The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Volume 2 (Angels' Revenge / Cave Dwellers / Pod People / Shorts, Vol. 1)

This is Rhino's second DVD collection of four episodes of "Mystery Science Theater 3000," and it's excellent. It has three great episodes from various seasons, and a fourth disc of hilarious short subjects. And it comes in a nifty package with moving parts! In case you're new to the world of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" (MST3K for short, that's what us fans -- "Misties" -- call it), this is the famous TV show where a silhouette of a man and two robots in theater seats provide running commentary for some of the worst movies ever made. The ninety-minute episodes are scattered with sketches and songs and amount to some of the smartest, most pop-culture savvy, side-splitting comedy ever made. This DVD contains three episodes, plus a compilation of short subjects from different episodes. The episodes cover a wide spectrum: two are from early in season three, when Joel Hodgson was the host and the show was just kicking into high gear. The third is from late in the sixth season, when the show had developed a much more slick and sarcastic approach with host Mike Nelson. People new to the show will get a good chance to compare the styles of the show. Personally, I love both, but they are quite different. The Shorts are brief films that the host would sometimes make fun of before the movie. Originally, they watched episodes of old movie serials, but when those quickly became tiresome, they turned to educational, commercial, and industrial filmstrips (you know, those annoying things you had to watch at school assemblies in sixth grade?). They contain some of the funniest riffing in the series, and are favorites of the fans. Here's what's on this collection: ANGEL'S REVENGE. Episode #622. A 1978 film originally titled "Angel's Brigade," this is an hysterically awful rip-off of the TV show "Charlie's Angels," only it's worse, if you can imagine that! A group of attractive and not-so-attractive women decide to wage war on L.A.'s drug dealers by dressing in white jump suits. The female leads (including Playboy Playmate Susan Lynn Kiger) are horrendous actresses, but what's really embarrassing is the presence of well-known guest stars slumming at the pits of their careers: Jack Palance, Jim Backus, Pat Butrum, Alan Hale, and in a depressing performance, Peter Lawford. Poor Peter appears to have been drunk for the entire filming. Mike and the `Bots have an absolute field day making fun of the relentless 70s style ("Entertaining was a lot easier in the 70s!") and the poor, unfortunate guest stars ("Do you think Peter knows where he is?"). This is one of my favorite Mike Nelson episodes, and it's the best disc in this package. CAVE DWELLERS. Episode #301. This film was originally released in 1984 as "Ator the Invincible" and then as "Blade Master" on video. It's a sequel to "Ator the Fighting Eagle," and is one of many cheap-o copycats of "Conan the Barbarian." This stinker stars Miles O'Keefe as beefy warrior Ator, who also knows lots of sciencey stuff (like how to manufacture a hang-glider in two minutes with just sticks). Ator travels to the Ends of the Earth to stop some John Saxon-like villain from obtaining some vague object with a funny name that might do something really bad. Or whatever -- the film is just fantasy of the worst kind. It's so cheap there are no special effects, and the only monster is an immobile velour snake. This is first episode of season three, and this is really when the show entered its golden phase. Joel and the `Bots have some good times here, especially at the outlandish finale, and there's a hilarious parody of the movie's opening credits. A good episode, and the start of great things. POD PEOPLE. Episode #303. The poor dubbing in this film automatically marks it as foreign, but since it's obviously trying to pass itself off American, it's tricky to figure out where it was really shot. Mystery over: this is a 1983 Spanish film called "Los Nuevos Extraterrestres," released in America as "The Unearthling." It's an awful attempt to copy "E.T." and combine it with a horror film. Aliens that resemble miniature two-legged versions of Snuffleupuggus from "Sesame Street" invade the mountains. A high-pitched little kid befriend one of the aliens, Trumpy, while the rest start killing people for no reason. There's an awful pop band on a trip (their performance in a recording studio is one of the highlights of the episode), some poachers, and a dysfunctional family up in a cabin. None of it fits together, but Joel and `Bots create some classic running gags. It's the perfect kind of film for the MST3K treatment. You'll love their re-creation of the incomprehensible "song" performed by the band in the move. ("It stinks!") SHORTS, VOL. 1. These come from many seasons, and all are great. Tom Servo does a joking intro for each one. "The Home Economics Story" (from episode #317) is a 1950s film for high school girls that encourages them to study home economics in college, implying that they aren't destined for anything other than being housewives. "Junior Rodeo Daredevils" (from episode #407) tells how a group of kids in a tiny town set up their own rodeo, and then broke all their limbs and snapped their spinal chords -- all in good fun! "Body Care & Grooming" (from episode #510) informs college students how to spend all their time grooming their hair and skin, because people will only like them if they're pretty! "Cheating" (from episode #515) tells the tragic story of Johnny, who cheated and rose to power, and then fell into the pits of despair not unlike a Kafka novel. "A Date with Your Family" (from episode #602) is the best of the bunch: a nightmare about the perfect 50s family having a perfectly repressed 50s dinner. The riffing here is as sharp and satiric as anything ever done on the show. "Why Study Industrial Arts" (from episode #609) is the reverse of "The Home Economics Story," encouraging young men to risk sawing off their limbs in shop class. And finally, "The Chicken of Tomorrow" (from episode #702) explains breeding techniques to create meatier chickens. It's very depressing. (In a bit of a mistake, two of the shorts are already available on other DVDs: episode #609, "The Skydivers" is on the first Rhino DVD collection, and Episode #515, "The Wild World of Batwoman," is available as a single DVD, so you might have already seen two of these shorts.) This is another awesome collection from Rhino. There's more laughs here than you'll find in a year's worth of Hollywood comedies. A must for MST3K fans and newcomers alike!

