Rating: 
Summary: Huzzah!
Review: 3 of the best episodes of MST3K plus a Shorts video, what's not to love? If you're just starting with MST3K, this is a great place to start. This set includes Joel's two best episodes "Pod People" and "Angel's Revenge", as well as one of Mike's best episodes "Cave Dwellers". After you've worn this set out, I would recommend moving on towards Volumes one, or five, both very solid.
If your interested in a little MST3K fun of your own, I would recommend buying "The Uninvited", directed by Greydon Clark, the writer/director of "Angel's Revenge", and starring the shameless George Kennedy. Very very funny, it's basically about a murderous mutant cat puppet that lives inside a real cat.
Rating:
Summary: 2 Uber-classic Episodes! Shorts! More!
Review: Both Pod People and Cave Dwellers are classic third season MST3K episodes, and with good reason. The movies take film-making to a new level of ineptness, and the Bots and Joel throw many unforgettably funny comments in the films. The "Trumpy" comments can still make me laugh on their own even today. Angel's Revenge isn't quite to the caliber of the other two, but is still fun to watch just to see former TV stars like Jim Backus making themselves look silly.
The Shorts disc contains some of the only exclusive material shot for the Rhino video releases, with Tom Servo 'hosting' the feature. It's a great little bonus, and it was filmed during the second Sci-fi channel season. It's a little disappointing that they couldn't include the original versions of the films here (I wonder what Pod People is like without the MST3K filter...*shudder*). But this still is a excellent set, better than the first, and a must have for any DVD-enabled MST3K fan!
Rating:
Summary: Attack of the Killer Box Set!!!
Review: Great movies, but this box set is hell on DVDs.Some DVD cases are friendly to the disks, holding them securely while cleanly and safely releasing them when needed. Others hold on too tightly, and require you bend the disk so you can grab it. A few times in & out of the case, and your DVD is cracked. Rhino needs to redesign its cases! But the movies are great, and you gotta love the collection of shorts. Finally Rhino is giving us extras! Maybe now they'll finally add the documentaries, TV specials, interviews, and other content not officially available.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth the dough, great episodes
Review: I echo the sentiments of an earlier reviewer that this is better than the first box set, which I thought was still great. My wife doesn't like or dislike MST3K but even she watched a couple of these and laughed out loud a lot. She also shook her head in amazement a lot as she seemed to mull over how bad a movie can actually be. And these are some stinkers. Pod People is a completely pointless endeavor whose saving grace is that most of the time it's too mistie (pun!) to see how bad the plot/set is. Basically aliens land and kill people but it's really ok because they are just misunderstood. Crow really rescues this one with his "McCloud!" comments. Cave Dwellers is ferociously bad. To be honest I'm not sure why they called it Cave Dwellers since no one really spent any time dwelling in caves. The main guy and his pet mute guy lived in a cave but they leave it early and spend the rest of the time outside. Whatever. Anyway Joel and the bots really save this montrosity since viewers would otherwise just sit there wondering why a cheap Conan ripoff character was wearing so much makeup. The fight scenes are hilariously correographed as well, making the multiple jumping, spinning kicks of Jean-Claude Van Dum seem elegant and realistic. You can also look forward to reeling in amazement as the director crosses all bounds of taste by having the main character in his medieval-set movie drop bombs on his enemy from a hang-glider. Angel's Revenge is basically a useless boob-fest from the decade that gave us such hits as "I will survive". A cast of tightly-clad women that are racially-mixed enough to satisfy the creators of Power Rangers goes on a vigilante spree, targeting some drug kingpin. Tom Sirvo sums this one up when one of the girls rides her motorcycle into a pool because another girl is drowning, saying, "Yeah I can see why she needed a motorcycle to do that." This box-set is the best laugh-for-dollar ratio I have ever seen.
Rating:
Summary: ANOTHER sweet set from rhino
Review: I think the people at rhino really are mst3k fans, not just some corporate bigwigs releasing box sets willy-nilly. the first mst3k box was amazing, and i think most people will be even more happy with this, the second box set. i personally am not a fan of the "shorts vol. 1" compilation, simply because i already have all of these shorts from their original episodes in my collection. however, for a quick dose of mst3k or for winning over a new fan, shorts are the best. but man oh man are the episodes good: cave dwellers was the first episode of season 3, and features mst3k-fan-favorite miles o'keefe. i LOVE mike's cummings/joyce-influenced poem to miles in the amazing colossal episode guide. there's a lot of good stuff here, but you can tell that this was a fairly early episode for the crew, not everything works. but that's the genius of mst3k, not everything has to work because there's just SO much comedy going on pod people is up there with "manos" in the mst3k hall of fame. maybe just because the movie is so flipping ridiculous. servo's "now is this movie A or movie B?" quips are definitely apt with all of the divergent plot strands going at once. favorite line from Joel: "Trumpy, you can do STUPID things!" the scene of trumpy doing all the magic and the subsequent skit spoofing it are roll-on-the-floor funny. angel's revenge was the second to last episode with TV's Frank (sniff sniff). but man oh man is he funny: "i'm tug mcgraw." this is a great episode, and with Mike Nelson at the helm as host, the mst3k crew is in top form. it's hard to believe a show this funny got cancelled only 8 episodes later. thank god for the sci fi channel. mst3k newbies and hardcore MSTies should both look to this box set for a prime slice of mst3k delight.
