The Mystery Science Theater 3000 DVD sets wasn’t supposed to end on volume XXXIX. According to scientists and ancient alien astronaut theorists, the predicted end was volume LXI. But unfortunately the right to put 10 of the movies onto shiny discs couldn’t be worked out. And so we are staring at the what can best be called “The Final Finale For Now.” Thankfully the crew of the Satellite of Love are cannibalizing the host segments from the unreleased episodes so you can get a sense of the fun. The final three films are also great ones including Girls Town which the Comedy Channel used to rerun a lot in the early years. There’s also the super groovy Diabolik which the Beastie Boys morphed into a music video. It will be a rather emotional moment when this last until further notice boxset arrives on November 21st. Here’s the press release from Shout! Factory:
Mystery Science Theater 3000:Vol. XXXIX
Four DVD Box Set Features Previously Unreleased Episodes
Girls Town, The Amazing Transparent Man, and Diabolik,
and a disc of unreleased host segments, Satellite Dishes
Available November 21st, 2017 from Shout! Factory
And in the end, the laughs you take are equal to the jokes they make. On November 21st, 2017, Shout! Factory will release the almost certainly, probably definitely, maybe unquestionably final collection of never-before-released classic episodes of our favorite cowtown puppet show, Mystery Science Theater 3000.
The slings and arrows of outrageous licenses have resulted in only three episodes, so Vol. XXXIX also includes Satellite Dishes, a disc featuring the host segments of all the remaining unreleased episodes. The collection also includes a bevy of bonus features, including Chuck Love and the Anatomy of a Theme, Beyond Transparency, a new featurette about The Amazing Transparent Man, Showdown In Eden Prairie: Their Final Experiment, The Last Dance, a documentary special that chronicles the final days shooting the last episode of the original run of MST3K, Diabolik, Behind the Scream: Daniel Griffith on Ballyhoo, mini posters from artist Steve Vance, and theatrical trailers. But final has a way of not being final, and one need only turn to Netflix to appreciate that. So take one plausibly last ride of the classic series with our heroes on the Satellite of Love, and keep circulating the tapes!
Fans can pre-order their copies now by visiting ShoutFactory.com. The first 1,500 fans who order directly from Shout! Factory will also receive the exclusive bonus disc The Complete Poopie, a collection of MST3K bloopers and outtakes.
MGM’s 1959 film Girls Town is not a feminist follow up to MGM’s 1938 Boys Town, though to be fair, both are set in towns. B-movie siren Mamie Van Doren stars as a juvenile delinquent trying to survive in the eponymous nun-run reform school after she is wrongly accused of murder. It’s a feast of drag races, catfights, sexy dresses and Mel Tormé, who turns in a Blue Velvet Fog performance as the blackmailing troublemaker. The oddly child-of-star studded cast includes the offspring of Charlie Chaplin, Robert Mitchum and Harold Lloyd. Paul Anka makes his feature debut, and this may be one of his regrets that does bear mentioning. Fortunately for us, those very juvenile delinquents aboard the SoL upgrade a B movie into A+ television and reform us all.
In The Amazing Transparent Man, an ex-military sociopath plans to raise an army of invisible soldiers, but first he needs to perfect his captive scientist’s invisibilizing device by stealing necessary nuclear materials from a government vault. He engineers the prison break of a notorious thief, leveraging his wanted status to force him to do the heist. This amazing transparent tax shelter provides no dearth of fodder for Mike, Tom and Crow, who see right through the film to the riffs that ultimately make it a joy to behold.
The celebrated Italian filmmaker Mario Bava must have needed his bathroom redone. In the 1968 spy spoof Diabolik, he takes John Philip Law into his own hands and delivers an exploitation schlock-fest replete with super-criminals, underground lairs, and gadgets that would have Q scratching his head. It’s supposed to be a comedy, but it only turns into one after Mike and the bots riff it good. This film was, of course, the last one Mike and the bots were forced to endure. We thank them for their service!
Satellite Dishes
The best laid plans of mice and licensees often go astray. Despite best efforts to include the remaining unreleased episodes, the hard truth is that they may never see the legitimate light of day. So here is the next best thing: all their host segments. What these delectable dishes from the Satellite of Love lack in riffs, they make up for in irreverent, silly and delightfully nerdy sketch comedy. It’s the best we can do, so we are doing it!
Includes:
Ep #201 Rocketship X-M
Ep #213 Godzilla Vs. The Sea Monster
Ep #309 The Amazing Colossal Man
Ep #311 It Conquered the World
Ep #416 Fire Maidens from Outer Space
Ep #418 The Eye Creatures
Ep #807 Terror from the Year 5000
Ep #809 I Was A Teenage Werewolf
Ep #905 The Deadly Bees
Ep #906 The Space Children
Ep #913 Quest of the Delta Knights
MST3K: Volume XXXIX Bonus Features
· Chuck Love and the Anatomy of a Theme
· Beyond Transparency–new featurette about The Amazing Transparent Man
· Showdown In Eden Prairie: Their Final Experiment
· The Last Dance– a documentary special that chronicles the final days shooting the last episode of the original run of MST3K, Diabolik.
· Behind the Scream: Daniel Griffith on Ballyhoo
· Theatrical Trailers
· Four Exclusive Mini-Posters by artist Steve Vance
