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Bring Back MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000

Created by Joel Hodgson & Team MST3K

You did it: you brought back MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000! Thanks to you, MST3K will be able to shoot FOURTEEN NEW EPISODES next year, including a new holiday special!

Latest Updates from Our Project:

MST3K's new season will be on NETFLIX! Plus: the return of Pearl, Bobo and Brain Guy!
over 7 years ago – Tue, Aug 02, 2016 at 12:00:53 AM

Dear MST3K Revival League,

Joel here. How is everyone? I hope you all had a good weekend.

This update took a few days longer to write than I wanted, because I had a few personal matters come up just after San Diego Comic-Con, so I'm just getting home.

But, you know, even if you weren't able to "tune in" last Saturday night when we posted it, I'm hoping you've now heard the big news that we announced, because it seems like it got around pretty fast.

After going to a lot of meetings with a lot of networks, and talking with lots of board rooms full of open-minded executives, we've finally reached a deal I'm thrilled about:

I'm really happy to tell you that Mystery Science Theater 3000 has found a new home with our friends at Netflix!

Now, we just wrapped up this deal last Saturday – just a couple hours before our panel – so I don't have all of the details and answers for you just yet. But the most important thing I can tell you is that this is a really great outcome for our show. I'll tell you more in a second, but here are a few other specific details you might want to know:

  • WHERE: We've reached a deal with Netflix to distribute MST3K in what our lawyers call "the English-speaking territories," which means you'll be able to watch Mystery Science Theater on Netflix in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Ireland. This is huge, because we’ve actually never been available outside of North America before.

(Now, if you're not in one of those countries, don't get too worked up yet. We're still looking at more international options. And no matter what, I promise: if your Kickstarter rewards include the new episodes, you will get them at the same time as everyone else, no matter where you live. We're not going to make you wait. You're not second-class citizens! You’re first class all the way.)

  • WHEN: The official announcement said that the new episodes will be released in "the not-too-distant future", and of course, I want to get them to you as soon as we can… but like I said earlier this year: I want to get these new episodes right, even if it takes a little longer to finish them. So, we don't have an official date yet, but we'll tell you as soon as we do.

Also, some of you are wondering what this means for your Kickstarter rewards, like the live-stream, the digital downloads of the new season, and the DVDs. But don't worry, my friends: We're going to do right by you. We made sure that Netflix knew about all of our Kickstarter promises, and made sure we'd still be able to honor them. So, even though the new season will be available on Netflix, it won't change when you get your rewards.

Why Netflix?

There are a lot of reasons that helped us decide Netflix was the best home for Mystery Science Theater, but I just want to tell you a few of the big ones.

I think one of the biggest reasons I'm glad we're on Netflix is length. See, MST is a lot longer than most television shows, because each episode includes most of a cheesy feature film. Back when we were first making MST3K, that wasn't a problem. In fact, it was really an advantage, because on KTMA, The Comedy Channel, Comedy Central and even Sci-Fi, there was a lot of unused airtime to fill up. So, having two-hour episodes was a good thing back then. But these days, broadcast and cable programming is really competitive, and it's a lot harder to keep one show on for two hours every week.

When we started talking to all of the different networks in December and January, there was a lot of enthusiasm about the show, but I think we figured out pretty fast that it would be best for MST3K to live on a digital platform. That way, no one would be worried about cutting the episodes in half or finding enough advertisers. Plus, the digital platforms are a little more comfortable with shows that are kind of weird, you know? Like, you don't have to be able to fit into quite as neat a box. That's good for us too.

Anyway, once we realized that Mystery Science Theater would work really well on a digital network, Netflix seemed like the best choice. They're kind of the 800-pound-gorilla in this space, and they've done a great job helping bring back some other cancelled shows. Also, I've been using Netflix for the past four or five years, and I think it’s great from a user perspective. And, even more important, lots of people already have Netflix – they're in over 80 million homes worldwide – which means that this gives us a really great chance for more people to discover our little show. And if more people start watching, it gives us a better chance of being renewed for more new seasons, which was always the goal.

Plus, Netflix is available in so many countries around the world, which made it easier to get the new episodes into a lot of those "English-speaking territories" at the same time, instead of trying to find a different network for each country. And you know, a lot of you wrote in over the last six months to tell us that you thought Netflix was the best new home for MST3K, so I felt pretty good about that, too.

