In just about two weeks , Mystery Science Theater 3000 returns to TV , courtesy of Netflix . unremarkably bringing back something so dear by fans after so long is an attempt to meet insufferable prospect , but Jehovah Joel Hodgson and the show ’s raw mold and crew have pulled it off .
The original show start in 1988 and run for a total of 10 seasons over 11 years , with a feature movie in 1996 . We babble to Hodgson about bringing MST3 K back — thanks to a highly successful Kickstarter campaign — as well as the doctrine that keeps it timeless , and what the future holds ( including , hopefully , 100 more episodes ) .
io9 : When you establish the Kickstarter , it did surprisingly . You ’ve managed to get stars like Patton Oswalt and Felicia Day on board . Netflix picked up the fresh season quickly . Are you at all queasy about the show ’s proceeds at this breaker point ?
Hodgson : I do n’t guess I ’m spooky . You know , there ’s the know creation of Mystery Science Theater , meaning the people who are fans and the backers and people who are familiar with the show . That ’s the reality that I know of , and my line was to think about them and seek to make it so the new Mystery Science Theater made common sense to them , and work for them , because I plainly really want it to . That was a big part of it .
And then there ’s the unknown , which is , what will new people remember of MST3 K ? And that ’s just something that I ca n’t control . But I tried to re - jigger the design so it would work for new people , so they could understand it and navigate the show , while also working for the longtime fans , too .
I ’ve heard the test screening of the first sequence have been universally positive
Hodgson : We screened [ the new episode ] for about 1,500 people , in New York and Chicago and LA , and I come to meet a fair amount of those people afterward . I guess I probably got to speak to about 900 of them and asked them very directly what they thought . And there was n’t a unmarried person that did n’t like it , and did n’t apprise the commission we were lead . So I finger very favorable that direction . So that variety of confirm that we landed it .
Getting back to your question , I was much more skittish about that and hoping those people were satisfied . And I kind of used them as a bellwether or barometer . By and big , I think most of the multitude who liked the show will care this .
How long has bringing MST3 K back been on your mind ?
Hodgson : At least the last seven geezerhood , I think . I went back in my notebooks and basically , it was seven year ago when I really started writing down clobber for the Modern MST . I think it was something like that . Maybe a picayune bit further back , but , I think so .
You and Shout Factory partner up to get the right back to the show , which permit this revival . Can you babble about how that come together ?
Hodgson : Oh , indisputable . We ’re 50/50 better half in the novel MST . They helped motivate this just as much as I did , too . They desire it to come about , too , and it made a lot of sensory faculty because they had done so well with the brand distributing [ the MST3 K ] DVDs . They were demonstrating over time that people were still interested in it—“Hey , this thing is n’t really going away . hoi polloi are still concerned in it and talking about it . So it ’s potential we could have a dead reckoning at buying it and trying to bestow it back . ”
So , that had a lot to do with it . And also , the good thing is it created a family relationship with these hoi polloi purchase DVDs over the years . And people really wish them . They did a good occupation .
How concrete were your design for the show ? Did you ever have any thought about hosting it yourself ?
Hodgson : Well … I guess in my mind , I just always acquire that we would put in new people . I reckon I grew up in an age where I get word a batch of old comic and there ’s just kind of a freshness appointment on comedian , and when they get to a sure eld , and they do n’t understand it , they can become irrelevant ? So I was always self - witting about that . I also wanted to really do by it like a design experiment : “ How do I make Mystery Science Theater a short bit easier to understand for people who are n’t conversant with it ? ” I attempt to come at it from that direction .
What did you retrieve of the fresh show ?
I only stick to see the first one . I ’m a huge fan of the old show , and I have it off the new show was work to be unlike in some manner . But even with the deviation , it felt like Mystery Science Theater . It finger right to me .
Hodgson : Oh , good . That makes me really happy . I really appreciate it .
It ’s always so tough to bring something back like this , because so many fans desire it back exactly as it was . But if you do that , it never works . How bad was that to plan , or prepare for ?
Hodgson : I really like the way you phrased it , because , you ca n’t moderate it . And it ’s just not my style to control , to over - direct . I just seek to give hoi polloi a sure amount of self-sufficiency . Because I think that ’s where they ’re happiest . They get more invest .
Here ’s how I did it : I just kind of said , I guess Mystery Science Theater works , because it ’s a text file . It ’s a document of a duo of day in this chemical group of people ’s life story who are make water the show . And if we do by it as a document , we ’ll be okay , because it ’s a picture of us and what we ’re doing . You know ? It ’s almost like taking a family photo . They ’re never staring , right ? But that ’s what I screw about them , right ? And that ’s how I dealt with it .
I [ tell the crew ] , “ depend , I do n’t want you to think about how this is belong to feel for people check it . I want you to think about us document ourselves , and just being ready . ” And as you know , there are no digital effects . There ’s very little processing . There ’s very little editing . And what you see is this pretty pure kind of thing . It ’s almost like Saturday Night Live , in a way . The way Saturday Night Live has a deathrate to it , because it ’s a papers . And I think MST is standardized in the way of life we record it and edit it and stuff . It almost feels like a live sketch .
So you ’re disturbed about just empty the episodes , and not the show ’s legacy .
Hodgson : Yeah . You ca n’t control that . The with child job is movie riffing , and that ’s something you may control . You just ca n’t control how hoi polloi feel about it . So that ’s really their responsibility . And if the hearing chooses to play you , they grab it and bear it . You know what I have in mind ? But I do n’t really believe if it in terms beyond the experience of riffing a moving picture and trying to be funny in the context of the show . It ’s just … I ’m really grateful that people like it . But , it ’s not because I design it in there . You know what I intend ? It ’s just a happy outcome .
