Our Heist Guides introduce new fans to something we think is seriously cool, and they may even provide some behind-the-scenes knowledge to longtime diehards. It's everything you need to know to plan your own heist.
What is Mystery Science Theater 3000?
Mystery Science Theater 3000, or MST3K for short, is a television series that has run from 1988 to the present day, although it is kind of on hiatus for now. There was also a film released in 1996.
The plot involves two mad scientists launching a regular schmoe into space in a ship called the "Satellite of Love", a nod to the Lou Reed song off the Transformer album. Their fiendish experiment is to see how many bad movies it takes to drive their captive mad. But the prisoner turns the tables on them by using junk around the Satellite of Love to build wisecracking robots that help skew the experiments' results by making fun of the movies.
Most of an episode's length is the host and the 'bots watching an actual bad film along with the audience and adding jokes to what they're seeing. If you think, "Oh man, that could get a little monotonous," (and it does for some of the really, really bad films) the films are broken up by host segments, where the host and bots talk about the film, meet with guests, do bits, and in some seasons continue ongoing plots (mostly the Sci-Fi Channel years).
Who made this?
MST3K was created by comedian Joel Hodgson, a nationally known talent based out of Minnesota. For the earliest seasons he brought together friends like Kevin Murphy, Josh Weinstein, and Trace Beaulieu to mock the films (or "riff" on them) and play side characters, including Weinstein and Beaulieu as the mad scientists, or "Mads" as they became known. Both Weinstein and Beaulieu voiced and controlled the robot puppets, named Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot, respectively.
As the show grew in popularity, there were cast changes. Mike Nelson joined as a writer/performer and ended up replacing Joel as the host in season 5. Josh Weinstein left after one season and Frank Coniff joined up as the second mad scientist named TV' Frank. When Weinstein left the show Kevin Murphy came in to voice Tom Servo, and later Bill Corbett replaced Beaulieu as Crow. When the show re-launched again for the Netflix era, the entire cast was refreshed, with Jonah Ray and Emily Marsh as hosts, Felicia Day and Patton Oswalt as the Mads, and Hampton Yount, Baron Vaughn, Conor McGiffin, and Kelsey Ann Brady as the 'Bots.
I understand. It's a lot. The cool thing about all these names is that so many of these people went off and did their own non-MST3K riffing projects! If you find you like the MST3K movie riffing format, you can track down Hodgson, Weinstein, Beaulieu, Coniff and MST3K writer/performer Mary Jo Pehl in their "Cinematic Titanic" show; or Coniff and Beaulieu with their project "The Mads Are Back"; or Nelson, Murphy, and Corbett with their massively popular "Rifftrax".
Why should I give a damn about Mystery Science Theater 3000?
OK, I'll be honest: It's not everyone's cup of tea. I've sat down with groups of people to watch it and half are rolling on the floor with laughter and half don't get it. It's disrespectful, in a sense, to poke fun at someone's work, and we're taught at a young age that you're supposed to be quiet during a movie.
That being said, if you get past the hurdle of proper moviegoing behavior, it's an incredibly smart, funny, insightful show. Episodes last the duration of a movie, usually edited down to two hours or so for broadcast. That's a LOT of time to fill with jokes, and more often than not those jokes are fairly highbrow. But if you don't get one, there's another one you might like better dropping in another few seconds.
It's also become part of the comedy landscape. MST3K begat not only Rifftrax and Cinematic Titanic, but also dozens of other similar shows in comedy clubs throughout the world. This comic sensibility influenced thousands of the comedians and writers you enjoy today in a million different projects. Many celebrities who became fans of the off-beat, cowtown puppet show wound up guesting on the show in later episodes, including Mark Hamill and Neil Patrick Harris.
MST3K was never a huge hit, but its influence only grows as more and more people discover it.
How many episodes of MST3K are there?
Officially, there are 230 episodes spread across 13 seasons. Each is the length of a movie, so pace yourself.
There are some extras as well, most notably Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, which came out in theaters in 1996. Although the host segments are a little lackluster, the riffing on the film This Island Earth is some of the best that the show ever produced. It's a fantastic place to start watching to see if you like the format (after all, it is just a big budget episode of the TV show), and a great way to get other people interested in the show.
