Mystery Science Theater 3000
Building on his gift for designing toys and other gizmos, Hodgson built three robot puppets and created MST3K in 1988. He starred as the show's long-suffering but inventive protagonist, Joel Robinson, who in the backstory is responsible for creating his own robot companions. Hodgson has claimed that the 1972 film Silent Running influenced the premise of the show.
MST3K originally aired on KTMA, before becoming one of the first two shows to be picked up by the Comedy Channel, the forerunner of Comedy Central. The other show, also created and written by Hodgson, was the short-lived Higgins Boys and Gruber, a sketch comedy program that starred Steve Higgins, David Anthony Higgins and Dave Allen.
Hodgson surprised many fans when he left MST3K after its 100th episode in 1993. In contemporary interviews, he said he was uncomfortable with acting and being in front of the camera, citing that as the reason he quit the show. During a 1999 interview with The Onion A.V. Club, Hodgson added that he and producer Jim Mallon had been fighting over creative control of MST3K. His departure allowed the show to continue and gave him the opportunity to focus more on his preferred creation and production work than on performing, which he did only reluctantly.
Hodgson later made a surprise guest appearance in the season premiere for the final season of MST3K ("Soultaker," episode 1001).
In a 2008 Slashdot interview, Hodgson admitted that he felt leaving MST3K "was a bit of a personal tragedy," and that he had "...created the appearance to the press that I had other plans, but I didn't. It was all to keep alive." He also stated that he felt his run on MST3K "...was the perfect job."
In a 2008 interview with Public Radio International's The Sound of Young America, Hodgson said of his departure from MST3K, "I was, like, totally happy at Mystery Science Theater. I loved it. I wanted to stay, but I was basically having a fight with my partner, Jim Mallon. So we weren't getting along and so I just felt like -- I thought it really could possibly jeopardize the show. It would have been easy to create factions out of the group. And by that time it would not have been a fun show to work on. And so, I felt like I saw it coming and I just thought was the best thing at the time."
Read more about this topic: Joel Hodgson
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