"Mystery Science Theater 3000" (1988) TV series 1988-1999

User Rating:

9.5/10   

Creator:

Joel Hodgson

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11

Release Date:

24 November 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

We've got movie signs!

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Robot | Mad Scientist | Breaking The Fourth Wall | Anti Hero | Cult Comedy

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 win & 10 nominations

Cast

Kevin Murphy	...	Tom Servo / ... (184 episodes, 1988-1999)
Jim Mallon	...	Gypsy / ... (139 episodes, 1989-1998)
Trace Beaulieu	...	Crow T. Robot / ... (135 episodes, 1988-1996)
Michael J. Nelson	...	Mike Nelson / ... (121 episodes, 1990-1999)
Mary Jo Pehl	...	Magic Voice / ... (120 episodes, 1992-1999)
Frank Conniff	...	TV's Frank / ... (107 episodes, 1990-1999)
Joel Hodgson	...	Joel Robinson / ... (94 episodes, 1988-1999)

Also Known As:

"MST 3000" (USA) (short title)
"MST3K" (USA) (short title)
"Mystery Science Theater 2000" (USA) (working title)
"Mystery Science Theater Hour" (USA) (rerun title)
"Mystery Science Theatre 3000" (UK)
"The Mystery Science Theater Hour" (USA) (syndication title)

Runtime:

97 min (199 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:M | USA:TV-14 | USA:TV-PG

Filming Locations:

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Company:

Best Brains

Trivia:

The black synthesizer guitar Joel uses during the skit segments in several episodes is a Casio DG-1.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In many episodes you can hear the sound of the bots and the host turning the pages as go through their manuscripts.

Quotes:

Tom Servo: A man was snapped at by a force-perspective puppet today...

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Making of 'Mystery Science Theater 3000' (1997) (TV)

Soundtrack:

I Wish I Was Back in Old Canada

11 years of bad movies=11 years of wonderful comedy

Did you ever want to just knock a really bad movie, but you never could because not only did you pay $8-10 for it, but well, you paid $8-10 for it, you idiot! My God, there have been really, truly bad movie candidates since this show ended, that could have wound up on this wonderful comedy series.

I've always considered MST3K to be the best two hours of television each week, even though a large percentage of those two hours was horrible cinema. There aren't a whole lot of TV series that can be successful using that format. But MST3K did it for eleven straight seasons.

At first it was Joel Hodgson with two cute robots named Tom Servo and Crow stranded on a Satellite by two mad scientists. It was an experiment to see if the poor guy goes insane by watching the worst movies ever. It is strangely synonymous with what Hollywood often does to us.

In order for him to maintain sanity, he is helped by the robots to goof on scenes from the movies while they sit in the theater. The jokes are topical, self referential, nostalgic, spot-on and drop-dead hilarious. Just keep an ear open, remember you're listening to two tracks, but Joel and Co. are more crucial to the comedy. The movie is already bad.

Mike was good in the Satellite, and Joel even made a guest appearance during Mike's run. There are so many horrendous movies that these guys saw, but as every MSTy knows, the cream of the crap was "Manos, the Hands of Fate" AKA "Hands, the Hands of Fate." Bad is too simple an adjective for this film, and I felt very, very sorry for the residents of the Satellite of Love.

This show must come back, with the catchy theme song and everything. Every bad movie that comes out is a public cry for it to return to television.