UPDATE: The official release date was yesterday, so…
Kyle Anderson at Nerdist.com has a review.
Adam Frazier at GeeksOfDoom.com has one too.
So does Jamil Scalese at PsychoDriveIn.com.
As does Matt Hinrichs at DVDTalk.com.
Did I miss any?
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UPDATE: Vol. 33 ReviewsInto the news desk first is our pal Bruce Westbrook.
47 Replies to “UPDATE: Vol. 33 Reviews”Commenting at Satellite News
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All content posted on Satellite News is copyright © 2024 by Chris Cornell and Brian Henry, except where otherwise noted. This Date in MSTory is written and compiled by Steve Finley, Chris Cornell and Brian Henry. Copyright © 2024 All rights reserved. Please do not reproduce This Date in MSTory items in any form without express written permission from the authors. Items of MST3K news may be duplicated or reposted, as long as Satellite News is cited as the source. The views and opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of Satellite of Love, LLC. No warranty is expressed or implied that the information given herein is completely accurate, and in fact this information can and will change at any time. So there. Mystery Science Theater 3000, its characters and situations are copyrights and trademarks of Satellite of Love, LLC. Banner image created by Larry Lee Moniz. |
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Great review! I watched the extras this weekend (haven’t re-watched the episodes yet) and enjoyed them all, especially the ones with Tommy Cook and Peter Mark Richman. Actors who enjoy their work, even when they know it’s gonna be bad.
The Outer Limits episode mentioned in the review is called “The Borderland” that Peter Mark Richman was in if anyone wants to check it out. It’s actually one of the better episodes the series has to offer. He is also in ” The Probe” but I don’t recommend that one.
3 utterly brilliant episodes, and this guy loves the bad one. Sigh.
There’s not a bad one in the bunch!
“But for me, much of these featurettes’ focus on who knew whom and where and made what is often a slow slog through the history heap. Not all details are interesting — they’re just details.”
I have to confess, that’s where I find myself with *some* of the extras that haven’t anything whatsoever to do (directly) with MST/BB, specifically.
Most of those old movies aren’t movies I grew up with, so resonance only goes so far given my only interest with them stems from their being selected by the BB gang for riffing in the show. I honestly couldn’t care any less about the personal lives, careers and assorted business dealings of most of those who were involved with the making of these lo-fi films aeons ago…they’re generally bad, dumb movies, hence conducive for poking fun at. Nothing more.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate Shout! for going the extra mile in wanting to provide customers with more bang for their buck, certainly …but MORE extras directly, specifically pertaining to MST personnel would prove far more interesting/entertaining…for me, anyway. I’ve no doubt there are fans who disagree.
Yep. One disagreement here.
A lot of the actors and behind the scenes people were in more than just that particular film. A lot of the MSTied movies are near and dear to my heart. Some aren’t. A lot aren’t. But, the people in (or that worked on) those bombs are also in (or worked on) many other movies I remember fondly. Or, have some other link that makes it special.
Peter Mark Richman, for instance, is in a lot of other stuff that I enjoyed over the years. And, while I’ve not seen a lot of Tommy Cook stuff, I learned that he was the original Little Beaver sidekick to Red Ryder. And who doesn’t think of Red Ryder fondly, especially the Red Ryder carbine-action, two hundred shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time.
Oh, sure – it’s all fun until you shoot your eye out!
I like some of the general background/info extras, although it’s nice if they include some mst3000 related comments. Some
of past ones end an interview with a brie fish comment on what the actor/actress thought of mst3000 treatment.
Many welcomes Francis for wheels of progress grind on, chase, bullets, murder, Flag on the moon…how did it get there? A bomb, more progress. Touch a button, something happens, Won’t You? :-P
Huh, so some people aren’t crazy about the Ballyhoo stuff. I like them, personally. They’re mostly short, and they give little pieces of info about the movies. I am not just watching MST3K for the jokes; I actually take an interest in these cheesy little movies and watching them in a way that’s fun. And the info on why and how they are made is just as fun. I kind of feel like MST3K has made me more knowledgeable in movies in that way. MST3K can be educational if you really think about it, and the Ballyhoo features help towards that end. So yeah, I think they’re kind of cool. :D
Greetings from Ballyhoo! I appreciate everyone’s comments and support. The reason I normally choose to explore the making of films themselves (vs the MST3K show) is because I believe the films being riffed are an essential part of MST. I have created several documentaries and featurette’s on the history of MST3K in the past. I feel that the history of series has been covered (mostly). I interview many of the cast and crew, but most of them cannot comment on the films riffed on the series. Sometimes they can barely remember the details of the episodes, themselves. I cannot blame them. So… Tackling the making THIS ISLAND EARTH or the life and times of Robert Lippert are good alternatives. Plus, Joel and the gang seem to like learning the “behind the scenes” story about the films they riffed so long ago.
