Release Date: August 31, 2004
Episodes included:
Also featuring:
It seemed like a good idea at the time. When making the shift between VHS and DVD, Rhino Home Video had Satellite News host an official poll as to what episodes fans wanted on DVD the most. Rhino then began to release episodes it had already released on VHS on DVD through single discs before evolving into four episode volumes, then started tapping the previously untouched Sci-Fi Channel era episodes for a few volumes.
Then they decided to do The Essentials.
This oddity of a DVD set is them "listening to the fans" and releasing the two most requested episodes of the series in an affordable DVD package. The fans they were trying to please were furious. The issue Rhino didn't take into account was that the pairing of episodes featured an episode that hadn't been released before with an episode they already had, meaning the fans who had been collecting the series on DVD since the beginning had to buy "Manos" The Hands of Fate a second time to get Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.
That'll teach Rhino to get creative!
It is a strange idea, though. Rhino abandoned the formula they had established to suddenly jump into this one-off double feature set when they could have just put Santa Claus Conquers the Martians on Volume 6 (which, incidentally, only had three episodes anyway). I don't see this as Rhino doing a cynical double dip cash grab that fans accused it of being, though. I think Rhino was still trying to decide what the MST on DVD model was going to look like and were trying different things. When it was rejected, they decided that the four episode volumes were the proven way forward. That being said, I don't think abandoning singles into bundles should have been abandoned idea. It's that they should have been bundled together for those who hadn't collected them for a fairer price instead of paired with unreleased episodes.
As for the double feature itself, it can't be argued that these aren't two classic episodes, though I personally find Manos to be about a quarter mile ahead of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians in quality. Still, you can't go wrong with these two episodes, so if you were to buy a small sampler of the series, The Essentials is solid. If you had ordered the set through Rhino's website, you would have received a bonus disc featuring Shorts Volume 3, an uneven collections of shorts with some stellar high points and dull lows. It helped make this episode a little more worthwhile to those who felt burned by Manos at the very least.
Average Rating (episodes only, out of 4): 3.5
Manos's episode presentation is pretty good, while Santa Claus Conquers the Martians suffers a couple of video flaws, though the audio is spotless. The only bonus feature is Poopie!, which is the official half hour blooper reel from the first five or so years of the show. The only reason this was included was because it was on Manos's original disc, which was recycled for this set.
Speaking of recycled, the box set featured here is a slim case with the reused art from Rhino's Volume 4 set, which featured a group of planets orbiting the MST logo, though here the planets have been replaced with images from the movies. Disc art is mostly purple, which seem to have something of steel walkway theme. Since Manos is just a repackage, it features the same menu as the single disc, which features Joel and the Bots in theater seats watching the Master wave Torgo's charred hand around (it also titles the film "Manos: Hands of Fate"). Santa Claus Conquers the Martians features Joel and the Bots looking in on the interior of a Martian spaceship, as clips from the episode play on a viewscreen.
The Essentials was controversial when it came out, but it's kind of a moot point today. Both Manos and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians have superior packages today from Shout Factory, though Manos has a superior video presentation here than Shout offered. If one wants the best possible video presentation of that episode, The Essentials offers it, though if you have the option of Rhino's single it's the exact same disc. The only reason to buy this set today is if you just want these two episodes, without the extra baggage that came with Santa Claus Conquers the Martians on Shout's Singles Collection...but why would you consider Eegah and I Accuse My Parent bigger baggage than Manos?
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