title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: After his party won the local elections in Zemun in 1996, he became the director of Pinki Hall, which was his first employment.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: In March 1998, Vučić was appointed Minister of Information in the government of Mirko Marjanović. Scholars described Vučić as the crucial figure in the shaping of turn-of-the century media policies in Serbia. Following rising resentment against Milošević, Vučić introduced fines for journalists who criticized the government and banned foreign TV networks. He recalled in 2014 that he was wrong and had changed, stating ""I was not ashamed to confess all my political mistakes"".


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: During this period, Serbian media was accused for broadcasting Serbian nationalist propaganda, which demonized ethnic minorities and legitimized Serb atrocities against them. In 1998, the government adopted Europe's most restrictive media law by the end of the 20th century, which created a special misdemeanor court to try violations. It had the ability to impose heavy fines and to confiscate property if they were not immediately paid. Serbian media were under severe repression of the state, and that foreign media had been seen as "foreign elements" and "spies". Human Rights Watch reported that five independent newspaper editors were charged with disseminating misinformation because they referred to Albanians who had died in Kosovo as "people" rather than "terrorists". The government crackdown on independent media intensified when NATO forces were threatening intervention in Kosovo in late September and early October 1998. Furthermore, the government also maintained direct control of state radio and television, which provided news for the majority of the population. After the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia began in March 1999, Vučić called for a meeting of all Belgrade's editors. Print media were ordered to submit all copies to the Ministry for approval and they were allowed to publish only official statements and information taken from media outlets, which either are controlled by the state or practice radical self-censorship. Also, Vučić ordered all NATO countries journalists to leave the country.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: Tomislav Nikolić, deputy leader of the Radical Party and de facto interim leader due to absence of Vojislav Šešelj, resigned on 6 September 2008 because of disagreement with Šešelj over the party's support for Serbia's EU membership. With some other well-known Radical Party members he formed a new parliamentary club called ""Napred Srbijo!"" ("Forward Serbia!"). On 12 September 2008 Nikolić and his group were officially ejected from the Radical Party on the session of SRS leadership. Vučić, as secretary-general was called to attend this session, but he did not appear. Tomislav Nikolić announced he would form his own party and called Vučić to join. Vučić, one of the most popular figures among SRS supporters, resigned from Radical Party on 14 September 2008. The next day, Vučić announced his temporary withdrawal from politics.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: On 6 October 2008, Vučić confirmed in a TV interview that he was to join the newly formed Nikolić's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and that he would be the Deputy President of the party. He then seemed to change his positions. In 2010 he made statements such as a "horrible crime was committed in Srebrenica", saying he felt "ashamed" of the Serbs who did it. "I do not hide that I have changed... I am proud of that," he told AFP in an interview in 2012. "I was wrong, I thought I was doing the best for my country, but I saw the results and we failed, We need to admit that."


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: Nikolić stepped down as party leader on 24 May 2012 following his election as President of Serbia. Vučić assumed leadership until the next party congress is held to elect a new leader. On 29 September 2012 Vučić was elected as party leader, with Jorgovanka Tabaković as his deputy.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: Vučić briefly served as Minister of Defence and First Deputy Prime Minister from July 2012 to August 2013, when he stepped down from his position of Defence Minister in a cabinet reshuffle. Although the Prime Minister, Ivica Dačić Deba, held formal power as head-of-government, many analysts thought that Vučić had the most influence in government as head of the largest party in the governing coalition and parliament.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: As a result of the 2014 parliamentary election, Vučić's Serbian Progressive Party won 158 out of 250 seats in Parliament and formed a ruling coalition with the Socialist Party of Serbia. Vučić was elected Prime Minister of Serbia.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: At a party conference of his ruling Serbian Progressive Party, Vučić announced early general elections, citing that: 'He wants to ensure that the country has stable rule that its current political direction will continue – including its attempt to secure membership of the EU.'


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: On 4 March 2016, Serbian President, Tomislav Nikolić, dissolved the parliament, scheduling early elections for 24 April.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: Vučić's ruling SNS retained majority in the parliament, despite winning less seats than in 2014 parliamentary election. The coalition around SNS won 131 seats, 98 of which belong to SNS.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: Vučić announced his candidacy in the presidential election on 14 February 2017, despite earlier statements that he would not run. According to the Constitution, Serbia is a parliamentary republic in which the presidency is largely ceremonial with no significant executive power.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: After initial speculations that the incumbent president, Tomislav Nikolić, would also run, he backed Vučić and his ruling SNS party. Vučić won the election in the first round, having obtained 56.01 percent of the vote. The independent candidate, Saša Janković was second with 16.63 percent, ahead of satirical politician Luka Maksimović and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremić.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: A public opinion survey, carried out by CeSID, showed that significant proportions of Vučić supporters are composed of pensioners (41%) and that a large majority of them (63%) hold secondary education degrees, while 21% don't even have a high school degree.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: The election result sparked protests around Serbia. Thousands of protesters accused Vučić of leading the country towards authoritarianism. Protesters organised the rallies through social media, insisted that they are not linked to any party or politician, and demanded a total overhaul of what they call "corrupt political, business and media systems that serve an elite led by Mr Vučić". Vučić maintained that the protests were organized by his political opponents who expected "the dictator would bring the police into the streets."


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: However, Vučić was sworn in as President of Serbia on 31 May, in front of Parliament. He promised to continue with reforms and said Serbia will remain on a European path. He also said Serbia will maintain military neutrality, but continue to build partnerships with both NATO and Russia.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: After becoming president, Vučić disbanded the traditional police security service responsible for President's protection, and replaced it with members of the Cobras, military police unit which contrary to the law, protected him while he served as the Prime Minister from 2014 to 2017.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: During late 2018 and early 2019, thousands of Serbians took to the streets to protest the presidency of Vučić. The protesters accused Vučić and the SNS of corruption and stated that Vučić is trying to cement himself as an autocrat, which he denied. In 2019, Freedom House's report downgraded Serbia's status from "Free" to "Partly Free" due to the deterioration in the conduct of elections, continued attempts by the government and allied media outlets to undermine independent journalists through legal harassment and smear campaigns, and Vučić's accumulation of executive powers that conflict with his constitutional role.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: After Vučić's announcement of the reintroduction of lockdown in July 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of people protested, accusing the government of missteps in handling of the pandemic, including the premature lifting of restrictions and downplaying the risk to hold the elections. Some analysts said that they had not witnessed police brutality which occurred during the protest since the Slobodan Milošević's regime.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: According to Amnesty International's annual report for 2021, Vučić's mandate is characterised by human rights violations, restrictions on freedom of expression and campaigns of harassment against the opposition figures, journalists and media outlets.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: Vučić participated in the 2022 general election as the presidential candidate of the Serbian Progressive Party. He won 58% of the popular vote in the first round, and secured his second mandate as president of Serbia.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: After his election as Prime Minister in 2014, Vučić promoted austerity-based economic policies, whose aim was to reduce Serbia's budget deficit. Vučić's policy of fiscal consolidation was primarily aimed at cuts in the public sector. One of the measures was the reduction of pensions and salaries in the public sector as well as a ban on further employment in the public sector. Vučić announced that his reform based policies have reduced country's deficit, and contributed to financial stability. However, criticism of Vučić's economic policy stated that his measures have not overall contributed to economic recovery, but have instead caused a further decline in living standard.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: On 23 February 2015, Vučić's government has concluded a three-year stand-by arrangement with the IMF worth €1.2 billion as a precautionary measure to secure the country's long term fiscal stability. The IMF has praised the reforms as has the EU calling them one of the most successful programmes the IMF has ever had. The GDP of Serbia has surpassed the pre crisis of 2008 levels as have the salaries. The economic prospects are good with GDP growth rising above 3% and the debt to GDP ratio falling below 68%


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: Vučić has pledged to tackle corruption and organized crime in Serbia. He also vowed to investigate controversial privatizations and ties between tycoons and former government members.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: On the other hand, data from the Transparency International showed that a significant increase in perceived corruption was seen exactly from 2012, when Vučić came into power. According to research conducted by the "Centre for Investigative Journalism", the battle against corruption in practice comes down to media announcements and arrests in front of cameras. "They are followed by a large number of criminal charges, significantly fewer indictments, and even fewer convictions".


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: During the 2015 – 2016 European migrant crisis, Vučić strongly aligned himself with the policies of the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and publicly praised German migration policy. Vučić also stated that Serbia will cooperate with the EU in solving the migrant stream going from the Middle East to EU member countries through the Balkan route, and that Serbia will be ready to take some portion of the migrants. "Serbia will receive a certain number of migrants. This makes us more European than some member states. We don't build fences," Vučić wrote on Twitter, while criticizing the migrant policies of some EU member countries.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: Until the new coalition government was formed in 2012, during the time he served as the secretary general of the Serbian Radical Party, the largest opposition party at the time, as well as during his position of the vice president of then newly formed Serbian Progressive Party, in 2008, Vucic was highly critical towards Kostunica and Cvetkovic's administrations, and offered a "reversal" of the agreements made by Borko Stefanovic and the other officials during the negotiation process. However, upon forming the government Vucic stated how "we [the government of Serbia] cannot pretend that that [the former administration] was some different state which made the deals".


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: Vučić was one of the key political figures in the negotiation process on Serbia's bid for EU accession, traveling to Brussels for talks with the EU's Foreign Affairs High Commissioner, Baroness Ashton, as well as to North Kosovska Mitrovica to discuss the details of a political settlement between on behalf of the Government of Serbia and Kosovo* administration. During his visit to northern Kosovo, to garner support for the Brussels-brokered deal, he urged Kosovo Serbs to "leave the past and think about the future".


