One of the most beloved science-fiction comedy series of all time is coming back to the screen – albeit with some significant changes. In the digital era, no piece of entertainment content stays dead forever, and once there is enough social media buzz (or streaming metrics) to make a retired property seem viable again, it isn’t long before some kind of revival follows.
Now it’s the time for Mystery Science Theater 3000 to get a chance at another run, but it’s going to be happening in a way that few expect. But, if you are a dedicated fan of MST3K, this will also be a great opportunity to have a direct hand in the show’s revival.
It’s been confirmed that Mystery Science Theater 3000‘s revival effort is being handled in a joint effort by RiffTrax and Shout! Studios, which will produce four new episodes of the show, titled Mystery Science Theater 3000: The RiffTrax Experiments. A Kickstarter campaign has been started by RiffTrax, and it has (as of writing this) raised over $570,000 after initially asking for a goal of $20,000. The campaign is set to run through March 16th, so the final earnings could be well over $1 million, if the current pace of donations holds. The actual films being reviewed in the new episodes have not yet been revealed, and are being dangled as incentives to help the Kickstarter campaign reach goals.
“Getting a chance to revisit ‘MST’ after all this time has really energized all of us at RiffTrax,” Nelson said in a statement. “And for my part, hey, I truly did miss standing next to plastic puppets. It’s been too long.”
Former MST3K alumnus (turned RiffTrax stars) Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett will all be executive producers of Mystery Science Theater 3000: The RiffTrax Experiments, as well as reprising their respective roles in the show. Michael Nelson will once again play “Mike Nelson”; Kevin Murphy will play Tom Servo and Professor Bobo, while Bill Corbett will play Crow T. Robot and Brian Guy. Mary Jo Pehl will also reportedly return as Pearl Forrester.
The surge in donations is ironic, as the team at RiffTrax has committed (as Nelson confirms in his statement) to keeping the classic, cheap visual effects and puppetry that MST3K is known for. A previous revival effort for MST3K (in 2015) actually raised over $6M on Kickstarter. The show began on a Minneapolis, Minnesota station back in 1988, before getting picked up by Comedy Central (and later SyFy) for a run that lasted until 1999. It gained a major cult following in the 1990s, which only grew thanks to syndicated reruns throughout the 2000s. Two revival seasons were released that ended up on Netflix, while “Season 13” was produced directly to a DSP (“The Gizmoplex“).
Clearly, the show’s brand power hasn’t faded, as the Kickstarter money clearly proves. We can’t wait to see which films get put under the microscope of MST3K‘s biting wit. Let us know if you feel the same way over on the ComicBook Forum!
