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By Steven Hill - posted Sunday, 10-Dec-2023 14:52:31 CST

I know, I know, another long drought with no updates, it gets harder and harder to find the time. Anyway, since the last updaate 4 years ago :D we've done a few more shows and have transitioned - successfully, I think - into doing fully improvised, nonscripted shows. You can imagine what a timesaver this is. Well, to be honest, it was a necessity. Most of us have become so involved with helping run the Chicago TARDIS convention that we no longer had the time to work on a 337 show, so it was either lose the shows completely, or switch to improv. So far, with The Five Doctors and Day of the Daleks done as improv, audience response seems good and encouraging.

On another topic, we don't know how many more Chicago cons there will be, but we have four more shows to go to reach our 50th show, and it's a milestone we really do want to achieve, so if you have any influence in programming a convention, please consider inviting us to do our show. This will help us reach show 50!

Finally, if you look around, you'll see I've fixed some errors and updated the credits list and the past episodes list, and plan on doing writeups for the past bunch soon. And then I'll look and see what audio I can upload. Yes I know how long I've been saying that. :D

By Steven Hill - posted Monday, 14-Oct-2019 15:03:13 PST

This year's selection for Chicago TARDIS is the Fourth Doctor/Leela story Underworld. We've only ever done two Leela stories in the past, and Louise is one of our guests at CT, so...we shall plunge into the Underworld.

One other bit of news: this past February's Gallifrey One show was our last for the foreseeable future. We did a total of 17 live shows at Gallifrey One beginning with our earliest in 2002, and we're forever grateful to con organizer Shaun Lyon for hosting us (as well as being in the cast for four of our shows!). Oh, and, no need to speculate about anything, this was a mutually and amicably agreed decision.

By Steven Hill - posted Thursday, 6-Dec-2018 10:23:55 PST

Okay, I've settled on tackling the First Doctor story The Ark at Gallifrey One on February 15, 2019! Cast will be announced soon.

By Steven Hill - posted Wednesday, 5-Dec-2018 13:41:33 PST

Been doing a little work on updating the site. Expect more little updates in the immediate future, and more downloads including the audio from episode 201802 (State of Decay). Also, we should be announcing the story we'll be riffing at Gallifrey One soon. So keep checking back!

By Steven Hill - posted Thursday, 21-Jan-2016 10:50:42 PST

Yes, it's almost predictable - I say I'm going to do something (move the site to Drupal) and then not do it. And let's not even mention the fact that I never posted anything in 2015, even when we had two nice shows. But even though things seem despondent, it's not dead. IN FACT we are preparing our TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY SHOW right now, which will be performed at Chicago TARDIS 2016 in November, and it'll be worth the wait! If you're wondering what's happening at Gallifrey 27, well, I'll be there, but there will be no MT337 show. Let the Gallifrey folks know if you miss us. On the positive side, as the Gallifrey website says, they are "happy to announce that the fourth annual Idiot's Lantern Sketch Show takes place on the main stage this year!" It'll be nice to travel to Los Angeles without a suitcase full of audio equipment, but I admit I'm a bit sad that this happened in our Twentieth Anniversary year. Still, don't get me wrong, I'm not angry or upset, I'm cool with it. So enough of that, what's our special anniversary show? The Daemons!

By Steven Hill - posted Thursday, 11-Dec-2014 10:40:02 PST

A big batch of news for you. First of all, our next show is now announced: "Attack of the Cybermen" will be performed at The 26 Seasons of Gallifrey One on February 13, 2015. Check out the "Next Show" page for additional information. See you there! Next, all the pages here have been updated - 2014 show information, all credits, new script downloads, the usual. The only thing still pending is what will eventually be a massive addition of photographs to the site...but that's a big challenge. I promise it'll happen soon... for real. Next, I am not sure if we've ever publicised our Facebook page, so you should definitely check it out: Mysterious Theatre 337 on Facebook - Like us, really like us. And finally, I'm still going to try to update the site as a whole, but I'm going to try Drupal instead of Wordpress. However, it's slow going and I can't figure out some things that should be simple...which is why I just went ahead and updated the regular old site for now. Okay, that's the news, now back to your regularly scheduled internet.

