Mystery Science Theater:
A Short History of the Absurd
by Chad D. Jones
(Editor’s Note: In a departure from our typical content, and the occasion of the USA Film Festival to welcome the originator and five other former members of the “MST” cast to this years fest, we felt it only right to hand this story over to one of our more youthful contributors, Chad D. Jones, in order to provide the hard-core perspective of of the fans that make Mystery Science Theater as relevant today as it ever was.)
In the not-too-distant past,
Last Sunday A.D.,
There was a guy named Joel,
With a show on cable TV.
That show, Mystery Science Theater 3000, would become an underground hit with a devoted fan base of “MSTies.” Lasting seven seasons on Comedy Central (and later being resurrected for a further three on the Sci-Fi Channel) and producing 198 episodes, the show garnered critical praise, and was nominated for two Emmys, three Saturn Awards, 5 CableACE Awards, and won a Peabody award in 1993. Fans to this day trade tapes of episodes they don’t have, and the DVD revolution has led to several sets of episodes being released to strong sales. It also brought new life and popularity to the watching of bad movies…and more importantly, making fun of them. It appears to be an addictive thing; even after the show ended, eight of the people who worked on the show started new ventures in a similar vein, carrying on its legacy.
Pretty good for a show that started out as a time-filler on a local public-access channel in Minnesota.
The brainchild of Joel Hodgson, Kevin Murphy and Jim Mallon, it started out on KTMA-23 in 1988. The premise was simple but original–a couple of mad scientists, Dr. Forrester (played by Trace Beaulieu) and Dr. Earhardt (J. Elvis Weinstein), working from their lab in Deep 13, had trapped a man named Joel Robinson (Hodgson) on the Satellite of Love, and were now forcing him to watch the worst movies ever made.* Their reasons were never crystal clear; presumably their madness was reason enough.
In order to alleviate his loneliness, the very handy Joel built three robots, collectively known as “the ‘bots,” which he named Crow T. Robot (brought to life by Beaulieu), Tom Servo and Gypsy (both Weinstein). Gypsy helped keep the satellite running, and the other two kept Joel company during the watching of the movies. This led to the iconic image of the silhouettes of the three, sitting in the lower right corner of the screen as the movie played.
In order to try and keep their sanity during these movies, the three would crack wise throughout, tossing out comments and jokes to try and alleviate the pain the movies often brought to those watching (including the audience.) During the breaks in the movie, we would see them go about their lives in vignettes that often featured the small but talented pool of writers, staff, and other employees working for the show in various (usually one-time) roles.
The show ran for 21 episodes on KTMA-23 from 1988 to 1989. It garnered many fans, but its success was not enough to keep the station afloat, and it was cancelled. However, they sent a reel to The Comedy Channel (later to become Comedy Central). They shot their first official season, and slowly but surely gathered a rabid group of fans.