''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American

science fiction comedy Science fiction comedy (sci-fi comedy) or comic science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction or science fantasy that exploits the science-fiction (SF) genre's conventions for comedic effect. Comic science fiction often mocks or satirizes stand ...

film review television series created by

Joel Hodgson Joel Hodgson (born February 20, 1960) is an American writer, comedian and television actor. He is best known for creating ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K'') and starring in it as the character Joel Robinson. In 2007, ''MST3K'' was liste ...

. The show premiered on KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origi ...

, on November 24, 1988. It then moved to nationwide broadcast, first on The Comedy Channel/ Comedy Central for seven seasons until its cancellation in 1996. Thereafter, it was picked up by The Sci-Fi Channel and aired for three more seasons until another cancellation in August 1999. A 60-episode syndication package titled ''The Mystery Science Theater Hour'' was produced in 1993 and broadcast on Comedy Central and syndicated to TV stations in 1995. In 2015, Hodgson led a crowdfunded revival of the series with 14 episodes in its eleventh season, first released on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

on April 14, 2017, with another six-episode season following on November 22, 2018. A second successful crowdfunding effort in 2021 will bring at least 13 additional episodes to be shown through the Gizmoplex, an online platform that Hodgson will develop for future ''MST3K'' works that launched in March 2022. , 218 episodes and a

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

have been produced as well as three live tours. The show initially starred Hodgson as

Joel Robinson Joel Robinson is a fictional character featured in the American science fiction comedy television series ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K''). He was portrayed by series creator Joel Hodgson. If counting the locally-produced episodes, J ...

, a janitor trapped by two

mad scientist The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as " mad, bad and dangerous to know" or "insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabashedly am ...

s ("The Mads") on the Earth-orbiting ''Satellite of Love'', and forced to watch a series of

B movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...

s to monitor his reaction to them. To keep his sanity, Joel crafts sentient robot companions, including Tom Servo,

Crow T. Robot Crow T. Robot is a fictional character from the American science fiction comedy television series ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K''). Crow is a robot, who, along with others, ridicules poor-quality B to Z movies. Overview Accordin ...

, and Gypsy, to keep him company and help him humorously comment on each movie as it plays, a process known as riffing. Each two-hour episode would feature a single movie (often edited for time constraints), sometimes preceded by various old shorts and educational films, with Joel, Tom, and Crow watching in silhouette from a row of theater seats at the bottom of the screen. These "theater segments" were framed with interstitial sketches called "host segments". The show's cast changed over its duration; most notably, the character of Joel was replaced by Mike Nelson (played by

Michael J. Nelson Michael John Nelson (born October 11, 1964) is an American comedian and writer, most known for his work on the television series ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K''). Nelson was the head writer of the series for most of the show's origin ...

) halfway through the show's fifth season. Other cast members, most of whom were also writers for the show, include

Trace Beaulieu Trace Beaulieu ( is an American comedian, puppeteer, writer, and actor. He played roles on ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K'')Josh Weinstein, Jim Mallon, Kevin Murphy,

Frank Conniff Frank Conniff Jr. ( ;) is an American writer, actor, comedian and producer, who is best known for his portrayal of TV's Frank on ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K''). He is the son of journalist and editor Frank Conniff. Early work ...

Mary Jo Pehl Mary Jo Pehl (; born February 27, 1960 in Circle Pines, Minnesota) is an American writer, actress, and comedian. She is best known for her various roles on the television series '' Mystery Science Theater 3000''. ''Mystery Science Theater 3000 ...

Bill Corbett William Daniel Corbett (born March 30, 1960) is an American writer and performer for television, film and theatre. He was a writer and performer on the cult television show ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K''), for which he voiced the r ...

, Paul Chaplin, and Bridget Jones Nelson. The 2017 revival features a primarily new cast, including Jonah Ray who plays the new human test subject Jonah Heston, along with Felicia Day and

Patton Oswalt Patton Peter Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is known as Spence Olchin in the sitcom '' The King of Queens'' (1998–2007) and for narrating the sitcom '' The Goldbergs'' (2013–present) as ...

as "The Mads" and Baron Vaughn, Hampton Yount, and Rebecca Hanson voicing Tom Servo, Crow T. Robot, and Gypsy, respectively. Season 13 brings back this cast while integrating Emily Connor, played by Emily Marsh, and others from the live tours in this era. ''MST3K''s original run did not garner high viewership numbers. However, the show's popularity spread through online word-of-mouth by its fans known as "MSTies" or "Mysties" (who would remind others to "Keep circulating the tapes"), frequent repeats, syndication, and home media offerings produced by Rhino Entertainment. Currently, this popularity continues through Shout! Factory, who along with Hodgson, now own the rights to the show and supported the revived series. ''MST3K'' was listed as one of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'' magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME" in 2007, and ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corporat ...

'' has noted ''MST3K'' as one of the top cult television shows. The show won a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

in 1993, was also nominated for two

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

in 1994 and 1995, and for the CableACE Award from 1992 to 1997. The show was considered highly influential, contributing towards the practice of social television, and former cast members launched similar projects based on the riffing of films, including

The Film Crew The Film Crew was a comedic team similar to ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' and was released in 2007. It comprised former '' MST3K'' cast members Michael J. Nelson, Bill Corbett, and Kevin Murphy. They hosted Legend Films' colorized Three St ...

, RiffTrax (ongoing as of 2022), and

Cinematic Titanic Cinematic Titanic was a project by '' Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K'') creator and original host, Joel Hodgson. The project involved " riffing" B-movies, in a manner similar to that of ''MST3K''. Joining Hodgson were some of the original ...

. ''MST3K'' also brought to light several older movies that had fallen into obscurity or had received little or no public attention when originally released. Many of these films were subsequently identified as among the worst movies ever made, most notably '' Manos: The Hands of Fate''.

Premise

While the cast of ''MST3K'' changed throughout its history, the basic premise of the show remains consistent: a human test subject—first

(

), then Mike Nelson (

), and most recently Jonah Heston ( Jonah Ray) and Emily Connor (Emily Marsh)—has been imprisoned aboard the spacecraft ''Satellite of Love'' by mad scientists (collectively called "The Mads") and is forced to watch a series of bad movies in order to find one that will drive the test subject insane. In an attempt to keep his sanity, Joel built

sentient Sentience is the capacity to experience feelings and sensations. The word was first coined by philosophers in the 1630s for the concept of an ability to feel, derived from Latin '' sentientem'' (a feeling), to distinguish it from the ability to ...

robots ("the bots") from parts aboard the ''Satellite of Love'', and they subsequently remained aboard with Joel's successors as test subjects. The Bots include Tom Servo,

, GPC (formerly Gypsy) who is in charge of satellite operations, and

Cambot Cambot is one of the fictional robot characters on the ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' television series. It is through Cambot's "eye" that viewers watch Joel Robinson (later Mike Nelson and subsequently Jonah Heston) and the other robots as ...

, the silent recorder of the experiments. Crow and Servo join the human test subject in watching the film in the satellite's theater. To keep from going mad, the trio frequently comment and wisecrack during the movie, a process known as "riffing". At regular intervals throughout the movie, the hosts leave the theater and return to the bridge of the satellite to perform sketches (commonly called "host segments") that often satirize the film being watched.

Format

The general format of an ''MST3K'' episode has remained the same throughout the series' run. Episodes are approximately 90 minutes in running time (excluding commercial breaks) and begin with a short introductory segment in which the human host and the 'bots interact with the Mads before being sent the movie. During Joel Hodgson and Jonah Ray's tenures as hosts (and for a brief period at the start of the Mike Nelson era), the hosts and the Mads engage in an "invention exchange" in which they each show off their latest inventions. Sirens and flashing lights ("Movie Sign") then signal the characters to enter the theater. In the theater, the human host and 'bots' Tom and Crow sit in a row of theater seats, shown in silhouette along the bottom of the screen, an approach Hodgson called "Shadowramma". The three then riff on the film (which is sometimes accompanied by one or more shorts) as it plays for both them and the audience. Occasionally the silhouette format is used as a source of humor or as a means of creating unobtrusive censor bars for scenes containing nudity. The show transitions into and out of the theater via a "door sequence", a series of six doors that open or close as the camera (presumably Cambot) passes through them. At regular intervals throughout the episode, the characters leave the theater and perform sketches usually inspired by the events of the film or short being shown, frequently making use of original songs and prop comedy. Some sketches bring in new or recurring characters or other devices; the host would consult an external camera "Rocket Number Nine" to show events happening outside the ''Satellite'', and the "Hexfield Viewscreen" would be used to communicate with other characters from the ship's bridge. At the end of each sketch, "Movie Sign" (a reference to the concept of wormsign from Frank Herbert's classic sci-fi novel

Dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

), is triggered again and the characters must re-enter the theater. During Hodgson's period on the show, the final sketch aboard the ''Satellite'' often included reading of fan mail from the "MST3K Info Club". Fan mail readings decreased during Mike Nelson's tenure as host and were dropped entirely once the show moved onto the Sci-Fi Channel. The final sketch of an episode typically ends on the Mads, with the lead Mad asking their lackey to "push the button" to end the transmission and transitioning to the credit sequence. After the credits, a humorous short clip from the featured film (or the accompanying short, on occasion) is replayed as a "stinger" to end the episode. In November 1993, a limited selection of episodes were repackaged into an hour-long show titled ''Mystery Science Theater Hour'', meant to be better suited for off-network syndication. In these, the original episode was split into two parts of roughly 45 minutes each excluding commercials. New skits leading and ending each episode incorporated Mike Nelson portraying television host Jack Perkins in a parody of Perkins' ''

Biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

'' series in mock flattery of the ''MST3K'' episode being shown.