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: In 2017, Vučić criticized the EU for "hypocrisy and double standards over its very different attitude towards separatist crises in Kosovo* and Catalonia". In September 2018 in a speech to Kosovo Serbs he stated: "Slobodan Milošević was a great Serbian leader, he had the best intentions, but our results were far worse." Journalists report that Vučić advocates the partition of Kosovo, in what he refers to as "ethnic demarcation with Albanians".


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: On 27 May 2019, during a special session of the Serbian parliament on Kosovo, Vučić said: "We need to recognize that we have been defeated... We lost the territory", while also criticizing the 'unprincipled attitude of great powers' and "no one reacting to announcements for the formation of a Greater Albania". He stated that Serbia no longer controlled Kosovo and that a compromise was needed on the issue through a future referendum in the country. Vučić has close links to the Serb List and he invited Kosovo Serbs to vote for them in the elections.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: On 20 January 2020, Serbia and Kosovo agreed to restore flights between their capitals for the first time in more than two decades. The deal came after months of diplomatic talks by Richard Grenell, the United States ambassador to Germany, who was named special envoy for Serbia-Kosovo relations by President Donald Trump the year before. Vućić welcomed the flights agreement and tweeted his thanks to American diplomats.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: On 4 September 2020 Serbia and Kosovo signed an agreement at the White House in Washington D.C., in the presence of US President Donald Trump. In addition to the economic agreement, Serbia agreed to move its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv starting in June 2021 and Israel and Kosovo agreed to mutually recognise each other.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: On 10 October 2019, together with Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania, and Zoran Zaev, Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Vučić signed the so-called Mini Schengen deal on regional economic cooperation, including on the free movement of goods, capital, services, and labour between their three countries, while they await progress on EU enlargement. A month later, the leaders presented a set of proposals to achieve the "four freedoms" and the first steps towards them, including the possibility to the open border area. In December, the three leaders also met with Milo Đukanović, President of Montenegro, opening the possibility for the country to join the zone. Following the 2020 Kosovo and Serbia economic agreement the two sides pledged to join the Mini Schengen Zone.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: In 2007 Vučić stated that the Democratic League of Croats in Vojvodina is a branch of the Croatian Democratic Union. In 2008, with the establishment of the Serbian Progressive Party, Vučić said that the goal of a Greater Serbia taking Croatian territory up to the proposed Virovitica-Karlovac-Karlobag line "is unrealistic and silly". The Croatian newspaper Jutarnji list claimed in a reportage that none of his family members had been killed during World War II, upon which he replied that these were "brutal lies and attacks on his family".


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: During 2015 and 2016, relations between Croatia and Serbia were further affected by to the ongoing migrant crisis, when Croatia decided to close its border with Serbia. In September 2015, Croatia barred all cargo traffic from Serbia, due to the migrant influx coming from Serbia in a move which further eroded the fragile relations between the two countries.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: In response to these actions, Vučić announced that counter measures will be enacted if an agreement with Croatia is not reached.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: The dispute was eventually resolved through the mediation of the EU Commission, yet the relations between the two neighboring countries remain fragile.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: On 31 March 2016, Vojislav Seselj, leader of the Serbian Radical Party, was acquitted of War Crime charges in the Hague Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia. The verdict has caused controversy in Croatia. Vučić distanced himself from Šešelj and his policy, but stated that the verdict should not be used as a tool for political pressure on Serbia.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: On 7 April 2016 Croatia refused to endorse the EU Commission opinion to open Chapter 23, a part of Serbia's EU accession negotiations, thus effectively blocking Serbia’ EU integration process. Serbia accused Croatia of obstructing its EU membership, and Vučić said that his government was: ""Stunned by Croatia's decision not to support Serbia's European path.""


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: Vučić has maintained traditional good relations between Serbia and Russia, and his government refused to enact sanctions on Russia, following the crisis in Ukraine and the Annexation of Crimea. Vučić has repeatedly announced that Serbia will remain committed to its European integration, but also maintain historic relations with Russia.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: "We have proven our sincere and friendly attitude to Russia by being one of the European countries that refused to impose sanctions on Russia," Vučić said after meeting with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. "Serbia will continue pursuing this policy in the future."


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: During Vučić’s mandate, Serbia has continued to expand its economic ties with Russia, especially by increasing Serbian exports to Russia. In early 2016, after a meeting with the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, Vučić announced the possibility of Serbia boosting its military cooperation with Russia by purchasing Russian missile systems.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: In December 2017, Vučić made an official visit to the Russian Federation for the first time as the President of Serbia. He expressed his gratefulness to Russia for protecting Serbian national interests, and stated that: "Serbia will never impose sanctions on the Russian Federation (in relation to the international sanctions during the Ukrainian crisis)". During his visit, he focused on strengthening cooperation in the field of military industry and energy.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: On 25 February 2022, Vučić said Serbia would not impose sanctions against Russia during the 2022 Russian-Ukraine War.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: In July 2017 Vučić visited the United States and met with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, where they discussed U.S. support for Serbia's efforts to join the European Union, the need for continued reforms, and further progress in normalizing the relationship with Kosovo. Referencing the proposed land swap arrangement between Serbia and Kosovo, U.S. national security advisor John Bolton has said that the United States would not oppose a territorial exchange between Kosovo and Serbia to resolve their long-running dispute. The U.S. State Department continues to maintain that the full normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo is "essential for regional stability", which Vučić has said before.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: Vučić has sought closer cooperation with China. He has met with Chinese president Xi Jinping in 2016, 2018, and 2019. After meeting with Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, he secured Chinese help in combating the COVID-19 pandemic in Serbia through delivery of PPE and CoronaVac vaccine doses, which has contributed to Serbia leading COVID-19 vaccination rates in Europe.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: In 2014, Dunja Mijatović, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, wrote Vučić and made attention with the suppression of the media, which he denied and demanded an apology from OSCE. According to the 2015 Freedom House report and the 2017 Amnesty International report, media outlets and journalists has become subject to pressure after criticizing the government of Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić. Also, Serbian media are heavily dependent on advertising contracts and government subsidies which make journalists and media outlets exposed to economic pressures, such as payment defaults, termination of contracts and the like. Four popular political talk TV programs were cancelled in 2014, including the renowned political talk show Utisak nedelje by Olja Bećković, running since 24 years and well known for its critical scrutiny of all governments since. In first report after Vučić took the office, European Commission expressed concerns about deteriorating conditions for the full exercise of freedom of expression. Report said there was a growing trend of self-censorship which combined with undue influence on editorial policies. Reports published in 2016 and 2018 stated that no progress was made to improve conditions for the full exercise of freedom of expression. In July 2016, the ruling party organized an exhibition of government-critical press articles and social media posts, labeled as ‘lies’, saying that they wanted to document wrongful attacks and to prove there is no official censorship. In 2017, Freedom House reported that Serbia posted one of the largest single-year declines in press freedom among all the countries and territories. Also, they emphasized that Vučić had sought to squeeze critical media out of the market and discredit the few journalists with the funds and fortitude to keep working. Some commentators have described that Vučić built the cult of personality, with the significant role of mass media.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: Observers described that during the campaign for the 2017 presidential election, Vučić had ten times more airtime on national broadcasters than all other candidates combined and mainstream media under Vučić's control have been demonizing most of the opposition presidential candidates, without giving them the opportunity to respond. Organizations that observed the elections emphasized that the presence of Vučić in newspaper and the electronic media during the presidential campaign was disproportionate, adding that media have lost their critical role and that they have become a means of political propaganda. The OSCE Report explains that general reluctance of media to report critically on or to challenge the governing authorities, significantly reduced the amount of impartial information available to voters. They also mentioned that the government used public resources to support Vučić. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reported harassment and physical assaults on journalists during the presidential inauguration ceremony, after Vučić won the elections.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: In 2018, International Research & Exchanges Board described the situation in the media in Serbia as the worst in recent history, and that Media Sustainability Index dropped because the most polarized media in almost 20 years, an increase in fake news and editorial pressure on media. They also pointed out that the judiciary responds promptly only in cases in which the media allegedly violates the rights of authorities and ruling parties. The increased government control of the media comes as Serbian journalists face more political pressure and intimidation, in 2018 "the Independent Association of Serbian Journalists" recorded the highest number of attacks against journalists in decade. According to Serbian investigative journalism portal "Crime and Corruption Reporting Network", more than 700 fake news were published on the front pages of pro-government tabloids during 2018. Many of them were about alleged attacks on Vućić and attempts of coups, as well as messages of support to him by Vladimir Putin. The best-selling newspaper in Serbia is the pro-government tabloid "Informer", which most often presents Vučić as a powerful person under constant attack, and also has anti-European content and pro-war rhetoric. After Vučić was hospitalized for cardiovascular problems in November 2019, his associates and pro-regime media accused the journalists of worsening the president's health by asking questions about alleged corruption by government ministers. The Council of Europe warned that the investigative outlet was target of smear campaign from the state after they caught Vučić's son with members of crime groups, while the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project reported that Vučić "pledges to fight the lies". In early November 2021, seven US congressman have accused Vučić of deepening corruption and putting pressure on the media.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: Since Vučić's party came to power, Serbia has seen a surge of internet trolls and pages on social networks praising the government and attacking its critics, free media and the opposition in general. That includes a handful of dedicated employees run fake accounts, but also the Facebook page associated with a Serbian franchise of the far-right Breitbart News website. On 26 March 2020 Twitter announced that they shut down the network of 8,500 spam accounts that wrote 43 million tweets – acted in concert to cheerlead for president Vučić and his party, boost Vučić-aligned content and attack his opponents.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: Some have compared Vučić to other strongmen in European politics and, as noted above, accused him of being an autocrat.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: Until 2008, Vučić was a disciple of the Greater Serbia ideology, which he testified was envisaged as extending to a western border running along the Virovitica–Karlovac–Karlobag line. In 1995, during the Croatian War of Independence, Vučić said in Glina (which was at the time controlled by Serbs rebels) that 'Serbian Krajina' and Glina would never be Croatian, Banovina would never be returned to Croatia, and that if Serbian Radical Party had won elections, Serbs would have lived in Greater Serbia. In another speech from the early 2000s, Vučić called Karlobag, Ogulin, Karlovac and Virovitica "Serbian towns", stated that "they [SRS's critics] rejoice that Ustaše (referring to Croats) have occupied Serbian lands and want to convince us Serbian radicals that it wasn't Serbian, that we were saying nonsenses. (...) We want what's ours, Serbian." After split from the Serbian Radical Party and creation of the Serbian Progressive Party, Vučić said he no longer supports the Greater Serbia ideology.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: On 1 September 2020, Montenegrin President Milo Đukanović accused Vučić and Belgrade-based media of interfering in the internal politics of Montenegro, as well of alleged trying to revive a "Greater Serbia policy".


