Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXI - MST3K vs. Gamera DVD Retrospective

Release Date:  November 11, 2011

Buy It Here!

Episodes Featured:

Gamera

Gamera vs. Barugon

Gamera vs. Gaos

Gamera vs. Guiron

Gamera vs. Zigra

Gamera!  Gamera!  Gamera is really neat!  He is made of turtle meat!  We believe in Gamera!

It a box set celebration of Mystery Science Theater's most prolific movie series!  Volume XXI was an incredible achievement, as large Japanese corporations like Kadokawa, who own the franchise currently, are notoriously hard to work with.  This helped open the door for them working with Tsuburaya for other Sandy Frank imported films as well.  From an film rights standpoint, this set is an important one.

But the word on the street is Gamera, and this set offers not four but FIVE episodes of the show, as it sees fit to release all the third season Gamera episodes in one package.  That makes this set a great deal for disc collectors and one of the must own sets of the series.  While I think Gamera and Gamera vs. Guiron are must see classics, I will confess I find Gamera's tenure on the series more uneven than most.  Gamera vs. Barugon is pretty decent, while Gaos and Zigra both are sleepers at best.  Because of that I won't consider it one of the best sets episode-wise, though it's hard to argue with such a legendary chunk of the show's legacy in one package.

Average Rating (out of 4):  3

Audio and video are great across the board.  Bonus features are as Gamera celebratory as you'd want.  We get So Happy Together, a discussion about how the crew of MST feel that the Gamera films personified what the series was trying to do, with Joel Hodgson, Jim Mallon, Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, and J. Elvis Weinstein all contributing.  Gamera Obscura is an interview with Japanese film historian August Ragone about the history of the Gamera franchise.  Gamera vs. the Chiodo Brothers features creature designers the Chiodo Brothers, as they discuss not just Gamera but other Japanese monsters and how they influenced them.  Rounding out the discs are MST Hour wraps for Gamera and Gamera vs. Guiron and trailers for all five films.

For the first time since the stock art was introduced for the MST DVD covers, Shout Factory finally changes it up a bit for this box set.  This set predominately sees Gamera flying against a starry backdrop above the theater seats, setting the MST logo ablaze in the upper right hand corner.  There are still some Steve Vance covers to admire for the interior cases as well.  Gamera sees Tom Servo as Kenny and Crow as his father looking up at Gamera as he sets the movie logo ablaze.  Gamera vs. Barugon has Servo and Crow dressed as adventurers stealing a Barugon egg as Gamera and Barugon duel in the background.  Gamera vs. Gaos features the title monsters battling in front of a volcano, as Gaos shoots a laser at the flying Gamera while Servo and Crow ride on his shell.  Gamera vs. Guiron sees Servo and Crow dressed as the alien space women who observe Gamera and Guiron fighting on the planet's surface.  Gamera vs. Zigra has Zigra jumping out of the sea at a flying Gamera as Servo and Crow try to escape in a wooden boat.

Unlike the box art, the disc art is Shout's standard, just film title logos against a starry backdrop.  The menus are also Shout's tradition of making skits using episode audio and CGI.  Each disc does open with Gamera storming the Satellite of Love through the theater doors, keeping the theme alive.  For Gamera, Servo and Crow pose for a painting while Gamera tries to break into the bridge.  Gamera vs. Barugon has Barugon stomping around on the bridge and Servo and Crow trying to figure out how to get rid of him.  Gamera vs. Gaos sees the two monsters fighting overhead as Servo and Crow watch as spectators, and they also wonder if Gamera's amputated foot tastes any good.  Gamera vs. Guiron is less monster related, as Crow is dressed in a tuxedo and playing the piano (ala Michael Feinstein) and Servo is a lounge singer.  Gamera vs. Zigra has Servo and Crow communicating with Zigra through a tiny spaceship.

Considering how iconic the Gamera episodes are in the show's cannon, there is absolutely no way I'm not recommending this set.  I think there are a couple of underwhelming episodes here, but all of them need to be watched if you're interested in this show.  There are a few things that are minor nitpicky about the set overall, such as the missed opportunity to release the KTMA episodes along with their third season counterparts, which seems like a natural inclusion.  It's also the second box set in a row that is all-Joel era, and with all the episodes being Gamera centered, the set lacks diversity.  But it's a themed set, so complaining about that would be missing the point.  It's a set that needs to be owned by any MSTie, and that's a fact.

And with Gamera vs. Jiger confirmed for the upcoming thirteenth season, now's the time to work your way through them and embrace the turtle!

316-Gamera vs. Zigra

Film Year:  1971

Genre:  Kaiju, Science Fiction, Fantasy

Director:  Noriaki Yuasa

Starring:  Eiko Yanami, Reiko Kasahara, Mikiko Tsubouchi, Koji Fujiyama, Gloria Zoellner

MST Season:  3

The Movie

The underwater dwelling monster alien from the planet Zigra kidnaps a lady astronaut and controls her mentally to do his bidding as he wages war on Earth, causing not-so-natural disasters that kill thousands.  The duo then kidnap a mini-sub of marine biologists and list Zigra's demands, wishing to dominate Earth and use mankind as his food supply.  The only being on Earth powerful enough to challenge him is of course the super turtle Gamera, but can the friend to all children possibly stand up to the greatest threat the world has ever seen?

Gamera vs. Zigra is a very strange movie, even by Gamera standards.  Apparently the budget was absurdly low as Daiei was in financial difficulty at the time, and most of the money it did have was presumably ponied up by the marine park that the majority of the film is set at, who were using the film as an advertisement.  The film feels mostly stationary as a result, as we hear about alien attacks and death and destruction over the radio as characters are like "Oh shoot!" at the news of thousands of people dying.  When it does leave the park setting, it's usually to visit the alien spaceship or to watch Gamera do his Gamera thing.  Even looking past the bad dub featured here, one can plainly see that the acting is pretty terrible, and I feel safe saying that even without speaking a word of Japanese.  The performances from adults are pretty wild and exaggerated, while all the kids look like they are trying to remember the lines they were fed before each take.

