Search - The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 3 (The Atomic Brain / The Sidehackers / The Unearthly / Shorts, Vol. 2) on DVD

Giving Bad Movies What They Deserve

Andrew McCaffrey | Satellite of Love, Maryland | 04/21/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"They could have given MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER VOLUME 3 the subheading of "Shorts", as there are more short films on offer here than in any previous box set, and most likely any future releases simply won't contain as many as there are here. There are nine short features here, six from the Shorts Vol. 2 disc, and three more scattered throughout the other three discs. I love the heckling that the MST3k crew give to those short packets of hilarity. While some films are able to transcend their time, the short films are intrinsically tied to the sillier aspects of decades past.Here are some quick comments on each of the discs:THE ATOMIC BRAIN: This is a film from that era of bad science fiction films where filmmakers put the word "atomic" in front of any dubious sounding scientific technobabble, hoping that this would somehow make the whole endeavor appear to be more scientific. In this film, a mad atomic scientist attempts to harness the power of the atom to atomically put an old woman's atomic brain into the atomic body of a young, sassy, atomic blonde. Features the short film WHAT ABOUT JUVENILE DELINQUENCY?, which only provokes me to wonder, "Well, what about it?"THE UNEARTHLY: More scientists here. This time they're trying to insert a new gland into human bodies so that people will live forever. Or something. If the back of the DVD box hadn't told me that this was a horror flick, I really wouldn't have noticed. Maybe someone forgot that "horror" and "boring" are different things. Also features the shorts, POSTURE PALS (teaches kids to mock the posture of their peers), and APPRECIATING OUR PARENTS (teaches kids to obey). Strangely, every film in this episode seemed to be filmed in Blue and White, rather than Black and White.THE SIDEHACKERS: Truly hilarious fare here. Grown-up idiots decide to risk life and limb by attaching shopping carts to the sides of their motorbikes and run them around in circles. There are also some subplots involving jealous lovers and mentally unstable cyclists. No sidehackers were harmed during the making of this movie, unfortunately.SHORTS, Vol. 2. Features the following short films: CATCHING TROUBLE (a 50's sadistic version of the Crocodile Hunter inflicts pain on helpless animals), WHAT TO DO ON A DATE (no, it's not what you think, and when you see who will be doing the dating, you'll be glad it's not what you think), LAST CLEAR CHANCE (teens + cars + moody cops = death), A DAY AT THE FAIR (old men like to show off their corn at the fair), KEEPING CLEAN & NEAT (teaches kids to clean their bedrooms by employing clever camera tricks; any kids without a film camera will remain unenlightened), and THE DAYS OF OUR YEARS (tells us why it's always the worker's fault when someone ends up dying on the job).Unfortunately, the original, uncut films aren't available as extras on this box set. To make up for this, those folks at Best Brains Inc. have included raw unedited footage and bloopers from the various host segments that appear in these episodes."

Another Indispensible Collection from Rhino and Best Brains

Edward Garea | Branchville, New Jersey United States | 04/08/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Rhino seems to be in somewhat of a hurry these days, releasing the latest MST3000 collection a scant two months after the release of the last collection. Usually they release new episodes at a leisurely pace, but who's complaining? Certainly not myself; I can't get enough of MST on DVD.This collection contains nothing that was not previously released on video. As there still remain a few video "stragglers" out there, such as "The Gunslinger" and Shorts, Vol. 3," I would expect these to be part of the next collection.Here is what you'll find in this volume:
* Episode 202- THE SIDEHACKERS (a really lousy motorcycle actioner, made watchable only through the presence of Joel and company.)
* Episode 320- THE UNEARTHLY (with shorts: Posture Pals and Appreciating Our Parents). John Carradine is an evil scientist. Tor Johnson is his helper. For all Tor Johnson fanatics everywhere. This contains Tor's memorable line, "Time for to go to bed."
* Episode 518- THE ATOMIC BRAIN (with short: What About Juvenile Delinquency?) Wonderful nonsense made even better by the MST crew. Imagine a mad scientist (no, not Dr. Forrester) placing the brain of a woman inside a cat. Has to bee sen to be fully appreciated.
*MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER: THE SHORTS, VOLUME 2 (featuring Catching Trouble, What To Do On A Date, Last Clear Chance, A Day At The Fair, Keeping Clean & Neat and The Days of Our Years). I always loved the shorts, as there was far more funny wise cracking - being that the shorts only lasted 10-15 minutes, not enough time to wear the gang down. These are also included in their own volume as a subtle remainder that you won't see the accompanying feature film in a future collection, mostly due to rights disputes. Check your handy MST Episode Guide to see what you'll be missing.Like the other collections, a bit pricey, but well worth it to avoid the agony when this goes out of print. I learneed my lesson when I didn't purchase "The Amazing Colossal Man." I could have gotten it when it contained "Mr. B Natural." Nope, I had to be cheap and wait around. I'll never make that mistake again, especially with something as valuable as this series."

3 times the laughs! 3 times the fun! 3 times the Crow!

Edward Garea | 04/12/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...Volume 3 of flat out the best show ever created. This is a terrific collection featuring: "The Atomic Brain" - a very funny Season 5 Mike episode with a great short on Juvenile Deliquency. "The Unearthly" - a terrific Joel episode from Season 3 featuring two of the funniest shorts ever shown on MST3K: Posture Pals and Appreciating Your Parents. "The Sidehackers" - a very early Joel episode from Season 2 that features bikers...and not much else. Very funny. It's one of Frank's first episodes. "Shorts, Vol. 2" - a collection of some of MST's best shorts including the absolutely priceless "Last Clear Chance" ("why don't they look?") and "What to Do on a Date." It's a mix of Mike and Joel-era shorts and all of them are top notch. Rhino is doing a fantastic job! Any MST fan MUST buy this collection..."

Bad, but in a good way!

S. Radler | USA | 03/18/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"(Warning: contains spoiler about one of the movies)

I've never met a MST3K collection I didn't like, and this one is no exception. The plots of the various movies and shorts in Volume 3 have been sketched out by other reviewers, so I won't be redundant. Or be redundant. Just a few comments:

In "The Atomic Brain," you can play "Name That Accent." It's fun! One character arrives from London, yet her accent is all over the map -- sometimes it's English, frequently it's Australian, sometimes it's straight from Dixie, but most of the time it's totally absent. The other foreign girls play hide and seek with their accents also. And isn't it amazing how the mad scientist accomplishes all his surgeries and brain transplants without those pesky visible incisions and stitches??

There seems to be some confusion over a major plot point in "The Sidehackers," which is totally understandable. A main character just disappears and Crow has to intone, "For those of you following at home, Rita is dead." Seems like a shoddy, un-MST3K way to do things, no? There's a good reason for it: as Mike Nelson explained in the book "The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide" (available here at Amazon and worth every penny), "We learned a harsh lesson with this episode. When we were selecting this movie for the show, we had watched only a portion of it. When it came time to write the movie, the writing team was stunned when there came a brutal, graphic scene of Rommel's girlfriend Rita being raped and killed. We were all traumatized, the scene was cut, and from that day forward, movies were watched in their entirety before they were selected."

There, now don't you feel better?"