In Praise Of Mystery Science Theater 3000: Part I

NOTE - sorry about the late post today. Long day, don't wanna talk about it....

Many of you unwashed heathens out there have never had the pleasure of knowing what "Mystery Science Theater 3000" (or MST3K, for short) is all about. In short - it rocks.

MST3K is the brainchild of a small group of comedians and comic writers hailing from Minneapolis around 1988 in a small TV station called KTMA. Their idea was a simple one: take a poor sap stranded in a space satellite with two wisecracking robots, subject them to really lousy movies (the worst they could find) and have them make fun of them as we watched. For some of these flicks, it was a pretty easy task.

But it was indeed a success, and sprawled out through 11 seasons altogether (the creators don't recognize their KTMA time as a season, so it's usually referred to as Season 0, the remainder as 10.), making heckling a high art.

From there, their show went to the Comedy Channel, then the Sci-Fi Channel. Then, sadly, to cancellation. But MST3K's fans keep spreading the word, circulating the tapes and making known the names of Joel, Mike, Tom, Crow and Gypsy.

As a starter for those who know not of these creatures and the wonderful universe they inhabit, here's a great page that chronicles their genesis and evolution:

MST3K - In The Beginning

Now, to start with, here's the beginning credit roll for their KTMA season:



Here's a clip from the show's pilot that no one has ever seen in its entirety except for an excerpt at conventions and such (the movie they're doing is The Green Slime).



Here's a random clip; Joel gets nabbed!



Robot abuse!



And their last show before going on summer hiatus. Little did they know what a difference one summer would make....



Next time, highlights from the first couple of seasons. And don't worry; they get funnier.

Dope out.

-TGWD