The ‘90s cult legend “Mystery Science Theater 3000” revolutionized the concept of watching bad movies. The ever-changing crew of the Satellite of Love spent ten years lampooning the worst B-rated movies in history with rapid-fire riffing and quick-witted observations regarding the ever-present failures of those terrible films.
The legend was so loved by fans, that legions of them pledged over $6 million on Kickstarter to resurrect the series at request of original creator Joel Hodgson. This lead to Netflix’s newest revival, “Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return,” featuring new faces and upgraded robots, with the same wit and humor that made the original work, work.
This time around, Jonah Heston (Jonah Ray), an ordinary employee of Gizmonic Institute, is abducted by Kinga Forrester (Felicia Day) and TV’s Son of TV’s Frank (Patton Oswalt), the descendants of the original authors of the MST3K experiment who want to revive the program.
Jonah must team up with Crow T. Robot (Hampton Yount) and Tom Servo (Baron Vaughn) to riff on terrible films such as “Reptillicus,” “Cry Wilderness” and “The Land That Time Forgot.” All with such witty observations such as, “Watching this movie is like cinematic puberty — nothing makes sense and it never goes the way you’d expect.”
Much like the mid-‘90s transition between Hodgson and Michael J. Nelson, this new series takes some getting used to for longtime fans. Jonah Ray as the new host of the show may take some time for fans to get used to. The good news is that he is still just as funny and likable as his predecessors and manages to hold the show together, especially with his unique prop comedy.
The show’s signature hyper comedy remains intact. There are new additions, though, like modern jabs at Twitter, “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Breaking Bad” and amended Eminem lyrics. There are also new robot voices, who add their own flavor to the classic characters. But impressively, the sci-fi effects remain practical and puppeteer driven.
“Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return” is what every revival should be — an updated version of a classic concept. While its new stars may take some adjusting from fans, once they do, they’ll be pleased with how this return captures the original spirit.
Bradley Burgess can be reached at [email protected]