In the not-too-distant future, year 1980, there lived a guy named Captain Frank Chapman, and he kinda… sucked? Revisit the 1961 sci-fi flick THE PHANTOM PLANET, with Mystery Science Theater 3000’s Trace Beaulieu & Frank Conniff providing necessary (and hilarious) quips on everything from the egregious use of Francis X. Bushman to the seemingly endless array of broken wine glasses.

Available exclusively at Dumb Video, The Mads Are Back: The Phantom Planet is Season 3, Episode 11 of Trace Beaulieu & Frank Conniff’s ongoing livestream series, hosted by Chris Gersbeck and featuring a post-film Q&A with comic book artist & writer Bob Fingerman. Recorded live June 13, 2023.

Frank Conniff is a comedy writer and performer who began his TV career writing for the Peabody award-winning series Mystery Science Theater 3000, where he also played “TV’s Frank,” the bumbling yet lovable mad scientist sidekick. He then went on to be a writer, producer and actor on the ABC TV series Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and he was a writer and producer on The Drew Carey Show on ABC, The New Tom Green Show on MTV, and the satirical series O2BE on the Oxygen Network, where he was also a cast member. He was head writer of the animated Nickelodeon series, Invader Zim, and also was a writer and producer for the Air America Radio network, where he provided material for on-air personalities Rachel Maddow, Marc Maron, Lizz Winstead, Al Franken, Janeane Garofalo, and Randi Rhodes. He was a writer and performer on Viewpoint with John Fugelsang on Current TV, and on Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell on the FXX network, and he also writes and performs on The Jimmy Dore Show on Pacifica Radio.

Trace Beaulieu is a comic actor, writer, performer. He was a founding member of the Emmy- nominated, Peabody Award-winning, cult hit show Mystery Science Theater 3000. In addition to writing, occasionally directing, designing and building sets and props, Trace performed the puppet character Crow T. Robot, and mad scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester. He repeated these roles in the 1996 film version of the show, MST3K: The Movie. Trace wrote for ABC’s America’s Funniest Videos for nine seasons. He played a recurring character on Freaks and Geeks, and has had cameo appearances on The West Wing and Arrested Development. For six years, he toured with the original cast of MST3K in a live movie riffing show called CINEMATIC TITANIC. Trace is currently the voice of A.R.T. the robot on Paul Feig’s Other Space on Yahoo TV.

Original Language: English

Produced by Chris Gersbeck

Written & Performed by Trace Beaulieu & Frank Conniff

Release Date: June 13, 2023

Quality: 1080p