One of the future plans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 was that they eventually would be allowed to poke fun at more mainstream films. Considering the probability they wouldn’t get the approval, nor afford the cost to obtain the rights to use the footage of most films, this plan was never put forward. IFC’s Greg The Bunny works around this problem by taking select scenes from mainstream films and remaking them around with puppets.
Greg The Bunny: The Best Of The Film Parodies covers 14 selected episodes from the IFC version of the series (Fox made a version which lasted one season). I have no way of determining which episode is from what season as these were all shot years apart (some in 1999, while others were shot a few years later). Despite the complicated history, the box set easily readies the newcomers into the wackiness they will endure when they press play.
The series tells the tale of The Greg The Bunny Show, a show within the series that airs on IFC (in the show’s alternate universe) which makes movie parodies with puppets rather than human begins. Because this series is a show behind the show set-up, we get to see the puppets themselves when the cameras go off.
Rounding out the puppet cast is the innocent Greg Bunny, edgy Warren “The Ape” Demontague, and the spooky but surly Count Blah (all voiced by one of the creators/producers/directors of the series, Dan Milano). Spencer Chinoy (also co-creator/producer/director of the series) co-stars in the series as the off-camera human producer/mediator of the puppets.
Other puppets and humans who appear in the chosen episodes are Pal Friendlies (who acts as Warren’s agent) and The Wumpus (a wacky sidekick to the madness). Seth Green also makes a guest appearance on the show playing a friend to Greg (he did the same as a fictional character in the Fox version). Eugene Levy, who was in the Fox version of the series, didn’t make it to the IFC version. That’s too bad considering he’s a good actor, but not everyone can wait as long for a cult series to return.
Article comments
1 - Roger
One thing to add to your review: there are many Easter Eggs hidden in the menus, spend some time digging them out and you will definitely be rewarded.