Interestingly enough, one of the reasons there were so many Gamera films made in such a short period of time is because while they performed okay in Japan, Daiei was actually making them for international distribution.  American International Pictures came to Daiei and bought Gamera vs. Barugon and Gamera vs. Gaos for television distribution and they locked Daiei into a contract saying they will buy any Gamera film they make, sight unseen, to be distributed directly to American television, as long as they each featured a brand new monster for Gamera to fight and American children were a part of the cast (in case you're wondering why all those white kids suddenly appeared in these movies).  This made the Gamera series a guaranteed profit for every movie they made, which was incentive for Daiei to pump them out annually (apparently they wanted two a year, but director Noriaki Yuasa said no because one was draining enough).  This wasn't enough to keep Daiei afloat however, as the studio filed for bankruptcy in 1971 while Gamera vs. Zigra was in production.  The movie already had a cut budget, but the studio didn't even last until release and the company was a bit reformed with a company called Nikkatsu to form a new company that shared costs.  Since AIP didn't technically have a deal with this new company, they passed on distributing Gamera vs. Zigra in the US, and the film didn't see US release until the Sandy Frank version seen here on Mystery Science Theater.

I can safely say the US wasn't missing much with Gamera vs. Zigra by not having it imported over here.  Maybe if you were a die-hard Gamera fan who never missed a broadcast of these movies when they hit TV, maybe the thought of a Gamera movie in limbo might be frustrating, but Zigra doesn't offer much.  Maybe it's less boring than Gamera vs. Viras (which was never seen on MST) but the wacky antics that fueled Gamera vs. Guiron or Gamera vs. Jiger are definitely not on display here, so if we had to lose one, this isn't a bad choice to drop.  The one bit of appeal might only be of interest to the dads who might be watching this with their kids, in that it's like Gamera vs. Guiron and features a space babe in a leotard at the center of the plot.  She even spends a sizable chunk of the film in a bikini, so that's nice.

As for Gamera action, monster scenes are fairly light though they're traditionally Gamera stylized.  They're childishly playful, featuring goofy scenes like Gamera playing Zigra's spiky back like a xylophone.  Zigra is an okay looking monster, trying to look like an armored up shark.  However, Zigra's scenes where he stands upright make him look like a large, grey parrot, which kills any intimidation he might cause.  The spaceship itself is fairly colorful yet goofy, with so many colors that it looks like a giant candy dish shooting death rays.

Daiei's bankruptcy assured that Gamera vs. Zigra was almost the end of the Gamera series, and nothing of value was lost.  It's certainly a warning sign that had the Gamera series continued further entries would have been rather dire.  Gamera eventually did return in 1980 with a film called Gamera Super Monster, which utilized monster scenes from the previous Gamera movies with a very cheaply made new plot wrapping around them (also featuring space babes, natch).  The movie was a clear cash grab Daiei made to help with further financial trouble and rightfully bombed at the box office.  In the 90's, a trilogy of darker films aimed at adults directed by Shusuke Kaneko were released to critical acclaim (in my personal opinion a lot of the praise is hyperbolic, though that third film is pretty good).  Most recently in 2006, Kadokawa Pictures (who purchased Daiei) released an attempt to reintroduce character into children's fantasy with Gamera the Brave, which was actually pretty solid.  Unfortunately the film didn't do well at the box office, and further Gamera films were put on the backburner.  Gamera vs. Zigra could have been the end but most kaiju and toku enthusiasts are glad it wasn't.  However Gamera might be overdue for another comeback, maybe to fight Godzilla and Kong in the MonsterVerse.  Just sayin'.

The Episode

Back for one more round, Gamera is here to save the day in an ultimately ho-hum experience.  I think one thing that works against this episode is just how low-level this movie is.  As stated above, it's a strange movie, but it doesn't really go to wacky places.  The movie feels very bottled up and comes up short in giant monsters so it lacks that Gamera charm of silly fights and crazy plotting.  The movie does offer some laughter inducing sequences, as Joel and the Bots are taken back by a weird plot detour involving fish supply, villainous women trying to blend in wearing nothing but a bikini, and a crazy obsession with Coke products, but what ultimately holds this episode back is that it lacks any sort of staying power.  I remember laughing but I rack my brain remembering the specific lines that provoked that reaction (though I do remember a killer Get Smart reference at just the right moment).  It's an energetic commentary wrapped around a humdrum movie that makes for pleasant experience in the moment but doesn't linger.  I remember way more about the other Gamera episodes than I do Zigra and I think there is a reason for that.  I might give the edge to Zigra being a more enjoyable episode than Gaos because I think it's a bit funnier though Gaos has a more energetic movie at its core.

Likewise, the host segments don't do a whole lot for me and I found myself not remembering most of them by the end of the episode.  The Bots making a scale model of Gamera and their own movie-influenced dioramas are cute but they aren't really that funny.  The visit from Kenny and Helen (played by Michael J. Nelson and Bridget Jones) on the other hand is complete cringe and not very amusing at all.  I did enjoy the different stylings of the Gamera theme song though, and the Invention Exchange is another cute though not that funny segment, featuring the Crow-Ka-Bob and the Three Stooges Guns (though Frank's Joe DeRita slander will not stand).

Gamera vs. Zigra has some big laughs interspaced out through it but I find the episode a bit too muddled and uneven to ultimately recommend.  I would say Gamera leaves the series on a low note but recently it was announced that Gamera would be making a triumphant return to MST in the thirteenth season with Gamera vs. Jiger.  I'll be looking forward to that, even though mostly I find Gamera's history with the show up to this point to be uneven.

Average

The DVD

Gamera vs. Zigra joined the other third season Gamera episodes in Shout Factory's Volume XXI:  MST3K vs. Gamera box set.  Audio and video were both excellent, and the only special feature is a trailer for the film.

