PLAY MSTie FOR ME

Chances are, you’ve shouted out quips during a movie, whether it be in your home or in a movie theater. I know I’ve been guilty (I’m looking right at you, Alien: Covenant) of this, and while it can be a boon or bane to a movie, one man has made it an art form.

His name is Joel Hodgson.

(Above: Tom Servo, Joel Hodgson, and Crow T. Robot)

In 1988, Mystery Science Theater 3000 premiered. The story is pretty easy to comprehend. Joel works for Gizmonic Institute. His bosses, Dr. Clayton Forrester and TV’s Frank, decide they don’t like him and transport Joel to the Satellite of Love in space. The Mads (as Forrester and Frank later became known as) make Joel the first torture test subject by making him watch bad movies in the hopes of just seeing how long it will take before Joel loses his mind. In an effort to keep his sanity, he creates four robot pals (out of movie monitoring parts) to keep him company on the SoL. Cambot is a camera that records everything. Gypsy helps run the systems on the SoL. Tom Servo is a glorified gumball machine who can belt out a tune. Crow T. Robot is basically every wisecracking, smart-assed teenager you know. It’s pretty family-friendly, too! I recall watching many an episode with my parents on saturday mornings.

The show ran on KTMA before finding a pretty stable home on (now) Comedy Central. Joel left the show in 1995 due to creative differences. Michael J. Nelson took over as host. Mike and the bots got their silver screen debut in Mystery Science Theater 3000:The Movie, where they riffed ‘This Island Earth’, in 1996.

Eventually, CC cancelled the show, only for it to be picked up by Sci-Fi (before they changed the spelling to seem more edgy, but don’t get me started on that) before it was finally cancelled for good in 1999. The show became a favorite among fans, making it commonplace to ‘riff’ pretty much anything. Mike went on to do Rifftrax, which is similar to MST3k, but with bigger budget films. (I absolutely recommend their version of ‘The Room’. It’s the only way I will ever watch that POS.)

Joel started a Kickstarter Campaign in 2015 to bring the show back to a new generation to enjoy. The campaign ended up raising $6.3 million, more than the Veronica Mars movie. Over 48,000 backers contributed to bring the show back. (I’m #45,872!)

In July 2016, At SDCC, Joel announced that the new 14-episode season would be making it’s triumphant return on Netflix, where classic episodes were released. There would be pre-screenings of the first episode, lots of speculation over what movies would be riffed, and the excitement of something getting ‘rebooted’ that doesn’t suck.

(Above: Crow, Jonah, Gypsy and Tom Servo)

Finally, on April 14th, 2017, Netflix made the new (11th!) season available to their subscribers. Jonah Ray, Felicia Day and Patton Oswalt began the experiment anew as Jonah Heston, Kinga Forrester and TV’s Son of TV’s Frank (aka Max). The Bots were back as well with new voices and some with upgrades. The first movie they would riff……Reptilicus. Cry Wilderness, Yongary, and The Time Travelers would also be included among the season. (There are also some surprise cameo appearances by previous cast members and some well-known comedians.)

(Above: Felicia Day as Kinga Forrester and Patton Oswalt as Max aka TV’s Son of TV’s Frank)

As someone who’s seen all 14 episodes, I can say the show is great. It’s just like I remember from my teenage-young adult years. I personally loved the Kaiju films they did, and while it took a little bit to adjust to the voices of Crow and Servo, I quickly fell in love all over again. Currently, the show can be watched on Netflix, with older episodes on Hulu and YouTube.

On July 6th, the ‘MST3K Live: Watch Out for Snakes’ Tour began in Boston, MA. It’s basically like the show, but with Live riffing by Jonah and the Bots! All stops will include an updated riff of ‘Eegah’, a film that was originally done in 1993. Some will even include an additional showing for a ‘Secret Surprise Film’ (Just revealed: Argoman). For more details on what to expect, pop on over to http://www.mst3k.com/tour (I’ll see you at the Los Angeles Surprise movie!)

Currently, the San Diego Live shows will be during SDCC weekend, so it’s a sure bet Joel and the boys will be making a con appearance, hopefully to shed some news on if Netflix will run Season 12.

And if you’re a MSTie who seeks other MSTies to rejoice with, I invite you to check out the MST3K Revival League: A Fan Page. It’s for fans, by fans, and some of the cast and crew occasionally poke their heads up.

Now, if you’ll excuse me….. WE’VE GOT MOVIE SIGN!!!!!!

-Jen