Release Date: May 16, 2006
Re-Release Date: January 15, 2019
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Features the following episodes:
Women of the Prehistoric Planet
Wild Rebels
The Sinister Urge
The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies
Volume 9 is a favorite volume of mine. Not because I think the episodes featured are incredible (though there are some goodies) but rather it's an example of the type of set I'd like the see of the show, which dips it's toes into all four riffing combos featured in the original series. We have a Joel/Trace/Josh episode, a Joel/Trace/Kevin episode, a Mike/Trace/Kevin episode, and a Mike/Bill/Kevin episode. Despite how many volumes of the show there have been there have only been two more volumes like this, Volumes XXV and XXVII. There could have been ten more, seeing there were ten more Josh episodes, but alas.
Of course my joy in this is effectively ruined now that we have the Jonah/Hampton/Baron riffing combo that's not represented here, but they weren't around at the time so I'll live with it.
As for the episode quality, The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies is a personal favorite of mine and I know it's a bit of a beloved episode with certain fans as well. Unfortunately those who don't respond to it can be extremely negative about it. I think all fans should give it a shot just to see if you laugh as hard as I do, though proceed with caution. Runner-up episode for me is Wild Rebels, which is just fun. The Sinister Urge is a pretty solid episode as well. The sole first season episode is Women of the Prehistoric Planet, making it the first episode of that era to be released in a volume (The Crawling Hand was previously a single disc). It's not a prime example of the season in my opinion, but it's pleasant enough.
Average Rating (scale of 1 to 4): 3
Audio and video for all episodes were pretty solid. Bonus features were regulated to introductions to Women of the Prehistoric Planet and The Sinister Urge by actress Irene Tsu and actor Conrad Brooks, respectively.
The cover art tries to emulate a parking lot. We have an interior view from a car with a little Tom Servo and a chili dog on the dash and a pink MST logo hanging from the rear-view mirror, while the radio is cranked to "Vol. 9." Another neat detail is that the car in front features the license plate "DEEP 13." At first I thought the theme was a drive-in theater, like Volume 6, but we open the set up to find that the cars are actually parked outside a carnival, making the set a spiritual tie-in to Incredibly Strange Creatures. Disc art is pure Rhino in spades. Women of the Prehistoric Planet is an ash tray. Wild Rebels is a speedometer. The Sinister Urge is a birth control pill case. Incredibly Strange Creatures features a hypno-swirl.
The Women of the Prehistoric Planet menu features images of the film being emitted from a planet floating through space. Wild Rebels has a sputtering motorcycle and mug shots of film characters. The Sinister Urge features a strip of film also with floating photos of characters, as well as Crow and Servo thrown into the mix. Incredibly Strange Creatures is trippy as fuck, with a close-up of the opening decomposing face on the right side of the screen and clips of the episode, including a zooming shot of Ray Dennis Steckler, on the left. Like most Rhino disc, each menu features the theater silhouettes on the bottom, always with Joel no matter the episode. The doorway sequence that opens the menu however alternates based on the host.
Shout's re-release of the set has been announced for January, so I do not have it in my possession at the moment. It's probably safe to assume that it has the same stock cover for the re-releases and the same stock menus. The introductions have probably been retained, though it's unknown if any additional bonus content will be included.
Volume 9 initially went out of print due to Rhino licensing Women of the Prehistoric Planet from the wrong party, the culprits being Krypton International, who also claimed to have owned Godzilla vs. Megalon causing a stir in the following set. For a while the set was out of print and only available for astronomical prices. I recommend picking up the reissue when it gets released for those who don't already have it. The episodes are really fun and they could potentially be favorites for some, though bonuses are light.
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