303-Pod People

Film Year:  1983

Genre:  Science Fiction, Horror

Director:  Juan Piquer Simon

Starring:  Oscar Martin, Concha Cuetos, Manuel Pereiro, and Trumpy as himself

MST Season:  3

The Movie

The 1980's meant two things for motion pictures:  Lots of horror movies and the dominance of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial as the then-highest grossing film of all time.  I guess it's only natural that there is a movie that exists that tries to cash in off of both of them.  Pod People, originally titled The New Extra Terrestrials in Spain and Extra Terrestrial Visitors in the US, was originally a horror spec script about an alien killing people in the woods.  After E.T. hit it big in 1982, it was hastily re-written to include another plot involving a boy befriending another alien named Trumpy...because they wanted to attract families to their movie about an alien killing people?

Incidentally E.T. itself was originally scripted as a horror film called Night Skies.  But Steven Speilberg was smart enough to know that if he were going to go into a more family friendly direction, horror elements would be muted to a "creature is misunderstood" presentation.  Pod People wants E.T. fans and Friday the 13th fans, and fails to find a satisfactory midpoint and can't cater to either.

Because it's trying to be two movies at once, it's littered with way too many characters that are hard to keep track of.  In addition to the alien-befriending boy and his family, the movie introduces a band of teenagers as canon fodder for the evil alien, and because there are so many of them it becomes hard to get a feel for them as individuals.  Their characteristics are on the back-burner, often coming up briefly in a scene only to not matter later because the alien is just going to kill them anyway.  And as if all of this isn't enough, there are antagonist characters in the film as well.  They serve a purpose to rile up the killer alien, but one wonders if it was possible to simplify this a lot more and drop some of these characters.

The movie does find a natural collision point for all of its storylines, as the misdeeds of the evil alien is naturally blamed on the much more gentile Trumpy as nobody can tell the differences between the two.  The conclusion becomes solidly bittersweet, which shows that this type of story had promise.  And as fake as Trumpy and his evil alien parent may look, the Trumpy design, which looks more than a little like the titular aardvark in those old Ant and the Aardvark cartoons, is distinct.  One wishes the final film weren't as confused as Pod People is.

The Episode

Finally!  After all these years of writing for this blog, I am finally covering Pod People!  The fan favorite episode that leaves all MSTies rolling with laughter!  Nobody on earth could ever dislike an episode as perfect as this, so surely my review will be glowing with just how amazing the episode is!

My thoughts?

Okay, time to peel this Band-Aid off.  I hate this episode.

Maybe "hate" is a strong word, but I am weirdly conditioned to dislike this episode   I recall buying the VHS of it years ago, as I was going through the history of the show the best way a fan from the Sci-Fi could, through Rhino's VHS tapes.  I popped this episode in and gave it a watch, and it was the first episode I watched of these Rhino episodes that I really didn't care for.  "Oh well.  That was a waste of money." I thought to myself, moving on to the next episode I purchased hoping I'd respond more positively.  Then when I started to get further into the online MST fan community, I discover this one is very beloved.  Just about every fan wouldn't hear a bad word against it.

Here I am, a clueless teenager jumping into the message boards.  "Hi!  I'm new here!  I like Hamlet and hate Pod People!"

::duck and cover::

I spent years hearing about how wrong I was about this episode, and how I just needed to watch the episode again to really get what makes it so good.  It's twenty years later and I still don't like it.  How many times do I have to watch it before it stops sucking?

My passive aggressive bitterness aside, why do I dislike this episode?  It's a bit more than the simple "It's just not funny" response (though I do confess I don't find it very funny).  The movie is overwhelmingly gloomy and the riffing response just can't penetrate it.  They never find a vibe for this movie, which gives the episode an overwhelmingly dull atmosphere that makes me tired.  I wish I could confess I see where people enjoy it but I really don't.  A lot of the humor just doesn't hit, and most of the delivery feels half-hearted and sleepy.  There is the "Chief?" "McCloud!" running gag that seems universally praised and quoted by fans, but it starts out randomly thrown out and they just keep riding it.  It's a reference for the sake of a reference, not utilized as an effective gag at all and it leaves me cold.  It's a draining episode that just never revs up its engine.

What comedy that does hit is usually during the scenes featuring the little boy and Trumpy, likely because that's the closest thing to a fully formed plot in the movie and it's easy to latch onto.  Trumpy makes for a pretty solid target, especially since the costume is so goofy.  Crow does some swell work in projecting a voice on Trumpy, especially during the most humorous portion of the episode, where Trumpy looks at a row of pets like a buffet and the production is so amateurish that a kitten starts playing with Trumpy's snout aggressively.  This is really the only riff portion that tickles my funnybone at all.

The host segments in this episode are also widely praised, often considered some of the best of the series...but, yeah, I'm going to be a bitch about them too.  The host segments are largely a huge dog for me.  The only one that I enjoy on any level is the Idiot Control Now song parody, which takes the in-film criticisms of the song performed and creates a crazy satire of it.  Gypsy, in particular, cracks me up here, as she is so blatantly late for all of her lines in it.  The attempt to parody the film spreads to another segment later on, where "Trumpy can do magic!" and Joel and the Bots flail around in trying to mimic the magic segment in the movie...and it bombs hard.  It does the worst thing a parody can do in that it spends too much time trying to imitate the film instead of actually having anything humorous to say about it.  It's not funny and it certainly isn't fun.  Also not impressing is the synth music demonstration, which starts nowhere and just dwindles off until movie sign.  The Invention Exchange, quite frankly, sucks on toast.  Public Domain Karaoke isn't strong as either an invention or a gag while the "Monster Chord" is just an excuse to set off a squib.  Even the conclusive Clown in the Sky song, a fan favorite, just doesn't do anything for me.

