Mystery Science Theater 3000: XXX

This set from the titular cult TV show doesn't make much of its 30th volume milestone—simply presenting a quartet of MST3K episodes—but it will definitely be appreciated by fans, not least because the lampooned films are all sci-fi/fantasy entries (some compilations have strayed into other genres). Only one film is hosted by series creator Joel Hodgson; the other three feature Mike Nelson, and all follow the familiar format of a man and his robot sidekicks stuck in a space station, forced to watch B-movies that provide endless fodder for their wisecracks. The Hodgson-hosted 1957 giant-arachnid movie The Black Scorpion, directed by Edward Ludwig, serves as the cue for a boatload of seafood jokes. The U.K.'s 1967 The Projected Man, from filmmaker Ian Curteis, is a flaccid yarn about a scientist who is turned into a mutilated, electrified maniac by a transporter malfunction (even when things are happening, says one of the robots, nothing seems to be happening). It Lives By Night (aka The Bat People), a 1974 film directed by Jerry Jameson, brings out plenty of DC Comics–worthy puns, as a doctor bitten by a bat becomes a sort of were-bat. Perhaps of most interest to bibliophiles is the otherwise undistinguished 1988 beefcake heroic fantasy Outlaw of Gor, from director John “Bud” Cardos, based on the long-running fantasy series by pseudonymous author John Norman. DVD extras include bonus featurettes on the films. Highly recommended. (C. Cassady)