Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XIX

This set features two shows with Joel Hodgson as host from the Comedy Central era and two with Mike Nelson from the Sci-Fi Channel era. MST3K always worked especially well when the films used were in the sci-fi/horror genre and this set is packed with four such episodes.

Episode 107- ROBOT MONSTER (with shorts: COMMANDO CODY Parts 4 and 5)
This 1953 black and white film is extremely low budget, so much so that the eponymous "robot monster" costume consists of a cheap gorilla suit topped off with an even cheaper deep-sea diving style helmet. It is one of those movies that is so incompetent it is fun all on its own and it's perfect fodder for MST3K. A family survives the destruction of most of humanity by the evil Ro-Man, who hunts them mercilessly yet has trouble finding them though he is living nearly next door! The family has managed to elude Ro-Man through the scientific genius of the older parents and their attractive adult daughter, Alice, and here fiance. Even their young, pre-adolescent children are mental giant compared to the incompetent Ro-Man. As if he didn't have enough difficulties, Ro-Man has a "thing" for Alice, which causes him problems with completing his murderous mission. The movie at times is incomprehensible in its editing, with inexplicable shots of lizards impersonating dinosaurs and other weirdness inserted to pad out the film. There's also lots of shots of George Barrows as Ro-Man stalking about Bronson Canyon. This is a strong Season One MST3K episode and the inclusion of the Commando Cody Radar Men From The Moon shorts just adds to the low budget fun. This one has been a favorite of mine for years and I'm quite pleased to see it in commercial release.

Episode 423- BRIDE OF THE MONSTER (with short: HIRED!, Part 1)
This 1955 Ed Wood film stars Bela Lugosi and Tor Johnson, two of Wood's favorite actors. The pairing is great fun and the movie is everything fans have come to expect from Ed Wood, with cheap monsters, continuity issues, and Lugosi playing a mad scientist assisted by his lumbering, hulking side-kick, Lobo, played by Johnson. Johnson played essentially the same character with the same name in The Unearthly, a movie also used on MST3K. Bride Of The Monster is a quintessential Ed Wood film and belongs right up there next to Plan 9 From Outer Space. The jokes from the MST3K crew come fast and furious and it seems obvious that they had a great, almost too easy time writing jokes for this one. This movie also features Harvey B. Dunn who played "Grampa" in Teenagers From Outer Space. The short, Hired! Part One is also fun and inspires a whole host segment, "Hired, The Musical". Another episode highlight is the host segment where Joel and the 'Bots play out the end of the film with the help of Cambot.

Episode 818- DEVIL DOLL
A 1964 black and white film about a ventroliquist/hypnotist with an evil dummy named, Hugo. The ventroliquist is after the fortune of an heiress, which creates a love triangle since he already has a mistress. Tragedy of course, ensues, but it's all comedy for the viewers of this MST3K version. The movie is atmospheric to a degree, but is also slow and ponderous at times and the slowly pulsating soundtrack delivers as much monotony as it does tension. Nevertheless, there are some good highlights in this episode, most notably Mike Nelson impersonating Hugo and there are plenty of good "riffs" during the movie.

Episode 911- DEVIL FISH
Italy produces many "psychotronic" movies and this 1984 color production keeps that tradition alive. Directed by Lamberto Bava, son of the great Mario Bava, this is silly and fun B-grade monster movie stuff all the way. Years before the upcoming Roger Corman movie, "Sharktopus", this film features a marine biologist, a dolphin trainer, a research scientist, and a local sheriff attempting to hunt down a hybrid monster comprising shark and octopus traits. Filmed on location in Florida, it's another bad "don't go in the water" type follow on to the success of Jaws in 1976. Silly monster movies always worked well on MST3K and this one is no exception. Not one of the best episodes ever, but fairly consistent and enjoyable fun throughout.

Extra features include:
* This Limited Edition version of the set comes with a collectible Gypsy figurine similar to the Tom Servo and Crow figurines sold in earlier Shout! Factory sets.
* A new introduction to the film Robot Monster by J. Elvis Weinstein
* Joel Hodgson's Inventing the "Invention Exchange"
* The Puppet Master: Richard Gordon on Devil Doll
* MST3K: Origins and Beyond at CONvergence 2009
* Exclusive Mini-posters by artist Steve Vance
* Cult Filmmaker Larry Blamire Geeks Out on Robot Monster
* Citizen Wood: Making `The Bride,' Unmaking `The Legend'
* Original Theatrical Trailers

It's anybody's guess why they're being so slow about releasing various snarky episodes of "Mystery Science Theater 3000," in which Joel, Mike, Tom Servo and Crow make fun of baaaaaaad badbadbad movies. "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Vol. XIX" brings together four delicious episodes of this series involving alien robots, sea monsters and an evil dummy.

First there's "Robot Monster", the seventh episode of season one (the roughest of them, but you won't notice here). Joel and the bots are subjected to a horrifically cheesy sci-fi movie in which civilization is destroyed and all of humanity is killed by... a gorilla with a deep-sea helmet, aka Ro-man. Ro-man is trying to hunt the one remaining nuclear family and exterminate them, despite the fact that he literally lives next to their house. Insert random lizard attacks.

Then there's Ed Wood's "Bride of the Monster," in which Joel and the bots are subjected to Wood's B-movie horror: Bela Lugosi is a mad scientist, living in a swamp filled with inappropriate reptiles and a giant octopus that inexplicably eats people. People wander in and get eaten, and eventually a pretty girl becomes the newest victim of Lugosi's attempts to make a master race.... yeah, okay.

