Turkey Day 2015 - #BringBackMST3K (MST3K Special)

Is there such a thing as watching too much of the same episodes of MST3K?  We've been mining the same 197 episodes every Thanksgiving for sixteen years.  And when Shout Factory started hosting the marathons, they are limited to what episodes they have streaming rights to, which probably tops out at about half of them.  Will we ever get our fill on them?  Probably not.

But for the first time since 1997 we have an optimist Turkey Day Marathon with the hope that we may see new episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 that can be used in Turkey Day Marathons to come.  The 2015 marathon is a bit of a special one, as it aired during the halfway point of the Kickstarter to revive the show.  By the time the marathon aired, we were well past the $2 million point to bring back the series for three episodes, so we already had a small victory of sorts (one of those first three episodes wound up being the first revival episode featured during a Turkey Day Marathon in 2018).  But we still had a ways to go before we reached the $5.5 million we needed for the full twelve (eventually fourteen), so this Turkey Day was a strategic move to help promote the Kickstarter and reach for a full season.

This year's theme has Joel visiting Kickstarter headquarters for Thanksgiving.  Based on photos I found on Google, the location looks legit and this is the real Kickstarter HQ.  I'm less certain about the people showcased that are said to be Kickstarter employees.  If they are legit, they have great onscreen demeanor, but they come off as actors (the only one I'm certain is real is CEO Yancy Strickler).  But I'd be delighted to be proven wrong if it ever comes to that point.  But I'm never wrong, so that will never happen.

Edit:  Ashley Holtgraver commented below and confirmed that these were indeed Kickstarter employees, so I definitely was wrong.  There's a first time for everything!

Joel tours the offices starting at the reception desk, where he mingles with Jackie the receptionist, who has never seen an episode of MST and has no idea what he's talking about.  From there he heads to the kitchen and mixes up potpourri with cider while making cornbread.  While feeding cornbread to the Kickstarter employees, he asks Kickstarter CEO Yancy Strickler what he's thankful for, and he responds "I'm just thankful that I don't normally have to watch this many crappy movies in a row." (That settles it, next year Transformers marathon at Kickstarter).  From then on, Joel interviews Ashley Holtgraver, who had her letter read on Fire Maidens of Outer Space.  Ashley has grown up to enter the software business and even became a musician.  Ashley treats us to a specialized remix of the MST theme to close out this special Turkey Day Marathon.

As for the episode journey, this is one of the best Turkey Days.  Our appetizing courses are led off with indisputable classics Outlaw and Eegah, while the main course of our meal starts with the mildly disappointing Gorgo before spiking with Teenagers from Outer Space.  For desert we have the sugary goodness of Danger!! Death Ray and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.  If I had one observation about this episode line-up, I think it peaks really early.  Outlaw and Eegah are not exactly head and shoulders above the others, but I feel they're clearly the best episodes of the night.  Also, it's a bit of a missed opportunity to bring Ashley Holtgraver on if you weren't going to show the episode her letter was on.  This isn't really anyone's fault, as Fire Maidens of Outer Space hasn't been licensed by Shout Factory for release on neither streaming nor DVD (the rights are owned by Paramount and at the time of this Kickstarter were tied up with Olive Films for a blu-ray release, and as far as we know are still tied up there), but showing that episode during this marathon would have been killer.

I also feel like noting that this is the first Turkey Day featuring Eegah.  When I compiled this list, I thought to myself "That has to be wrong."  Sure enough, Eegah has never been on a Turkey Day until 2015.  That's baffling.

Outlaw (2nd Turkey Day)
Eegah
Gorgo
Teenagers from Outer Space (2nd Turkey Day)
Danger!!  Death Ray
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (3rd Turkey Day)

Average Rating (out of 4):  3.5

Throughout the bumpers, Joel receives phone calls from Jonah Ray, Crow (played by Hampton Yaunt), and Tom Servo (played by Baron Vaughn) to help us get used to these new cast.  I can't help but be won over by Joel's enthusiasm and the charisma of this new cast.  Add in an excellent episode lineup and you have one hell of a Thanksgiving experience.  This was just what we needed in the middle of that amazing Kickstarter as we continued on our way to a brand new season of fourteen episodes.  It's a Turkey Day miracle!