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Mystery Science Theater 3000/Season Zero

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Season Zero
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mst3k-logo.png
Season Premiere November 24, 1988
Season Finale May 28, 1989
Episode Count 21 + unaired pilot
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Season One

Season Zero of Mystery Science Theater 3000 premiered on November 24, 1988 on KTMA-TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Jim Mallon was the production manager at the station and needed to fill a two hour time slot on Sunday evenings. Mallon was friends with stand-up comedian Joel Hodgson and asked him to come up with a concept for a show. Two weeks later Joel returned with the concept of Mystery Science Theater 3000. A cast was assembled and included many people who had worked at KTMA previously. The show debuted on Thanksgiving at 6 and 8 p.m. and Hodgson received an initial order of 13 episodes with a budget of $250 for each one.

One major difference in the KTMA episodes is that the jokes in the theater segments were completely ad-libbed, which lead to many periods of silence and unfunny jokes. The movies that were used in Season Zero were also aired without obtaining the rights to do so. Several of the films used in Season Zero were reused in later seasons.

In the KTMA pilot, Joel told viewers that he had built the Satellite of Love himself and launched himself into space. He was joined by two robots, Crow and Beeper. Beeper was a robot that communicated only through beeping and his speech had to be translated to the viewers by the other characters. Once the show was picked up, Beeper was replaced by Tom Servo. The story was also changed. In the new story, Joel was shot up into space by his evil bosses at the Gizmonic Institute - Dr. Forrester and Dr. Laurence Erhardt.

Episodes

# # Title Airdate
The Green Slime unaired
1 1 Invaders from the Deep November 24, 1988
2 2 Revenge of the Mysterians November 24, 1988
3 3 Star Force: Fugitive Alien II November 27, 1988
4 4 Gamera vs. Barugon December 4, 1988
5 5 Gamera December 11, 1988
6 6 Gamera vs. Gaos December 18, 1988
7 7 Gamera vs. Zigra December 31, 1988
8 8 Gamera vs. Guiron January 8, 1989
9 9 Phase IV January 15, 1989
10 10 Cosmic Princess January 22, 1989
11 11 Humanoid Woman January 29, 1989
12 12 Fugitive Alien February 5, 1989
13 13 SST Death Flight February 19, 1989
14 14 Mighty Jack March 5, 1989
15 15 Superdome March 12, 1989
16 16 City on Fire March 19, 1989
17 17 Time of the Apes April 2, 1989
18 18 The Million Eyes of Su-Muru May 7, 1989
19 19 Hangar 18 May 14, 1989
20 20 The Last Chase May 21, 1989
21 21 Legend of the Dinosaur May 28, 1989

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Seasons
Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4 | Season 5 | Season 6 | Season 7 | Season 8 | Season 9 | Season 10 | Season 11 | Season 12  | Season Zero