Thanksgiving: 'Mystery Science Theater 3000' marathon looks at movie turkeys
-
Molly Driscoll Staff writer
Does watching a less-than-stellar film with snarky commentary from a man and two robots say Thanksgiving to you?
For some, between the years of 1991 and 1997, the Pilgrim holiday meant cutting a slice of pumpkin pie and settling down to watch the 鈥�Mystery Science Theater 3000鈥� Turkey Day marathon, which aired on Comedy Central. The channel aired a marathon of episodes of the show, which consists of a man named Joel (or later, Mike) and robots Crow and Tom Servo watching a film of dubious quality and making jokes about it. Joel was put aboard a spaceship by scientists and forced to watch terrible movies as part of a scientific study.
鈥淢ystery Science Theater 3000鈥� debuted in 1988 and hopped around to a couple of different channels before its cancellation in 1999, but it gained a cult following and many episodes live on via DVD and the Internet.
The show starred 鈥淢ST3K鈥� creator Joel Hodgson from 1988 to 1993 (head writer Michael J. Nelson would replace him for the rest of the series鈥� run) and Hodgson will be hosting the event which will stream from the website this year. Six episodes of 鈥淢ST3K鈥� chosen by Hodgson will air on the site beginning at 12 p.m. Eastern time on Thanksgiving Day.聽
Hodgson took suggestions from fans via Twitter as to what films would be best to include in the new marathon.
He told he was amazed to hear what an important part of Thanksgiving the 鈥淢ST3K鈥� marathon had become for some fans.
鈥淚鈥檇 hear all these stories about Turkey Day,鈥� Hodgson said. 鈥淧eople would say, 鈥榊eah, we still watch Mystery Science Theater on Thanksgiving. It鈥檚 a tradition, like the Lions playing.鈥� I was kind of amazed that it was in people鈥檚 lives like that.鈥�
What will be included in the first 鈥淢ST3K鈥� marathon in 16 years? Check out the website for the streaming event if you鈥檙e in the mood for some sci-fi B-movies and deadpan humor.
