Official Logo
The Satellite News has been an official source of information on Mystery Science Theater 3000 and associated individuals and organizations. It is a long-running fan-operated website with a past incarnation as an officially-published paper newsletter.
History[]
Newsletter Era[]
- Main article: List of Satellite News Issues
Front page of the Satellite News newsletter, volume 8.2 (Holiday 1996)
The original Satellite News was published biannually as a hard-copy newsletter sent by Best Brains, Inc. to members of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Information Club from 1988 to 1996. The newsletters include articles written in-universe by the MST3K characters, as well as real-world articles by the cast and crew, usually with a humorous angle, and a selection of puzzles and games.
A running joke in the Satellite News masthead is the line "Formerly the Binding Polymer", indicating a name-change which never actually happened.
Beginning in 1990, the newsletters included catalogues of exclusive MST3K and Best Brains merchandise which could be purchased by mail, most of which was never made available elsewhere. Originally a simple one-page leaflet added to the newsletter advertising a small selection of items, in 1994 the catalog expanded to feature more items and was entitled "Great Stuff You Can Buy".
A copy of issue 6.2 (Holiday 1994) of the newsletter can briefly be seen in Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie as the "hard copy" of the day's wire-service reports Mike gets from Gypsy.
Internet Era[]
In 1997, after the cancellation of the original run of the show by Comedy Central and the announcement of the move to The Sci-Fi Channel, the Satellite News ceased publication as an official paper newsletter. The Satellite News title and the status as official Best-Brains-recognized venue for news about Mystery Science Theater 3000 were given to the operators of the long-standing MSTieNews fansite run by prominent members of the online MSTie community. What had been the MSTieNews site moved to the domain MST3Kinfo.com and began operating under the Satellite News name and the title of "The Official Mystery Science Theater 3000 Fan Site". Info club members continued to receive the Great Stuff You Can Buy catalogues, which directed those missing the paper Satellite News newsletter to check out the new online version.
This incarnation of Satellite News was assisted by Best Brains on certain content, but continued publishing as an independent and volunteer-based effort with the addition of new reference resources, original featured articles, and interviews with people of interest to MST3K fans. The site also posted Best Brains' season 7 addendum to The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide (which had only covered the first six seasons in-depth).
MST3K.com[]
Following the cancellation by The Sci-Fi Channel, and with Best Brains operations winding down, the MST3K.com url was transferred from Sci-Fi to Satellite News, who used both that and their traditional MST3Kinfo.com urls from that point. As the Sci-Fi channel removed the official MST3K content from its own website, including the Episode Guide entries for seasons 8-10, Satellite News arranged to rehost that material.
Info Club members who had still been signed up for the paper Great Stuff You Can Buy catalogue from Best Brains received the final issue of that mailing in the 2006 holiday season.
Current Status[]
When Jim Mallon and Best Brains, Inc. created a new, official MST3K site in 2007 for merchandise sales and the animated MST3K series, they reclaimed the MST3K.com domain from Satellite News for the purpose. MST3K.com has continued to be the official MST3K production site since then, while Satellite News continues operating at MST3Kinfo.com.
The Satellite News continued its work as the official fan site when the show's ownership passed from Best Brains, Inc. to Satellite of Love, LLC, and continues as a source of information both on the history and possible future of the show, the projects by its alumni in the entertainment world, and it also maintains a This Date in MSTory daily calendar of significant dates connected to people involved with MST3K and the movies it featured, as well as regular headlines on breaking news and release announcements.
Other areas of the Site include:
- ACEG: Season Seven
- Broadcast Schedule Archive
- Chat Logs
- Cinematic Titanic!
- Daddy-O's Drive-In Dirt
- DVD List
- Episode Guide
- Film Crew
- MST3K FAQ
- Print Archives
- RiffTrax!
- Search Me!
- Ward E