Amazon.com video review:
Though a scant 30 minutes, MST3K's Poopie reel of outtakes is worth every sumptuous
second. In it we witness the best of special effects gone awry, flubbed lines, and general goofing around by Joel
Hodgson, Mike Nelson, Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, and beloved robots Crow and Tom Servo. While you might
think this reel features scenes of limp robots and their human roboteers sporting witty quips, the outtakes package is
often quite the opposite. We hear Crow and Servo in character cracking spontaneously hilarious comments one couldn't
have the pleasure of hearing even on primetime cable TV. What's more, you'll end up shaking your head in admiration
at the comedic talents of Kevin Murphy (Servo) and Trace Beaulieu (Crow). In short, if you want to get crazy, if you
want to get loose, if you want a funny, intimate peek behind the now-retired world of MST3K, the
Poopie pack is the perfect capper on a long, illustriously witty run of one of America's most creative and
entertaining television shows. --Karen Karleski
Amazon.com video review:
Arguably the worst movie that our lovable pals Joel, Crow, and Tom Servo have ever had the pain of
watching, Manos: Hands of Fate is destined to be an MST3K classic for this very reason. Not only is
there a sparse, illogical plot, but the cinematography is nonsensical (note Servo's point about the endless countryside
ride in Texas). That said, Manos must be watched, and cringed at, and commented on by its viewers because of
the director's amazingly awful vision of what a horror film should be. What plot there is involves a vacationing family
being trapped in a remote ranch house in the desert that's "managed" by a greasy, what looks to be stoned, oversize
bow-legged keeper named "Torgo." As the movie goes on, and one finds the "master" and his harem of semi-dead
women clad in see-through white dresses, one wonders more and more what the hell this movie was supposed to be
about. Even Dr. Forrester and Frank feel a little sorry for Joel and the boys' being forced to watch this one. Still,
you'll find yourself spiraling into hysterics when the women get into a big catty brawl while Joel and the boys liken
their antics to a Ladies Guild performing A Midsummer Night's Dream or female dirt-wrestling. An episode
you'll love to suffer through. --Karen Karleski
Amazon.com video review:
Mystery Science Theater 3000 experienced a changing of the guard
with this fifth-season episode. Departed series creator and lead Joel Hodgson
was replaced by head writer Mike Nelson, playing a hapless temp named... Mike
Nelson, who was sent into space to cover for Hodgson's escape. The opening
credit sequence and title theme (warbled by Nelson) were also new, but the
show's basic premise--poking fun at atrocious B movies--remained the same.
Nelson's debut "experiment" is the delirious 1960 head-transplant horror The
Brain That Wouldn't Die. And while Nelson is occasionally stiff,
particularly during the invention exchange (a longtime Hodgson staple, and soon
to be excised), he and robot pals Crow and Tom Servo rise to the occasion during
the film, which is filled with memorable zingers (Crow: "He's keeping her alive
with Grey Poupon!"). Rhino's DVD presents the uncut, slightly gory version of
Brain with and without the MST3K treatment. --Paul Gaita
Amazon.com video review:
This farewell episode for Joel Hodgson is a sentimental favorite but even more worth it for the hilarity
spawned by our captured Satellite of Love friends. The movie centers on the hapless, big lug cop named Mitchell (Joe
Don Baker), who fights the rich and powerful drug-dealing bad guys. Along the way, Mitchell finds himself
investigating murder, falling "in sex" with Linda Evans, helping an elderly woman like a good son, and telling a
bothersome wisecracking kid to buzz off. Match that with clothing and music from 1975 and you've got prime fodder
for the biting remarks of Joel, Crow, and Tom Servo--which, of course, they take advantage of handily and in
abundance. Mitchell has a few quiet areas but these are spotty, and when Joel and his mechanical friends start
wisecracking, it's all hilariously worth the wait. Mitchell: So '70s, you'd swear Kris Kristofferson was moaning
the theme song in the background. --Karen Karleski
Amazon.com video review:
Joel and his robot friends, Tom Servo and Crow, are marooned on
the derelict Satellite of Love and forced to watch horrendously lousy
movies. In this episode, they're subjected to this inexplicably titled
film--the subterranean denizens appear for all of two confusing minutes
and add absolutely nothing to the plot. Not that there's much of a plot
to add to. Miles O'Keefe stars as the warrior Ator, whose bare chest
and loincloth prompt Crow to ask, "How much Keefe is in this movie?" Tom
and Joel answer, "Miles O'Keefe." Ator, his buckskin-clad babe, and a
scrawny martial-arts sidekick--à la Kato--try to save civilization
(though
no one appears to be too civilized) from a superweapon called--get
this--a "Geometric Nucleus." "Why do they have such fancy names for
stupid things?" wonders Crow. Even though Ator can't muster up a pair of
pants, he does manage to construct a hang glider in five minutes from a
bunch of sticks. On top of all that, the bad guy looks like some
demented cross between Doug Henning and Sonny Bono and is just about as
threatening. And the cut-rate, low-budget special effects inspire a
hilarious rant from the boys. All of which makes for an MST3K
classic. --Tod Nelson
Amazon.com video review:
While some might question the comic potential of a movie concerning
grave robbing and forced brain transplants, Mike Nelson and his 'bot pals Crow
and Tom Servo mine plenty of laugh fodder from 1963's The Atomic Brain in
this fifth-season episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. In addition to
the usual rapid-fire patter and pop-culture references (Mike: "[The Silence
of the Lambs'] Jame Gumb only dreamed of what this guy's been able to
accomplish"), the boys also present a light operetta that accompanies the film's
herky-jerky score, as well as chin puppetry from Mike (which terrifies the
'bots). And in a MST3K first, the disembodied Magic Voice (Mary Jo Pehl)
steps into the spotlight and duels verbally with Atomic Brain's unctuous
narrator (Bradford Dillman). Also included is the original accompanying short, a
grim educational film from 1955 entitled "What About Juvenile Delinquency?" A
raucously entertaining entry in this Peabody Award-winning series. --Paul
Gaita
Amazon.com video review:
It stands to reason that Dr. Clayton Forrester is as evil as he
is--check out his mother! Clayton cooks and cleans all day long for Mom's
visit, and all she wants to do is go out and carouse with TV's Frank.
