::chews on her MST3K: The Movie DVD:

[teddog]

I got my MST3K movie DVD! It's just dawned on me that I've waited half my life to own a DVD of this - I first saw the movie when I was 12 and I'm now 24. It's super barebones - no extras, not even chapter stops. Wait, that's a lie - there's one strange extra...

So, how change up a movie you've watched like... a million times before?

Switch on the French language track!

Yes, they dubbed the Mystery Science Theater movie into French at some point. There's a German dub as well, but that was already known to the fandom and wasn't included (said German dub has a strange fan following over there that caused some wank a while back). There's someone translating the French jokes on the big fandom message board and many of them are baffling. Or really literal.

"Ah, POOPIE!" turns into "Excréments!", for example. That one I could make out on my own.

From the board translations: "Sissy cat. I could take you too!" is dubbed into "That cat is back. I hope he won't barf on us again!"

So. I'm curious as to why this dub exists. The movie tanked in the North American market. It's based on a TV series that would have only been broadcast in the US at this point.

Now excuse me as I return to the land of 12-year-old fangirl joy. I'm going to curl up in his sock drawer and sleep for days.

Comments

[pyat.livejournal.com]

"Normal view... NORMAL VIEEEEEW!"

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

"Our chair technology is light years ahead of yours."

"OH MY GOD, MY WAFFLE! Oh, the humanity!"

[pyat.livejournal.com]

The "normal view" scene was the one that prompted gales of laughter from me and my friends when we first saw the movie, away back in the dark ages on VHS.

That, and the throwaway line about "Keanu Reeves in: My own private airfield."

When I was bachelor, I would drive to Oakville just to buy MST3K tapes to sort of keep me company when my fiancee was in France, and I was working nights.

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

I remember rewinding the "normal view" bit over and over. It's just so.... goofy. Both the music in the original film and riff are too over the top.

"Keanu Reeves in: My own private airfield" was beyond me, though. Like I said, I was 12 at the time, making me the oldest the friends who watched the movie with me that infamous first time around. I did get some of the higher end references, like Crow's "Good night, sweet Hubble, and a flight of angels sing thee to thy rest", which only goes to show that I was an extremely precocious 12 year old in some ways.

Where did you get your tapes? When I started looking for them, it was probably about 1999. There were some places in Hamilton that carried them, but it was so hit or miss. Off the top of my head, my tapes came from Bestsellers (now closed, used to be in Jackson Square), Cinema 1 (over at Maple View, still around), a couple of Music Worlds (the Toronto ones had more selection than the Hamilton ones)... and I think the rest I picked up at Media Play and Sunrise stores in the states.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

I’m enough of a nerd that I actually just looked up the video release date (October 1996) to figure out how old I was when I saw it. We must have watched it in late 1996 or early 1997, meaning I was 22 or 23 at the time. It was three of us - me, Dan, and Bill, and we watched it in my friend Bill's tiny bedroom. Bill and Dan had never seen or heard of MST3K before, and my only exposure to it had been magazine articles, like that one in Omni, so they were a bit skeptical. The “Private Airfield” joke cracked us up terribly, for some reason, and the rest of the movie was gold.

Tapes were pretty hard to find and badly overpriced. I think I got one or two at Sam the Record Man in Hamilton, or the HMV that used to be nearby. (Or was there an HMV…?) The rest I picked up at the Oakville Place HMV in 1998, usually after coming home from work at the computer magazine. I have:

Manos
The Cave Dwellers
Eegah
The Unearthly
… and one or two more whose titles escape me at the moment.

Like I say, I used to put them on to keep my company after coming home from night shift work at the soup kitchen, since my friends worked days, and my future wife was in Europe. Sort of a wistful pleasure – Joel and the bots were like surrogate friends I’d hang out with.

*is lame*

Do you remember the name of the store in the basement of the Hamilton Eaton’s Centre that used to sell fannish videos, like Doctor Who? I was in the Eaton’s Centre (or whatever they call it now) a couple of weeks ago, and was reflecting that downtown Hamilton used to be much more geek friendly.

On that note, I did some posts a while back about the nerd culture in Hamilton in the early 90s that might interest you:
http://pyat.livejournal.com/83031.html
http://pyat.livejournal.com/99728.html
http://pyat.livejournal.com/143359.html - scroll down a bit, and this one actually describes life in East Hamilton in 1982.