And listen, I know there are probably still more questions about how this will all work, and what it will mean for the show. We’re still working through some of those details with Netflix, but as soon as I know more, I’ll tell you. For now, I just wanna say this again: I think this is a really, really good thing for us. I think Netflix will be a great place for Mystery Science Theater, and if they see enough people are watching the new episodes, I think it's really likely we'll be able to make more new seasons. So, I'm really happy about this, and I hope you are too.

But that's not all... I've got some more good news for you! 

During our panel last Saturday, I was really happy to finally announce something we've been working on for a while:

The wonderful Mary Jo Pehl, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett have agreed to visit and help out with the new season of MST3K!

Now, looking at some of the questions and comments on Facebook and Twitter, I think there was a little confusion about what this meant, so I'll tell you exactly what I announced at Comic-Con:

  • Mary Jo Pehl will guest star as Pearl Forrester. 
  • Kevin Murphy will guest star as Professor Bobo. 
  • Bill Corbett will guest star as Brain Guy.

And, to show our new team how the pros do it, Mary Jo and Bill have also joined the writing team for some of the new episodes, to make sure we've still got that "Original MST3K Flavor."

I'm really excited to have them back writing and on set with us, so it's great that we were able to make this work with their schedules. We're also in the process of working with other original cast members to see if we can get more of them to come back, because my goal has always been for all of the original cast to make it back to MST3K. If it doesn't happen this season, then hopefully it will happen in Season 12...

Now, there's a lot more fun stuff to show you and talk about from Comic-Con, but I want to write a little more about all of that, so I think I'm going to roll out the rest of it over the next few updates.

Before I finish, though, Ivan asked me to remind everyone:

All Kickstarter Reward Order Forms are due NOW, so if you haven't filled yours out, please finish it right now.

I guess we can't start making all of your rewards until we get most of the forms filled out, and there are still about 4,750 missing. And listen, I'm really pleased with all of the stuff we're making for you, so I want to make sure you get everything you paid for as soon as we can. Also, I think Ivan's going to go a little insane if we don't get this done... so, you know, help a brother out!

Okay. Have a good week, everyone.

Cheers & Thanks, 

Joel

 

BIG Announcement Tonight at 8:30pm PST!!!
over 7 years ago – Sat, Jul 23, 2016 at 11:13:42 PM

Dear MST3K Revival League,

Joel here. Hello from San Diego. I’m here in San Diego with Jonah, Felicia, Baron and Hampton. We’ve been doing a lot of interviews today, and in a few hours, we’ll be doing our official Comic-Con Panel.

Anyway, I just got some big news about the future of Mystery Science Theater. And, you know, it’s really wonderful timing, because it means I can share it with all of you tonight during our panel.

Oh, and if you’re not here in San Diego, no problem. I want to make sure all of our backers are able to hear the news right away, so we’ll be sharing it on our Facebook and Twitter pages right when our panel begins.

So, check out our Facebook and Twitter pages tonight at 8:30pm PST for a big announcement about the new season of MST3K!

See you soon, sirs.

Cheers and Thanks, 

Joel

MST3K at SDCC THIS WEEKEND! A Call for New Fan Mail! Plus: BackerKit Deadline Extended to 7/26!
over 7 years ago – Wed, Jul 20, 2016 at 10:39:27 PM

Hello, Friends!

It's Ivan. Joel wanted to write the first part of this update himself, but he's been tied up with final preparations for this weekend, when – thanks to you – MST3K will make a triumphant return to San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC). 

We've got a few time-sensitive announcements, though, so he asked me to cover for him.

Today, three things you should know:

1. Join MST3K in San Diego this Saturday, July 23!

If you're going to be in San Diego this weekend, we've got a whole lineup of MST3K events scheduled for Saturday afternoon… and one of them doesn't even require access to SDCC!

