Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American science fiction comedy film review television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on KTMA-TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. It then moved to nationwide broadcast, first on The Comedy Channel/Comedy Central for seven seasons until its cancellation in 1996. Thereafter, it was picked up by The Sci-Fi Channel and aired for three more seasons until another cancellation in August 1999. A 60-episode syndication package titled The Mystery Science Theater Hour was produced in 1993 and broadcast on Comedy Central and syndicated to TV stations in 1995. In 2015, Hodgson led a crowdfunded revival of the series with 14 episodes in its eleventh season, first released on Netflix on April 14, 2017, with another six-episode season following on November 22, 2018. A second successful crowdfunding effort in 2021 produced 13 additional episodes shown on the Gizmoplex, an online platform that Hodgson developed which launched in March 2022. As of 2023, 230 episodes and a feature film have been produced as well as three live tours.
Joel Hodgson is an American writer, comedian and television actor. He is best known for creating Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) and starring in it as the character Joel Robinson. In 2007, MST3K was listed as "one of the top 100 television shows of all time" by Time.
Project Moonbase is a 1953 independently made black-and-white science fiction film, produced by Jack Seaman, directed by Richard Talmadge, and starring Ross Ford, Donna Martell, and Hayden Rorke. It co-stars Larry Johns, Herb Jacobs, Barbara Morrison, and Ernestine Barrier. The film was distributed by Lippert Pictures and is based on a story by Robert A. Heinlein, who shares the screenwriting credit with producer Jack Seaman.
Girls Town is a 1959 American drama film directed by Charles F. Haas and starring Mamie Van Doren, Mel Tormé, and Ray Anthony. Paul Anka also appears in his first acting role. Van Doren stars as a juvenile delinquent who is sent to a girls' school run by nuns, where she finds herself unable to help her sister. The film capitalizes on the 1950s rebellious-teen exploitation films, with catfights, car races, music from Anka and The Platters, and sexy outfits.
Best Brains, Inc. is an entertainment company based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. It is best known for the creation and production of the comedy/sci-fi television program Mystery Science Theater 3000, a.k.a. MST3K (1988–1999). The company ceased producing the program when it was cancelled by the Sci-Fi Channel in 1999 and closed its studio. The company then functioned as the holder of the MST3K brand for negotiating home video releases of the show on Shout! Factory and its availability on streaming services like Hulu until its sale of the MST3K property to Shout! Factory in 2015.
Mitchell is a 1975 American action film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, written by Ian Kennedy Martin, and starring Joe Don Baker as an abrasive police detective. The film was released in the United States on September 10, 1975 by Allied Artists Pictures Corporation.
Red Zone Cuba, also known as Night Train to Mundo Fine, is a 1966 American neo-noir art drama film directed by Coleman Francis, who also wrote and co-produced the film, and played the starring role. It follows the meandering adventures of an escaped convict and two ex-convicts he recruits along the way as they become involved in the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion, and a quest to find a hidden treasure in a tungsten mine.
Village of the Giants is a 1965 American teensploitation comedy science fiction film produced, directed and written by Bert I. Gordon. Based loosely on H. G. Wells's 1904 book The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth, it contains elements of the beach party film genre. The story concerns a gang of rebellious teens who gain access to a chemical substance called "Goo", which causes living things to grow to gigantic proportions. The cast is composed almost entirely of teenaged actors and young adults portraying teenagers. Also making musical guest appearances are The Beau Brummels, Freddy Cannon, and Mike Clifford. Gordon would later direct another adaptation of Wells' story, titled The Food of the Gods.
Daddy-O is a 1959 B-movie starring Dick Contino, Sandra Giles and Bruno VeSota. It was directed by Lou Place and written by David Moessinger. The film is notable for its soundtrack as being the debut film score for John Williams. The film was released by American International Pictures as a double feature with Roadracers. It was later featured as a movie mocked by Mystery Science Theater 3000. Daddy-O was produced by Elmer C. Rhoden Jr. who also produced The Delinquents (1957) and The Cool and the Crazy (1958).
San Francisco International Airport is a television drama that was originally aired in the United States by NBC as a part of its 1970–71 wheel series Four in One.
The Final Sacrifice is a 1990 independent Canadian adventure film produced and directed by Tjardus Greidanus, a freshman at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, and stars Christian Malcolm and Bruce J. Mitchell. It faded into obscurity not long after its release but saw a renewed interest following its exposure on Mystery Science Theater 3000.
The Corpse Vanishes is a 1942 American mystery horror film starring Bela Lugosi, directed by Wallace Fox, and written by Harvey Gates. Lugosi portrays a mad scientist who injects his aging wife with fluids from virginal young brides in order to preserve her beauty. Luana Walters as a journalist and Tristram Coffin as a small-town doctor investigate and solve the disappearances of the brides. The film was produced and distributed by Monogram Pictures, and was reissued in 1949 by Favorite Films Corporation.
Time Walker is a 1982 American science fiction horror film directed by Tom Kennedy.
Warrior of the Lost World is a 1983 Italian-American post-apocalyptic science fiction film written and directed by David Worth and starring Robert Ginty, Persis Khambatta, and Donald Pleasence. It was created and first released in Italy under the title Il Giustiziere della terra perduta in 1983 during the wide popularity of the Mad Max films, and many subsequently created post-apocalyptic films of the 1980s. Later the film was given another Italian title for VHS and television markets, I predatori dell'anno Omega.
The Amazing Transparent Man is a 1960 American science fiction thriller B-movie starring Marguerite Chapman in her final feature film. The plot follows an insane ex–U.S. Army major who uses an escaped criminal to steal materials to improve the invisibility machine his scientist prisoner made. It was one of two sci-fi films shot back-to-back in Dallas, Texas by director Edgar G. Ulmer. The combined filming schedule for both films was only two weeks. The film was later featured in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Santa Claus is a 1959 Mexican fantasy film directed by René Cardona and co-written with Adolfo Torres Portillo. In the film, Santa Claus works in outer space and battles with a demon named Pitch, sent to Earth by Lucifer to ruin Christmas by killing Santa and "making all the children of the Earth do evil".
Teen-Age Strangler is a 1964 American independent crime drama film directed by Ben Parker. It was made in Huntington, West Virginia. It was re-released in black & white in 1990, resulting in local screenings, newspaper write-ups, and cast reunions. It has become a cult film ever since it was featured on an episode of the TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Outlaw of Gor is a 1988 adventure fantasy science fiction film directed by John "Bud" Cardos. A sequel to Gor, it is loosely based on the Gor novel series by John Norman, but has strong plot and qualitative differences from the original 1967 book Outlaw of Gor.
Radar Secret Service is a 1950 action film starring John Howard, produced by Barney A. Sarecky and directed by Sam Newfield. The film was featured on the American television show Mystery Science Theater 3000.