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

Ah, but did you see it as a rental? The rental version was released in June 1996, before the home video release. I only remember this because I rented the movie the day after my grade 8 grad. The rental release has different trailers on the tape. There's a funny story about me, what happened to the local Blockbuster's tape and why I own two copies of the VHS. I might write that up, since I have some time to kill today.

All of the releases up here were overpriced. I believe I own all of the VHS tapes and I don't want to think about how much was spend. I'm willing to bet it was somewhere in the range of $300-$400, if not more.

Bestsellers is the only one I can think of. It was in Jackson Square near the entrance to the Eaton Centre in 1999. Used to sell Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, other hard-to-find tapes. In the Eaton Centre proper, the only geeky places I really remember were a computer store in the basement (last saw this open in 1996. They had a copy of the really old LucasArts adventure pack, on floppy. I regret not buying it to this day) and a hobby shop on the top floor that closed in 1995 or earlier. Now that I think about it, in 1996 the place was already looking empty.

Oh my gosh. I remember seeing so many of those places growing up. Dad was a geek, but mom never let me do anything fun. Interesting to learn about the Pipeline, because it always struck me as a strange park. And Kenilworth Library, how I miss it from my childhood. So many summer hours were spent in there. I liked the Central Library more, with it's bizarre design, inside and out.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Ah, but did you see it as a rental? The rental version was released in June 1996, before the home video release.

You know, it was a rental - so it might very well have been the summer. I have trouble remembering what it was like outside. We watched a lot of movies there, and I remember the films, but the context is lost.

I only remember this because I rented the movie the day after my grade 8 grad. The rental release has different trailers on the tape. There's a funny story about me, what happened to the local Blockbuster's tape and why I own two copies of the VHS. I might write that up, since I have some time to kill today.

Uh oh. Are the Blockbuster police looking for you?

Bestsellers is the only one I can think of. It was in Jackson Square near the entrance to the Eaton Centre in 1999. Used to sell Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, other hard-to-find tapes.

No, this place was couple of years before Bestsellers, I think - though Bestsellers had an awesome selection for the time. It was in basement next to the food court, and mostly sold things like telescopes and lava lamps... and really cheap Doctor Who videos, for some reason. Like, $3.99.

In the Eaton Centre proper, the only geeky places I really remember were a computer store in the basement (last saw this open in 1996. They had a copy of the really old LucasArts adventure pack, on floppy. I regret not buying it to this day) and a hobby shop on the top floor that closed in 1995 or earlier. Now that I think about it, in 1996 the place was already looking empty.

The hobby shop was the Games-A-Lot I mention in my one post. It had a really good selection for a long time, and hosted game days in the food court. We were actually surprised when it just closed down. Not as surprised as we were when the Silver Snail closed in 1997, though. There was no warning for that, though anyone who paid attention to the dusty shelves and shopworn look of the place from about 1995 onward would have been able to predict it.

I actually went into the Silver Snail on its last day of operation, by accident, carrying a stack of Realms magazines, a local SF/fandom paper I used to write for. The guy behind the counter refused to accept them because they were closing, and I assumed he meant "for the night," and did a double take when I realized he meant "forever."

I liked the Central Library more, with it's bizarre design, inside and out.

Yes, definitely! When I was 10 years old the Library, Market, and Jackson's Square still seemed ultramodern. It was like visiting the future. I'd pretend I was inside a vast spaceship. And the mall, at least in the 80s, was always so bustling and exciting, with cool book stores and toy stores and electronics stores.

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

Actually, my timeline was off - I saw the movie from a rental in 1997, not 1996.

HA! They might have been looking for us at one point. I didn't steal the tape, but I returned a damaged one, which lead to me getting my own copy.

OH! Wait! I think I remember this store now. I don't remember the Doctor Who videos, but I remember a store that carried geeky stuff - might have become a kids store later?

Silver Snail was too far away from the main clump of stores, I think. It was kinda off on its own.

I remember the Eaton Centre and Jackson Square right before it tanked hard. Probably right before that woman was killed in the mall, I think, which was the start of the end. Things like the old food court, the Eaton Centre having decent stores, Jackson's Square having TWO bookstores and a Marks and Spencer's. The Central Library still makes me feel warm and fuzzy - I have a big soft spot for brutalist architecture. It doesn't feel harsh or cold. It's comforting. I love how the stairs are kinda all over the place, how the windows reach up to the sky, the blue tiles on the first floor, that neon and steel art piece. All of it makes me happy.