This MST3K collection is the perfect set for both die-hard fans and viewers who are new to the show. The movies are bad in a ripe, juicy way, making it easy to squeeze every last drop of possible humor out of their horrendous dialogue, lame-duck plots, and trapped-in-a-paper-bag acting. For collectors and afficianados, this collection is a no-brainer. For everyone else, it makes an excellent starter kit to get you into and hooked on this intelligent, delightful, and addictive show. This particular set contains the following: CAVE DWELLERS - Miles (and miles) O'Keefe stars as Ator, the greasy, chesty hero who must travel to the ends of the earth in order to stop a strange and mystical device (the Geometric Nucleus -- never seen, never explained, never mind) from falling into the evil hands of some man with a black swan helmet. Along the way he fights invisible warriors (this film's version of cost-saving casting), a fiberglass cobra, and -- of course -- a few cave dwellers. Both well-read and beefy, Ator is assisted in his quest by his mostly mute sidekick, Dong (or is it Wong? Chong? Ba-da-bong?), and a hubcap-clad warrior woman whose name, I believe, is Linda. Joel and the bots discuss foley artist techniques, reprise the opening credits of the film in their own tongue-in-cheek fashion, and discuss ways bad movies make bad props sound better than they are. Delicious if for no other reason than the hang-glider scene. ANGELS REVENGE - A thinly disguised rip-off of Charlie's Angels , this self-righteous dud treats us to feeble-minded drug dealers beating up school children and a typically-squinty Jack Palance doing as little acting as he possibly can. Other down-on-their-luck stars exploit their dwindling fame as well (Peter Lawford, Pat Burtrum, Alan hale, Jim Backus, and Arthur Godfrey), prompting Tom to invent a Shame-O-meter, just to gauge how pathetic the movie really is. A few of the host segments fall a little flat and seem short-changed, but that doesn't detract from Mike and the bots' able and always incisive commentary. Listen for KPLOT, watch for the scenes of young teens being instructed on proper gun use, cringe at the overly-excessive administration of groin torture, and laugh at eight women "sneaking" into a drug compound in broad daylight while wearing downy-white Evel Kineval jumpers. POD PEOPLE - The filet mignon of MST3K episodes, "Pod People" features some of the best jokes and gags Joel and the bots have ever pitted against a film. This travesty of a movie concerns the deaths of a few brain-dead poachers (one of them is a Leslie Nielsen look-alike, the other looks like he belongs around the potato cauldron at a Renaissance Fair), the "antics" of a horrendous band (boasting a combined IQ of 12), and the machinations of a couple of murderous aliens that look like the love-children of Alf and an upright Hoover (with attachments). The plot also follows a precocious young boy as he deals with parental neglect, his uncaring and alcoholic grand/father, and a whole host of traumatizing sights. Featuring a hilarious spoof of one of the band's feature songs ("It stinks!") and a delightful recreation of Trumpy's abilities, this episode contains everything that made MST3K a brilliant show. If this one doesn't turn you into an fan, nothing will. SHORTS, VOL. 1 - Okay, well, maybe this would be better for newbies. Hosted by Tom Servo, this disc provides viewers with 10 and 15 minute "shorts," brief, bite-sized educational clips hailing mostly from the 50s and designed -- primarily -- to teach suppression and the Great White Way to unsuspecting schoolchildren. A short on Home Economics (one of my all-time favorites) follows four girls through college as they major in various things like baby sitting, how to set a table, and (no fooling!) being a good wife. A short on good grooming encourages not just clean skin and hair, but also unswerving conformity to all traditional standards of clothing. Speaking of conformity, "A Date with Your Family" is one of the most frightening short films I've ever seen, a diatribe on familial