Mystery Science Theater 3000 Episodes
(Shout! Factory DVD Singles):
The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped
Living And Became Mixed-Up Zombies
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Episode: A
Beginning of the End
Picture: B- Sound: C+ Extras: D Episode: B+
Shout Factory continues to offer Mystery
Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) fans some of the best episodes of the
show with these single disc releases.
Even a cursory investigation will reveal that MST3K enjoyed a long life
in the late 1980s through the 1990s, its zany characters dealing in campy
satire and pop-culture references that targeted the worst movies in the history
of cinema. And we got to watch with
them. The show aired on two networks
(Comedy Central and Sci-Fi), delighting fans (known as “Mysties”) the world
over.
This pair of releases features one of the
singularly worst, most disjointed and strange productions the crew ever
tackled: The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Mixed-Up
Zombies. Like a visit to a
Timothy Leary lecture, this film can warp minds. It ranks up there with Manos: Hands of Fate
in MST3K fame for worst movie ever
“handled” by the show. Mike Nelson and
robots do indeed “handle” it, but not without some wild shenanigans of their
own. The second release, Beginning
of the End with Robert Graves, provides solid MST3K fair (giant, man-eating grasshoppers assaulting Chicago), but
really pales when compared to the drug-induced fever dream that is The
Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Mixed-Up Zombies. The Robert Graves jokes do come fast and
furious, and the boys again have some fun on the side, this time with plastic
grasshoppers.
Considering the rarity and value of the
older Rhino boxes, Shout seems to have decided to go in a different direction
with these smaller releases. A single
episode with no extras or special packaging will hopefully mean fans can expect
a steadier stream of episodes on the market.
Although both of these releases are from the show’s later seasons, the
folks at Shout chose wisely with these two episodes, both strong fan
favorites. We can only expect to see
more of the same coming soon!
-
Scott Pyle
