Key Takeaways
- Show Revival: The revival of Mystery Science Theater 3000 brings back familiar faces like Mike Nelson and introduces new episodes.
- New Episodes: Four new episodes titled Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Rifftrax Experiments are in production.
- Funding Success: A Kickstarter campaign for the new episodes has exceeded its goal, raising over $1 million.
- Fan Excitement: Fans are hopeful for more than just four episodes due to the campaign’s success.
When the movie-riffing comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000 first launched at the end of the ’80s, creator Joel Hodgson starred as Joel Robinson, a janitor who was “trapped by two mad scientists on the Earth-orbiting Satellite of Love and forced to watch a series of B movies” alongside the robots he created to keep him company. Halfway through the fifth season, Joel moved on and was replaced by Mike Nelson (played by Michael J. Nelson), who was the star of the show through five and a half seasons and a movie.
When the show was revived eighteen years later, Jonah Ray played test subject Jonah Heston, and Joel came back to join him during season 13. Now, Joel has moved on from the show again – and once again, it’s going to live on with Mike!
New Episodes
Variety reports that Shout! Studios is teaming with Rifftrax, the movie-riffing company started by Michael J. Nelson and his Mystery Science Theater 3000 co-stars Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett after the original run of the show came to an end, to produce four new episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Here’s the information: Rifftrax stars and MST3K alums Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett will be the creative leads on the new episodes, which are officially titled Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Rifftrax Experiments.
Nelson will also reprise his onscreen role as Mike Nelson, while Murphy will once again play Tom Servo and Professor Bobo and Corbett will again play Crow T. Robot and Brain Guy. In addition, original series star Mary Jo Pehl will return as Pearl Forrester.
Statements
Nelson provided the following statement: “Getting a chance to revisit MST after all this time has really energized all of us at Rifftrax. And for my part, hey, I truly did miss standing next to plastic puppets. It’s been too long.“
Matt Arsulich, associate vice president of product management at Shout! Studios, added, “We’re excited to join forces with Rifftrax as Mike, Kevin, and Bill return to the Satellite of Love for a new chapter of MST3K. This partnership reinforces our dedication to growing valuable entertainment properties by serving their fandoms with high-quality storytelling.“
Hodgson, who was behind the recent revival seasons, sold his joint interest in MST3K to Shout! Studios’ parent company Radial Entertainment just a couple of weeks ago. Corbett, Murphy, and Pehl all appeared onscreen in the revival seasons, and Pehl was also a writer on multiple episodes.
Kickstarter
A Kickstarter campaign has been launched to help fund the new episodes and to provide production updates to fans. The goal was to raise $20,000 in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Rifftrax… but as of this writing, the campaign has already surpassed $1,125,978, with 41 days to go. The fact that the initial goal has already been left in the dust has fans hoping this might lead to the production of more than four new episodes.
I’m very glad to hear that Mike Nelson is coming back for more Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes and will probably be contributing this Kickstarter campaign myself, hoping the new season will end up consisting of more than four episodes.
What do you think of this MST3K news? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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