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: Only a few days after more than 8,000 Muslim Bosniaks were killed by the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) and paramilitary groups from Serbia in the Srebrenica massacre, Vučić said on 20 July 1995 in the National Assembly in a comment on the NATO bombing campaign against the VRS positions that "for every Serb killed, we will kill 100 Muslims". In 2015, he said that his statement from 1995 was "taken out of context" and "that was not the essence of that sentence."


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: Before leaving the Radical Party of Vojislav Šešelj, Vučić openly and publicly celebrated and called for the protection of Ratko Mladić, a military leader convicted of committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. In 2007, while Mladić was still at large in Serbia, Vučić distributed posters with the declaration "Safe House for General Mladić". During a parliament session he stated that the Serbian Parliament will always protect and be a safe house for the general and that any house in Serbia that bears the last name of Vučić will protect and shelter Mladić.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: In the same year, Vučić organized a street protest during which street signs with the name of the assassinated pro-western Serbian PM were replaced with Ratko Mladić Boulevard street signs. This vandalism has become a frequent activity of Serbian ultra-right groups on the anniversary of the Zoran Đinđić assassination.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: Vučić also participated in protests against the arrests of war criminals convicted later, including Veselin Šljivančanin, Radovan Karadžić, and Vojislav Šešelj, who was president of his party.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: It was during Vučić's term as the Minister of Information that Slavko Ćuruvija, a prominent journalist who reported on the Kosovo War, was murdered in a state-sponsored assassination. In 1999, before the assassination took place, Vučić gave a front page interview to the tabloid "Argument" in which he stated "I will have my revenge on Slavko Ćuruvija for all the lies published in "Dnevni telegraf" ("Ćuruvija's paper"). In 2014, Vučić apologized to the Ćuruvija family for having waited so long to bring the perpetrators to justice, and thanked everyone who was involved in solving the case for their work. Branka Prpa, Ćuruvija's common-law spouse, said Vučić participated in the murder and that he is the creator of the practice of persecution of journalists.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: On 27 July 1997, Vučić married Ksenija Janković, a journalist at Radio Index and "Srpska reč". The couple had two children before divorcing in 2011. Janković died on 29 January 2022. On 14 December 2013, Vučić married Tamara Đukanović, a diplomat with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia. On 9 June 2017, a week after Vučić took the presidential office, his wife gave birth to a son.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: During the opposition period, he has frequently appeared in popular TV shows. In 2006, Vučić became the winner of the first season of the Serbian version of "The Pyramid", a talk show with a competitive element broadcast on Pink TV. He was the first politician who participated in the humanitarian dance contest "Plesom do snova" (in 2009) and the first politician to guest-star on a late-night talk show "Veče sa Ivanom Ivanovićem" (in 2010). He also was a guest judge in one episode of the third season of "Zvezde Granda", the most popular music competition in Balkans.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: On 15 November 2019, he was hospitalized at a military hospital in Belgrade due to apparent "cardiovascular issues". Three days later it was reported that he was released. Some, including his media advisor and the deputy mayor of Belgrade, have claimed that his health problems were in part due to pressure from journalists. Vučić explicitly denied this at a media conference shortly after his hospital stay, stating that these health issues were chronic in nature.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: On 8 April 2020, it was revealed that Vučić's 22-year-old son, Danilo, had contracted the coronavirus and was admitted to the Infectious Diseases Clinic in Belgrade.


title: Aleksandar Vučić

text: During July 2020 Vučić became a student at Belgrade's College of sports and health, with the goal to become a basketball trainer for juniors after he ends his political career. Some Serbian journalists have reported that a mandatory condition for entering the College was active participation in sports for three years, which was removed from the official website shortly after Vučić's enrolment.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Mystery Science Theater 3000 (abbreviated as MST3K) is an American science fiction comedy film review television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. It then moved to nationwide broadcast, first on The Comedy Channel/Comedy Central for seven seasons until its cancellation in 1996. Thereafter, it was picked up by The Sci-Fi Channel and aired for three more seasons until another cancellation in August 1999. A 60-episode syndication package titled "The Mystery Science Theater Hour" was produced in 1993 and broadcast on Comedy Central and syndicated to TV stations in 1995. In 2015, Hodgson led a crowdfunded revival of the series with 14 episodes in its eleventh season, first released on Netflix on April 14, 2017, with another six-episode season following on November 22, 2018. A second successful crowdfunding effort in 2021 will bring at least 13 additional episodes to be shown through the Gizmoplex, an online platform that Hodgson will develop for future "MST3K" works that launched in March 2022. , 218 episodes and a have been produced as well as three live tours.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: The show initially starred Hodgson as Joel Robinson, a janitor trapped by two mad scientists ("The Mads") on the Earth-orbiting "Satellite of Love", and forced to watch a series of B movies to monitor his reaction to them. To keep his sanity, Joel crafts sentient robot companions, including Tom Servo, Crow T. Robot, and Gypsy, to keep him company and help him humorously comment on each movie as it plays, a process known as riffing. Each two-hour episode would feature a single movie (often edited for time constraints), sometimes preceded by various old shorts and educational films, with Joel, Tom, and Crow watching in silhouette from a row of theater seats at the bottom of the screen. These "theater segments" were framed with interstitial sketches called "host segments". The show's cast changed over its duration; most notably, the character of Joel was replaced by Mike Nelson (played by Michael J. Nelson) halfway through the show's fifth season. Other cast members, most of whom were also writers for the show, include Trace Beaulieu, Josh Weinstein, Jim Mallon, Kevin Murphy, Frank Conniff, Mary Jo Pehl, Bill Corbett, Paul Chaplin, and Bridget Jones Nelson. The 2017 revival features a primarily new cast, including Jonah Ray who plays the new human test subject Jonah Heston, along with Felicia Day and Patton Oswalt as "The Mads" and Baron Vaughn, Hampton Yount, and Rebecca Hanson voicing Tom Servo, Crow T. Robot, and Gypsy, respectively. Season 13 brings back this cast while integrating Emily Connor, played by Emily Marsh, and others from the live tours in this era.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: "MST3K"s original run did not garner high viewership numbers. However, the show's popularity spread through online word-of-mouth by its fans known as "MSTies" or "Mysties" (who would remind others to "Keep circulating the tapes"), frequent repeats, syndication, and home media offerings produced by Rhino Entertainment. Currently, this popularity continues through Shout! Factory, who along with Hodgson, now own the rights to the show and supported the revived series. "MST3K" was listed as one of "Time" magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME" in 2007, and "TV Guide" has noted "MST3K" as one of the top cult television shows. The show won a Peabody Award in 1993, was also nominated for two Emmy Awards in 1994 and 1995, and for the CableACE Award from 1992 to 1997. The show was considered highly influential, contributing towards the practice of social television, and former cast members launched similar projects based on the riffing of films, including The Film Crew, RiffTrax (ongoing as of 2022), and Cinematic Titanic. "MST3K" also brought to light several older movies that had fallen into obscurity or had received little or no public attention when originally released. Many of these films were subsequently identified as among the worst movies ever made, most notably "".


