new 'MST3K' (now w/ Patton Oswalt, Felicia Day & more) has one day left of Kickstarter, throwing viewing party in NYC

The Mystery Science Theater 3000 reboot has one day left on its Kickstarter campaign and is about $1 million away from reaching it’s ultimate goal of $5.5 million to produce an entire 12 episode season (they’ve got enough for nine right now). There’s going to be a “Final Countdown” telethon broadcast live from Los Angeles on Friday (12/11) beginning at 5 PM PST (that’s 8 PM Eastern) with creator Joel Hodgson hosting and showing classic episodes. Folks in NYC can attend a “Final Countdown” viewing party at Kickstarter’s Brooklyn Headquarters (58 Kent St. in Greenpoint). You do need to RSVP.

Back to the show. Since we last posted, there have been a lot of updates. Felicia Day, of Supernatural and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, will be the new main mad scientist, Kinga Forrester (daughter of Dr. Clayton Forrester from the original series). At her side will be Patton Oswalt in a TV’s Frank type roll. They’ll be the ones torturing new host Jonah Ray and his robot friends Crow (Hampton Yount) and Tom Servo (Baron Vaughn).

Creator Joel Hodgson has also announced the behind-the-scenes staff, which is rather amazing. Dan Harmon (Community, Rick & Morty), Justin Roiland (Rick & Morty), Dana Gould (The Simpsons, Super Adventure Team), Rob Schrab (who’s directing the new LEGO Movie), and author Ernest Cline (Ready Player One) will all contribute jokes, though they aren’t on the official writing staff. Robert Lopez, who cowrote Frozen‘s “Let It Go”, will be on board for songs, and original MST3K theme song writer Charlie Erickson is returning.

Hodgson has also said that Jack Black, Joel Mchale, Bill Hader, Neil Patrick Harris, Jerry Seinfeld and Mark Hamill have all expressed interest in making appearances on the show. It all sounds very promising for a show that remains primarily about people hurling jokes at really bad movies.

Watch the original MST3K in action, via classic short “Cheating,” below…

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