Production history

Concept

Hodgson is credited for devising the show's concept. Prior to the show, Hodgson was an up-and-coming comedian from Minneapolis having moved to Los Angeles and made appearances on ''

Late Night with David Letterman ''Late Night with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on NBC, the first iteration of the ''Late Night'' franchise. It premiered on February 1, 1982, and was produced by Letterman's production compa ...

'' and ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...

''. He had been invited by Brandon Tartikoff to be on a NBC sitcom co-starring Michael J. Fox, but Hodgson felt the material was not funny and declined (the proposed sitcom went unrealized). He further became dissatisfied with the Hollywood attitudes when they tried to double their offer, acquiring what he called a "healthy disrespect" for the industry. He moved back to Minneapolis-St. Paul, taking a job in a T-shirt printing factory that allowed him to conceive of new comedy ideas while he was bored. One such idea was the basis of ''MST3K'', a show to comment humorously on movies and that would also allow him to showcase his own prop comedy-style humor. Hodgson referred to these jokes as "riffs", based both on the idea of musical riffs as well as the idea of comedy riffs, a term he attributes to ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, ...

''s writer Dana Gould. In terms of movie selection, Hodgson had recalled that his college roommate had a copy of ''

The Golden Turkey Awards ''The Golden Turkey Awards'' is a 1980 book by film critic Michael Medved and his brother Harry. About The book awards "Golden Turkey Awards" to films judged by the authors as poor in quality, and to directors and actors judged to have created a ...

'', and he had previously wondered why no one had made any program about these "adorable, weird movies" listed within it. Hodgson said that part of the idea for ''MST3K'' came from the illustration for the song "I've Seen That Movie Too" (drawn by Mike Ross) in the

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are des ...

from

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

's '' Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'' album, showing silhouettes of two people in a theater watching a movie. Hodgson also likened the show's setting to the idea of a pirate radio station broadcasting from space. Hodgson credits ''

Silent Running ''Silent Running'' is a 1972 American environmental-themed apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic science fiction film. It is the directorial debut of Douglas Trumbull, and stars Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin, and Jesse ...

'', a 1972 science-fiction film directed by Douglas Trumbull, as being perhaps the biggest direct influence on the show's concept. The film is set in the future and centers on a human, Freeman Lowell (

Bruce Dern Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He has often played supporting villainous characters of unstable natures. He has received several accolades, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and the Silver ...

), who is the last crew member of a spaceship containing Earth's last surviving forests. His remaining companions consist only of three robot drones. ''MST3K'' and the Joel Robinson character occasionally reflected Lowell's

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

-like nature. Hodgson wanted the feel of the show to appear homemade, and cited the example of a crude mountain prop used during the ''Saturday Night Live'' sketch "Night on Freak Mountain" that received a humorous reaction from the studio audience as the type of aesthetic he wanted for the show. Hodgson had made dozens of such robots from random parts before as art that he sold to friends and others, and knew he could incorporate that into the show. Both old movies and music inspired several of the show's character names as developed by Hodgson. The show's name came from the promotional phrase "Mystery Scientist" used by magician Harlan Tarbell and a play on the name of Sun Ra's band, the Myth Science Arkestra. The "3000" was added to spoof the common practice of adding "2000" to show and product names in light of then-upcoming 21st century, and Hodgson thought it would set his show apart to make it "3000". Dr. Forrester was named after the main character of '' The War of the Worlds''. The ''Satellite of Love'' was named after the song of the same name by Lou Reed. Crow T. Robot was inspired by the song "Crow" from Jim Carroll's '' Catholic Boy'', while Rocket Number 9's name was inspired by the original name of Sun Ra's album '' Interstellar Low Ways''. The theater shots, the primary component of an episode, is taped in "Shadowrama". The "seats" were a black-painted foam core board sitting behind the seat (towards the camera) for the host, and stages for the Crow and Tom puppets. The human host wore black clothing while the robot puppets were painted black; the screen they watched was a white

luma key Compositing is the process or technique of combining visual elements from separate sources into single images, often to create the illusion that all those elements are parts of the same scene. Live action, Live-action shooting for compositing is ...

screen as to create the appearance of silhouettes. The actors would follow the movie and the script through television monitors located in front of them, as to create the overall theater illusion. The "door sequence" was created to transition from host segments to the theater segments, which Hodgson took inspiration from the '' Mickey Mouse Club'', noting that the commonality to the title credits of '' Get Smart'' were coincidental. In devising this sequence, this also led to Beaulieu creating the dogbone-like shape of the ''Satellite of Love'' with additional inspiration taken from the bone-to-ship transition in the film '' 2001: A Space Odyssey''. Hodgson had wanted to use a "motivated camera" for taping, a concept related to motivated lighting; in this mode, all the shots would appear to have been taken from an actual camera that was part of the scene to make the scene appear more realistic. This led to the creation of Cambot as a robot that the host would speak to during host segments or recording them while in the theater, and Rocket Number Nine to show footage outside of the Satellite of Love. The show's theme song, the "Love Theme from Mystery Science Theater 3000", was written by Hodgson and Weinstein, which helped to cement some of the broader narrative elements of the show, such as the Mads and Joel being part of an experiment. The song was composed by Charlie Erickson with help from Hodgson in the style of

Devo Devo (, originally ) is an American Rock music, rock band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark Mothersbaugh, Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh, Bob) and the Casales (Gerald ...

, The Replacements, and The Rivieras (particularly their cover of the song "

California Sun "California Sun" is a rock song first recorded by American rhythm and blues singer Joe Jones. Henry Glover is credited on the original 45 rpm single as the songwriter, although Roulette Records owner Morris Levy's name sometimes incorrectly app ...

") and sung by Hodgson. Initial shows used foam letters to make the show's title, but they later created the spinning-moon logo out of a 2-foot (0.6m) diameter fiberglass ball, covered with foam insulation and the lettering cut from additional foam pieces. Hodgson felt they needed a logo with the rotating effect as opposed to a flat 2D image, and though they had envisioned a more detailed prop, with the letters being the tops of buildings on this moon, they had no time or budget for a project of that complexity and went with what they had. Musical numbers would also be used as part of the host segments, which Hodgson said came out naturally from the riffing process; they would find themselves at times singing along with the movie instead of just riffing at it, and took that to extend songs into the host segments.

KTMA era (1988–1989)

Hodgson approached Jim Mallon, at the time the production manager of KTMA, a low-budget local television station, with his idea of a show based on riffing on movies, using robots that were created out of common objects. Mallon agreed to help produce a pilot episode, and Hodgson hired on local area comedians J. Elvis Weinstein (initially going by Josh Weinstein but later changed to J. Elvis as to distinguish himself from Josh Weinstein, a well-known writer for ''

'') and

Trace Beaulieu Trace Beaulieu ( is an American comedian, puppeteer, writer, and actor. He played roles on ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K'') By September 1988, Hodgson, Mallon, Weinstein, and Beaulieu shot a 30-minute pilot episode, using segments from the 1968 science-fiction film ''

The Green Slime is a 1968 tokusatsu science fiction film directed by Kinji Fukasaku and produced by Walter Manley and Ivan Reiner. It was written by William Finger, Tom Rowe and Charles Sinclair from a story by Reiner. The film was shot in Japan with a Japanes ...

''. The robots and the set were built by Hodgson in an all-nighter. Joel watched the movie by himself, and was aided during the host segments by his robots, Crow (Beaulieu), Beeper, and Gypsy (Weinstein). Hodgson used the narrative that his character named "Joel Hodgson" (not yet using his character name of Robinson) had built the ''Satellite of Love'' and launched himself into space. Camera work was by Kevin Murphy, who was employed by KTMA. Murphy also created the first doorway sequence and theater seat design. These initial episodes were recorded at the long since-defunct

Paragon Cable Paragon Cable was a cable system based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and was owned by Houston Industries. Beginnings Formed in the 1980s, Paragon Cable was the largest cable provider in Minnesota with 177,100 subscribers in the Twin Cities and Sout ...

studios and customer service center in Hopkins, Minnesota. On review, Hodgson found that of the robots, Beeper's design was not working well, and tried a quick modification by replacing its head with a toy gumball machine top, creating the basis of Tom Servo. Mallon met with KTMA station manager Donald O'Conner the next month and managed to get signed up for thirteen episodes. Show production was generally done on a 24-hour cycle, starting with Mallon offering a few films from KTMA's library for the writers to select from. Riffing in these episodes was ad-libbed during taping using notes made during preliminary viewings of the selected film. Episodes from this era are noted for their low number of riffs - in some instances 15 minutes of the movie could be shown before the cast made any comments. The show had some slight alterations from the pilot — the set was lit differently, the robots (now Crow, Servo and Gypsy) joined Joel in the theater, and a new doorway countdown sequence between the host and theater segments was shot. The puppeteers worked personalities into their robots: Crow (Beaulieu) was considered a robotic

Groucho Marx Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, stage, film, radio, singer, television star and vaudeville performer. He is generally considered to have been a master of quick wit an ...

