Mystery Science Theater 3000 (or MST3K, abbreviated) was a television show that ran from 1989 until 1999. Over the course of it’s run, the show ran on three different stations and saw one full cast rotation.
Most people know it as “that show where the guy and the puppets sit in the corner of the screen and make fun of the movie” or something along those lines. There’s more to the show than that, but for a short answer, that will do.
MST3K didn’t have a plot but was instead based on a premise: A mad scientist kidnaps his janitor and holds him captive by launching him into space and marooning him on an orbiting satellite in order to conduct an experiment.
Why you should care today
The
minds that produced MST3K successfully pioneered the commercialization of an activity now known as “riffing”, an activity people have probably been engaging in since the invention of entertainment. Sometimes, it’s referred to as “heckling”. Riffing differs from heckling in that the “riffer” is interrupting with comments during a film and not at a live performer, thus avoiding any potentially hazardous confrontations. In a movie theater, we call these people rude. At home, on our television, we call them hilarious!
Luckily for all of us, after a brief hiatus, these minds are back to riffing again, in the form of RiffTrax and Cinematic Titanic. Between the two of these projects, nearly every creative force that went into MST3K is back doing the same thing again, but each with different approaches. Visit them both, I think you’ll be highly amused, at the very least.
Random Episodes by Host
Original Cast (Joel) Episode
Episode K07
Dr. Forrester and Dr. Earhardt Episode
Episode 103
