'Mystery Science Theater 3000' Launches Season 14 Crowdfunding Campaign

It’s time for round 3 after two of the most successful Kickstarters of all time

It’s that time again! Cult classic movie-riffing puppet show Mystery Science Theater 3000 has launched its third crowdfunding campaign to produce another season, with the appropriately titled “Let’s Make MST3K Season 14!”.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 is about test subjects Joel, Mike, Jonah, and Emily, and three of four as of late, trapped aboard a satellite in space by mad scientists who force them to watch bad movies as part of experimentation. After a prototype season on Minneapolis’s KTMA (now the Twin Cities CW WUCW) in 1988, the show went national on Comedy Central, known as The Comedy Channel for the show’s first two of seven seasons, before being picked up by the Sci-Fi Channel for its final three, ending in 1999, becoming one of the most beloved cult TV shows of all time.

In the 2010s, as the show began to attain a stable official home media life with Shout! Factory, now Shout! Studios, original creator and star of its first 4+ seasons Joel Hodgson became a force behind the show again. In late 2015, he launched the first effort to revive the series with the #BringBackMST3K Kickstarter which broke records, surpassing Veronica Mars as the highest Film & TV project with $6.3m raised. 14 episodes were produced from that and premiered on Netflix in April 2017. They renewed the show for a 6-episode 12th season, subtitled The Gauntlet, which premiered in time for the show’s 30th anniversary at Thanksgiving, November 2018.

After Netflix canceled them, they regrouped in 2021 by launching the #MakeMoreMST3K Kickstarter, which raised over $6.5M for a thirteenth season  and build an independent direct-to-fans streaming service, The Gizmoplex, described as first-of-its-kind so they didn’t have to rely on networks or streamers. Thirteen episodes would air from May to December 2022. At the in-person premiere event for the season finale “The Christmas Dragon”, Hodgson confirmed a fourteenth season, and that journey starts today.

The launch of the campaign reveals that the crowdfunding has also gone independent. The campaign is being held on a part of the show’s website called Showmaker, which does have some shortcomings in its UI but definitely tried to mimic Kickstarter. The plans are laid out: The minimum goal is 6 episodes, which was essentially the first stretch goal in the previous two campaigns, where the campaign’s minimum goal was 3 episodes (and the creation of the Gizmoplex in the second). However, 6 new shorts will also be unlocked at this first tier, whereas all 12 were unlocked at once at the $5.5 million third stretch goal in the 2021 campaign. But also included are 18 “surgically enhanced” episodes. They’re classic episodes remastered, or as they put it, “'uprezzing'… classic episodes to make their visuals a little more in line with what modern screens can do”. Previous efforts, like for Pumaman, were screened at the Gizmoplex during tribute screenings. This first tier, and a successful campaign, clinches at $4.8 million. At $6.1 million, so about that unlocks 3 additional episodes, 3 additional shorts, and 9 more remastered classics, for 9, 9 and 27. The final stretch goal is at $7.4 million: 12 episodes, 12 shorts, and 36 remasters.

In a breakdown of how the funds will be used, 65% goes to the new episodes’ equipment, writers, cast, costumes, props, editing, music, other crew and licensing the movie rights, among other things. 29% goes to designing and producing the rewards, and creating dedicated customer support and backer update staff. It’s also for developing Showmaker. 5% go to campaign fees to Crowdfundr and credit cards, while 1% goes to Gizmoplex maintenance, art costs and consulting fees. It’s about wanting to be able to pay everyone more everywhere in the production, especially with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

As for rewards and perks, shipping physical rewards was kind of a mess, so they’re making fewer and the ones they are making are simpler, more straightforward to manufacture and ship. And they’ve teamed with a new company. The physical rewards go from stickers and magnets to beanies, bandanas, enamel pins, a T-shirt, and the season's release on Blu-ray or DVD. There are four tiers of digital rewards, while special thanks in the credits gets expanded with $150 for one episode maintained (because last season everyone was split across the 13 episodes) while it's $600 to get thanks in every episode. In-person rewards include the return of the set visit for $3000, classes on inventions, riffing, and puppeteering at $1000 each, a riff workshop and invention exchange workshop at $5000 each, and at $25,000 there are still executive producer credits available. For more information and to contribute, visit the Showmaker page listed as source.

The show is expected to maintain its season 13 cast of Jonah Ray, Emily Marsh, their Crows Hampton Yount and Kelsey Anne Brady, their Tom Servos Baron Vaughn and Conor McGiffin, Felicia Day and Patton Oswalt as Mads Kinga Forrester and Max, Rebecca Hanson as GPC and Synthia, and Mary Jo Pehl reprising as Forrester. Season 13 is available outside the Gizmoplex on Pluto TV and YouTube (the more formal streaming section, not the show's personal channel).

Source: Showmaker on MST3K.com