Pod People fans are so feverish that I spent years listing this as my least favorite episode of the series, if only because people got so angry over the fact that I didn't enjoy it and I would get a constant tongue-lashing out of it.  Having seen the whole series since and looking at these episodes objectively, that is no longer the case.  Pod People has more going for it than episodes like Moon Zero Two, Superdome, or It Lives By Night, or even season three's big rough one The Castle of Fu Manchu.  That being said, the episode is still an unpleasant experience that I get bored during and detached from.  There are more than enough people to go to bat for it, so I'm not going to.

Not Recommended

Look, while I am very honest in my review of how I feel about this episode, I also need to concede defeat in that I am in a very minuscule minority when it comes to what Pod People represents in the larger picture of Mystery Science Theater 3000.  It's an iconic episode that everyone has to watch.  While I don't personally recommend it, there are enough people out there that love this episode for me to honestly say you should watch it.  I hope you like it more than I do.

The DVD

Rhino Home Video released Pod People as a part of their Volume 2 DVD set, with strong audio and video.  There were no special features.  Shout Factory eventually rereleased Volume 2 and Pod People along with it, also with strong audio and video.  This edition, however, featured MST Hour wraps as a bonus feature.

Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XX DVD Retrospective

Release Date:  March 8, 2011

Buy it here!

Episodes featured:

The Magic Voyage of Sinbad

Project Moon Base

Master Ninja I

Master Ninja II

For the twentieth volume of Mystery Science Theater 3000's DVD collection, Shout Factory has decided to dish up an all Joel era celebration!  And why not?  We've had two all Mike sets so far (volumes 4 and 5) and the closest we've had to a Joel exclusive set was Volume 6, which featured a few Mike-riffed shorts in its shorts compilation disc.  Joel fans will definitely want to pick this set up.

As for the episodes, the first thought that comes to mind is "MASTER NINJA THEME SONG!"  It's a Master Ninja double feature as we have both Lee Van Cleefe/Timothy Van Patton adventures in one sitting.  Though neither one of these episodes are my pick for the highlight of the set, which goes to the hilarious Magic Voyage of Sinbad.  Even the first season episode that has been grouped into this set, Project Moon Base, is probably the funniest episode of its season.  Master Ninja II is the closest thing to a slouch, and even that one isn't too bad.

Episode Rating (out of 4):  3

The episodes all look pretty good and feature excellent audio.  The bonus feature that everyone will be interested in is Tom Servo vs. Tom Servo 2010 Dragon*Con, which is a con panel featuring Kevin Murphy and J. Elvis Weinstein discussing our favorite little crimson bot.  On a more technical level, there is an interview with cinematographer Jeff Stonehouse on the camerawork on MST, which has great details for filmmaking buffs.  There is also an intro by Trace Beaulieu for Magic Voyage of Sinbad and an interview with Master Ninja I guest actor Bill McKinney.  Rounding out the set is a trailer for Project Moon Base and MST Hour wraps for Magic Voyage of Sinbad.

The box art is of course Shout Factory's stock cover.  The MST logo is in the upper left hand while the theater seats sit on the bottom of the cover, with the roman numerals XX painted in the center in red.  But as always, what we're here for are really the the interior case covers with art by Steve Vance.  Project Moon Base features Crow and Tom Servo dressed in the space duds featured in the film looking up at the stars from the moon's surface.  Master Ninja I features Crow and Servo as ninjas in a sword duel to the death.  Master Ninja II features Servo as the Master and Crow as Max Keller in an open grave.  Magic Voyage of Sinbad has Servo as Sinbad with Crow as a blue bird on his arm as they sail to adventure.

The disc art is the usual movie logos against a starry backdrop.  The episode menus continue to be a kick though, as they create bonus skits with CGI and episode audio.  Project Moon Base features Crow and Servo using the tech from the movie to turn off the gravity on the Satellite of Love bridge.  Master Ninja I features Crow and Servo making stew as the Master continually jumps around them and irritates them.  Crow and Servo continue to cook during the Master Ninja II menu, only to be threatened by George Lazenby, who is taken out by the Master.  Magic Voyage of Sinbad concludes the menus with Crow and Servo sailing with Sinbad, only to get increasingly irritated by him.

Those who love the Joel era more than any other era will want to pick up Volume XX, because as it doesn't venture outside of it there is very little disappointment in it.  The one exception is that it has a first season episode featured, but luckily it's a prime candidate from its season.  Master Ninja fans will also want to pick this set up, as it's both episodes in one package.  That's not even accounting the best episode of the set, Magic Voyage of Sinbad, which brings enough laughs to the table to justify the purchase of the set alone.  It's a good set that journeys through several iterations of MST3K's original host, and it deserves to be on every fan's shelf.

322-Master Ninja I

Film Year:  1984

Genre:  Action, Comedy

Director:  Robert Clouse

Starring:  Lee Van Cleef, Timothy Van Patton, Claud Aikens, Demi Moore, Clu Gulager

MST Season:  3

The Movie

The 80's meant a lot of things:  mullets, leotards, syth music, lots of Star Wars reissues, and, of course, ninjas!  Those lovable assassins were all the rage with the kids of the 80's, as martial arts sparked a media craze with movies like The Karate Kid and TV shows like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  It shouldn't be a surprise that network primetime would want to get families in front of the TV set by fusing the fascination with ninjutsu and its super cool weaponry with the popular TV formula that sees capable vagrants going from town to town and beating up bad guys.

And who better to star in such a show than western icon Lee Van Cleef.

The resulting television series was called The Master.  This series featured Van Cleef as the Japanese warrior known as John Peter McAllister, a white guy who had been living in Japan since World War II and learning the way of the ninja.  He leaves Japan to search for his long lost daughter in America, where he runs into street tough Max Keller, played by future award winning TV director Timothy Van Patton.  Together they search for McAllister's daughter and get into a lot of wacky shenanigans along the way.  Exactly thirteen incidents of wacky shenanigans.  Because the show was cancelled.  Presumably Max's junky van exploded and they both died before finding McAllister's daughter.  The End.

