Were it not for "Mystery Science Theater 3000," where would we be as a society right now? The live-tweeting (or live-snarking) of shlock like “Sharknado” owes a great deal to Joel Hodgson’s iconic show, and now a favorite episode of the cult comedy show is finally available for free online.
A little over 90-minutes long, this episode is from the show’s fifth season and centers around the 1975 Joe Don Baker-starring cop movie “Mitchell” (this episode also marks Hodgson’s final appearance). Thanks to a partnership with Shout Factory, the episode—and all future posted episodes—will contain annotations (from The Annotated MST) that delve into the MST3K crew’s often obscure jokes. For every easy-to-catch “Shaft” reference, Joel and his robot pals toss off a couple of references to long-since cancelled ’70s TV shows, so the annotations should prove useful to younger viewers.
Watch the “Mitchell” episode of “Mystery Science Theater 3000” below. [A.V. Club]