The Comic Galaxy of Mystery Science Theater 3000

One of the most original shows in the history of television, Mystery Science Theater 3000 is a beloved cult hit built on the back of another cult phenomenon: the bad movie. The show’s premise involved a man and some robots watching cheesy movies and cracking jokes. Over its 197 episodes, MST3K developed a passionate fan base that took it from a local UHF show in Hopkins, Minnesota, to a major motion picture. This is the story of MST3K from the beginning to the end. Twelve of the episodes are covered, giving an in-depth look at the show, its ethos and its comedic style. The films screened in these episodes are discussed critically, as are the episodes themselves.

Chris Morgan is a pop culture and comedy writer based in the Detroit area. His written works include pieces for websites, books of both fiction and nonfiction, television, video games, and sketch shows for the stage.

Chris Morgan
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 180
Bibliographic Info: bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2015
pISBN: 978-0-7864-9678-5
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1883-8
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments  vi
1. Next Sunday A.D.—An Introduction  1
2. Gamera, or “The ocean: Birthplace of all life”  10
3. The Crawling Eye, or “I spy with my little eye”  22
4. Catalina Caper, or “I just met a girl named Creepy Girl”  32
5. Pod People, or “It stinks!”  43
6. Manos: The Hands of Fate, or “In summary, Manos, the … hands of fate”  52
7. Mitchell, or “Say, Mike, what size jumpsuit do you wear?”  63
8. Kitten with a Whip, or “Russ Meyer’s Goldilocks”  73
9. Laserblast, or “There’s a point where it stops being a movie”  84
10. Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, or “There weren’t any puppets in this movie”  95
11. Space Mutiny, or “We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese”  105
12. Hobgoblins, or “Can we have a law that in the future, films have to be made by filmmakers?”  117
13. Soultaker, or “You’re dead, Nancy Kerrigan”  127
14. Danger: Diabolik, or “Look, Nelson, move on. I am.”  137
15. An Incongruously Long Discussion of Short Films  148
16. What Do You Think, Sirs?—A Conclusion  160
Bibliography  167
Index  169

• “Recommended”—Midwest Book Review
• “A refreshingly accessible tour of the cult series’ 11-season run that works as both a history overview and greatest-hits tour…strongly recommended”—Bookgasm
• “Recommended…. It’s hard for me to express how much I enjoyed reading this book…this one’s got my thumbs-up”—Satellite News