After Mystery Science Theater 3000 ended its television run, stars Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett didn’t stop riffing on bad movies. Instead, they took their talents to the internet with RiffTrax, where they could riff new movies, classics, and older shorts lost to time.
MST3K eventually made its return on Netflix, then subsequent return to the Gizmoplex, but focused primarily on new hosts with the occasional cameo (including an episode featuring original MST3K host Joel Robinson). RiffTrax remained its own separate project, giving fans of the classic comedy show more ways to enjoy skilled comedians making jokes during movies.
Now, however, the two are reuniting with the launch of RiffTrax’s latest Kickstarter campaign: Mystery Science Theater 3000: The RiffTrax Experiments.
MST3K: The RiffTrax Experiments
The new Kickstarter, made in partnership with Shout! Studios, returns Mike, Bill, and Kevin to their roles from MST3K, including Bill Corbett as Crow T. Robot and Kevin Murphy as Tom Servo. Other classic characters from Mike’s run as host are also set to return (especially since many of the actors took on multiple roles during the show).
The goal is to create four new Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes, featuring the classic sets, props, and puppets. The movies they’ll be riffing have yet to be announced, but the goal is to release all four episodes by the end of the year.
Backer rewards include a Blu-Ray set of all four episodes, digital copies of the episodes, enamel pins, episode credits, and more.
This Kickstarter campaign takes the place of the usual RiffTrax: Live events, which sees the hosts riff on movies in front of a live audience. However, there are still plans to have Fathom Events premiere the first episode in theaters.
Keep Circulating the Tapes
Over its history, MST3K has had many hosts and at least a few revivals. Each host and accompanying ‘bots brought their own stylings and comedy to the series, which added to the grand tapestry that is riffing (and resulted in at least a few online arguments over which host is the best).
Bringing Mike and his crew back for four new episodes picks up the baton from the last revival, and while the MST3K season 14 campaign sadly did not reach its goal, sparks new hope for more Mystery Science Theater down the line.
This latest revival Kickstarter has already reached and exceeded its initial funding goal. Fans who want to see more RiffTrax and Mystery Science Theater 3000 can back the campaign on Kickstarter here.
