Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXII

Even tho we get some great Season three episodes with this set, overall this isnt a box set that rates five stars the way the GAMERA box set is. This is a boxset that will be remembered mostly for these highlights: 1.Another ED WOOD film gets riffed 2.The release of the 1997 SCIFI channel "The Making of MST3K" half hour special 3. More season 3 releases, including TIME OF THE APES. These two episodes from Season three are both cobbled together Japanese TV series, created for the American market by Sandy Frank productions. If i could give this set FOUR AND A HALF STARS, i think that would be fair, since THE BRUTE MAN from Season 7 is neither a good film nor a good MST3K episode. TIME OF THE APES is a platant "PLANET OF THE APES" rip-off, but one of the great episodes, as is MIGHTY JAKE. (which is one of the most miserable films they ever riffed on.) Naturally, anytime you get an ED WOOD film (THE VIOLENT YEARS), you have an instant classic of kitch cinema. I'll mostly review the EXTRAS, since the other reviewers did a pretty good job with explaining the films.1. TIME OF THE APES. (Episode 306) Based on a 26 episode Japanese TV series about a planet WHERE APES EVOLVED FROM MEN, Sandy Frank once again hacks together 80 minutes of BLAH. Ironically, the worst the film, the better the job that MST3K tends to do. As far as films goes, this has a fun, childlike kookiness to it, that's missing from the other three Episodes. Once more, we are getting EXTRAS that revolve around a series of filmed interviews with AUGUST RAGONE. (He talked about the GAMERA films last time.) Apparently filmed the same day as the GAMERA interview, August just gives a 3 minute talk about this TV show, and how it was compressed into a film. The interview's value lies in revealing the 1970's Japanese zeitgeist that gave birth to this TV show. Including the MST Hour wraps have nostalgic value for those of us who first saw MST3K in this format.2. MIGHTY JACK. (Episode 314) One of the WORST FILMS that MST3K ever worked on, according to TV's Frank in "the MST3K Episode Guide". Joel compared watching the film to sitting thru two hours of Lou Reed's METAL MACHINE MUSIC. (ie, Harsh electronic feedback.)The Extras for this DVD provide a few minutes of good ole AUGUST revealing his erudite insights on Japanese monsters and TV shows, and little piece dubbed "DVD MENUS OF MST3K". If you watched these DVDs since SHOUT has taken over the franchise, you'll notice the animated DVD start screens. The two computer animators who create these, talk about the slow evolution of what is essencially 45 second long skits showcasing Tom and Crow, with images from whatever film is being viewed. Not too interesting unless computer animation is to your liking. However, I appreciate that extra mile SHOUT seems to go to give MSTies more bang for the buck.3. The VIOLENT YEARS. (Episode 610) Mike is back! So is ED WOOD! Actually, since Ed Wood only wrote the script, we discover what his films would have looked like, with some money and a trained director. This movie is famous for presenting the most bizarre sexual fantasy in MST3K movie history. A gang of beautiful high school girls pull over a young couple making out in a car, then strip the woman and tie her up. NEXT, the female gang force that girl's boyfriend into to woods to "have their way with him." Of course, "PLAN 9" is more believable. Tom, Crow and Mike practically worship Dr. F for sending them this film. The "SHORT" that preceeds the film talks about the wonders of an ELECTRIC kitchen, while a high school girl gets all "woozy" over her big brother's College buddy home for the weekend. The EXTRAS for this film are two interviews with Ed Wood's former partners, Dolores and Kathy Wood. It seems to me I've seen parts of these interviews before. Around the time of Tim Burton's film about Ed Wood (mid 90s), A&E--or some TV channel like it--produced an Ed Wood documentary. These interviews were filmed for that TV project. (These interviews were not created solely for this project.) Again, great DVD extras, but dont expect the extraganza documentary SHOUT made for BRIDE OF THE MONSTER.4. The BRUTE MAN (Episode 702). Another MIKE film, this time minus TV's Frank, and with Mother Forester. The skits are the ONLY thing that make episode interesting. Mother Forester dates a guy, and leaves CROW in charge of Dr. F and the guys on the S.O.L. The skits in Deep 13 are obviously Oedipian. The short is THE CHICKEN OF TOMORROW, which has already been released on SHORTS volumn 1. (And found on the second MST3K 4DVD boxset.) Obviously this means the Best Brains considered this particular Short one of the best they ever did, and it is. The film however is a dark, dismal, black and white affair. A scientist has been horribley disfigured by an experiment gone wrong. The actor who portrayed the scientist had a glandular disorder, which caused the bones in his face and hands to grow abnormally. The extra to this film is a short interview with Mary Jo Pehl (aka "Mother" Pearl Forester). She considered this a weak episode for MST3K for a variety of reasons. She thought the movie was hard to riff on, because the actor obviously has a painful disfiguring condistion, and how can THAT be funny? In fact, she doesnt think that MST3K SHOULD have picked the film at all. In addition, all the Best Brains were in LA trying to get their deal with the SCIFI channel, leaving the writing of the episode in the hands of Mary Jo Pehl and Paul Chaplin. The REAL goodie with this Extra, in fact one of the stand-out bonuses found so far in the whole DVD box set series, is the SCIFI channel 22 minute long "MAKING OF MST3K" documentary. When SCIFI took over the show from the COMEDY CHANNEL in 1997 for seasons 8-10, this was used to introduce the SCIFI audience to the MST3K concept. Since the show changes so much at this point, it was planned to prepare former fans to the new Show's premise. Since NOTHING like this documentary had been produced for broadcast before or since, its a chance to see the show from the standpoint of the puppet pit, or from the other side of the theater chairs. Obviously, of GREAT interest to the fans of the show, no matter HOW you personally feel about the SCIFI years. The closest there is to this, is the three part documentary that SHOUT FACTORY has on VOLUME 13, aka the TWENTIETH ANNIVERITY EDITION. It's a fantastic extra, and more than makes up for the weakness of the episode itself, and for those of us who already paid to own CHICKEN OF TOMORROW on SHORTS VOL ONE.So as you see, a good box set, but not a great one, which i give four and a half stars. Its good to see SEASON THREE (or, the SANDY FRANK Saga)continue to be released on DVD. ANd its wonderful to get reacquainted with that old SCIFI documentary again after so many years. If you want to introduce someone to the show, I dont know if I'd start with MST3K VOL 22, since overall the episodes included here are inconsistant. Someone new to MST3K might start with VOL.1 or 2, VOL 11 or VOL 13, or the MANOS/SANTA VS THE MARTIANS paring. (For Xmas gifts, the MANOS/SANTA paring is obvious.) For diehard fans, EVERY box is essencial. Overall, i love the great job SHOUT FACTORY has done with their MST3K box sets.