Recently, I decided to increase the amount of featurette’s on these sets, especially those exploring the making of the films. The upcoming July set (and certainly the Holiday set this year) will be good examples of this. But I am interested in where you stand, as fans of the series. Would you rather have bonus material directly related to the series… even though the content may not be as substantial?
And I would love to interview more actors and directors involved with the films being riffed, but it is not as easy as it sounds. Sometimes their health is an issue. Often they are uninterested in being interviewed. Even more often… they cannot remember anything about the film. But I do try. :)
Overall, I prefer bonus material directly related to the series. But I do like those exploring the making of the films I happen to be interested in (or a creative person I’m interested in). For example, I find The Black Scorpion completely watchable on it’s own, as well as most of the other giant-bugs-on-a-rampage movies, so featurettes on those interest me. I also like any info I can get on Ed Wood. So I guess I’m OK with getting a bunch of featurettes I don’t care about as long as I get ones I do care about every so often. Your Stinger of Death: Making The Black Scorpion featurette makes a nice companion piece to my Black Scorpion DVD, which BTW has a nice set of extras of it’s own too.
Personally, I like this approach. We’re all pretty familiar with the history and making of MST3K at this point, so I wouldn’t find more discussion of the same to be as interesting as an exploration of the films themselves. It’s important to remember that these films had a life of their own long before MST3K ever touched them, and I’m always interested in learning more about them. I’ve often come away from your featurettes with a new appreciation of the films and the filmmakers: even though I can see the flaws in their work, I can still respect what they tried to do. I find that this extra familiarity adds to my enjoyment of the MST3K treatments of the films, because I feel as if I understand them better.
Related to the series or related to the films themselves doesn’t matter much to me as long as the material is informative and, as you say, substantial. As I said before, what’s important to me is that I learn something interesting from it, and you guys are already pretty good at that. If I had to state a preference though, it’d be towards being related to the films just because I think there’s less that we know about the films and more appreciation for what goes into them that can be gained. We know a lot about the show already. But that’s just how I lean. :)
I think the Movie documentaries are important because there’s no one documenting them. I don’t think there’s ever been any kind of informative piece about guys like Sandy Frank or Robert Lippert. As much as some misties think these guys are irrelevant, they’re not. If it weren’t for them, MST wouldn’t exist. All movies deserve their time in the sun.
Although I buy the DVDs for the episodes, I find I get a huge amount of enjoyment from the extras. The behind the scenes stuff on the movies being riffed, or on the people behind those movies, or with the stars of those movies, are an absolute joy to watch. Of course, extras related to MST3K are great. So, in summary, keep doing what you’re doing. And if you have any other ideas about stuff, I’m sure it’ll be great. I’m thrilled with what you’ve provided to us.
Personally, I like finding out more about the movies. If there’s an extra I’m not interested in, it’s easy to skip over it on a DVD.
This may get me into trouble around here, but …
Since I already have the MST eps, the Ballyhoo docs are the make-or-break on whether I purchase the DVD sets. Personally, I think they’re terrific. Films and filmmakers get their due from Ballyhoo (instant marketing slogan! feel free to use) when no one else seems to care about them. Robert Lippert, Sandy Frank, Rondo Hatton (especially) finally get their deserved time in the limelight. And the making ofs (makings of?) for GORGO and THIS ISLAND EARTH were superlative.
If anyone’s keeping score, my vote is for more (and more in-depth) Ballyhoo docs..
I met Daniel Griffith of Ballyhoo at Monster Bash in 2013. He had a Tom Servo replica at his booth that looked fantastic, which drew me over and we had a conversation.
He is a very nice man and personally, I enjoy his films very much. He premiered the Ballyhoo doc on “This Island Earth” and the doc was uncut, unlike (unfortunately) on the later home video release.