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: While the cast of "MST3K" changed throughout its history, the basic premise of the show remains consistent: a human test subject—first Joel Robinson (Joel Hodgson), then Mike Nelson (Michael J. Nelson), and most recently Jonah Heston (Jonah Ray) and Emily Connor (Emily Marsh)—has been imprisoned aboard the spacecraft "Satellite of Love" by mad scientists (collectively called "The Mads") and is forced to watch a series of bad movies in order to find one that will drive the test subject insane.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: In an attempt to keep his sanity, Joel built sentient robots ("the bots") from parts aboard the "Satellite of Love", and they subsequently remained aboard with Joel's successors as test subjects. The Bots include Tom Servo, Crow T. Robot, GPC (formerly Gypsy) who is in charge of satellite operations, and Cambot, the silent recorder of the experiments. Crow and Servo join the human test subject in watching the film in the satellite's theater. To keep from going mad, the trio frequently comment and wisecrack during the movie, a process known as "riffing". At regular intervals throughout the movie, the hosts leave the theater and return to the bridge of the satellite to perform sketches (commonly called "host segments") that often satirize the film being watched.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: The general format of an "MST3K" episode has remained the same throughout the series' run. Episodes are approximately 90 minutes in running time (excluding commercial breaks) and begin with a short introductory segment in which the human host and the 'bots interact with the Mads before being sent the movie. During Joel Hodgson and Jonah Ray's tenures as hosts (and for a brief period at the start of the Mike Nelson era), the hosts and the Mads engage in an "invention exchange" in which they each show off their latest inventions. Sirens and flashing lights ("Movie Sign") then signal the characters to enter the theater.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: In the theater, the human host and 'bots' Tom and Crow sit in a row of theater seats, shown in silhouette along the bottom of the screen, an approach Hodgson called "Shadowramma". The three then riff on the film (which is sometimes accompanied by one or more shorts) as it plays for both them and the audience. Occasionally the silhouette format is used as a source of humor or as a means of creating unobtrusive censor bars for scenes containing nudity. The show transitions into and out of the theater via a "door sequence", a series of six doors that open or close as the camera (presumably Cambot) passes through them.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: At regular intervals throughout the episode, the characters leave the theater and perform sketches usually inspired by the events of the film or short being shown, frequently making use of original songs and prop comedy. Some sketches bring in new or recurring characters or other devices; the host would consult an external camera "Rocket Number Nine" to show events happening outside the "Satellite", and the "Hexfield Viewscreen" would be used to communicate with other characters from the ship's bridge. At the end of each sketch, "Movie Sign" (a reference to the concept of wormsign from Frank Herbert's classic sci-fi novel Dune), is triggered again and the characters must re-enter the theater.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: During Hodgson's period on the show, the final sketch aboard the "Satellite" often included reading of fan mail from the "MST3K Info Club". Fan mail readings decreased during Mike Nelson's tenure as host and were dropped entirely once the show moved onto the Sci-Fi Channel. The final sketch of an episode typically ends on the Mads, with the lead Mad asking their lackey to "push the button" to end the transmission and transitioning to the credit sequence. After the credits, a humorous short clip from the featured film (or the accompanying short, on occasion) is replayed as a "stinger" to end the episode.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: In November 1993, a limited selection of episodes were repackaged into an hour-long show titled "Mystery Science Theater Hour", meant to be better suited for off-network syndication. In these, the original episode was split into two parts of roughly 45 minutes each excluding commercials. New skits leading and ending each episode incorporated Mike Nelson portraying television host Jack Perkins in a parody of Perkins' "Biography" series in mock flattery of the "MST3K" episode being shown.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Hodgson is credited for devising the show's concept. Prior to the show, Hodgson was an up-and-coming comedian from Minneapolis having moved to Los Angeles and made appearances on "Late Night with David Letterman" and "Saturday Night Live". He had been invited by Brandon Tartikoff to be on a NBC sitcom co-starring Michael J. Fox, but Hodgson felt the material was not funny and declined (the proposed sitcom went unrealized). He further became dissatisfied with the Hollywood attitudes when they tried to double their offer, acquiring what he called a "healthy disrespect" for the industry. He moved back to Minneapolis-St. Paul, taking a job in a T-shirt printing factory that allowed him to conceive of new comedy ideas while he was bored. One such idea was the basis of "MST3K", a show to comment humorously on movies and that would also allow him to showcase his own prop comedy-style humor. Hodgson referred to these jokes as "riffs", based both on the idea of musical riffs as well as the idea of comedy riffs, a term he attributes to "The Simpsons"s writer Dana Gould. In terms of movie selection, Hodgson had recalled that his college roommate had a copy of "The Golden Turkey Awards", and he had previously wondered why no one had made any program about these "adorable, weird movies" listed within it.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Hodgson said that part of the idea for "MST3K" came from the illustration for the song "I've Seen That Movie Too" (drawn by Mike Ross) in the liner notes from Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" album, showing silhouettes of two people in a theater watching a movie. Hodgson also likened the show's setting to the idea of a pirate radio station broadcasting from space. Hodgson credits "Silent Running", a 1972 science-fiction film directed by Douglas Trumbull, as being perhaps the biggest direct influence on the show's concept. The film is set in the future and centers on a human, Freeman Lowell (Bruce Dern), who is the last crew member of a spaceship containing Earth's last surviving forests. His remaining companions consist only of three robot drones. "MST3K" and the Joel Robinson character occasionally reflected Lowell's hippie-like nature. Hodgson wanted the feel of the show to appear homemade, and cited the example of a crude mountain prop used during the "Saturday Night Live" sketch "Night on Freak Mountain" that received a humorous reaction from the studio audience as the type of aesthetic he wanted for the show. Hodgson had made dozens of such robots from random parts before as art that he sold to friends and others, and knew he could incorporate that into the show.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Both old movies and music inspired several of the show's character names as developed by Hodgson. The show's name came from the promotional phrase "Mystery Scientist" used by magician Harlan Tarbell and a play on the name of Sun Ra's band, the Myth Science Arkestra. The "3000" was added to spoof the common practice of adding "2000" to show and product names in light of then-upcoming 21st century, and Hodgson thought it would set his show apart to make it "3000". Dr. Forrester was named after the main character of "The War of the Worlds". The "Satellite of Love" was named after the song of the same name by Lou Reed. Crow T. Robot was inspired by the song "Crow" from Jim Carroll's "Catholic Boy", while Rocket Number 9's name was inspired by the original name of Sun Ra's album "Interstellar Low Ways".