Henry the Hamster escaped and lived a long, happy life though.

Master Ninja I is a part of a VHS line that edited together two episodes of The Master as a feature movie for suckers to rent/buy without realizing it's not an actual movie.  This first installment edits together the pilot episode "Max," which sees McAllister and Max meeting for the first time to help Demi Moore from a rapist sheriff and entrepreneur Clu Gulager, and episode two "Out-of-Time Step," where McAllister and Max help a nightclub owner from a kingpin and his own ninja.

The main problem with The Master/Master Ninja is that the selling point is seeing ninjas do their ninja thing, and you get at least one fight per episode, but it's lackluster TV choreography that amounts to a pair of guys screaming and aiming their own sword at the other guy's sword.  Unless Lee Van Cleef has Bruce Lee talent, there is not a lot you can squeeze out of this.  And Lee Van Cleef is no Bruce Lee, let me tell you.  The Master could probably save itself if it were smarter about writing it's own episode scenarios, which are generic and lackluster even for a TV show like this.  I mean, we all know this daughter subplot is going to go nowhere.  Give us something to latch onto.

That being said, if I were born just a little bit earlier I probably would have watched every episode of this show as it aired.  I was deep in that ninja love in the 80's and this seems like the type of show I'd watch, not noticing how crappy it was because it was just TV.  In fact, I actually own Kino Lorber's blu-ray box set of the series (yes, this series is on blu-ray for some reason...and the show actually looks really good in high-def), so one day I probably will.  Probably just a few episodes at a time though.

The Episode

MASTER NINJA THEME SONG!

Mystery Science Theater has done a lot of TV shows posing as movies both before and since:  Space:  1999, Star Wolf, Mighty Jack, Gemini Man, ect.  For some reason, The Master/Master Ninja is the probably the poster child for this type of movie on the series.  Probably because it's the cheesiest show they've done, probably because they've riffed nearly a third of the entire TV series.  But whatever the reason Master Ninja is here, and it's a special one for us MSTies.  Master Ninja lends itself well to the MST formula, as its a really dumb show and our boys are really having fun with it, playing with its obvious TV series structure haphazardly presented as a "movie" and jabbing how hyperactive it is, with more than a few references to "FLUBBER!"  Lee Van Cleef is also under fire, as his physical stature isn't really ninja fit.  The Bots mention his gut more than once.

And also, Claude Aikens has a nice rump!

Moving on to the host segments, Crow is in full conspiracy theory mode with "The Van Patten Project," where he tries to tie Timothy Van Patten into something nefarious.  Joel and the Bots also create their own brands of "'Chucks" based on different kinds of products that they turn into nunchaku.  The Invention Exchange offers up Boil-in-a-Bag IVs and Adult Pop-Up Books.  This all leads to a closing tune of MASTER NINJA THEME SONG!

Master Ninja I may be the most iconic TV production on the series, though I find the episode more pleasant than hilarious.  It's a lot of fun, though it tends to feel a little long.  An episode of The Master can go a long way, and two in a row gets a bit tiresome.  That's not enough to derail the experience, which is a lot of fun.  Though I'd argue I wasn't exactly ready for more once Master Ninja II popped up a few episodes later on MST.  That's not to ward people off this episode, far from it.  It's a worthy episode with solid laughs, and I think all MSTies should give it a go because while it's not the best the show has to offer, that doesn't mean it's not iconic.

Good

The DVD

Shout Factory served up a heaping helping of Master Ninja in their Volume XX box set, featuring solid audio and video.  The only special feature was an interview with actor Bill McKinney, who played the sheriff in the first episode.  It's too bad they couldn't score an interview with Tim Van Patton, who has had a hell of a career after this show.  I'd like to know how working on The Master compares to working on Game of Thrones!

Hobgoblins (Rifftrax Live)

Film Year:  1988

Genre:  Comedy, Science Fiction, Horror, Fantasy

Director:  Rick Sloane

Starring:  Tom Bartlett, Paige Sullivan, Steven Boggs, Kelley Palmer, Billy Frank, Tamara Clatterbuck, Duane Whitiker, Jeffrey Culver

Rifftrax Year:  2021

Riffers:  Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett

Featured Short:  "Life in a Medieval Town"

The Short

Welcome to a nonspecific Medieval Town!  You can do lots of things here like...sell a cow...make shoes...shell a cow so you can make shoes...shake a rug...  You know, all kinds of stuff!

Life in a Medieval Town is a type of "educational" film that's supposed to show kids how things worked before TV was made and you became too lazy to sell your cow and make your own shoes.  It feels to me that even the youngest of kids will not be convinced by the cosplay in this short, as it feels like everyone is garbed in whatever the fuck they pulled out of a trunk at a community playhouse.  Nobody looks particularly medieval, and everyone looks extremely silly.

The settings look nice though.  If you're going to say anything kind about this short let it be that they picked out some nice locals that look good on film.  It's too bad they couldn't use their sets with more lively set pieces.

The Movie

Comedic low budget sleaze was a hot ticket in the 80's, where you knew your movie probably wouldn't good enough to be taken seriously in whatever genre you're attempting, so you make it with so much of your tongue planted firmly in cheek that you can claim to be a "parody."  This use of the "parody" sign was usually just a mask for lack of budget, time, or, in some cases, talent.  This became the entire business model of Troma Entertainment, while some filmmakers, such as Jim Wynorski, built an entire career on it that continues to this day, where it's more of an excuse for soft core pornography than for any sort of non-naked entertainment value.

Enter Rick Sloane, a young director who got his start making films of this ilk, having films like Blood Theater, The Visitants, and Vice Academy under his belt (the latter would be his signature franchise, spawning five sequels, all directed by Sloane).  Hobgoblins came out at a time when there were a bunch of little humanoid-critter-terrorizing-people movies, such as Gremlins, Critters, Ghoulies, Munchies, Newsies, and whatever.  Sloane puts together a bunch of green puppets and makes one of his own, with his signature crass humor and low budget.

