alt title(s): MST 3 K; Mystery Science Theatre 3000
In the not-too-distant future, Next Sunday, AD, There was a guy named Joel, Not too different from you or me. He worked at Gizmonic Institute, Just another face in a red jumpsuit. He did a good job cleaning up the place, But his bosses didn't like him, So they shot him into space.
We'll send him cheesy movies, The worst we can find (lalala), He'll have to sit and watch them all, And we'll monitor his mind (lalala)
Now keep in mind Joel can't control Where the movies begin or end. Because he used those special parts, To make his robot friends.
Robot Roll Call: Cambot. Gypsy. Tom Servo. Crow!
If you're wondering how he eats and breathes, And other science facts, Repeat to yourself "It's just a show, I should really just relax." For Mystery Science Theater 3000. *TWAANNNG!*
A show which debuted on the local Minneapolis UHF station KTMA (currently CW station WUCW) in 1988. Somewhere between
Sketch Comedy and late-night movie anthology, it showed
some of the worst films imaginable, intercut with framing sequences about the hapless Joel Robinson (Joel Hodgson), stranded on the "Satellite of Love" by
mad scientists Dr. Clayton Forrester (Trace Beaulieu, a reference to the hero of the 1953 film adaptation of
War of the Worlds) and Larry Erhardt (Josh Weinstein). During the movies, Joel, Crow (Beaulieu), and Tom Servo (Weinstein, and later Kevin Murphy), two robots he'd contrived from spare parts, would mercilessly riff on the
comically low quality, portrayed in "Shadowrama" as if they were sitting in the front row of a theater showing the movies.
It quickly achieved cult status, and after one season, the show was picked up by the fledgling Comedy Channel (now Comedy Central). It ran there for seven years and spawned
a feature film,
changing several cast members along the way (the most famous of which is Joel being replaced by Mike Nelson). Later, it was
sold to the Sci-Fi Channel, where, after three seasons, it died. (For contractual reasons, however, the show was rerun in random time slots until 2004.)
Some episodes were repackaged for syndication in a trimmed-down version known as "The Mystery Science Theatre Hour", with new framing segments parodying the introductions used by classic film channels.
Sadly, the distribution rights to many of the movies used by
MST3K have reverted to their original owners, and therefore can not be redistributed. Fortunately,
Rhino Entertainment
sells those they can get the rights to on video and DVD. (Note: In 2008, the DVD rights were
transferred to
Shout Factory. Also, the
Digital Archive Project has preserved as many of the commercially unavailable episodes as possible.
The handling of the series by Comedy Central (and later, the Sci-Fi Channel) was cause of some irritation among fans; there was a widely circulated conspiracy theory that the network was intentionally sabotaging the series, which had a small but intense cult following that made it hard to dismiss despite only modest
ratings (a similar theory existed among fans of
Daria). The
odd choices of sponsors tended to underscore this idea in the minds of many fans.
In the last few years, several different groups of former cast members have taken stabs at reviving the show in different ways.
- Mike Nelson's RiffTrax was the first, giving the MST treatment to popular movies and TV shows with mp3 "commentary" tracks for DVDs. It often features other MST3K cast members, as well as other guest-stars.
- The Film Crew was done by Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett (who played both Crow and Brain Guy on the Sci-Fi Channel episodes). Four DVDs were produced, with the concept being closer to the original MST; old movies with shadows being overlaid on the picture itself. They were produced before RiffTrax began, but weren't released until late 2007.
- Cinematic Titanic also uses the MST Shadowrama. It features Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Josh Weinstein, Frank Conniff (TV's Frank), and Mary Jo Pehl (Pearl Forrester). They are available both on DVD for $15 and as a digital download for $10.
- Finally, the official MST3K website has flash cartoons featuring the 'bots.
The cast is reuniting at Comic Con this year, so expect a ton of wishful-thinking hopes for a revival to start any time now.
Here's a sample of the movies that have been riffed on:
For obvious reasons, the movies shown on MST3K embody just about every trope, cliche, and hackneyed device ever invented. Naturally, Joel/Mike and the 'bots would mercilessly
call these out.
