Netflix has already established itself as the go-to hub for nostalgia-driven revivals of popular franchises, but its upcoming season of Mystery Science Theater 3000 might just take things to a whole new, shamelessly fan-servicing level. The beloved ’90s series, centered on evil scientists whose plot to take over the world consists of forcing victims to sit through schlocky B-movies in their entirety, cast a long shadow after its initial 1999 conclusion, generating a huge cult fanbase and spawning such offshoots as RiffTrax and Cinematic Titanic. Now, it’s returning for more bad movie goodness, and is sure to spotlight more underseen trainwrecks.
With the release of this first trailer, rest assured that the show looks to remain as fun, cheesy, and unusual as ever, with Reptilicus teased as among the movies set to be screened. Patton Oswalt and Felicia Day play the two new Mad Scientists, and they’ll reportedly be joined by MST3K veterans Mary Jo Pehl (who briefly appears in this trailer), Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett. Community creator Dan Harmon is also aboard as a guest writer.
Netflix didn’t commission this revival alone: MST3K’s return mainly came about due to a wildly successful crowdfunding campaign, in which over $5.7 million was raised by around 50,000 backers. The streaming service, happy to facilitate this groundswell of enthusiasm behind the show’s return, has already dropped 20 classic MST3K episodes online. Might be time to get bingeing ahead of the new incarnation’s official April 14 premiere.