Some other "bonus" episodes pop up in different places, like "Assignment: Venezuela", an industrial short used to entice oil workers to move to Venezuela that Mike and the 'Bots riffed on for an aborted MST3K CD-ROM project. The cast also did some Academy Awards preview shows: The Little Gold Statue Preview Special, The Academy of Robots Choice Award Special, and the 1st Annual Summer Blockbuster Review and its sequel. Here Mike and the 'Bots were allowed to riff on short clips of movies that were in theaters at the time (including the classic line as Bernard Hill sails the Titanic out of the harbor, "I'm gonna sink this bitch.").
When did MST3K originally air?
The first episode landed on November 24, 1988, on the independent Minneapolis TV channel KTMA. The first 21 episodes ran on KTMA before getting picked up by the Comedy Channel in 1989. Seasons 1 through 7 aired on the Comedy Channel that ended up becoming Comedy Central, before getting a half-season order and finally a cancellation notice in 1996. The Sci-Fi channel (now known as Syfy) picked it up in 1997, running for three more seasons and 48 episodes.
MST3K went dark for a while before launching a major crowdfunding campaign in 2015. Episodes were created and shopped around, finally getting distributed by Netflix. Seasons 11 and 12 aired on Netflix in 2017 and 2018 before the show launched Season 13 on its own streaming service, The Gizmoplex, in 2022.
Where can I watch MST3K now?
For the most part, you're in luck. Many episodes of the earlier Comedy Central and Sci-Fi seasons are on YouTube and the Shout! TV app. Twitch and PlutoTV both have 24-hour streams going so you can just dive in and see what they're playing. Netflix still has Seasons 11 and 12 for streaming if you're subscribed.
For the big bag of goodies, you'll want to sign up for The Gizmoplex, MST3K's streaming service. All the episodes that are legally available are there, plus hilarious riffs on short educational films from times gone by, bonus features, and the KTMA episodes. It's also the only place to watch Season 13.
Remember how I said, "For the most part…"? There are still quite a few episodes that aren't available to watch legally. In almost every instance this is an issue with securing the rights to movies that got riffed on. What was legit at the time of airing isn't so clear cut decades later. You might have to do some hunting online to see if anyone has a copy of episodes like Teen-Age Crime Wave, Godzilla vs the Sea Monster, The Amazing Colossal Man, or Revenge of the Creature (the second Creature From the Black Lagoon film).
Where should I start with MST3K? What's good?
Good question, hypothetical reader of this Heist Guide. If you ask 15 different "MSTies" (fans of MST3K), you'll get 15 different answers. Everyone's sensibilities are different. A weird rule to follow, that sort of works, is that the titles can be deceiving. Just because the movie they're riffing on has a goofy title doesn't mean it's a terrible film with the best jokes. For instance, the Season 3 episode Santa Claus Conquers the Martians is a fun film title, but the Season 5 episode Santa Claus is waaaaay weirder (Santa fights the Devil!).
You can't go wrong with Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie because it was created for a wider audience who might not have seen the show. The production values are much higher and the aspect ratio is widescreen, unlike the regular show. And Mike and the 'Bots do come back to riff on their own credits, which is fun.
Some surefire hits, in my opinion:
- The Hellcats (Season 2, Episode 9)
- Pod People (Season 3, Episode 3)
- The Giant Gila Monster (Season 4, Episode 2)
- Eegah (Season 5, Episode 6)
- Santa Claus (Season 5, Episode 21)
- The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Mixed-Up Zombies (Season 8, Episode 12)
- The Horror of Party Beach (Season 8, Episode 17)
- The Pumaman (Season 9, Episode 3)
- Hobgoblins (Season 9, Episode 7)
- The Beast of Hollow Mountain (Season 11, Episode 5)
- Mac and Me (Season 12, Episode 1)
Should I maybe start from the beginning? Season 1?
It's up to you. Season 1 is an improvement from the KTMA episodes, but it's obvious that the show is still getting its footing. Tom Servo is voiced by Josh Weinstein, who only stuck around for the first season, so the Servo you get starting in Season 2, Kevin Murphy, is the voice that continued through seasons 2 through 10. I think Kevin's Servo has more personality than Josh's, so there's that. You can't go wrong with Season 2 onwards. The riff quality is consistent, the voices are set in place for a while, and the movies are truly bad.