, Tom Servo (Weinstein) as a "smarmy AM radio DJ", and Gypsy (Mallon) modeled after Mallon's mother who had a "heart of gold" but would become disoriented when confronted with a difficult task. The development of the show's theme song would lead to establishing elements for the show's ongoing premise, with Hodgson now portraying himself as the character Joel Robinson. ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' premiered on KTMA at 6:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1988 with its first episode, ''Invaders from the Deep'', followed by a second episode, ''Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars'' at 8:00 p.m. The choice of running the premiere on Thanksgiving was by happenstance, as the station felt the show was ready to go at that point, according to Hodgson. Initially, the show's response was unknown, until Mallon set up a phone line for viewers to call in. Response was so great that the initial run of 13 episodes was extended to 21, with the show running to May 1989. Hodgson and Mallon negotiated to secure the rights for the show for themselves, creating Best Brains, Inc., agreeing to split ownership of the idea equally. During this time a fan club was set up and the show held its first live show at Scott Hansen's Comedy Gallery in Minneapolis, to a crowd of over 600. Despite the show's success, the station's overall declining fortunes forced it to file for bankruptcy reorganization in July 1989. At the same time, HBO was looking to build a stable of shows for their upcoming Comedy Channel cable network. HBO approached

Best Brains Best Brains, Inc. (first known as ''Hair Brain Productions'') is an entertainment company based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. It is best known for the creation and production of the comedy/sci-fi television program ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'', a ...

and requested a sample of their material. Hodgson and Mallon provided a seven-minute demo reel, which led to the network greenlighting ''MST3K'' as one of the first two shows picked up by the new network.

Comedy Channel and Comedy Central era (1989–1996)

The Comedy Channel offered Best Brains $35,000 per episode but allowed Best Brains to retain the show's rights. Best Brains was also able to keep production local to Minnesota instead of the network's desire to film in New York City or Los Angeles, as it would have cost four times more per episode, according to Hodgson. Best Brains established an office and warehouse space in

Eden Prairie Eden Prairie is a city southwest of downtown Minneapolis in Hennepin County and the 16th-largest city in the State of Minnesota, United States. As of the 2020 census, it has a population of 64,198. The city is adjacent to the north bank of th ...

for filming. With an expanded but still limited budget, they were able to hire more writers, including Mike Nelson, Mary Jo Pehl, and Frank Conniff, and build more expansive sets and robot puppets. They retained the characters of Dr. Forrester (Beaulieu) and Dr. Erhardt (Weinstein) from the KTMA era and crafted the larger narrative of each episode being an "experiment" they test on Joel. The show began its national run shortly after the Comedy Channel went on the air in November 1989. ''MST3K'' was considered Comedy Channel's signature program, generating positive press about the show despite the limited availability of the cable channel nationwide. After the second season, The Comedy Channel and rival comedy cable network HA! merged to become CTV: The Comedy Network (later changed to Comedy Central). During this period, ''MST3K'' became the newly merged cable channel's signature series, expanding from 13 to 24 episodes a year. To take advantage of the show's status, Comedy Central ran "Turkey Day", a 30-hour marathon of ''MST3K'' episodes during Thanksgiving 1991. The name of the event was not only inspired by the traditional turkey meal served on Thanksgiving, but also by use of "Turkey" from ''The Golden Turkey Awards'' to represent bad movies. This tradition would be continued through the rest of the Comedy Central era. Though the show did not draw large audience numbers compared to other programming on Comedy Central, such as reruns of ''Saturday Night Live'', the dedicated fans and attention kept the show on the network. '' Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie'' was produced during the later half of the Comedy Central era and had a very limited theatrical release in 1996 through

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

and Gramercy Pictures. It featured Mike and the bots subjected to the film '' This Island Earth'' by Dr. Forrester. Though well received by critics and fans, the film was a financial disappointment due to its limited distribution.

Writing and taping

The cable network was able to provide a wider library of films for Best Brains to riff from. To ensure that they would be able to produce a funny episode, at least one member of the staff would watch the suggested films completely, generally assuring that the movie would be prime for jokes throughout. Conniff stated that he often would have to watch around twenty films in their entirety before selecting one to use for the show. In one specific case, the second-season episode with the 1969 film '' The Sidehackers'', they had only skimmed the first part of the movie before making the decision to use it, and only later discovered that it contained a scene where a female character is brutally

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...

d and

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the ...

ed. They decided to stay committed to the film, but cut out the offending scene and had to explain the sudden absence of the affected character to the audience. After this, they carefully scrutinized entire films for other such offensive content, and once one was selected and assured the rights, committed to completing the episode with that film. Obtaining the rights was handled by the cable networks. Some licensing required buying film rights in packages, with the selected bad movies included in a catalog of otherwise good films, making the negotiations odd since the network was only interested in the bad film. Other times, the rights to the film were poorly documented, and the network would follow the chain of custody to locate the copyright owner as to secure broadcast rights. In contrast to the ad-libbing of riffs from KTMA, the riffs were scripted ahead of time by the writers. An average episode (approximately 90 minutes running time) would contain more than 600 such riffs, and some with upwards of 800 riffs. Riffs were developed with the entire writing staff watching the film together several times through, giving off-the-cuff quips and jokes as the film went along, or identifying where additional material would be helpful for the comedy. The best jokes were polished into the script for the show. Riffs were developed to keep in line with the characterization of Joel, Mike, and the 'bots. Further, the writers tried to maintain respect for the films and avoided making negative riffs about them, taking into consideration that Joel, Mike, and the 'bots were companions to the audience while watching the movie, and they did not want to come off sounding like jerks even if the negative riff would be funny. Hodgson stated that their goal in writing riffs is not to ridicule films as some have often mistaken, but to rather instead consider what they are doing as "a variety show built on the back of a movie". MST3kBots

Production of an average episode of ''MST3K'' during the Comedy Central period took about five to nine days once the movie was selected and its rights secured. The first few days were generally used for watching the movie and scripting out the riffs and live action segments. The subsequent days were then generally used to start construction of any props or sets that would be needed for the live action segments while the writers honed the script. A full dress rehearsal would then be held, making sure the segments and props worked and fine tuning the script. The host segments would then be taped on one day, and the theater segments on the next. A final day was used to review the completed work and correct any major flaws they caught before considering the episode complete. Live scenes used only practical special effects, and there was minimal post-editing once taping was completed.

Cast changes

Weinstein left the show after the first Comedy Channel season, reportedly in disagreement with Hodgson about moving toward using scripted rather than ad-libbed jokes. Murphy replaced him as the voice of Tom Servo, portraying the 'bot as a cultured individual, while Dr. Erhardt was replaced with TV's Frank (Conniff). Hodgson decided to leave the series halfway through Season Five due to his dislike of being on camera and his disagreements with producer Mallon over creative control of the program. Hodgson also stated that Mallon's insistence on producing a feature film version of the show led to his departure, giving up his rights on the ''MST3K'' property to Mallon. Hodgson later told an interviewer: "If I had the presence of mind to try and work it out, I would rather have stayed. 'Cause I didn't want to go, it just seemed like I needed to." Though they held casting calls for a replacement for Hodgson on camera, the crew found that none of the potential actors really fit the role; instead, having reviewed a test run that Nelson had done with the 'bots, the crew agreed that having Nelson (who had already appeared in several guest roles on the show) replace Hodgson would be the least jarring approach. The replacement of Joel by Mike would lead to an oft-jokingly "Joel vs. Mike

flame war Flaming or roasting is the act of posting insults, often including profanity or other offensive language, on the internet. This term should not be confused with the term trolling, which is the act of someone going online, or in person, and causi ...

" among fans, similar to the "Kirk vs. Picard" discussions in the ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'' fandom. Conniff left the show after Season Six, looking to get into writing TV sitcoms in Hollywood. TV's Frank was soon replaced on the show by Dr. Forrester's mother,

Pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...

(Pehl).

Cancellation

By 1996, Comedy Central had started creating an identity for its network under new leadership of Doug Herzog, which would lead to successful shows like ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form fr ...

'', ''

Win Ben Stein's Money ''Win Ben Stein's Money'' is an American television game show created by Al Burton and Donnie Brainard that aired first-run episodes from July 28, 1997, to January 31, 2003, on Comedy Central. The show featured three contestants who competed to ...

'', '' South Park'' and '' Dr. Katz Professional Therapist'' leaving ''MST3K'' as an oddity on the network taking up limited program space. Herzog, though stating that ''MST3K'' "helped put the network on the map" and that its fans were "passionate", believed it was necessary to change things around due to the show's declining and lackluster ratings. The network cancelled ''MST3K'' after a six-episode seventh season.

Sci-Fi Channel era (1997–1999)

The show staff continued to operate for as long as they still had finances to work with. ''MST3K''s fan base staged a write-in campaign to keep the show alive. This effort led the Sci-Fi Channel, a subsidiary of USA Networks, to pick up the series. Rod Perth, then-president of programming for USA Networks, helped to bring the show to the Sci-Fi Channel, stating himself to be a huge fan of the show and believing that "the sci-fi genre took itself too seriously and that this show was a great way of lightening up our own presentation". Writing and production of the show remained relatively unchanged from the Comedy Central period. Before Season Eight commenced filming, Beaulieu opted to leave the show, feeling that anything creative that would be produced by Best Brains would belong to Mallon, and wanted to have more creative ownership himself. To replace Dr. Forrester, two new sidekicks to Pearl were introduced:

Professor Bobo Professor Bobo is a fictional character who appeared in the final three seasons of ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'', a comedy television series that mocks B-movies. Played by Kevin Murphy (who also voiced and operated robot Tom Servo on the show) ...

(Murphy) and the Observer a.k.a. "Brain Guy" (Corbett). In addition, Corbett took over Crow's voice and puppetry and Best Brains staffer Patrick Brantseg took over Gypsy in the middle of Season Eight. With this replacement, the series' entire original cast had been turned over. ''MST3K'' ran for three more seasons on the Sci-Fi Channel. During the Sci-Fi era, Best Brains found themselves more limited by the network: the pool of available films was smaller and they were required to use science fiction films (as per the network's name and programming focus), and the USA Network executives managing the show wanted to see a story arc and had more demands on how the show should be produced. Conflict between Best Brains and the network executives would eventually lead to the show's second cancellation. Peter Keepnews, writing for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', noted that the frequent cast changes, as well as the poorer selection of films that he felt were more boring than bizarre in their execution, had caused the show to lose its original appeal. Another campaign to save the show was mounted, including several ''MST3K'' fans taking contributions for a full-page ad in the trade publication ''

Daily Variety ''Variety'' is an American media company owned by Penske Media Corporation. The company was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933 it added ''Daily Variety'', based ...

