Release Date: July 26, 2016
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Episodes Featured:
The Human Duplicators
Escape 2000
The Horror of Party Beach
Invasion of the Neptune Men
Also Featuring:
MST3K Little Golden Statue Preview Special
Academy of Robot's Choice Preview Special
The sun's getting low, and less episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 have not seen home video than ever before. We knew we'd get to day where it would be slim pickings, and Volume XXXVII sees us shifting away from Joel episodes, as The Human Duplicators is currently the last episode of the series from his era to grace DVD (rumor has it that as of this writing there is one more set on the horizon, thanks to some titles being freed up, but we'll see if it goes anywhere). It's been a long, intensive run, but let's applaud the man, who takes his final DVD bow on this set.
The rest of the episodes are from later in the series, and to be honest, Human Duplicators is overwhelmed by them. Duplicators isn't a poor episode, but the Mike-era stuff on this set is just some stellar material. Escape 2000 and Horror of Party Beach are wildly fun episodes that you can burst out for a get-together or a party, and while Invasion of the Neptune Men has it's detractors, it's personally one of my favorite episodes of the series. That makes Neptune Men my top choice of the set, but if you're one of those who thinks the movie is too hard to watch (I just don't get you, bruh), then pass that honor along to Party Beach.
For a limited time, this set was available on Shout Factory's website with a bonus disc with two more of MST's half hour specials, this time centered on the Oscars. One of these specials is a bit better than the other, but it's great to have these things in the collection!
Average Rating (out of 4): 3
There are some similar video issues with Horror of Party Beach and Neptune Men, but the episodes overall are still watchable. Human Duplicators and Escape 2000 have rock solid video transfers though. Audio for all four episodes is swell.
On the special features end, Mary Jo Pehl provides some pretty good intros for the episodes she worked on: Escape 2000, Horror of Party Beach, and Invasion of the Neptune Men. She provides some fun insight and context to the filming of the episodes, while discussing the films a little bit. Fans of the movies themselves will be happy with the bonuses offered, as we have a pair of making of features for Escape 2000 and Horror of Party Beach, titled Leave the Bronx and Return to Party Beach, respectively. Also there is an interview with Japanese film buff August Ragone called August on Neptune, where he discusses Invasion of the Neptune Men in great detail. Also featured are MST Hour wraps for Human Duplicators, but unfortunately they're incomplete and the first segment of episode two has been cut out. Concluding the disc are trailers for Escape 2000 (under the title Escape from the Bronx), Horror of Party Beach, and Invasion of the Neptune Men.
Unsurprisingly, the box art is Shout Factory's stock cover of the theater seats looking up at a starry backdrop, with the show logo in the upper left corner, and the roman numerals "XXXVII" painted in the center in yellow paint. Like always, the real artistic treat is on the inside, with four new individual episode art inserts by Steve Vance. The Human Duplicators depicts Crow as Kolos with Servo in a duplicating chamber and a clone of Servo in another. Escape 2000 has Servo wearing bad 80's hair as Trash, hiding behind a corner from Officer Crow who is trying to evacuate the Bronx with his flame thrower. Horror of Party Beach depicts Crow as a bikini babe and Servo as one of the Del Aires as one of the monsters looms behind them. Invasion of the Neptune Men has Servo as a Neptune Man on top of the picture and Crow as Space Chief at the bottom, who are separated by the title logo. The Awards disc is housed separately from the set, in a slim case. It simply has the theater seats looking up at a starry backdrop, while the series logo sits in the upper left hand corner with a theater ticket stating "MST3K Fancy Hollywood Awards Preview Specials" is in the center.
Inside of the cases, we get simple, stock disc art of the episode title logo against a starry backdrop. The menus keep with the puppet theme that the Shout sets have been sporting lately. I'm not a huge fan of any of these, though the Party Beach one did get a laugh out of me. The Human Duplicators features a trio of Crow heads as the Intergalactic Council instructing Kolos on his mission. The Escape 2000 one just has Trash riding on his motorcycle away from officers with flamethrowers. The Horror of Party Beach menu features Servo jamming with the Del Aires, Crow dancing with Tina on a beach before a monster jumps in, terrorizes them for a few seconds, and then dances with them. Neptune Men features a pretty cool set that has the kids from the movie running away from the Neptune Men before Space Chief saves the day. The Awards disc is just the theaters seats looking at a starry backdrop while the Love Theme plays.
I think this is a pretty solid set, with a trio of hysterical Mike episodes and a Joel episode, while middling, that has some decent laughs in it. It's a pretty great roundup of what few episodes Shout Factory has left, and I think Neptune Men is pants-wettingly hilarious. Some disagree with me on that, but those people are wrong. Must own volume, methinks!
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