By Steven Hill - posted Friday, 5-Dec-2014 10:54:13 PST

Since the last post here, we've actually had three more shows. Details will be forthcoming...I'm trying to get this site updated from my ancient HTML to Wordpress so it will be easier to manage. We've also decided on the next story for Chicago (November 2015), and have nearly settled on the story for Gallifrey (February 2015), so check back soon.

By Steven Hill - posted Monday, 17-Feb-2014 20:32:46 PST

Timelash at Gallifrey One: 25 Glorious Years was lovely. We had a nice crowd and good response. Thanks for coming... we'll try to get the audio ready quickly, provided there are no technical hitches. Coming up next... our debut at a new convention, CONsole Room in Minneapolis/St Paul! We have chosen The Greatest Show in the Galaxy for this special show, and we hope you will come on up to the Twin Cities for this con which promises to be a terrific one!

By Steven Hill - posted Tuesday, 4-Dec-2013 13:07:58 PST

The Five Doctors: Special Edition went very well with only minor problems. Around 170 people attended. Thank you all! Timelash is still scheduled to be performed at Gallifrey One: 25 Glorious Years in 2014, on 14 February. We might actually have THREE shows this year, so stay tuned for information on where we hope to be other than Los Angeles and Chicago!

By Steven Hill - posted Tuesday, 23-Feb-2013 05:11:26 PST

I know, right? Where the hell have we been? No updates for over a year, even though we had two shows in the meantime? Okay, so I'm doing work on the website now. I've got some downloads to upload (ooh, confusing!) and a slew of photos that I've neglected to post for YEARS, and we have a new URL that's easy to remember: mt337.net ! I think I've even got the website working again now on browsers other than IE. So, here you are, here we are, and the site is being updated now and over the next few days.

Our next show will be at Chicago TARDIS 2013, where we will present a new/updated performance of The Five Doctors which we previously performed TEN years ago at Gallifrey One. This one should be unforgettable, so be there! What's after that? Why, the long-delayed Timelash, of course! To be performed at Gallifrey One: 25 Glorious Years in 2014. See you soon!

By Steven Hill - posted Tuesday, 13-Dec-2011 01:44:41 PST

Okay, I swear there were other updates here that have somehow been lost! Well, anyway, we just did our 26th show and are two months away from our 27th, which will be a special Mysterious Theatre 337: After Hours (which means naughtier than usual) presentation of The Creature from the Pit! This 'after hours' lark is a one-shot, there will be crude language, but we'll be back to normal for future shows. We'll see if this turns out to be successful or not...who knows, it might turn out to be legendary!

By Steven Hill - posted Tuesday, 05-Oct-2010 03:15:22 PST

Just a quick note to let you all know we've changed our plans for Gallifrey 2011, where we will be doing Castrovalva instead of Timelash. I'm sure that means that Timelash will be tackled soon...!

By Steven Hill - posted Monday, 01-Apr-2010 08:45:36 PST

What's up with this crappy site, the owner doesn't even update it before a show! Okay, I forgot, but I'm doing it now. I'll make up for it by posting information on our next TWO shows: we'll be doing Robot at Chicago TARDIS this year, and Timelash at Gallifrey One next year. Happiness will prevail.

By Steven Hill - posted Monday, 07-Dec-2009 06:51:43 PST

Thanks for coming to our show, if you did. We all think it went rather well. For the first time ever, we had a full tech rehearsal on Friday night (well, it was actually Saturday morning by that point, we finished at around 2:30 am) and I think it was useful. It allowed us to be a lot more relaxed come showtime on Saturday night. I was so relaxed and in such an "everything's all set" mindset that I forgot to set up the audio recorder; hence, no recording of the show. Alas! We did have some good improv. Ah well, you can console yourself with the PDF of the script, which is now available on the downloads page.

We've discussed ideas for the next show, which will be episode 201001, presented at Gallifrey One in February. We haven't quite made a final final decision, but I think we've made our choice. Announcement will come later.

