MST3K: Volume I
DVD
Starring Joel Hodgson, Michael J. Nelson
Not Rated | 480 Minutes
Shout! Factory
Release Date: September 01, 2015

In the not-too-distant future…

In this re-release of the first collection of episodes from the cult comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000, Joel Hodgson, Michael J. Nelson, Tom Servo (Josh Weinstein, Kevin Murphy), and Crow T. Robot (Trace Beaulieu) endure unspeakable cinematic horrors.

Originally released in 2002 by Rhino Entertainment, MST3K: Volume I fell out of print, and the only available copies were crazy expensive. Shout! Factory did us all a solid and re-released the first collection with an upgraded presentation and new bonus features!

In this collection you’ll find beach parties, uncharted islands, space monsters, and passive-aggressive, adulterous skydivers. MST3K: Volume I features four episodes from the Comedy Central era, one with Joel Hodgson as host and three with Mike Nelson. It’s a solid, eclectic mix of episodes spanning seasons two and six. Continue reading for detailed synopses of each episode!

MST3K: Volume XXXIII
DVD
Not Rated | 480 Minutes
Shout! Factory
Release Date: July 28, 2015

In the not-too-distant future”¦

In the 33rd collection of episodes from the cult comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000, Joel Hodgson, Michael J. Nelson, Tom Servo, and Crow T. Robot endure unspeakable cinematic horrors. This volume includes a a low-rent gangster movie, a giant spider shindig, a film about ’50s juvenile delinquents, and a failed TV pilot about spores and spies.

Yes, like San Francisco International and Code Name: Diamondhead, Agent For H.A.R.M. was developed as a pilot to a TV series that – shockingly – didn’t get picked up. In addition to H.A.R.M., there’s Daddy-O, Earth vs. the Spider, and Teen-Age Crime Wave.

MST3K: Volume XXXIII features three episodes from the Comedy Central era and one from the Sci-Fi Channel era, two with Joel Hodgson as host and two with Mike Nelson. It’s a solid, eclectic mix of episodes spanning seasons three, five, and eight. Continue reading for detailed synopses of each episode!

MST3K: Volume XXXI, The Turkey Day Collection
DVD
Director: Lewis Collins, Alex Nicol, Jeff Lieberman, Harold Kress
Writer: Jo Pagano, John Kneubuhl, Jeff Lieberman, True Boardman
Cast: Joel Hodgson, Michael J. Nelson, Tom Servo, Crow T. Robot
Shout! Factory
Not Rated | 480 Minutes
Release Date: November 25, 2014

In the not-too-distant future…

The latest collection of episodes from Mystery Science Theater 3000 celebrates the cult television series’ Turkey Day tradition. First held in 1991 to commemorate the show’s third anniversary, the MST3K Turkey Day marathon aired on Comedy Central from midnight, November 28, to 6:00 a.m. on November 29.

The annual Turkey Day marathon aired on Comedy Central until 1995, and the Sci-Fi Channel ran a Thanksgiving MST3K marathon in 1997, unofficially known as Turkey Day ’97. Last year, Shout! Factory produced an online six-episode marathon of MST3K episodes, hosted by Joel Hodgson to celebrate the show’s 25th anniversary.

Now Shout! Factory is bringing the tradition home with MST3K: Volume XXXI, The Turkey Day Collection. This collector’s edition set includes four turkeys: Jungle Goddess, The Painted Hills, The Screaming Skull, and Squirm.

Mystery Science Theater 3000: Vol. XX
DVD
Directed by Kevin Murphy
Starring Joel Hodgson, Michael J. Nelson
Shout! Factory
Release Date: March 8, 2011

Before I started putting my thoughts for this review to paper, I was trying to remember what movie was being roasted over an open flame on the first episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 that I ever saw. Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders? Nope, but I do recall watching about five minutes of that one. Eegah? Close, but no cigar. That episode I watched on a day when I stayed home from school with the flu and it happened at the time I had just discovered the endless source of wonderment that is Comedy Central (in the form of reruns of the original British version of Whose Line is it Anyway?).

I’m afraid my introduction to the subversively hilarious world of MST3K (which we lifetime MST-ies have earned the right to call it) was a mid-90s Saturday afternoon excoriation, all done with good humor naturally, of the 1987 cheapo sci-fi fantasy Alien from L.A. (episode 516 for you fanatics out there), the movie that kickstarted dead-eyed swimsuit model Kathy Ireland’s uneventful acting career and was one of the lesser entries in the filmography of Albert Pyun, the director who excels at bargain basement schlock staffed with actors desperate for a lightning-quick payday (he also apprenticed with Akira Kurosawa”¦make of that what you will).