Many of these MST3K sets feature some excellent episodes and some average fair. This particular set includes 4 very solid, if not completely astonishing episodes. All are very good, imho, but none are gonna replace, say, "Final Sacrifice" or "Girl In Lover's Lane" on my favorite episodes list. Here's the breakdown:TIME OF THE APES: Japanese Planet of the Apes ripoff made for TV, assembled and horridly dubbed by Sandy Frank. Enjoy Johnny saying "I don't care!" in the most cheerful voice imaginable. And since it was a few TV episodes strung together, enjoy the non-existant budget (worst ape masks ever, the mouths don't move at all on most of the actors), and the constant captures and escapes. Also, the movie ends like 4 or 5 times. Its pretty bad. Still, a funny episode for fans of dubbed Japanese stuff. Its not as classic as the Gamera episodes, but its ridiculous in a similar way and the riffing is solid. A 4 star episode if there ever was one.MIGHTY JACK: Mighty Jack is a spy organization. They are fighting the evil organization known as Q. That's really about as much as you'll understand in this film. They jump from scene to scene without tying characters or plot points together, instead substituting action and explosions for anything resembling coherance. This filmmaking approach would later be used in the Pirates of the Carribean sequels. Just as in the Pirates sequels, you might be surprised by how much big action stuff is going on at once, but you'll never really care about any of it since you don't ever really know who is who and why they're doing anything they're doing. The Episode Guide lists this as one of the worst they had done at the time, and I'd be inclined to agree. The special effects are decent, and the budget seems good for an MST3K movie, but nothing makes sense and I had no idea what was going on at any given moment. The riffing is solid, and it shares the feel of TIME OF THE APES and the Gamera episodes, being another Sandy Frank Japanese movie, but of the Sandy Frank eps I've seen so far, this one is probably the weakest, though still an above average episode. Another 4 star effort.THE VIOLENT YEARS: An Ed Wood movie! Well, a movie written (but not directed) by ED Wood anyways. Don't expect Plan 9 or Bride of the Monster, this movie's scope is far more down to earth. Its plot deals with a girl who becomes the leader of a girl gang of robbers, apparently becuase her rich parents weren't there for her. The plot is hilarious in its execution, because her folks clearly care for her. Her dad is kindly but mildly inattentive and her mom gives her plenty of attention but isn't insightful enough to see that her daughter's glancing around and being mildly antsy means she's a deeply troubled youth. The scripting is everything you would hope for in an Ed Wood movie, with plenty of awkward dialogue and a hamfisted, super preachy ending. Also worth noting is the short before the movie about electric kitchen appliances where a girl has a crush on her brothers friend, and actually says to one of her girlfriends on the phone that he makes her feel all "squishy." Its good stuff, and an overall solid outing for Mike and the Bots. Again, a 4 star episode.THE BRUTE MAN: Rondo Hatton plays The Creeper, as he did in several horror movies of the day. This particular time, the big lug is creeping towards and murdering the people he knew in high school that he blames for his disfigurement due to a science experiment gone bad. As far as the movie itself goes, its really not that bad. The main problem is pacing. The movie could be put in about 30 minutes, but its twice as long, so they just do everything very slowly. Its a dark film, and a slow one, so its probably the weakest of the set. Still, the riffing is darn solid and I found myself laughing quite a bit. The short about chicken farming is really funny too. Of all the disks this time out, this one has the most (and best) special features. I especially enjoyed the 30 min documentary on Rondo Hatton, and the intro from Mary Jo Pehl was nice too. A 4 star episode, at least to me.So there you have it, a solid addition to your MST3K collection. There may be stronger episodes out there, but there are also plenty of weaker ones than these. Any fan should enjoy it.

Just as advertised