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: The theater shots, the primary component of an episode, is taped in "Shadowrama". The "seats" were a black-painted foam core board sitting behind the seat (towards the camera) for the host, and stages for the Crow and Tom puppets. The human host wore black clothing while the robot puppets were painted black; the screen they watched was a white luma key screen as to create the appearance of silhouettes. The actors would follow the movie and the script through television monitors located in front of them, as to create the overall theater illusion.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: The "door sequence" was created to transition from host segments to the theater segments, which Hodgson took inspiration from the "Mickey Mouse Club", noting that the commonality to the title credits of "Get Smart" were coincidental. In devising this sequence, this also led to Beaulieu creating the dogbone-like shape of the "Satellite of Love" with additional inspiration taken from the bone-to-ship transition in the film "". Hodgson had wanted to use a "motivated camera" for taping, a concept related to motivated lighting; in this mode, all the shots would appear to have been taken from an actual camera that was part of the scene to make the scene appear more realistic. This led to the creation of Cambot as a robot that the host would speak to during host segments or recording them while in the theater, and Rocket Number Nine to show footage outside of the Satellite of Love.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: The show's theme song, the "Love Theme from Mystery Science Theater 3000", was written by Hodgson and Weinstein, which helped to cement some of the broader narrative elements of the show, such as the Mads and Joel being part of an experiment. The song was composed by Charlie Erickson with help from Hodgson in the style of Devo, The Replacements, and The Rivieras (particularly their cover of the song "California Sun") and sung by Hodgson. Initial shows used foam letters to make the show's title, but they later created the spinning-moon logo out of a 2-foot (0.6m) diameter fiberglass ball, covered with foam insulation and the lettering cut from additional foam pieces. Hodgson felt they needed a logo with the rotating effect as opposed to a flat 2D image, and though they had envisioned a more detailed prop, with the letters being the tops of buildings on this moon, they had no time or budget for a project of that complexity and went with what they had. Musical numbers would also be used as part of the host segments, which Hodgson said came out naturally from the riffing process; they would find themselves at times singing along with the movie instead of just riffing at it, and took that to extend songs into the host segments.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Hodgson approached Jim Mallon, at the time the production manager of KTMA, a low-budget local television station, with his idea of a show based on riffing on movies, using robots that were created out of common objects. Mallon agreed to help produce a pilot episode, and Hodgson hired on local area comedians J. Elvis Weinstein (initially going by Josh Weinstein but later changed to J. Elvis as to distinguish himself from Josh Weinstein, a well-known writer for "The Simpsons") and Trace Beaulieu to develop the pilot show. By September 1988, Hodgson, Mallon, Weinstein, and Beaulieu shot a 30-minute pilot episode, using segments from the 1968 science-fiction film "The Green Slime". The robots and the set were built by Hodgson in an all-nighter. Joel watched the movie by himself, and was aided during the host segments by his robots, Crow (Beaulieu), Beeper, and Gypsy (Weinstein). Hodgson used the narrative that his character named "Joel Hodgson" (not yet using his character name of Robinson) had built the "Satellite of Love" and launched himself into space. Camera work was by Kevin Murphy, who was employed by KTMA. Murphy also created the first doorway sequence and theater seat design. These initial episodes were recorded at the long since-defunct Paragon Cable studios and customer service center in Hopkins, Minnesota. On review, Hodgson found that of the robots, Beeper's design was not working well, and tried a quick modification by replacing its head with a toy gumball machine top, creating the basis of Tom Servo.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Mallon met with KTMA station manager Donald O'Conner the next month and managed to get signed up for thirteen episodes. Show production was generally done on a 24-hour cycle, starting with Mallon offering a few films from KTMA's library for the writers to select from. Riffing in these episodes was ad-libbed during taping using notes made during preliminary viewings of the selected film. Episodes from this era are noted for their low number of riffs - in some instances 15 minutes of the movie could be shown before the cast made any comments. The show had some slight alterations from the pilot — the set was lit differently, the robots (now Crow, Servo and Gypsy) joined Joel in the theater, and a new doorway countdown sequence between the host and theater segments was shot. The puppeteers worked personalities into their robots: Crow (Beaulieu) was considered a robotic Groucho Marx, Tom Servo (Weinstein) as a "smarmy AM radio DJ", and Gypsy (Mallon) modeled after Mallon's mother who had a "heart of gold" but would become disoriented when confronted with a difficult task. The development of the show's theme song would lead to establishing elements for the show's ongoing premise, with Hodgson now portraying himself as the character Joel Robinson.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: "Mystery Science Theater 3000" premiered on KTMA at 6:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1988 with its first episode, "Invaders from the Deep", followed by a second episode, "Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars" at 8:00 p.m. The choice of running the premiere on Thanksgiving was by happenstance, as the station felt the show was ready to go at that point, according to Hodgson. Initially, the show's response was unknown, until Mallon set up a phone line for viewers to call in. Response was so great that the initial run of 13 episodes was extended to 21, with the show running to May 1989. Hodgson and Mallon negotiated to secure the rights for the show for themselves, creating Best Brains, Inc., agreeing to split ownership of the idea equally. During this time a fan club was set up and the show held its first live show at Scott Hansen's Comedy Gallery in Minneapolis, to a crowd of over 600.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Despite the show's success, the station's overall declining fortunes forced it to file for bankruptcy reorganization in July 1989. At the same time, HBO was looking to build a stable of shows for their upcoming Comedy Channel cable network. HBO approached Best Brains and requested a sample of their material. Hodgson and Mallon provided a seven-minute demo reel, which led to the network greenlighting "MST3K" as one of the first two shows picked up by the new network.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: The Comedy Channel offered Best Brains $35,000 per episode but allowed Best Brains to retain the show's rights. Best Brains was also able to keep production local to Minnesota instead of the network's desire to film in New York City or Los Angeles, as it would have cost four times more per episode, according to Hodgson. Best Brains established an office and warehouse space in Eden Prairie for filming. With an expanded but still limited budget, they were able to hire more writers, including Mike Nelson, Mary Jo Pehl, and Frank Conniff, and build more expansive sets and robot puppets. They retained the characters of Dr. Forrester (Beaulieu) and Dr. Erhardt (Weinstein) from the KTMA era and crafted the larger narrative of each episode being an "experiment" they test on Joel. The show began its national run shortly after the Comedy Channel went on the air in November 1989.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: "MST3K" was considered Comedy Channel's signature program, generating positive press about the show despite the limited availability of the cable channel nationwide. After the second season, The Comedy Channel and rival comedy cable network HA! merged to become CTV: The Comedy Network (later changed to Comedy Central). During this period, "MST3K" became the newly merged cable channel's signature series, expanding from 13 to 24 episodes a year. To take advantage of the show's status, Comedy Central ran "Turkey Day", a 30-hour marathon of "MST3K" episodes during Thanksgiving 1991. The name of the event was not only inspired by the traditional turkey meal served on Thanksgiving, but also by use of "Turkey" from "The Golden Turkey Awards" to represent bad movies. This tradition would be continued through the rest of the Comedy Central era. Though the show did not draw large audience numbers compared to other programming on Comedy Central, such as reruns of "Saturday Night Live", the dedicated fans and attention kept the show on the network.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: "" was produced during the later half of the Comedy Central era and had a very limited theatrical release in 1996 through Universal Pictures and Gramercy Pictures. It featured Mike and the bots subjected to the film "This Island Earth" by Dr. Forrester. Though well received by critics and fans, the film was a financial disappointment due to its limited distribution.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: The cable network was able to provide a wider library of films for Best Brains to riff from. To ensure that they would be able to produce a funny episode, at least one member of the staff would watch the suggested films completely, generally assuring that the movie would be prime for jokes throughout. Conniff stated that he often would have to watch around twenty films in their entirety before selecting one to use for the show. In one specific case, the second-season episode with the 1969 film "The Sidehackers", they had only skimmed the first part of the movie before making the decision to use it, and only later discovered that it contained a scene where a female character is brutally raped and murdered. They decided to stay committed to the film, but cut out the offending scene and had to explain the sudden absence of the affected character to the audience. After this, they carefully scrutinized entire films for other such offensive content, and once one was selected and assured the rights, committed to completing the episode with that film. Obtaining the rights was handled by the cable networks. Some licensing required buying film rights in packages, with the selected bad movies included in a catalog of otherwise good films, making the negotiations odd since the network was only interested in the bad film. Other times, the rights to the film were poorly documented, and the network would follow the chain of custody to locate the copyright owner as to secure broadcast rights.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: In contrast to the ad-libbing of riffs from KTMA, the riffs were scripted ahead of time by the writers. An average episode (approximately 90 minutes running time) would contain more than 600 such riffs, and some with upwards of 800 riffs. Riffs were developed with the entire writing staff watching the film together several times through, giving off-the-cuff quips and jokes as the film went along, or identifying where additional material would be helpful for the comedy. The best jokes were polished into the script for the show. Riffs were developed to keep in line with the characterization of Joel, Mike, and the 'bots. Further, the writers tried to maintain respect for the films and avoided making negative riffs about them, taking into consideration that Joel, Mike, and the 'bots were companions to the audience while watching the movie, and they did not want to come off sounding like jerks even if the negative riff would be funny. Hodgson stated that their goal in writing riffs is not to ridicule films as some have often mistaken, but to rather instead consider what they are doing as "a variety show built on the back of a movie".


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Production of an average episode of "MST3K" during the Comedy Central period took about five to nine days once the movie was selected and its rights secured. The first few days were generally used for watching the movie and scripting out the riffs and live action segments. The subsequent days were then generally used to start construction of any props or sets that would be needed for the live action segments while the writers honed the script. A full dress rehearsal would then be held, making sure the segments and props worked and fine tuning the script. The host segments would then be taped on one day, and the theater segments on the next. A final day was used to review the completed work and correct any major flaws they caught before considering the episode complete. Live scenes used only practical special effects, and there was minimal post-editing once taping was completed.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Weinstein left the show after the first Comedy Channel season, reportedly in disagreement with Hodgson about moving toward using scripted rather than ad-libbed jokes. Murphy replaced him as the voice of Tom Servo, portraying the 'bot as a cultured individual, while Dr. Erhardt was replaced with TV's Frank (Conniff).


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Hodgson decided to leave the series halfway through Season Five due to his dislike of being on camera and his disagreements with producer Mallon over creative control of the program. Hodgson also stated that Mallon's insistence on producing a feature film version of the show led to his departure, giving up his rights on the "MST3K" property to Mallon. Hodgson later told an interviewer: "If I had the presence of mind to try and work it out, I would rather have stayed. 'Cause I didn't want to go, it just seemed like I needed to." Though they held casting calls for a replacement for Hodgson on camera, the crew found that none of the potential actors really fit the role; instead, having reviewed a test run that Nelson had done with the 'bots, the crew agreed that having Nelson (who had already appeared in several guest roles on the show) replace Hodgson would be the least jarring approach. The replacement of Joel by Mike would lead to an oft-jokingly "Joel vs. Mike flame war" among fans, similar to the "Kirk vs. Picard" discussions in the "Star Trek" fandom.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Conniff left the show after Season Six, looking to get into writing TV sitcoms in Hollywood. TV's Frank was soon replaced on the show by Dr. Forrester's mother, Pearl (Pehl).


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: By 1996, Comedy Central had started creating an identity for its network under new leadership of Doug Herzog, which would lead to successful shows like "The Daily Show", "Win Ben Stein's Money", "South Park" and "Dr. Katz Professional Therapist" leaving "MST3K" as an oddity on the network taking up limited program space. Herzog, though stating that "MST3K" "helped put the network on the map" and that its fans were "passionate", believed it was necessary to change things around due to the show's declining and lackluster ratings. The network cancelled "MST3K" after a six-episode seventh season.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: The show staff continued to operate for as long as they still had finances to work with. "MST3K"s fan base staged a write-in campaign to keep the show alive. This effort led the Sci-Fi Channel, a subsidiary of USA Networks, to pick up the series. Rod Perth, then-president of programming for USA Networks, helped to bring the show to the Sci-Fi Channel, stating himself to be a huge fan of the show and believing that "the sci-fi genre took itself too seriously and that this show was a great way of lightening up our own presentation".


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Writing and production of the show remained relatively unchanged from the Comedy Central period. Before Season Eight commenced filming, Beaulieu opted to leave the show, feeling that anything creative that would be produced by Best Brains would belong to Mallon, and wanted to have more creative ownership himself. To replace Dr. Forrester, two new sidekicks to Pearl were introduced: Professor Bobo (Murphy) and the Observer a.k.a. "Brain Guy" (Corbett). In addition, Corbett took over Crow's voice and puppetry and Best Brains staffer Patrick Brantseg took over Gypsy in the middle of Season Eight. With this replacement, the series' entire original cast had been turned over.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: "MST3K" ran for three more seasons on the Sci-Fi Channel. During the Sci-Fi era, Best Brains found themselves more limited by the network: the pool of available films was smaller and they were required to use science fiction films (as per the network's name and programming focus), and the USA Network executives managing the show wanted to see a story arc and had more demands on how the show should be produced. Conflict between Best Brains and the network executives would eventually lead to the show's second cancellation. Peter Keepnews, writing for "The New York Times", noted that the frequent cast changes, as well as the poorer selection of films that he felt were more boring than bizarre in their execution, had caused the show to lose its original appeal. Another campaign to save the show was mounted, including several "MST3K" fans taking contributions for a full-page ad in the trade publication "Daily Variety" magazine, but unlike the first effort, this campaign was unsuccessful.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: The season 10 finale, "", premiered on August 8, 1999, during which, in the show's narrative, Pearl Forrester accidentally sent the "Satellite of Love" out of orbit, with Mike and the 'bots escaping and taking up residence in an apartment near Milwaukee, where they continue to riff movies. A "lost" episode produced earlier in the season but delayed due to rights issues, "Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders", was the final season 10 episode of "MST3K" (and the last of the original run), broadcast on September 12, 1999. Reruns continued to air on the Sci Fi Channel for several years, ending with "The Screaming Skull" on January 31, 2004. The shows later moved to off-network syndication.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Starting in 2010, Hodgson had been trying to bring back "MST3K", spurred on by fan appreciation of the cast and crew 25 years since the show's premiere and the success of his "Cinematic Titanic" project. Hodgson also considered the timing to be ideal, with non-traditional outlets like Netflix picking up original series, and the success of crowdfunding for entertainment projects. However, Hodgson needed to reacquire the rights to the series, at that point still held by Mallon and Best Brains. By 2013, Hodgson was working closely with Shout! Factory, the distribution company handling the home media releases of "MST3K", and completed negotiations with Mallon to buy the rights for "MST3K" for a seven-figure sum by August 2015, enabling a Kickstarter campaign to fund the revival to move forward. Hodgson felt the Kickstarter approach was necessary so that the show's style and approach would be determined by fans rather than through a network if he had sought traditional broadcast funding, as well as to demonstrate the demand for the show through a successful campaign.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: The Kickstarter was launched in November 2015, seeking $2 million for the production of three episodes, with stretch goals with additional funding for 12 total episodes. The Kickstarter effort was led by Ivan Askwith, a consultant who also had worked on the "Veronica Mars" and "Reading Rainbow" Kickstarter campaigns. Hodgson estimated each episode would take $250,000 to make, in addition to five-figure movie licensing rights, in contrast to $100,000 per episode needed for the original series. The campaign reached its base funding within a week of its launch. On the final day of the campaign, Hodgson and Shout! ran a streaming telethon which included appearances from the newly selected cast and crew, and various celebrities that supported the revival to help exceed the target funding levels for twelve episodes. The campaign ended on December 11, 2015, with total funding of $5,764,229 from 48,270 backers, with an additional $600,000 in backer add-ons, which allowed Hodgson to plan two more additional episodes, including a Christmas episode, to bring the total season to fourteen episodes. The Kickstarter became the largest one for Film & Video, surpassing the $5.70 million raised for the "Veronica Mars" film, but was ultimately surpassed in March 2019 for an animated series based on the web series "Critical Role".


