In the not too distant past, my wife and I went to Mystery Science Theater 3000 Live: The Cheesy Movie Circus Tour. This marks the final tour of the show’s creator, Joel Hodgson. However, let’s back up a little before the review proper.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 was a television show that first aired on KTMA channel 23 in Minneapolis. The premise of the show was that evil scientists would force the show’s host who was trapped on a spaceship, the Satellite of Love, to watch really bad movies. The host would riff (make jokes) during the movie with the help of two lovable robots, Tom Servo and Crow. The show ran for more than 200 episodes.
The original host of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (abbreviated as MST3K), Joel Hodgson plays the part of Joel Robinson and was the host of the live show. At the request of the venue, no pictures or video of the show were allowed.
The format of the live show was very similar to the television show. There was a live rendition of the theme song, followed by an opening sketch and then the movie. The movie being the martial-arts stinker No Retreat, No Surrender, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme (and we’re being generous with the word “starring”).
The movie has the ghost of Bruce Lee helping out a down-on-his-luck kid beat up Jean-Claude Van Damme. No, I’m not making that up. Yes, there are other “plot points” in the movie, but they are not really worth mentioning as it doesn’t really add anything to an already laughably bad film.
The show had some of the funniest riffs of any MST3K I’ve seen, and there was a lot of fourth-wall-breaking between the hosts and the audience which added to the enjoyment. The movie being so laughably bad also made for a very funny and enjoyable experience – plus the Buell Theater where the MST3K Live was playing was pretty much sold out, and laughing with over a thousand of your closest friends was just the best.
In the end, the ending of the show was a little bittersweet as this is Joel Hodgson’s final live tour. He did announce new plans for the MST3K franchise after the Netflix cancellation, so it’s nice that MST3K will continue in some form after Joel.
Overall, a very funny and memorable night. The audience was awesome, and it’s been a long time since I laughed so hard.
Written by Chris Murdock
