The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 8 (Hobgoblins / The Phantom Planet / Monster A-Go Go / The Dead Talk Back)

This set has been out of print for so long I thought I'd never find an affordable copy. Well thanks to someone on Amazon, I snagged one for under forty bucks! Yay me! This is really a great collection, here's my break down of each episode: HOBGOBLINS: Legendary episode from the Sci-Fi era, though I think its a bit overrated. This turgid, god-awful Gremlins rip-off has got to be the absolute worst 80's movie the SoL crew has ever had to sit through. Writer/Director Rick Sloane manages to insult the audience's intelligence throughout the entire picture, with tons of terrible jokes, irritating characters, deplorable views towards women, non-existant special effects, bland direction, and lots and lots of scenes of people parking and leaving their vehicles. Its excruciating, and easily in the top 10 worst movies they've EVER done on MST3k. Like MANOS (another excruciating film), unfortunately, Mike and Co. are struck speachless with this films badness, and while there are some very funny, very memorable riffs, they're somewhat few and far between, with mostly dead air and groans of agony inbetween. Its worth seeing, as the movie reaches depths of badness that few others can dig down to (thank god), but know what you're getting into. THE PHANTOM PLANET: Another Sci-Fi episode, and one of the seemingly endless string of B movie space operas MST3k did. The movie itself is cheesey, but not super bad, this one actually kinda feels like a crappy episode of the original Star Trek (so like... half the episodes of the original Star Trek). Actually, I was surprised by how much funnier this episode was than I remembered it being when I first saw it on TV. The jokes are non-stop and there are so many dumb characters to make fun of that I was just rolling. The stuff they say about the elderly leader of the alien planet, the dog monsters, the KFC planet, the fruity philosophical guy that dies at the beginning, everything just makes for good good riffing. Really funny stuff. A great episode. MONSTER A-GO GO: The only Joel episode in here, this one is a solid contender for "Worst Movie Of All Time." I'd say its worse than Manos, actually, since Manos at least has an ending and was made by people who didn't know any better and were in way over their heads. But the people behind Monster A Go Go? They don't have any excuse for this wreck, they actually made other movies. Thankfully, as dull and awful as this movie is (and it is SO dull and SO awful), the riffing is good and it makes the movie a bit easier to get through than Manos. Also, the short about Ice Dancing before the movie is oddly creepy and therefore hilarious. A fine episode, even if the movie itself is extremely painful. THE DEAD TALK BACK: Not a fan-favorite, from what I understand many find it boring. After giving it a few views, I have to disagree. In fact, I like it much better than HOBGOBLINS! True, its a dull police procedural with lots of long scenes of the two detectives drilling the suspects with questions, but the characters are all so stupid and laughable (the scientist who claims to be able to talk to the dead looks like Justin Timberlake from the SNL "D*** In A Box" sketch, and his voice is honkier than Kermit the Frog) that it gives Mike and the Bots tons to work with. They are truly on fire here too, as they immediately pounce on any gap in the dialogue (and between the overwrought acting and the sub-Dragnet hardboiled detective speak, there's tons of gaps!) with tons of great jokes. Sure, the short before the movie was kind of dull (its a sales film about chest freezers, clearly never meant to interest or even be seen by anyone outside the industry) but the movie portion of the episode had my wife and I in stitches. A great episode! All in all a very worthy volume, and I'm very happy I found an inexpensive copy!

I will admit that I bought this set for one primary reason: "Hobgoblins." I think that aside from Manos and the Coleman Francis experience, this is perhaps the most amusingly amateurish film ever seen on MST3K. I had seen all of these episodes several times, and I like them all, but "Hobgoblins" is a real treasure. "Hobgoblins" (episode 907,) a clear "Gremlins" rip-off, has some of the worst acting and worst dialogue ever in a movie. Add to that the most ridiculous puppets ever seen in a "horror" movie and this one is a sure fire winner. My two favorite scenes are the duel with garden weasels (no kidding) and the musical and puppet war scenes filmed inside "Club Scum" ("She's dancing and cleaning the acoustic tiles!") This is truly one of the epic works in the annals of MST3K. The writing for Mike and the bots is absolutely at the top of the series, and the subject matter is so eminently skewerable as to make this a true treasure in any cheese-lovers movie collection. "Monster-A-Go-Go" (episode 421,) is a little gem from schlockmeister Bill Rebane and concerns the recovery of a horribly mutated astronaut in the most unlikely looking spacecraft ever seen on film and the terror he wreaks on humanity. This is so ultra-low budget that at one point an actor has to actually mouth "brrrrring" to simulate the sound of a phone ringing. I laughed so hard when I saw that I had to rewind about five times. The film has a wonderful surprise ending (no spoilers here) which really is a surprise mostly because it is such a total and complete non sequitur. This is a truly amazing piece of cinema. It is also served with a horrendous nightmare of a short called "Circus on Ice" which feature vast numbers of people skating is silly ways, and includes the only "deer hunt on ice" ever filmed (I hope.) "The Dead Talk Back" (episode 603,) is a pretty boring and predictable psychic phenomena movie featuring the cast of a boardinghouse and their associates pitted against each other to pin a murder (by crossbow and curtain rod!) on each other. A scientist with the most amazing facial hair issues I have ever seen uses his machine (apparently a wad of aluminum foil) to talk to the dead girl and finger her killer. Don't miss the dramatic ending! (Yawn...) This one features a short called "The Selling Wizard" which is about modern commercial ice cream storage units. This is a fairly inoffensive short by MST3K standards, and features a spokesmodel who is actually cute by 1950s criteria, though somewhat possessed by refrigeration demons. "The Phantom Planet" (episode 902,) is an old black and white classic about an astronaut marooned on a distant planet where he has to fight a very silly duel (he takes the noble road of sparing his victim's life, of course) and overcome his feelings for an alien woman (well, two alien women, actually, one of which is mute.) This was years before Captain Kirk dreamed of such flights of fancy. My favorite part of the film is a truly remarkable, yet insanely loopy speech by a junior space officer about the nature of beauty and the fundamental goodness of humanity, which the MST crew mercilessly mocks through the remainder of the film. Overall, this is a very strong set, and any fan of obscure or cheesy films will love all four of these movies. I highly recommend this set.

