All Rise...

Judge Erich Asperschlager is the Impish Officer of Death.

Editor's Note

Our reviews of Mystery Science Theater 3000 Volume XXXI: The Turkey Day Collection (published December 3rd, 2014), Mystery Science Theater 3000: 25th Anniversary Edition (published November 26th, 2013), Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XIV (published February 18th, 2009), Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XIX (published November 9th, 2010), Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XV (published July 3rd, 2009), Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XVI (published November 27th, 2009), Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XVII (published February 22nd, 2010), Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XVIII (published July 1st, 2010), Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XX (published March 3rd, 2011), Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXI, MST3K vs. Gamera (published July 25th, 2011), Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXII (published November 24th, 2011), Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXIII (published March 16th, 2012), Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXIV (published July 17th, 2012), Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXIX (published March 14th, 2014), Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXV (published December 5th, 2012), Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXVI (published April 1st, 2013), Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXVII (published July 18th, 2013), and Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXX (published July 29th, 2014) are also available.

The Charge

"I think this is the restored second unit director's cut."

The Case

Shout! Factory's latest Mystery Science Theater 3000 set looks back to the show's last few years on Comedy Central—a formative time for a young MSTie like myself—with four great episodes that have one thing in common: RADAR.

Fourth season opener Space Travelers was called Marooned when it won the special effects Oscar in 1969. By the time it made its way to MST3K it had been sold, renamed, sliced, and sandwiched between cut-rate credit sequences as a Film Ventures International release. The episode stands out among the usual dreck because the movie is pretty good. Directed by James Sturges, it stars Gene Hackman, Richard Crenna, and James Franciscus as astronauts stranded in space, and Gregory Peck as the mission control head who has to find a nice way to tell them they are screwed. It's slow-moving, sure, but with solid dramatic moments and some fine performances. In some ways, it prefigures the big-budget blockbuster riffing that has become RiffTrax' bread and butter. Whether or not Space Travelers is ripe for the MST treatment, it's a funny episode, with Joel and the bots taking aim at the pacing almost as often as proclaiming how good Gene Hackman is in everything. Elsewhere, the Great Crowdini performs a death-defying stunt, Joel invents the "Dollaroid" instant money camera, and Crow does a killer Gregory Peck.

Next up, Season Five's Hercules, which is a little confusing since MST3K had done several movies starring the Greek demigod before this one. Steve Reeves is all kinds of beefy and there's a surprising amount of variety in the film, which bops around from the Nemean Lion, to the Amazon warriors, to Jason and the Golden Fleece. Mystery Science Theater 3000 might be best known for riffing sci-fi and monster movies, but some of their finest work fits into the categories of fantasy and mythology. Hercules is a classic, though the best moment in the episode isn't in the theater. That would be Crow's one-man Match Game show "Give 'Em Hell, Blank!" with Trace Beaulieu pulling septuple comedic duty as host Gene Rayburn and guest panelists including Charles Nelson Reilly, Brett Somers, and Betty White.

The end of the fifth season gave us Radar Secret Service, with short The Last Clear Chance. The opener mixes small town sensibilities with graphic descriptions of traffic accidents as the local sheriff interrupts a family dinner to warn their teenage son against dangerous driving habits. He doesn't listen. They never do. The feature film is one of the duller MST selections, but what almost makes up for the cheesy '50s espionage plot is the central idea that everything in this movie is improved by the use of radar. Driving? RADAR! Police work? RADAR! Locating evil spies and/or schools of ocean fish? RADAR! Helping the kids with their homework? RADAR…probably! This movie makes such a compelling case for Radar as the solution to all of life's problems I can only assume the modern-day political, economic, and racial tensions that threaten to tear our country apart are the result of not investing enough in Radar when we had the chance. We didn't listen. We never do.

Last up, Season Six's San Francisco International—a '70s TV pilot (get it?) that barely got off the ground (see previous parenthetical). The film features such luminaries as Tab Hunter, Clu Galager, and Pernell Roberts. Even with the inclusion of a heist, kidnapping, intrigue, and mid-air drama involving a runaway child of divorce, it still manages to leave wide runways of space for detailed depictions of the minutiae of airport operations. To give you an idea of just how exciting the movie is, a major moment of drama hinges on waiting for the arrival of a Postal Inspector. Most of the episode's out-of-theater shenanigans have to do with everyone loving Mike's spot-on impression of TV's Urkel, a bit that spills over into several host segments and features the return of characters including Pitch, Santa Claus, Jan in the Pan, Nuveena, and Torgo.

The Full Frame, 2.0 Stereo presentation of the episodes may have plateaued on these Shout! sets (there's only so much you can do with '90s basic-cable video), but it's impressive to see how far Dave Long's animated menus have come. Crow, Tom, and their episode-specific "guests" get more lifelike and entertaining with each incarnation. They almost count as bonus features themselves. Speaking of which, Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXXII includes the following extras…

• "Space Travelers: Intro by Frank Conniff" (3:51): In this first of three intros by the artist formerly known as "TV's," Frank admits to having conflicted feelings about riffing this star-studded film, and still isn't sure why it showed up in the package of crappy movies he sifted through for the show.

• "Marooned: A Forgotten Odyssey" (6:46): This featurette tells the story of John Sturges' overlooked film, adapted from a novel that was itself rewritten by its author to be a movie tie-in. Despite it being a moderate hit with big name actors and an Oscar in its pocket, Marooned was immediately discarded by the studio and handed off to Film Venture International. Does it deserve the MST treatment? Quote the interview subject: "I don't think so."

• Marooned Theatrical Trailer (2:24)

• "Hercules: Intro by Frank Conniff" (3:02): Conniff muses on the film as a departure for the show, with its relatively big budget and varied locations. He credits its inclusion in part to his own childhood memories of watching dubbed films like it on TV.

• "Barnum of Baltimore: The Early Films of Joseph E. Levine" (7:23): A profile of Hercules' producer, whose career included bringing Godzilla to the States (with Raymond Burr in tow), producing Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, and financing The Graduate. Yes, THAT The Graduate.

• Hercules Theatrical Trailer (2:16)

• "Radar Secret Service: Intro by Frank Conniff" (3:37): The big story here is that the film was originally considered for Season Two, but despite enthusiasm from everyone on the show, they couldn't get the rights. When they were eventually given the rights for Season Five, they re-screened the movie and realized how dull it really was.

• "MST-UK with Trace & Frank" (19:51): This homemade travelogue follows Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff on their crowd-funded trip to the Sci-Fi London convention.

• "Sampo Speaks! A Brief History of Satellite News" (7:28): This interview with the creator of the unofficial official MST site (mst3kinfo.com) is a celebration of fan love that boosted the series and kept it alive even past cancellation. Chris "Sampo" Cornell stumbled onto the show as a kid in Philadelphia and spun his obsession into a FAQ-turned-AOL website-turned-fanzine-turned the premiere MST3K resource on the Internet today.

• Lobby Cards

I feel like I say it every time, but it's getting harder to review these Mystery Science Theater 3000 sets. They feel less like standalone releases and more like continuing chapters in what will one day be the complete series set fans deserve. Shout! Factory's continued excellence in curation and production of bonus features is easy to take for granted. They do it so well, so often. It's a consistency and high quality akin to the very best fast food, like a Tokyo McDonalds. MST3K: Volume XXXII has four classic episodes, a fun grouping of bonus features, and the promise of more to come.

The Verdict

"Hackman is always good." So are these MST3K sets. Not Guilty!

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