Are the KTMA episodes worth watching? They're up on the Gizmoplex.
I'd put a warning label on them that says "For Completionists Only." The issue that I and a lot of fans have with the KTMA seasons is that the riffs were improvised by the cast as they came up with them, rather than written and paced like the later episodes. Some of the gags are good, don't get me wrong, but you really notice the space between jokes. There are some episodes where not everyone was available either, so it's just Joel riffing by himself, maybe with only one of the 'Bots.
The good news is that some of the movies that were riffed on during the KTMA years got a full overhaul when the show was picked up by the Comedy Channel. Star Force: Fugitive Alien II and Gamera both got upgrades in the early cable seasons.
Did things change when MST3K went over to the Sci-Fi channel? I'm noticing a lot of the eighth season episodes are unavailable.
Sci-Fi Channel saved MST3K when Comedy Central canceled them in 1996 by giving them money, a timeslot, and access to their vast movie library. The terms of the deal meant two things: MST3K had to focus on sci-fi and horror movies (no more Westerns like The Gunslinger or Lassie films like The Painted Hills) and there had to be a consistent plot through the host segments, at least the opening and closing ones.
The host segments, which before had included an invention exchange and whatever goofy thing the mad scientists were up to that week, now had a throughline. Mike and the 'Bots had been blasted through time and were now in a Planet of the Apes-style world of the future. Their primary antagonist was Pearl Forrester, the fictional mother of Trace Beaulieu's Dr. Clayton Forrester mad scientist character. As they all traveled through time and space, Pearl picked up The Observer, a white-faced, hooded character played by Bill Corbett, and Professor Bobo, one of the super-intelligent apes. Good dynamics between all three, and they all showed up in the later Netflix seasons.
Sadly, when the deal with Sci-Fi ended, the rights to some of the big films they riffed did too. Films like Terror From the Year 5000, The Space Children, and The Mole People will probably never see the light of day for this reason, although you might be able to find them through fans of the show with bootleg copies.
Who's the best host?
No one can agree on this and I think it all depends on who was the host when you started watching. Old-school fans severely disliked the changeover from Joel to Mike, while new viewers found him endearing. Jonah and Emily have definitely won over people during their time in the spot.
There definitely are differences between them. I find that a lot of Joel's humor comes from seeing someone on the screen who looks like [celebrity] and Joel and the 'Bots exclaiming, "Look! It's [celebrity]!" Mike's jokes seemed to have more set up, and he seems more put-upon. Since the Jonah and Emily seasons were written by Joel, that "Look! It's [celebrity]!" kind of came back, but they also hit jokes at a faster pace than the others, possibly due to the larger writing staffs for the Netflix and Gizmoplex seasons.
How's Patton Oswalt involved?
You've probably seen his stand-up. He's a funny guy. Oswalt's involvement with MST3K goes back to the Comedy Central days. There used to be a phone number you could call to vote on which MST3K episode would be played when the show was in reruns between seasons. As part of the advertising push for this and other Comedy Central offerings, they ran a series of ads with Oswalt and Blaine Capatch playing with plastic dinosaurs and touting the phone line.
Fast forward to Season 11, and now Oswalt is a regular part of the show! He and Felicia Day are playing the children of the original series' mad scientists.
What's the whole thing about MST3K and Thanksgiving?
Since bad movies are called "turkeys," MST3K has always been linked to Thanksgiving. It's kind of the official holiday for watching bad films (and the Detroit Lions). The folks at MST3K have embraced this going back to the early days on cable, when Thanksgiving Thursday became the perfect opportunity to play a string of classic episodes back to back, interspersed with new host segments. Even during the in-between years when no new seasons were being filmed, the marathons continued on various platforms, sometimes with new segments recorded.
Ed Wood is pretty famous for making awful films. Are any of his on MST3K?
Yes! MST3K handled three of his films, Bride of the Monster (Season 4, Episode 23, with Bela Lugosi!), The Violent Years (Season 6, Episode 10; Wood wrote this one but didn't direct), and The Sinister Urge (Season 6, Episode 13).
For his more well-known films, Plan 9 From Outer Space and Glen or Glenda, you'll have to go to MST3K-adjacent riffers. Plan 9 was riffed by Rifftrax, as well as by Mike Nelson solo. Glen or Glenda was riffed by the Mads Are Back. Both are available online.
