In what will go down as the best example of a crowdfunded media project ever in the entire known universe forever, the team that put together the original Mystery Science Theatre 3000 are about to crash through their goal of raising $2 million to start filming the show again.
For those who left the house in the 1980s and 1990s, MST3K is a show the made fun of cheesy movies. Joel Hodgson and his robot friends would sit in a darkened theatre and yell out funny things. I recently watched The Starfighters and was reminded how absolutely hilarious the whole thing was. For them to bring it back in the Age of Irony is going to be incredible.
You can learn more about the show here but what’s really important is that the team will be able to film three episodes for $2 million and then will add extra episodes as they raise more cash. Hodgson sees this era as a time ripe for “riffing,” a comedy technique that his team pioneered way back in 1988. He writes:
Plus, I think there’s a place for us. Nowadays, riffing is everywhere! Many people claim that MST3K created a shift in the way people watch TV shows, and that now, as a result, the fields of entertainment have been plowed and readied for a riffing renaissance.
I mean, look at the influence it’s had… Everyone riffs on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Hell, there are ten to twelve people who are still, unironically, riffing on MySpace and Friendster.
In a world where riffing has become as common as our national pastime, baseball, it makes sense: like baseball, everyone knows how to play, but sometimes it feels good to just sit back and watch the original movie riffing team take a whack at it. And if we came back, imagine all the riffs we could make about things like Uber or Cards Against Humanity!
Hodgson is looking to raise at least $2 million and he’s about to hit that goal. If they raise $1 billion, he said, “We’re going to adopt a real live teenage boy and ‘Truman Show’ him into believing he is the Pumaman!”
Pledges will get you posters, copies of the box set, and even appearances in the show. For $25,000 you get to be an executive producer and visit the set and talk to Joel. It’s truly a fun thing,
So whether you’re on Team Crawling Eye or Team Crawling Hand rest assured we will all soon be enjoying some fine MST3K sooner than later.