MST3K on Hulu!

On the one hand, you've been paying (arguably a bit too much) for those Mystery Science Theater 3000 DVD sets, and it's kind of frustrating that now those old shows are turning up for free on Hulu. On the other hand: complete episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 are now free to see on Hulu! So far there are only five episodes, but hopefully there will be more soon. (I see that the complete series of Strangers with Candy is also now availble on Hulu... After we shelled out for the DVDs!)

Got a tip for Monsters and Rockets? Want to contribute to the site? Send us an email.

Read more...

IRON SKY moving ahead

In the early '90s, when they were teenagers, the geekboys of Finland's Energia Productions started making crude Star Trek parodies using spaceship models they programmed on home computers. But while other fans dabble in such things and then move on as they grow older, the Energia crew kept making amateurish Trek parodies in their living rooms, all through their teens and into young adulthood.

Their Star Wreck series became increasingly elaborate with each film, eventually culminating in 2005's Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning, a bizarre, feature-length fan film that pits Star Trek against Babylon 5 in an epic battle that seems like it's maybe supposed to be funny, but it's sort of hard to tell. What it looks like more than anything else is a trailer for a Playstation 1 Star Trek game, and one you wouldn't feel too proud of yourself for beating.



But while most fan filmmakers are content to just keep playing with stuff made up by other people, the Energia boys are actually moving on and creating something of their own. And I'm as amazed as you are when I say that their next film, Iron Sky, looks like it could be kind of brilliant. Check out the trailer:



Yes, the gag with the bird poop was pretty unfortunate, but you've got to admit that up until that point you were grooving on the gorgeous CGI and the Sky Captain-ish steampunk-edness of it all.

While I can sometimes admire and enjoy fan films, there's usually something a little stunted about them. I almost feel like I'm watching adults play house, dressing up like characters from their favorite shows and pretending. It can be cute, but if they're any good I always end up wishing they would either try to get a job working on the real show, or they'd go make something of their own. Why pour all of your talent and passion into something that can never really be yours?

But the Energia guys seem to be moving on from fan films and creating something wholly their own. And it looks like Iron Sky is actually happening. If they can make the leap from making Star Trek parodies in their kitchens to making actual, worthwhile movies, they will have gone where far too few fans have gone before. Fleets of Nazi warships, flying our way from their base on the far side of moon! Gene Roddenberry himself would've been proud to come up with anything that crazy.

Got a tip for Monsters and Rockets? Want to contribute to the site? Send us an email.

Read more...

To boldly go under the sea

Everybody's linking to this rather gorgeous footage of a remote controlled Starship Enterprise (circa Star Trek: The Motion Picture) gracefully soaring along at the bottom of a swimming pool. It's absolutely mesmerizing.

But this clip, featuring the USS Voyager encountering the Millennium Falcon in fluidic space, also deserves some attention. They look like two undersea creatures doing an elaborate mating dance.

What I want to know is, if Voyager contacts the Falcon, will Voyager's universal translator actually translate what Chewbacca says, so it sounds like he's speaking Federation Standard English? (Something tells me that Chewbacca isn't a great conversationalist. Most of his dialogue in the original trilogy probably consists of variations on the phrase, "Uh-oh! This is scary! Let's get outta here!" Plus the occasional, "Oh no, something just exploded!")


Got a tip for Monsters and Rockets? Want to contribute to the site? Send us an email.

Read more...

DREAM WRAITH: An interactive horror "annotation game"

Dream Wraith is a very clever and genuinely spooky "horror annotation game" produced by two English gents who call themselves the Camcorder Bandits.

What's an "annotation game"? Well, you know when you're watching a Youtube video, and suddenly a little gray square will pop up in the clip, telling you to click it? Annotation games use those pop-ups to create elaborate, interactive little movies.

I think the genre is still fairly new, and nothing I've seen compares to the ambition of Dream Wraiths. Be prepared to spend the next 45 minutes or so frantically clicking around, trying to escape from that damn thing.

