Release Date: December 1, 2009
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Episodes Featured:
The Corpse Vanishes
Warrior of the Lost World
Santa Claus
Night of the Blood Beast (Turkey Day Special)
Night of the Blood Beast (Standard Version)
Shout Factory gives us a little holiday treat in this volume of Mystery Science Theater, which sees not only a Christmas special but a bonus presentation of the little seen Thanksgiving special as well. Volume XVI is good to have around the Most Wonderful Time of the Year to help keep your sanity from all the stress from all that wonderfulness. I think we all need a laugh around the holidays, and this volume does the trick.
Episode wise, Night of the Blood Beast is easily the best. And what's this? There are two versions of that episode? That's right! Two versions of Blood Beast grace us with the exact same riffing but different host segments. I think the better of the two is the Turkey Day version myself, but you really can't go wrong when the movie segments are that good. I'd give the runner up position to Warrior of the Lost World, which is just fun. There are die hard fans of Santa Claus that are probably screaming at me right now, and while it's a fairly popular episode it never quite clicked with me the way it does with other people. It's still worth watching though. The Corpse Vanishes is a fairly middling first season entry that weighs down the average, but it's not poor in the slightest.
Average Rating (scale of 1 to 4, Blood Beast counts as one episode): 3
Video is fairly strong throughout the set, with good audio as well. That Turkey Day version of Blood Beast highlights the set, and we're also given the Turkey Day bumpers that led up to the episode as a bonus! Think of it as a delightful prelude! Kevin Murphy also talks a bit about the Turkey Day bumpers in a featurette as well. On the movie related side, Santa Claus offers a documentary about the film's legacy while Warrior of the Lost World director David Worth talks a bit about his film's production. Also featured are some trailers for The Corpse Vanishes, Santa Claus, and Night of the Blood Beast, radio spots for Santa Claus, and production photos for Warrior of the Lost World and Santa Claus. Concluding the set is a promo for the Wonder World of K. Gordon Murray.
During the initial run of this set it was packaged with a bonus Tom Servo figurine, which is fairly cute. Unlike the Crow figurine in the 20th Anniversary Edition, this figure is full bodied, making it a tad more appealing. The detail is quite good, with the exception of the arms, which are made solid instead of slinky, but that's nitpicking since the arms would have been impossible to replicate.
The box art is Shout Factory's stock art, featuring the logo in the upper left hand corner, the theater seats at the bottom, and the roman numeral XVI painted in red in the center. As always, the fun art is inside, which offers four slim cases with new artwork by Steve Vance, as well as for bonus posters featuring the same art. The Corpse Vanishes features Tom Servo as a bride in a lab being experimented on by a looming Crow, as the Bela Lugosi character. Warrior of the Lost World features the two bots riding our favorite talking motorcycle which is firing guns on a lonely, post-apocalyptic road. Santa Claus features Servo as Pitch the Devil attacking Crow as Santa. Night of the Blood Beast features Servo and Crow as a pair of Steves being attacked by the Blood Beast.
Disc art is the Shout Standard of episode titles against a starry backdrop. Menus are traditional Shout Factory 3D animation. The Corpse Vanishes is a menu that's a role reversal of the poster, in which it's Crow who is strapped to the table and experimented on by Servo, who sucks out Crow's neck juice with a syringe and injects himself, turning a lovely shade of blue. Bela Lugosi looms in the background of this menu. Reversing THAT scenario, Warrior of the Lost World features Servo in a bed in a white room while Crow looms over him, with the motorcycle in the corner spouting catchphrases on its screen. Santa Claus sees Crow on a snowy Satellite of Love as Tom Servo the Devil teleports around and annoys him. Night of the Blood Beast has Servo being X-Rayed for Blood Beast children, as the shadow of the Blood Beast roams in the backgound causing Crow to shoot at it and set the room on fire.
With three good to great episodes and one okay first season offering Volume XVI isn't really my most highly recommended set, though if you're looking for something fun during the holiday season it's a sound investment (along with copies of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, The Christmas that Almost Wasn't, and the Volume XXXI Turkey Day set). That Tom Servo figure it initially came with is well worth having in one's collection as well, though unfortunately it's out of production. One can still buy the set itself which is one that I think most will want in their collection.
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