Mystery Science Theater 3000



Mystery Science Theater 3000 (often abbreviated as MST3K) is a television show which ran from 1988 until 1999. The show first aired locally on Minneapolis television station KTMA before going national in 1989, when it was picked up by the Comedy Channel (succeeded by Comedy Central in 1991). After seven seasons, the show moved to Sci Fi for another three seasons.

Hosted by creator Joel Hodgson (and later by Mike Nelson), the science-fiction flavored series featured the sarcastic host and his two robot sidekicks, Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot, making fun of "cheesy movies" -- mainly B-movie science fiction and horror films, with the occasional barbarian epic, cop drama, or biker flick.

The show is known for its diverse pop-culture references, riffing on everything from philosophers and politicians to cartoons and old commercials. The rapid-fire quips included frequent references to the Muppets and Sesame Street.

RiffTrax
In 2006, Mike Nelson revived the MST3K concept as "RiffTrax", a website which offers downloadable audio commentaries in the MST style. The user listens to the commentary track in sync with a DVD. Nelson has recorded RiffTrax with many of his MST colleagues, including Kevin Murphy (Tom Servo), Bill Corbett (Crow), Mary Jo Pehl (Pearl Forrester), and his wife Bridget Nelson (writer), as well as occasional celebrity guests such as Neil Patrick Harris and "Weird Al" Yankovic.

RiffTrax continues the MST3K tradition of Muppet references.

The Film Crew
In 2007, Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett expanded the RiffTrax concept into "The Film Crew", a line of direct-to-DVD releases. In this series, Mike, Kevin and Bill work for a friendly but lunatic boss, Bob Honcho, who wants to provide a commentary track for every movie ever made. The trio work as Honcho's "film crew", quipping over the movie. The series is, essentially, a direct-to-DVD Mystery Science Theater, but without silhouettes.

Connections

 * After leaving MST3K, Joel Hodgson and his brother Jim worked with the Jim Henson Company to produce a show for broadcast on Noggin. The show was never produced.

In addition, a few cast and crew members for films showcased on Mystery Science Theater 3000 also worked in Muppet/Henson productions.
 * Werner Abrolat played Melnik in The Castle of Fu Manchu, episode #323
 * Francis Ford Coppola wrote the English-language screenplay for the US dub of The Magic Voyage of Sinbad, episode #505
 * Billy Crystal played David in Death Flight, episode #13 of the KTMA run
 * Eddie Deezen played Froggy in Laserblast, episode #706
 * Clint Eastwood played Jennings the lab tech in Revenge of the Creature, episode #801
 * George Gaynes played the mission director in Space Travelers, episode #401
 * Arthur Godfrey appeared as himself in Angels' Revenge, episode #622
 * Joyce Gordon played a data supervisor in Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, episode 3822
 * Lorne Greene narrated the short film Johnny at the Fair, episode #419
 * Ron Howard played Genius in Village of the Giants, episode #523
 * Kathy Ireland played Wanda Saknussemm in Alien from L.A., episode #516
 * James Earl Jones played Albert in City Limits, episode #403
 * Raul Julia played Aram Fingal and Rick Blaine in Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, episode 822
 * Richard Kind played Wamthool in in Quest of the Delta Knights, episode #913
 * Michael Landon played Tony Rivers in I Was a Teenage Werewolf, episode #809
 * Christopher Lee played Fu Manchu in in The Castle of Fu Manchu, episode #323
 * Hal Linden dubbed the lead actor in Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, episode #213
 * Bill McCutcheon played Dropo the Martian in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, episode # 321
 * Little Richard appeared as himself in Catalina Caper, episode #204
 * David Warner played Lord Vultare and Raydoor in Quest of the Delta Knights, episode #913
 * John Williams composed the score for Daddy-O, episode #307