Mystery Science Theater 3000: 25th Anniversary Edition

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (the cult send-up series of le bad cinema that premiered in 1988 on KTMA-TV in Minneapolis), this set is essentially like earlier volumes—here, featuring four episodes from 1990–98—but it's released in a special tin box. As usual, the put-upon host and his robot pals stuck on a space station crack wise about the awful movies that they are forced to watch. The first gem/dud in this quartet is Moon Zero Two (1969), a dreary “space western” from director Roy Ward Baker that represented an unwise Hammer venture into science fiction, and the last is Eugène Lourié's Gorgo (1961), a British mash-up of Godzilla and King Kong that is not absolutely terrible. Sandwiched between these are filmmaker Aleksandr Ptushko's The Day the Earth Froze, a dubbed and butchered 1959 English version of a Russian-Finnish fantasy film titled Sampo (which might have been intriguing in its original state but is now incoherent), and The Leech Woman (1960), a Hollywood cheapie directed by Edward Dein about a woman who is injected with a youth-restoring serum that turns her into a killer. Throughout, the show's stars offer their customary running commentary of hit-and-miss juvenile jibes. Increasing this set's value is a bonus disc with two consecutive 1993 episodes, both long out of print: Mitchell (1975), a slapdash cop movie with Joe Don Baker as a sloppy Dirty Harry, and The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962), in which a scientist tries to graft his decapitated fiancée's head onto another body. This pairing is of special interest because they represent the hand-off of hosting duties from Joel Hodgson to Michael J. Nelson. Other extras include a documentary on the history of MST3K, interviews, and a featurette on Hodgson's departure. Fans can rest assured that this release more than upholds the high standards of earlier entries. Recommended. (F. Swietek)