Release Date: March 16, 2010
Buy it here!
Features the following episodes:
The Crawling Eye
The Beatniks
The Final Sacrifice
Blood Waters of Dr. Z
Mystery Science Theater 3000's first nationally televised episode finally hits DVD. It took them long enough. Because of this, Volume XVII is a historically important set to have on your shelf. But those who get the set may be pleased to see that the episode collection is pretty good, though not great. Crawling Eye and Blood Waters of Dr. Z can get a little dreary thanks to the movies, though I enjoy both. The other two movies are goofy fun though.
The fan favorite episode The Final Sacrifice was a part of this set, which for many will be the sole reason to own it. I don't think Final Sacrifice is one of the best episodes of the series personally. Hell, I don't even think it's the best episode on the set. I'm more of a Beatniks guy myself. And I think I may even prefer Blood Waters of Dr. Z. That's not to say that the episode isn't important to many, so if you love it then you'll definitely want this set.
Average Rating (scale of 1 to 4): 3
Audio and video are mostly good, though I've noted a few transfer flaws with Blood Waters of Dr. Z, the video itself is mostly fine. Probably the highlight of extras on the set is The Main Event: Crow vs. Crow, which features Trace and Bill discussing the character at a con. Other MST related extras include Joel offering an intro to The Crawling Eye and MST Hour wraps for The Beatniks. Movie related extras offer up an interview with the late Bruce J. "Rowsdower" Mitchell on The Final Sacrifice and trailers for The Crawling Eye, The Beatniks, and Blood Waters of Dr. Z. Blood Waters of Dr. Z also features a healthy batch of bonus promo material.
Shout Factory's stock box art is in full swing. Volume XVII is no different, featuring the logo in the upper left hand corner and the giant roman numeral "XVII" in the center painted orange, while the theater seats sit in the bottom. As usual the awesome art is on the slim cases inside, as each episode gets their own artwork (as well as mini-poster). The Crawling Eye features a giant green eyeball grabbing Crow and Tom Servo with its tentacles. The Beatniks features Servo all gussied up as male lead Eddy, holding a microphone, while Crow is behind him dressed up as Moon, about to "MOON" him with his pocket knife. The Final Sacrifice features Servo and Crow tied to a stake about to be sacrificed by cultists. Blood Waters of Dr. Z features the two bots in water being attacked by the movie's fish monster. Disc art is Shout's standard episode logo against a starry backdrop.
Moving on to the menus, I believe Volume XVII is the first set to loop dialogue from the episodes to create menu "host segments" in a way. It's a very experimental batch of menus, and they were really cool at the time. The Crawling Eye features the giant Eye creature behind the theater doors and grabbing Gypsy and Tom Servo as they walk by, while Crow is reading a newspaper at the bridge. The Eye tries to take Crow too but Crow throws lemonade in its eye and it backs off. The Beatniks features Crow chasing a panicked Gypsy with a knife, threatening to "MOON" her. The Final Sacrifice features Servo as a cultist chasing Crow. Blood Waters of Dr. Z features a flooded Satellite of Love bridge and Crow and Servo fishing in a boat, eventually catching the fish man.
If you're buying this set for The Final Sacrifice, I hope you already own it because that episode's rights have lapsed and the set went out of print. Otherwise the rest of the episodes are available in The Lost and Found Collection. Those die-hard Final Sacrifice fans and episode completists will otherwise have to pay through the nose to get this one. It's too bad, because it's a solid set.
No comments:
Post a Comment