Episode Premieres
- February 1 — Revenge of the Creature (First episode of Season 8, first Sci-Fi Channel episode, Bill Corbett's first appearance as Crow T. Robot, Kevin Murphy's first appearance as Professor Bobo.)
- February 8 — The Leech Woman
- February 15 — The Mole People
- February 22 — The Deadly Mantis
- March 1 — The Thing That Couldn't Die (Bill Corbett, Michael J. Nelson, and Paul Chaplin's first appearance as Observers)
- March 8 — The Undead
- March 15 — Terror from the Year 5000
- April 5 — The She-Creature
- April 19 — I Was a Teenage Werewolf
- May 31 — The Giant Spider Invasion
- June 7 — Parts: The Clonus Horror
- July 12 — Jack Frost
- July 14 — The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (Paul Chaplin's first appearance as Ortega)
- July 19 — Riding with Death
- August 2 — Agent for H.A.R.M.
- August 16 — Prince of Space (Bill Corbett's first appearance as Krankor, Kevin Murphy & Bridget Jones' first appearances as Callipygeas & Flavia)
- September 6 — The Horror of Party Beach
- October 4 — Devil Doll
- October 11 — Invasion of the Neptune Men
- November 8 — Space Mutiny
- November 22 — Time Chasers
- December 6 — Overdrawn at the Memory Bank (Final episode of Season 8 and 1997.)
Special Premieres
- August 15 — The Making of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Sci-Fi era making of special)
- September 2 — 1st Annual Summer Blockbuster Review
- November 27 to 28 — Sci-Fi Channel's Thanksgiving Marathon (Unhosted Turkey Day-like with 7 episodes, the Making of special and 2 Star Wars films.)