'' magazine, but unlike the first effort, this campaign was unsuccessful. The season 10 finale, '' Danger: Diabolik'', premiered on August 8, 1999, during which, in the show's narrative, Pearl Forrester accidentally sent the ''Satellite of Love'' out of orbit, with Mike and the 'bots escaping and taking up residence in an apartment near Milwaukee, where they continue to riff movies. A "lost" episode produced earlier in the season but delayed due to rights issues, ''

Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders ''Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders'' is a 1996 American fantasy horror film written and directed by Kenneth J. Berton. The film stars Ernest Borgnine as a grandfather telling his grandson a story about the wizard Merlin opening up a store in m ...

'', was the final season 10 episode of ''MST3K'' (and the last of the original run), broadcast on September 12, 1999. Reruns continued to air on the Sci Fi Channel for several years, ending with '' The Screaming Skull'' on January 31, 2004. The shows later moved to off-network syndication.

Netflix era revival (2017–2018)

Kickstarter funding

Starting in 2010, Hodgson had been trying to bring back ''MST3K'', spurred on by fan appreciation of the cast and crew 25 years since the show's premiere and the success of his ''

'' project. Hodgson also considered the timing to be ideal, with non-traditional outlets like

picking up original series, and the success of

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by cro ...

for entertainment projects. However, Hodgson needed to reacquire the rights to the series, at that point still held by Mallon and Best Brains. By 2013, Hodgson was working closely with Shout! Factory, the distribution company handling the home media releases of ''MST3K'', and completed negotiations with Mallon to buy the rights for ''MST3K'' for a seven-figure sum by August 2015, enabling a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign to fund the revival to move forward. Hodgson felt the Kickstarter approach was necessary so that the show's style and approach would be determined by fans rather than through a network if he had sought traditional broadcast funding, as well as to demonstrate the demand for the show through a successful campaign. The Kickstarter was launched in November 2015, seeking $2 million for the production of three episodes, with stretch goals with additional funding for 12 total episodes. The Kickstarter effort was led by Ivan Askwith, a consultant who also had worked on the '' Veronica Mars'' and '' Reading Rainbow'' Kickstarter campaigns. Hodgson estimated each episode would take $250,000 to make, in addition to five-figure movie licensing rights, in contrast to $100,000 per episode needed for the original series. The campaign reached its base funding within a week of its launch. On the final day of the campaign, Hodgson and Shout! ran a streaming telethon which included appearances from the newly selected cast and crew, and various celebrities that supported the revival to help exceed the target funding levels for twelve episodes. The campaign ended on December 11, 2015, with total funding of $5,764,229 from 48,270 backers, with an additional $600,000 in backer add-ons, which allowed Hodgson to plan two more additional episodes, including a Christmas episode, to bring the total season to fourteen episodes. The Kickstarter became the largest one for Film & Video, surpassing the $5.70 million raised for the '' Veronica Mars'' film, but was ultimately surpassed in March 2019 for an animated series based on the web series '' Critical Role''.

Casting

Hodgson believed that the revival would need a whole new cast, pointing out that the cast had completely turned over in the original series. Comedian Jonah Ray plays Jonah Heston, the new host aboard the Satellite of Love, watching and riffing on the films. Hodgson had met Ray while recording an episode of ''

The Nerdist ''ID10T with Chris Hardwick'' (formerly ''The Nerdist Podcast'') is a weekly interview show "about what it really means to be a nerd" hosted by Chris Hardwick, once usually accompanied by Jonah Ray and Matt Mira. The audio podcasts are typicall ...

Podcast'', and felt he would be a good fit. The voices of Crow and Tom Servo are provided by comedians Hampton Yount and Baron Vaughn, respectively, both of whom Ray recommended to Hodgson. Hodgson felt it was important for Ray to have his say on who would play these parts, since it would help Ray be comfortable in the role. Felicia Day plays Kinga Forrester, Clayton Forrester's daughter and one of the new Mads in charge of the experiments, now operating out of a moon base known as "Moon 13". Day had been one of the last to be cast, as Hodgson had scripted out the concept for Forrester's daughter while casting Ray and the others. Hodgson had met Day at the 2015 Salt Lake Comic Con, where she stated her love of ''MST3K'' to him. Hodgson had seen Day's performance in shows like '' The Guild'' and '' Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog'', and felt she matched his idea for the character he had envisioned.

plays Kinga's henchman, Max, or as his character prefers to be known, "TV's Son of TV's Frank"; Hodgson had already planned to invite Oswalt, a longtime friend and self-professed MST3K fan, as a special guest writer for an episode of the revived series, but decided during the Kickstarter that he would also be a good fit on-camera. Rebecca Hanson, an alum of The Second City, took the role of Gypsy as well as Synthia, a clone of Pearl Forrester who assists Kinga. Har Mar Superstar leads the "Skeleton Crew", a

house band A house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play at an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to bands which ...

in Kinga's lair. Pehl, Corbett, and Murphy cameo on the revival, reprising their roles as Pearl, Brain Guy, and Professor Bobo, respectively. Hodgson opened up to the show any of the other cast members to make cameo appearances or aid in the creative process. However, Nelson and Beaulieu stated that they would not be involved with the MST3K revival; Nelson said, "The brand does not belong to me, and I make and have made (almost) zero dollars off it since it stopped production in 1999." Conniff noted on his Twitter that Shout! Factory would be "cutting he former cast membersin, financially at least" on the profits from the series. In addition, other cameos on the new episodes include Neil Patrick Harris, Jerry Seinfeld, and

Mark Hamill Mark Richard Hamill (; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor and writer. He is known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the '' Star Wars'' film series, beginning with the original 1977 film and subsequently winning three Saturn Awards ...

as P.T. Mindslap. Weinstein initially stated that he had no interest in returning to the show, but eventually reprised his role as Dr. Laurence Erhardt in the second season of the Netflix revival.

Writing and recording

Hodgson aimed to follow in the pattern of what made for fan-favorite episodes from the original series, borrowing equally from the Joel and Mike eras; he noted there were about 30 episodes that he and fans universally agreed were the show's best, and expected to use these as templates as the basis of the new show. The new episodes include the Invention Exchange that had been part of the Joel era (and some of the Mike era) of the show. Additionally, while not required by the streaming format of Netflix, the new episodes include bumpers that would have wrapped around commercial breaks if shown on network television; Hodgson considered these breaks necessary as a "palate cleanser" as well as to support the narrative for Kinga attempting to commercialize on the ''MST3K'' brand. Behind the scenes, the lead writer was Elliott Kalan, former head writer for '' The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' and host of ''

The Flop House ''The Flop House'' is a comedy podcast about films that flop, either commercially or critically, produced every two weeks. It is made in Brooklyn, New York and hosted by Dan McCoy, Stuart Wellington, and Elliott Kalan. Each episode focuses ...

'', a podcast about bad movies.

Dan Harmon Daniel James Harmon (born January 3, 1973) is an American writer, producer, and actor. He is best known as the creator and producer of the NBC/Yahoo! Screen sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), creator and host of the comedy podcast '' Harmontow ...

and

Joel McHale Joel Edward McHale (born November 20, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, and television host. He is best known for hosting '' The Soup'' (2004–2015) and his role as Jeff Winger on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015). He has performe ...

also wrote for the show, along with the on-screen cast members. Hodgson also brought in guest writers for certain episodes that included

Justin Roiland Mark Justin Roiland (born February 21, 1980) is an American voice actor, animator, writer, producer, and director. He is best known as the co-creator of Adult Swim's ''Rick and Morty'' and its subsequent franchise. He voices the show's titular ...

Rob Schrab Robby Christopher Schrab (born November 12, 1969) is an American comic book creator, screenwriter, director, and producer. He is the creator of the comic book '' Scud: The Disposable Assassin'', co-writer of the feature film '' Monster House'', c ...

Nell Scovell Helen Vivian "Nell" Scovell is an American television and magazine writer, and producer. She is the creator of the television series ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'', which aired on ABC and The WB from 1996 until 2003 and co-author of the book ''L ...

, Ernie Cline, Pat Rothfuss, Dana Gould, and Tammy Golden. Additionally, Paul & Storm and Robert Lopez composed original songs for the new episodes. The revival retains the live, handcrafted look from the original, a decision that Hodgson had to set down against others involved in production. Set and prop designers included Wayne White, Aaron Somers, Pen Ward,

Rebecca Sugar Rebecca Rea Sugar (born July 9, 1987) is an American animator and screenwriter. She is best known for being the creator of the Cartoon Network series '' Steven Universe'', making her the first non-binary person to independently create a series f ...

and her younger brother Steven, Justin Jacobs, and Guy Davis, while live and practical special effects were planned by Adam Savage. Justin was tasked with creating full sized versions of new robots M. Waverly and Growler. Other returning staff included: Charlie Erickson, who composed the original show's theme song and composed the new show's theme and other musical arrangements; Beth "Beez" McKeever, who worked on the original show's props and designed costumes and props for the new show; Crist Ballas created hair and makeup design; and Paul Chaplin, one of the show's original writers to help write the new shows, along with contributions from Pehl and Corbett. Hodgson himself remained primarily off-camera as the executive producer for the remake, though does appear briefly as Ardy, one of Kinga's henchmen who send Jonah the episode's movie. Hodgson was assisted by Kalan, Richard Foos, Bob Emmer, Garson Foos, Jonathan Stern, and Harold Buchholz. The revival was produced by the companies Satellite of Love, LLC, Alternaversal Productions, and

Abominable Pictures Abominable Pictures is an American creator-driven comedy production company that develops and produces content for television, web and film. Output Producer Jonathan Stern founded Abominable in 2006 to produce the first season of internet cult-hit ...