Rating:
Summary: ANOTHER sweet set from rhino
Review: I think the people at rhino really are mst3k fans, not just some corporate bigwigs releasing box sets willy-nilly. the first mst3k box was amazing, and i think most people will be even more happy with this, the second box set. i personally am not a fan of the "shorts vol. 1" compilation, simply because i already have all of these shorts from their original episodes in my collection. however, for a quick dose of mst3k or for winning over a new fan, shorts are the best. but man oh man are the episodes good: cave dwellers was the first episode of season 3, and features mst3k-fan-favorite miles o'keefe. i LOVE mike's cummings/joyce-influenced poem to miles in the amazing colossal episode guide. there's a lot of good stuff here, but you can tell that this was a fairly early episode for the crew, not everything works. but that's the genius of mst3k, not everything has to work because there's just SO much comedy going on pod people is up there with "manos" in the mst3k hall of fame. maybe just because the movie is so flipping ridiculous. servo's "now is this movie A or movie B?" quips are definitely apt with all of the divergent plot strands going at once. favorite line from Joel: "Trumpy, you can do STUPID things!" the scene of trumpy doing all the magic and the subsequent skit spoofing it are roll-on-the-floor funny. angel's revenge was the second to last episode with TV's Frank (sniff sniff). but man oh man is he funny: "i'm tug mcgraw." this is a great episode, and with Mike Nelson at the helm as host, the mst3k crew is in top form. it's hard to believe a show this funny got cancelled only 8 episodes later. thank god for the sci fi channel. mst3k newbies and hardcore MSTies should both look to this box set for a prime slice of mst3k delight.
Rating:
Summary: Volume 2 is the best so far!
Review: In my opinion, Volume 2 is the best of the four sets released thus far. "Pod People" and "Cave Dwellers" are among MST3K's classic episodes, and what fan would miss out on the Shorts? Angels Revenge: T&A are the main assets in this Charlie's Angels ripoff, wherein buxom vigilantes fight drug dealers. Notable stars include Alan "Skipper" Hale, Jim "Thurston" Backus, Pat "Mr. Haney" Buttram, and Jack Palance -- all obviously in more desperate times. Pod People: A magical ALF wannabe from outer space visits a northern town -- wackiness ensues. "Pod People" uses the cinematic convention that aliens will attack adults and befriend children. As Dr. Forester says, "It has nothing to do with pods, nothing to do with people, and everything to do with HURTING". Cave Dwellers: A knockoff of Conan the Barbarian, "Cave Dwellers" features a medieval world vaguely under attack. The heroine's pie pan chestplate and an inexplicable hang-gliding scene make this one a breeze for Joel and the Bots. Not as good at the Steve Reeves Hercules episodes, but still good fun. Shorts: Arguably the best part of MST3K, the Shorts Volume 1 collects half of the bits from the Shorts VHS collection for your viewing pleasure. The shorts are a nice change of pace from the two-hour films, which can become tedious after a while if you're not in the mood for them. They also cover topics *so* obscure (from chicken farming to industrial arts to "A Date With Your Family") that you can be sure this is the only time they'll ever be on DVD. As stated, this is my favorite MST3K volume. It may not be the best collection to pull in new fans, but for veterans of the series, it's definitely the best Rhino's released yet.
Rating:
Summary: a near perfect collection of MST goodness
Review: It was certainly a brilliant move on Rhino's part to include two of the very best episodes of MST3K, "Pod People" and "Cave Dwellers" in one collection. There would have only been 2 ways to make it even better. 1. To have also included another great episode, and one of my personal favorites, "Manos: The Hands Of Fate". 2. Instead of the rather dull and uninspired "Angels Revenge", they could have included the much funnier and lesser known "Incredible Melting Man"...which was the best of the Mike Nelson episodes (in my opinion of course). But you can't have it all. And this collection is the best of the bunch, so far. and what you lose by having "Angels Revenge", you make up for by having the delightful "Shorts" disk, a feature of the show that was always a highlight. I freely admit that in my opinion the show was never the same when original host and series creator Joel Hodgson left, but the show remained a laugh-out-loud study in sarcasim. and i never get tired of reliving old times with Crow, Tom Servio and the rest of the guys on the Satellite Of Love.
Rating:
Summary: Buttery MST3k goodness...
Review: Just a quick note to correct the earlier reviewer who said that the "A Date With Your Family" short has been edited for content -- that person's information is *incorrect*. I just played the DVD now, and Tom Servo very definitely and clearly says "Dad, I'm dating a negro!" So have no fear, all the jokes are in place.
Rating:
Summary: Another excellent assortment of MST fun!
Review: Just as with the first MST DVD Collection, someone did a fine job choosing the four discs to include in this collection. "Pod People" and "Cave Dwellers" are both excellent episodes from Joel Hodgson's tenure on the program and perennial fan favorites. And while "Angels' Revenge" (I can't get used to leaving out the apostrophe) is not as remarkable a product of the Mike years, it's still a pretty good show, memorable mainly for the cheesy "Charlie's Angels" knock-off it featured. The short-subject films that frequently graced MST episodes were the venue for some of the show's best comedy, and the "Shorts" disc brings together examples from seasons three through seven for some seriously good entertainment. As other reviewers have noted, these DVDs don't include the uncut versions of the movies that were included in the first collection. But that hardly seems to matter. The real MST fan has always been more interested in the host's and the bots' reactions to the films than in the films themselves. And while that may encapsulate some film fans' objections to MST in the first place, it doesn't take away from the greatness of the show or the value of this collection. If you don't already have these episodes on video from Rhino or on your own carefully-hoarded tapes made so long ago -- or, heck, even if you do! -- this is a great set to add to your MST shelf.
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