It wasn’t that long ago that we weren’t even sure we’d ever see any new episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 at all, let alone full seasons’ worth. After a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign a few years ago, creator Joel Hodgson was able to bring back the movie-riffing titan, with a new cast, and now it’s coming back with its next batch of new episodes on Netflix. In an email to the Kickstarter backers Tuesday morning, Hodgson announced the six-episode 11th season will be coming to the world on perhaps the most fitting day of the year: Thanksgiving Day, MST3K‘s 30th anniversary.
Back when it was just a local access show in Minnesota, put on because it was long and would take up airtime, the nascent Mystery Science Theater 3000 premiered on Thanksgiving Day in 1988. Thanksgiving, or “Turkey Day,” would go on to become a very important holiday for MSTies everywhere. Back when the series was on Comedy Central in the ’90s, they’d often host Turkey Day marathons of MST3K, which would routinely serve up 12 hours of bad movies and banter while families made small talk and ate until their pants exploded.
In recent years, even before the series came back, Joel and Shout! Factory–the company responsible for the series’ DVD releases–would team up for Turkey Day marathons online, featuring either some of Joel’s favorites, or fan-voted picks. Last year’s marathon was hosted by Joel, the series’ new host Jonah Ray, and the new mad scientist Felicia Day. It’s always a delight.
And so why wouldn’t the show want to drop its new season–in full Netflix bingeable glory–on a day fans already recognize as the time for watching several episodes in a row? And it’s the 30th anniversary? It’s just too perfect. It’s maybe the most MSTie thing in the world!
So on Thursday, November 22, Netflix will be dropping the next batch of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes, just in time for people to watch all in a row, with their stomachs full of tryptophan and starch. It’s a Turkey Day miracle!
Images: Netflix
Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!