Read more...

FRAGILE AND FEARLESS

Start your Sunday morning off right, with a big helping of scrambled (and NSFW) eggs. In David Commander's 2007 short film Fragile and Fearless, a neurotic little egg lady (voiced by Ish Klein) is ready to crack, when her shrink advises her to grow a thicker shell. But is her new outlook on life a little too eggs-treme?

Got a tip for Monsters and Rockets? Want to contribute to the site? Send us an email.

Read more...

The Doctor swears

In this collection of bloopers and backstage clowning around from the Tom Baker-era Doctor Who, the Doctor swears, shamelessly flirts with Romana and generally carries on in a manner highly inappropriate for a Time Lord!

Got a tip for Monsters and Rockets? Want to contribute to the site? Send us an email.

Read more...

SHATNER SUNDAY: GOTTA CATCH SANTA CLAUS

Even if you consider yourself a big William Shatner fan, there's no way you've seen everything he's starred in the last few years. According to the IMDB, between 2004-2008, while Shatner was starring on Boston Legal, he found time to squeeze in 15 other credits! He was in everything from Star Trek video games to Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous to the reality show Invasion Iowa. (And that IMDB list is by no means complete!)

But in a career that stretches all the way back to 1951 (the year of his debut as "a crook" in The Butler's Night Off), last year's direct to DVD, CGI kiddie picture Gotta Catch Santa could be one of Shatner's most poorly-chosen roles. From the anemic premise to the animation that would've looked iffy in 1996 to musical numbers that wear out their welcome in 5-second exerpts, Gotta Catch Santa is enough to make you pine for the glory days of Li'l Pimp.

Got a tip for Monsters and Rockets? Want to contribute to the site? Send us an email.

Read more...

CHRISTMAS IN THE STARS

If the Star Wars Holiday Special wasn't awkward and embarrassing enough for you, there's always the Star Wars holiday album, Christmas in the Stars. The track above, featuring the vocal stylings of everybody's favorite protocol droid C3-PO, is just the beginning of the squirmy, uncomfortable anti-fun. There's also What Do You Get a Wookie? (When He Already Owns a Comb) and this deathless classic featuring a young Jon Bon Jovi in his first studio recording ever. (It was all downhill from there, Jon.)

Happy Life Day, everybody!

Got a tip for Monsters and Rockets? Want to contribute to the site? Send us an email.

Read more...

Betamax Christmas

This year's holiday TV seems like the most anemic in memory. Flipping the TV dial, it's really striking how little Christmas stuff there is to be found on those many channels. I think I caught the end of a Rankin/Bass special around December 5th, but that's about it. What has happened to the Christmas TV of my youth? Where are all the Christmas cartoon specials? Where are any of the 400 or so adaptations of A Christmas Carol? Where's the Christmas episode of Perfect Strangers?

If, like me, you need a little retro Christmas TV, right this very minute, Betamax Christmas will put the jolly back in your holly. The site recreates a full evening of Christmas TV programming circa 1986 or so, complete with rabbit ears on the TV that you have to fiddle with to get a better picture. (You change the channel by flipping the remote floating over on the right. It seems obvious once you notice it, but it took me a while to spot it.)

Got a tip for Monsters and Rockets? Want to contribute to the site? Send us an email.

Read more...

Check into Hoogerbrugge's HOTEL

Han Hoogerbrugge is a Dutch graphic designer and Flash animator who has been filling the Internet with delicious strangeness since 1996. His work is like what would happen if somebody dosed you with some bad LSD and then you were looking at a book of corporate clip art and all of the little cartoon businessmen suddenly started to crawl around on the page, making weird noises and doing surreal and ghastly things to each other.

All of his work is good, but Hotel is his magnum opus. Equal parts graphic novel and video game, this multi-part series draws you into the dark, frightening world of Dr. Doglin, a physician with the world's worst bedside manner. Check into Hoogerbrugge's Hotel... and you may never leave.

Read more...