Jonah Heston

Jonah Heston
Played by	Jonah Ray
Firstappearance	Kickstarter - Update #4 1101 - Reptilicus (first episode)
Latestappearance	Ator, the Fighting Eagle
Location	The Satellite of Love, a Gizmonic Institute Backjack
Charactertype	Regular

Jonah J. Heston is the new host of MST3K in Joel Hodgson's revival of the series. He is stranded on the Satellite of Love alongside Crow T. Robot, Cambot, Gypsy, and Tom Servo in the service of Kinga Forrester (who refers to him as a "big stack of flapjacks").

Jonah was employed by the Gizmonic Institute as a Backjack driver. While transporting the largest cache of precious meteors the world had ever known he was captured by Kinga and her minions, after he responded to a fraudulent distress call intended to lure him into her experiment.

Overview

During Experiment #1101, Martha Masters spoke admirably about Jonah, describing him as being "a natural born gizmo-crat" with an independent streak that "could get him into trouble". Her associate Drake agreed, adding that he had heard that Jonah "operates outside the system, but he's effective".

Throughout Season 11, Jonah was portrayed as good-natured and amiable. His relationship with the bots resembles that of an uncle or step-dad.

Notes

• He has been subjected to 20 experiments on the Satellite of Love so far.
• The name "Jonah Heston" is in keeping with the MST3K tradition of giving the human subject of the experiment the same first name as the actor portraying them.

• The last name "Heston" would seem to be inspired by the famous actor Charlton Heston, who starred in several popular science-fiction/adventure films including the original Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, and The Omega Man - all of which influenced the creation of MST3K.

• Jonah's Backjack is powered by a percussion drive engine of his own design. His drum kit seems to be the ship's secondary form of propulsion.

• Jonah can be seen knitting a red space suit in nearly every episode. During the end credits sequence of the finale a small figure in a red spacesuit can be seen walking along the Satellite of Love's exterior. Presumably it was Jonah.
• In Experiment #1114 - At the Earth's Core Kinga revealed that Jonah's full name is Jonah J. Heston. It remains unknown what the initial J stands for.

• In a Kickstarter email Joel Hodgson on June 1, 2018 confirmed Jonah's return for Season 12.
• As shown in a Host Segment in Experiment #1110, Jonah is aware of previous Satellite of Love residents Joel Robinson and Mike Nelson. He wears a set of three mission patches on his jumpsuit's left shoulder depicting Nelson, Robinson, and himself. Copies of these patches were made available to Kickstarter backers of Season 11.
• Jonah consistently wears a jumpsuit that is yellow/gold, a color never worn by Joel or Mike.
• The Bots were originally hostile towards Jonah when he built two new robots: M. Waverly (who the Bots dismantled almost instantly, though he later got better) and Growler.
• It is implied in the final episode of Season 12 that Jonah and Dr. Donna St. Phibes are attracted to each other.
• Jonah is so far, the only experiment subject who has successfully one-upped the mads, trapping both Kinga and Max in their own theater to watch movies.
• Jonah was not part of the Great Cheesy Movie Circus Tour.