Welcome to the Satellite of Love

Some things grow finer with age. Wine, cheese…and Mystery Science Theater 3000.

A cult-classic that first aired in 1988 on a small local Minnesota TV network, Mystery Science Theater 3000 (known as MST3K for short) soon moved to cable where it spent ten seasons entertaining audiences across the country. It eventually caught the attention of a young boy who grew up to write a blog post professing his love for the show (as soon as I’ve done something more impressive with my life, I’ll edit this).

The premise of the show was…well, I’ll just let the opening theme song explain. It’ll be quicker that way. If you pay close attention, you’ll also figure out where my blog name comes from.

As you can see, it was not a high budget show. That was part of its charm.

It was a show for all ages; maintaining a goofiness that appealed to kids while providing humor more suited to adults.

It was also a tremendously geeky sci-fi show. You could count on numerous references to Star Trek, Star Wars, the original Doctor Who and Lord of the Rings in almost every episode. The cast and crew knew their stuff. When I was young, I didn’t fully appreciate this aspect of the show. Now that I’ve been a full-fledged nerd for 10+ years, it only further endears MST3K to me.

The main point of MST3K was to spend two hours watching awful films while a man and two “robots” provide a running commentary over the film. Again, it’s probably better I let some video do the talking.

This is probably something you’ve done before with your friends – talking smack about bad movies is a time-honored tradition. But this time with paid professionals telling the jokes.

When it came to the movies they screened, I’m not talking bad like “Battleship.” I’m talking the lowest of the low. The most disgraceful movies ever filmed. We’re talking films like “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians,” “Hercules Against the Moon Men,” “The Killer Shrews,” and “The Mole People.”

They watched “The Undead” (which featured no undead characters), “The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies” (which featured no zombies) and “The Magic Voyage of Sinbad” (which featured no Sinbad).

And then there is *shudders* “Manos: The Hands of Fate.” I have stared into the abyss, and “Manos” stared back.

In between all this glorious cinema were sketches. Our characters would do everything from singing songs, designing cheap Halloween costumes and destroying entire planets. And whatever this is…

I first discovered MST3K when I was seven-years-old. Sadly, by the time I was ten, the show was off the air. It wasn’t until my freshman year of college that I rediscovered the show. Now I truly appreciate its greatness. It’s something from my childhood that is actually more enjoyable now than it was then (now that I get most of the jokes and references). Through the magic of the Internet and DVDs, I’ve watched almost every episode.

I highly recommend MST3K for anyone looking for some good laughs. Although for you beginners, I suggest watching them with somebody. As I’ve mentioned, the movies are truly awful. I’ve only got a 50% success rate when introducing friends to MST3K. The uninitiated can suffer severe psychological damage from certain films, and it’s good to share the pain with others in order to lessen the blow to yourself. But otherwise it's a great show!

Click here to see a list of life lessons I’ve learned from MST3K. Most of it will go over your head, but it’ll help show you how influential it’s been in my life.