HTF REVIEW: Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Essentials (1 Viewer)

[Jason-D]

I received the Essentials DVD with the bonus Shorts Vol. 3 disc in the mail today. Each of the featured films is on a seperate disc. There is a box insert with chapter indexes for the films on opposite sides. The hubs that hold the discs in the box are a bit tricky and it took some care to remove a movie without damaging the disc. The Shorts disc was loose inside the box, inside an envelope, but was undamaged. Manos is labelled as Disc A, SCCTM as Disc B and Shorts 3 as Disc C.

 

[Chucky P]

I got mine last Tuesday and the bonus disc had some scratches on it and there was an audio pop and some pixels for a second on the "Designed For Dreaming" short but since it happens in between jokes and I got the disc for free it's not a big deal.

 

[Kevin M]

It's a double Scanavo case Much Like This only without the center clips to hold the insert and I personally had no problem getting the discs off the hubs at all.

I am giving the Manos disc to a friend as a gift as I already have it and will use the second hub for the Shorts Vol.3 disc.

There was an audio pop at the time that Chucky P mentioned but I didn't have any pixels and as I recall the VHS version also had this pop so it is likely from the source tape and not the DVD itself....but I have been wrong before.

 

[JeremySt]

I agree with Adam 100% The bad quality of the movies they watch is all part of the show. Jump cuts, panning and scanning, audio drop outs, and poor image quality are all part of the MST3K crews fodder for jokes. If Rhino or whoever did "clean up" the prints, it would ruin the show.

 

[GeorgePaul]

Agreed. With a print cleanup, this SCCTM classic Crow riff would make NO sense at all:

Fake news announcer: "This, on a day, when many things appear to be disappearing into thin air."

Crow: "Including a few frames of the film."

 

[Kevin Parrott]

How long did it take everyone to receive the MST3K three-pack? I ordered mine a little over two weeks ago.

 

[Patrick McCart]

I recieved my 3-disc Essentials last Tuesday (August 24th).

"Santa" was probably the funniest episode I've seen. Also, the 3rd Shorts disc was worth an extra 10 bucks. I was laughing so hard during Once Upon a Honeymoon and Speech: Using Your Voice.

Plenty of lip and tongue action.

 

[Kevin M]

I received mine on the 24th as well......look, a dead racoon of tomorrow.

 

[Jason Borchers]

.

 

[Dane Marvin]

I had not seen the "Poopie" reel until I bought this the other day (never owned the original Manos DVD). It is freakin' hilarious. Great bonus feature.

 

[Ray_Gootz]

Santa Claus conquers the Martians is on the 50-sci-fi movie pack form Treeline. Fans of cheesy sci-fi films should pick it up. It looks preety good. I enjoyed the movie uncut without the bots. It has a goofy un-pretencious charm that most of these 50's and 60's sci-fi flicks don't.

 

[Kevin Parrott]

Just got mine today, and watched the bonus Shorts disc. Great stuff. I noticed the volume was louder and clearer than previous releases. Is Rhino doing any kind of audio remastering at all?

 

[Kevin M]

I just...obtained a copy of the last Comedy Central episode Laserblast #706 and boy do I wish Rhino could get the rights to this one, it is funny...

Are You Ready For Some Football!!!!

 

[Dane Marvin]

Hey, Kevin, I haven't seen the episode you mention, but they use that line during the episode "Time Chasers" (part of Collection 5) when some cheesy 80s-type graphics appear on the screen and look vaguely like a football field. I laughed hard.

You wouldn't happen to know where the list of best episodes (as voted on by the fans) went to on the Satellite News website, would you? The search function there seems to be down and I cannot find this list anywhere.

 

[Jason Borchers]

.

 

[Kevin M]

Hey, Laserblast is #5 on that list, good to know that it is at least on the radar of possible future titles, if Rhino can get the rights.

The "are you ready for some football" line in LB is a running gag attributed to veteran character actor Dennis Burkley (he played Dozer in 1985's MASK) who has a more than passing resemblance to Hank Williams Jr.

Here's a good one from that episode..


Girl in film:"Where have you been all morning? Not waking people at the crack of Dawn I hope."

Crow:"Well that's where they found Tony Orlando."

Servo:"(gasp) CROW!"

 

[Dane Marvin]

That's it, Jason. Thanks!

 

[Chris]

Wow. Some of my favorites are -way- down the list (Untamed Youth, Fugitive Alien I / II don't even show up in the list ;( )

 

[Dane Marvin]

Yeah, Boggy Creek II is way down the list and that's one of my favorites.

 

[Jason-D]

I think that Boggy Creek 2 was already released on Set 5.