By Steven Hill - posted Tuesday, 24-Nov-2009 13:51:14 PST

Hey, we're doing a show this week! Whaddaya know about that. On Saturday, 28 November, at the Westin Yorktown, Lombard, Illinois as a featured attraction at Chicago TARDIS, we will present The Android Invasion live and censored! Self-censored, that is. Honestly, you should hear some of the things we come up with at writing sessions that we'd never want to say in a show. Apparently we all have some rudeness in our unfiltered comedy. Heheh. Yeah, well, anyway, the show will still be a lot of fun. We've had three complete group writing sessions and plan on having our first ever full tech rehearsal before the show this time, so we ought to be more polished than ever. (And now that I've said that in public, everything will probably fall apart due to Sod's Law.) Whatever happens, we hope to see you there! And please do stay for the Q&A afterward.

By Steven Hill - posted Wednesday, 20-May-2009 22:36:20 PDT

Just added four script PDF files to the downloads page: The Krotons, Silver Nemesis, Terror of the Vervoids, and Planet of Fire.

By Steven Hill - posted Friday, 20-Feb-2009 14:04:38 PST

Our show last weekend went well - check out "Past Shows" for a brief write-up. Please send reviews to us so we can immortalize them on our website. Meanwhile, we are announcing our next show: our performance at Chicago TARDIS 2009 (November 28) will be The Android Invasion.

By Steven Hill - posted Monday, 08-Dec-2008 12:23:09 PST

The decision has been made for the next episode: Planet of Fire will be presented at Gallifrey One in February. The cast is likely to be me, Scott Alan Woodard, Dr Arnold T Blumberg, and one other person to be accused later.

By Steven Hill - posted Tuesday, 02-Dec-2008 02:13:23 PST

Our 20th show was presented over this past weekend at Chicago TARDIS 2008, and it went rather well. The audience was about 160, which we are very pleased about. The cast was me, Rob Warnock, Dr Arnold T Blumberg, and Shaun Lyon. I apologize for neglecting the site, and intend to rectify that before the end of this month with some new material, especially the pictures I've been promising for so long. We're currently discussing what will be the subject of our 21st show at Gallifrey One in February...

By Steven Hill - posted Wednesday, 29-Oct-2008 01:54:35 PDT

Sorry the website has been broken for a while. I found the problem a few weeks ago but was unable to figure out what was wrong until today. So, there might be some show news coming soon, check back again!

By Steven Hill - posted Friday, 28-Mar-2008 08:05:39 PST

Despite the fact that I'd lost most of my voice at showtime, our Silver Nemesis show at Gallifrey One went pretty well and was very well attended. We took a lot of extra time to perform audio setup and checks, and happily got the ducking compressor/limiter working for the first time, and it proved to be extremely beneficial. Shaun was forced to back out of the show due to time constraints, but it wasn't announced in advance...instead, he suggested that he could sit in at the start, then blow up when he saw the title come up, start ranting, and just leave. This he did, but even though he left the room carrying the wireless microphone and ranting into it all the way out the door, some of the audience members thought it was real! Fortunately for Shaun's reputation, we set the record straight immediately after the show during our Q&A session. Audio for the show was captured and although the level is a bit high, a downloadable file will be produced soon. As usual, I'll plead for reviews, because we still don't have any. Not any for any of our shows. *goes off to cry*

By Steven Hill - posted Thursday, 6-Dec-2007 12:41:44 PST

Announcing the cast for the upcoming Silver Nemesis show at Gallifrey One: Steven Warren Hill, Scott Alan Woodard, Arnold T Blumberg, and ... Shaun Lyon! You won't want to miss it!

By Steven Hill - posted Wednesday, 5-Dec-2007 02:50:21 PST

Finally! Our first downloadable show is now available! Episode 200701 - The Krotons (presented earlier this year at Gallifrey One) can be downloaded as an MP3 and synced to your own video playback. There's a catch, though - we would like to get some detailed feedback on the process from your side, so if you download it, please drop a line to let us know if it "worked" as expected, and give any constructive feedback you can think of. So, wait no more, head on over to the downloads page!

Also, check the past shows page for Arnold T Blumberg's thoughts on our Destiny of the Daleks show.

By Steven Hill - posted Monday, 3-Dec-2007 09:30:48 PST

Our selected chew toy for February 2008 is Silver Nemesis. Will Sylv, Soph or Mr Cartmel dare sit in the audience? (Eh, probably not.)