. Production for the new season began on January 4, 2016, with movie selection and script writing. The film selection was narrowed down to about twenty movies as of February 2016, with the rights obtained for about half of them, while Shout! Factory was working to secure worldwide distribution rights for the others. Hodgson noted that the films were more recent than those used on the original series, with "maybe one" from the 1950s/1960s, but did not want to reveal what these films were until the episodes were broadcast as to have the biggest comedic effect on the audience. Recording and most of the production was completed over September and October 2016 in Los Angeles on a very condensed schedule. In the revival, Ray, Yount, and Vaughn recorded the riffs for all fourteen episodes in a sound studio over a period of a week, allowing them to better synchronize the riffs with the film. This also helped to simplify the process of recording the theater segments, since they then only needed to act out their parts. The 'bots were controlled by multiple puppeteers both in the theater and in skits; Yount and Vaughn used

radio-controlled Radio control (often abbreviated to RC) is the use of control signals transmitted by radio to remotely control a device. Examples of simple radio control systems are garage door openers and keyless entry systems for vehicles, in which a small ...

equipment to move the 'bots' mouths, while members from The Jim Henson Company helped with manipulating the bodies, allowing them to achieve effects they could not do in the series' original run such as having Crow appear to walk on his own. All skits for the episodes were completed within a single day, which did not allow them for doing multiple takes unless necessary. Campaign backers at higher tiers were able to see the first episode at limited "Red Carpet Kickstarter Screening" events shown in a few theaters during February and March 2017. The fourteen episodes were released on Netflix on April 14, 2017, though Kickstarter backers had the opportunity to see the episodes in the days preceding this. During the 2017 "Turkey Day" Marathon, Hodgson announced that Netflix had greenlit a twelfth season of ''MST3K''. Shooting of the twelfth season started on June 4, 2018 and would have six episodes, written to encourage bingewatching and make the series more amenable to non-fans. Further, they created a stronger narrative in the host segments, so that casual viewers would recognize the series having a definitive start, middle, and end. Other changes included

coming on as co-director, and actress Deanna Rooney, Ray's wife, playing Dr. Donna St. Phibes, a "B-movie monster conservationist" who works with the Mads. Former cast member Weinstein returned to reprise his role as Dr. Erhardt. Hodgson had been trying to also bring back both Beaulieu and Conniff for this season, but could not work out the logistics in time. The 12th season was broadcast on Netflix on Thanksgiving aka "Turkey Day", November 22, 2018, which coincided with the show's 30th anniversary. To avoid conflicting with the new season's release, the annual Turkey Day Marathon was pushed forward to November 18, 2018. In November 2019, Hodgson confirmed to Kickstarter backers that the show would not return for a third season on Netflix, but that he would be looking into alternative outlets to carry the show. The two seasons made for Netflix will remain on the service. Ray stated in an April 2020 interview that "Joel's got some ideas in the pipeline, and it's pretty exciting, what he's working on", and expected further news later in the year. Hodgson had praised Netflix for helping to bring new fans to ''MST3K'' and said that his production company Alternaversal Productions was still looking for ways to bring the show back through other means, though he did criticize Netflix for forcing an embargo that kept him from providing updates to his fans on the progress on the show until they were ready to announce details.

Gizmoplex era (2022)

On April 7, 2021, Hodgson launched a second Kickstarter campaign to continue production of more ''MST3K'' episodes. Given the difficulties with Netflix, Hodgson envisioned a sustainable production approach based on the support of fans and backers who wanted more episodes but without having to worry about the financial support of a broadcast or cable network. In this project, Hodgson set out to produce more episodes and the creation of "The Gizmoplex", an online platform designed to showcase these new episodes as well as reruns of past episodes and live events, presented as another experiment by the Mads. Hodgson said that while the Netflix support was helpful for the prior two seasons, the streamer had required the production team to produce all their episodes at once, which did not work well and resulted in creative burn-out. By using the Gizmoplex approach, the production team would be able to produce new content at their own pace. Further, by establishing the continuation of the show in the Gizmoplex format, ''MST3K'' could continue even without Hodgson's involvement, so long as the demand from fans of the show remained. During the Kickstarter, Hodgson confirmed that due to the name being seen by some as an ethnic slur against

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

and other itinerant peoples, Gypsy was renamed to GPC around 2019. The Kickstarter surpassed its minimum funding goal of within 25 hours of launch, and ended with over raised, assuring that thirteen regular episodes will be produced, including the series' first 3D episode as well as special Halloween and Christmas episodes. Most of the Netflix series cast — including Ray, Vaughn, Yount, Hanson, Day, and Oswalt — return to their roles. A new hosting cast features Emily Marsh, who had participated in the live tours during the Netflix years, portraying Emily Connor as the test subject, along with other live show performers Conor McGiffin, Kelsey Ann Brady, and Yvonne Freese voicing Tom, Crow, and GPC 2, respectively; Freese also will perform as Mega Synthia. The last name Connor was in reference to Sarah Connor from the '' Terminator'' franchise. Hodgson will also reprise his Joel Robinson character for two episodes. Pehl and Weinstein will also reprise their roles as Pearl Forrester and Dr. Laurence Erhardt, respectively, within this block of episodes. Further, Nelson, Murphy, and Corbett of RiffTrax will offer some of their material to be included among the Gizmoplex' archives. During the annual 2021 Turkey Day Marathon, the thirteen movies to be riffed as part of the 13th season were announced. These include: ''Santo in The Treasure of Dracula'', '' Robot Wars'', '' Beyond Atlantis'', '' Munchie'', ''

Doctor Mordrid ''Doctor Mordrid'' is a 1992 American superhero film directed by the team of Albert and Charles Band and starring Jeffrey Combs. Plot Anton Mordrid (Combs) is a wizard sent to Earth by a being called the Monitor, to stop the evil wizard Kabal ...

'', '' Demon Squad'', '' Gamera vs. Jiger'', ''The Batwoman'', ''

The Million Eyes of Sumuru ''The Million Eyes of Sumuru'' is a 1967 British spy film produced by Harry Alan Towers, directed by Lindsay Shonteff and filmed at the Shaw Brothers studios in Hong Kong. It stars Frankie Avalon and George Nader, with Shirley Eaton as the title ...

'', '' H. G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come'', ''

The Mask The Mask may refer to: Books and comics * ''The Mask'' (comics), a comic book series by publisher Dark Horse Comics * Mask (DC Comics), an opponent of Wonder Woman * ''The Mask'' (novel), a 1981 novel written by Dean Koontz under the pseudonym ...

'', '' The Bubble'', and ''The Christmas Dragon''. The first three were presented to backers as pre-release versions starting on March 4, 2022 as a means of testing the Gizmoplex. The public launch of the platform and the thirteenth season was released on May 6, 2022. The second and third episodes premiered in succeeding days, and with remaining episodes and shorts premiering every two weeks afterwards.

Cast

Episodes

The series broadcast between 1988 and 1999 spanned 197 episodes across ten seasons. The 2017 Netflix revival of fourteen episodes (''The Return'') was followed by six additional episodes (''The Gauntlet'') the next year. While the pilot episode of ''The Green Slime'' was used to sell the concept to KTMA, it never aired. The initial run of 21 episodes for KTMA were neither rerun nationally nor released onto home video, primarily due to rights issues. For many years, the first three KTMA episodes were considered to be "missing episodes", as no fan copies are known to exist, though master copies of all these episodes reportedly exist according to Mallon. In November 2016, Hodgson reported that master copies of two of the episodes, "Invaders from the Deep" and "Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars", had been found. The episodes were made available to Kickstarter backers of the new series on November 25, 2016. The credits in the first four seasons on Comedy Central included the phrase "Keep circulating the tapes" to encourage fans to share VHS tapings they made with others (as Comedy Central was not widely distributed then), despite the questionable copyright practice. Though the phrase was removed from the credits due to legal reasons, the concept of "keep circulating the tapes" was held by the show's fans to continue to help introduce others to the show following its broadcast run.

Turkey Day marathons

An annual event in the Comedy Central era was the Turkey Day marathon that ran on or near the

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...

holiday. The marathon would show between six and twelve rebroadcasts of episodes, often with new material between the episodes from the cast and crew. While the show was on Sci-Fi, one Thanksgiving Day marathon of ''MST3K'' was held during its first season, but lacked any new interstitial material. Following its acquisition of the series rights, Shout! Factory has streamed Turkey Day marathons on Thanksgiving since 2013, broadcasting six ''MST3K'' episodes and wrapped with introductions from Hodgson alongside other cast members at times. The event was intended to be a one-off, but the fans' reaction to it led Hodgson and Shout! to continue the tradition in subsequent years. The 2015 Turkey Day coincided with the Kickstarter for the show's revival, while the 2016 Turkey Day includes the revival's new host Ray co-hosting alongside Hodgson. The 2017 Turkey Day was hosted by Hodgson, Ray and Felicia Day, and concluded with a surprise announcement that the show had been renewed on Netflix for another season.

