The movie sign is ready! Also! Also!
Variety has exclusively learned that RiffTrax and Shout! The studios have teamed up to produce four new episodes of “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” RiffTrax has launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund new episodes and keep fans up to date on production.
RiffTrax stars and “MST3K” alumni Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett will serve as creative leads on the new episode, officially titled “Mystery Science Theater 3000: The RiffTrax Experiments.” Nelson will reprise his on-screen role as Mike Nelson, Murphy will once again play Tom Servo and Professor Bobo, and Corbett will once again play Crow T. Robot and Brain Guy. Additionally, original series star Mary Jo Pearl will return as Pearl Forrester.
“Having the opportunity to revisit ‘MST’ after such a long time really energized all of us at RiffTrax,” Nelson said. “And for me, I really missed standing next to a plastic doll. It’s been too long.”
The Kickstarter campaign is live now and will run until March 16th. The goal is to raise $20,000 to celebrate RiffTrax’s 20th anniversary, and episodes will be produced regardless of the total amount raised.
The four films featured in the new episodes will be released during the campaign. Production will take place in Minneapolis, where the original show was filmed, and episodes will be released on the RiffTrax website later this year. And in true “MST3K” style, the producers committed to featuring the same kind of (cheap) practical sets and props that were so famous for being used on the original show.
“We are excited to be working with RiffTrax as Mike, Kevin and Bill return to Satellites of Love for the new chapter of MST3K,” said Matt Ursurich, Associate Vice President of Product Management at Shout! Studios, a radial entertainment company. “This partnership strengthens our commitment to growing our valuable entertainment assets by providing quality storytelling to our fan base.”
Nelson, Corbett and Murphy have been performing under the RiffTrax banner since 2006. In that time, they’ve riffed on over 1,000 short films, blockbusters, hilarious low-budget films, TV shows, and more. They also frequently host RiffTrax live screenings, where they perform movie riffs live in front of an audience.
News of the new show comes about two weeks after it was reported that original series creator Joel Hodgson had sold his co-interest in “MST3K” to Shout. The studio’s parent company is Radial Entertainment. Hodgson spearheaded the show’s 11th season revival in 2015, and that season’s Kickstarter campaign raised about $6.3 million.
That season and subsequent seasons were released on Netflix, and the 13th season was released on the “MST3K” online streaming platform called The Gizmoplex. Corbett, Murphy, and Paire all appeared on screen in the revival, with Paire also working as a screenwriter on several episodes.
Launched in 1988 on Minneapolis’ UHF station, “MST3K” featured cheesy B-movies, with Hodgson and later Nelson and two robot sidekicks providing their own hilarious commentary. It then moved to Comedy Central and ended its run on the SF Channel (now Syfy) in 1999 after 197 episodes. Mystery Science Theater 3000, a feature film based on the science fiction classic This Island Earth, was released in 1996.
