Skip to main content

Mystery Science Theater hits up Kickstarter to fund brand new episodes

joel hodgson is crowdfunding mystery science theater reboot
Steve Baker / flickr.com
While Joel Hodgson and Shout! Factory want to reboot cult classic Mystery Science Theater 3000, there’s a catch: they need the help of fans to crowdfund the show.

The series, which ended in 1999, ran for 11 years (and 197 episodes) and was even one of Time magazine’s 100 best TV shows of all-time, but that was then and this is now, leaving the show to source crowdfunder Kickstarter for financial backing. The Kickstarter page notes that $2 million will fund three full-length episodes, and $5.5 million will fund a 12-episode season.

Hodgson, the show’s original host and creator, explained to Entertainment Weekly that he hopes that the crowdfunding effort will reunite fans and contributors. “The crowdfunding is kind of this big gathering, and not only is it gathering the audience but it’s also gathering together the people who want to get involved.”

As for the casting, it sounds like there’s going to be a brand new host, mad scientist, and voices for quirky robots Tom Servo and Crow — but Hodgson does hope that past cast members will get involved. “Basically, I’m trying to blend the old with the new,” said the creator and former host. “Mystery Science Theater has already refreshed itself once with a completely new cast, so I think it deserves to do that again.”

As Variety reported, the news coincides with Shout! Factory’s acquisition of the old series, which adds to the company’s vault of old films and TV series like Freaks & Geeks, Cartoon Network’s Home Movies, and The Weird Al Show. It’s not known exactly how Shout! Factory will distribute the new shows should the Kickstarter campaign be a success, but they won’t be available on the streaming platform Shout! TV. However, at least some of the series’ back catalog will be aired on Shout! TV, according to Shout! Factory representatives.

“’Mystery Science Theater 3000′ is a true cult-classic comedy series that continues to attract fans till this day,” said Shout! Factory’s founders Richard Foos, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos in a statement. “…We’ve been pursuing this deal for many years, and we’re thrilled that it’s finally coming to fruition. We see that there’s still tremendous untapped potential for the ‘MST3K’ brand.”

It looks like the die-hard fans are still out there: over $500,000 has been pledged to the Kickstarter fund as of time of publication, and it’s just day one. We’ll keep you updated.

Updated 11/11/2015: This post has been updated to clarify that the Shout! TV streaming platform will host only a portion of the show’s back catalog, while the new series will not be available on the service.

Chris Leo Palermino
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Chris Leo Palermino is a music, tech, business, and culture journalist based between New York and Boston. He also contributes…
The best animated movies on Netflix right now
A cat points a bat at another cat in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

While Nimona has been the big Netflix original animated film of the summer, it's far from the only addition to the lineup. Netflix is making sure that animation fans are well served in August with the first two Despicable Me movies, Bee Movie, and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2. However, Netflix's biggest recent addition is one of 2022's biggest animated hits: DreamWorks' Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

Netflix's deals with Sony Pictures Animation, DreamWorks Animation, and Universal Pictures have given it a powerhouse library of animated films. And that's before we even get into Netflix's impressive originals like The Sea Beast. To help you keep track of what's new and what you can stream right now, we've updated our list of the best animated movies on Netflix.

Read more
From Barbarella to Howard the Duck: the 7 cheesiest sci-fi movies ever
Howard the Duck in "Howard the Duck."

The science-fiction genre has a vast smorgasbord of cheesy films stretching way back to the early days of cinema. Such pictures are known for their weird stories, unrealistic dialogue, low-budget productions, and exaggerated acting.

While many of these films have been panned by critics and audiences alike, some of them have garnered success for being "so bad, they're good." Whether or not they have been held up by a dedicated fan base, these seven movies stand out as the cream of the cheesy sci-fi crop.
Flash Gordon (1980)

Read more
10 best Batman stories ever, ranked
Batman Year One cover

Bounding from rooftop to rooftop, the Dark Knight never misses his mark. He operates like a well-oiled machine tracking bad guys, beating them to a bloody pulp, and throwing them in the slammer - or Arkham Asylum should they be anyone of Gotham's notable supervillains. As the brainchild of Bob Kane and Bill Finger, an artist and writer duo, Batman has been pounding the pavement of Gotham ever since his debut in Detective Comics in 1939. He's undergone a number of changes since his original conception ultimately becoming the brooding powerhouse we know today.

Most understand the basic tenants of Batman these days. His parents were murdered before his young eyes leading him down this path of personal vindication and pursuit of justice. Batman, in most iterations, never resorts to killing -- the one crime that separates his outlaw vigilante operations from the real criminals. Of course, it wasn't always that way. In Batman's earliest days, he had no qualms about ending the lives of baddies on the streets. Even now, some stories and films like Tim Burton's gothic take on the character depict him looking on with cold and uncaring glares as criminals meet their end. Regardless, Batman is mostly a well-established hero simply seeking justice and there are countless stories of the Caped Crusader. Let's take a look at the best among them.
10. Hush

Read more