The best of the best of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 best-ofs

When Matt Vogl and Harrison Rains started Mile High Sci-Fi five years ago, Vogl says, "We agreed never to watch Mystery Science Theater 3000 ever again." In many ways, their show's premise is the same -- screen terrible movies and make fun of them -- but Vogl and Rains also wanted to do their own thing, and "We don't want any of their jokes in ours," he says.

Understandable, because over the course of its eleven-year run, MST3K spawned some great jokes and memorable one-liners, boasting kind of rabid fandom that only nerd-humor can inspire; for evidence, just check how many fans spent hours of their time editing the show into best-of reels. Here are a few of our favorites.

MST3K Best of Vol. 1 This reel strings together four or five episodes of the show, emphasizing with editing the running gags that often emerged early on in episodes and play out throughout the movie -- our favorite is the last flick on the reel, which hilariously edits together all the names Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot make up for the hero, such as "Dirk Hardpec," "Rip Steakface" and "Brick Hardmeat" -- we could go on.

Best of Devilfish (MST3K) There are literally a ton of these things, where somebody just takes an episode and edits it down to the best jokes -- because asking a nerd to just give his all-time favorite MST3K moments is like asking Ludacris to pick his favorite area code. Speaking of outdated pop-cultural references, name one other show smart enough to even consider a Joan Didion joke, let alone make it funny.

MST3K Top Ten Best Lines This guy takes an incredibly annoying approach to cataloging a few best one-liners from the show, coming out with about a 3:1 ratio of content worth watching (you know, the one-liners) to text-on-black-screen and irritating music. For the sake of fandom, though, it's worth including here.

The Worst Fake Handicap in Movie History But fandom is at its best when it's at its most categorical, and there are a bunch of these absurdly specific designations devoted to MST3K floating around, such as "The Most Awkward Introduction in Movie History" and "The Worst Conversation in a Movie Ever," just in case you were wondering what either of those two things were.

Oh, MST3K, we're still not over you, baby. But for those of us who have been missing a weekly (or more) dose of smart jokes and stupid movies, Vogl and Rains are there with a screenings of Snowbeast, an awful, awful 1977 made-for-TV anti-classic set in Crested Butte, tomorrow and Saturday night at 8 p.m. at the Denver FilmCenter/Colfax; tickets tend to sell out, so reserve yours now, or the master will be very disturbed.