Mystery Science Theater 3000 Miniatures

Gather your robot friends around the TV, because Mystery Science Theater 3000 is BACK on Netflix with an all-new season. After 18 long, dark years, the cult series is finally seeing a revival, which we were already thrilled to hear about. BUT THEN, Stoopid Buddy Stoodios was tapped to build the miniatures for the new series, and that’s when we fell right off the edge of our movie theater seats, overwhelmed with excitement and honor! Now that the show has premiered (under the name Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return, in case you have trouble searching for it), we get to show you all the cool miniatures that were built and filmed right here at the Stoodio.

First off, there are some iconic MST3K miniatures that we got to rebuild for the new series, including a gorgeous recreation of The Satellite of Love:

(Pictured below as a cardboard work-in-progress with an actual Gizmonic Institute employee.)

A new Gizmonic Institute, built from the ground up out of cardboard and glue and other stuff:

A new and improved (depending on who you talk to) MST3K logo moon:

And, of course, an all-new, completely streamlined and reimagined countdown hallway to ease you in to each horrendous movie:

(Pictured below as a cardboard work-in-progress getting its glue on.)

It was truly an honor to bring these classic props back to the streaming screen, but we also built new editions to the reincarnated show, such as the cargo ship piloted by the host, Jonah:

(Pictured below being dragged around on a dolly to create the illusion of movement.)

The moon base where the aforementioned Jonah gets captured by the yet-to-be-mentioned baddies:

And the liquid movie chamber:

Fun fact about that chamber: THAT’S REAL GOOP IN THE TUBE! All of these sets were built (mostly out of cardboard) in our art department, and then lit and filmed in our Stoodio space. Through some Hollywood magic, the live-action actors filmed elsewhere, and then all of the footage was composited together to make the final product that you see on Netflix. NEAT, RIGHT?!

You can check out all of these miniatures AND MORE when you stream Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return on Netflix RIGHT NOW! Thank you to all of the excruciatingly talented Buddies in our art department, our production department, and in our camera and lighting department (all pictured below as cardboard works-in-progress with MST3K creator Joel Hodgson) for making these things look amazing.