Mystery Science Theater 3000has been off the air for more than 15 years, butnew episodesare on the way soon! Fans of the show are eagerly awaiting the arrival the revival on Netflix, but for now, creatorJoel Hodgsonhas given us a bit of a gift. The long-lost but recently uncovered first two episodes of the show have surfaced and are now available online.
The show aired and gained popularity on Comedy Central and later on SyFy, butMystery Science Theater 3000originally started out as a public access TV show in Minnesota. 21 episodes of the show aired on area TV station KTMA before Comedy Central picked it up, but the first couple of episodes never made it online. Until now.Joel Hodgesnrecently discovered tapes of the episodes, titledInvaders From The DeepandRevenge Of The Mysterons From Mars. As a special thank you, he made digital copies of the episodes and made gave them toKickstarterbackers. Here is what he had to say in an email to the Kickstarter backers about the episodes.
“I really loved getting a chance to see these early episodes again. You can see Josh and Trace and me just wading into ‘movie riffing’ and starting to play with all the elements and dynamics of the show and the set pieces. Obviously, it’s pretty slow. We didn’t pre-watch any of the films or even attempt to write any jokes; it’s just us, starting out, ‘blue skying’ it. Naturally, if I could have known that, almost 30 years later, there would be a group of about 50,000 folks looking at these as a sort of ‘historical document,’ I probably would have tried to find ways to put more time into them. But, as they say, it is what it is.”
By all accounts, and byJoel Hodgson’s own admission, these earlyMST3Kepisodes are pretty rough. So for die-hard fans of the show, it is probably pretty interesting to see, but casual fans aren’t likely to get the laughs out of these episodes they are accustomed to. That said, if you do want to watch the episodes and weren’t one of the Kickstarter backers, you can purchase them.Invaders From The Deepis availablehereandRevenge Of The Mysterons From Marsis availablehere, for a fee.
TheMST3K revival, which was funded by a very successful Kickstarter campaign and later picked up by Netflix, will feature an all-new cast, butJoel Hodgsonis still heavily involved in every facet of the production. He helped the new cast in writing riffs for all of the upcoming episodes and is producing the revival series. He has also stated that many of those involved in the show over the years are writing on the show, and will be making appearances. During the Kickstarter campaign, it was announced thatJonah Ray, co-host ofThe Nerdist PodcastandThe Meltdownon Comedy Central, will be the new host of the show. ComedianBaron Vaughnwill be taking on the role of the robot Tom Servo, and Crow T. Robot is going to be voiced byHampton Yount.Hodgsonalso confirmed thatFelicia Daywill be taking on the role of Kinga Forrester, daughter of Dr. Clayton Forrester from the show’s original run.Patton Oswaltis also joining up as the son of TV’s Frank.
