1988

Births[]

November 24 — KTMA TV23 premieres Mystery Science Theater 3000 on Thanksgiving with two back-to-back episodes: Invaders from the Deep (first regular appearances of Joel Hodgson, Crow, Gypsy and Cambot) and Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars (first regular appearance of Servo).
November 27 — Star Force: Fugitive Alien II - Remade in Season 3 - See Experiment #318
December 4 — Gamera vs Barugon - Earliest fan copy known to exist; Remade in Season 3 - See Experiment #304
December 11 — Gamera - Remade in Season 3 - See Experiment #302
December 18 — Gamera vs Gaos - Remade in Season 3 - See Experiment #308
December 31 — Gamera vs Zigra - First regular appearance of Dr. Forrester and Dr. Erhardt; Remade in Season 3 - See Experiment #316. NOTE: Technically, since it aired at midnight, this was the first episode of 1989, but it is listed here since it was part of KTMA's New Years Eve line-up and TV listings usually include the midnight hours with the previous day's listings.

April 11 — At the 60th Academy Awards, Rick Baker wins the Best Makeup Award for his work in Harry and the Hendersons.
May 23 — Richard Crenna receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6714 Hollywood Blvd.

August — Jim Mallon, needing to fill a 2-hour Sunday evening time slot later that fall on KTMA TV23, called up Joel Hodgson to discuss ideas.
August 18 — Pat Buttram receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6382 Hollywood Blvd.
September — By this time, Joel and Jim had decided on a format for their show: Joel would play a guy trapped in space who would watch movies and make informative comments and "narrate" the films for the audience. Throughout the program would run a series of segments in which Joel would talk directly to the people of Earth and interact with some robots he had designed.
September 30 — The feature film Elvira, Mistress of the Dark is released in theaters in the United States.
October 3 — The pilot is completed.
October — Don O’Conner, the general manager of KTMA is shown the pilot. He decides to order 13 episodes with the option to do more.
November — Production begins on the very first series of Mystery Science Theater 3000. The format is altered slightly: Joel will be joined by the robots in the theater to make fun of the movie, being humorous instead of informative. Episodes are produced by Hair Brain Productions and taped at KTMA's studios; Joel records the theme song at Sing Sing Studios.
December 9 — Leslie Nielsen receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6541 Hollywood Blvd.