Home media

Home video releases of ''MST3K'' episodes are complicated by the licensing rights of the featured film and any shorts, and as such many of the nationally televised episodes have not yet been released onto home video. Through the current distributor, Shout! Factory, over 100 of the films have been cleared for home media distribution. With Shout's release of the 39th volume of ''MST3K'' episodes in 2017, the company anticipated that only about a dozen episodes out of 197 from the original series' run will never make it to home video due to licensing rights issues of the movies featured. Original home media releases were issued by Rhino Entertainment, initially starting with single disc releases before switching to semi-regular four-episode volume sets. According to Hodgson, the people at Rhino who were involved in the distribution of ''MST3K'' eventually left Rhino and joined Shout!, helping to convince that publisher to acquire the rights from Rhino. Since 2008, all releases of ''MST3K'' have been through Shout! (including some reprints of the first Rhino volume set) and have typically been multi-episode volumes or themed packs. In 2014, 80 episodes of the show were made available for purchase or rental on the video streaming site

Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as ...

. Shout! has uploaded some episodes to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

with annotations, as documented by ''The Annotated MST'' fansite, to explain some of the sources of the jokes in the riffs. In February 2015, Shout! launched its own streaming service, Shout! Factory TV, of which selected episodes of ''MST3K'' were included on the service. Selected episodes were also made available on demand through RiffTrax starting in November 2015. Twenty episodes from previous ''MST3K'' seasons were released by

in all regions in anticipation of the revival series. All episodes of Season 11 were released on a DVD/Blu-Ray box set on April 17, 2018, which includes a documentary behind the making of the first revival season.

Adaptations

Syndication

In 1993, the show's staff selected 30 episodes to split into 60 one-hour segments for ''The Mystery Science Theater Hour''. The repackaged series' first-run airings of these half-shows ran from November 1993 to July 1994. Reruns continued through December 1994, and it was syndicated to local stations from September 1995 to September 1996, allowing stations to run the series in a one-hour slot, or the original two hour version. ''MST3K'' returned to television for the first time in ten years in July 2014, when RetroTV began broadcasting the series on Saturday nights, with an encore on Sunday evenings. The following year, they started showing on PBS member stations. In the summer of 2016,

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, ...

and MGM's joint venture sci-fi network

Comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ...

picked up the series for a weekly Sunday night double-run; by coincidence, Sinclair's CW station, WUCW in the Twin Cities, which had originated the series when it was KTMA-TV, carries Comet on their second subchannel, returning the series to its original home for the first time in 27 years. The show premiered on IFC on January 7, 2020. It also airs on

Z Living Z Living (formerly Veria Living) is an American digital cable and satellite television network. The channel previously focused on health and wellness programming, but after a 2020 ownership change from Essel Group to NIA Broadcasting (owned by fo ...

Feature film

In 1996,

under the Gramercy Pictures Label released ''Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie'', a film adaptation in which Mike and the bots riffed '' This Island Earth''. The film was released on DVD in the United States by Image Entertainment. Universal re-released the film on DVD on May 6, 2008, with a new anamorphic widescreen transfer, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix and the film's original trailer.

Print

In 1996, the book, ''The Amazing Colossal Episode Guide'' (written by many of the cast members), was released, which contained a synopsis for every episode from seasons one through six, and even included some behind-the-scenes stories as well. In it, Murphy related two tales about celebrity reactions he encountered. In one, the cast went to a taping of

Dennis Miller Dennis Michael Miller (born November 3, 1953) is an American talk show host, political commentator, sports commentator, actor, and comedian. He was a cast member of '' Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1991, and he subsequently hosted a str ...

's eponymous show; when they were brought backstage to meet Miller, the comedian proceeded to criticize the ''MST3K'' cast for their choice of movie to mock in the then-recent episode "Space Travelers" (a re-branded version of the Oscar-winning film ''

Marooned Marooned may refer to: * Marooning, the intentional act of abandoning someone in an uninhabited area Film and television * ''Marooned'' (1933 film), a British drama film * ''Marooned'' (1969 film), an American science-fiction film * ''Marooned ...

''). Murphy also discussed how he met Kurt Vonnegut, one of his literary heroes. When he had mentioned the show and its premise to Vonnegut, the author suggested that even people who work hard on bad films deserve some respect. Murphy then invited Vonnegut to dine with his group, which Vonnegut declined, claiming that he had other plans. When Murphy and friends ate later that night, he saw Vonnegut dining alone in the same restaurant, and remarked that he had been "faced...but ''nicely'' faced" by one of his literary heroes.

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops know ...

announced on February 16, 2017 that it had planned a ''MST3K'' comic book series that was set for initial release in 2017. In June 2018, Dark Horse affirmed that the six-issue series would launch in September 2018, and would feature Jonah and the bots riffing on public domain comic books. The first comic was released on September 12, 2018 and it focuses on Jonah and the Bots trying to get out of comics while trying to save Crow when he starts to become a monster in the pages of Horrific. Hodgson oversaw the writing.

Live shows

The first ''MST3K'' live event was held on June 5 and 6, 1989 at the Comedy Gallery in Minneapolis. Jim Mallon served as the emcee of the event that featured stand-up sets by Joel, Josh Weinstein, and Trace Beaulieu. A Q&A session about the show was conducted, and the show's original pilot was shown. The robots and various props were on display for attendees to see. The first live riffing event, called ''MST Alive!'' was held at the Uptown Theater in Minneapolis on July 11, 1992. There were two showings, both with live riffing of the feature film '' World Without End'', as well as sing-alongs of different songs from the show, followed by a Q&A session. The event was hosted, in character, by Dr. Forrester, TV's Frank, Joel, and the Bots. A second version of "MST Alive!" was presented as a part of the first ever MST3K "ConventioCon ExpoFest-A-Rama" in 1994. In this show, Forrester and Frank forced Mike and the bots to watch '' This Island Earth'', a film which was later riffed as a part of '' Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie''. Hodgson and the team for the 2017 revival announced an ''MST3K'' "Watch Out For Snakes Tour" during mid-2017 covering 29 cities in the United States and Canada. Jonah and the Bots riff on one of two films live for audiences, either '' Eegah'' (which had already been featured on the original run of ''MST3K'', and which popularized the riff "Watch out for snakes", but featured new riffs for this tour) or an unannounced surprise film: ''

Argoman the Fantastic Superman ''Argoman the Fantastic Superman'' ( it, Come rubare la corona d'Inghilterra, lit=How to steal the crown of England) is a 1967 English-language Italian superhero-Eurospy film directed by Sergio Grieco. The film stars Roger Browne, as the eponymou ...

''. The tour featured Ray, Yount and Hanson reprising their roles as Jonah Heston, Crow and Gypsy/Synthia. Vaughn was unavailable to perform Servo due to the birth of his child and the role was covered by Tim Ryder. The tour also featured Grant Baciocco as Terry the Bonehead, pre-recorded appearances from Day and Oswalt as Kinga and Max, and a live introduction from Hodgson. Hodgson and Ray also toured in late 2018 as part of a 30th anniversary of ''MST3K'' in a similar format to the 2017 tour. Hodgson reprised the role of Joel Robinson and riffed movies alongside Ray and the bots during these shows. Ryder continued to perform Tom Servo, while Grant Baciocco, the lead puppeteer, voiced Crow. Rebecca Hanson also joined in her role as Synthia as the host of the show. Movies riffed at these shows included '' The Brain'' and '' Deathstalker II''. During the tour, Hodgson announced that Deanna Rooney will be joining the cast in the twelfth season as a new "Mad" working with Kinga and Max. The 2019 live tour, The Great Cheesy Movie Circus Tour, is promoted as Hodgson's "final live tour". Most of the tour dates feature the film '' No Retreat, No Surrender'', while a few show '' Circus of Horrors''. The tour was promoted with video production updates and on-the-road updates via the tour's official website. In addition to Joel, the parts of Crow and Servo are portrayed by Nate Begle and Conor McGiffin respectively. Yvonne Freese plays the part of Gypsy and Mega-Synthia, a clone of both Pearl Forrester and the original Synthia. Emily Marsh also features in the tour as the new character Crenshaw. The Time Bubble Tour started on November 2, 2021 in

Cleveland, OH Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U. ...

with Emily Marsh, Yvonne Freese, Nate Begle and Conor McGiffin reprising their parts from the 2019 tour. Kelsey Brady joined the cast as Swing Puppeteer. The film was Roland Emmerich's '' Making Contact'' (1985).

Other appearances

In 1996, during promotion for the film, Nelson and the bots were interviewed in-character on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

, and seen in silhouettes heckling footage from MTV News featuring the band

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass ...

. Also that year, Hodgson was a featured guest on

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, ...

's ''

Space Ghost Coast to Coast ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' is an American adult animated comedy talk show created by Mike Lazzo for Cartoon Network and hosted by a re-imagined version of the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Space Ghost. In contrast to the original ...

''. In 1997, the videogame magazine ''PlayStation Underground'' (Volume 2, Number 1) included a Best Brains-produced ''MST3K'' short on one of their promotional discs. The video opened with a host segment of Mike and the Bots playing some PlayStation games, only to go into the theater to riff on some videos from the magazine's past. The feature is about seven minutes long. An Easter egg on the disc has some behind-the-scenes footage of Best Brains filming the sequences. Nelson and the robot characters appeared in silhouette on an episode of "Cheap Seats", a TV series in which

The Sklar Brothers Farrell Randal "Randy" Sklar and Jason Nathan Sklar (born January 12, 1972), professionally known as the Sklar Brothers, are American identical twin brother comedians and actors best known for hosting the show '' Cheap Seats'', which aired for ...

commented on clips of sporting events in a manner similar to MST3K. In 2007, a new online animated web series, referred to as "The Bots Are Back!", was produced by Mallon. The series planned a weekly adventure featuring Crow, Tom Servo, and Gypsy, with Mallon reprising his role as Gypsy and Paul Chaplin as Crow. However, only a handful of episodes were released, and the series was abandoned due to budgetary issues. The general internet response to the webisodes was largely negative.Ex 'MST3K' stars, writers fill hole left by show
. ''Today'
webcitation archive link
/ref> In May 2020, Hodgson announced a special ''Mystery Science Theater 3000 Live Riff-Along'' with a planned date of May 3; the show featured Hodgson along with Emily Marsh, Conor McGiffin, Nate Begle, and Yvonne Freese, who had joined him during the 2019 ''MST3K'' live tour riffing atop the ''MST3K'' season one episode featuring '' Moon Zero Two'' and then riffing to a new short "Circus Days". In another charitable event, Hodgson, alongside Weinstein and Corbett reprising their voice roles as Crow and Tom Servo, riffed two new shorts as part of a crowdfunded effort to support MIGIZI, a Native American youth non-profit group whose headquarters were destroyed during the

George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internat ...

in May 2020.

