I have always watched bad movies. They are just one of those odd joys that will always exist as long as there are movies. Some are cheaply made, some are poorly written, and some just come together to be crap. But throw in a good riffing throughout and you have an even greater joy, Mystery Science Theater 3000. I grew up watching MST3k, and loved every episode. These guys, either Joel or Mike and their robot friends Crow and Tom Servo would sit through the world’s worst movies and make fun of them. This was a weekly joy for me, and my friends. It was absolutely great.
Mystery Science Theatre 3000 is a show where a man and two robots, trapped on a spaceship, called the Satellite of Love, orbiting the earth watch terrible movies and make fun of them.. Now the show has had two different leads, Joel and Mike, and there is relatively no plot to any of it, but the show ran for 10 years, and is on its 14th DVD collection. The current collection consists of 4 episodes. Each episode is a few vignettes around the lambasting of an entire film.
Episode Highlights:
The Mad Monster – Season 2, Episode 3: In this episode, Joel, crow, and Tom Servo watch the second part of the Commander Cody Serial “Radar Men from the Moon “ and also get the chance to enjoy the movie The Mad Monster. The Mad monster is about a scientist who is creating a wolf man using only a secret formula and his retarded handyman. The movie was fun, but not completely engaging. The jokes really tended to center around the same set coming up all the time. The best joke was a recurring Gilligan’s Island joke.
Manhunt in Space – Season 5, Episode 13 : This episode features the film Manhunt in Space in which Rocky Jones and his co pilot Winky fly off into outer space to defeat a gang of space pirates who prey upon innocent cargo ships and their crews. But first, Joel and the gang must endure a segment of General Hospital! Manhunt in Space was actually edited together from episodes of Rocky Jones, Space Ranger, and for that it was pretty good. It was the jokes about “the future” and the inside jokes about the show that really helped this one along.
Soultaker – Season 11, Episode 1: Starring perennial MST3K favorite Joe Estevez, brother of Martin Sheen, as a Soultaker, a worker for the Angel of Death… who must take souls! The souls of three teenagers who die in a horrific auto accident. Will they get back to their bodies in time? Does the Soultaker love Natalie? Watch and see! Ok, this is a fun one. The Joe Estevez jokes really make this one really funny, and the movie wasn’t half bad either… it was actually pretty decent.
Final Justice – Season 11, Episode. 8: Joel and the bots must face the inevitability that is… Final Justice starring Joe Don Baker as a Texas lawman named Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III who must extradite a mobster to Italy for a trial, and in the process makes an emergency landing on Malta. Will he do it? Who knows! Ok, I really enjoyed this film and the constant barrage of jokes about Joe Don Baker’s eating habits and hygiene just make this the best episode of the four. This is the must watch of the collection.
The set was sparse on the special features, and one disc even came without any at all. The first Disc had the Original trailer for Mad Monster. The third disk had an interview with Joe Estevez about his films showing up on MST3K. The fourth disk had an interview with the writer/producer of Final Justice, Greydon Clark on being on MST3K and something called Cheap Seats without Ron Parker from ESPN. The second disk actually had no special features whatsoever, but since the features were movie specific, it made sense that they couldn’t come up with one for Manhunt In Space.
The video quality is still is very clear, more so with the newer episodes. They seem to be cleaned up at least a little. The sound quality is excellent for these discs. Now I must remind you, the viewer, that these will not be in widescreen, since it is a TV show from the 1989 to 1999.
I have always loved Mystery Science Theatre 3000. I have grown up watching it, and have even been known to enjoy it with a group of friends here and there. I’d recommend this set to everyone, because it is just the funniest thing out there and you even get to be introduced to some cinematic “gems”. Mike and Joel really make this series fun. Not every Joke works, but on a good day, most will. This is the most fun you will have watching bad movies. Go out and buy yourself a copy today!
Comics online gives Mystery Science Theatre 3000: Volume XIV 4 “CROOOOW!”s out of 5.