After that, we jump forward to the Era Of Mike with "Devil Doll." Mike and the bots decide to have a crazy "Friiiiidaaaaaay" dorm party which is hampered by a lack of beer and music, even as Pearl hobnobs with the gods. Then it's off to the movies, about a sinister ventriloquist and his surprisingly sentient dummy... it's actually rather good by MST3K standards, but still rather dull.

And finally, Mike's wallet woes get sidelined while Pearl, Bobo and Brain Guy pretend to be a cruise ship. The new movie: "Devil Fish," a horrible cash-in on "Jaws" in which many wooden Italians pretending to be Americans deal with a sort of... warty shark-octopus thing that magically appears to eat anyone who hits the high seas. Also: lots of soap opera stuff.

Any "Mystery Science Theater 3000" collection with an Ed Wood Jr. episode is bound to be an absolute delight, but this one is especially good because it has three absolutely ghastly movies and one that is only fairly bad. The movies are pretty funny even on their own merits, and having Mike, Joel and the bots mocking them is the icing on the cake ("The director's vision: lots of shots of things!").

And it's got the usual stuff: Mike, Joel and the bots have lots of silly adventures (seeing what Crow dreams about) and skits (getting turned into broad Italian stereotypes). And their mockery of the movies is just delicious ("Oh, great! The nutty bird man in Apartment 4-B is gonna give us a religious insight"), especially when they pretend to speak as the characters ("There's bird poopy on my paper!").

"Mystery Science Theater 3000 Volume XIX" is... well, three truly abysmal movies and one that is merely bad. Add in Joel, Mike and the bots, and you have loads of classic laughs.

At the San Diego Comic Con Shout Factory announced the latest Volume
which is # 19 much to the delight of many MST3K fans.
First off as you can see by the photo it will contain a Gypsy Figurine which is slightly bigger than Crow and Tom Servo
Now for the episodes in this set
# 107 ROBOT MONSTER - This movie is about a group of survivors being stalked by Ro-Man - a man in an ape costume and fish tank helmet.
One of the all time most well known iconic B movies - ultra cheap, lousy acting and pointless. See stock footage of dinosaurs ( lizards with glued on fins) from One Million BC. See Roman chase George Nader around. See Roman chase women, children all over the place. See Roman attack kids, see him try to satisfy his urges with the ladies..see it in utter disbelief.
This is one of what most Season 1 fans would call a better Season 1 episode. It is well done. This is another title owned by Wade Williams which Shout has licensed which is why we've seen Beast of Yucca Flats, Lost Continent and others.
This has a riff at the end that I really like " Is this the End of the Film Joel" watch for it. And listen to Tom Servo sneeze during the Commando Cody serial..You get 2 chapters of Radar Men from the Moon in this because Robot Monster is a short film
J. Elvis Weinstein gets to do the intro to Robot Monster & was pretty insightful and fun to hear what he had to say ..
# 423 BRIDE OF THE MONSTER - An Ed Wood classic. Bela once again plays a mad doctor trying to create a race of atomic supermen to take over the world. Along with his assistant Lobo - Tor Johnson - who was Lobo in the Unearthly as well as the Beast of Yucca of Flats
Another incompetent mess with super poor effects / editing and a very low budget. All sorts of bad editing including a rubber Octopus (leftover from a John Wayne film) blended with stock footage of a real Octopus swimming in a tank. Bela has a stunt double in this one - Eddie Parker - watch for this. You cant miss it.
This contains the short Hired ! Part One (Part 2 of Hired is the short on Manos the Hands of Fate) About a car salesman needing advice from his pop on how to get his salesmen to sell cars. And Joel & the Bots do a nice musical about it.
Another Wade Williams title & long over due for release - the transfer of this is just fantastic and should blow away any VHS copies..very well done
# 818 - DEVIL DOLL We jump to Mike during the sci-fi era in this film which in my opinion is not that bad. Bryant Haliday (the Projected Man) as a hypnotist/ventriloquist The Great Varelli - with his dummy Hugo performing acts on stage. Haliday uses his powers to control people, the dummy puppet to get what he wants.
Also in this is the lovely Yvonne Romain from Curse of the Werewolf.
This has some atmosphere and is for me a fun one to watch.
I own the Image DVD of this which has the uncut version - with some nudity.
This film is a feature length movie based on one of the short stories from the original 1945 classic Dead of Night (check this one out)
As an MST3K episode it is a lot of fun of course with segments that have to do with the movie. Mike Nelson as Hugo - Watch and see it to believe it. This is a solid episode during the scifi era.
# 911 - DEVIL FISH (aka Monster Shark) This monster/horror film has a Shark Octopus eating Italians who decide to swim where the monster is. This one is directed by Lamberto Bava (son of Mario) Lots of killing and what to do about the monster. There is a subplot in this film as well to keep things moving along between the monster attacks. This is your basic standard MST3K episode during the scifi era with Pearl, Bobo and Brain Guy torturing Mike, Crow and Servo from Castle Forester. It to me was a the surprise of this set.The riffs when the monster swims underwater are especially funny.
BONUS FEATURES :
* New introduction to Robot Monster by J. Elvis Weinstein
* Cult Filmmaker Larry Blamire Geeks Out on Robot Monster
* Citizen Wood: Making `The Bride,' Unmaking `The Legend'
* Inventing the "Invention Exchange" with Joel Hodgson
* The Puppet Master: Richard Gordon on Devil Doll
* MST3K: Origins and Beyond at CONvergence 2009
* Original Theatrical Trailers
* Exclusive Mini-posters by artist Steve Vance
* Collectible Gypsy figurine
Overall Shout has done great things for the releases of these episodes, and once again they are to be commended for their efforts. Good stuff and cant wait for more volumes

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