Here we go again! Our six million dollars last time apparently wasn't enough, so here they are again begging for more money.
Another Kickstarter came and went. We actually made more money than last time but wound up with one less episode somehow. Damn you inflation! But this time instead of just investing in the episodes, we're also hopefully investing in thr future of Mystery Science Theater 3000 by funding the episodes and also a new app for them to debut on called the Gizmoplex. What is Gizmoplex? Well I'm glad you asked, because series creator Joel Hodgson is here to tell you!
Like last time, Joel put together a presentation for potential backers, pitching new episodes while Jonah and the Bots riffed him from theater seats down below. Due to Covid restrictions, they present their ideas like a Zoom meeting this time, with each character featuring their own screen, interacting. Joel pitches his idea for the Gizmoplex, an interactive app of MST content, while Jonah and the Bots listen and interject. These bits are cute, though they're a bit stiffly scripted. It might be that everyone's part was filmed separately then pasted together, making interaction feel like its lacking natural interplay. Because of this, it feels like when it goes for humor they go for safe nostalgia laughs, like Crow referencing Earth vs. Soup or his desire to "decide who lives and who dies." Everyone feels like they're sticking to a strict script, and maybe they need to, because they need to get this idea across as clearly as possible.
There are only two videos this time, with the first devoted to selling the idea of a Gizmoplex app, while the second has a lot to do with the production of the new season. Joel pitches "remote production," which is an effort make the series through Covid restrictions, which Joel is pitching as making filming easier. I'm going to trust Joel to figure that out, and we'll see if it works once season 13 debuts.
Probably the big news relevant to the series from this second video is something a lot of MSTies were expecting but never had confirmation of, that the cast of the Cheesy Movie Circus Tour was being worked into the show. We didn't really know how or when, but Joel had really pushed to endear this cast to us for two years before actually saying they were going to be on the series, with them riffing shorts, hosting Turkey Days, and putting on the Riff-A-Long special. This cast includes Emily Marsh as new test subject Emily Connor, Conor McGiffin as her Tom Servo, Nate Begle as her Crow, and Yvonne Ingrid Freeze as the new Gypsy model GPC (Joel decided to rename Gypsy upon learning the word "gypsy" is a derogatory slur) as well as the new Mad Mega Synthia.
Upon learning this crew will be adopted into the series, Joel then throws a pitch at us that the episodes will be alternating between the Jonah/Baron/Hampton/Rebecca crew and the Emily/Conor/Nate/Yvonne crew. The idea coming across to me in this is that there are multiple experiments going on in Kinga Forrester's new "Gizmoplex" and each host has their own set of robots (I'm curious if Jonah's were ever meant to be the original Bots or were always just copies that Kinga created, and she created another group of duplicates for Emily). It's an interesting concept and I'm eager to see it in action.
Joel also drops the bombshell on us that if they make the full $5.5 million they want for a full season, he would come back to host two episodes. Well that's all well and good, but without Kevin/Josh and Trace as his Servo and Crow, is it really the Joel return we wanted? Especially if we're playing with this multiple bot concept. Plus if we're getting Joel back, that just has the fan in me begging for Mike to come back too.
But that's looking a gift horse in the mouth. Of course I'd like to see Joel back, and those who aren't participating in the show have their reasons. The new season sounds fun, though the plan is a bit convoluted. Do these videos successfully sell the idea to me? Honestly, I was in the bag no matter what so I'm not really sure. If one didn't like the Netflix seasons, more MST is a hard sell, unless the person investing really likes Emily's crew a whole lot better than Jonah's. I think the stilted comedy of the videos doesn't really sell the humor of the show. I did however like the running gag where Crow becomes obsessed with the idea of eating Jonah and the closing of the second video where Crow pitches his World War Space script and everyone logs out except Emily's Crow, who is enraptured.
But whatever my opinion may be, people wanted more MST3K and the people spoke. MST3K is officially coming back for a new season and we have these videos to partially thank for that.
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