Former writers and performers of the “Mystery Science Theater 3000” are re-teaming for “The Adventure of Edward the Less,” an illustrated streaming video series premiering Oct. 25, 2001 on www.scifi.com. Characters, from left, Soapy, The Noble One, Edward, and a Rider pictured in this illustration by Rich Larsen and Steve Fastner. (AP Photo/SCIFI.COM)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – After years of exile in outer space, the comic minds behind “Mystery Science Theater 3000” are turning toward Middle-earth for their next parody.

Former writers and performers of the cult cable-television favorite are re-teaming for “The Adventures of Edward the Less,” an illustrated streaming video series premiering Oct. 25 on www.scifi.com.

The 13 five-minute episodes are a loose takeoff on J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Middle-earth” books, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Instead of diminutive hobbits on a quest for a powerful ring, Scifi.com says “Edward the Less” features “an average little guy … who yearns to trade in his fairy-tale existence for a taste of real life.”

Scifi.com is the official Web site of the Sci-Fi Channel, which carried “Mystery Science Theater 3000” from 1997-99. The Twin Cities-produced show featured a trapped-in-space human and his homemade robots mocking cheesy movies, such as Soultaker and Invasion of the Neptune Men.