The Mystery Science Theater Hour

Msthour — The Mystery Science Theater Hour: Host Segment

The Mystery Science Theater Hour is, as the name indicates, an hour-long version of Mystery Science Theater 3000. The program consists of previously produced episodes split in half to fit within the allotted hour run time.

History[]

The Mystery Science Theater Hour came about because Comedy Central had reservations about keeping a two hour long show and felt an hour time slot was easier to fill. Episodes began airing in in November, 1993. All episodes were drawn from Joel Hodgson's time as host, starting in season three, as Michael J. Nelson had only recently taken over.

In 1995, when Tradewinds Television began syndicating MST3K reruns to local broadcast stations, the show was offered in two formats: the original versions or the MST Hour versions for stations unwilling to schedule a two-hour programming block.

Format[]

The Mystery Science Theater Hour has a very simple title sequence, beginning with a wide shot of "Your Host", played by Michael J. Nelson, inside a studio featuring images from that episode's film, while a piano rendition of "Mighty Science Theater" plays.

In the first half-episode, the host introduces the film and gives a brief description of its plot. In the second half-episode, the host gives a recap of the first half, accompanied by clips.

At the conclusion of the hour, Perkins would return for the show's final segment, either teasing part two or reflecting on the nature of the film as a whole. The studio lights would dim, leaving the host in silhouette, usually doing something comical related to the final segment.

Behind the scenes[]

The host is never named, but is quite obviously Mike's version of Jack Perkins.

The editing of the episodes was often redone for these Hour versions, occasionally including additional riffs, or extended moments at act breaks (for example, in Pod People and Hercules Unchained). Keying of the silhouettes for the theater segments was also often redone, without the blue tint previously used on black and white movies. The silhouettes during Gamera are noticeably thinner and clearer. Several minutes were cut from each episode for time reasons, for example a scene or two from the movie.

Episodes[]

Sixty episodes of The Mystery Science Theater Hour were produced, edited from thirty episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Given the nature of the show as a cut-down version of the parent program, actual, as-aired episodes of The Mystery Science Theater Hour have never been released on home video. Most of the opening and closing segments, however, can be found as extras on the DVD releases of the originals. The nine episode pairs with unreleased host segments are noted below.

* MST Hour intros not available
† Only second episode intro missing