As an old-time film buff, I look forward to his extras, even though the films themselves are pretty bad. I would prefer more info and interviews from the MST3K staff for extras, but as mentioned previously, most of that has been mined already.
I say please keep the Ballyhoo film extras coming. Also, someone get the lead out and release “This Is MST3K” as an extra on a set already! Also, the missed MST3K wraps and the Film title cards that weren’t on the respective DVD’s.
I love it all, keep those extras coming!
I find it astoundingly ridiculous and in very poor form that anyone is complaining about the wonderful bonus material on the Shout sets.
Such narrow mindedness is often the catalyst that drives me away from forums. I mean, I can only take so much abuse if I am not allowed to respond in an honest manner.
ANY reviewer’s opinion that said such finely tuned extras are often a “slow slog through history” is not worth reading. Such REVIEWS are a slog through empty shallow worthless self important opinionated crap o fests!
The reviewer doesn’t “get it.” Just like George Noory never did.
But unlike this “nice” site, on a well known other site that gets MUCH more traffic, if one complained (already! they have!) about the newly re-launched Art Bell Show after just two shows out, I can easily and cleverly dissect, deconstruct, and dismiss such ignorant “true Art Bell fans” without reprimand.
But this is not that kind of site. I get it.
Can’t believe I have to point this out, how bad it makes “you fans” look… All this professional hard work on the bonus material… so that we can have more than just the episodes…
If your complaining about such a thing constitutes a “true fan” then I’d by God like to see what a “non fan” looks like.
It sounds like some of those worthless reviews on Amazon that criticize every boxed set released.
OH, and the people complaining. I suppose they are the more ~elevated~ fans? Hmmmm? Who believe they can distinguish Joel’s writing from Mike’s writing from all the others’ writing… and argue over which episodes are “throw aways” etc…
You cannot even BEGIN to traffick in what I contemplate, so what makes YOU so gosh dang “special”?
If there were NO bonuses – because all the MST3K trivia has been covered to bleeding death, and it has been – then everyone would complain about THAT!!!
God FORBID some Turkey Day bumper or some such is overlooked! Or if “turn down your lights” slot, or MST3K hour intros are left out… The planet will collapse if a stinger is left off….
But then to so easily DISMISS these extras!!!!!!!!!!
Boy, your mother really did a number on YOU!
This is where we part ways…
I advise you to avoid the not so clever retort of admonishing me to not allow the door to hit me on the ass on my way out. I’ve already metaphorically blown it off its hinges in my mind and will not hesitate to DoS the server until it is dried fish food… Or do some of you peripheral script kitties fancy yourselves “black hats” and wish to argue the point?
(vomit)
Christ, people! Critics.
If I were Shout, I would DISCONTINUE it ALL just to spite your pathetic low brow mewling.
(shaking head)
Shout! gets it.
YOU detractors however are OBLIVIOUS. Doing whatever YOU CAN to hinder DVD sales, while trying to make yourselves sound “important.”
CHRIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don’t have any use for the extras… they aren’t in my wheelhouse…. I’m a special mystie… my feelers are hurt hurt hurt blah blah blah blah BLAHMIT VOMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I FORMALLY APOLOGIZE TO DANIEL GRIFFITH for all this horse manure whining!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go AHEAD and gang up on my comment. I expect NOTHING LESS from the HERD. Go ahead and DELETE it… I’ll just post it somewhere else and tell them what happened and WHERE it happened and then you can deal with THAT fallout.
See ya, you picky, whining, complaining, overly spoiled, “Mysties.”
I can’t believe I ever wasted time here.
You are dead to me.
Sounds like someone needs to up their dosage of psych meds.
Either that or lay off whatever other “meds” they may be taking….
Latest review posted for MST Volume 33: http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/68290/mystery-science-theater-3000-xxxiii/
“No spiders were squished, stepped on, flushed, or made to suffer any emotional distress during the making of this film. One spider did die of old age; we have two letters from doctors confirming this.”
I skipped many of the early Rhino boxes specifically because they didn’t have any extras, and I fooolishly thought they would be easy to find later. I changed my tune, especially after vol.10 recall debacle, and buy every tining I can get my hands on.
The extras are always welcome, and I can only think of maybe a couple clunkers (The Chiyodo Brothers and that snooze of a Sandy Frank interview) in the entire Shout! output. Ballyhoo does a wonderful job, and in most cases I’d love if the mini docs and interviews about the origial films were even longer. Like any good Mistie, I prefer as much new content as possible from the Brains themselves, but the historical background pieces are good added value to sets that really don’t need much razzle dazzle to sell me.
