Mystery Science Theater 3000

Using a science fiction set-up to riff on B movies, Emmy-nominated Mystery Science Theater 3000 (known as "MST3K" to fans) became a cult hit, running for eleven years and spawning one feature film. In the series, a regular guy named Joel (Joel Hodgson) was shot into space by his mad-scientist bosses at Gizmonics Institute. The scientists tortured him with B movies to see if he would crack. The ever-inventive Joel built the robots Cambot, Gypsy, Tom Servo and Crow from materials on the space station to keep him company. Servo, Joel and Crow would regularly heckle the movies they were sent. When Joel escaped in the middle of season five, the scientists sent unlucky temp Mike (Mike Nelson) into space to take his place.

Fast Facts

1. Network: KTMA (Minnesota), Comedy Central, Sci-Fi Channel
2. Original Run: 1988 - 1999
3. Episodes: 198
4. Peabody awards: 1
5. Emmy nominations: 2
6. Starring: Joel Hodgson, Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, Jim Mallon, Mary Jo Pehl, Bill Corbett, Josh Weinstein and Patrick Brantseg
7. Also known as: MST3K

Return of MST3K?

Members of the MST3K crew have worked on similar projects since the show was canceled, with different levels of success. Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett re-teamed for The Film Crew, a series of direct-to-dvd films in the style of MST3K. They had trouble selling the concept. By the time it was released, Mike Nelson had created RiffTrax to heckle recent movies in the style of MST3K via downloadable MP3 files. He was joined by the Film Crew group, as well as Mary Jo Pehl and Bridget Nelson and, for some films, stars such as Neil Patrick Harris, Weird Al Yankovic and Fred Willard. MST3K creator Joel Hodgson has begun his own project, Cinematic Titanic, which is extremely similar to Mystery Science Theater 3000 and features former MST3Kers Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff and Mary Jo Pehl.

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