‘Mystery Science Theater 3000’ Raises Over $6.5 Million for Season 13, Online Theater
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“Mystery Science Theater 3000” is coming back strong.
The beloved cult series will be back with more original episodes and a custom online distribution platform thanks to another successful Kickstarter campaign. The campaign, which concluded May 7 after 30 days, raised over $6.5 million with over 36,000 backers.
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Series creator Joel Hodgson will use the money to fund 13 new episodes, including the show’s first 3-D episode, 12 new short film riffs, a holiday special that will feature Hodgson, Jonah Ray and Emily Marsh as co-hosts, and to build The Gizmoplex, new virtual theater and online community hub that will be the exclusive home of the next season for its initial run.
Each new episode will be released one at a time as they are ready for release, rather than holding them until the entire season is complete. The Gizmoplex is also expected to host live episode premieres, watch parties, and special events. The most recent Kickstarter campaign outearned the show’s 2015 campaign, which pulled in over $6.3 million.
“When we decided that Kickstarter was our best chance at making more ‘MST3K’ without a network, we hoped that some of our backers would join up again… but we never dreamed that the response would be even bigger the second time around,” Hodgson said. “We’re so humbled and grateful and deliriously happy to be making more MST3K for the people who love it most, and can’t wait to get started on ‘lucky’ Season 13. Now we just have to make sure The Mads come through on building the Gizmoplex. I guess we’ll wire all the funds to them this afternoon and hope for the best?”
The new season will feature the return of Felicia Day as lead Mad Kinga Forrester and Patton Oswalt as the evil henchman Max a.k.a TV’s Son of TV’s Frank. The Mads will have even bigger plans for global domination in the new season, and they involve forcing multiple test subjects to riff movies, each from a different location. Jonah Ray will return as host Jonah Heston alongside Baron Vaughn as Tom Servo, Hampton Yount as Crow T. Robot, and Rebecca Hanson as GPC 1 aboard The Satellite of Love. “MST3K Live’s” Emily Marsh joins the series’ cast as host Emily Connor alongside “MST3K Live’s” Conor McGiffin as Tom Servo, Nate Begle as Crow T. Robot, and Yvonne Freese as GPC 2 and Mega Synthia. Original series cast members Mary Jo Pehl and J. Elvis Weinstein will be appearing in the new season, and Hodgson is also confirmed to host two episodes next season.
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