duty that demands that children dress casually for a home meal, never ask dad for money, and always make sure dinner time conversations are as unemotional as possible. (Seriously. The narrator uses the word "unemotional.") Others include an industrial arts segment (much like the Home Economics clip, except here you have guys talking about how much they love the "smooth feel of wood pushing through a buzzing saw"), a piece on "The Chicken of Tomorrow" (a bizarre title for a boring subject), cheating (in which a young boy who cheats on a test is treated as a leperous pariah by rib-less students and teachers alike), and a Junior Rodeo in which young children risk their lives and spines for a fleeting moment of unbridled, bucking fame. Unsettling Depression-era edutainment, 70's technicolor plaigarism, sci-fi/fantasy tomfoolery, and self-congratulatory heavy handedness: this collection harbors some of MST3K's worthiest (and cheesiest) foes. It's a treasure to be able to watch Mike, Joel, Tom and Crow chop them to bits with high-brow allusions, goofy witticisms, and hilarious insights. If you like watching bad movies with your best friends (or if you're the type who can't help making wise comments when you see something lame), MST3K should be a treat, making this collection the equivalent of a candy shop of humor.

Several excellent choices with Joel as your host. Why watch bad movies? Because sometimes you just don't realize the astounding skill behind the good ones until you see these mind-bogglingly bad ones! ANGEL'S REVENGE. A STUNNINGLY bad rip-off of the bad TV show "Charlie's Angels." As one reviewer put it: "women decide to wage war on L.A.'s drug dealers by dressing in white jump suits." Amazingly, it co-stars: Jack Palance, Jim Backus, Alan Hale, Peter Lawford (who appears to be drunk) and . . . ARTHUR GODFREY! How did this happen? Maybe they thought it was an actual movie of the show and the casting folks told everyone simultaneously that "we've got XXX" and they all agreed on the basis of thinking that the other guy was in-- but failed to read the script! A favorite scene is the raid on the huge drug-processing facility (apparently invisible to the police) guarded by a simple 2-strand barbed wire fence. One Angel can't manage to cut through with her wire-clippers so ad-libs by rolling underneath . . . and so on. (This movie completely ruined "The Road Home" for me. There were too many long scenes in which little Chinese girl runs over the hills after the schoolteacher and all I could think of was the 'bots refrain of "She's running and running and running and running . . . and running and running and running . . . " from "Angel's Revenge.") CAVE DWELLERS. A hilarious knock-off of "Conan the Barbarian." For those who question the artistry of a show involving a guy and his robots making cracks about bad movies . . . consider how hard that is to do while laughing so hard you can't catch a breath. Notice the opening footage which has NOTHING at all to do with the movie which also has nothing to do with caves or dwellers. POD PEOPLE. Opening footage appears to be made by the same outfit that made the opening footage for cave-dwellers. It also has nothing to do with the movie, or if it does, notice that the monster changes from a Creature-From-The-Black-Lagoon sort of monster to a Snuffleupuggalus sort of muppety thing. My least favorite of the collection, but if you want BAD, it's way up there on the Bad-O-Meter. SHORTS. "The Home Economics Story" encourages high school girls to study home economics -- particularly poignant for me because the school appears to be Iowa State where my mother did just that, often talking about the group house. "Junior Rodeo Daredevils" shows kids setting up a rodeo (and Head Injury!!! Yeeehaaaa!!!) Also "Body Care & Grooming", "Cheating" (which gets the star kicked off the Student Council ("You've made some powerful enemies son!"), "A Date with Your Family", "Why Study Industrial Arts" (the guy's version of "The Home Economics Story"), and "The Chicken of Tomorrow." Just a terrific collection!

