Archive: Mystery Science Theater 3000

In the not too distant future (next Sunday A.D), there was a guy named Joel, not too different from you or me. He worked at Gizmonic Institute, just another face in a red jump suit. He did a good job cleaning up the place, but his bosses didn’t like him so they shot him into space.

If that doesn’t ring any bells, then you’ve sadly missed out on sci-fi comedy phenomenon Mystery Science Theatre 3000, or MST3K as it’s know by fans and those who don’t like typing. It originally aired in the US from 1988 all the way to 1999, and selected episodes of series 8 and 9 were shown over here on the Sci-Fi Channel for a while.
Episodes of what, though, that’s the question. Well, it’s harder to explain than you’d think…

Created by Joel Hodgson, the premise of MST3K was thus: Joel Robinson, the aforementioned employee of Gizmonic Industries, had been fired into space to live aboard giant bone-shaped space station The Satellite of Love by an evil mad scientist and forced in “control experiments” to watch awful sci-fi/horror B-movies.
To prevent himself from going mad, Joel built a collection of robots from spare parts and the control panel of the SOL who keep him company on-board and during the movies. Actually, you know what, I’m going to let Joel explain:

Once the show had started, we would quietly join Joel and The Bots for these films, and sit behind them as they mercilessly riffed and wisecracked through each reel. Don’t get me wrong, ordinarily, if you rustle your popcorn too loudly in a theatre I’m inclined to smack the box right out your hand, but on the SOL it’s not only allowed but encouraged. We need the distraction.
For the most part, Dr Forrester had the guys watch full lengths movies, but sometimes the chosen films just weren’t long enough to fill the MST3K running time, and we were “treated” to various shorts first. Mostly the shorts were instructional videos or public service announcements, but almost entirely from the fifties and unintentionally hilarious even before Crow or Tom Servo pitched in. Here’s a sample from series 3, episode 19, where we learn the importance of musical instruments, and not tripping out at school.

[gallery]Joel escaped at the beginning of the fifth series, but was replaced by (series head writer) Mike Nelson for the remainder of eternity, so the robots weren’t alone and the experiments continued. In fact, over the course of 11 years, the evil captors changed three times, and the voices of the Bots at least once, but that didn’t matter at all. MST3K was a laugh riot, the segments between “Movie Sign” and “Commercial Sign!” meant there was never a lull. Outside the space-theater, Joel/Mike and the bots made weekly "invention exchanges", where the gang and their various tormentors would come up with wacky inventions in a contest with each other. These sketches were a good match for Hodgson, who began his career as a prop comic; in fact, many of the inventions were items originally found in his standup act. Other skits would usually expand on jokes made during the films, and led to regular re-appearances from Jan-in-the-Pan, Torgo and Santa. Granted, you don’t know how cool that is, but you will. Oh yes, you will.