Skip to content
Answering Your Questions About Reactor: Right here.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter. Everything in one handy email.
When one looks in the box, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the cat.

Reactor

Blog news

The New MST3K Kickstarter Reached Its $2 Million Goal In Only 36 Hours

By

Published on April 9, 2021

Credit: Shout!Factory
Mystery Science Theater 3000 The Return
Credit: Shout!Factory

MST3K is BACK, baby! And this time it’s creating its own streaming platform! Once again, we have Kickstarter to thank for bringing us more movie riffing. On Wednesday April 7, Mystery Science Theater 3000 creator Joel Hodgson launched a new Kickstarter campaign to bring the show back again on a custom streaming platform if they could reach $2,000,000 raised in 30 days.

Only 36 hours later, the goal had been met.

Which means that we’ll be getting at least 3 new episodes with the current cast in 2022! Also, we’ll be getting a Gizmoplex!

Wait, what?

(wavy flashback hand motions)

Six years ago, when Hodgson launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund an MST3K reboot, it seemed like a barely-possible dream. But then they raised $6 million dollars, and the groundswell of fan love convinced Netflix to pick the show up. We got two new seasons with a brand-new host, Jonah Heston, played by Jonah Ray, two new voices for Tom Servo and Crow, Baron Vaughn and Hampton Yount, respectively, and two new Mads in the form of Felicia Day’s Kinga Forrester and Patton Oswalt’s Max.

The new iteration was…great, actually? They found some fantastic films to riff (my personal favorite, if I had to choose, being AVALANCHE!) and they created this all-time series highlight:

 

The second season was promoted as “The Gauntlet”, with Netflix challenging people to marathon the entire series over a weekend—a bit much, but we finally got to see an MST3K take on Mac & Me. (Pretty nice!) MST3K went on the road with a series of (excellent) live tours. But then in 2019 a new generation of MSTies got to share in the ultimate rite of passage when the show was cancelled. AGAIN.

Which brings us to now, and what a Gizmoplex is. Basically, Hodgson is planning to bring the show back (three episodes have been funded as of this writing; they’ll make more if more dough rolls in) with the entire Netflix-era cast on board. But rather than shopping the show around again, Hodgson is planning to create a new streaming platform to deliver movie riffing directly to fans. It would essentially be a virtual theater, hosting live monthly screenings of episodes, offering passes for people to watch older episodes, and opportunities for fans to interact and host watch parties. They’re also hoping to expand into 3D and VR over time, and Hodgson mentions something about building a theater on the moon in the description?

You can check out an interview with Hodgson over at the AV Club for more info, and, um, see you on the moon eventually? Or at least in virtual space for a new era of MST3K!

In the meantime, classic seasons of MST3K are currently streaming 24/7 over on the show’s Twitch Channel.


Buy the Book

Defekt

Defekt

About the Author

About Author Mobile

Leah Schnelbach

Author

Intellectual Junk Drawer from Pittsburgh.
Learn More About Leah