Proof that the remaining 10% is worth being shot into space and made to watch cheesy movies for here:
These are recommendations made by tropers for Fan Fics, all of which have been signed. After a few samples, you will be able to judge whether you might be interested in the 'fic, based on who recommended it. No-name recommendations will be zapped. Nobody would back up the rec. Discussion of the recommendation is welcome on the discussion page. As such discussion is important, do remember to add the discussion page to the watchlist, if need be.
Do warn when a fanfic may head into non-canon territory. Some people just don't like it, and as we all know, Shipping is Serious Business.
Authors and Websites
- Recommended by Unknown Troper, Seconded by Man Called True
- The archives of MSTers Megane 6.7, Scott "Zoogz" Jamison, and Jack Acid. All of their work is very funny and quite well-written, particularly Zoogz's MSTing of Sailor Trigger.
- Man Called True: In order to spare this unsigned entry from oblivion, I second it. Megane 6.7's cosporking of "3:16 Rules!!!!!" is one of my personal favorites. And then there's the Oscarfics.
- Thirded by Doryna, who spent many happy hours in college reading Megane 6.7's MSTings when she should have probably been studying for finals.
Everything What Is Crap
(The site formerly known as Shuuichi's Vault of Anime MSTings.)
- Recommended by Binaroid
- An archive of MSTings of anime, video game, and other genres, dating back to 1996. Contains collections of works by Doctor Thinker, Eyrie Productions Unlimited, and Stephen Ratliff's "Marissa Picard" stories.
Katoi of Fan Fiction Dot Com.
- Fics include Musings On A Satellite, Explaining Christmas, Over Eggs and Toast, and The Process of Miracle Making.
- All of her stories are heartwarming, in-character, and very entertaining. If you read only four fanfictions in your lifetime, make it these.
- An interesting inversion of the usual MST, where Joel is an evil villain who is imprisoned on the Satellite of Hate, and forced to read well written fanfiction in an attempt to rehabilitate him.
- Recommended by Kissybandit 513
- Joel/Mike is the most frequent pairing, known as "JOIKE" after Gypsy's sweater during the episode mocking the Mexican flick Santa Claus (1959).
- Recommended by Paycheckgurl
- The home of a fan comic about Jonah Heston's earliest days on the Satellite of Love, set during the two month time skip between Jonah's kidnapping and his first experiment taping (or as the author puts it "the not so distant past"). It features an adorable art style and great interactions between Jonah and the bots. The Tumblr also features several cute little motivational standalone comics and drawings, as well as vibrant MST art of from all eras of the show.
- Recommended by Roo
- Status: Complete
- Stephen Ratliff's "Marrissa" stories are to online MSTings what Manos: The Hands of Fate is to the TV show. This archive has all the classic Marrissa MSTings, from Enterprized to The Seventh Fleet and beyond, in chronological order.
MSTtings of The Rangers of NIMH and The Rangers of NIMH II by Håkan Svensson & Kevin A. Pezzano, originals by David Gonterman (first story co-written with Paul Lapansee)
- Recommended by Mark Lungo
- Status: Complete
- Two of the first MSTings this troper ever read, and two of the very best. The stories, both written or co-written by the notorious David Gonterman, are extremely deserving targets. They're Crossover fics in which Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers meet characters from The Secret of NIMH, but everyone is overshadowed by Author Avatar Jonathan Brisby IV, who saves the day while romancing Gadget and repeatedly Breaking the Fourth Wall. Expect gratuitous editorializing on everything from politics to the state of Disney, various varieties of Squick, tedious cameos by and Shout Outs to characters from other series, and lots of horrible spelling and grammar. Fortunately, Mike and the bots are up to the challenge; the riffing is among the best I've read in any MSTing, partially because the stories give the riffers an ideal showcase for their talents.
- The skits are great, too; in my favorite, Dr. Forrester invents "The Sequelizer", a device that creates crappy sequels to existing movies, eventually spewing forth "Batman: The Final Frontier, starring and directed by William Shatner!"