MST3K itself provides examples of:
- Cool And Unusual Punishment: The premise of the series — Dr. Forrester is "experimenting" on Joel/Mike to find a movie bad enough to turn into a Weapon Of Mass Destruction. The reason Joel and Mike were targeted? They didn't personally like them.
- Couch Gag: The "stinger" after every episode, a short clip of the most inexplicable dialogue or event in the movie.
- The Danza: Joel Hodgson as Joel Robinson, Michael J. Nelson as Mike Nelson, Frank Conniff as TV's Frank.
- Deus Ex Machina: Joel escapes the satellite of love in a pod conveniently named the Dues ex Machina.
- Expository Theme Tune: The second and best-known version appears above. Small changes were made every so often to accommodate the various changes in cast. See this handy chart◊!
- Eye Open: The Trope Namer.
- Fan Fic: There are plenty of MST3K fics, most of them using the characters to make fun of bad fan fiction and spam.
- Failure Is The Only Option: The mads can never succeed in driving their victims insane, and the gang on the Satellite Of Love can't escape, with the famous exception of Joel in the fifth season. Pearl did come achingly close to finding a film that could drive people insane with Invasion Of The Neptune Men, but Mike and the Bots were saved by a visit from Krankor.
- Fourth Wall Mail Slot
- Grand Finale
- Growing The Beard: The show gets progressively better from its beginnings up to the third season, where it really hits its stride.
- Intercontinuity Crossover: Mike, Tom and Crow riffed on the second season premiere of Cheap Seats.
- Jeannie Cut
- Jonas Quinn: When Joel Hodgson left, head writer Michael J. Nelson was promoted to leading man. As well, after the first Comedy Channel season, Dr. Larry Erhardt was replaced with TV's Frank, and after the sixth, Frank was replaced with Pearl Forrester, Clayton's mother. Finally, for the Sci-Fi Channel seasons, The Mads were replaced by a returning Pearl, and her sidekicks Professor Bobo [from a Planet Of The Apes-like future Earth] and Observer [aka "Brain Guy", an albino superbeing who carries his brain in a pan].
- Long Runners: One year on Minneapolis cable-access, seven years on Comedy Central and three years on Sci-Fi... the show so nice they canceled it twice.
- Mad Scientist: Half of the cast.
- Mike Nelson Destroyer Of Worlds: The Trope Namer.
- Missing Episode: Due to both expired movie rights and a few episodes which, despite the efforts of legions of VCR-equipped fans, seem to have vanished entirely from existence. Finding 20-year-old home recordings of a show that aired in just one market is kinda hard.
- MST3K Mantra: Obviously.
- Next Sunday AD: Trope Namer, though not necessarily an example of it.
- No Fourth Wall: The SOL crew would directly address the audience at least once an episode. The camera was a character mentioned in the opening theme. The characters had a "Commercial Sign" to warn them that the commercials were about to start.
- Notable Original Music: "Let's Have A Patrick Swayze Christmas"
- Old Shame: They requested that Comedy Central cease airing Season 1 episodes shortly before Season 4's premiere.
- The Other Darrin: Tom Servo's, Crow's, and Gypsy's voice actors were all eventually replaced.
- Lampshaded when Mike turns briefly into a "werecrow" and Crow tells him, "Your voice will change about every seven years."
- Robot Buddy: The other half of the cast.
- Screwed By The Network: Twice.
- Skunk Stripe: Dr. Forrester.
- Spiritual Successor: The cast's follow-up series named above [Riff Trax, The Film Crew, Cinematic Titanic]; Cheap Seats also qualifies.
- Throw It In: The crew frequently left in the less serious bloopers — robots falling apart, the actors cracking up at each other's lines, et cetera — because they felt it added a certain something to the show.
- Time Travel: For the eighth season, the show was moved from "Next Sunday, AD" to the year 2525 (Man is not, in fact, still alive), then to Roman Times, and finally back to the present.
- Too Dumb To Live: Most of the characters on the show, at one point or another — TV's Frank has a particularly persistent case.
- Twenty Minutes Into The Future: Sort of. The theme song specifies "Next Sunday, AD", and most of the series seems to take place in something reasonably approximating the year in which it was made.
- Unlucky Everydude: Joel, and especially Mike.
- A Wizard Did It: The theme song specifically points out that you're not supposed to ask questions about how it all works.
