Release Date: July 7, 2009
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Episodes Featured:
The Girl in Lovers Lane
The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy
Zombie Nightmare
Racket Girls
Shout Factory strikes back with their third set of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes (the fifteenth volume overall, sixteenth if you include The Essentials) and I remember being extremely excited for this one. While it steered away from the era that I grew up with, the Sci-Fi era, it featured two of my favorite episodes of the Comedy Central seasons that I had seen at that time, The Girl in Lovers Lane and Zombie Nightmare, as well as a pair of episodes I had never seen before at the time. While neither Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy nor Racket Girls lived up to my affection for the other two episodes, Aztec Mummy was a fairly strong first season effort in my book (though some would disagree) and Racket Girls showed off one of the funniest shorts in the entire series.
BOING!
Of course the main hesitancy as far as episodes go lies in the fact that it's yet another release with a first season episode, and they're not everyone's cup of tea. Hell, even people who are partial to the first season tend to look down upon Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy due to the padded and plodding movie and sparse early riffing. I've always enjoyed the episode whenever I watched it, but I have weird taste in movies. It's part of the reason why I love this show. I'd also point out that despite it's strong short, Racket Girls is an overall weak episode. Personally I find the movie duller than Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy, but that's just me. Also, opinions can vary on The Girl in Lovers Lane seeing how many can find the movie depressing, but those of us who love it tend to list it as a series best (and I agree with that opinion). I think I tend to agree with the popular opinion on Zombie Nightmare, so if there's an episode on this set that's probably the highly recommended one by consensus, it'd be that one. But if I were to favor one episode over the other, I'd say Girl in Lovers Lane is my highlight episode of this set.
Average Rating (scale of 1 to 4): 3.25
As far as disc content goes, I think the episodes all look pretty good and the audio is excellent as well. As for special features, the most prominent features come from the MST3K Scrapbook, which was an old video for collectors that had little clips and scenes from the series, some of which were fairly rare. There is a feature devoted to clips from the KTMA episodes and one devoted to behind the scenes footage lifted from The Making of MST3K Comedy Central special. On the movie related front, we have interviews with Zombie Nightmare stars Frank Dietz and Jon Mikl Thor and promos for Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy and Racket Girls. There is also a clip from an independent comedy project called Hamlet A.D.D. which featured Kevin Murphy and Trace Beaulieu.
The cover art is a bit of a disappointment since they just recycled the cover of Volume XIV but painted it blue, and then you realize that this is going to be their stock cover for the entire series and the disappointment compounds quite a bit. It just features the MST logo in the upper left hand corner and the Roman numerals XV in the center in blue font, against a starry backdrop with the theater seats at the bottom. However the real treat of the art is on the inside, where we are given four mini-snap cases with individual art by Steve Vance (as well as four mini posters of the same art). Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy has the titular battle at the top, while Servo and Crow are at the bottom gazing up at it. The Girl in Lovers Lane has the Bot duo pinned up against an ally wall and about to be beaten up (mimicking a scene from the movie). Zombie Nightmare has them both being chased by the titular zombie of the movie through a graveyard. Racket Girls features Servo as a mobster and Crow as a female wrestler standing in a wrestling ring.
Disc art is the Shout standard of the episode title logo against a starry backdrop, but there are some fun menus here. Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy has Crow wearing the legs of the titular robot of the film, while the film's mad scientist makes him walk around the tomb of the Aztec Mummy. The Girl in Lovers Lane features Servo and Crow jumping into a railroad car. Zombie Nightmare features Crow and Servo swimming in a wading pool (from one of the host segments) as a zombie arm rises up and takes a swing at them with a baseball bat. Racket Girls has Crow and Servo wrestling in a wrestling ring as the crowd jeers them.
I will admit to some bias with this box set since I think it features two of the best episodes of the entire series and even if you don't like the other two it's worth having on your shelf. Those who haven't made the jump into MST on DVD may want to consider making their first purchase here. Either Lovers Lane or Zombie Nightmare will win you over.
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