Reception and legacy

In 2004, the show was listed as in a featured ''

'' article, "25 Top Cult Shows Ever!", and included a sidebar which read, "Mike Nelson, writer and star (replacing creator Joel Hodgson), recently addressed a college audience: 'There was nobody over the age of 25. I had to ask, "Where are you seeing this show?" I guess we have some sort of timeless quality.'" Three years later, ''TV Guide'' rewrote the article, and bumped ''MST3K'' to #13. In 2007, the show was listed as one of ''

'' magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All-Time" (it was also chosen as one of the magazine's top 10 shows of 1990). In 2012, the show was listed as #3 in ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

''s "25 Best Cult TV Shows from the Past 25 Years", with the comment that "''MST3K'' taught us that snarky commentary can be way more entertaining than the actual media." The 2017 relaunch was met with critical acclaim; the first reboot season currently has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Reactions by those parodied

The reactions of those parodied by ''MST3K'' have been mixed. Some notable negative reactions include that of Sandy Frank, who held the rights to several ''

Gamera is a fictional monster, or ''kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. Debuting in the 1965 film ''Gamera, the Giant Monster'', the character and the first film were intended to compete with the success of Toho's ''Godzilla'' film ...

'' films parodied on the show. He said he was "intensely displeased" by the mockery directed at him. (The crew once sang the "Sandy Frank Song", which said that Frank was "the source of all our pain", "thinks that people come from trees",

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Sp ...

"won't return his calls", and implied that he was too lazy to make his own films.) Because of this, Frank reportedly refused to allow the shows to be rebroadcast once ''MST3K''s rights ran out. However, this may in fact be a rumor, as other rumors indicate that the ''Gamera'' films distribution rights prices were increased beyond what Best Brains could afford as a result of the show's success. According to Shout! Factory, the Japanese movie studio Kadokawa Pictures were so horrified with MST3K's treatment of five ''Gamera'' films that they refused to let Shout release the episodes on home video. Brian Ward (one of the members of Shout! Factory) explained to fans on the forums of the official Shout! Factory website that they tried their best to convince them, but "the Japanese take their ''Gamera'' films very seriously and do not appreciate them being mocked". However, eventually Shout was able to clear the episodes for a special 2011 release due to the rights in North America shifting away from the Japanese to another, North American entity that had no such qualms. Kevin Murphy has said that Joe Don Baker wanted to "beat up" the writers of the show for attacking him during riffing of ''

Mitchell Mitchell may refer to: People *Mitchell (surname) *Mitchell (given name) Places Australia * Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, a light-industrial estate * Mitchell, New South Wales, a suburb of Bathurst * Mitchell, Northern Territ ...

''. Murphy later stated that Baker probably meant it in a joking manner, although Mike Nelson has said that he had deliberately avoided encountering Baker while the two happened to be staying at the same hotel.

Jeff Lieberman Jeff Lieberman (born October 16, 1947) is an American film director and screenwriter, known for his cult horror and thriller films '' Squirm'' (1976), '' Blue Sunshine'' (1978) and '' Just Before Dawn'' (1981). Biography Jeff Lieberman was bo ...

, director of ''

Squirm ''Squirm'' is a 1976 American natural horror film written and directed by Jeff Lieberman, starring Don Scardino, Patricia Pearcy, R. A. Dow, Jean Sullivan, Peter MacLean, Fran Higgins and William Newman. The film takes place in the fictional ...

'', was also quite angry at the ''MST3K'' treatment of his film.Jeff Lieberman, director. (1976). "Director's Commentary", ''

'' (NTSC) VD MGM. Released August 26, 2003. Director

Rick Sloane Rick Sloane (born August 22, 1961) is an American cult filmmaker. He is credited as writer, director, producer, Film editor and cinematographer of much of his own work. He directed the B-movie film ''Hobgoblins,'' which was featured on an episo ...

was shocked at his treatment at the conclusion of '' Hobgoblins'', in which Sloane himself was mercilessly mocked over the film's end credits. In a 2008 interview, however, Sloane clarified his comments, saying that "I laughed through the entire ''MST3K'' episode, until the very end. I wasn't expecting the humor to suddenly be at my own expense. I was mortified when they dragged out the cardboard cutout and pretended to do an interview with me. I was caught off guard. I had never seen them rip apart any other director before on the show." However, he credits the success of the ''MST3K'' episode with inspiring him to make a sequel to ''Hobgoblins'', released in 2009. Others, however, have been more positive: Robert Fiveson and Myrl Schriebman, producers of '' Parts: The Clonus Horror'', said they were "flattered" to see the film appear on ''MST3K''. Original discussion was started under the thread "Interview with Robert Fiveson" on Proboards on July 29, 2005. Actor

Miles O'Keeffe Miles O'Keeffe (born June 20, 1954) is an American film and television actor. O'Keeffe got his first big break playing the title role in the 1981 version of '' Tarzan, the Ape Man''. Youth O'Keeffe was born in Ripley, Tennessee. A star foot ...

, the star of the film '' Cave Dwellers'', called Best Brains and personally requested a copy of the ''MST3K'' treatment of the film, saying he enjoyed their skewering of what he had considered to be a surreal experience; according to Hodgson, O'Keeffe said his friends always heckled his performance in the film when it was on, and he appreciated the ''MST3K'' treatment. In the form of an essay and E. E. Cummings-esque poem, Mike Nelson paid tribute to O'Keeffe with a humorous mix of adulation and fear. Rex Reason, star of '' This Island Earth'', made appearances at several ''MST3K'' events and credits ''MST3K'' with introducing the film to a new generation. The crew of ''

Time Chasers ''Time Chasers'' (originally released as ''Tangents'') is a 1994 science fiction film directed by David Giancola and starring Matthew Bruch, George Woodard, and Bonnie Pritchard. The film premiered in Rutland, Vermont on March 16, 1994 to three ...

'' held a party the night the ''MST3K'' treatment of their film aired and, while reactions were mixed, director

David Giancola David Giancola (born June 24, 1969) is a Vermont-based American Filmmaker. Born in Rutland, Vermont he has Directed, Produced, and/or functioned as Director of Photography on over 35 feature films as of December 2019. Career Giancola's first ...

said, "Most of us were fans and knew what to expect and we roared with laughter and drank way too much. I had a blast, never laughed so hard in my life." Date is based on information on the discussion thread "David Giancola Interview". Actor Adam West, star of the 1960s ''

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939. I ...

'' TV series, co-starred in ''

Zombie Nightmare ''Zombie Nightmare'' is a 1987 Canadian zombie film produced and directed by Jack Bravman, written by John Fasano, and starring Adam West, Tia Carrere, Jon Mikl Thor, and Shawn Levy. The film centres around a baseball player who is killed by a ...

'', another film ''MST3K'' mocked. West apparently held no grudges, as he hosted the 1994 "Turkey Day" marathon in which the episode featuring ''Zombie Nightmare'' had its broadcast premiere.

Mamie Van Doren Mamie Van Doren (born Joan Lucille Olander; February 6, 1931) is an American actress, singer, and sex symbol. She is perhaps best known for the rock 'n' roll, juvenile delinquency exploitation film '' Untamed Youth'' (1957). Early life Van ...

(who appeared in episode 112, ''

Untamed Youth ''Untamed Youth'' is a 1957 American teen film directed by Howard W. Koch, written by John C. Higgins and Stephen Longstreet, and starring Mamie Van Doren and Lori Nelson as two starstruck sisters who are sentenced to farm labor. Plot Sisters ...

'', and episode 601, '' Girls Town''), Robert Vaughn (star of episode 315, '' Teenage Cave Man'', which he called the worst movie ever made) and Beverly Garland (who had appeared in many ''MST3K''-featured Roger Corman films) also hosted at the marathon.

Awards

In 1993, ''MST3K'' won a

for "producing an ingenious eclectic series": "With references to everything from

Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel '' In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous ...

to ''

Gilligan's Island ''Gilligan's Island'' is an American sitcom created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz. The show's ensemble cast features Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Tina Louise, Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells. It aired for th ...

'', ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' fuses superb, clever writing with wonderfully terrible B-grade movies". In 1994 and 1995, the show was nominated for the

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program, but lost both times to '' Dennis Miller Live''. Every year from 1992 to 1997, it was also nominated for CableACE Awards. Its DVD releases have been nominated for

Saturn Award The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films be ...

s in 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2018. The revival's first season was nominated for a Best Presentation on Television

and a OFTA Television Award nod for Best Variety Program.