  • 12-3pm: PHOTO OPP w/ CROW & SERVO
    Crow and Tom Servo will be hanging out at the Shout! booth (4118) and available for photo opportunities. (To be clear, only their bodies will be there. Voices sold separately.)
  • 4:00pm: MST3K AT CAMP CONIVAL!
    Our friends from Nerdist and Geek & Sundry are holding a special Q&A session with Joel, Jonah, Baron, Hampton and Felicia on the Con-ival Main Stage, located on the second concourse at Petco Park. Best part: This event is open to the public and does not require a badge!
  • 5:15-6:15pm: SIGNING w/ JOEL & THE CAST
    Joel will be at the Shout! Booth (4118) with the new cast – Jonah, Baron, Hampton and Felicia – signing an exclusive poster designed just for SDCC. Fair warning: There are a limited number of tickets available, and they'll be available at Shout's booth starting Saturday morning.
  • 8:30pm: MST3K AT SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON!
    The main event: join us in ROOM 24ABC for "MST3K IS BACK!", our official SDCC panel. Joel, Felicia, Baron and Hampton will talk about the Kickstarter experience, why MSTies kick ass, and few exclusive new details about the upcoming Season 11. They may even read some new MST3K fan mail, live on stage! (More on that below.)

If you can't make it to San Diego Comic-Con for the panel, don't worry: We'll do our best to record the whole thing, and to share it with backers as soon as we have permission. Plus, we'll be sending a private update to backers, filling you in on everything that happens.

2. We need your letters and questions for Saturday's SDCC panel! 

One of our favorite parts of the Kickstarter (and last year's Turkey Day Marathon) was the return of an old MST3K tradition: reading and sharing your letters, artwork and stories with the entire MST3K community. And since we wouldn't be at Comic-Con without you, we want to make sure you're part of the panel too!

If you want Joel and our new cast to READ YOUR LETTER LIVE ON STAGE AT SDCC, send it to [email protected] by Saturday, July 23, at 12pm PST.

And if you've got photos, artwork, tattoos, handwritten messages from your kids, whatever… we'll have a huge screen to show them off, so send those too! 

We probably can't get to everyone, so we'll also share more of your messages on the MST3K Tumblr after SDCC… and who knows? Maybe some of them will even make it into the new episodes.

 

3. BackerKit deadline EXTENDED to Tuesday, July 26!

We asked you to get your REWARD ORDER FORMS filled out and returned as soon as you could, and most of you are already finished! As of now, 86% of you are done with your order forms, and we're super grateful.

But, here's the dashboard we look at every few hours:

If we don't get all of the order forms in on time, it either delays rewards for everyone, or it might mean we're not able to offer you a full choice of all of the rewards, so…

If you're one of the 6,825 souls who haven't completed your reward order form, please fill out it by Tuesday, July 26!

If you haven't received your BackerKit invitation yet…

  • It might have gotten trapped in spam! 
  • To have it sent again, go here and enter your email address. 
  • If that doesn't work, email [email protected] and let us know. 
  • We'll help fix any problems ASAP and get your rewards sorted out!

And if you still have questions, we've created some new MST3K BackerKit FAQs just for you, including answers to such popular queries as...

Whatever the reason, if you haven't received and submitted your reward order form yet, please let us know ASAP, so we can keep reward fulfillment on schedule!

That should be everything for today… but on behalf of Joel and the cast, we hope to see some of you in San Diego this weekend!

Ivan

It is I, Crow T. Robot: star of stage, screen and San Diego Comic-Con. Joel might be too busy to write an update for you, but don't worry: I'm still here. And if I'm going to make a triumphant entrance on Saturday, I need your help spreading the word. 

Just post one (or all) of these messages to Twitter & Facebook right now:

  • This Saturday! Join @JoelGHodgson & the new cast of @MST3K in San Diego for panels, signings & more @Comic_Con! http://mst3k.com/sdcc2016
  • Missed the #BringBackMST3K Kickstarter? You've still got until Tues (7/26) to help out & grab exclusive rewards! http://mst3k.com/slackers

Designing MST3K, Then and Now. Plus: The Updated MST3K Moon!
over 7 years ago – Thu, Jul 07, 2016 at 12:41:24 AM

Good Morning, MST3K Revival League!

There's a lot to share with you today, so I hope you've had your coffee.

First of all, if you commented on the last update with your suggestions for MST3K stuff we should make in the future, thanks so much for the great feedback. There are some really fun ideas in there, and we're sharing all of it with our team.

Next, I should tell you that we had a great time in Minneapolis during last week's live MST3K Cast Reunion Show. It was great getting to riff with the whole gang again, and I'm happy to tell you that Jonah did a pretty good job keeping up with us old-timers.

