Yesterday, Netflix released their official trailer for Mystery Science Theater 3000, providing fans with their first looks at Jonah Ray as the new host and Felicia Day and Patton Oswalt as the new Mads.
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You can see it above.
While most of the movies being riffed for the new season of the cult-favorite comedy have been kept secret from the audience, one title in particular — Reptilicus — has a movie poster featured prominently in the trailer.
Longtime fans stung by the decision to use a new host instead of Joel or Mike will likely get a little laugh out of Crow T. Robot telling Jonah Ray’s character, “you are not my real father, Mister.”
“If you really want to watch the season and be surprised, you might want to avoid watching this. And also maybe going on the internet for the next few weeks. But if you don’t mind knowing a few things, then you can take your first look at some new footage right now,” wrote series creator Joel Hodgson in a message to Kickstarter backers who raised millions to relaunch the series.
After years lost in deep space, Mystery Science Theater 3000 will return on April 14 with its first new episodes on Netflix. In preparation, Netflix has released 20 fan-favorite episodes of the original run to its streaming service this month.
“I think the big thing with every single person involved is they love Mystery Science Theater and they want it to keep going and they want to keep the tone and the style the same but just refresh it with new, more relevant riffs and situations,” Hodgson told ComicBook.com. “That was kind of a big thing for me to sign off on was to say if they care about it, I’m good with it.”
Mystery Science Theater 3000 ran from 1998 until 1999, starting off as a local cable acess show in Minnesota and building to a globally-recognized comedy brand that aired new episodes on The Sci-Fi Channel and Comedy Central.
Since it ended, there has been fan demand to bring the series back, but with its creators and stars working on similar projects like Cinematic Titanic and Rifftrax, it didn’t seem to be necessary. Last year, though, creator Joel Hodgson announced that they would Kickstart a new season.
The premise will remain largely the same — a hapless, likable young man is shot into space and forced to watch bad movies with his robot friends Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot — but the cast will be overhauled, with Jonah Ray replacing Mike Nelson as the main character (Nelson had himself replaced Hodgson), and villains to be played by Felicia Day and Patton Oswalt. Baron Vaughn and Hampton Yount will play the ‘bots.
Last year, Best Brains — the production company run by Hodgson — announced that a rights deal had been worked out that would allow the new Mystery Science Theater 3000 to air on Netflix. Comic book writer and former The Daily Show had writer Elliott Kalan is the series’s head writer.
More MST3K:
Dark Horse to publish MST3K comics
Netflix confirms April release date
