Episode K00 - The Green Slime
Airdate - Unaired (Publicly shown October 3rd, 2008)
Film Release Date - December 19th, 1968
Genre - Sci-Fi
Color
Before movie riffing was invented, before the mads were part of the show, before Mike Nelson was the head writer, before Tom Servo was even a character, there was the pilot. A short 15 presentation made to convince the local Minneapolis TV station TV23 (or KTMA as it’s more commonly known) to greenlight this new idea for a television series. Looking back on it, this pilot is very crude. Shockingly even more so than the actual KTMA series. The movie takes the backseat here, as there is actually very little of it shown. And Joel doesn’t riff on it as much as he just comments on it. The movie clips are just here to demonstrate what it would look like. The host segments are the main focus, as they explain the concept of the show and introduce the characters. Joel, Crow, and Gypsy are the same as their typical KTMA counterparts, although Gypsy is actually a male in the pilot. The one oddball character is a robot named Beeper, who would later become Tom Servo. This robot, as his name implies, communicates through beeps that only Crow can understand. This concept was thankfully scrapped later on, and episode K02 saw the introduction of the lovable snack machine robot.
For as slapped together as this pilot is, it still makes for a pretty fun watch. The host segments tell a pretty fun story of a virus infecting everyone on the ship, which really is just an excuse to have fun with shaving cream. I also love the very meta ending, where Crow says that Joel is just an actor and not actually trapped on a satellite. There isn’t too much in the way of comedy here, but it’s fun to see this super primitive version of the show that we all know and love. The door sequence in this one is especially fantastic. The amount of charm in this pilot is through the roof. And even if you don’t like it, the episode only lasts 15 minutes. So, you’re not losing much time watching this. This is a must watch for all fans of MST3K.
Review written by Jaden Houghton