If you were there with us, or were in one of the theaters showing the live broadcast, I hope you had as much fun as we did. And you know, if you missed it, I think a lot of theaters are also doing an "encore broadcast" on July 12. (It won't be live this time around, but I promise the riffs will be just as good as the first time… because they will be the same riffs as the first time.)

And, in the last update, I promised that we'd start sending out your KICKSTARTER REWARD ORDER FORMS this week. And man, I'm so happy to tell you… we're right on schedule! 

You'll get another Backer Update this afternoon with a lot more details about the Kickstarter Rewards, and you'll also get separate email in the next 24-36 hours inviting you to fill in your Reward Order Form and give us your shipping address.

Before you start picking your Kickstarter Rewards, though, there's something I want to talk about. See, one of the reasons it took so long to send out your Reward Order Forms is that we wanted to finish designing all of the big rewards first, so you could see all of the options before you make your final choices. And to finish designing the rewards, we needed to make a pretty big decision: how to update our infamous MST3K moon.

I'll tell you about that in a minute, but first, I want to talk about the "look" of MST3K, and why we were so proud of how our original episodes looked.

Designing the Original MST3K

See, back in the day, I wanted to treat building the sets, puppets, props for MST3K as if we were the omelette chefs working the brunch buffet at the Radisson: everything needed to be nice, fresh, and made to order. 

But, we didn’t have much money or time, so we also needed everything to be fast and cheap. (And listen, eggs are still a great source of protein!)

Anyway, the basic recipe when we were designing MST3K was:

*The day we finally got the check at Best Brains and we were flush, the very first thing I bought was a Thermal Form Machine from Iasco. And you’ll be happy to know, the fine folks at Iasco still sell that exact machine.

So, yeah: 28 years ago, the thermal form machine was the state-of-the-art. (In '90s dollars, I believe it was about 600 bucks.) I used ours to make a lot of the important pieces that we needed, like Tom Servo's shoulder pieces, the black turbo element for his hoverskirt, part of Gypsy’s eye housing, Crow's eye housing and shoulder, and so on. We also used the thermal former to create lots of different elements for our props, and even some pieces of the set.

But then, somewhere along the line, there was a review that said something like, "MST3K is as cheap-looking as the movies it riffs on." 

And I know: When you hear that, it sounds as if we were trying to look that way on purpose. Sometimes, it's like people think I created some sort of official style guide for everyone, that said things like:

  • “Only work to 50 percent of your ability!” 
  • “Make sure the seams show!” 
  • “Add more globs of hot glue!”

Not true. I'm proud to say that we were doing our very best with what we had, and working at the top of our game. And, that’s the way it turned out. I love that. It was a snapshot of our interest, our talents, and the time and budget we had to work with.

(If you want to know more, here’s an interesting interview on the subject.)

Now, I know we all have a lot of fond memories of how the old episodes looked, and from your messages and comments, I know some of you are hoping the new episodes will look 100% the same.

But you know, if we tried to make the new episodes look the same as those old episodes, it wouldn't look or feel right. It's like I said: We didn't make the show look that way on purpose, but we're proud of it. 

It was a snapshot of what we liked, what we knew how to do, and what we could pull off with the time, equipment and budget we had.

That's the same formula we're using for the new season: what you'll see on screen this time is still a snapshot of what we like, what we know how to do, and what we can pull off using the time, equipment and budget we have. And like before, we still want to focus on handmade stuff, with practical effects – things you can really see and touch on set, and not computer effects.

But now, instead of making most of our parts with a thermal form machine, we can make a lot of them using some of the neat modern tools available, like 3D printers. (And don't worry: In another 20 years, these new episodes will look just as old as the ones we made 20 years ago.)

If the new episodes look a little different than before, I think the biggest reason is that the maker movement has covered so much ground in the last fifteen years. Everything on our show will still be made using equipment that's available to the average student at a community college, like 3D printers and CNC machines.

That's really important to me, because I think what made MST3K's "look" special is that it wasn't really a look... it was also kind of an invitation, like: "If you really want to, you can do this. You can make robots like this, you can shoot videos like this, and you can riff movies yourself." 

I just didn't want anything in the show to feel so "professional" that it would feel "out of reach" to anyone with enough time and imagination.

And that, Virginia, is how MST3K ended up looking the way it did.

