Mystery Science Theater 3000fans will be welcomed back to the Satellite of Love this weekend for a brand new streaming special. Creator Joel Hodgson and members of the cast will be uniting for a live riff-along episode that will stream across a wide variety of online platforms this weekend. The special will see Hodgson and his counterparts riffing along to a classic episode from early on in the show’s run.
Joel, Crow T. Robot and Tom Servowill be riffing new jokes on the classic episodeMoon Zero Two. The 1969 sci-fi movie was originally part of the first season ofMystery Science Theater 3000, but the cast will be adding new bits in, showcasing their decades of experience since the episode first aired. The special will also feature a new short titledCircus Day. Joel Hodgson had this to say about it.
“We tend to ignore the first season, because we got so much better the next season, we had a bunch of shows under our belts, so we just improved so much.”
The cast for the riff-along will also include Emily Marsh as Emily Crenshaw, Conor McGiffin as Tom Servo and Nate Begleas Crow T. Robot. Yvonne Freese is also on board as Mega-Synthia and GPC. This is the touring cast that has been participating in more recentMST3Klive shows, as opposed to the cast from the revival series, which aired two seasons onNetflix. That version was hosted by Jonah Ray, with Hampton Yount as Crow and Baron Vaughn as Tom. Unfortunately, Netflix opted to cancel the revival after just two seasons.
Several shows and creators have tried to make the best of the situation at hand by releasingspecials produced during the quarantine. While that can, in some cases, feel limiting,MST3Kis perhaps one of the shows best-suited to take on this task. The show mostly centers on a man and two robots joking about a bad movie as they watch it. Emily Marsh explained that producing the new episode while maintaining social distancing made parts of the show feel real.
“This was the simulation we were trying to pretend was real when we were on the road. I do feel like I’m on a spaceship apart from everyone.”
Mystery Science Theater 3000originated as a public access TV show in Minnesota that began airing in 1988. Eventually, it made the jump to Comedy Central in 1991, where it enjoyed a long life before shifting over to the Sci-Fi Channel. To date, more than 200 episodes have been produced across 12 seasons. The special will air on several online platforms, including the officialMST3KYouTube, Facebook and Twitch pages. Pluto TV, Stirr, Xumo, Redbox and Vizio will also stream the episode. The