It's enough to make a demented genius force a guy and a couple of robots
to watch a cheap knockoff of The Most Dangerous Game starring Robert
Reed. Or something like that. Meanwhile, on the Satellite of Love, Crow
and Servo are engaging in what any two stranded robots would do to pass
the time: psychotherapy. Does Crow have a mother? Has he seen
Cliffhanger? You know--all the juicy stuff. Before the feature
presentation, Mike and the 'bots are treated to Uncle Jim's Dairy
Farm, your typical weird-stuff-seething-beneath-the-surface
classroom film (Mike in mock-narrator tone: "Repressed emotions help the
evening pass without incident"). Finally, it's time for
Bloodlust, in which a horribly wardrobed Father Brady (Crow: "His
shirt's so tight you can see his liver!"), his large-featured girlfriend
(Crow: "She's got more face than she needs"), his dorky friend ("Steve
Allen, P.I.!"), and some other rabbit-in-the-headlights actress visit an
uncharted island and dodge the homicidal intentions of its chief wacko
resident. Worth watching for this classic exchange alone: "You ever shot
a man?" "No, but I slapped Ann B. Davis once." --Bob Michaels
Amazon.com video review:
Nothing captures the peculiar pastiche of the pop-cultural zeitgeist
like
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K to fans). The formula is
simple:
subject a hapless temp worker, Mike Nelson, and his robot friends, Tom
Servo and Crow, marooned in space to the worst B, C, even Z-grade movies
imaginable and record the results. On The Wild World of
Batwoman, they quip through a movie summed up best by Crow: "It looks
like they just put a whole lotta movies in a blender and turned it on
really fast!" The plot of the movie is hapless at best, inexplicably
puncuated by bikini-clad "Batgirls" go-go dancing with guns (Mike quips:
"That's 40 pounds of butt in pants with a 30-pound capacity."). The
episode starts with a '50s educational short on student cheating that is so
dour in tone that Tom wonders, "Is this Ingmar Bergman's first American
movie?" In a sub-skit, Tom and Crow go mano a mano (or roboto a roboto)
trying to out-shun each other: "I double shun you." Tom trumps with, "I
shun you version 3.0 for Windows." The worse the movie, the better and more
wacky the MST3K episode; never has subpar art ever inspired such heights
of hilarity, and Batwoman is as bad as they come. Which means it's
great. Get it? --Tod Nelson
Amazon.com video review:
A classic episode of the cult television series (in which an
amiable space janitor and his metallic pals are forced to watch and
deliver a sardonic running commentary on terrible movies), "Eegah"
stars the gargantuan Richard Kiel (who would later become known for
his sensitive portrayal of Jaws in a couple of the Bond films) in the
title role as a still-kickin' Neanderthal looking for a little love in
swinging 1960s California. One of the worst (or best, depending on
your point of view) films ever to be featured on the show, this
excruciating waste of celluloid provides ample fuel for Joel and the
'bots to deliver a wildly diverse, sustained barrage of hilarity
(including an in-depth discussion of the widowed dad dichotomy of '60s
sitcoms) at the source material's full expense. Enjoy, and remember
to "watch out for snakes." (You'll understand after viewing.)
--Andrew Wright
Amazon.com video review:
Mike and the 'bots succumb to the horrors of Coleman Francis, actor,
director, but by no means auteur. It's possible that Francis is the worst
filmmaker of all time--he makes Ed Wood look like Kubrick. The plot (or what
shreds of it are in evidence) moves mysteriously from post-Castro Cuba through
inexplicable chase scenes, and somehow ends up in a tungsten mine. Along
the way a lot of coffee is consumed, and Tom Servo, Crow, and Mike
virtually trip over each other picking apart the movie and quipping over
its infamously terrible dialogue. "Castro" has an obviously fake beard,
John Carradine croons his way through "Night Train to Mondo Fine," and Cuba
itself seems to be situated in the middle of a small lake. With murky
cinematography, blink-and-miss-them edits, and incoherent plot turns,
Red Zone Cuba provides ample fodder for Mike and his robot pals'
scathing wit. Though MST3K has churned up some awful, awful movies on
which to work its magic, Red Zone Cuba is only equaled in its
awfulness by the truly disturbingly terrible Manos: Hands of Fate.
Movies so bad are rare. Thank goodness. --Tod Nelson
