Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXV (DVD Review)
- Review Date: Aug 03, 2015
- Format: DVD
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Director
VariousRelease Date(s)
Various (December 4, 2012)Studio(s)
Shout! Factory- Film/Program Grade: B+
- Video Grade: B-
- Audio Grade: B-
- Extras Grade: B+
- Overall Grade: B+
Review
WE’VE GOT MOVIE SIGN!!!
Here we are again with Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Shout! Factory’s Volume XXV DVD set. These boxed sets are released tri-annually with some nice extras and better quality episodes than what you might find floating around online or on bootlegs. The price is kind of steep, but if you’re a fan of the show, you know that these sets are definitely worth picking up.
I’ve gone into a good amount of detail about MST3K and my love for it in my review of the movie, so I won’t bother getting into that. We’ll keep things short and sweet and just cover the set itself. With this release, you get the following four episodes: Robot Holocaust (Season 1, Episode 110), Operation Kid Brother (Season 5, Episode 8), Kitten with a Whip (Season 6, Episode 15), and Revenge of the Creature (Season 8, Episode 1).
The episodes in these boxed sets usually feature two hosted by Joel and two hosted by Mike, which is a good balance. The quality of each episode varies, with some episodes being better than others. Robot Holocaust is a post-Road Warriors clone without any of the substance or star power; Operation Kid Brother is the bastard offspring of 007 starring Neil Connery (that’s not a joke either); Kitten with a Whip features a very young Ann-Margaret not quite pulling off the underage femme fatale role; and last but not least, Revenge of the Creature is the sequel to The Creature From the Black Lagoon, and the only real notable thing about it is that there’s a cameo from Clint Eastwood... oh and the Creature is back, for revenge, or something.
As far as image and sound quality, everything is sourced from the original master tapes, which were on video. The episodes look generally good, especially in the latter years of the show, with an occasional minor green band or video-source anomaly here or there. Unfortunately, there are no subtitles. Short of Shout! Factory putting some extra money into producing these sets in high definition, these are definitely a major step up from circulating bootlegs of the show.
As for the extras, you get a few from disc to disc, most of them newly-produced just for this set. For Robot Holocaust, you get an introduction by Joel Hodgson and the featurette Life After MST3K: J. Elvis Weinstein. For Operation Kid Brother, you get another introduction by Joel Hodgson. For Kitten with a Whip, you get an introduction by Mike Nelson. And for Revenge of the Creature, you get another introduction by Mike Nelson, the documentary Jack Arnold at Universal, and the featurette Life After MST3K: Bill Corbett. Also included (as is standard with all of the MST3K boxed sets) are 4 paper insert reproductions of the artwork from each DVD in the set.
All in all, this is another solid boxed set release of MST3K goodness from the fine folks at Shout! Factory. If you’re a fan, you’ll definitely want to pick it up. Now push the button, Frank.
- Tim Salmons