Once upon a time, back in the halcyon days of TV when the Syfy network still spelled it “Sci-Fi,” Saturday mornings were spent in outer space: nestled in the seats of a satellite cinema, watching the worst films ever made with a pair of neurotic robots.
The show was “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” and during its glorious heyday, it enjoyed successful runs on Comedy Central and Syfy, spawned its own feature film, and wormed its way into the hearts of millions of fans for whom the most important mark of a quality movie experience was the small, comforting silhouette of Tom Servo’s gumball-machine-shaped head up front. The premise — one human man trapped in space, forced to watch terrible movies by an evil scientist whose sole goal was to drive his subject insane — was just a setup for the show’s main trio to do what they did best, which was mercilessly make fun of stupid movies until viewers at home were laughing hard enough to wet themselves.
Sadly, “Mystery Science Theater 3000″ was cancelled forever in 1999. But the main men (and one lady) who made it famous live on, to the great relief of fans everywhere. Here’s where you can catch up with them now.
Joel Hodgson
The original subject of Dr. Clayton Forrester’s nefarious experiment, Hodgson’s post-MST3K work included a recurring role on “Freaks & Geeks,” as well as a starring one the voice of Scythe Commander Kane Cooper in sci-fi video game “Darkstar: The Interactive Movie.” Most recently, he resurrected the MST3K model with fellow alums from the show, embarking on a B-movie-riffing project called “Cinematic Titanic.” Cinematic Titanic concluded its final tour in 2013, but Hodgson seems to be keeping the nostalgia alive; he was last seen reprising his MST3K role on “Arrested Development.”
Trace Beaulieu
The man who played two MST3K roles — on-camera as Dr. Clayton Forrester, and behind the puppet as sardonic Crow T. Robot — moved on after the show’s Comedy Central era concluded. He guest starred on “Freaks & Geeks” along with Hodgson, teamed up with him again in 2013 for their appearance on “Arrested Development,” and joined the five-person team of “Cinematic Titanic” until the project wrapped. He also authored a 2010 book of poetry, “Silly Rhymes for Belligerent Children.” Next up, he’ll appear in “Hamlet A.D.D.” (a sci-fi twist on Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”) as the voice of “Evil Robot.”
Michael J. Nelson
Nelson took over guinea pig duties on the Satellite of Love halfway through MST3K’s Comedy Central run and saw the show through to the end. He spent the next few years focusing on writing, producing several books, but eventually returned to the movie-riffing game when he founded Rifftrax in conjunction with Legend Films. Fans can now hear Nelson (and a rotating cast of amusing compatriots) making fun of movies in the comfort of their own homes, on commentary tracks made to accompany everything from the “Twilight” saga to “Roadhouse.” Nelson also stars as the voice of Tommynaut in the soon-to-be-released game Armikrog.
Kevin W. Murphy
Best known as the voice of Tom Servo, Murphy took a year off post-MST3K to write a book: “A Year at the Movies: One Man’s Filmgoing Odyssey.” Now, he’s back to familiar territory (minus the puppetry) as a regular on Michael J. Nelson’s Rifftrax project, and as part of the Rifftrax Live tour performing real-time riffs of movies like “Sharknado” and “Godzilla.”
Bill Corbett
The latter-day voice of Crow T. Robot, Corbett now makes appearances as the final third of the regular Rifftrax crew. Although he hasn’t been as active in movies or video games as some of his fellow alums — his biggest project apart from MST3K is a co-writing credit on the 2008 movie “Meet Dave” — he does have by far the best Twitter account of anyone who ever spent time aboard the Satellite of Love.
Mary Jo Pehl
The show’s only starring female cast member (her website introduces her as “that guy from Mystery Science Theater 3000 that’s a woman), Pehl followed up her turn as MTS3K’s nefarious Pearl Forrester with voice work in video games and on National Public Radio. But above all, she’s a prolific writer — and in addition to authoring books, essays and criticism for a variety of publications, she’s still writing jokes at the expense of bad movies with her fellow MST3K castmates. She’s also one of the only cast members to continue riffing with both Cinematic Titanic and the Rifftrax project.
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