By Steven Hill - posted Tuesday, 27-Nov-2007 10:28:31 PST

Hello again! Long time no see. Yes, it seems I completely neglected the website for most of 2007, which means there have been no updates or announcements, and not even the show that we just wrapped was mentioned. So, catching up in brief, the February show was The Krotons (our first Troughton story), and last weekend's was Destiny of the Daleks. The site pages have been updated to include their credits etc. The audio download was likewise neglected for most of 2007, though we are still working on it - The Krotons was recorded and will be the first to appear (eventually). Destiny of the Daleks was not recorded due to lack of preparation time. Soon, there will be more scripts added for download, and some pictures from the last few shows. We've already reached a tentative (though mostly final) decision on the story selection for the Gallifrey 2008 show, and I expect to announce it soon.

By Steven Hill - posted Friday, 08-Dec-2006 19:25:54 PST

More comments from our Battlefield show are now up - from first-time performer Arnold T Blumberg and veteran Rob Warnock. See the past shows page. Oh, and one more thing... today I ordered a piece of equipment that will be used to record our shows off the sound boards, for future downloading here. That means you'll get to experience Mysterious Theatre 337 in your own home, hopefully within just a few months!

By Steven Hill - posted Tuesday, 05-Dec-2006 15:09:57 PST

My Battlefield show comments, as well as comments from writer Dave Broucek, are now available on the past shows page.

By Steven Hill - posted Thursday, 30-Nov-2006 17:56:27 PST

The script for (200602) Battlefield is now available for download.

By Steven Hill - posted Wednesday, 29-Nov-2006 13:19:19 PST

Saturday night's episode (200602) Battlefield was quite a success. Thank you to everyone who attended, especially those of you who stayed to participate in the Q&A following the performance. We'll have pictures and some comments up in due time. Meanwhile, we've already decided on February's show: it will be The Krotons. So make your plans now! We're tentatively scheduled to immediately follow opening ceremonies, so be sure to go out for dinner BEFORE opening ceremonies. And stay away from garlic. And beans.

By Steven Hill - posted Monday, 20-Nov-2006 23:03:15 PST

I've just put up the poster for this weekend's show, it's available on the downloads page right now! Enjoy.

By Steven Hill - posted Wednesday, 15-Nov-2006 11:59:36 PST

Wow, sorry, forgot all about you guys looking at the site. Forgive me. We've got our next show coming up in just ten days. It's the seventh Doctor story Battlefield and should be just lovely. Joining the returning cast of myself, Robert Warnock and Scott Alan Woodard will be the very funny Arnold T Blumberg, making his first MT337 appearance. I promise to give you all the worst lines, Arnold. For Gallifrey 2007, we've narrowed it down to two possibilities: The Dominators or The Krotons. Since Troughton is the only original series Doctor not to have been given the MT337 treatment yet, we're obligated to grab his recorder and play it this coming February. Oo-er.

By Steven Hill - posted Thursday, 02-Mar-2006 02:41:36 PST

Oh yeah, I forgot, we have this website thing. Okay, I'll get a self-review of our Gallifrey show up soon. We all thought it went pretty well. We also held a panel about MT337 on Sunday at Gallifrey, which I thought was terrific. Anyway, we're in discussion to decide on our stories for both Chicago TARDIS 2006 and Gallifrey 2007. I actually think we're nearer to finalizing our Gallifrey decision than the one that precedes it, but we shall see.

By Steven Hill - posted Wednesday, 07-Dec-2005 10:20:42 PST

Announcing the chosen story for our next show (February at Gallifrey One 2006): The Robots of Death ! The story features two of the Gallifrey convention's featured guests, Louise Jameson (Leela) and Pamela Salem (Toos). "Please do not throw jokes at me."

By Steven Hill - posted Wednesday, 30-Nov-2005 08:49:11 PST

Another show behind us, self-review is up on the "past shows" page. Please send us any comments or reviews! I hope to have more scripts online soon, including the script for this show, so you can see how much we missed. :) Anyway, thank you for coming to the show and we hope you enjoyed it very much. Work starts soon on the next one for Gallifrey; we haven't settled on a story yet but will soon!

By Steven Hill - posted Thursday, 20-Oct-2005 05:26:16 PST

The downloads page now features last year's "Doctor Who" MT337 promo poster, as well as the newly-created poster for this year's Chicago TARDIS show "An Unearthly Child". Enjoy.

