'Mystery Science Theater 3000' Announces Long-Awaited Film For Third Season 14 Experiment
Plans 2 through 8 should continue to be to to help fund season 14
There is now less than a week until Mystery Science Theater 3000’s season 14 campaign hits its final leg with the Mega Turkey Day Marathon Telethon. Last night, series creator Joel Hodgson joined producer Matt McGinnis live on stream prior to the watchalong of the season 13 Demon Squad episode to talk about the campaign, and share the third film that subjects Jonah, Emily, or even Joel will be exposed to should season 14 be made, after Battle Beyond the Stars and Deathsport.
In what he calls a long time coming, the third episode of the potential 14th season will be the infamous Plan 9 From Outer Space. Considered “the movie that started it all”; the movie that won the Golden Turkey Award for “Worst Movie of All Time”, the type of award organization that stoked the flames for Mystery Science Theater 3000 to come to be, as he boasted his admiration for them during the announcement. In the update, Joel goes on to describe how the film was deified in the Tim Burton film Ed Wood, a favorite of both his and McGinnis. Tor Johnson and his infamous “Time for go to bed”, Vampira, and a hint of Bela Lugosi are specifically highlighted. There’s probably a substantial portion of MSTies who either Mandela Effected that they’d already riffed it, and/or have been waiting since the original run or since the show’s friends at Rifftrax took their whack at it toward the end of the 2000s, in what would be considered these days to be “the early years”.
Asked by McGinnis why it took so long to tackle, Hodgson explained it was “too close” to the peak of its infamy. He also credits patience, apparently waiting for the copyright holder, Wade Williams, to die, loosening the gates is what did the trick to get it cleared. But hey he’s grateful and it’s all good!
Both his appearance and the update were followed by a plug for this Tuesday’s final watchalong before the telethon, for the The Mask episode, which will not only once again feature some of the writers, but for the first time, cast members will be on stream, something that wasn’t possible for the first half of the campaign due to SAG-AFTRA striking, which was completely honored. Or at least, current cast members. Tim Ryder, who was Bonehead #1 in the Skeleton Crew of Kinga’s henchmen and in-house band in the Netflix seasons, partook in the Demon Squad episode watchalong with Tammy Golden and Howie Smith. That’s because during season 13, Ryder was a writer and director for the Santo in the Treasure of Dracula, Munchie, and The Million Eyes of Sumuru episodes. Hodgson will be announcing more titles at Tuesday’s stream, and Sandler’s Handlings will have you covered. Keep circulating the links.
