Fans of crappy movies overdubbed with witty narration and incisive wisecracks should be happy about the return of Mystery Science Theater 3000 after a 16-year layoff.
The show and its unique concept are coming back with 14 new episodes next year thanks to a record-breakingKickstarter campaign for video projects that raised nearly $5.8 million. MST3K, as the show is known to its fans, topped the $5.7 million in crowdfunding raised in 2013 to help finance a movie based on the defunct television show Veronica Mars.
MST3K debuted on a local Minneapolis station in 1988 before moving to Viacom’s (VIA) Comedy Central the following year for a 7-year run. After Comedy Central dropped the show, a write-in campaign from its fanbase helped revive MST3K for another three seasons. The show aired on NBCUniversal’s (CMCSA) Sci-Fi Channel until yet another cancellation at the end of 1999.
Show creator Joel Hodgson told fans recently that the new run of MST3K will include a holiday special as well as a number of celebrity cameos. Stars such as comedian Jerry Seinfeld and Star Wars actor Mark Hamill have said they would appear on the series at some point. Hodgson, who also starred in the series’ early run, said the new episodes will also feature a new cast.
Comedian Jonah Ray will host the show which follows the original’s them: A janitor is trapped on a spaceship with a collection of sarcastic robots, while a pair of evil scientists forces the group to watch hysterically bad, old movies. It is not yet known where the new MST3K episodes will air once production is finished, but the success of the Kickstarter campaign suggests there will be plenty of fans eagerly watching when the show does reappear.