By Steven Hill - posted Monday, 03-Oct-2005 09:57:33 PST

First: the Mysterious Theatre 337 title sequence is once again available for viewing or downloading. Just select "downloads" from the menu bar above.

Second: Pre-production has begun in earnest for our Chicago TARDIS 2005 show, An Unearthly Child. We've had our preliminary writing session, an informal one without an episode transcription, and came out with five pages of notes. I captured my movie-format version and was unhappy with the picture quality, so I wiped it and captured the episodic version instead, then edited out all the transitions and text, and built a new playback file. We're going to make a slight adjustment to the title sequence, and then I will be building our final playback disc for the show. In the meantime, transcription will begin this week (and yay! we have a script book for this one, which will help) and more writing sessions will be scheduled soon.

Third: The cast for this show will be Steven Hill, Robert Warnock, Scott Alan Woodard and Peter DePalma (barring any last-minute changes).

Fourth: We already have a selection in mind for the 2006 Gallifrey One convention. It's a Fourth Doctor story. Final decision may happen soon. Stay tuned.

By Steven Hill - posted Monday, 26-Sep-2005 09:12:29 PDT

Owing to time constraints and logistic complications, our ideas hinted in the last entry ("take us to the next level") are being regrettably scaled back and will likely be saved until Chicago TARDIS 2006. In the meantime, writing sessions are about to get underway for this year's show, only two months away now... can you feel the excitement? :)

By Steven Hill - posted Thursday, 07-Jul-2005 08:53:23 PDT

We've been brainstorming furiously over the past few days working up a new concept to introduce to our show at Chicago TARDIS, something that will take us to "the next level" and easily be the most ambitious and entertaining thing we've done yet. We've got some great ideas so far, stay tuned!

By Steven Hill - posted Wednesday, 02-Mar-2005 10:44:57 PST

After quietly posting it on the "next show" page last week, we've made a formal announcement on the Outpost Gallifrey Doctor Who forum that our selection for this year's Chicago TARDIS convention show is An Unearthly Child.

By Steven Hill - posted Friday, 25-Feb-2005 08:46:30 PST

Well, we're on the other side now of episode 200501 Terror of the Autons, performed last weekend in Van Nuys, California. The verdict? The show was okay. Slightly above average, but nothing great. The first half was better than the second half. Performance-wise, we did very well - very few missed cues/lines, very little stepping on another's lines, and some good ad-libs. As usual, everyone who talked to us after the show said they enjoyed it, so we're being harder on ourselves than we should. As usual. One more thing... the pizza delivery gag didn't come off as we'd hoped. No, folks, we DIDN'T really order a pizza in the middle of the show. It was in the script. We dropped the idea to have someone come in and install a phone with a "long flex" too, and other scrapped ideas were to pass out plastic daffodils (couldn't find any) and to have a replica of the troll doll to pass around. The pizza delivery gag was originally there in case we needed to have a fifth commentator - the delivery guy would take the place of one of us mid-way through the show. As it turned out, there were only four of us anyway. Well, we hope you enjoyed the show if you were there. Our opening warning that it would be rated "R" backfired as people thought it was just another "Arrrrr" pirate joke. No, we really meant it, we were naughtier than usual this time. Sorry if that bothered you. (This entry will be posted under the show page too.)

We hope to announce our next show very soon. Keep checking in. I've just updated the rest of the pages to include 200501 (credits list, episode guide, etcetera).

Oh, one more thing: please submit some show reviews. Notice that the "reviews" link at the top is inactive. Help us put some content there!

By Steven Hill - posted Wednesday, 19-Jan-2005 14:33:27 PST

The transcription of Terror of the Autons was completed about a week ago, and we're having our first writing session tonight in just a few hours. Anyone wanting to submit material for the show can use the "contact" link at the top of these pages. Also in the news, cast member Dave Broucek will not be able to make it to Gallifrey, so the cast is shaping up now... more later!

By Steven Hill - posted Thursday, 16-Dec-2004 13:34:12 PST

Essay for episode 200101 ("The Claws of Axos") has been added to the past shows page. It includes a story explaining the origin of our "mascot" that you probably won't find amusing at all.

