Release Date: July 26th, 2016
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Features the following episodes:
Stranded in Space
City Limits
The Incredible Melting Man
Riding with Death
Also featuring:
The 1st Annual Mystery Science Theater 3000 Summer Blockbuster Review
The 2nd Annual Mystery Science Theater 3000 Summer Blockbuster Review
There is very little beating around the bush here, the Mike episodes far outweigh the Joel ones in quality this time around. The Joel episodes are okay but tend to run a bit dry for me, and believe me, dry is the last word you can describe Incredible Melting Man! That said, I do quite like City Limits, making it the superior of the former two, while the star of the set it the season eight classic Riding with Death. Meanwhile fellow TV movie Stranded in Space is the episode here you may want to skip over.
Initially offered for a limited time through Shout's website was a bonus disc including the two Summer Blockbuster Review specials, which are quite a treat. I hope everyone got their copies, because they're gone now! Mwahahahahaha!
Average Rating (episodes only, out of four: 3
The video and audio are pretty solid across the board, though Riding with Death and the first Blockbuster review have slightly troublesome black lines at points.
People who are looking for special features about MST itself will be sorely disappointed in this set. While each disc has solid bonuses, they are devoted to the films themselves. My favorite is The Devil Down in Georgia, which covers the life cycle of Film Ventures International who created those weird re-edits that MST saw from season two's Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster to season four's Being from Another Planet. There are also interviews with actress Rae Dawn Chong (on City Limits) and writer Steven de Souza (on Riding with Death). Meanwhile The Incredible Melting Man ports over interviews from it's own blu-ray release, offering us interviews with makeup artists Greg Cannom and Rick Baker as well as writer/director William Sachs. Bonuses are rounded out by trailers for City Limits and The Incredible Melting Man.
The box art is again Shout's basic stock cover for the series, featuring the logo in the upper left corner and the theater seats at the bottom looking up at the volume number, which is "XXXVI" painted in turquoise. As always the real star of thes art are the Steve Vance posters. Stranded in Space offers Servo and government agents looking down on escaped alien astronaut Crow. City Limits has Crow and Servo on motorcycles whipping chains and swinging baseball bats at each other. The third has Servo playing the titular Incredible Melting Man reaching out for a woman, played by Crow. Riding with Death has Crow posing as Agent Sam Casey while Servo dresses up as Buffalo Bill.
Disc art is Shout's basic starry backdrop with title logos plastered on. The menus are still being done with puppets, and unfortunately they're mostly dull this time around. For Stranded in Space Joel, Servo, and Crow fly a space pod around and Joel eats Jell-O. City Limits has a post-apocalyptic cityscape while Joel, Servo, and Crow are superimposed upon it in montage shots riding motorcycles. Melting Man has the coolest menu, which has Crow and Servo sitting with the Melting Man in the space pod (seen in the Stranded in Space menu) as he melts next to them. Then we get a bit dull again with Riding with Death as Crow and Servo dressed up as Sam and Bill as they ride motorcycles next to the Grim Reaper while the movie theme plays (get it...because they're RIDING...with Death you see). The recycling of props from one menu to another is shameless, but I understand what they're trying to do with these if it's any consolation. I just don't quite care for the puppet menus so far honestly. Still, that Melting Man effect was fun.
Riding with Death is a classic and Melting Man is a must see for its host segments alone (and the riffing aint too bad either), while the limited bonus disc is a treasure with two little seen gems on it, all making Volume XXXVI a no-brainer set to own. Some might enjoy Stranded in Space or City Limits more than others, and I like City Limits personally (though Stranded has its moments), which is the only real hesitation on this set. But even still there are some great bonus features pushing this set over the top in my mind.
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