List of Mystery Science Theater 3000 characters

Over its eleven year run, Mystery Science Theater 3000 saw the arrival and departure of various characters. In addition, it also featured many recurring guest characters. Below is a listing of both the main characters and the recurring characters from the series.

Main characters

Main article: List of Mystery Science Theater 3000 characters

Cast of Mystery Science Theater 3000
Character	KTMA "Season 0" (1988–89)	Comedy Channel / Comedy Central seasons (1989–1995)								The Movie (1996)	SCI FI seasons (1996–99)				Flash series (2007–2008)	Giant Gila Monster sketch (2008)
		1	2	3	4	5		6	7		8		9	10
Joel Robinson "Joel Hodgson" during season 0	Joel Hodgson													Joel Hodgson1		Joel Hodgson
Mike Nelson							Michael J. Nelson
Crow T. Robot	Trace Beaulieu										Bill Corbett				Paul Chaplin	Trace Beaulieu
Tom Servo	Josh Weinstein		Kevin Murphy												James Moore	Frank Conniff
Gypsy	Josh Weinstein	Jim Mallon										Patrick Brantseg			Jim Mallon
Cambot	Kevin Murphy2
Magic Voice	various, usually Jann Johnson or Alexandra Carr					Mary Jo Pehl					Beth "Beez" McKeever
Dr. Clayton Forrester	Trace Beaulieu															Trace Beaulieu
Dr. Laurence "Larry" Erhardt	Josh Weinstein
TV's Frank simply "Frank" pre-season 4			Frank Conniff											Frank Conniff1		Frank Conniff
Pearl Forrester								Mary Jo Pehl1	Mary Jo Pehl		Mary Jo Pehl
Professor Bobo											Kevin Murphy
Observer ("Brain Guy")											Bill Corbett

Notes

1. Guest/cameo appearance only.
2. One episode only; Normally a mute character.

Recurring guest characters

• Jack Perkins (Michael J. Nelson) - in real life the host of the A&E Network's Biography program, Perkins first appeared in MST3K simply to annoy the Mads by describing the movie with glowing praise. When MST3K appeared in syndication as The Mystery Science Hour, Nelson's fake "Jack Perkins" hosted the show.

• Jan-in-the-Pan (Mary Jo Pehl) - a woman's severed head from the movie The Brain That Wouldn't Die.

• Jerry and Sylvia (various unpaid interns at Best Brains) - two "mole people" from the movie The Mole People (featured much later as a season 8 episode) who occasionally assisted the Mads and stopped by for social events. They also work Deep 13's camera in the first host segment of "Lost Continent". Presumably named after Sylvia and Gerry Anderson, the creative team behind Space: 1999 and Supermarionation shows like Thunderbirds and Stingray, some of which were featured as KTMA-season episodes.

• "Krankor" (Bill Corbett), who appeared in a host segment during the "Prince of Space" episode, and returned three episodes later in a host segment for "Invasion of the Neptune Men", featuring a movie with a similar plot. He was a vain, would-be conqueror with an unfortunately chicken-like appearance and a drawn-out, braying laugh (described by BBI as "like a Buick not turning over"). Technically, he was "The Phantom", dictator of the planet "Krankor" in the movie Prince of Space.

• The Nanites (voiced variously by Kevin Murphy, Paul Chaplin, Mary Jo Pehl, and Bridget Jones) - self-replicating, bio-engineered organisms that work on the ship, they are microscopic creatures that reside in the S.O.L.'s computer systems. (They are similar to the creatures in Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Evolution", which featured "nanites" taking over the Enterprise.) The Nanites made their first appearance in season 8. Based on the concept of nanotechnology, their comical deus ex machina activities included such diverse tasks as instant repair and construction, hairstyling, performing a Nanite variation of a flea circus, conducting a microscopic war, and even destroying the Observers' planet after a dangerously vague request from Mike to "take care of [a] little problem". They also ran a microbrewery. The Nanites were largely forgotten about during the show's last season, and we are not given an explanation of their fate following the series finale.
  • Kevin Murphy played Wade the Nanite.
  • Paul Chaplin played Ned the Nanite.
  • Mary Jo Pehl played Jody the Nanite and Shelli the Nanite.
  • Bridget Jones played Slicer the Nanite.

• Ortega (Paul Chaplin) - an unintelligible, decrepit, cigar-smoking henchman from the movie The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies, Ortega recurred frequently in the three Sci Fi seasons.

• Pitch (Paul Chaplin) - a devil from the Mexican movie Santa Claus, Pitch was one of the few characters from the Comedy Central seasons to return in the Sci Fi Channel seasons.

• Santa Claus (Kevin Murphy) - appeared twice on the show, including a fight with Pitch, bellowing, "I'm here to chew candy canes and kick ass, and I'm all out of candy canes!"

• Torgo (Michael J. Nelson) - a monster/henchman (supposed to be a satyr) in Manos: The Hands of Fate, Torgo was among the most frequently returning "guest characters" of MST3K. He got his knees fixed and returned as "Torgo the White" (an obvious parody of Gandalf the White) to accompany TV's Frank to "Second Banana Heaven" and was never seen again (episode 624, "Samson vs. the Vampire Women").