Monday, May 17, 2021

Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXIX DVD Retrospective


Release Date:  March 25, 2014


Episodes Featured:

Mystery Science Theater fans rejoice, as one of its biggest crowd pleasing episodes has finally hit DVD.  Pumaman being released in this set was actually pretty big news when it was announced, because Shout Factory had gone on record saying they were having trouble finding the rights owners to that movie.  Pumaman turned out to be owned by Rocca Delle Macie S.p.A., which is an Italian wine farm, of all things!  The Google rating is three stars out of five.  It's based on only one review, and that review simply says "asdasd."  Thanks for clearing that up!

And here I thought Soultaker being owned by a dentist was weird.

Pumaman is undoubtedly the highlight of the set.  It's just too much fun.  The Thing That Couldn't Die comes in at a solid second, ensuring the Mike half of this set is the more memorable half.  Of the two Joel contenders, I'm going to side with the first season offering of Untamed Youth being the better of the two.  Sparse riffing or not, Mamie Van Doren on the show is a lot of fun!  Hercules and the Captive Women is fine, but it's the least of the Hercules episodes.

Average Rating (out of 4):  3

Audio and video is pretty good, though Thing That Couldn't Die shows some blemishes.  On the special features end, one of the big highlights is that the set features the unriffed version of Pumaman, making it's DVD debut!  Considering this movie was probably owned by people who didn't know they owned it, this was probably a courtesy by Shout Factory, as the film likely hasn't seen a home release in decades.  The downside to this is that the print is full screen, and very flawed.  Pumaman is in need of a restoration.

Backing up the unriffed Pumaman is an interview with Pumaman himself, Walter G. Alton Jr.  He's not the only star interviewed on this set, as Mamie Van Doren herself pops in to give a few words about Untamed Youth.  Also film-related is The Movie That Couldn't Die, an audio essay by Tom Weaver about The Thing That Couldn't Die.  More MST related, we have Joel Hodgson doing introductions for Untamed Youth and Hercules and the Captive Women, and a discussion of the Nanites.  We have also have an interview with artist Steve Vance, who creates the artwork for each episode's DVD case, and it also features a gallery of his work.  Closing out the set are theatrical trailers for Untamed Youth and The Thing That Couldn't Die.

We have yet another stock art for the outer case, with Shout Factory's trademark style of the MST logo in the upper left hand corner and the theater seats down below, with the roman numerals "XXIX" painted in orange in the center.  But we turn to our special features interviewee Steve Vance for the internal individual episode art, which is much more special.  Untamed Youth features Servo jamming on a guitar while Crow is all dolled up as Mamie Van Doren and dancing to the beat.  Hercules and the Captive Women sees Servo as Hercules, battling a giant horned dragon, while Crow is helplessly trapped inside of a wall.  The Thing That Couldn't Die features Servo dressed up as the female lead, holding up the disembodied head of Crow, who hypnotizes all who meet his gaze.  Pumaman features Crow as Pumaman glaring up at Servo, who sits above the logo with the golden mask.

Disc art is Shout's traditional episode logos against a starry backdrop.  Disc menus continue Shout's playful CGI Crow and Servo skits.  Untamed Youth features Crow and Servo picking cotton in the cottonfields, while Mamie Van Doren is sexually harassed by Mr. Tropp.  Hercules and the Captive Women changes things up by turning Steve Vance's artwork into a motion menu, feturing Servo as Hercules battling the horned dragon.  The Thing That Couldn't Die switches back to the traditional CG figures and features Crow and Servo opening the titular Thing's box and sticking his head in a microwave, popping it like popcorn.  Pumaman rounds out the menus with Crow and Servo dressed up as Donald Pleasence's bad guy, and they combat Pumaman with the golden mask.

As one of the most popular episodes of the series, Pumaman is a must own episode and anything else is just gravy.  Luckily The Thing That Couldn't Die holds its own and Untamed Youth is one of the better first season entries, ensuring this is a set that delivers.  I definitley recommend it.

2 comments:

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  2. I remember the difficulty they had in tracking down Pumaman's rights owner, but I never who held the rights for it, or Soultaker for that matter... very interesting, good info.

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