Anyway, the reason I'm bringing all of this up today is because I hope it will give you a better idea about how I'm approaching the look of the new episodes – and, also, because it kind of explains why I wanted to finally update the MST3K MOON.

THE OLD MOON

When we were first deciding on a "logo" for Mystery Science Theater, the moon seemed like a really good choice. I guess I've just always loved logos that included the moon. It seems like a really big, bold gesture. It's showmanship, you know?

L to R: Méliès, Lynch, Honeymooners, P&G
L to R: Méliès, Lynch, Honeymooners, P&G

I was inspired by a bunch of different examples: Georges Méliès A Trip to the Moon, David Lynch's nightmare planet in Eraserhead, the opening song to The Honeymooners, and also a song by Adrian Belew, The Man in the Moon. There was also a wonderful 3D model of the moon at the Milwaukee Public Museum, and maybe even the old Procter & Gamble logo.

Anyway, Trace and I set out to make the logo as big as possible. Trace brought in a really large plastic ball – probably 36" across – that he said he acquired from an auction at the Guthrie theater. We drilled a hole in it, and hung it from the ceiling of the Best Brains studio. We had ordered a bunch of styrofoam letters to use for the "Robot Roll Call" and the moon, and our idea was to cover the ball in "Great Stuff" – that weird foam-in-a-can you use for filling cracks and sealing insulation. (I think we had about a case of that stuff.)

So, we covered the globe in “Great Stuff”, and figured that would create some sort of moon-like “surface action.” Then we pushed the styrofoam letters into the foam… but when we did, they started to react to the foam, and sort of shriveled up.

So, that's how we created the original MST3K logo: it was a lucky combination of art direction and chemical reaction! And while I still love what we did, I've started to realize that it doesn't look that much like a moon. (A lot of fans refer to it as "the spaghetti ball.") So...

THE NEW MOON

When we started working on production designs for the new episodes, the moon logo was one of the first things I wanted to revisit. 

On the one hand, I wanted to leave it as much as possible like the original, which is sort of this iconic part of MST3K. On the other hand, the "Great Stuff" foam is kind of looking weird to me, now. Like, if someone was watching MST3K for the first time now, would they even know it was supposed to be the moon? ("That's no moon!")

So, using some of the new options available to us, we're really just updating it to have a more moon-like surface... but as you'll see, the letters are identical.

We haven't created the physical "handmade" version you'll see on the show yet, but this concept rendering should give you a basic idea of what we're aiming for:

To handle this part, I asked some friends and longtime MSTies – the amazing designers at House Industries – to help re-imagine our moon, and to help me show what it would look like if the letters really were carved into the surface of the moon.

Like I said, right now it's just a computer rendering, but when we shoot the show, we'll use a process that involves an artist carving a model out of solid foam, along with some 3D modeling and printing, to keep the lettering identical to the original, while also getting that "moon" look and texture. The idea is to make it all a little more "real."

There's also a story reason that the letters are carved into the moon, but you'll find that out when you watch the show.

THE NEW REWARD DESIGNS

Anyway, now that you've seen the updated design for our MST3K moon, I can finally show you a few more designs for Kickstarter rewards that we've been working on.

First, here is our official MST3K KICKSTARTER COFFEE MUG, which we decided to make into a sort of tiki-tribute mug. Because, you know, tiki mugs are way more "MST3K" than coffee mugs… and also, we wanted to emulate the moon, which has no handle.

Now, just so you know, this design isn't 100% final… I think we're still playing with the caption on the back, which will still say #BroughtBackMST3K, but maybe we'll break it out to three lines. 

Also, I'm still waiting to get back our first sculpted sample, but I've seen pictures of the prototype, and it looks pretty great. I'm hoping it will be a little bit rough to the touch, just like the moon should be.

We also used the moon for our official MST3K KICKSTARTER KEYCHAIN, which is going to be made out of a nice-feeling metal, with the moon on a free-spinning disc in the center:

And, during the last couple weeks of our Kickstarter, one of the "Bonus Rewards" we added was a choice between two t-shirt designs:

So, if your Kickstarter rewards included a t-shirt, you'll be able to choose between the #BringBackMST3K POSTER and NEW MST3K LOGO designs. Or, I think you can upgrade your pledge and get both, if you want. 