In the second release in the Rhino Mystery Science Theater DVD series, we are treated to three horrifically bad movies and several even worse shorts. "Angels Revenge" is an embarrassing and blatant ripoff of "Charlie's Angels" in which a group of unlikable women in polyester get together to fight crime. The film has some fairly big name stars including Jack Palance, Arthur Godfrey, Peter Lawford, Jim Backus, Alan Hale, and Pat Butrum as the world's most easily bamboozled car salesman. Look for lots of big hair, lots of bad clothes, lots of bad acting, and an utterly ludicrous storyline. It is, in other words, an excellent episode. "Cave Dwellers" is my least favorite of the episodes, as I don't like the swords and sandals epics all that much. This one stars Miles O'Keefe as Ator, a warrior on a mission that involves considerable (if silly) peril, and who invents the hang glider in the most laughable scene in this extremely laughable movie. The writing for this episode is first rate, with Joel and the bots coming up with countless great riffs, despite the less than entertaining background movie. "Pod People" is easily my favorite film of the set. It is a foreign made mess about miniature aardvark-like bipeds from another planet, one of which is good, and at least one of which is evil. There is a terrible band on a camping holiday who intersect with a story about poachers and the family harboring the good creature, Trumpy. This one has numerous great lines; the host segments are likewise some of the best ever featured, and the spoof of the song from the movie ("Bees on pie"..."Flying over trout") is one of the all time greats and made "It stinks!" a regular reference for the remainder of the show's run. This film has everything for a perfect MST...inane plot, terrible acting (along with odd dubbing), a completely ridiculous monster (I love the peanut eating scene), and various unrelated subplots that are all over the place. This one film justifies the price of the set by itself. The last disc in the set is "Shorts Volume One" and contains a variety of bizarre shorts on a variety of disquieting subjects. "Junior Rodeo Daredevils" is legendary for introducing the character of "Ol' Timer Billy Slater" to the series, but the strangest of the bunch in my opinion is "The Chicken of Tomorrow," which is simultaneously funny and macabre. "A Date with Your Family" is a noteworthy little nightmare from the "Leave it to Beaver" school: I'm all for family bonding, but this will make your eyes roll to the top of your skull. All told this is a great set, and I highly recommend it to B-movie lovers everywhere.

Rhino continues producing MST3K boxed sets, and I can't thank them enough. They foster my MST collecting habit with each release. I adore the boxed sets and recommed them for any devoted MiSTie. That said, on to the Film Blecch in this set. Angels Revenge (bad puctuation not mine): a blatant, charm-free Charlie's Angels poser. The 'angels' aren't even remotely attractive, but they use their womenly wiles to bring down the drug trade. The real surprise in this one is the --ahem-- famous names, like Jim Backus, Alan Hale (he's shown up in a BUNCH of MST-treated flicks), and good heavens--Mr. Haney. Summary: cheesy 70s T&A theme flick, with as little story as possible, so as not to burden the audience. A dippy teacher rounds up a model, a scary stuntwoman, a lousy Vegas singer, and some other person to defeat the pushers. This one takes more than one viewing to enjoy the jokes, because it is JUST that bad. Cave Dwellers: Rhino was smart to package this movie in the set that houses its sibling, Pod People. This cinematic train wreck has the same jumbled production values of Pod People--you'll recognize it immediately. Signature element: scenes from some other movie play behind the opening credits. Cave Dwellers gave Miles O'Keefe a set of fringed boots, a tiny loincloth, and not much else. You will HOWL during the host segment when Joel & the Bots do a half-screen action sequence of the guy with the fruity hat. Summary: ?? go to the ends of the earth, and you still won't get what this turkey is about. Images not to be missed: Ator & Thong's fight with invisible monsters, Ator hangliding, and the scene with the "Most Attractive Man of the Middle Ages--MY MY MY!" Ultimately, there is a short bit of the actual Cave Dwellers, but the film has zero to do with them. ?? Pod People: HUZZAH! A real crapfest, complete with a bargain basement Alf wannabe. Can you imagine the pitch for this film? I think it must've gone like this: let's have a cuddly but murderous alien, a bad rock band, a weird mountain family with a poorly dubbed child, and OH! for extra spice, POACHERS! If this leaves you saying, "What the hell?" -- you are ready to watch the movie. Summary: cuddly Alf-like killers inconvenience a bad rock group's weekend in the mountains. Shorts, Vol 1: the best Shorts volume, IMHO. This set of shorts has actual hosting by Tom and includes The Home Economics Story, Junior Rodeo Daredevils, Body Care & Grooming (they're cops!), Cheating, A Date with Your Family, and Why Study Industrial Arts? A Date with Your Family is my personal favorite--"A violent argument erupts over whose day was more pleasant." This short couldn't get any whiter if it tried. Life in the 50s as introduced to us by the MST cast! A great boxed set--pop the popcorn and get ready for cinema's disasters to spin in your player. A must for MST collectors, and even the box design is cute!

