In the not-too-distant-future, Mystery Science Theater 3000 will air its 14th season – with a little help. The immortal movie-riffing comedy show is crowdfunding a new season. After successfully crowdfunding its thirteenth season in 2021, Mystery Science Theater 3000 is back to subject its hosts – and its viewers – to another batch of hilariously terrible movies.
The show is offering a number of fundraising tiers, with a maximum goal of $7.4 million USD, which will fund twelve episodes, twelve shorts, and 36 “surgically-enhanced” remastered classic episodes of the show. Fans can back the project at a dizzying array of levels, receiving everything from a subscription to the Gizmoplex platform the new season will stream on, to MST3K merch, to a puppeteering class from host Joel Hodgson, to even an executive producer credit; the latter could be yours for a mere $25,000 USD, while a one-month Gizmoplex subscription will run you a mere $15 USD. You can choose your contribution, or just take a look, at their website; the fundraising campaign ends on November 24.
What is ‘Mystery Science Theater 3000’?
Mystery Science Theater 3000 began as a late-night show on Minneapolis TV station KTMA in 1988. The conceit of the show was that a hapless human was abducted to the Satellite of Love by mad scientists, where he would be subjected to awful movies as part of a nebulously evil experiment. In order to maintain his sanity, he built robot friends to wisecrack over the movies with him. The show was a cult hit, and made its way to Comedy Central; when it was canceled there, it moved on to The Sci-Fi Channel, where it was canceled for the seemingly-final time in 1999. Decades later, it was revived for two seasons on Netflix, with the additions of Felicia Day and Patton Oswalt as the show’s latest mad scientists. Canceled again, it turned to its legions of devoted fans, and funded a thirteenth season available through its proprietary Gizmoplex platform, riffing movies like the Jeffrey Combs-starring Doctor Strange ripoff Doctor Mordrid , the luchador horror Santo in the Treasure of Dracula, and the kaiju classic Gamera vs. Jiger.
You have until November 24 to board the Satellite of Love and fund MST3K‘s 14th season. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates, and watch the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Season 14 announcement video below.