MiSTing of The Eye of Argon
- Recommended by pretty much everyone, but Freezair For A Limited Time was the one who finally added it here (though you can find a link to it on the The Eye of Argon page, too).
- Status: Complete
- One of the classic MSTings, this follows Mike and the 'bots on their journey through the "magical" land of The Eye of Argon. Some of its lines have even made their way to being page quotes on this very wiki — a true sign of a brilliant fic. Even better yet, it actually turned this troper on toward the original TV show. She'd never watched an episode of the show prior to reading this fic, but after seeing it linked here on TV Tropes, she read it — and immediately couldn't snap up enough of the original show. Now there's a recommendation!
MSTing of Dark Dungeons
- Recommended by: Tropers/Jsonitsac
- Status: Complete
- A MSTing of the Chick Tract "Dark Dungeons," which is Jack Chick's condemnation of Tabletop Games ("Dark Dungeons" is an Fictional Counterpart for Dungeons & Dragons). The website is set up like a Sci Fi Channel episode of the show, complete with a MIDI and animated GIF version of the opening sequence. The jokes not only go after Chick's bashing of things he doesn't understand but also make plenty of references to geek and tabletop RPG culture.
Mystery Science Theater Adventures by Emi Briet
- Recommended by Toby Mobias
- Status: Dead
- A collection of short, script-styled fanfics that bridge off from canon some point before the end of Season 6 (TV's Frank is around in the first short). The general synopsis is that Joel has been returned to the SOL and, after Dr. F cuts them loose, they drift off into deep space. Joel and Mike get frozen and the bots switch off eventually. Four hundred years later, they are found by a "Dominion" (i.e., Starfleet) ship, and their propulsion systems are fixed to they can cruise around the universe. After some time traveling wackiness, the crew crash lands in China...where they fall into the Spring of the Drowned Girl. Yes, all of them.
- Apart from a few canon errors (Mike never worked for Gizmonic; he was a temp) and repeated usage of "Gizmonics", it's a pretty good read with some great humor and the characters are written in-character. Well, one could make arguments for Cambot...
3000: A Space Oddity by Mike Barklage
- Recommended by Doryna
- Status: Complete
- A story set in Season 5 right after Mike's ascendancy to the Satellite of Love, it details Joel's adventures following his escape, including the consequences of accidentally defrauding Gizmonic Institute of $14.78, foiling Dr. Forrester's sinister and quite outlandish plot to take over the world (of course!) and building yet another robot companion to assist him in all the chaos. Very much in the spirit of the show, quite meta, and hilarious all around. Some knowledge of the early series is handy for getting all the jokes, but not needed to understand the story.
- For a time, the link led to Molossia's website. It shouldn't anymore, but keep we should keep our eyes out for some kind of conspiracy. Bet Dr. F's trying to erase the evidence...
MST3K II by Xavier Writes
- Recommended by Mogo
- Status: Dead
- Set after the end of the series, Mike's apartment is launched into space by Doctor Erdhart, who has decided to continue the experiment and make Mike Nelson and his robot pals torture themselves with the worst Fan Fiction he can find. Feels just like the show, complete with host segments during the fic, definitely worth a read for both hardcore MSTies and newbies alike.
- Wario Barker: Easily the best thing I've read in some time, despite remaining dormant for over 18 months (although if you're going to never update this again, the end of Chapter 12/Episode 10 is a pretty good way to go). Highly recommended.
MST3k: Operation: Return to Earth by Garfieldodie
- Recommended by Maniago
- Status: Complete
- Set during the final episode of the series, between the moment the SOL crashes on earth and the final scene with Mike and the bots in their new apartment. Shows how they survive the crash, get in trouble with Gizmonic Institute and meet both Joel and Dr. Erdhart again.
...And Other Science Facts by Lisa Jenkins
- Recommended by: Ashlyn Nyx
- Status: Dead
- Synopsis: The story of how Joel came to the SOL, built the 'bots, and yes, explains how he eats and breathes.
- A well-written story with good character building, especially for Joel. Sadly, the story died before we were introduced to Crow or Servo.
