Mystery Science Theater 3000: XVI [Limited Edition]

This set features two episodes hosted by show creator Joel Hodgson and two hosted by series head writer Mike Nelson. All are from the Comedy Central era of the show.

105- THE CORPSE VANISHES with short: COMMANDO CODY PT 3

This 1942 black and white thriller features Bela Lugosi as, surprise, a mad scientist who kills young women for glandular fluid that he uses to keep his own aging wife young and alive. He has two evil assistants, again surprise, a malevolent dwarf and a huge oaf. Commando Cody (Radar Men From The Moon) Part 3 is also riffed by the crew of the SOL. Tom Servo's head explodes for the first of many times in one of the host segments. Commando Cody and Bela Lugosi in the same episode equals much fun.

501- WARRIOR OF THE LOST WORLD

A color film from 1983 by David Worth and starring Robert Ginty ("The Paper Chase Guy"), Persis Khambatta and Donald Pleasance. This "High Plains Drifter" knock-off with motorcycles and post-apocalyptic geeks is a laugh riot from beginning to end. The talking motorcycle, slinky Nastasia (Khambatta) evil dictator Prossor (Donald Pleasance), and Megaweapon are must-see entertainment. The running gag regarding the refusal to "remember" the starring actor's name is hilarious. Tom Servo riffing on dozens of people in under one minute is legendary. A really strong episode.

521- SANTA CLAUS

This 1959 color film is a Mexican import courtesy of K. Gordon Murray. It is bizarre in the extreme. Santa lives on a cloud in outer space with children from all over the Earth as his helpers. The opening of the film showing the various cultures of the children is out-dated, weird, possibly offensive and achingly funny. The film only gets stranger from there as Santa has to go to Earth to deliver toys using all manner of wizardry conjured up by his assistant, the wizard Merlin. The host segment featuring Mike and the 'Bots as the rock band "Santa Klaws" is worth the price of admission all by itself.

701- NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST with short: ONCE UPON A HONEYMOON

A black-and-white Roger Corman film made in 1958 is about an astronaut who returns to Earth seemingly dead at first, but he later turns out to be alive and pregnant with alien young! If the premise of the film isn't funny enough, MST3K certainly makes it so. Filmed in Bronson Canyon like many other fun films (e.g., Robot Monster, It Conquered The World), it also features re-used props from other Corman films. This is one of only seven episodes in MST3K season seven and features the beginnings of the Pearl Forrester character in Deep 13 after the departure of Frank Conniff from the show. Pretty much any Roger Corman film used on MST3K made for a good episode of the show and this one is no exception.

Extras:
* New interview with "Warrior of the Lost World" director David Worth
* Santa Claus Conquers the Devil: A 50-Year Retrospective
* Santa Claus original radio spot
* Santa Claus still gallery
* Teaser trailer for "Wonder World of K. Gordon Murray in Colorscope"
* Night of the Blood Beast Turkey Day host segments
* Turkey Day `95 bumpers
* Original theatrical trailers
* Four exclusive MST3K lobby cards by artist Steve Vance
* Also, in a limited-edition version there's a Tom Servo figurine

In this "Limited Edition" set, there are two movies hosted by Joel and two from Mike Nelson, so if you're strictly a Joel or Mike fan, check this out.

#105 - "The Corpse Vanishes." Joel Hodgson hosts this cheap and cheesy movie with Bela Lugosi. After making "Dracula," lugosi sadly declined into silly movies like this one. Before BOTOX, you had to kill young Brides to make a youth serum for vain women, like Lugosi's wife (why are only young Women always killed??) Joel and the Bots do a decent job of riffing this silly movie about a mad scientist, youthful wife and killer orchids.

#501 - "Warrior of the Lost World" - Joel hosts this movie about a dusty hero with a talking motorcycle and evil dictator. There are more explosions than you can count, with some even in slow-motion. Dummies, are thrown off buildings in an attempt to make them look like the bad humans. Stars Robert Ginty and Donald Pleasance.

#521 - "Santa Claus" - Mike Nelson and the Bots keep it alive with this dreadful movie made in Mexico in 1959. The beginning is a bunch of kids singing the longest song ever recorded in any movie...ever made. Add in the devil, Merlin the magician and Santa being in Space instead of the North Pole. The dubbing into English is also laughable.

#701 - "Night of the Blood Beast" - Mike Nelson and the Bots host this Roger Corman movie that stars Ed Nelson. The short is "Once Upon a Honeymoon." The guys always loved to riff Corman and shorts from the 50's. They do a good job on both. Don't pay too much attention to the plot about an Astronaut who is a breeder for aliens. This is NOT the one with Sigourney Weaver. That's what makes it Hilarious.

The icing on the cake is that you get your own little Tom Servo in this Limited Edition set. I must have him to keep my Crow T Robot company!

Mystery Science Theater 3000: 20th Anniversary Edition [Limited Edition]

Shout Factory delivers us another tremendous volume of MST3K experiments. Not only do we get 5 (that's right FIVE) episodes (sort of) we also get a Tom Servo figure. Looking at this set ...