And, if you're getting the MST3K HOODIE Add-On Reward, it'll include both designs:

 

Of course, there's a lot more to tell you about your rewards, but this update is already long enough, and I need to get a few things done on the show.

I'll check back this afternoon with another update, giving you the rest of the details you'll need to fill out your KICKSTARTER REWARD ORDER FORMS.

Cheers & Thanks,

Joel

Everything You Wanted To Know About MST3K Kickstarter Rewards But Were Afraid To Ask.
over 7 years ago – Thu, Jul 07, 2016 at 12:18:30 AM


Hello Again, MST3K Revival League!

First, a quick note: since this morning's update, we've already gotten a lot of great feedback about the updated design of the MST3K Moon Logo, and all of the new Kickstarter reward designs I shared with you. And listen, I'm not sure what we still have time to change, but a lot of you have asked if we can change the hashtag on the back of the mug and the t-shirts from #BroughtBackMST3K to #WeBroughtBackMST3K. I think that's a terrific suggestion, because, you know, it really is something we all did together. So, I'll see if we can change that.  

Of course, the reason I'm sending another update today is because we're finally ready to send out our Kickstarter Reward Order Forms, and I know there are still lots of questions about how this will all work. So, yeah: there are a lot of details about rewards we want to share with you, and to tell you the truth, I've been so busy working on the show that I haven't been able to keep up with all of them. 

That's why I'm excited to finally introduce you to the guy who has. If you watched our "Final Countdown" Telethon to the end, you might remember that I pulled a guy named Ivan out on camera at the last minute. Well, he's still around.

I took our Kickstarter really seriously, and wanted to make sure it was a special, fun, memorable experience for all of you. So, when I decided we were going to do a Kickstarter for MST3K, I did a lot of asking around, and everyone told me I needed to talk to this guy named Ivan Askwith.

I’ll mention Ivan's past accomplishments in a second, but the big thing I got from him when we met was his unique vision for involving and respecting backers and fans. I think that is his goal and he’s obviously dedicated to that. We worked really closely – probably twelve or fourteen hours a day during the whole Kickstarter – and I was constantly amazed by his ideas and commitment to making the entire experience into something we could all be proud of. I still consult with him all the time about how we can get you guys more involved as we get farther into production, and have come to depend on his special insight into the process. Long story short: I trust this guy, and consider him as responsible as you and me for the success of our Kickstarter. 

So yeah, in my opinion he’s probably the top guy in the field, and deservedly so, because he gets a lot more excited about making people happy than he does about raising money. (He's also the same guy who planned and ran the crowdfunding campaigns for Veronica Mars, Reading Rainbow and Super Troopers 2, so I thought we might be in OK hands.)

Anyway, now that we're into production, Ivan is acting as a producer for the new season, and kind of acting as the "Executive Producer" of our Kickstarter, to make sure we're doing our best to keep all of you as involved during production as we can. 

When we go into production, he'll be on set sharing as much as he can with you... and he'll do his best to tell all of us on set what you're saying, too. So, if you have questions or suggestions of what you want to see and hear from the set, you can let him know. 

Be nice to him, though, huh? He works really hard to make you happy, and he's a pretty fun guy to boot. You can say hello to him in the comments, or on Twitter as @ivanovitch.

I'll let him take it from here.

Cheers & Thanks,

Joel

(Yikes! Thanks, Joel.)

So, uhm... Hey, everyone!

First: Thanks for being so patient the last few months while we got a million different details worked out behind the scenes. I know it must sometimes feel like nothing is happening for weeks at a time, but the truth is, when you don't hear from us for that long, it usually means there's a ton going on. And, as Joel explained in this morning's update, there has been a ton to figure out over the last few months.

But we've finally got everything under control, so I'm really excited to tell you that...

Your MST3K REWARD ORDER FORMS are being sent out over the next 24-36 hours!

Since this Kickstarter campaign involved a lot of extra details – and since we handled all of our Add-On Rewards over at MST3K.com, instead of here on Kickstarter – we decided to use a site called BackerKit to help organize. combine and track all of your rewards and details.