Influence

Through ''MST3K'', many obscure films have been more visible to the public, and several have since been considered some of the worst films ever made and are voted into the Bottom 100 on the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

. Of note is '' Manos: The Hands of Fate'', which was riffed on by ''MST3K'' in its fourth season. ''Manos'' was a very low-budget film produced by Hal Warren, a fertilizer salesman at the time, taking on a dare from a screenwriter friend to show that anyone could make a horror film. The film suffered from numerous production issues due to its limited filming equipment, and many critics describe the result using a riff from ''MST3K'', in that "every frame of this movie looks like someone's last-known photograph". The ''MST3K'' episode featuring ''Manos'' was considered one of its most popular and best episodes, and brought ''Manos'' into the public light as one of the worst films ever produced. The film gained a cult following, and an effort was made to restore the film to high-definition quality from its original film reels. ''MST3K'' also riffed on three films directed by

Coleman Francis Coleman Chambers Francis (January 24, 1919 – January 15, 1973) was an American actor, writer, producer and director. He was best known for his film trilogy consisting of ''The Beast of Yucca Flats'' (1961), ''The Skydivers'' (1963) and '' ...

: ''

Red Zone Cuba ''Red Zone Cuba'', also known as ''Night Train to Mundo Fine'', is a 1966 American neo-noir art drama film directed by Coleman Francis, who also wrote and co-produced the film, and played the starring role. It follows the meandering adventures of ...

'', '' The Skydivers'', and ''

The Beast of Yucca Flats ''The Beast of Yucca Flats'' (released to television as ''Atomic Monster: The Beast of Yucca Flats'') is a 1961 B-movie horror film written and directed by Coleman Francis. It was produced by Anthony Cardoza, Roland Morin and Jim Oliphant. The ...

'', which brought awareness of Francis' poor direction and low-budget films, similar to that of

Ed Wood Edward Davis Wood Jr. (October 10, 1924 – December 10, 1978) was an American filmmaker, actor, and pulp novel author. In the 1950s, Wood directed several low-budget science fiction, crime and horror films that later became cult cla ...

. ''MST3K'' also brought to the limelight lackluster works by Bert I. Gordon, primarily giant monster B-movies, that gained attention through the show, and many Japanese kaiju movies imported and dubbed through producer Sandy Frank (jokingly referred to as "the source of all our pain"), particularly those in the ''

'' series. ''MST3K''s riffing style to poke fun at bad movies, films, and TV shows, have been used in other works. In 2003, the television series ''Deadly Cinema'', starring

Jami Deadly Jami Deadly (born May 18, 1979 as Jami Edwards) is an American actress, glamour model, singer, burlesque dancer and horror host. Jami grew up in Texas. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. Biography Jami Edwards was a nightclub dancer. Along with st ...

, debuted, which featured the cast making fun of bad movies, ''MST3K''-style. In 2004, the ESPN Classic series '' Cheap Seats'', debuted, which featured two brothers making fun of clips of old sporting events, ''MST3K''-style, and is noteworthy for containing an episode in which Mike, Crow, and Tom Servo briefly appeared in a cameo to make fun of the hosts' own skits. In 2008, the internet and direct-to-DVD comedy series '' Incognito Cinema Warriors XP'', debuted, which used the same "host segment-movie segment" format the show established, while featuring completely original characters and plot. ''ICWXP'' gained a similar cult following, even earning the praises of former ''MST3K'' host Michael J. Nelson. In 2010, the television series '' This Movie Sucks!'' (and its predecessor '' Ed's Nite In''), starring Ed the Sock and co-hosts Liana K and Ron Sparks, debuted. It features the cast making fun of bad movies. Creator Steven Kerzner, however, was quick to point out that ''MST3K'' was not "the creator of this kind of format, they're just the most recent and most well-known". In 2011, the theater silhouette motif was parodied by golf commentator and talk show host David Feherty in an episode of ''Feherty''. He is shown sitting in front of a large screen and "riffing" while viewing footage of golfer Johnny Miller and is joined in the theater by his stuffed rooster (Frank) and his gnome statue (Costas). Further, the riffing style from ''MST3K'' is considered part of the influence for DVD commentaries and successful

reviewers and

Let's Play A Let's Play (LP) is a video (or screenshots accompanied by text) documenting the playthrough of a video game, often including commentary and/or a camera view of the gamer's face. A Let's Play differs from a video game walkthrough or strat ...

-style commentators. DVD releases for both '' Ghostbusters'' and ''

Men in Black In popular culture and UFO conspiracy theories, men in black (MIB) are purported men dressed in black suits who claim to be quasi- government agents, who harass, threaten, or sometimes even assassinate unidentified flying object (UFO) witnesses ...

'' used a similar format to Shadowrama for an "in-vision" commentary features. The concept of social television, where

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social me ...

is integrated into the television viewing experience, was significantly influenced by ''MST3K''. This social media practice of live-tweeting riffs and jokes on broadcast shows, such as for films like ''

Sharknado ''Sharknado'' is a 2013 American made-for-television science fiction comedy disaster film directed by Anthony C. Ferrante. It tells about a waterspout that lifts sharks out of the ocean and deposits them in Los Angeles. It is the first install ...

'', has its roots in ''MST3K''. The ''MST3K'' approach has inspired Internet movie critics to create comedic movie reviews approaches, such as through

RedLetterMedia Red Letter Media, LLC is an American film and video production company operated by independent filmmakers Mike Stoklasa (formerly of GMP Pictures) and Jay Bauman (formerly of Blanc Screen Cinema). It was formed by Stoklasa in 2004 while he was li ...

and Screen Junkies which are considered more than just snarking on the movie but aim to help the viewer understand film and story techniques and their flawed use in poorly-received films. Public performances of live riffing have been hosted by various groups in different cities across the U.S. and Canada, including Cineprov (Atlanta, Georgia), Master Pancake Theater (Austin, TX), The Gentlemen Hecklers (Vancouver, BC Canada), Counterclockwise Comedy (Kansas City, Missouri), FilmRoasters (Richmond, Virginia), Moxie Skinny Theatre 3000 (Springfield, Missouri), Riff Raff Theatre (Iowa City, Iowa), Twisted Flicks (Seattle, Washington), and Turkey Shoot (Metro Cinema at the Garneau, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada). The

Center for Puppetry Arts The Center for Puppetry Arts, located in Atlanta, is the United States' largest organization dedicated to the art form of puppetry. The center focuses on three areas: performance, education and museum. It is one of the few puppet museums in the ...

crowdfunded and successfully acquired Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot in 2019.

Fandom

''MST3K'', broadcasting during the emergence of the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...

for public use, developed a large fan base during its initial broadcast; which has continued to thrive since then. The show had already had its postal-based fan club, which people could write into and which some letters and drawings read on subsequent episodes, and the producers encouraged fans to share recordings of their episodes with others. At its peak, the "MST3K Fan Club" had over 50,000 members, and Best Brains were receiving over 500 letters each week. Fans of the show generally refer to themselves as "MSTies".

Usenet newsgroup A Usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from users in different locations using the Internet. They are discussion groups and are not devoted to publishing news. Newsgroups are technically distin ...

s rec.arts.tv.mst3k.misc and rec.arts.tv.mst3k.announce were established in the mid-1990s for announcements and discussions related to the show. A type of

fan fiction Fan fiction or fanfiction (also abbreviated to fan fic, fanfic, fic or FF) is fictional writing written in an amateur capacity by fans, unauthorized by, but based on an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, setti ...

called MiSTings, in which fans would add humorous comments to other, typically bad, fan fiction works, was popular on these groups. The fan-run website ''Satellite News'' continues to track news and information about the show and related projects from its cast members. Another fan site, ''The Annotated MST'', attempts to catalog and describe all the obscure popular culture references used in a given episode. In addition to the show's fandom, a number of celebrities have expressed their love for the show. One of the earliest known celebrity fans was

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of ...

, who went so far as to telephone Best Brains, calling ''MST3K'' as "the funniest fucking thing on TV" (according to Beaulieu). Zappa became a friend of the show, and following his death, episode 523 was dedicated to him. Other known celebrities fans include

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic ...

, Neil Patrick Harris,

Penn Jillette Penn Fraser Jillette (born March 5, 1955) is an American magician, actor, musician, inventor, television presenter, and author, best known for his work with fellow magician Teller as half of the team Penn & Teller. The duo has been featured i ...

, and

(who would later become TV's Son of TV's Frank in the revival). Filmmaker Jordan Vogt-Roberts ('' Kong: Skull Island'') also praised ''MST3K'':

"Mystery Science Theater built something artful, endearing and comedic on top of the foundation other people's work. It had merit to itself."

There were two official

fan conventions Fan convention (also known as con or fan meeting), a term that predates 1942, is an event in which fans of a particular topic gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and each other. Some ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origin ...

(run by the series' production company Best Brains) called "ConventioCon ExpoFest-A-Rama" (1994) and "ConventioCon ExpoFest-A-Rama 2: Electric Bugaloo" (1996). At least 2,500 people attended the first convention.

In popular culture

* Another cult sci-fi series ''

Futurama ''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of the professional slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1000 years ...

'' featured silhouetted robots resembling Crow and Servo in the season 2 episode " Raging Bender". * The poster for the 1996 film can be seen in the 2005 comedy '' The 40-Year Old Virgin'' and the 2017 horror-slasher-comedy ''

Happy Death Day ''Happy Death Day'' is a 2017 American black comedy slasher film directed by Christopher Landon, and written by Scott Lobdell. It stars Jessica Rothe and Israel Broussard. The film was produced by Jason Blum through his Blumhouse Productions ...

''. * In the 2004

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy w ...

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

film '' The Lion King 1½'', Timon and Pumbaa are shown in silhouette commenting on the movie being shown before them, in a style similar to that of the show. Roger Allers, the co-director of the original 1994 blockbuster, suggested this format.

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Sci-Fi Channel Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. ...