OH. MY. GOD.
In news that literally has my heart racing, Joel Hodgson has announced his pick for the new “Mad” of Mystery Science Theater 3000, a.k.a. the insane scientist that forces the host to watch all those bad movies. That choice? Felicia freakin’ Day as Dr. Forrester’s daughter.
Here’s what Joel just added to the MST3K Kickstarter news:
First, I’m hoping that Felicia Day will join us as “Kinga Forrester,” MST3K’s next Mad… and Dr. Clayton Forrester’s daughter!
[...] Actually, you know, I’ll come back to Felicia in a minute. First, I want to tell you a little bit about Kinga Forrester, who is also new to MST3K.
When I started imagining the next season of MST3K, I knew we’d need the next Mad to be someone worthy of the Mad title and someone who could live up to the great work of Trace, Josh, Frank and Mary Jo. But I also thought we needed a new “flavor” – something that would lead to new situations. So, right away, I knew that I wanted the next Mad to be someone who could be both comedic and threatening... and if possible, both at the same time!
I also knew, from the start, that the next Mad should be a woman.
Part of that inspiration came from seeing what Mary Jo Pehl did with the role of Pearl Forrester. As Pearl, Mary Jo – or MJ, as we called her – could be funny in so many different ways… but while she was a woman, the humor never came from Pearl being female — that just happened to be a great coincidence, and a tribute to how great MJ was in that part. And I know her performance stuck with a lot of you too, because any time we did appearances for MST3K or Cinematic Titanic, there was always a long line of folks waiting for their turn to lavish praise on her!
So, ever since I started thinking about the future of MST3K, I think I’ve known the next Mad needed to be another formidable woman in the Forrester family line.
I repeat, OH MY GOD. Joel actually goes into a lot more detail about this, including how he got in contact with Day and the ridiculous reason why Kinga had to have red hair, but you can read that on your own time. Because Joel also announced the new voices for Crow and Tom Servo:
I’m also inviting comedians Hampton Yount and Baron Vaughn to become the next voices of Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo!
Once Jonah agreed that he wanted to become the next host, things started to move again. And since he would be the one in the movie riffing trenches with Crow and Servo, I felt it was important to let Jonah help find the right people. There had to be real chemistry to our choices, not just casting. [...]
Anyway, Jonah told me to check out Hampton and Baron. I watched a ton of their videos online and thought they were pretty great, so the next time I was in LA – about a year ago – we went out to eat together and had our first “official meeting,” which really just means that I picked up the check.
After that first meeting, I knew that I liked them both a lot, but I still hadn’t decided. So, I asked them to do a “test session” on Skype, and gave them some lines to read as Crow and Servo. Just to see what they’d do with it, you know? And sure, they did great first reads on the respective characters, but it was the stuff between takes that kind of took my breath away. They were just so great at riffing off each other and so quick on their feet. I remember thinking it was like going down the rabbit hole and seeing a glimpse of the future MST3K. Then, when it came time to make our Kickstarter video, I asked them to help out.
I don’t know these guys, but I’m so stunned by having Felicia Day—and not because of her nerd cred, but because she can play that perfect mix of funny creepy crazy that I want the Mads to embody—that I assume that these guys are perfect too. Again, Joel explains more about their casting here, as well why he told Yount to not do his amazing impression of Trace Beaulieu’s original Crow voice. It’s good stuff.
Guys, I could not be more excited. I’m so happy we’re already getting three episodes, but now I need them all. Please donate all of your disposable income here. No, I don’t care if you like MST3K or not. This isn’t about you, okay?
Contact the author at rob@io9.com.