“Mystery Science Theater 3000” is one of those shows that, without really trying, became a cult legend. Running from 1988 to 1999, MST3K has always had a steady group of fans who, to this day, long for more episodes (there are just under 200). While never
Mystery Science Theater 3000 Volume Six (2004)
Directors: N/A
Producers: * Joel Hodgson, executive producer (1988-1994) * Jim Mallon, executive producer * Kevin Murphy, producer * Vince Rodriguez, associate producer
Writers: Joel Hodgson (creator)
Features: * Three Feature Films * Lost Shorts Collection
Characters:
Joel Robinson...Joel Hodgson
Crow T. Robot/Dr. Clayton Forrester...Trace Beaulieu
Tom Servo...Kevin Murphy
Mike Nelson...Michael J. Nelson
Genre: Comedy
Review:
“Mystery Science Theater 3000” is one of those shows that, without really trying, became a cult legend. Running from 1988 to 1999, MST3K has always had a steady group of fans who, to this day, long for more episodes (there are just under 200). While never a phenomenon, MST3K will tickle your funny bone whenever you’re in the mood for a good bad movie.
For those new to MST3K, I’ll introduce you. The show began with Joel, a lowly employee who gets shot into space by his boss. He is then forced to watch bad movies, serving as a guinea pig for Dr. Clayton Forrester, who hopes to see the effects of watching bad movies. To endure the challenge, Joel has built himself a slew of robot friends, including Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot. Together they mock their way through a sea of bad movies. A few years later, Joel manages to escape the satellite but temp employee Mike Nelson replaces him. He too, must endure countless hours of bad movies. MST3K spawned a feature film in 1996 and ran until 1999, when the show was cancelled.
So now that you know a little about the show, it’s time to know a little about the DVDs. A few years ago, due to the success of the MST3K single disc DVDs, Rhino attempted to resurrect the series in a straight to video format. Unfortunately, Rhino, MST3K’s video distributor found that it was too expensive to secure the rights to more bad movies and that idea was scrapped, though I wouldn’t uncross your fingers yet, it may still happen one day.
To appease fans, Rhino began releasing boxsets of MST3K’s more popular episodes. MST3K is now on its sixth volume. Spread over four discs you will find three feature films (“Attack of the Giant Leeches”, “Gunslinger” and “Teenagers from Outer Space”) and a collection of shorts (“Mr. B’s Lost Shorts”).
Collection Six is somewhat of a mixed bag. The first two features are very funny, but with nearly 200 episodes to choose from, these don’t seem like the best episodes to present. The shorts collection and the final film, however, are laugh out loud riots.
The Episodes:
First up, “Attack of the Giant Leeches”. “Leeches” has some really funny moments, but the film itself is so boring that we are forced to listen to Joel whine about the 62 minutes film’s slow pacing. That’s a good notation, but like the film, Joel’s continual comments on it drag out for far too long. Tom Servo gets the best lines here as he mocks the onscreen heroine’s desire to get everyone coffee.
“Gunslinger” is an episode that proves that some bad films are so bad they can’t even be mocked. “Gunslinger” is hard to mock for reasons beyond that, however. Most of the show’s classic episodes deal with the sci-fi and horror genres. “Gunslinger” is actually a western/drama and not the forte of Joel or his robot friends. They struggle to mock the film about as much as the film struggles to be competent.
“Mr. B’s Lost Shorts” is where the set begins to show its strength. Divided into six separate segments, the shorts are witty and full of classic MST3K humor, most of which comes from the wisecracking robots Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot. Nearly worth the cost of the set alone.
The final episode and the best, is “Teenagers from Outer Space”. This is the kind of episode that made MST3K a cult legend. Virtually every joke is golden, delivered with dead-on accuracy. Not as classic as “Manos: The Hands of Fate” (an MST3K essential), but defiantly worth more than one view.
Video:
The MST3K sets are an example of film’s that should not be viewed in high-def. The larger the screen, the more pixilated the picture will be. Volume Six is presented in full screen and appears to be a transfer taken straight from the video master. This was never an expensive series so don’t expect “Star Wars” video quality. Disappointing, but it’s not Rhino’s fault. The show was presumably shot with professional grade Beta cams, a video format that just doesn’t age very well.
Audio:
Bad video, bad audio. MST3K is presented in Dolby Digital Mono. There aren’t even subtitles or close captions tracks for the hearing impaired.
Extras:
Nothing. It would have been nice to see a short featurette about the show or even a commentary track over one episode.
It would also have been nice to be able to view the films without the show’s wisecracking cast. Neither is presented here, though some of the MST3K single discs feature this mode of play.
Final Thoughts:
While we may never see a complete series set of MST3K, this set and others before it are well worth the price and should hold fans over. Let’s hope those dreams of future straight to video episodes become a reality. If not, future volumes will be appreciated. Thanks Rhino for keeping this cult series alive.
*Scorecard*
Attack of the Giant Leeches: * * 1/2
Gunslinger: * *
Mr. B’s Lost Shorts: * * * ½
Teenagers from Outer Space: * * * ½
Overall: * * *
*DVD Scorecard*
Video: 4
Audio: 2.5
Extras: 0
Overall: 2.5
List Price: $59.85
Unrated
Running Time: 360 Minutes
Available on DVD 10/26/04
Volume Six and more MST3K can be found at Rhino.com.
----R. L. Shaffer