I never really thought about how carefree Mystery Science Theater 3000 was , but the new series really catch that . It felt burdenless by all the history and prospect and bequest .
Hodgson : The people who are mouth about the legacy are the people who do n’t have to make it . Believe me . The mass doing press , or the executives who are hyping it … it ’s not the the great unwashed who have to make it , because if worry about it like it ’s a legacy , they ’re not going to get anything done . You know ?
get back to the original idea for the new series , were the new Mads — Kinga Forrester and TV ’s Son of TV ’s Frank — always part of the plan ? Or did they come about after you signed Felicia Day and Patton Oswalt ?
Hodgson : I always feel like the experiment was going to be Kinga Forrester , who ’s Dr. Clayton Forrester ’s girl and Pearl Forrester ’s granddaughter . But when we were take off , right before the Kickstarter , I was planning on [ original scoundrel ] Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff being part of it . We were plan on doing the Kickstarter video and we were really design their travel and I had compose them into the script for the Kickstarter and so , it was choke to be Forrester and Frank and Kinga — and also Mary Jo Pehl , who play Pearl . They were more like an ensemble and Kinga was more of a loath tops scoundrel - in - training .
And just before we shoot the video , for different reasons , they could n’t be part of the Kickstarter . Trace , Frank , Maru Jo , etc . And so , I had to kind of change my posture because I realized , “ Oh , all - new people we ’re just going to have to go along with … ” and be given more powerfully on Kinga , Jonah Ray , and the ‘ Bots . So I was really faced with that . I bang I ’d have to get a 2d banana tree for Kinga , and I was already wanting to apply Patton . He just dropped in and it was fantastic . As you’re able to see , they ’re like , improbable together . It ’s really crazy how unspoilt he and Felicia are .
They really are .
Hodgson : They ’re unbelievable , yeah .
Does make Shout Factory and Netflix on board affect the picture you ’ve choose for the new season ?
Hodgson : Oh … I pretty much curate what movies we ’re going to get . I sour with Shout , obviously , because they have so much experience clearing the rights for these film . I set out with a wish inclination and then we proceeded from there . That was another big thing about the Kickstarter — it gave us a budget to get nicer - looking pic . The audio is n’t peevish and the picture has n’t beat a draw of scratch . stuff and nonsense like that . We ’re just endeavor to get good photographic print than we ’ve ever had , because people ’s TVs are so much better .
Of of course the fresh episode are in widescreen , but I admit it was kind of surreal to see the silhouettes like that . Was that a difficulty or a necessity or what ?
Hodgson : In fact , the silhouette right now are very similar to the size of the silhouette I had when we did the original series at KTMA . I have the silhouette much smaller , and the stern much modest … and I wish it that way of life , because you may see more of the CRT screen . It looks like a picture theater .
We had to keep making the silhouette bigger [ for the one-time serial ] , which I did n’t really like . Because to me , it withdraw up too much of the covert . And you do n’t need it . Because they ’re just trivial silhouettes that are kind of turning their head and pointing . So they do n’t have to be that big
give that the raw series is on Netflix , and has no commercials or meter constraint , I did n’t expect that it would still stick to being 90 minutes long , with three host segments in the middle , and even bumpers for commercial-grade breaks . Why do that ?
Hodgson : I love those little leftover that are in TV show , like , they ’re going to a commercial-grade break . If you watch The Walking Dead … there are moments where you know it ’s supposed to go to a commercial . you could feel it . And it does n’t . But it ’s a niggling reminder that , “ Oh , they were going to go to commercial there . ” I really screw that . And I think it ’s in force for the witness . It ’s a small bit of a pallet cleanser .
And it was also kind of a remnant from the original show that I was trying to send a minuscule love tap to multitude who were longtime sports fan and watch over the appearance on VHS . And in the narrative of the show , Kinga ’s kind of maniac and wants to blow up the brand , and so she ’s using that to kind of reinforce that you ’re watching this satiny idiot box show , and they have a planetary house band … they ’re encourage it back to you as you ’re watching it . You know ?
So what does the future hold ? MST3 K seems so modular that , if for some cause , Felicia or Patton or Jonah had to drop off out , someone else could come up in . and the show could continue forever .
Hodgson : Yeah , I always seize that it would be that way , even when I was performing it . This is uncanny , but I was always really proud of the conception . It ’s not like I got the concept from some place , I created it , and I was like , “ This is original , I ’ve never seen this before … ” and I was really beguiled and happy when it work , but I think it can be refilled . It ’s stand for to be refreshed . It ’s okay . It ’s designed like that .
That ’s my take on it . I conceive my trade with Jonah was “ have ’s seek to do 100 episodes if we can , ” and then after that we have to get a new soul in there . So I think even he knows that . Because he ’ll have the good fortune to make all those shows after that that somebody … downstream will do it .
Of all the Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Cinematic Titanic film you ’ve riffle , I was curious — which moving picture but which movie did you truly enjoy the most ? Just by itself
Hodgson : You know , it ’s funny , but [ I fall down in love ] with every movie . You have to pass so much time with them — particularly in the new season , because we had to take a lot more time with each movie , just because we were figuring out technically how to do all the writing again and then figuring everything out .
Anyway , in every movie we do , there are import where you ca n’t consider how expectant it is . You ca n’t believe either how beautiful it is or how good a performance is , there are just these great moments that you ca n’t get over . It pass off with just about every movie — especially with all these Modern episode — where there are these moments that are just beautiful . That every time you revisit them , you just kind of go , “ Wow , that ’s perfect . ”
MST3 K arrives on Netflix April 14 .
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