Obviously I’m excited that Shout! is re-doing some to the harder to find Rhino sets, and the bonuses are just extra marshamallow fluff and ram chips on top of the delcious waffles.
I can’t complain about any of the extras. They are extras, after all. For me, it’s fun to see behind-the-scenes stuff regarding both MST3K and the movies and Ballyhoo does an awesome job. I’ve even purchased a few of the MST3K films in non-MST3K’d form that include Ballyhoo content. I’m currently waiting for the new Blu-ray of The Giant Spider Invasion to be shipped (look it up–it includes a Mike and Kevin intro and a bunch of other fun stuff).
Getting back to Shout’s MST3K releases: One thing that is missing (if I remember right) is a doc on Jim Mallon. Perhaps he has declined to participate. Perhaps Daniel Griffith could address this?
I love the featurettes regarding the movies. Keep ’em coming!
I’m not sure how many making-of subjects are left to be covered regarding MST3K’s production. If you or the creators can think of new ones to cover, by all means please do so. Otherwise, I welcome 1) MST Hour bumpers, 2) any other broadcast MST3K clips beyond the episodes themselves, and 3) movie-production featurettes. In that order.
Thanks for all your hard work on these!
Those, and the Summer/Oscar movie clip review specials.
I particularly liked the “Black Scorpion” featurette and the “Moon Zero Two”/Hammer Films one. Very nice/interesting/entertaining.
Dear Daniel Griffith and Ballyhoo Pictures,
Keep doing what you’re doing! Frankly, I am of the mindset that will buy whatever MST set comes out with new episodes. The docs have been a wonderful bonus! I’ve even gone after some other non-MST related movies on DVD or Blu-ray because of Ballyhoo’s documentaries. They are definitely a selling point.
I guess I don’t understand those that would complain about things like this. They are entitled to their opinions and no one is forcing them to buy these sets, but I don’t understand why some would have an issue with the documentaries. I always am glad to hear Tom Weaver on these things along with the other critics and stars, if available, so I say bring it on!
If I have only one complaint, it is having some documentaries that are too short! But that is trivial and I can manage to get along with my fanboy life regardless.
Keep up the wonderful work!
Mr. Griffith and Ballyhoo: I love the Ballyhoo stuff. I don’t think there’s any need for the documentaries to be longer; the films aren’t Citizen Kane, and for the most part brevity makes them more enjoyable. Obviously, if you do something like a Roger Corman retrospective or a piece on Godzilla movies for a holiday set, you might make that longer, because there’d be a lot more interesting material to cover. And the interviews with the actors, when you can get them, are universally fun — usually my favorite extras.
It’s probably because those people understand that nobody works for free, and that they are in fact paying for the documentaries. As the indirect funders of this material, they have every right to complain if they don’t like them. Yes, they are free to not buy the sets, but then they have the unpleasant choice to either forego buying episodes of their favorite show, or pay for extras they don’t care about and possibly can’t afford. We don’t know how much extra cost the “bonus material” adds to each set; it could be only a dollar or two, or it could be ten dollars or more. The sets are pretty expensive, and I’m now paying an average of $10 more per set than I used to in the Rhino days. Some people will have to struggle to justify paying that much more in the current economic climate, and I think they have every right to complain. Please understand, I’m not complaining as I do enjoy most of the bonus material and I am fortunate enough not to have to worry too much about the few extra dollars right now, but I completely understand those who do complain. If Shout! starts making MGM musical-style productions for bonus features and doubles the price of the sets, then I’ll complain (and I bet a lot of other people would too). I am grateful to Mr. Griffith for asking his customers’ opinions on what type of bonus material to include; the big studios don’t usually bother to do that (and I don’t usually bother to buy their products anymore).
I wholeheartedly agree! Longer pieces for the more famous series or directors/producers/actors, short and sweet for the rest.
Hey – if Ballyhoo ever runs short of extra material, have you considered re-releasing riffed versions of the older documentaries?
Good set of reviews this time. It’s Sampo’s Theorem in full effect. Any one else out there enjoy reading the new reviews every few months?