Over the next day, you'll all receive email invitations from "Joel Hodgson & Team MST3K", using the email address [email protected]. These invitations will be sent to the same email address you used here on Kickstarter, and will look something like this:

When you get yours, click on the button, and you'll see a page that looks like this:

You'll see a few important details here:

  • The Pledge Amount is the total amount of money that you contributed on Kickstarter, including shipping fees. If you pledged more on MST3K.com, don't worry: it doesn't show up here, but we'll take care of the Add-Ons in a minute.
  • The Pledge Level Selected shows the specific reward package you selected on Kickstarter. Be sure to double-check, and if it's not the pledge level you meant to get, send us an email at [email protected]. We'll help straighten it out.

Then, choose the country you're living in, so we'll know where to ship your rewards, and click the huge, green "GET STARTED!" button:

The whole thing is pretty straightforward, but you'll go through four steps:

1. QUESTIONS
We'll ask you questions about all of the Kickstarter rewards included with your pledge.

2. ADD-ONS
We'll ask you questions about any Add-On Rewards you selected at MST3K.com, and if you want something you didn't get, you can still make an additional contribution to add more Add-On Rewards to your pledge. (So yes, you can still get the mug and keychain if you've changed your mind!)

3. SHIPPING
You'll give us your current shipping address. If you ordered Add-On Rewards – or got new Add-On Rewards or upgrades while filling out your order form – you'll be asked to enter a credit card number to pay any remaining balance for shipping and extra rewards.

4. CONFIRM
Once that's done, you'll see a confirmation screen, showing that we've got your order, and that you're all set. But wait, now comes the good part...

As soon as you finish filling out your REWARD ORDER FORM, you'll have access to several of your digital rewards, including the first of your free CLASSIC BONUS EPISODES!

When you're done filling out your form, you'll see a screen that looks like this:

Once you do, click the button that says "Get Your Digital Downloads."

You'll see a list of all of the digital rewards you can currently claim, along with links and/or instructions, which will look something like this:

Then, just follow the instructions below each of the rewards to download and/or redeem them.

For a lot of you, the most anticipated digital reward will be the CLASSIC BONUS EPISODES, which we're distributing through a platform called VHX. To get to your free episodes, you'll need to copy-and-paste the unique URL in your digital rewards into a new browser window. 

Once you do, you'll see a screen that looks like this: 

If you already have a VHX account, you'll be able to login and link your episodes to your account. If you don't, you'll need to set one up now by providing your email address – but once you do, you'll be able to stream and download your episodes, DRM-free, whenever you want.

You'll also notice that not all of your bonus episodes are available yet, but don't worry: that's because we're planning to add more to your collection throughout the year, so that we can schedule "live" viewing nights when we can all watch and live-tweet at the same time.

Estimated Reward Timing

As soon as you finish filling out your Reward Order Form, we'll have everything we need to start manufacturing, packaging and shipping out all of your rewards… but here's the catch: we can't start producing the rewards until we get enough of your order forms back.

To keep things on schedule, please be sure to fill out your Kickstarter Reward Order Form no later than Friday, July 22, at 11:59pm PST.

(And remember, as soon as you fill out your form, you'll be able to get most of your digital downloads, including your classic episodes – so if you've got five minutes, get it done now!)

So, listen: Kickstarter reward timing can always change if things don't go as planned, but right now, we're feeling pretty good about the estimated timing for most of the rewards. If everyone gets their forms filled out and we stay on schedule, here's the current timeline. 

Here's the ;tldr version, in case you don't want to check out the whole schedule:

  • Most of the digital rewards are available now, and waiting in BackerKit! 
  • Most of the physical rewards, like shirts and mugs, will ship by December.
  • Rewards involving the new season, like DVDs/downloads, will ship next year. 
  • Exact timing of some rewards will depend on when the new episodes come out.

Help Us Help You.

As much as we'd like to think we've figured out everything that could go wrong, I'm sure there will still be some unexpected problems and glitches.

(With 50,000 backers, that tends to happen.)

But the important thing is, we want this whole year-long thing to be an awesome experience for you, and we're going to do everything we can to make sure it is.

So, if you run into problems, make sure to check our Kickstarter FAQs first, and if you can't find an answer to your question, email us at [email protected]. We'll do our best to get your issues resolved as quickly as possible. If you send in questions this week, please give us at least 24 hours to get back to you, since we'll probably have more email requests than usual.

All we ask is that, if you need help, you do your best to be patient while we figure things out for you... because there are a lot more of you than there are of us!

Speaking of which: back to answering email.

More soon!

Ivan