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Hodgson believed that the revival would need a whole new cast, pointing out that the cast had completely turned over in the original series. Comedian Jonah Ray plays Jonah Heston, the new host aboard the Satellite of Love, watching and riffing on the films. Hodgson had met Ray while recording an episode of "The Nerdist Podcast", and felt he would be a good fit. The voices of Crow and Tom Servo are provided by comedians Hampton Yount and Baron Vaughn, respectively, both of whom Ray recommended to Hodgson. Hodgson felt it was important for Ray to have his say on who would play these parts, since it would help Ray be comfortable in the role. Felicia Day plays Kinga Forrester, Clayton Forrester's daughter and one of the new Mads in charge of the experiments, now operating out of a moon base known as "Moon 13". Day had been one of the last to be cast, as Hodgson had scripted out the concept for Forrester's daughter while casting Ray and the others. Hodgson had met Day at the 2015 Salt Lake Comic Con, where she stated her love of "MST3K" to him. Hodgson had seen Day's performance in shows like "The Guild" and "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog", and felt she matched his idea for the character he had envisioned. Patton Oswalt plays Kinga's henchman, Max, or as his character prefers to be known, "TV's Son of TV's Frank"; Hodgson had already planned to invite Oswalt, a longtime friend and self-professed MST3K fan, as a special guest writer for an episode of the revived series, but decided during the Kickstarter that he would also be a good fit on-camera. Rebecca Hanson, an alum of The Second City, took the role of Gypsy as well as Synthia, a clone of Pearl Forrester who assists Kinga. Har Mar Superstar leads the "Skeleton Crew", a house band in Kinga's lair.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Pehl, Corbett, and Murphy cameo on the revival, reprising their roles as Pearl, Brain Guy, and Professor Bobo, respectively. Hodgson opened up to the show any of the other cast members to make cameo appearances or aid in the creative process. However, Nelson and Beaulieu stated that they would not be involved with the MST3K revival; Nelson said, "The brand does not belong to me, and I make and have made (almost) zero dollars off it since it stopped production in 1999." Conniff noted on his Twitter that Shout! Factory would be "cutting [the former cast members] in, financially at least" on the profits from the series. In addition, other cameos on the new episodes include Neil Patrick Harris, Jerry Seinfeld, and Mark Hamill as P.T. Mindslap. Weinstein initially stated that he had no interest in returning to the show, but eventually reprised his role as Dr. Laurence Erhardt in the second season of the Netflix revival.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Hodgson aimed to follow in the pattern of what made for fan-favorite episodes from the original series, borrowing equally from the Joel and Mike eras; he noted there were about 30 episodes that he and fans universally agreed were the show's best, and expected to use these as templates as the basis of the new show. The new episodes include the Invention Exchange that had been part of the Joel era (and some of the Mike era) of the show. Additionally, while not required by the streaming format of Netflix, the new episodes include bumpers that would have wrapped around commercial breaks if shown on network television; Hodgson considered these breaks necessary as a "palate cleanser" as well as to support the narrative for Kinga attempting to commercialize on the "MST3K" brand.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Behind the scenes, the lead writer was Elliott Kalan, former head writer for "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and host of "The Flop House", a podcast about bad movies. Dan Harmon and Joel McHale also wrote for the show, along with the on-screen cast members. Hodgson also brought in guest writers for certain episodes that included Justin Roiland, Rob Schrab, Nell Scovell, Ernie Cline, Pat Rothfuss, Dana Gould, and Tammy Golden. Additionally, Paul & Storm and Robert Lopez composed original songs for the new episodes.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: The revival retains the live, handcrafted look from the original, a decision that Hodgson had to set down against others involved in production. Set and prop designers included Wayne White, Aaron Somers, Pen Ward, Rebecca Sugar and her younger brother Steven, Justin Jacobs, and Guy Davis, while live and practical special effects were planned by Adam Savage. Justin was tasked with creating full sized versions of new robots M. Waverly and Growler. Other returning staff included: Charlie Erickson, who composed the original show's theme song and composed the new show's theme and other musical arrangements; Beth "Beez" McKeever, who worked on the original show's props and designed costumes and props for the new show; Crist Ballas created hair and makeup design; and Paul Chaplin, one of the show's original writers to help write the new shows, along with contributions from Pehl and Corbett. Hodgson himself remained primarily off-camera as the executive producer for the remake, though does appear briefly as Ardy, one of Kinga's henchmen who send Jonah the episode's movie. Hodgson was assisted by Kalan, Richard Foos, Bob Emmer, Garson Foos, Jonathan Stern, and Harold Buchholz. The revival was produced by the companies Satellite of Love, LLC, Alternaversal Productions, and Abominable Pictures.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Production for the new season began on January 4, 2016, with movie selection and script writing. The film selection was narrowed down to about twenty movies as of February 2016, with the rights obtained for about half of them, while Shout! Factory was working to secure worldwide distribution rights for the others. Hodgson noted that the films were more recent than those used on the original series, with "maybe one" from the 1950s/1960s, but did not want to reveal what these films were until the episodes were broadcast as to have the biggest comedic effect on the audience.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Recording and most of the production was completed over September and October 2016 in Los Angeles on a very condensed schedule. In the revival, Ray, Yount, and Vaughn recorded the riffs for all fourteen episodes in a sound studio over a period of a week, allowing them to better synchronize the riffs with the film. This also helped to simplify the process of recording the theater segments, since they then only needed to act out their parts. The 'bots were controlled by multiple puppeteers both in the theater and in skits; Yount and Vaughn used radio-controlled equipment to move the 'bots' mouths, while members from The Jim Henson Company helped with manipulating the bodies, allowing them to achieve effects they could not do in the series' original run such as having Crow appear to walk on his own. All skits for the episodes were completed within a single day, which did not allow them for doing multiple takes unless necessary.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Campaign backers at higher tiers were able to see the first episode at limited "Red Carpet Kickstarter Screening" events shown in a few theaters during February and March 2017. The fourteen episodes were released on Netflix on April 14, 2017, though Kickstarter backers had the opportunity to see the episodes in the days preceding this.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: During the 2017 "Turkey Day" Marathon, Hodgson announced that Netflix had greenlit a twelfth season of "MST3K". Shooting of the twelfth season started on June 4, 2018 and would have six episodes, written to encourage bingewatching and make the series more amenable to non-fans. Further, they created a stronger narrative in the host segments, so that casual viewers would recognize the series having a definitive start, middle, and end. Other changes included Rob Schrab coming on as co-director, and actress Deanna Rooney, Ray's wife, playing Dr. Donna St. Phibes, a "B-movie monster conservationist" who works with the Mads. Former cast member Weinstein returned to reprise his role as Dr. Erhardt. Hodgson had been trying to also bring back both Beaulieu and Conniff for this season, but could not work out the logistics in time.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: The 12th season was broadcast on Netflix on Thanksgiving aka "Turkey Day", November 22, 2018, which coincided with the show's 30th anniversary. To avoid conflicting with the new season's release, the annual Turkey Day Marathon was pushed forward to November 18, 2018.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: In November 2019, Hodgson confirmed to Kickstarter backers that the show would not return for a third season on Netflix, but that he would be looking into alternative outlets to carry the show. The two seasons made for Netflix will remain on the service. Ray stated in an April 2020 interview that "Joel's got some ideas in the pipeline, and it's pretty exciting, what he's working on", and expected further news later in the year. Hodgson had praised Netflix for helping to bring new fans to "MST3K" and said that his production company Alternaversal Productions was still looking for ways to bring the show back through other means, though he did criticize Netflix for forcing an embargo that kept him from providing updates to his fans on the progress on the show until they were ready to announce details.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: On April 7, 2021, Hodgson launched a second Kickstarter campaign to continue production of more "MST3K" episodes. Given the difficulties with Netflix, Hodgson envisioned a sustainable production approach based on the support of fans and backers who wanted more episodes but without having to worry about the financial support of a broadcast or cable network. In this project, Hodgson set out to produce more episodes and the creation of "The Gizmoplex", an online platform designed to showcase these new episodes as well as reruns of past episodes and live events, presented as another experiment by the Mads. Hodgson said that while the Netflix support was helpful for the prior two seasons, the streamer had required the production team to produce all their episodes at once, which did not work well and resulted in creative burn-out. By using the Gizmoplex approach, the production team would be able to produce new content at their own pace. Further, by establishing the continuation of the show in the Gizmoplex format, "MST3K" could continue even without Hodgson's involvement, so long as the demand from fans of the show remained.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: During the Kickstarter, Hodgson confirmed that due to the name being seen by some as an ethnic slur against Romani and other itinerant peoples, Gypsy was renamed to GPC around 2019.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: The Kickstarter surpassed its minimum funding goal of within 25 hours of launch, and ended with over raised, assuring that thirteen regular episodes will be produced, including the series' first 3D episode as well as special Halloween and Christmas episodes. Most of the Netflix series cast — including Ray, Vaughn, Yount, Hanson, Day, and Oswalt — return to their roles. A new hosting cast features Emily Marsh, who had participated in the live tours during the Netflix years, portraying Emily Connor as the test subject, along with other live show performers Conor McGiffin, Kelsey Ann Brady, and Yvonne Freese voicing Tom, Crow, and GPC 2, respectively; Freese also will perform as Mega Synthia. The last name Connor was in reference to Sarah Connor from the "Terminator" franchise. Hodgson will also reprise his Joel Robinson character for two episodes. Pehl and Weinstein will also reprise their roles as Pearl Forrester and Dr. Laurence Erhardt, respectively, within this block of episodes. Further, Nelson, Murphy, and Corbett of RiffTrax will offer some of their material to be included among the Gizmoplex' archives.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: During the annual 2021 Turkey Day Marathon, the thirteen movies to be riffed as part of the 13th season were announced. These include: "Santo in The Treasure of Dracula", "Robot Wars", "Beyond Atlantis", "Munchie", "Doctor Mordrid", "Demon Squad", "Gamera vs. Jiger", "The Batwoman", "The Million Eyes of Sumuru", "H. G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come", "The Mask", "The Bubble", and "The Christmas Dragon". The first three were presented to backers as pre-release versions starting on March 4, 2022 as a means of testing the Gizmoplex. The public launch of the platform and the thirteenth season was released on May 6, 2022. The second and third episodes premiered in succeeding days, and with remaining episodes and shorts premiering every two weeks afterwards.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: The series broadcast between 1988 and 1999 spanned 197 episodes across ten seasons. The 2017 Netflix revival of fourteen episodes ("The Return") was followed by six additional episodes ("The Gauntlet") the next year.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: While the pilot episode of "The Green Slime" was used to sell the concept to KTMA, it never aired. The initial run of 21 episodes for KTMA were neither rerun nationally nor released onto home video, primarily due to rights issues. For many years, the first three KTMA episodes were considered to be "missing episodes", as no fan copies are known to exist, though master copies of all these episodes reportedly exist according to Mallon. In November 2016, Hodgson reported that master copies of two of the episodes, "Invaders from the Deep" and "Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars", had been found. The episodes were made available to Kickstarter backers of the new series on November 25, 2016.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: The credits in the first four seasons on Comedy Central included the phrase "Keep circulating the tapes" to encourage fans to share VHS tapings they made with others (as Comedy Central was not widely distributed then), despite the questionable copyright practice. Though the phrase was removed from the credits due to legal reasons, the concept of "keep circulating the tapes" was held by the show's fans to continue to help introduce others to the show following its broadcast run.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: An annual event in the Comedy Central era was the Turkey Day marathon that ran on or near the Thanksgiving holiday. The marathon would show between six and twelve rebroadcasts of episodes, often with new material between the episodes from the cast and crew. While the show was on Sci-Fi, one Thanksgiving Day marathon of "MST3K" was held during its first season, but lacked any new interstitial material.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Following its acquisition of the series rights, Shout! Factory has streamed Turkey Day marathons on Thanksgiving since 2013, broadcasting six "MST3K" episodes and wrapped with introductions from Hodgson alongside other cast members at times. The event was intended to be a one-off, but the fans' reaction to it led Hodgson and Shout! to continue the tradition in subsequent years. The 2015 Turkey Day coincided with the Kickstarter for the show's revival, while the 2016 Turkey Day includes the revival's new host Ray co-hosting alongside Hodgson. The 2017 Turkey Day was hosted by Hodgson, Ray and Felicia Day, and concluded with a surprise announcement that the show had been renewed on Netflix for another season.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Home video releases of "MST3K" episodes are complicated by the licensing rights of the featured film and any shorts, and as such many of the nationally televised episodes have not yet been released onto home video. Through the current distributor, Shout! Factory, over 100 of the films have been cleared for home media distribution. With Shout's release of the 39th volume of "MST3K" episodes in 2017, the company anticipated that only about a dozen episodes out of 197 from the original series' run will never make it to home video due to licensing rights issues of the movies featured.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Original home media releases were issued by Rhino Entertainment, initially starting with single disc releases before switching to semi-regular four-episode volume sets. According to Hodgson, the people at Rhino who were involved in the distribution of "MST3K" eventually left Rhino and joined Shout!, helping to convince that publisher to acquire the rights from Rhino. Since 2008, all releases of "MST3K" have been through Shout! (including some reprints of the first Rhino volume set) and have typically been multi-episode volumes or themed packs.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: In 2014, 80 episodes of the show were made available for purchase or rental on the video streaming site Vimeo. Shout! has uploaded some episodes to YouTube with annotations, as documented by "The Annotated MST" fansite, to explain some of the sources of the jokes in the riffs. In February 2015, Shout! launched its own streaming service, Shout! Factory TV, of which selected episodes of "MST3K" were included on the service. Selected episodes were also made available on demand through RiffTrax starting in November 2015. Twenty episodes from previous "MST3K" seasons were released by Netflix in all regions in anticipation of the revival series.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: All episodes of Season 11 were released on a DVD/Blu-Ray box set on April 17, 2018, which includes a documentary behind the making of the first revival season.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: In 1993, the show's staff selected 30 episodes to split into 60 one-hour segments for "The Mystery Science Theater Hour". The repackaged series' first-run airings of these half-shows ran from November 1993 to July 1994. Reruns continued through December 1994, and it was syndicated to local stations from September 1995 to September 1996, allowing stations to run the series in a one-hour slot, or the original two hour version. "MST3K" returned to television for the first time in ten years in July 2014, when RetroTV began broadcasting the series on Saturday nights, with an encore on Sunday evenings. The following year, they started showing on PBS member stations. In the summer of 2016, Sinclair Broadcast Group and MGM's joint venture sci-fi network Comet picked up the series for a weekly Sunday night double-run; by coincidence, Sinclair's CW station, WUCW in the Twin Cities, which had originated the series when it was KTMA-TV, carries Comet on their second subchannel, returning the series to its original home for the first time in 27 years. The show premiered on IFC on January 7, 2020. It also airs on Z Living.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: In 1996, Universal Pictures under the Gramercy Pictures Label released "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie", a film adaptation in which Mike and the bots riffed "This Island Earth". The film was released on DVD in the United States by Image Entertainment. Universal re-released the film on DVD on May 6, 2008, with a new anamorphic widescreen transfer, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix and the film's original trailer.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: In 1996, the book, "The Amazing Colossal Episode Guide" (written by many of the cast members), was released, which contained a synopsis for every episode from seasons one through six, and even included some behind-the-scenes stories as well. In it, Murphy related two tales about celebrity reactions he encountered. In one, the cast went to a taping of Dennis Miller's eponymous show; when they were brought backstage to meet Miller, the comedian proceeded to criticize the "MST3K" cast for their choice of movie to mock in the then-recent episode "Space Travelers" (a re-branded version of the Oscar-winning film "Marooned"). Murphy also discussed how he met Kurt Vonnegut, one of his literary heroes. When he had mentioned the show and its premise to Vonnegut, the author suggested that even people who work hard on bad films deserve some respect. Murphy then invited Vonnegut to dine with his group, which Vonnegut declined, claiming that he had other plans. When Murphy and friends ate later that night, he saw Vonnegut dining alone in the same restaurant, and remarked that he had been "faced...but "nicely" faced" by one of his literary heroes.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Dark Horse Comics announced on February 16, 2017 that it had planned a "MST3K" comic book series that was set for initial release in 2017. In June 2018, Dark Horse affirmed that the six-issue series would launch in September 2018, and would feature Jonah and the bots riffing on public domain comic books. The first comic was released on September 12, 2018 and it focuses on Jonah and the Bots trying to get out of comics while trying to save Crow when he starts to become a monster in the pages of Horrific. Hodgson oversaw the writing.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: The first "MST3K" live event was held on June 5 and 6, 1989 at the Comedy Gallery in Minneapolis. Jim Mallon served as the emcee of the event that featured stand-up sets by Joel, Josh Weinstein, and Trace Beaulieu. A Q&A session about the show was conducted, and the show's original pilot was shown. The robots and various props were on display for attendees to see.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: The first live riffing event, called "MST Alive!" was held at the Uptown Theater in Minneapolis on July 11, 1992. There were two showings, both with live riffing of the feature film "World Without End", as well as sing-alongs of different songs from the show, followed by a Q&A session. The event was hosted, in character, by Dr. Forrester, TV's Frank, Joel, and the Bots. A second version of "MST Alive!" was presented as a part of the first ever MST3K "ConventioCon ExpoFest-A-Rama" in 1994. In this show, Forrester and Frank forced Mike and the bots to watch "This Island Earth", a film which was later riffed as a part of "".


