Over a year ago—in our definitive oral history, actually—Mystery Science Theater 3000 creator Joel Hodgson raised the possibility of reviving the cult TV hit that had been cancelled in 2004. Today, Hodgson officially launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund new episodes of the series. The initial goal of $2 million would fund only three episodes, but if the campaign does well enough, the project could make as many as 12 episodes (that maximum order would require $5.5 million). The rewards run the gamut from the typical t-shirt all the way up to fans contributing riffs to the episodes or hosting live installments of the show. But the real fun begins if MST3K finds an angel investor willing to splash some serious cash: “Finally, if we raise $1 BILLION—stay with me on this one—we’re going to adopt a real live teenage boy and ‘Truman Show’ him into believing he is the Pumaman!”
The campaign has raised around a quarter of a million dollars in its first few hours, which is promising, but that’s lagging behind the record pace of the Veronica Mars movie back in 2013, which hit $1 million in a matter of hours. Still, we can't see it having difficulty hitting its initial goal—and after that, who knows? If Full House and Reading Rainbow can come back, MST3K has to be worth reviving for the long term.