If you're reading this, then you're probably already familiar with MST3K (the abbreviation of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" for its fans, the "Misties"); however, if this is possibly your first foray into MST3K-dom, here's a brief synopsis of the show in general: A workaday Joe working 9-5 at an institute run by mad scientists is sent into space and subjected to experiments on a specially made satellite. What kind of experiments? Well, the scientists send him bad B-grade (or worse) movies and he and his robots make fun of them in grand, sarcastic fashion. Now, what films are included in this set? Well, let's see... Shorts Vol. 1 Not a standalone movie in itself, this is a collection of short educational films (the kind that students watched during the 1950s-1970s) that are so dated, they're hilarious. If this is your first time with MST3K, start here - you won't be disappointed. Almost all (if not all) of these segments are led by Joel. There are about 7 shorts, most notably including: The Home Economics Story Junior Rodeo Daredevils A Date with Your Family When I first watched these, I laughed so hard I was crying and my sides hurt. Recommended! Angel's Revenge A bizarre cross between Charlie's Angels and the A-Team, this film finds a team of teachers, pop singers, martial artists, models and stuntwomen joining forces to fight a drug kingpin and his lackey (played, respectively, by a depressingly bad Peter Lawford and Jack Palance). There's nothing subtle about this movie, not in the slightest, and Mike and the gang have a field day with the appalling 70s-ness of the whole thing. Cave Dwellers A badly dubbed Conan clone starring Miles ("Tarzan the Ape Man") O'Keefe as Ator, the master of ancient swordplay and sciences. Ator must save the Great One and his invention, the Geometric Nucleus, from the clutches of the villainous Zar. This movie has absolutely no plot, exceedingly low production values, opening credits which don't relate to the movie at all, and tons of continuity problems (something the final host segment hits right out of the park). Joel hosts. Pod People Another badly dubbed film, which can't decide whether it wants to be a cuddly, kid-friendly "ET" rip-off or a terrifying tale of an evil alien running amok in the north woods. Joel and the gang do a great job making fun of the absolutely unsympathetic characters, as well as the synthed-out, annoying soundtrack.

I just love this box set of volume 2 of MST3K. You can move pictures around and change them to other pictures. The episodes are genuine. The quality is fine, although a couple of words are not heared in the opening theme song in the episode Pod People. So, here's a short summary of the episodes: 1) Pod People: I can feel Joel and the Bots's pain. Although, they did a hilarious job of riffing Pod People to pieces! The story follows an alien and it's murderous twin and a kid called Tommy who raises the alien and calling it Trumpy (!), and once he watched Trumpy's murderous twin killing someone, Tommy thinks Trumpy did it. Then all hell breaks loose. As Joel explains the whole movie for you, "Trumpy! You can do stupid things!" 10/10 2) Cave Dwellers: An Italian sleeper that has to do with a barbarian and his mute sidekick killing bandits to save their villiage. Lots of funny bits with Joel and the bots. Especially the opening credits skit. 9/10 3) Angel's Revenge (AKA Angel's Brigade): A 1979 yawner with a plot that rips off Charlie's Angels. I don't have anything else to say. There's an ultra hlarious skit with the bots playing cards and Mike intruding wearing a leather jacket saying, "eeeeeeeeee" and the bots have no choice but to destry him. 9/10 What do you have to do: BUY IT!!!

If you're looking to test the boundaries of friendship and want to make a good first impression with this show, you've found the right collector's edition to do it with. It has all manner of bells and whistles just on the packaging alone, commercial shorts and side skits you might've missed before, two episodes largely agreed to be the best in the series as the main attraction, and a third Charlie's Angels rip-off about scantily clad women fighting druglords that's at least... visually entertaining. I failed at sharing it with multiple room-mates and have resolved from now on to watching it only as intended: alone, covered in cats and junk food, wheezing hysterically into my carton of non-dairy Chunky Monkey ice cream until I accidentally inhale something. Because friendships come and go, but my own questionable sense of humor will last to the grave.