The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Turkey Day Marathon
Some of us decided to never let go. And really, why should we?
In the late 80s when we stumbled across this slapdash puppet show from the midwest that eviscerated cheesetastic B-movies with a rapier wit, we knew we had found our home. From 1988 to 1999, Mystery Science Theater 3000 spoke to us. It understood us. It channeled what we were thinking and how we saw the world. It was hilarious and glorious and sublime. And it still is.
A marquee ritual of the show (from 1991 to 1995 on Comedy Central and in 1997 on SciFi) was the Turkey Day Marathon: 27 non-stop hours of MST3K. On Thanksgiving Eve and Day, you could let your drunk family members carb-load all they wanted; we had tv to watch. The Turkey Day Marathon offered a buffer from oblivious relatives that wandered by muttering, “I don’t get this show…” Meanwhile, we howled and cried in laughter.
Some great MiSTies of Tumblr––such as the extraordinary FuckYeahMST3K––continue this tradition today. How? I like to go freestyle with my marathons, favoring the Mike episodes but liberally drawing from the rich and varied libraries of MST3K (108 episodes on DVD), The Film Crew (4 movies), Rifftrax (210 movies and shorts), and Cinematic Titanic (12 movies). Any gaps in my collection are easily filled by streaming.
Here’s my 2012 Turkey Day Marathon episode list (subject to change with my whims):
Wednesday Night Entrées
Rifftrax: Tourist Trap (late entry; just released today!)
Thursday Brunch
814: Riding with Death
612: The Starfighters
Thursday Main Course
816: Prince of Space
Rifftrax: The Guy from Harlem
903: The Pumaman
Thursday Second Helping
512: Mitchell
Thursday Dessert
614: San Francisco International
1007: Track of the Moon Beast
Thursday Nightcap
912: The Screaming Skull
404: Teenagers from Outer Space
Friday Leftovers
609: The Skydivers
Cinematic Titanic: Rattlers
619: Red Zone Cuba
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
