The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 1

Director: Joel Hodgson, Mike Nelson
Studio: Rhino / Wea
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
This four-disc set, bundled together in an appropriately cheesy but charming package that sports pop-up-book-styled artwork, compiles four episodes of the Peabody Award-winning comedy series. The "experiments" in question (Bloodlust, Catalina Caper, The Creeping Terror, and The Skydivers) aren't necessarily MST3K's finest hours--they don't hold a candle to the show's takes on The Magic Sword, The Atomic Brain, and The Brain That Wouldn't Die. But the barrage of verbal zingers and pop-culture references slung by hosts Joel Hodgson and Mike Nelson and their puppet pals Crow and Tom Servo are still quite funny, and should please both longtime fans and science fiction aficionados who don't take too much umbrage at having their beloved movies heckled.

The Collection is decidedly Mike-centric, with The Creeping Terror, Bloodlust, and The Skydivers all culled from his reign during the sixth season. Series creator Joel Hodgson's participation is relegated to season 2's Catalina Caper, a fan favorite that at one time was pulled from circulation over rights issues. As with most of Rhino's MST3K DVDs, each disc is dual-sided, with one side devoted to the original, uncut version of each film, and the other given over to the "MSTied" version. Theatrical trailers for each movie round out the remainder of the supplemental features. Given the size of this presentation, it might have been interesting to include some interviews with the show's writers and performers (Comedy Central once ran a passable special about the series), but fans will still appreciate having these four episodes together, each providing a wealth of laugh-out-loud moments. --Paul Gaita

The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 1
Average customer rating:

Six Months and Still Waiting

Good one, but not the best set...

You Gotta Be Kidding Me....

Funny, Witty and just a bit (the good kind of ) Stupid!

One of the funniest shows on TV

The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 1
Starring: Mike Nelson
Director: Joel Hodgson
Manufacturer: Rhino Theatrical
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 2

The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 3

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 4

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 5

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection - The Essentials

ASIN: B00006RJCL
Release Date: 2002-11-12

Amazon.com

This four-disc set, bundled together in an appropriately cheesy but charming package that sports pop-up-book-styled artwork, compiles four episodes of the Peabody Award-winning comedy series. The "experiments" in question (Bloodlust, Catalina Caper, The Creeping Terror, and The Skydivers) aren't necessarily MST3K's finest hours--they don't hold a candle to the show's takes on The Magic Sword, The Atomic Brain, and The Brain That Wouldn't Die. But the barrage of verbal zingers and pop-culture references slung by hosts Joel Hodgson and Mike Nelson and their puppet pals Crow and Tom Servo are still quite funny, and should please both longtime fans and science fiction aficionados who don't take too much umbrage at having their beloved movies heckled.

The Collection is decidedly Mike-centric, with The Creeping Terror, Bloodlust, and The Skydivers all culled from his reign during the sixth season. Series creator Joel Hodgson's participation is relegated to season 2's Catalina Caper, a fan favorite that at one time was pulled from circulation over rights issues. As with most of Rhino's MST3K DVDs, each disc is dual-sided, with one side devoted to the original, uncut version of each film, and the other given over to the "MSTied" version. Theatrical trailers for each movie round out the remainder of the supplemental features. Given the size of this presentation, it might have been interesting to include some interviews with the show's writers and performers (Comedy Central once ran a passable special about the series), but fans will still appreciate having these four episodes together, each providing a wealth of laugh-out-loud moments. --Paul Gaita

Customer Reviews:

Six Months and Still Waiting.......2007-05-28

Have fun waiting to order this DVD. I ordered this back in January of 2007, and still have not received this DVD.

Good one, but not the best set..........2007-03-26

MST3K Volume 1 features three episodes with Mike Nelson and one with the show's creator Joel Hodgson. Three of these are funny while one is pretty lousy.

-The Skydivers: Not very clear what this one is totally about, but there's a couple trying to keep their marriage together, even though they both cheated also there's plenty of skydiving footage, some dancing and a lot of bad dialogue. Good lines throughout this one, like Mike's "Did the actors do their own skydiving?" followed by Crow's "No, the skydivers did their own acting", near the end when one guy is chasing the villains and driving fairly cautiously Mike pops "Whether chasing or being chased, remember drive defensively" and finally Mike's comment on the lack of action "Seems like they forgot to have things happen in this movie". Great comments on the bad acting too as well as the horrible editing, like Crow's shot at a bad jump cut, "Someone with attention deficit disorder edited this movie" and Servo's quip about a skydiver falling way too fast out of the plane, "Geez, the last 2000 feet are the quickest". Great episode overall, 10/10.

