Gypsy was not a dumb robot on the Satellite of Love. The casual viewer might think the mechanical snake made from chairs and plastic piping sounded a bit dopey. She wasn’t as witty and talkative as Crow T Robot and Tom Servo. There was a realistic reason why she sounded rather slow thinking. Gypsy’s computer operated all the systems on the space ship. She was rather distracted when she appeared on Mystery Science Theater 3000. If she focused on mocking a film, Joel or Mike wouldn’t get any oxygen and the ship would fly into the sun. She sacrificed her public persona for the sake of keeping the human alive. Thus it is with great joy that Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XIX pays tribute to Gypsy with a large figurine perfect for your mantelpiece. But wait, there’s more. They also have four of their better films if “better” in your vocabulary includes an infamous masterpiece, a notorious director and two “Devil” creatures.
Robot Monster (Season One) is legendary for just the villain from outer space that wants to conquer Earth. The alien Ro-Man wears a gorilla suit with a variation of a deep sea diving helmet that looks like a TV. He’s almost wiped out the Earth’s population. All he has left is a few people including a little kid and his family. Can humanity survive? The riffs come fast with the really bad acting and plenty of padding in the script. The film is so short that we get parts 4 & 5 of the Commander Cody: Radar Men From the Moon. Dr. Clayton Forrester (Trace Beaulieu) and Dr. Laurence Erhardt (J. Elvis Weinstein) invent a whoppie cushion that shoots flames. Joel Robinson (Joel Hodgson) shows off the cumberbubblebund. It’s a belt that makes bubbles for instant disco fun. His champagne joke is “very amusing.” A bit during the film has Crow and Tom Servo act like Ro-Man and his overlord during the communication scenes. Crow wants Tom to kill the human. Can the gumball machine resist a homicidal order?
Bride of the Monster (Season Four) had Ed Wood directing Bela Lugosi and Tor Johnson in a creepy scientist epic that’s atomic powered. Bela wants to create a race of super soldiers. A meddling female reporter is messing up his project. There’s a giant octopus guarding his lab. It’s a joyful Ed Wood mess. Before the feature is the short Hired! A car salesman needs an inspirational chat from a bigwig. The sketches include Joel monitoring Crow’s dreams. The robot fantasizes about money and Tom in a nurse’s outfit. Dr. Forrester and TV’s Frank (Frank Conniff) introduce the tough love seat. It is covered in metal studs Ouch. Joel gives a dated creation of Microwave Faith Popcorn for instant trend setting. When is the last time anyone spoke about her one the news? Did she predict losing her public image? The best bit is a musical version of Hired! It’s better than Glee. Cambot re-edits the film with Joel and the Bots being Bela Lugosi. It does improve on Ed Wood’s work. Wood is hyped as the Worst Director Ever. Anyone who has made the mistake of sorting through entries for an independent film festival understands that Ed Wood is rather competent. That’s not saying he’s a cinematic genius like Stanley Kubrick. At least Wood remembered to take the lens cap off the camera. Strangely enough, MST3K never did Plan 9 From Outer Space.
Devil Doll (Season Eight) gives us another version of the evil ventriloquist and his creepy dummy story. How did the soul get inside the wooden man? It’s rather grotesque process. This is from the era when Mike Nelson (Micheal J. Nelson) and Pearl (Mary Jo Pehl) are lost in time and space. She’s now in Rome and being worshiped as a god. The opening has Crow and Tom pretending they’re hosting a party in their dorm room. They have a window, but no beer, wine coolers or speakers to put in the window. Crow goes nuts about his girlfriend that doesn’t exist. it’s just like a night back in college minus a case of Black Label.
Devil Fish (Season Nine) is an Italian version of Jaws directed by Lamberto Bava (the son of Mario Bava). Military scientists have genetically mixed an octopus with a prehistoric shark. The creature has escaped and it’s hungry. There’s a lot of bad acting on the open sea. Most of it involves beer drinking. This film was the inspiration for the SyFy Channel’s Sharktopus. The sketches start out with Mike Nelson fears he’s having his identity stolen by secret government agents. Turn s out he merely misplaced his wallet. But he’s still conspiracy oriented. Pearl has turned her evil castle into a cruise ship when there’s a phone number mix up. See needs Mike and the bots to make ice sculptures. Things get ugly when they get into a fight with dolphins in space.
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XIX brings the best of their cracks to four films worthy of the honor. Robot Monster needs Crow’s talking to the screen to break up the tedium. There’s no need to curse anyone to hell for chatting during Devil Fish or Devil Doll. Bride of the Monster almost gets explained by the unrelenting comments from the peanut gallery. This show did a service since if you focused on these films in the pure form, your brain would hurt.
The video is 1.33:1 full frame. While the movies were shot on film, MST3K was produced on video. The transfers look fine without any nasty tape glitches. The audio is mono. The mix has Joel, Mike and the Bots louder than the movie.
Gypsy Figurine is a must have for MST3K fanatics. It’s not work place safe since a jealous co-worker will steal it.
Mini-Posters for all four films featuring Tom Servo and Crow with the monsters. These are perfect to be hung up at your office.
Introduction by J. Elvis Weinstein (6:41) gives us the skinny about Robot Monster. They resisted doing the film since it was a famous bad movie and Golden Turkey winner. They realized it wasn’t that untouchable since there was so much dead space with characters walking. They pushed their chops to make things entertaining.
Larry Blamire Geeks Out (11:01) is the director of The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra heavy with the praise for Robot Monster. Don’t watch this first since he spoils the ending. He mentions tons of films you should hunt down.
Ed Wood: Making the “Bride,” Unmaking the “Legend” (27:07) has Joel and horror host Mr. Lobo discuss the film. They hunt down the folks who knew Ed Wood including the screenwriter, Alex Gordon. Turns out Ed Wood was a drunk and lingered in bars longer than what was shown in Ed Wood. Alex introduced Bela Lugosi to Ed Wood. This is a much more honest portrait of Ed and Bela’s relationship than Tim Burton’s film. George “The Animal” Steele pays tribute to Tor Johnson. He played the guy in Ed Wood. Strange to hear George talking like a normal human.
Inventing the Invention Exchange (6:08) breaks down how the opening bit was created, Joel wanted it to be a cold opening. It was also part of his old comedy routine. He was a prop comic before Carrot Top killed prop comedy.
MST3K: Origins & Beyond at Convergence ’09 (58:33) is a panel with Joel, Frank Conniff and Mary Jo Pehl. A lot gets covered in their chat with the audience. The joke is Joel sends festival volunteers across the street to get them Diary Queen Blizzards so they can be ready when the panel ends.
The Puppet Master: Richard Gordon on Devil Doll (9:28) is an interview with the producer of the film. Turns out he’s Alex Gordon’s brother. You can tell them apart by their accents. He explains his role as the producer on this horror film.
Theatrical Trailers for Robot Monster, Bride of the Monster, Devil Fish and Devil Doll.
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XIX rates with the best of the boxsets. The four films capture legendary badness that get sweetened up by the constant quips of Joel, Mike and the Bots. All the combinations of mad scientists appear. The bonus features give get us behind the scenes on the show and Ed Wood. Best of all is the Gypsy figurine worthy of putting in a plexi-glass display case. It’s a geek out coma in a box.
Shout! Factory presents Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XIX. Starring: Joel Hodgson, Michael J. Nelson, Trace Beaulieu and Bela Lugosi. Boxset Contents: 4 episodes on 4 DVDs. Released on DVD: November 9, 2010.
