
to develop their own set of quality principles.
Thursday, October 20, at 4:00pm in the
Kuenzel Room.
*Ms. Karen E. Sayer, head of the film and
video library, showing two videos in the
Kuenzel Room on Friday, October 21.
At 11:00am, More Bloody Meetings featuring
John Cleese.
At 1:00pm, Leadership and the New Science
featuring Margaret J. Wheatley.
FREE ADMISSION
REFRESHMENTS
"MOM",
I