Hobgoblins is the tale of Kevin, a teenager who is taken on as a security guard at a movie studio.  The elder guard, Mr. McCreedy, hides a dark secret.  Many years ago a space ship landed in the lot, which carried several creatures from space called "Hobgoblins," that can make your fantasy come true.  They can also pervert your fantasy into killing you for their own amusement.  McCreedy trapped the Hobgoblins in a vault many years prior and Kevin accidentally unleashes them once again.  It's up to Kevin and his friends to track down the Hobgoblins and return them to the vault.

The film attempts a sort of Monkey's Paw "be careful what you wish for" narrative, but it doesn't quite get there.  The Hobgoblins like to turn people's fantasies against them, but it's rarely in a creative or interesting way.  One character fantasizes about going "all the way" with a phone sex hotline worker, to which she appears of course, then tries to kill him by pushing his car off a cliff.  I mean, I guess that's a play on deadly fantasy, but it's not a huge sell on this idea.  Then there are fantasies that are just inane, such as an army veteran who finally makes it home to his girlfriend and he fantasizes about his superior making him toss grenades in a nightclub?  Okay...sure.  There are other campy horror movies that do this in more creative ways.  Wishmaster for example, which is not a great movie, but does more with the idea than Hobgoblins does.

If Hobgoblins has anything going for it, it's that Rick Sloane keeps telling the story through an absurdist lens.  Everything looks ridiculous.  The actors all act ridiculous.  The costume design is ridiculous.  The Hobgoblin puppets are ridiculous.  Everything is exaggerated to comedic effect.  Whether or not it's "funny" is where Hobgoblins could either succeed or fail.  I think Hobgoblins had been put into the hands of stronger comedic talent, even with the exact same budget and resources, this movie could have been more amusing.  Its jokes are groaners, its delivery is poor, and it seems like its primary laugh is how over the top it is.  That's kind of amusing for a few minutes, but it gets cumbersome if you don't have anything to prop it up.

But there is some sort of "Watching cable at 3 AM" sort of appeal to the movie, where if you were thirteen in the mid-'90s and stumbled upon this dumb thing playing on USA or TNT or whatever and it's playing after some low-rent National Lampoon movie or something, then you might stick with the stupidity you're watching and guffaw "Uhhuhhuh...that van's rocking...huhhuh...they're DOING IT..."  Those who have never lived through times like that will likely be left lost by the movie.

The Live Show

It's been a few years since we last saw Rifftrax Live, and let's just say 2020 was a bullshit year for everyone.  But it's 2021 and it's all behind us...well, not really, but things are adjusted enough that Rifftrax Live came back, at any rate.  I was unable to attend the Hobgoblins show when it broadcast into theaters because I was recovering from an injury and also couldn't afford the time off work.  It was the first time since Birdemic that I missed Rifftrax Live in cinemas and I was very sad about it.  But Hobgoblins is now on VOD and I'm eager to rectify that mistake.

Before they get started, Bill is curious because he heard that the film itself was an MST fan favorite, when the audience of course cheers, he immediately responds "What the hell is wrong with you people?"  After all, this is Hobgoblins we're talking about.  I wouldn't call the film a "favorite," but in the long run of Mystery Science Theater, it certainly is one of the more memorable films they've done and it inspired a very funny commentary.  We're all here to see if lightning strikes twice.

Not entirely.  Getting back into Rifftrax Live is a more exciting prospect than revisiting Hobgoblins.

The one bonus to having Hobgoblins featured is that the film is unedited, and there is actually a pretty decent amount of footage here that was never in the MST version.  It doesn't make the movie "better" but it does give the movie more flow for its inanity.  The MST version always felt a little choppy, but considering how low budget the film was it was easy to dismiss.  It still is a little choppy, it just has more flow.  But we have new scenes providing setups for new jokes, including a slight subplot of McCreedy getting lashed by his boss, showing that he and Nick aren't the only ones on this seemingly empty lot.  The Club Scum scenes are also mostly expanded upon, with even more scummy action to make fun of.

But for the most part the entire experience is a little flat.  We've seen this movie riffed before, and it was riffed more consistently.  There are a couple of callbacks, but they're seemingly random ones.  For example, during the opening sequence fantasy, Bill breaks out into "We're on the road to nowhere!" which is a strangely low key callback to make.  I do wonder if they forgot they already made that joke or if they just couldn't think of a better one.  As we get deeper into the riff, it feels a bit empty, as scenes that set up killer lines in the MST episode go by seemingly unnoticed.

My big fear about this was that one of the most memorable scenes from the MST episode, their rendition of Kisskicker 99, was just going to fly by.  I was half-wrong, at least.  It doesn't top the MST episode, but there are some good new riffs that made me laugh.  They don't come up with multiple names for the song like they did previously ("Kid Snickers?"  " Iced Chicken?"), as they mostly just settle on "Fish Licker" and ride that.  I think this sequence is emblematic of this Rifftrax Live experience.  It's kind of funny, but I've seen a better version of this and I'd rather be watching that.

The short is a fun bit of Renaissance Fair action.  It's mostly about making fun of stupid hats and weird behavior, but it's serviceable and a fun warm-up before the feature.  But like the rest of the Live experience, it's a tad too light to make a full impact.

I think I have the same problem with Hobgoblins that I do with the Time Chasers Live show, as there is so much about that particular episode that's iconic and trying to create a new experience out of it creates an "off" feeling that makes one yearn for the previous one.  Hobgoblins doesn't fall as flat on its face as Time Chasers, as there are quite a few laugh-out-loud moments, but I'd almost certainly watch the MST episode again before revisiting this Live show.

Average

Mystery Science Theater 3000: Season 12 - The Gauntlet DVD and Blu-Ray Retrospective

Release Date:  November 26, 2019 (around July 2019 for pledge drive backers)

Buy the DVD Here!