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Hodgson and the team for the 2017 revival announced an "MST3K" "Watch Out For Snakes Tour" during mid-2017 covering 29 cities in the United States and Canada. Jonah and the Bots riff on one of two films live for audiences, either "Eegah" (which had already been featured on the original run of "MST3K", and which popularized the riff "Watch out for snakes", but featured new riffs for this tour) or an unannounced surprise film: "Argoman the Fantastic Superman". The tour featured Ray, Yount and Hanson reprising their roles as Jonah Heston, Crow and Gypsy/Synthia. Vaughn was unavailable to perform Servo due to the birth of his child and the role was covered by Tim Ryder. The tour also featured Grant Baciocco as Terry the Bonehead, pre-recorded appearances from Day and Oswalt as Kinga and Max, and a live introduction from Hodgson.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Hodgson and Ray also toured in late 2018 as part of a 30th anniversary of "MST3K" in a similar format to the 2017 tour. Hodgson reprised the role of Joel Robinson and riffed movies alongside Ray and the bots during these shows. Ryder continued to perform Tom Servo, while Grant Baciocco, the lead puppeteer, voiced Crow. Rebecca Hanson also joined in her role as Synthia as the host of the show. Movies riffed at these shows included "The Brain" and "Deathstalker II". During the tour, Hodgson announced that Deanna Rooney will be joining the cast in the twelfth season as a new "Mad" working with Kinga and Max.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: The 2019 live tour, The Great Cheesy Movie Circus Tour, is promoted as Hodgson's "final live tour". Most of the tour dates feature the film "No Retreat, No Surrender", while a few show "Circus of Horrors". The tour was promoted with video production updates and on-the-road updates via the tour's official website. In addition to Joel, the parts of Crow and Servo are portrayed by Nate Begle and Conor McGiffin respectively. Yvonne Freese plays the part of Gypsy and Mega-Synthia, a clone of both Pearl Forrester and the original Synthia. Emily Marsh also features in the tour as the new character Crenshaw.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: The Time Bubble Tour started on November 2, 2021 in Cleveland, OH with Emily Marsh, Yvonne Freese, Nate Begle and Conor McGiffin reprising their parts from the 2019 tour. Kelsey Brady joined the cast as Swing Puppeteer. The film was Roland Emmerich's "Making Contact" (1985).