MST3K EPISODE 105 THE CORPSE VANISHES W/ ANOTHER CHAPTER FROM THE COMMANDO CODY SERIAL
Bela Lugosi stars in this low budget (aka cheap) effort capturing young females with a special perfume and using the females to make his wife beautiful & young again. Believe it or not the serial is more entertaining - as serials tended to be non stop action - Cody continues to fight evils from the moon. - This marks the 3rd set in a row with a Season 1 episode. Some fans really dislike these episodes,but if you look at why it is being done, it actually makes sense. First off, sooner or later there will be a lack of easy to license Joel titles - having Season 1 titles extends the 2 Joel and 2 Mike variety for those that like the combination of both hosts in their volumes. 2nd, this is a public domain episode and super easy to get onto DVD via MST3K. So why not ? Watching season 1 allows us to see how the show started and grow.
UPDATE - great transfer and certainly was a lot of fun to watch..you can tell that Joel & the bots were starting to grow in this one. The silhouettes in this movie were green as they tried to replace the gray with a darker color. The green color is as rich as Ive ever seen thanks to the transfer. The host segment with Joel getting his hair cut by Crow and Joel's chiropractic invention exchange came right out of the KTMA era. I found it to be a very underrated episode. Radar Men from the Moon isnt all that bad, it was during the classic serials era where most were pretty good to decent. I will also say you have to go through a few skips to get to the main menu..lots of advertisements..

MST3K EPISODE 501 - WARRIOR OF THE LOST WORLD - This is a popular episode - the premier episode from the 5th season. The recently deceased late great Robert Ginty (the paperchase guy) rides around on an annoying motorbike looking for trouble or saving humanity. This has Megaweapon which became a cult hero of sorts & was the highlight of the movie. This is basically a Mad Max rip-off in a post apocalyptic world. Donald Pleasance from many a movie is the villain. A very entertaining episode - not just the movie, but the segments with Joel as Ginty's character and the riffs are great as well..too bad the scene near the end of the movie where there is a decent song was cut due to time limitations.
UPDATE - Another great transfer & the bonus features with David Worth are priceless - his story about how he got on this project plus the photos of him and the crew during the making of this film were really cool.

MST3K EPISODE 521 - SANTA CLAUS - at long last this episode finally comes on a set..Jose Luis Moreno as Santa Claus as he fights the Devil ( Pitch) An extremely memorable episode with Santa fighting Pitch and all sorts of weird characters. This was a K Gordon Murray distribution (he brought in all sorts of Mexican horror and scifi to USA theaters)
A great segment has Kevin Murphy as Santa Claus fighting Pitch (Paul Chaplin, This is absolutely hilarious and there are a few songs to enjoy..watch it at Christmas or anytime you will laugh your arse off. The main bonus feature of Santa Claus a 50 Year Perspective with not just the MST cast (Murphy & Chaplin) but of Mexican film historians is really interesting (& funny) Kevin Murphy is just funny as Tom Servo, Bobo or just as Kevin Murphy..

MST3K EPISODE 701 & TURKEY DAY SPECIAL - NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST WITH THE SHORT ONCE UPON A HONEYMOON
Another hugely requested episode. And you get BOTH VERSIONS of this movie, with the Season 7 segments and the Turkey Day segments...so if you count the 2 version PLUS the other 3 in this set you get your 5 episode set...
The DVD has a menu inside of Tom Servo's belly that lets you pick the version you want to see
This is a Roger and Gene Corman schlocker with a man is gets impregnated (??) by the Blood Beast (another ridiculous Corman creature. Michael Emmet is the host for the monster (he was Cal in the Giant Leeches)and the cast is pretty much the usual Corman characters...
And yes once again you get both versions of the movie with both Season 7 and Turkey Segments included ! How good is that. Of course the short is very entertaining as well..Corman's films were cheaply made at the time but still highly entertaining and fun..

Here are the Extras:
New interview with "Warrior of the Lost World" director David Worth (he was also at an MST convention to talk about this episode as well)
Santa Claus Conquers the Devil: A 50-Year Retrospective (as mentioned before this is really a great feature)
Santa Claus original radio spot
Santa Claus still gallery
Teaser trailer for "Wonder World of K. Gordon Murray in Colorscope"
Night of the Blood Beast Turkey Day host segments (not correct as you get the entire episode)
Turkey Day `95 bumpers
Original theatrical trailers
Four exclusive MST3K lobby cards by artist Steve Vance
Also, in a limited-edition version there's a Tom Servo figurine (yes a long awaited Tom Servo figure !!! And its cute !! )

Shout has done nothing but bring excitement back into the sets..the high anticipation, the announcement of the sets & what they come with ...
December 1st is the release date and I can hardly wait...and hopefully Volume 17 will be around the corner :) !!

Keep up the great work Shout Factory !

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