Buy the Blu-Ray Here!

Episodes Featured:

Mac and Me

Atlantic Rim

Lords of the Deep

The Day Time Ended

Killer Fish

Ator, the Fighting Eagle

Also included:

Pledge Drive Bonus Disc (Pledge Drive Edition only)

Another season box set?  My inner fanboy is shrieking!  It's only six episodes though, so it's barely more than an average volume of the classic series (and equal to the 25th Anniversary Edition), so that's a bummer.  However the six episodes are the six-part story arc of "The Gauntlet," a six movie marathon that Jonah and the Bots suffer through.

But overall while several of the episodes are worth watching, the entire experience is kind of middling.  My overall impression of the season can be found here, but overall it's a few good episodes and a few meh ones.  Mac and Me is the set's highlight, with Ator, the Fighting Eagle coming in at a close second.  The season low is Lords of the Deep, which is just really dull.

Average Rating:  2.667

Whether you get the DVD or the blu-ray, you will see great picture regardless.  Filmed in HD and not decayed by age like the classic series, the twelfth season of Mystery Science Theater has handsome and sharp visual presentation.  Obviously the blu-ray is the better option for videophiles, though those who don't care about sharpness will be content with the standard definition presentation of the DVD.

Like the previous box set, there were two separate versions of this set.  The normal retail version is a three disc set that just contains the episodes, while for a short period fans were able to purchase a "Pledge Drive Edition" which people could purchase through a pledge drive to help support the series before the season came out.  The Pledge Drive Edition features a bonus disc with a group of excellent featurettes on the making of the series.  For a thorough breakdown of those, I've linked a review above.

The packaging of the two versions is virtually the same, as it was a promotional piece of artwork for the series, which has Jonah, Crow, and Tom Servo running through a hallway of liquid film containers down in Moon 13, while the heads of Max and Kinga hover in the foreground and the Satellite of Love and the MST logo fly in the sky above.  The only difference between the artworks of the two editions is that the Pledge Drive Edition has "Pledge Drive Edition" written on the bottom, which clears up which version you have.  Disc art is just a starry backdrop with movie logos against it.  Disc menus are bare minimum, as each one is just a shot of the Satellite bridge with an episode selection.

There is really not a lot here to break down.  Those who want special features will want the Pledge Drive Edition (though it's not for retail sale) while the regular set is just a bare minimum package of six episodes.  It's unfortunate that we have no Steve Vance art or humorous menus to entertain us, but I guess six more episodes is still six more episodes.  This season is a cute experiment but far from a series highlight though, so I'd direct people to a lot of better sets in the past over this one (I'd even call the previous season better).  But if one wants to support the new Mystery Science Theater 3000, the set is a must have.

Season 12 Pledge Drive Bonus Disc (MST3K Special)

Fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 were given an opportunity to help the show recoup costs before season twelve was launched, and fans jumped at the chance.  A good amount of it was panic because some fans misunderstood thinking that the series was in severe financial trouble, but anybody who knows Economics 101 knows that a series being in the red before release is a perfectly normal thing and cash flow and eventual profit doesn't start flowing until release.  But of course they would want to break even before the season dropped.  Why wouldn't they?  Plus fans had a chance to help support the show again and get some cool stuff.  It was win/win.

This Pledge Drive disc was a bonus that was included in a DVD and/or blu-ray box set of season twelve that was offered during the Pledge Drive, which housed the only special features this release had.  What did those who waited until retail miss out on?  For starters they feature an intro and outro by Joel, both run about 30 seconds and look as if they were filmed during the 2018 Turkey Day segments.  Joel closes the latter by saying "See you next season!" which in retrospect is kind of awkward since Netflix cancelled the series after this set was released.  But we're getting a new season on the Gizmoplex, so all is well.

The rest are making of featurettes, starting with Behind the Sketches.  This runs a half hour and really deep dives into the live filming of the show.  There are a ton of cool behind the scenes clips complete with unused takes and in between are talking heads about the creative process, including series stars Jonah Ray, Felicia Day, Patton Oswalt, Baron Vaughn, Hampton Yaunt, and Rebecca Hansen.  For those who want a good look at how the show is constructed, this will fit the bill.

Up next is Inside the Riffs.  This featurette discusses the riffing process, mostly with head writer Elliot Kalan.  It's about 16 minutes long and covers how the writing process works, from watching the movie and pitching riffs, all the way to performing the riffs in front of the movie.  There are neat tidbits, like how season eleven had Jonah, Baron, and Hampton performing from separate booths but in this one they had them performing together, as well as their desire to let the jokes breathe a little more this season.

Next on the menu we go Under the Puppets, which is a thorough 25 minute look at the puppeteering featured on the show.  Not a lot of comparisons are made to the puppeteering in the classic series, because they're obviously done so differently, but it's a wonderful look at the creation of the characters we love and the people who bring them to life as they discuss Crow, Tom Servo, Gypsy, Waverly, Growler, and even Ardy and Bonesy.  There are also discussions with the puppet voices here, especially Hampton and Baron who talk about their takes on fan favorite characters Crow and Servo.  I love the description of why Hampton is Crow and Baron is Servo and not the other way around, because Baron is "more theatrical" and Hampton "wants everyone to be on fire."  This is probably my favorite featurette on the disc.

Finally is Scaling the Models, which is the shortest featurette at 11 minutes.  One of the sillier criticisms I've heard about the new series is that the show looks "too polished" and "too good" to match the old series, nevermind that it had been 18 years in between seasons.  I've always felt this is pretty much what the modern day MST would look like had it never went off the air, and this interview with model maker Mike Murnane really hammers home that it definitely is what the show would be.  It's impressive just how much of these models that look "too good" are made out of cardboard, toys, and just junk that you'd buy from wherever.  Maybe they're more detailed than the original show, but we're filming in HD so they kind of have to be.  This look at the construction of models from the series is pretty outstanding and while once you see the seams in some of these (I can't not see cardboard ends in the door sequence now), seeing kit bashing in action is really cool.

