The cult science-fiction comedy Mystery Science Theater 3000 broke records with its original fan-funded reboot. The series is making history again, now crowdfunding a Season 14 independent of Kickstarter.
The new Mystery Science Theater 3000 crowdfunding drive was announced through the series’ official YouTube channel. Series creator and original host Joel Hodgson also sent an announcement e-mail to those loyal MSTies who backed the previous drives. Hodgson credited the fans with MST3K‘s revival, pledging that “as long as you all want more episodes, we will keep making them.” This time, however, the team is raising the funds through its own crowdfunding platform.
The ultimate goal of the new drive is to raise $7.4 million. This will produce 12 episodes, 12 shorts, and digitally upgrade 36 classic MST3K episodes for high-definition. Fans who contribute to the drive have a choice of rewards, ranging from sticker, pin, and magnet sets to digital downloads, classes, and screen credits. This is all in keeping with the homegrown spirit of the show, which started as a local “creature feature” movie show in 1988.
How MST3K Retained Its Fans After 35 Years
Since the beginning, Mystery Science Theater 3000 was built upon interactions between the creators and the audience. It was notable for being one of the first shows whose cast and crew regularly communicated with fans on the Internet.
When Hodgson reclaimed the rights to MST3K in 2015, he knew any effort to revive the show would live or die by those fans. To that end, MST3K became one of the first shows to crowdfund new episodes. The show’s first drive set and held the Kickstarter record for the largest Film & Video project until 2019. This success led to Netflix picking up the distribution rights for the reboot.
When Netflix cancelled the MST3K reboot after two seasons, Hodgson turned to the fans again. This time they raised the funds to establish the Gizmoplex streaming service, as well as Season 13. This, coupled with Hodgson’s new crowdfunding platform, will keep Mystery Science Theater 3000 running for as long as there are MSTies willing to pay for it.