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: In 1996, during promotion for the film, Nelson and the bots were interviewed in-character on MTV, and seen in silhouettes heckling footage from MTV News featuring the band Radiohead. Also that year, Hodgson was a featured guest on Cartoon Network's "Space Ghost Coast to Coast".


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: In 1997, the videogame magazine "PlayStation Underground" (Volume 2, Number 1) included a Best Brains-produced "MST3K" short on one of their promotional discs. The video opened with a host segment of Mike and the Bots playing some PlayStation games, only to go into the theater to riff on some videos from the magazine's past. The feature is about seven minutes long. An Easter egg on the disc has some behind-the-scenes footage of Best Brains filming the sequences.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Nelson and the robot characters appeared in silhouette on an episode of "Cheap Seats", a TV series in which The Sklar Brothers commented on clips of sporting events in a manner similar to MST3K.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: In 2007, a new online animated web series, referred to as "The Bots Are Back!", was produced by Mallon. The series planned a weekly adventure featuring Crow, Tom Servo, and Gypsy, with Mallon reprising his role as Gypsy and Paul Chaplin as Crow. However, only a handful of episodes were released, and the series was abandoned due to budgetary issues. The general internet response to the webisodes was largely negative.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: In May 2020, Hodgson announced a special "Mystery Science Theater 3000 Live Riff-Along" with a planned date of May 3; the show featured Hodgson along with Emily Marsh, Conor McGiffin, Nate Begle, and Yvonne Freese, who had joined him during the 2019 "MST3K" live tour riffing atop the "MST3K" season one episode featuring "Moon Zero Two" and then riffing to a new short "Circus Days". In another charitable event, Hodgson, alongside Weinstein and Corbett reprising their voice roles as Crow and Tom Servo, riffed two new shorts as part of a crowdfunded effort to support MIGIZI, a Native American youth non-profit group whose headquarters were destroyed during the George Floyd protests in May 2020.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: In 2004, the show was listed as in a featured "TV Guide" article, "25 Top Cult Shows Ever!", and included a sidebar which read, "Mike Nelson, writer and star (replacing creator Joel Hodgson), recently addressed a college audience: 'There was nobody over the age of 25. I had to ask, "Where are you seeing this show?" I guess we have some sort of timeless quality.'" Three years later, "TV Guide" rewrote the article, and bumped "MST3K" to #13. In 2007, the show was listed as one of "Time" magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All-Time" (it was also chosen as one of the magazine's top 10 shows of 1990).


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: In 2012, the show was listed as #3 in "Entertainment Weekly"s "25 Best Cult TV Shows from the Past 25 Years", with the comment that ""MST3K" taught us that snarky commentary can be way more entertaining than the actual media."


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: The 2017 relaunch was met with critical acclaim; the first reboot season currently has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: The reactions of those parodied by "MST3K" have been mixed. Some notable negative reactions include that of Sandy Frank, who held the rights to several "Gamera" films parodied on the show. He said he was "intensely displeased" by the mockery directed at him. (The crew once sang the "Sandy Frank Song", which said that Frank was "the source of all our pain", "thinks that people come from trees", Steven Spielberg "won't return his calls", and implied that he was too lazy to make his own films.) Because of this, Frank reportedly refused to allow the shows to be rebroadcast once "MST3K"s rights ran out. However, this may in fact be a rumor, as other rumors indicate that the "Gamera" films distribution rights prices were increased beyond what Best Brains could afford as a result of the show's success. According to Shout! Factory, the Japanese movie studio Kadokawa Pictures were so horrified with MST3K's treatment of five "Gamera" films that they refused to let Shout release the episodes on home video. Brian Ward (one of the members of Shout! Factory) explained to fans on the forums of the official Shout! Factory website that they tried their best to convince them, but "the Japanese take their "Gamera" films very seriously and do not appreciate them being mocked". However, eventually Shout was able to clear the episodes for a special 2011 release due to the rights in North America shifting away from the Japanese to another, North American entity that had no such qualms.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Kevin Murphy has said that Joe Don Baker wanted to "beat up" the writers of the show for attacking him during riffing of "Mitchell". Murphy later stated that Baker probably meant it in a joking manner, although Mike Nelson has said that he had deliberately avoided encountering Baker while the two happened to be staying at the same hotel. Jeff Lieberman, director of "Squirm", was also quite angry at the "MST3K" treatment of his film.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Director Rick Sloane was shocked at his treatment at the conclusion of "Hobgoblins", in which Sloane himself was mercilessly mocked over the film's end credits. In a 2008 interview, however, Sloane clarified his comments, saying that "I laughed through the entire "MST3K" episode, until the very end. I wasn't expecting the humor to suddenly be at my own expense. I was mortified when they dragged out the cardboard cutout and pretended to do an interview with me. I was caught off guard. I had never seen them rip apart any other director before on the show." However, he credits the success of the "MST3K" episode with inspiring him to make a sequel to "Hobgoblins", released in 2009.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Others, however, have been more positive: Robert Fiveson and Myrl Schriebman, producers of "", said they were "flattered" to see the film appear on "MST3K". Actor Miles O'Keeffe, the star of the film "Cave Dwellers", called Best Brains and personally requested a copy of the "MST3K" treatment of the film, saying he enjoyed their skewering of what he had considered to be a surreal experience; according to Hodgson, O'Keeffe said his friends always heckled his performance in the film when it was on, and he appreciated the "MST3K" treatment. In the form of an essay and E. E. Cummings-esque poem, Mike Nelson paid tribute to O'Keeffe with a humorous mix of adulation and fear.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Rex Reason, star of "This Island Earth", made appearances at several "MST3K" events and credits "MST3K" with introducing the film to a new generation. The crew of "Time Chasers" held a party the night the "MST3K" treatment of their film aired and, while reactions were mixed, director David Giancola said, "Most of us were fans and knew what to expect and we roared with laughter and drank way too much. I had a blast, never laughed so hard in my life."


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: Actor Adam West, star of the 1960s "Batman" TV series, co-starred in "Zombie Nightmare", another film "MST3K" mocked. West apparently held no grudges, as he hosted the 1994 "Turkey Day" marathon in which the episode featuring "Zombie Nightmare" had its broadcast premiere. Mamie Van Doren (who appeared in episode 112, "Untamed Youth", and episode 601, "Girls Town"), Robert Vaughn (star of episode 315, "Teenage Cave Man", which he called the worst movie ever made) and Beverly Garland (who had appeared in many "MST3K"-featured Roger Corman films) also hosted at the marathon.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: In 1993, "MST3K" won a Peabody Award for "producing an ingenious eclectic series": "With references to everything from Proust to "Gilligan's Island", "Mystery Science Theater 3000" fuses superb, clever writing with wonderfully terrible B-grade movies". In 1994 and 1995, the show was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program, but lost both times to "Dennis Miller Live". Every year from 1992 to 1997, it was also nominated for CableACE Awards. Its DVD releases have been nominated for Saturn Awards in 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2018.


title: Mystery Science Theater 3000

text: The revival's first season was nominated for a Best Presentation on Television Saturn Award and a OFTA Television Award nod for Best Variety Program.