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Episodes Featured:
A double dose of Fugitive Alien leads what may be one of the best box sets of the series. Both Fugitive Alien episodes are among my top five Joel era episodes (maybe even my top three), while The Sword and the Dragon is a wildly enjoyable Mike offering, and all three have goofy entertaining movies at their core to boot. Samson vs. the Vampire Women tails in last place, but it at the very least is an important episode in Mystery Science Theater history as it was Frank Conniff's final regular appearance. The movie featured is another one that has a doofus charm about it, so it at the very least feels like a full set of likeable cheese. The episode itself is unfortunately much more boring than its companions, which puts a dent in this almost perfect set.
Average Rating (out of 4): 3.5
The Fugitive Alien episodes feature spotless video, while the sixth season offerings are a little mote flawed but not bothersome. Fans will likely flock to the Life After MST3K: Frank Conniff, where Frank talks about his career after leaving the series. More film-related features include Japanese media historian August Ragone discussing the Star Wolf series that was edited into the Fugitive Alien films, and also a documentary called Lucha Gringo, which discusses Lucha Libre wrestling and the wrestling and film career of El Santos, the Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson of Mexico. Also included is an interview with Sandy Frank, the producer responsible for imports of Fugitive Alien, Gamera, Mighty Jack, Time of the Apes, The "Legend of Dinosaurs," and Humanoid Woman, where he talks about his lengthy career in many media pies. Also included are a TV spot for Samson vs. the Vampire Women, MST Hour segments for Fugitive Alien, and two bonus shorts, A Date With Your Family and Snow Thrills.
The box art is Shout Factory's simple stock art featuring the MST logo in the upper left corner against a starry backdrop and the theater seats at the theater seats at the bottom, with the Roman numerals "XXIV" painted in the center. As usual, the real star her is the individual case art by Steve Vance. Fugitive Alien features Crow as Ken the Star Wolf in an apocalyptic city being faced down by his deadly girlfriend, played by Tom Servo. Star Force also features Crow as Ken, this time squaring off against Servo as Lord Halkon, who has Crow at his mercy with his sword. The Sword and the Dragon also features Servo wielding a sword, as he is Ilya Muromets fighting the three headed dragon, in which each head resembles Crow. Concluding this batch of battles between the two bots, Samson vs. the Vampire women features Servo as Samson/Santo wrestling Crow all dolled up as a vampire woman.
Like the box art, the disc art is Shout's stock option of episode titles against a starry backdrop. The disc menus continue Shout's tradition of making little skits out of archived audio and CGI bots. Fugitive Alien features both Crow and Servo as a pair of "Kens" flying the Bacchus III on the run and getting into a shootout with the intruders on board. Star Force features Crow and Servo fixing the engine of Bacchus III and accidentally turning Crow's head into a Big Head. The Sword and the Dragon features Servo escorting Ilya Muromets, and they run into Crow, who is a wind demon. Samson vs. the Vampire Women features Servo dressed as Samson/Santo and Crow carrying a torch as they invade the tomb of the Vampire Women.
Here is the nitty-gritty on this set, all four episodes are must-owns. The first three are so because they are among the best episodes of the series, while the last one is not because it's particularly great, but because it's a landmark episode that every fan will be interested in. There are heavy laughs to be had with this episode, and it also completes the nine-episode Sandy Frank catalog on DVD. This one should be on your shelf, and that's all there is to it.
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