Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXXIII
Cast: Joel Hodgson, Michael J. Nelson, Trace Beaulieu, Kevin Murphy
Reviewed by Brian M. Sammons
It’s time once again for a one-two-three-four punch of Mystery Science Theater 3000, or MST3K to those in the know, from the cool folks over at Shout! Factory. Now we all know what MST3K is, right? Even if you’re a young’un and grew up after this awesome and much loved comedy TV show went off the air, I’d like to think that everyone has seen episodes of it somewhere. Failing that, if you’re a poor thing that’s been living in a cave for years, that you have at least heard about it and know how it influenced the vast majority of funny people in the comedy biz today. But just in case you don’t know about MST3K, here’s the nickel tour. It was a TV show that ran from 1988 to 1999 about a guy marooned on the Satellite of Love way up in space who has to watch cheesy B-grade (or often Z-grade) movies as some sort of deranged experiment. In order to survive his mind-numbing ordeal, our hero made some robot friends and together they make fun of, or “riff on,” all the bad movies. And as simple as that sounds, something that fans of bad movies have done for just about forever, it was revolutionary to see it on television. Oh and not to mention hilarious. So much so, that even all these years after its last episode aired, it still has a rabid cult following, is constantly name dropped by comedians, and lives on in two distinct incarnations today. Check out Rifftrax.com and Cinematictitanic.com for more info on both of those.
Thankfully for us old school MSTies (MST3K fans) the good people over at Shout! Factory have continued to put out the original television show on DVD for years. This four pack is their latest offering and it’s a must have for fans of offbeat comedy and low budget, usually horrible, genre movies. Furthermore, Shout! Factory wisely decided to put out two episodes featuring Joel and two featuring Mike, thus all fans of MST3K, regardless of what camp they fall into on the Joel vs. Mike debate, will be happy.
As for the features in this four-pack that are ripe for the riffing, you get some cold way spy action (more like melodrama), 1960s style, with Agent for H.A.R.M. Moving back to the golden game of the 1950s, you there is a cautionary tale of juvenile delinquency in Teen-age Crime Wave. Staying in the 50s, there is some classic big bug monster madness with Earth vs. The Spider. As a big bug fan, this is easily my favorite episode of the four, not that there is a bad one in this bunch. Last but not least is another flick from the 1950s all about crime, truckers, and those crazy beatniks, if you can dig it, called Daddy-O. These four movies are perfect little time capsules of when they were made and great, albeit cheesy, examples of their individual genres. While they may be hard to watch on their own now, thankfully you have Joel, Mike, and the bots to help you make it through them.
On to the extras that Shout! Factory has included in this four DVD bundle. There are four mini posters for the four movies, each with the added cool of Tom Servo and Crow. There are an impressive five featurettes to be found here. There is “Beatnik Blues: Investigating Daddy-O,” “This Movie Has Legs: Looking Back at Earth vs. The Spider,” “Film it Again, Sam: The Katzman Chronicles,” “Tommy Cook: From Jungle Boy to Teenage Jungle,” and “Peter Mark Richman: In H.A.R.M.’s Way.” If that wasn’t enough MST3K goodness, there are hour wraps for each episode that were used when they first aired.
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXXIII is a strong MST3K collection. It really has a bit of everything: horror/sci-fi, spy stories, crime, juvenile delinquents, beatniks, lots of comedy, and both Joel and Mike. For MSTies, this is a no-brainer. Go get it when it comes out July 28th. If you’ve never seen MST3K before, then this boxset is a great way to start. Consider it highly recommended.
