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Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Beginning of the End

Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Beginning of the End

List Price: $19.95
Your Price: $17.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A low-grade "big bug" thriller.
Review: This mediocre sci-fi epic was an obvious attempt to imitate THEM! (the excellent giant ant movie of 1954), even to the extent of using similar camera angles in some scenes, and using a title that does not reveal the nature of the menace. Unfortunately, giant grasshoppers simply do not seem as menacing as giant ants, and the special effects are very shoddy, consisting almost entirely of rear-projected real grasshoppers. But it gets worse. When the big attack on Chicago comes, we see several bugs crawling on a photograph of the Wrigley Building!! Hardly convincing. (One interesting footnote: this is the only "giant menace" movie in which Chicago is the menaced city.) Earlier in the film, the small town which the bugs have destroyed is represented by footage of A-bombed Hiroshima. Apparently, giant grasshoppers eat buildings as well as people. The awesome menace is ended when the bugs swarm en masse into Lake Michigan and drown. (Resulting, one suspects, in an awfully messy and polluted Lake Michigan.) Please note that this is a review of the movie itself, not the Mystery Science Theatre version.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Any MST3K is a classic,but this is slightly average
Review: When introducing,Mst3k to DVD,it seems to me that Rhino could've chosen better episodes foe it's initial batch,like "Manos: The Hands Of Fate",or "MItchell" istead of this good but not classic episode.But,I'll take what I can get,because ANY episode is worth having on DVD,with the great picture and sound,plus the original version of the film.This episode features a typically laughable Peter Graves showcase,this one about GIANT GRASSHOPPERS who seem to have a insatiable attraction to POSTCARDS.Hearing his smooth,unctious recitations of the absurd dialogue,you realize he was born to host cable bio documentary shows.Mike and the 'bots have a grand time with 'ol Pete in the host segments,with Crow presenting his screenplay for The Peter Graves Story,which focuses on his years at the University of Minnesota,and includes the line "I'm Peter Graves" over 400 times.Servo is non-plussed.This isn't among the very best MST3K's,but it is of coarse a must-have for devoted fans.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: What thinking person doesn't enjoy heckling B Movies???
Review: If you haven't experienced "Mystery Science Theater 3000" before, it basically involves a guy and two little robots who are forced to watch B movies as a scientific experiment to see how much they can take. They get out of the theatre to do an introduction and have various intermissions through the film (fortunately, since otherwise we'd go nuts too). They watch the bad films with us, and you can see them sitting at the bottom of the screen while they make rude remarks about it.

This episode features the classic SF concepts of Really Big Insects destroying cities and scientists who accidentally destroy civilisation by allowing their wonderous experiments to get out of hand. (Interestingly, no one is upset at the scientists for this, and one ends up being the hero of the film.)

Watch for the amazing special effect of grasshoppers climbing up a poster of a cityscape - one of them walks over the edge of a building and stands in mid air. WARNING: Grasshoppers may have been harmed (or at least highly annoyed) during the filming of this drama.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Quite Funny and "I'm Peter Graves."
Review: I discovered MST3K late and got hooked on it and then it was cancelled. So, I have started my DVD collection of the episodes. "Beginning of the End" is a very good one to start with.

The DVD contains the MST3K version and the original, uncut version. That is very nice to have. The picture is clear and there are no problems with the disk at all. There aren't many extra's, but I wouldn't expect many for a TV show on DVD.

The episode is quite fun to watch. There are many funny comments and events that happen on the film. The first major grasshopper is excellent. Despite being a "cheesy" movie, the acting is not bad, compared to other films in the MST3K series. The "in between" skits are also quite good. The movie script for the life story of "Peter Graves" is absolutely side splitting.

I have several other episodes on DVD. If you are just getting started, start with this one.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: This one could've been better.
Review: If Beverly Garland had been in the cast it would be 5 stars!! Shame they could not have edited in some scenes from It Conquered the World!!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good...but not great.
Review: This is probably my least favorite of the MST3K episodes to be released by Rhino. Best parts: some of the Peter Graves stuff, Mike & the Bots' unwilling look into the daily routine of the mads (My favorite part of this episode), and process shots are always funny ("Hey wait...that's a postcard!"). Worst parts: some of the Peter Graves stuff, long moments of nothing (I fall asleep every time!), and several bits that are only a little humorous (Peter Graves play by Crow).

It's tough to be critical of my all-time favorite show. But BEGINNING is not on the "Best of" list. I figure they used up a lot of potential material for BEGINNING while watching Attack of the Giant Leeches, It Conquered The World, Attack of the Giant Geela Monster, Creeping Terror, and Earth VS the Spider.

Still worth buying for fans. Just so you have it in your collection.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: OK but not the best
Review: This is the first MST3K Rhino DVD that wasn't up to snuff. The sound quality was poor on my disk - either too quiet or too loud. Sometimes I could barely hear the 'bots. This might have been due to the quality of the original, it might have been due to carelessness during the transfer. I'd like to know if others have had the same sound problems. Carelessness was the reason Joel was pictured on the box of a Mike-hosted movie though. If the music played during the chapter selection screens sounds familiar it's because you've heard those tunes before, in "Eegah!" Five stars (always) for Mystery Science Theater, less for Rhino's presentation. - Charlie (MST3K #5535)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great set
Review: This is a great movie pack, I'd highly recommend for anyone. The Crawling Hand threw me a little, because it was such an early episode. Tom Servo's voice was different (different actor), there was no TV's Frank, but the humor was still the same ("No zombies. No zombies allowed.") Meanwhile, the Wild Wild World Of Batwoman had no point and went nowhere fast. Towards the end, Servo finally yells out, "END!!! END!!!" Also has great lines like, "That's 40 pounds of butt in 30 pound butt-capacity pants." And The Beginning of the End has all sorts of great references and lines, "HEY FRAAANK!" Definitely a worthwhile buy.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Mike Always Made Me Laugh More Than Joel...
Review: ... and that's why I was surprised to see Mike after buying what I thought was a Joel episode. It's funny as hell (as usual), and Mike is a little funnier to take than Joel. Mike always puts on a kinda "confused with his surroundings" attitude. He comments on the movies because he feels the whole situation is bizar. Joel just has an attitude like instead of breathing oxygen up in space he's breathing weed 24/7.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One Of Benjamin's Favorites
Review: Up until we saw this movie, Benjamin (four years old) would crawl around, back to the floor, pretending to be a giant trantula. Now he is a grasshopper (bye bye tranatula)! Only the sound he makes is different. Please remember though that when he does this, he is a NICE grasshopper. The movie has army guys and grasshoppers duking it out, with the army guys taking the worst of it, until the army guy scientists can finally figure out a way to defeat them. It's all that a four year old needs in a movie.


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