The Oozing Skull is the first release from Cinematic Titanic, a project that reunites the original cast and writers of Mystery Science Theater 3000 as well as writer/performers from later in the series. Series creator Joel Hodgson is joined once again by Trace Beaulieu, Frank Connif, Mary Jo Pehl, and J. Elvis Weinstein (with a special guest appearance by Dr. Stephen Hawking). MST3K was perhaps the greatest TV show in the history of the medium, at least as far as this B-movie buff is concerned. Each week the program would show a schlocky old flick with the cast, shown in silhouette in the bottom right of the screen, constantly tossing jokes at the screen. Cinematic Titanic does very much the same thing, with all five of the writer/performers appearing on screen and riffing in a style reminiscent of MST3K. Not every joke hits its mark, but there are so damn many of them, you'd have to be inhuman not to find something to laugh at here.

Like many others, I really miss Mystery Science Theater 3000. I think the show could have gone on forever. Not only are there millions of bad B-movies out there that never recieved the MST3K treatment, but I think they could have gone ahead and mocked and ridiculed "good" movies -- Oscar-winners, critical favorites, classics, box-office hits -- as well. But it had to get canceled. So that Comedy Central could run more awful stand-up specials and The Sci-Fi Channel could make their own horrible films in abundance, it seems. Well, at least I have Mike Nelson's Moviecheese to read over and over.

And, now, there's something else: Mike Nelson's RiffTrax. This website sells audio commentaries for the DVDs of movies such as Cocktail, Road House, Plan 9 From Outer Space and The Fifth Element. These can be downloaded and played on an MP3 player while you watch the movie on mute (or with sound, I guess). There aren't too many to choose from yet and they cost a few bucks, but I've heard that a few are worth it -- even without the silhouettes, the MST3K side story, and the robot characters (though Kevin Murphy (aka "Tom Servo") helped out on Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.) I know there are other people out there who've been doing DIY podcast or MP3 commentaries for films for awhile now, but nobody does it like Mike Nelson (except maybe Joel Hodgson who should make like a copycat and do his own site).