At 9:00 PM PST, the premiere episode of Cinematic Titanic, the new project by the creators of Mystery Science Theater 3000, went on sale. By 9:10, I'd placed my order (too bad they say it won't ship for at least ten days). I figure, for the years of joy they've given me, I owe them that. Having watched the trailer, I'll say I'm cautiously optimistic. I have some reservations, just because I've found Mike Nelson's post-MST3K work somewhat of a let-down (though I applaud him for keeping the spirit of the show alive). I've only seen one of his Film Crew DVDs, and it was enjoyable, being as they chose to riff on a film starring Rue McClanahan as a stripper, but the whole thing had a shooting-fish-in-the-barrel quality (long stretches of the commentary is just Mike and friends reassuring the audience that, yes, they too are horrified by what they see). But the whole Rifftrax thing (downloadable audio commentaries to big Hollywood movies, mostly) never appealed to me--it was the shlocky B-movies and the social commentary they allowed that really drew me to MST3K (especially their takes on short hygiene films; "Mr. B Natural" was a transformative experience in my life).

Anyway, just wanted to let you all know that this product exists. And hey, two members of the Cinematic Titanic crew were until recently keeping their writing chops sharp by working on America's Funniest Home Videos, so you know they're bringing the funny (does my snobbery know no bounds? No, it doesn't).