Aren't his films like…the worst?
They're bad. Yes. Quite bad. But as 14 seasons of MST3K prove, there is the possibility to get even worse. There are three films by Coleman Francis that MST3K did that are just ineptly made movies: Red Zone Cuba, The Beast of Yucca Flats, and The Skydivers. While Red Zone Cuba and The Skydivers are at least enjoyable to watch Mike and the 'Bots make fun of, The Beast of Yucca Flats is so bad even they can't save it. I haven't been able to make it through The Beast of Yucca Flats.
"Manos" The Hands of Fate is renowned for being so incomprehensible that it marked a turning point in the show. Made by a Texas fertilizer salesman as part of a bet, "Manos" is simultaneously surreal and very badly paced. It's slow, then weird, then slow, then weird. It was rated the #1 MST3K episode during the "Bring Back MST3K" poll, but it's a test of patience and not one I'd start with.
Has MST3K ever been performed live?
Yes! There were a few MST3K live shows, with full tours happening during the Netflix years. Host segments were performed live on stage, and the puppeteering and voice acting for the 'Bots was done in front of the audience. The movies they riffed were The Brain, Deathstalker II, Argoman the Fantastic Superman, Circus of Horrors, Eegah, and No Retreat, No Surrender. To date, Eegah is the only film that was riffed both live and in a televised episode. In my opinion, the live experience was ruined by hecklers yelling out their own riffs at the stage.
What's Rifftrax?
If you find that you like MST3K, I really suggest you get into Rifftrax too. It's the same three voices that you heard talking to the screen in seasons 8 through 10, just now they're not silhouettes or robots. Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett have done an incredible job launching the Rifftrax franchise that makes fun of old low-budget movies and new blockbuster movies, something MST3K couldn't afford to do.
For the older films where they can get the rights, the whole video is up on their site for download or can be bought on DVD or Blu-ray. For some of the bigger films, they'll just give you an mp3 file with the gags correctly spaced so you can start the DVD and audio at the same time to have them sync with each other. They even have an app that helps you sync them up as well as their own streaming service. While MST3K did 230 episodes, Rifftrax has done, according to their site, 412 feature-length films, 486 shorts, and 171 blockbusters! Including the Star Wars Holiday Special!
They also do an annual live show that gets beamed to theaters around the United States. If you can't make it to Nashville, where the event is recorded live, you can probably find a theater near you that will be showing it as it happens. Other riffers have been known to join in as well, and the MST3K reunion show reunited all of the previous casts for one magic night (available digitally and on Blu-ray!). And Mike, Kevin, and Bill aren't the only riffers on Rifftrax either. MST3K writer/performers Mary Jo Pehl and Bridget Nelson have their own films and shorts that they do for a different flavor of riffs.
Are there books too? I know, that's a weird question.
Not weird at all, since I'm the one writing the questions and answers and wouldn't ask a question I didn't have an answer to. There are a couple books about MST3K that were published by the creators or in partnership with them. The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide is probably the best place to start, covering the first 7 seasons of the show and written by the cast and crew. It delivers behind the scenes info and photos, commentary on each episode, and lots of jokes. It's out of print, but copies aren't that expensive online.
In 2018 Dark Horse Comics released a six-issue comic version of the show, with contributions from multiple artists and writers. In addition to the host segments, Jonah and the 'Bots are edited into vintage public domain comic books to add jokes and affect the plots. The following year they released a collected edition of all six comics.
There are scholarly analyses of MST3K and the whole riffing phenomenon as well, including In the Peanut Gallery with Mystery Science Theater 3000: Essays on Film, Fandom, Technology and the Culture of Riffing, edited by Robert G. Weiner and Shelley E. Barba; The Worst We Can Find by Dale Sherman; and Matt Foy and Christopher J. Olsen's Mystery Science Theater 3000: A Cultural History, published in 2024. The show's own Frank Coniff wrote Twenty Five Mystery Science Theater 3000 Films That Changed My Life In No Way Whatsoever, an insider's view of the show from the man whose job it was to source the movies that were riffed.
Check out Mystery Science Theater 3000 online and on the official YouTube channel
