Let's Make More MST3K & Build THE GIZMOPLEX!

“	In the not-too-distant future – tomorrow, AD – Mystery Science Theater 3000 returns to Kickstarter to start its next chapter.	”
	- Joel Hodgson

Let's Make More MST3K & Build THE GIZMOPLEX! (originally listed as MST3K: The Next Chapter) was a Kickstarter campaign announced by Joel Hodgson on April 6, 2021^[1] via an update to his previous Kickstarter, the Bring Back MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 campaign. It ended on May 8, 2021, with a total of $6,519,019 contributed to the project.

Goals[]

The primary goal of the campaign was to build an infrastructure to allow Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes to be created without the need of the backing of any kind of network or outside streaming service. The centerpiece of this plan is the Gizmoplex, essentially an MST3K streaming service where the new episodes can air along with specials, live events and shorts.

The initial campaign goals were as follows:

$2.0M (reached on April 8, 2021) - the campaign succeeds and finances three new episodes and launches the Gizmoplex
$3.3M (reached on April 23, 2021) - increases the episode count to six and funds creation of a Gizmoplex app for various streaming devices
$4.4M (reached on May 4, 2021) - increases the episode count to nine and adds a series of live events
$5.5M (reached on May 7, 2021) - increases the episode count to twelve and adds twelve new shorts
>$5.8M (reached on May 7, 2021) - "Secret" Bonus Reward^[2]
$6,364,230 (reached on May 7, 2021, 10:17pm EST) - adds a thirteenth episode to Season 13, which will be a holiday special featuring Jonah, Emily, and Joel. Plus, an extra month added to Gizmoplex Passes

Livestream Events[]

To promote the Kickstarter, several livestream events were scheduled. The first of these took place on April 26. Joel then announced subsequent streams including special guests, announcements and events. The full schedule was as follows:

Livestream	Air date	Episode / Event	Featuring
I	April 26	Experiment #907 - Hobgoblins	Joel Hodgson, Emily Marsh, Conor McGiffin, Nate Begle, Yvonne Freese, Matt McGinnis
II	April 29	Experiment #112 - Untamed Youth	Joel Hodgson, J. Elvis Weinstein, Baron Vaughn, Tim Ryder, Conor McGiffin, Matt McGinnis
III	April 30	Experiment #913 - Quest of the Delta Knights	Joel Hodgson, Mary Jo Pehl, Felicia Day, Rebecca Hanson, Yvonne Freese, Matt McGinnis, Beez McKeever
IV	May 1	Experiment #312 - Gamera vs Guiron	Matt McGinnis, Jonah Ray, Nate Begle, Hampton Yount, Conor McGiffin
(non-numbered)	Monday May 3	The Jackbox Showdown!	Team Jonah vs. Team Emily in three rounds of online games
V	Tuesday May 4	Experiment #904 - Werewolf	Joel Hodgson, Matt McGinnis, Bill Corbett, Nate Begle, Hampton Yount, Jonah Ray
VI	Wednesday May 5	Experiment #604 - Zombie Nightmare	Matt McGinnis, Jonah Ray, Hampton Yount, Baron Vaughn, Rebecca Hanson, Frank Dietz
(non-numbered)	Friday May 7	The Final Countdown, Part II	Similar to The Final Countdown event from the Bring Back MST3K campaign

Season 13[]

Several pieces of information about Season 13 were announced as part of the campaign:

Jonah Heston, Kinga Forrester, Max, Tom Servo, Crow T. Robot, Gypsy/GPC, M. Waverly and Growler were expected to return, along with the performers from the previous two seasons.
Emily Connor (Emily Marsh) would be joining the cast, and would take turns hosting with Jonah. She would be accompanied by her own versions of the Bots, voiced by their performers from The Great Cheesy Movie Circus Tour, The MST3K LIVE Social Distancing Riff-Along Special, and Turkey Day '20.
- Nate Begle, who was the primary performer of Crow T. Robot for the Cheezy Movie Tour and performed in all online content with Marsh, left the production before completion of Season 13 and was replaced by "swing puppeteer" and understudy from the tour, Kelsey Ann Brady.
Joel Hodgson would host two of the new episodes as Joel Robinson, as well as a holiday special with Jonah and Emily, since the four original tiers were unlocked.
Mary Jo Pehl would appear as Pearl Forrester in some capacity, as well as joining the writing staff. J. Elvis Weinstein would also write and appear as Dr. Laurence Erhardt.
While the campaign was active, Jonah Ray was a guest on the podcast Dumb People Town, hosted by the Sklar brothers (from Cheap Seats). During the episode, Jonah indicated that Josh Weinstein and Bill Corbett would return to voice Tom and Crow for the two new episodes hosted by Joel (as they had done for the MIGIZI shorts in 2020).
- While Weinstein would voice Servo for part of one episode, Corbett later confirmed in an AMA on Reddit that he would not be returning as Crow.^[3]
Hodgson stated that other previous cast members would be welcome to appear on the new series if they are interested and their schedules allow. He also acknowledged that many former cast members are involved in their own riffing projects (and other endeavors), and he urged fans not to pester them about returning to MST3K.
- Ultimately, no former cast members who were not mentioned during the campaign would participate in the season.
Episodes would be released as they were completed, instead of in a "season dump" as they were for Netflix during Seasons 11 and 12.
The season would include the show's first Halloween special, which will also feature its first 3D movie.
The season would premiere as soon as possible, perhaps as early as fall of 2021.
- The season would ultimately debut on March 4, 2022.
Three movies were announced for Season 13: Robot Wars (1993) and Demon Squad (2019) were revealed before the campaign ended, while Gamera vs. Jiger (1970) was revealed in a post-Kickstarter update (Gamera vs. Jiger was meant to be revealed in The Final Countdown Part II Stream, but was skipped over by accident). Joel stated he intended for Gamera vs. Jiger to be the first episode of Season 13, and the premiere of the Gizmoplex.
- *During Turkey Day '21, all thirteen experiments were revealed in episode order, and the release date for Season 13 was revealed to be March 4, 2022. with Episode #1101 featuring Santo in the Treasure of Dracula.
Shooting began on October 11, 2021. Jonah Ray would direct the episodes starring Emily Marsh^[4], while Tim Ryder would direct those starring Jonah^[5].

Cover images[]

As the campaign progressed, Joel updated the page's cover image to show additional cast members and the percentage of the overall $5.5MM goal. This is a gallery of those cover images.