Never forget that the films are the core of the show. I love the bonus material. I love learning more about the very films I adore. No matter how poor the results are in making a film, the film makers really tried hard to make a good film. That alone is worthy of putting a spot light on those who deserve the attention. Keep up the good work Ballyhoo.
I love reading the reviews, especially when Sampo’s Theorem is “in full effect.” I love the 50’s genre movies the best, and was eagerly awaiting this set especially for Daddy-O and Teen-age Crime Wave (top 10% episodes for me), and Earth vs. the Spider (a solid effort, of which I have a fairly mediocre old VHS recording). H.A.R.M.? I’ve never been able to make it past the first 1/4 of the episode.
But then there’s this guy:
Clearly he comes from another planet… than mine. But with such a recommendation, maybe I’ll give H.A.R.M. another consideration. Usually my impression is unchanged, but every once and a while (Fugitive Alien 1/2, Jack Frost) I discover a new gem.
OK, so you don’t like “details and who knew who and what happened when and where” on how a movie was made? Uh, that’s what behind the scenes features for movies are all about. I enjoy Westbrook’s reviews generally but what an odd complaint. Since when are DVD special features always 100% completely specific to the subject? The Ballyhoo mini documentaries are often one of the first things I watch whenever I get a new set before I tear into the episodes because they offer additional insight into the history, origin and production of the movies which definitely isn’t simply informative in some kind of bland, tedious “more details” generic brush that Westbrook uses to refer to them. This information often helps to understand why a given movie was so bad as in some cases, key elements that were riffed were a result of sometimes stressful or even tragic things going on behind the scenes that we didn’t know about until now. The Bruce Westbrook take on the Ballyhoo features also leaves a bad taste in my mouth because he made a similarly worded and some felt rather rude complaint in 2012 regarding Josh’s interview on Volume XXV:
““Also on the disc is a Life After MST3K with original cast member J. Elvis Weinstein — a rather lengthy (at 18 minutes) survey of his life after moving to LA to write for TV. I say lengthy because it was hard for me to maintain interest in all the company-town talk and name-dropping details.”
Frank even jumped in to comment on this (reply #5):
https://www.mst3kinfo.com/?p=14086
Anyways, just sayin.’ Really enjoy the Ballyhoo features (keep them as they are, obviously not everything can be MST3K specific) and still really enjoy Bruce’s reviews.
One more thing about the extras, if Mr. Griffith is still listening in to this thread – please keep the fantastic menus coming and don’t skimp on them. It’s the only “new” MST skits we get now, and I love them.
The new puppet-based, non-CGI menus are truly wonderful. I love the Spider!
I like both the CGI and the newer puppet-based ones. The only ones I didn’t particularly care for were the flat, 2-D animated looking ones (I forget which episodes they used those on, was it the set with Gorgo?).
Here’s another upvote for Mr. Griffith and his ongoing work. The little docs included contain juuuuuuust enough info to keep my interest and are often the best parts of the sets.
Keep ’em going, for sure.
The extra I have wanted most of all has been one that delves into the creation of the original music for MST3K, and maybe even the sound design. Did they have an extra about the various versions of the theme song? Maybe it was for the opening credits?
Most of all I am interested in the music Mike made for the show. What did he use, what is his studio like, etc.
I talked to Ballyhoo once and I think they said Mike is not super into doing stuff like this.
In the on set footage of the show did they ever show them at a recording studio recording original music for the show? Since they did most things themselves, they may have recorded everything at Best Brains and not used an outside recording studio.
For Mike to have recorded so much music, I think it is odd that I have never heard him talk about recording music at all.
Is there any chance that some of the MST alumni could be persuaded to record riffs for the trailers of the movies? I think riffed trailers would be great bonus features.
Daniel:
I’ll take ANYTHING you guys decide to include – I love it ALL!
Many thanks to you and Ballyhoo for all of the wonderful work!
Thanks for the wonderful comments everyone! I am currently hard at work on a massive documentary for the next set. Regarding a feature on Mallon: I think that would be great, but I did try to incorporate his background into the “RETURN TO EDEN PRAIRIE” documentary, as well as the making of the MST3K movie. I’m not sure if he would sit down again for something more exclusive. However, I did film a lot of material with him. To be honest, I filmed enough material for a 4 hour documentary on the history of MST. Maybe that will happen in the future. Hopefully, the not too distant future.
Hey, did anyone else notice that there’s no stinger at the end of Agent for HARM? Or is it my DVD player?