You Can Now Watch Mystery Science Theater 3000 Season 13 For Free On PlutoTV

Some very good news for "Mystery Science Theater 3000" fans has emerged, and this isn't even news that will be good in the not-too-distant future — it's good right now! The series resurfaced for season 13 last year after a very successful round of crowdfunding. It resulted in a full 13 episodes, including the return of Joel Hodgson as Joel Robinson, which is something that hasn't happened in years. Certain fans would be forgiven for not realizing that the series had come back yet again, as it wasn't through a major cable channel, nor was it on a big streaming service. Rather, the episodes were released independently through The Gizmoplex, which was a website dedicated to all things "MST3K."

The idea was that fans could pay for a somewhat pricey season pass to watch all of the episodes that ran for $135, though it also included access to livestreams and other perks. Fans could also rent episodes individually as they were released. But still, without the backing of a major network or streamer, the advertising budget was limited and that only reaches so far. This is all a very long-winded way of saying that fans can now watch "Mystery Science Theater 3000" season 13 with relative ease now, thanks to the folks at Pluto TV.

Pluto TV, the streaming service that pretty wonderfully mimics the experience of cable TV for the low price of free, has a dedicated "MST3K" streaming channel. Now, all of the episodes from season 13 are in rotation on that very channel. So, all fans need to do is repeat to yourself that you can really just relax and watch the gang riff on movies like "Munchie" or "Gamera vs. Jiger."

The very good news is that these episodes are now available to everyone with ease. Whether or not you backed the latest crowdfunding endeavor for the show is irrelevant. The other very good bit of news is that it's not like when the show was on Netflix for two seasons, when Jonah Ray first took over as our new host. This does not require a subscription of any kind, as Pluto TV has the benefit of being completely free to stream. The only downside is that it is ad-supported, though that kind of helps mimic the experience of watching this show back in the Comedy Central and Syfy (back when it was Sci-Fi) days.

As for the downside? Pluto TV is not an on-demand service. When "MST3K" seasons 11 and 12 were released on Netflix, subscribers could simply click the episodes in order and stream away when they damn well pleased. Pluto TV doesn't work like that. Much like the cable TV days of old, you're at the mercy of whoever is planning that block of television that day. So, viewers will have to wait and until the season 13 episodes they wish to see are in the rotation. Still, it's a good, low-cost, easy access option.

You can check out all of the "Mystery Science Theater 3000" goods, up to and including season 13, right now over at Pluto.TV.