MST3K ’26: Group Photo

The Mystery Science Theater 3000 original run on TV ran from 1988 to 1999 with a total of ten seasons. There’s been three revival seasons since then, but now, 27 years later, the original crew from 1999 is doing more episodes for Mystery Science Theater 3000: The RiffTrax Experiments thanks to crowd-funding. Yay! 

Let’s see what’s on the Holiday Horror Shelf!

    I found the 1996’s Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie DVD at Goodwill last weekend. This one’s an anamorphic upgrade from my old DVD, and it’s what got me thinking about the old crew from the Satellite of Love again. 

I think the back of the LaserDisc is more interesting than the front, so I flipped it around for this pic. The first DVD of Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie went out of print pretty quickly, and it was really expensive and hard to find for a while. The LD’s widescreen presentation was upgrade from the VHS tapes’ full frame presentation. 

The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide also came out in 1996. I had a friend who had a copy of this book, but his was autographed by the main crew. I think he pointed that out to me every time I visited him. I nodded my head, told him it was cool for 5th time, and was secretly green with jealous rage (Hot Rod).

I knew I had an old folder of MST3K stuff, but I was thinking it was just a beat up school folder.

     I had to smile when I found this wedged between some car magazines in a box on a shelf. Luckily, the magazines kept the folder in good shape. I doubt I have opened this up since the 90’s. Let’s look inside without any commentary. 

I bought the stuff in the folder and this pin from the catalog portion of the Satellite News newsletter. I never wore the pin, even I wasn’t that nerdy, but thought the pin was cool. Years later I bought the light switch cover from a seller on Etsy. It was a decoupage project that didn’t look very good when it arrived. Daphne upgraded it with some clear varnish. 

Speaking of art projects, here’s how to make Tom Servo’s puppet head: 1) Go back in time to go to the mall to buy a candy dispenser from the Mr. Bulky candy store (remember them?) 2) Tape off and spray paint the candy chute silver.  3)Paint the floor of the candy chute black with a small paint brush.  4) Proudly display Tom in your classroom for the next 25 years even if none of the modern students have a clue who he is. At least that’s what I did.

My favorite episode of MST3K is Mitchel. It was the first episode I had seen (I hadn’t even heard of MST3K before), and I watched it at a friend’s house with three other like-minded teachers. We each had a couple of beers and laughed out loud the entire time. I can’t think of a better way to be introduced to the show. 

    I'm glad to see the MST3K gang is back in town.