By Steven Hill - posted Tuesday, 14-Dec-2004 12:37:55 PST

So I have a few things to share about the choice for our next show, Terror of the Autons. When I first popped in the commercially released (CBS/FOX) videotape, I was stunned at the poor image quality. The contrast level had the whites blown out so that faces had no detail or shading to them, they were just white (or yellow) blobs. Well, it doesn't matter, I thought, because we always use the omnibus (movie-format) versions for our shows.

But that's a problem with this story, because the movie-format version is only in black and white. I had two options: make my own color movie-format version, or use the black and white copy. Obviously, color is preferable. But I didn't want to re-edit the commercial tape because it looks awful. So, having decided to use a color version, I was down o another dilemma: unacceptable (to me) source material. The Restoration Team remastered the story a few years back, but it's never been available anywhere. I might be able to take a chance that the commercial PAL VHS release would be better than the NTSC, but that would cost money just to find out. So I put the call out to my gang and John Lavalie responded by supplying two tapes of the 1977 NTSC broadcast, one PAL VHS and one NTSC Beta. Of those, the Beta was of far better quality. But it was episodic, and on its own not good enough quality to use as source material. So what was my eventual solution?

I re-colorized the entire story myself.

Over the course of a week or more, I re-edited both black and white/movie format and color/episodic copies so they would match as close as possible frame-by-frame. This process uncovered a few censorship trims to the movie format edition (mostly Auton vs UNIT violence, with a trim to the solid plastic doll autopsy and the radio telescope technician falling to his death after being struck by the Master). I replaced the missing sections with the color version only. There were also wide variances in the screen geometry of the two copies, and those variances were not of the "fix once" variety - sometimes the screen geometry would change in the middle of a scene! I had to make frequent changes to the frame size and position to keep things as identical as possible.

Then, with two identical-length versions as two separate files, I brought them in to After Effects and applied the color signal only to the black and white copy. The result is grainy but a whole lot better than any other readily available color copy! So what you'll be seeing at Gallifrey will be an exclusive color movie format version. I'm not proud of the edits where footage had to be reinstated, because those sections are of noticeably poorer quality, but the colorization work is extremely well-done (for an amateur), if I do say so myself.

By Steven Hill - posted Monday, 13-Dec-2004 12:51:58 PST

Tired of me dangling the carrot and keeping you in suspense? So am I. The announcement has been made for episode 200501: Terror of the Autons. See the next show page for slightly more information, soon to be a lot more information.

By Steven Hill - posted Saturday, 11-Dec-2004 23:47:21 PST

Since the last update, this entire site has been converted to PHP. Now... this is my first ever PHP website, so it's probably sloppy and might not work properly, so I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know about any problems. It seems to work okay for me, but that's just one person and one computer! Thanks.

By Steven Hill - posted Saturday, 11-Dec-2004 16:43:03 PST

Just been doing some sprucing up around here. Custom embedded fonts should be showing up for everyone, if things are working right. As for the next show: the only reason I haven't announced it here yet is that I'm waiting to see if anyone stumbles upon it elsewhere on the web. I'm just being all curious and experimental, that's all. I'll give it another day or two. I've already got a big pre-production story to tell about it!

By Steven Hill - posted Wednesday, 08-Dec-2004 12:49:59 PST

We have made our final selection. The announcement will be made here soon, and might even already be found elsewhere on the internet.

In the meantime, lots of content has been added to the site - a number of scripts are available for download, the opening title sequence is available for download too. The essays on our past shows are being expanded - I just wrote a few more, and also added Peter DePalma's comments on the last show. So keep browsing! And write us some reviews!

By Steven Hill - posted Saturday, 04-Dec-2004 07:10:14 PST

We have narrowed down our selection for the upcoming Gallifrey One convention (18-20 February 2005, Los Angeles) to two possible stories and are evaluating them this week. We expect to announce the final selection soon. Needless to say, with the convention focusing on the Jon Pertwee era of Doctor Who, our choice will be a Third Doctor story. Stay tuned.

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"Mysterious Theatre 337" is not associated with Mystery Science Theater 3000, Best Brains, BBC Worldwide or any other entity.
Shows are live and are not presented for profit. We do it for fun and 'cuz we're "just big geeks!"
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