MSTed: "The Long March", by Bill Livingston, original by Ian P. McKinney and MSTed: "The Long March", Part 1 and Part 2, by Tom Smith, original by Ian P. McKinney
- Recommended by: Mark Lungo
- Status: Complete
- The post so offensive, it got misted twice! Written around 1995 by a member of the neo-fascist National Alliance, "The Long March" is an essay that became notorious not only for its rampant bigotry and illogic but for getting spammed to a whole bunch of Usenet groups that had nothing to do with politics. Its horrible, horrible premise: blacks really are intellectually inferior to whites, and the only reason anyone thinks differently is because of a decades-long conspiracy by Jewish communists who have gradually infiltrated every facet of American society, starting with — of course! — the cultural anthropology departments at major universities. The MSTing community couldn't let this go unchallenged, and due to various mix-ups and misunderstandings, two unrelated MSTs were written by two different authors. Both are hilarious in their different ways, and are worth reading to see the varying approaches to material that's even more noxious than usual.
Evil Mike VS Pearl Forrester Deathmatch 3500 Cycle of Confusing Plots and Poor Fortunes by Brendan Herlihy
- Recommended by Roo
- Status: Complete
- A series of five MSTings where the host segments tell the story of the return of Evil Mike (from the Last Of The Wild Horses episode), who imprisons Pearl on the Satellite of Love to read bad fanfics together with Gypsy and Magic voice (and eventually also a small dragon named Scratch) while the regular Mike, together with Crow and Servo, go off on a somewhat surreal quest to locate and rescue the missing Bobo and Observer, and defeat Evil Mike once and for all. It's very much in tone with the kind of adventures that the show had in the Sci-Fi era; the host segments a little more plot-driven but still mainly subject to Rule of Funny.
- Notable for a lot of non-standard riffers in the theater segments — the first story has the standard team of Mike and the Bots, while the second story, which is more a transition story, first has Beavis And Butthead as unwitting subjects, and then The McLaughlin Group. The third one eventually settles on the team of Pearl, Gypsy, Magic Voice and newcomer Scratch, who remain the main MSTers for the rest of the series. The writing is fun and the character dynamics work surprisingly well, with Pearl and Magic Voice (who barely even acknowledged one another on the show) getting into a sort of Sitcom Arch-Nemesis relationship, with Gypsy as the mediator between the two, and Scratch as Pearl's new lackey/whipping boy. Evil Mike's a great villain too, and Mike, Tom and Crow (out of the Satellite for once) get to play Classical Antiheroes and try to save the day... but not being very good at day-saving.
Evolving Tradition by SL Walker.
- Recommended by The Unknown Uploader.
- Status: Complete
- Joel makes a tradition to read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas to Tom and Crow every Christmas. Tom and Crow make it a tradition to heckle the classic tale every year.
- The story chronicles said traditions from KTMA to season 5, with Joel slowly embracing the Bot's riffing, and the Bot's jokes getting funnier and funnier. And the ending is so heartwarming you'll need to drink some ice water afterward. It's a Christmas tradition for me to read this, and I hope it becomes one of yours too.
Experiment #209: An Unusual Satellite Tale by mith_maulin
- Recommended by Kissybandit 513
- Status: Complete
- Pairing: Joel/Mike
- Synopsis: Pearl's hypothesis: if there's one thing worse than being stranded in space alone, it's being stranded in space with one other person.
It's A Wonderful Satellite by SL Walker.
- Crosses over with: Red Dwarf. Or as the author puts it, a combination of A Christmas Carol, It's a Wonderful Life, and some Quantum Leap added in.
- Status: Complete
- After a particularly depressing Christmas, Mike wishes he never ended up on the Satellite. But instead of Clarence, everyone's (dis)favorite smeghead Arnold Judas Rimmer is his guardian angel.
- It's a Wonderful Plot with so many twists it qualifies as a pretzel. Trust me, you'll laugh so hard eggnog will come out of your nose. Try to aim away from your keyboard, it's very difficult to clean.
