15 Differences Between the New and Old “Mystery Science Theater 3000”

The humor has a different feel

This has been mentioned in quite a few reviews of the revival: the humor in this reboot feels different.

Don’t worry if you haven’t watched it yet — the odd humor is still there, very much so. The show hasn’t lost the heart of itself. It’s just more catered to Jonah’s wheelhouse and the new ‘Bots voices. Here’s a good description: it’s been modernized.

Watching the original run in the ‘90s, I was too young to get most of the references. Watching them as I got older, the references became outdated. There are less ‘90s references and more new age ones. And don’t worry — the very obscure Minnesotan references crop up and still go over your head.

The riffs feel geekier, but that makes sense. Jonah did come from Nerdist, after all, and isn’t this show super geeky anyway? The riffs are faster, too, and you definitely notice in this fun one they posted on Twitter over Stranger Things:

Since Mystery Science Theater 3000 went off the air, we’ve had fast-paced dialogue shows like The West Wing and quick-witted machines like Arrested Development and 30 Rock that have hit joke after joke after joke without missing a beat. This new iteration of MST3K may not be all hits (because, again, obscure references), but the fast-paced speed fits what we’ve gotten used to.