The very first episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 premieres on Minneapolis-St. Paul independent TV station KTMA, a comedy experiment devised by local comedian Joel Hodgson and KTMA production director Jim Mallon, with other local comedians (Trace Beaulieu and Josh Weinstein) and Mallon’s KTMA production assistant (Kevin Murphy) rounding out the show’s “cast”. The first movie riffed by the MST3K team is the 1981 syndicated TV movie Invaders From The Deep, edited together from episodes of Gerry Anderson’s Stingray series.
More about Mystery Science Theater 3000 in the LogBook
Hear about it on the Sci-Fi 5 podcast