Right now, though, the rest of that complex is depressing. Hey, I have two questions for you about old school Jackson's Square. One - what was that sitdown restaurant by what's now the new food court and the fitness club? It's an old style of restaurant-in-a-mall, having windows and this wood paneling separating it from the rest of the mall. Two - was the fitness club always a fitness club? I know there's an entrance over by the outside entrance to the library, but I recall something almost like a patio being there back in 1994/1995, but whatever it was, it was long closed. These were before my time, so I'm curious.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

OH! Wait! I think I remember this store now. I don't remember the Doctor Who videos, but I remember a store that carried geeky stuff - might have become a kids store later?

I think that could well be the one!

Silver Snail was in mini-clump of cool stores for the longest time. Next door was The Book Villa, which at that time was a very cool bookstore, with a huge SF section. It also sold the most esoteric magazines, stuff like UFO Universe and Soldier of Fortune. Now it's basically a variety store with a large magazine rack. Also nearby Rock'N Tees, back when it wasn't just a glorified head shop.

I confess I have the same feeling for "Brutalitarian" architecture, because that's what buildings were like when I was a kid. In the 90s, things suddenly started being pastel. The Hamilton Eaton's Centre is a perfect example of that, actually.

Whenever I come back to Canada across the Buffalo border crossing, I get a little weird warm glow when I see the big sweeping, concrete border booths on the Canadian side. It's toally Trudeau-era Canadiana, and it reminds of being a kid. It almost seems to say "Come home, weary traveller, return to the warm Socialist embrace of Mother Canada!" ;)

The restaurant was the "Elephant and Castle," which is a minor chain of pub-style restaurants that lie somewhere between Swiss Chalet and Kelsey's in terms of food and price. The one at Jackson Square wasn't very good. velvetpage and I had lunch there, after I bought her a promise ring in 1995.

As for the health club, I'm sure it was something else, but for the life of me, I can't remember what.

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

More Eaton Centre remembrances: Do you remember the Ben and Jerry's?

Hee. Thus proving how young I am, I don't remember Rock'N Tees before it was a head shop. I do very vaguely remember that Silver Snail was by an old movie theater, an Odeon twin, I think?

The pastel thing was kinda odd. I like some aspects of it, like the skylights and the glass elevators. The problem with it, at least in what I feel, is that the light colours degrade quickly when the mall starts going downhill. In blunt terms, the pastel is too sterile and it gets dirty too fast, unlike the warmer earthy tones of the 1970s and 1980s and the grays that were common in the 1980s. For example, I think that Centre Mall rotted more gracefully than the Eaton Centre did, even through they almost pull from the same pool of colours. The Eaton Centre was on the lighter end of the pastels, unlike Centre Mall, which was more gray with a mix of the earth tones, especially in the old food court.

My heart is in late 1980s Southwestern Ontario. I can't begin to explain to you why this is, other than it is what it is. So, I dig concrete and... uh... honestly, whatever Expo 67's architecture was called. Space age? Add in a touch of 1970s/1980 mall design and that's my ideal world. It would look like a fusion of the Hamilton Central library, Ontario Place and some mix of Square One and the Toronto Eaton Centre. X)

Ah! Thanks. I was always curious about that restaurant. No worries about the health club. It's hard to dig up info on Jackson Square - the mall doesn't even have a website.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

...that Silver Snail was by an old movie theater, an Odeon twin, I think?

Not directly - there was one sort of around the corner, which I believe was indeed an Odeaon. I saw a Bugs Bunny movie there around 1983, and I think I saw a double-feature of Star Wars and Empire there for my 7th birthday in 1981. In any case, we had dinner before the movie at The Old Spec, which was this great buffet restaurant downtown in the old Spectator building. They had a lot of old printing press equipment about.

I can't begin to explain to you why this is, other than it is what it is.

It's where you were a kid. It represents a period in your life that was (I assume) safe and free from responsibility. Even people with fairly bad childhoods (like, people growing up in WII Europe) experience this. My dad has dreams about Holland just after WWII, and how happy he was to get some sugar on a piece of bread for his birthday.