In yet another nod to ’90s today, one of the greatest shows for bored and stoned slackers everywhere was a little program that featured a guy named Joel and his two robot buddies making fun of especially bad sci-fi films.

Yep, if you went to college during that decade, you probably know it well — Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Created by Joel Hodgson for a local Minneapolis TV station, the show became a cult hit and was aired from 1988-99 for a total of 197 episodes. They even made a movie.

The whole premise of the show was simple. Joel was stuck in space with only robot buddies for comfort — and the three would often take to the screening room where they were forced to watch terrible, horrible old sci-fi films as part of some crazy experiment by mad scientists. The trio would then just riff on the bad movies with hilarious comments.

It was kind of genius and very funny.

Sadly, it was canceled, but the Internet was just around the corner filled with all sorts of idiocy on YouTube, so the void was temporarily filled.

Now, Hodgson wants to bring it back.

Photo via Kickstarter/Bring Back Mystery Science Theater 3000
Photo via Kickstarter/Bring Back Mystery Science Theater 3000

“I’ve been thinking about ways to re-animate MST3K for over a decade…and over the last 15 years, I’ve met thousands of you who said that you wanted MST3K back too. But two things have finally changed that make this the right time. And I’m not talking about the legalization of marijuana or the proliferation of water jet pack use,” he writes via Kickstarter.

Hodgson says that he was inspired to do the campaign in part by the success of other shows using the crowdfunding platform, like Veronica Mars and Reading Rainbow.

MST3K fans are responding — more than $500,000 has already been pledged on the goal of $2 million with 29 days to go. The more funding? The more episodes Hodgson will produce.

They don’t know if the show will be on cable or streaming online, but that’s a ways off.

In the meantime, enjoy an old episode that has the “bacon-y stink of Canada all over it”:

Like what you're reading? Subscribe to GeekWire's free newsletters to catch every headline

Job Listings on GeekWork

Find more jobs on GeekWork. Employers, post a job here.