It's a shame that only those who backed the Pledge Drive will see these featurettes, because these are some of the finest, most appreciative supplements on the making of the series and a much more thorough look at the what gets put into the show than the documentary on the eleventh season box set.  The craft is so loving and the discussions are so engaging that I think many fans would gain a whole new appreciation for the series, and it would clear up a few of the nonsense rumors thrown around by people who know nothing of how the series is made.  My one critique is the same critique I have for the eleventh season bonuses, which is that they don't discuss the movies themselves as much as I would like.  The movies are a large part of the show's identity and they shouldn't be ignored.  But this package is a huge win for MSTies and this bonus disc is one to treasure.

1203-Lords of the Deep

Film Year:  1989

Genre:  Science Fiction

Director:  Mary Ann Fisher

Starring:  Bradford Dillman, Priscilla Barnes, Daryl Haney

MST Season:  12

The Movie

It's crazy to think that so many movies rushed to theaters in 1989 to depict underwater sci-fi, especially when the movie everyone was piggybacking off of, The Abyss, was considered such a box office underperformer.  But the James Cameron film, hot off the heels of The Terminator and Aliens, was thought to be a big-cinematic-event-of-the-year in the making, and films ranging from Rambo:  First Blood Part II director George P. Cosmatos directing Leviathan to Friday the 13th director Sean S. Cunningham taking a stab with DeepStar Six.  Hell, even Pod People director Jaun Piquer Simon jumped into the action with a movie called The Rift.  If The Abyss barely made any money, was there any left for these?

Our subject here is one of the lesser celebrated films in the legacy, Lords of the Deep is a Roger Corman produced cheapie released during the rush.  The film tells of a group of underwater scientists who encounter an extraterrestrial presence (sound familiar?).  This one takes the form of a gel that begins to mutate into a goofy stingray puppet.

It's probably things like the puppets that help Lords of the Deep hold some sort of personality against its competition.  The Abyss had ground-breaking computer graphics and Leviathan had creature effects by Stan Winston.  Lords of the Deep has no standards like that.  In fact, it's a movie that reportedly fired noted future Steven Spielberg cinematographer Janusz Kaminski from its second unit because his work was too good and wasn't matching the crappiness of the first unit footage (no seriously, this is true, look it up).  Everything in Lords of the Deep looks plastic and fake, and that's kind of its strength because it's kind of cute and fun to look at, if nothing else.

The other noteworthy aspect of the movie is...it stars Priscilla Barnes, I guess?  It's big star power is the second replacement for Suzanne Sommers on Three's Company, but Barnes was a pleasantly fun actress on that series so I'm always happy to see her get work, be it License to Kill, Mallrats, or The Devil's Rejects.  She at the very least tries to take the movie seriously, even if most of her co-stars aren't up to the challenge.  Bradford Dillman does try to camp it up as the movie builds itself to its nutty, inane conclusion, so it also has him in its favor.  But I wish more of the movie were as playful as Dillman is, because it has a funny aesthetic that the movie could utilize if the movie didn't seem like it wanted us to halfway believe in it.

The Episode

The Bots rejoice because the Gauntlet is in the home stretch.  Jonah then corrects them by saying that they aren't even halfway through.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

But the good news for the audience is that means there are four more episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 left this season, and the last two were wildly fun.  Bring it ON!

Then Lords of the Deep happens.

While not a bad episode, Lords of the Deep is something of a mood killer.  Mac and Me and Atlantic Rim have a momentum and a rhythm to them.  Lords of the Deep has neither.  It's a lackluster experience with a goofy but slow film at its center and a commentary that feels like wild stabs in the dark.  To an extent, the riff is interesting in its restraint, because it's a film with a recognizable sitcom star in it and they don't hurl as many references to her best known role as you might think they would.  In fact, there is only one Three's Company riff I caught in the episode, and Priscilla Barnes isn't even in the scene ("I got an angry fish knockin' at my door!" "He's been waitin' for you!").  That's kind of symbolic of the riff, which feels like they're taking aim but their eye is off just enough that they never seem to catch the target.  There are more giggles than laughs during Lords of the Deep, but it never feels enough to truly satisfy.

The host segments are pretty good at least, with the exception of one which is just a tease for a guest star in the finale.  But that guest star is pretty delightful, Deanna Rooney plays the role of Dr. Donna St. Phibes, an expert on movie monsters, who shows of a Lord of the Deep to the Mads after the film.  This segment is an absolute delight, and it's enough to hope Dr. St. Phibes becomes a recurring guest.  There is also a cute segment in which the Bots escape from the Boneheads on Moon 13, and a fun recreation from the movie where Jonah touches the alien goo which has him recount embarrassing moments from his childhood.  The episode also offers up one of the stronger Invention Exchanges from the relaunch seasons, where Jonah shows off the Hand-Drier Air Hockey Table (complete with urinal cake puck, "What?  It's cake!") and the Mads' Motion Capture Drone marionettes.

Lords of the Deep has redeeming qualities, but in the grand scheme of the Gauntlet it's too much of a snoozer.  It can't hold its own against the episodes surrounding it, and given that it comes right in the middle it just kind of collapses in on itself as the weakest episode of the season.  Even outside of the bingewatch formula, the episode is a humdrum experience that bores more than it entertains.  It's a shame, because with those silly puppets in the movie, this episode is craving to be much better.

Average

The DVD and Blu-Ray

Shout Factory released this episode along with the rest of the season on their Season 12:  The Gauntlet DVD and Blu-Ray box sets, of which I own a Pledge Drive Edition sold to people who contributed to a pledge drive before the season began.  Audio and video were exceptional, and there were no bonus features.  The episode did share a disc with the following episode, The Day Time Ended.