Starring Joel Hodgson, Mike Nelson, Croww T-Robot, Tom Servo, Gypsy
Written By: Joel Hodgson
Directed By:
Studio: Rhino
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I used to watch Mystery Science Theater 3000 all the time growing up, and I thought it was one of the cleverest shows ever. Everyone has done this before, talked over a bad movie and just riffed off the movie. But who would have thought someone would have made a show about it. MST3K lasted a long time and was on the air from 1988-1999 and had 2 different humans to interact with the robot puppets. Joel Hodgson created the show and left half way through its airing. Head writer Mike Nelson took over for Joel and did the rest of the show since then. This DVD collection contains 4 bad movies and some funny short films, 2 with Joel and then 2 with Mike. There’s also some quick featurettes with some of the real actors that are made fun of on this set.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is about a guy named Joel Robinson, and him getting trapped on a satellite in space and forced to watch really terrible B-movies. Since he’s so bored, he makes a bunch of robot friends and makes them watch the movies with him. The movies are usually in the sci-fi genre but not all are sci-fi. As long as they are old, badly acted and poorly produced; they will be forced to watch them. Each movie, they provide their own commentary and jokes, and reference current events & pop culture. To help Joel (or Mike in the later years), is robots Croww T Robot and Tom Servo. There’s other robots as well but they aren’t funny like the other two.
The first movie in this set is called the Rebel Set. But before you get to see that bad & boring movie, you get to see a hilarious short film about a little boy. It’s like one of those bad films that teachers show their class. It’s hilarious because of what Joel, Croww and Tom Servo say over the film. Out of all the movies in this set, this short film was the one I laughed at the most. The Rebel Set also had a lot of funny commentary.
The second movie is called Secret Agent Super Dragon and it was a James Bond rip off, made in Italy. Of course Joel, Tom Servo and Croww have a blast with this movie. The Third movie is the Starfighters and I didn’t get to see that one yet. I know Mike is in it this time, instead of Joel. The last movie I did watch was with Mike & the robots and I thought it was pretty funny. It was called Parts: The Clonus Horror and it was just bad bad bad. There was actually some decent actors in it, like Peter Graves from Mission Impossible & Airplane. This was the movie that The Island borrowed/stole from. I’m sure if the crew from MST3K were given the chance to talk over Michael Bay movies, I’m sure they would have a field day. I always said I would love to hear them talk over new movies. Between Joel era episodes and Mike era episodes, I think it’s a tie between who’s funny. They both have their own unique way of riffing on movies. I prefer the original voices of Tom Servo and Croww though. Some people can’t tell the difference but I can.
The 12th volume of Mystery Science Theater 3000 has a lot of funny commentary from Joel, Mike and the robots. It makes me crave more MST3K and I might have to see which sets are still available. I know some are out of print already, because of licensing issues. So be sure to pick up MST3K Volume 12 before it goes out of print. Bring on Volume 13!
Also, be sure to check out the The Film Crew which features Mike Nelson and the guys who voiced the later versions of Tom Servo and Croww. Cinematic Titanic is a new project by Joel and the original voices of the robots. Not sure when that project will get off the ground though. But one thing is for certain, both groups will definitely make you laugh from movie riffing.
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Features:
Original Theatrical Trailers
MST3K Video Jukebox Vol. 3
Interview with The Rebel Set star Don Sullivan
MST Hour “Jack Perkins” Wraps for The Rebel Set
Interview with Parts: The Clonus Horror Direct Robert Fiveson
Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Stereo
Video:
Standard 1.33:1 Color
Standard 1.33:1 B&W
Subtitles:
Favorite Scenes: Johnny at the Fair short film, Rebel Set, Secret Agent Super Dragon
Rating: NR
Running Time: 400 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: