20th Anniversary "Mystery Science Theater 3000" Box Set Hits Stores

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20th Anniversary "Mystery Science Theater 3000" Box Set Hits Stores

Written by Matt Medlock

Saturday, 01 November 2008

In time for the holidays, the greatest cult TV show of all time, Mystery Science Theater 3000, is getting a 20th Anniversary Box Set treatment through Shout Factory. So if your 401(k) hasn’t been decimated to dimes yet, it’s time for fans to dip in and take advantage of this limited offer. And for those of you who aren’t fans (or God forbid, have never even heard of the show)…well, I guess I wouldn’t suggest you cough up the fifty bucks on a whim, but you should definitely get to your web browsers or run to a video store and get educated. You can even view entire episodes online for free: try Space Mutiny. It’s a cult show for a reason (not for all tastes), but those attuned will love it.

So for those out of the loop, a description: it’s a show devoted to making sarcastic jokes about low-budget cinematic crap fests, the kind that make B-Movies look like Oscar bait. The premise is that mad Dr. Forrester, who wants to take over the world, sends his janitor, Joel, into outer space to the Satellite of Love in order to subject him to the worst films he can find and once he discovers one bad enough, he’ll unleash it on an unsuspecting populace. In order to keep his sanity, Joel uses his…custodial skills…to build four relatively sophisticated (if suspiciously “puppet-looking”) robots to keep him company and share his pain. They are Cambot (which sees everything we see—it’s a camera), Gypsy (who’s in charge of system operations for the SoL), Tom Servo and Crow—the latter two join Joel (and later Mike, after Joel left the show) in the projection room for the wise-cracking. Goofy, yes, but it’s all a threadbare excuse for some ninety minutes of zingers, skits and whatever else they feel like. In other words, a couple hundred bad movies torn apart for our amusement, most of which are hilarious almost the entire way through.

Episodes on the newly released box set include (211) First Spaceship on Venus, (706) Laserblast, (904) Werewolf and (1004) Future War (image right). It’s easy to gripe about the selection, but everybody has their favorites and even though none of these are classics in my mind, I suppose I’d rather get copies of ones I can’t recite four dozen lines from. And I’m fairly certain I’ve never even seen the first one… New-to-me MST? Score! The 4-disc set will be packaged in a collectible tin box (which has been autographed by Jim Mallon and “Gypsy,” if you order from MSTie Mall); extra goodies include four custom lobby cards representing the episode movies and a Crow T. Robot figurine.

While the MST we know and love is almost certainly never coming back, the team behind the show still works to affectionately slice and dice celluloid cheese. Joel Hodgson is a part of the Cinematic Titanic project, a gathering of several MST writers and performers planting themselves before a big screen to riff on more Z-grade sci-fi and horror flics. Basically, it’s MST3K 3.0, only it’s sometimes performed live and done with real folks instead of a janitor and ‘bots. In addition to Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu (Dr. Forrester and the original voice of Crow), Frank Coniff (Forrester’s sidekick of the same name), J. Elvis Weinstein (the original Servo) and Mary Jo Pehl (Forrester’s evil mother, Pearl) perform. If lucky, you might be able to catch Cinematic Titanic at a location near you; it’s probably too late for those in St. Louis to catch the Nov. 1 show (um, today) at Family Arena, but anyone around Chicago can see them at Lakeshore Theater from Dec. 18 through the 20th.

As for Mike Nelson (Joel's replacement in the middle of Season 5), he’s doing RiffTrax, an audio-only component to add to your favorite blockbusters and bombs, giving them freedom to goof on movies of which they couldn’t possibly afford the rights. He was also once a part of the now-defunct Film Crew, a DVD-based comedic team that included Bill Corbett (Crow from Season 8 onward) and Kevin Murphy (Season 2 and beyond Servo). Film Crew, like RiffTrax and Cinematic Titanic (and MST before them), was a group dedicated to celebrating and vivisecting bottom of the barrel film entertainment. Stick to what you’re good at, I guess.

The reunion of the MST gang occurred during a recent ComicCon event to commemorate the 20th anniversary, and is documented as a feature for the DVD. Other bonuses include “The Oral History of MST3K” (a three-part documentary series), all six versions of the theme song and the original trailers for the four movies. The limited-run Deluxe Edition has already been released (Oct. 28), so die-hards better get a move on before they sell out. The less obsessive fans can wait for Nov. 18 when the standard edition will land, featuring just the DVDs. It’s better than nothing, but who can turn down a Crow figurine?

For more MST3K news and updates, visit http://www.mst3k.com.