Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988–1999)

In the not-too-distant future, a man and his robots are trapped aboard the Satellite of Love, where mad scientists force them to sit through the worst movies ever made.

Creator:

Joel Hodgson

Stars:

Kevin Murphy, Trace Beaulieu, Michael J. Nelson

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 win & 11 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Kevin Murphy	...	Tom Servo (183 episodes, 1988-1999)
Trace Beaulieu	...	Crow T. Robot (141 episodes, 1988-1996)
Jim Mallon	...	Gypsy (141 episodes, 1989-1998)
Mary Jo Pehl	...	Magic Voice (120 episodes, 1992-1999)
Michael J. Nelson	...	Mike Nelson (119 episodes, 1990-1999)
Frank Conniff	...	TV's Frank (108 episodes, 1990-1999)
Joel Hodgson	...	Joel Robinson (102 episodes, 1988-1999)

Storyline

When zany mad scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester and his loopy assistant Frank get bored with their work at the Deep Thirteen research center, they kidnap Joel the janitor and shoot him into orbit on the Satellite of Love. While in space Joel builds wacky robot sidekicks Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot to help him withstand an onslaught of grade 'Z' movies that the mad scientists force him to watch.

---

Plot Keywords:

robot | mad scientist | android | good versus evil | joke | 

---

Taglines:

Making unwatchable movies essential viewing.

---

Genres:

Comedy | Sci-Fi

---

Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Satellite News

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 November 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

MST 3000

Filming Locations:

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Best Brains, Comedy Central, Home Box Office (HBO)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min 97 min (199 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Satellite of Love set was made entirely of toys that the show's creators bought at Goodwill. All of the robots were made from common household items. Items on the interior walls include: a toy Millennium Falcon from Star Wars, a Darth Vader action figure holder, a plastic reindeer cut in half and glued over the theater door, plastic toy trumpets, silverware trays, bundt cake pans, and extra bowling pins that would've served as Crow's beak.

---

Goofs

During the theater sequences, Crow frequently talks without moving his mouth. Sometimes his mouth moves after he finishes talking.

---

Quotes

Bomar: The doll has a teddy bear's head, and the teddy bear has a doll's head.
Joel: Don't worry, we'll give them to dyslexic kids.

---

Crazy Credits

All episodes end with "Keep circulating the tapes" -- this was to encourage word-of-mouth by trading tapes of the show recorded off the air among fans and those unfamiliar with the show.

---

Connections

Referenced in Coop Dreams (2005)

---

Soundtracks

"Baby Music"
Written by Michael J. Nelson

User Reviews

Should go down in history as one of the greatest shows ever written

Mystery Science Theater 3000 could quite possibly be one of the most inventive and hilarious shows of all time. In a nutshell, an average guy is rocketed into space by his evil boss and is forced to watch terrible, cheesy, poorly acted, poorly written, poorly shot, B-grade movies (sometimes even lower grade than that). The only way he keeps his sanity is by mocking and riffing on the movie-of-the-week with his robot friends, Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot. He is also kept company by the robots Cambot and Gypsy, who do not watch the movie.

Each episode of MST3K delivers almost non-stop laughs and great one-liners that make watching these awful movies not only bearable, but also hilarious! There are fans (known as MSTies) of all ages, from adults who have been watching it from the first televised episode to teens just discovering it thanks to the release of the DVDs.

All in all, I am a huge fan of MST3K and have never been dissatisfied with it. I've never seen an episode that didn't make me laugh out loud.

It's difficult to describe it to those who haven't seen it before, so if you're not one of the legions of fans of MST3K yet, hurry out and rent or buy one of the DVD sets. You won't be disappointed! 10/10