Photo Via Right On! PR

By Matthew Pharr, Contributor

Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K if you’re hip) is bringing its live show to Atlanta Symphony Hall Oct. 21st for two shows.

For the uninitiated, MST3K is a show that ran off and on from 1988 to 1999 and has achieved cult-classic status. The show’s original premise is that a janitor working for Gizmonic Institute, Joel Robinson (played by show-creator Joel Hodgson) is blasted into space on a rocket called the Satellite of Love and creates sentient robots named Cambot, Gypsy, Tom Servo, and Crow out of spare parts to keep him company.

Meanwhile, back on earth, Dr. Forrester (Trace Beaulieu), a mad scientist at Gizmonic Institute, and his assistant, T.V.’s Frank (Frank Conniff) force the Satellite of Love’s human and robotic crew to watch terrible movies as part of a deranged plot to take over the world. Joel and the robots crack jokes about the awful movies they are being forced to view in an attempt to keep their sanity.

This is the first time in 25 years that show-creator, Hodgson, is donning his Gizmonic Institute jumpsuit to riff alongside new MST3K host, Jonah Ray (Jonah Heston on the show) and the bots, according to program materials.

When the MST3K 30th Anniversary Tour lands the Satellite of Love at Atlanta’s Symphony Hall this Sunday, matinee audiences (3 p.m.) will be treated to The Brain, a Canadian, sci-fi, suburban nightmare, while the evening crowds (7 p.m.) will see Joel, Jonah and the gang riff on Deathstalker II, a sorcerer-and-sword epic, featuring clones, Amazons and mysticism, show materials state.

“The craziest and most exciting thing for me is that I am putting on my old jumpsuit and will be riffing live, shoulder to shoulder with Jonah, Crow, and Tom Servo for two incredibly strange feature films,” Hodgson said in a statement. “I’m going to have to go into training to get caught up to the skill level of Jonah and this new cast.”