Each MST3K collection contains four 90-minute episodes of the classic TV show, depicting a pair of mad scientists (Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, and/or Josh Weinstein depending on the season) who torment a human guinea pig (Joel Hodgson or Mike Nelson, depending on the season) trapped in an orbiting satellite by forcing him to watch the assembled dregs of the cinematic world. Said guinea pig survives with help from a pair of wisecracking robots, who join him in viciously mocking the film to within an inch of its broken-down-drive-in life. The template never changes, and thanks to the funny people involved, it doesn't have to. Though some episodes do better than others, they all maintain a consistent level of class-clown hilarity, and the best stand as some of the funniest things ever put on screen.
The four films in MST 3K: XV fall somewhere in the middle of that equation: While they don't quite measure up to the cream of the crop, three of them contain plenty of solid laughs and some truly ridiculous films at which to snark. The exception is the first movie in the collection, which ran during the inaugural season on Comedy Central after the show moved there from local Minneapolis station KTMA. The movie itself makes a perfect target - a beyond low-budget Mexican import entitled The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy -- but the MST crew hadn't yet perfected their technique. Their comments are much less frequent and lack the bite that made subsequent seasons such a hoot. The episode exists here mainly for MST purists, who may enjoy looking at the show's roots, and for the novel appearance of Weinstein, who played both Dr. Forrester's (Beaulieu) fellow mad scientist and robot Tom Servo during the show's first season. The episode also contains a short, Commando Cody and the Radar Men from the Moon, which often gets more laughs than the feature.
The remaining three films pick up the pace considerably, culled from Season Five (Hodgson's last as host) and Six (Nelson's first), when things were really firing on all cylinders. Girl in Lovers Lane involves a pair of teenage drifters who run into trouble when they wander into a small town. Zombie Nightmare arises from the early days of the VHS revolution, as a band of big-haired teens fight the resurrected corpse of the ballplayer they accidentally killed. Finally, Racket Girls borrows a page from Ed Wood in its prurient tale of the women's pro wrestling scene; it's accompanied by another short, Are You Ready for Marriage? which previously appeared in a number of earlier MST products (Mr. B's Lost Shorts and the MST 3K: VI collection).
As always, the films themselves are simply fodder for the jokes: unwatchable disasters made hilarious by the steady stream of wise-ass comments coming from the three little silhouettes on the bottom of the screen. Hodgson, the host for Robot and Girl in Lover's Lane adopts a fairly gentle approach for his segments. He kids more than skewers, and while his gags are certainly witty, they feel more like a good pal giving you a ribbing than anything more vicious. Nelson, on the other hand, really goes for the jugular. Even with his two entries here (which came fairly early in his tenure), you can sense more of an edge to the barbs. He takes the humor to darker places more readily and sticks the knife in such that the wounds will not easily close. Are You Ready For Marriage? constitutes an easy high point of the set, as the earnest conformity of its 1950s origins practically begs for a giant 'Kick Me' sign on its back.
The DVD features are minimal and follow the same pattern set by Shout! Factory's previous collections. Hard-core MSTies will enjoy the reel of host segments from KTMA, featuring a stoned-looking Hodgson and cruder versions of his robot friends. A second reel contains some raw footage of work behind the scenes, while the Zombie Nightmare disc carries interviews with that film's stars. Trailers for all four films are included, as well as four mini-posters and a preview of a bizarre upcoming effort entitled Hamlet ADD. None of the bonus features bring much to the table, though with at least two dozen previous MST 3K DVD releases already in circulation, there really isn't much new to include.
The episodes speak for themselves, however, and don't need any embellishments to create their share of belly laughs. Such dependability helped make MST 3K a hit, and with a bottomless supply of bad movies to pick from, every target produced plenty of potent material. Fans know exactly what they're getting here
but with the residents of the Satellite of Love, that's never a bad thing.