-The Creeping Terror: Some monster crash lands on earth, starts eating people and grows, but is nice enough to let the people he eats help him move along, as it's obvious that's what's happening. There's also a sherriff, his wife and his best friend trying to find the monster with the help of a proffesor of sorts and a branch of the military (seems like it's a broken branch, though). Loved the lines, "Did anyone in the 50's ever think of running?" as characters just stand there and let the monster eat them basically, when the monster tries to eat a couple of people in a car with the roof down, it looks like he's doing something well, nasty with the car, Mike's "Well you see when a monster and a small car love each other very much" and when the momster's done Servo says "Well, that was a new twist on an old trick huh", when the main guy tries to smash some spacship technology with the butt of a gun Mike comments "Hey, there are bullets in the other end of that thing". Loved this episode, so absurd and badly done, 10/10.

-Bloodlust-This one has Robert Reed (The Dad from "The Brady Bunch") and three other teens/20 somethings finding an island that houses a man who likes to hunt things including people for sport. The comments about Reed holding his gut in are funny, especially Crow's "Man, his shirt's so tight you can see his liver". Other funny lines include when a drunk man sees the four people Mike quips "All eight of 'em?" in a drunk voice, when two of the teens? are exploring the mansion one of the henchmen comes into the room their hiding not very well in and as he's about to leave he turns around and Crow says "When did I have teenagers installed?", my favorite is at the end when the villain gets his throat and hands pierced against spikes on a wall Servo says "Why this symbolism, did Christ hunt people on deserted islands?". There are some dead spots in the film and in the quips, but this is a funny episode, just not as good as other ones they've done, 8/10.

-Catalina Caper-Weird and pretty unfunny one here, something about a painting being stolen and some beach boys and girls try to find out who dunnit, I think. Not a lot of memorable lines here, but that's largely because the movie itself is a really bad comedy and Joel and the bots can only do so much. Skip this one unless you've seen other Joel episodes as this shouldn't be your first or even second or third introduction to him. 3/10.

The extras include the original un-cut movies, but trying to sit through them with the commentary is hard enough, if you try to pay attention to the film itself that is. Also there are original trailers for every movie, but "The Creeping Terror".

Good set overall, just skip "Catalina Caper" again unless you've seen other Joel episodes beforehand. 8/10.

You Gotta Be Kidding Me...........2006-11-13

I have got to agree with Jerika (Why did he get 4 not helpful votes?) 10.00+ per episode is way overpriced. I predict this will be re-released someday in a lower priced set or the off the air sellers will continue to have a field day selling the non Rhino complete sets (seasons 0-10) for $90.00. I guess its good that its out so you could rent it through Netflix, but collectors unless pretty well off, will probably pass at this price point. Hey I love the show, 5 stars for material, but 1 star for not being a complete season and for twice the price of the going rate for a complete season TV show on DVD now.

Funny, Witty and just a bit (the good kind of ) Stupid!.......2006-08-07

This is a classic show! I used to watch these as a kid on the SciFi channel and they are just as funny now that I am an adult! The characters are great, and you will think that they made the movies up because they are just that bad... The best part about this, is that when my sister-in-law was a kid and these were on TV, she saw her favorite movie as the subject of one of them. I wont reveal which movie, but it is pretty funny when you recognise one of these!

One of the funniest shows on TV.......2006-07-15

MST appealed to pretty much all levels of humor and thought. Brilliant concept, brilliantly (but cheesily) executed. The cheese was part of its charm. In college I used to stay up til 1:00 to record the episodes on Comedy Central and cut out the commercials. The one and only thing holding me back from buying this box set (and others) is the PRICE!!!!!! Fifty bucks for four stinkin' films that everyone knows are not that great to begin with? And no extras, no interviews, no nothin' but 4 movies they did a long time ago? You can't convince me they had to pay that much for the rights to Catalina Caper, or any of these other stinkburgers. It may just be that the boys are trying to profit as much as they can, since the series is no more (many of them left it early to puruse individual careers, and were never heard from again--the medical term for this is the M*A*S*H Syndrome, btw). Still, greed is a poor motivator, and it's alienating die-hard MSTies in the fan base, like me. No pun intended.

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