Be still our film nerd hearts: ‘Mystery Science Theater 3000’ may be coming back!

By Kit steinkellner

November 10, 2015

By Kit steinkellner

November 10, 2015

2015 will go down in history books as the Year Where We Found Out All Our Favorite TV Shows Were Coming Back. Count ’em off: X-Files, Gilmore Girls, Full House, all your favorite Nickelodeon cartoons of yore, the list goes on. And now, word on the street is that one of the weirdest and most wonderful TV shows to ever capture our pop culture-loving hearts may also be returning for a reboot. It’s got meta humor, it’s got robots silhouettes, it’s got eight pee-your-pants funny jokes per page, yes, that’s right nerds, Mystery Science Theater 3000 may be making its triumphant return to the small screen in the very near future.

For those that have never experienced the madness and the magic that is MST3K, here’s the basic premise: Joel Robinson (played by creator Joel Hodgson) is sent by two mad scientists into outer space to watch bad movies. The mad scientists are trying to figure out how many terrible films a person can take before they totally lose their minds. Joel probably WOULD lose his mind if it weren’t for his two robot friends Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo, metal men that Joel builds to keep him sane (so, basically, the high tech version of Castaway‘s Wilson). The two watch super-old, super-cheesy B-movies (monsters with very visible zippers abound) and the three crack wise their way through the silliest movies of yesteryear.

The series ran from 1988-1999 (Note: in 1993, Michael Nelson replaced Joel as the token human). The show ran 197 episodes, won a Peabody Award, was nominated for 2 Emmys, and made in on Time‘s ” 100 Best TV Shows of All Time” list.

Whether or not the reboot makes it to the end zone kind of depends on us. Creator Joel Hodgson recently launched the Kickstarter “Bring Back Mystery Science Theater 3000.” In a statement to would-be crowdfunders, Joel explains why he feels that now is the time to bring back MST3K.

That said, Joel thinks MST3K is about much more than just riffing:

So why wait 15 years to reboot? As Joel explains, this is THE era of crowdfunding reboots (Veronica Mars, Reading Rainbow, Super Troopers, shout!) Also, for years, there were rights issues, those got resolved this summer, and now we can robot boogie!

The Kickstarter launched today and has already netted a quarter of its $2 million goal. Nice work, Joel and company! We’re hoping that not only does the team hit their 2 mil minimum and give us 3 glorious new eps of MST3k filled with Cards Against Humanity jokes, but that they actually raise $5.5 million so that they can make their 12 episode dream season. The team is well on their way, and if you want to be one of thousands who help make this Mystery Science dream a Mystery Science reality, you can pledge to their Kickstarter here. Awards include appearing in an episode, becoming a producer, helping to write an episode, and a personal riff being included in a new MST3K. Long live cheesy movies, sidesplitting riffs, robot friends, and nostalgia reboots!