I've always loved MST3K since I was a teenager, and now I get to cherish those old episodes with the MST3K collections. This one is perfect for newcomers and old fans alike, as some of the worst episodes they ever did are slapped together in a 4-DVD collection. 1.PHANTOM PLANET (#902) This 1950's (or early 1960's) sci-fi snooze is about an astronaut with a bad haircut having his ship drawn strangly to a small planet that looks like a piece of fried chicken (Oh no, it's deep fried!) and forced to live with very small aliens (Aka tiny earthlings.). This movie has a lot of stiff and boring acting, and wait until you hear the wonderful speech by the captain's co-pilot, who dies only 10 minutes later in the film. What kind of message were they going for? 2.THE DEAD TALK BACK (#603) This movie is just plain stupid. A freelance scientist (probably the director, since he's so into his role) invents a machine which, he claims, will allow him to talk with the dead and solve a woman's murder. Turns out it doesn't, which should've ended the movie the moment it began, but instead, we are dragged along for 80 minutes in a bad detective-story/sci-fi pile of garbage that tries to deliver itself as entertainment. Mike and the bots really let loose on this one, due to the film's bizarre plotpoints involving a stalker (It's hard to stalk people without a car!), bongo players, and a brain that looks like cauliflower. Nothing is known about this odd little independent film, except that it was never released. It does appear that besides the floating stool, the only other special effects were the actors' bad haircuts. The short that preceds it, The Selling Wizard, is a creepy advertisement on how to sell freezers. It's very amusing. 3.MONSTER A GO-GO (#421) Oh my God. This might be the worst movie I've ever seen. The plot, if there is one, involves a missing astronaut suspected of being a radioactive murderer. Too bad they only follow this plot for about 30 seconds. The remaining 60 minutes consist of scientists mumbling about how to kill the monster, shots of firemen working on sewers, and people left mutilated (not really, just in funny and akward positions.). Joel and the bots really let loose on this one, but by the "suprise ending," they are completly exhausted and sound like they're on the verge of mental breakdown. Notice the hilarious scene with the telephone! 4.Hobgoblins (#907) No, wait, this is the worst movie I've ever seen. From the director who brought you Vice Academy and Babe Watch, comes Hobgoblins, an extremely bad ripoff of Gremlins. The movie tries to have a plot involving goblins that can mess with people's minds, but then the movie trails off into bad sexual fantasies with Robert Plant (watch the movie for details), a ex-soldier who sets himself on fire in one scene, then comes back with a few scratches (What the hell?!), and some other things that scar the brain. See! The 47 car parking scenes! Hear! The Fish Picker Song! See! A really badly made no-budget horror film that makes no sense! So there you have it, folks, some of the worst movies ever made with some hilarious commentary from MST3K. Enjoy.

If ERASERHEAD's Henry Spencer had a cinematic father, it's surely Dr. Henry Krasker, the eccentric psychic sleuth of THE DEAD TALK BACK (1957). The amazing salt-and-pepper hairdo is a dead giveaway, and Dr. Krasker's obsessions, including a radio that communicates with the dead, and a blonde cadaver he keeps in a display case in his lab, are over-the-top weird. It's pretty funny for a super low-budget supernatural whodunit, but it's preceded (and almost blown out of the water) by the short, "The Selling Wizard," which demonstrates why Anheuser-Busch got out of the ice cream display business and concentrated on selling cheap, crappy tasting beer. HOBGOBLINS (1988), the sleaziest horror/comedy of 1988, is GREMLINS as softcore (very soft!) porn. A wise old security guard instructs his young, minimum wage apprentice in the ways of fighting the murderous, mind-controlling hand puppets that escape from a magical film vault to terrorize the city, which seems to consist entirely of the red light district. It's risible, but not terribly funny; it's a failed comedy, after all. Bill Rebane is nobody's fool. Having abandoned his 1961 Chicago-based horror movie after his investors refused to put up additional funds, he sold the uncompleted footage to exploitation king Herschell Gordon Lewis, who retitled the film MONSTER A GO-GO, releasing it in 1965 on a double bill with Lewis's own MOONSHINE MOUNTAIN. Rebane went on to film THE GIANT SPIDER INVASION (1975), and to run for governor of Wisconsin as the Reform Party candidate. What can one say about MONSTER A GO-GO? It's a low budget movie so inane, so inept, and so dull it makes MANOS look like THE SEVENTH SEAL. (Unlike MANOS, an over-the-top anti-masterpiece fueled by its director's sexual obsessions, no one connected with MONSTER A GO-GO seems to've had any interest in it whatsoever.) The creepy scene involving the truck driver and the helpless female motorist is the movie's defining moment of ickiness, much more so than the "monster" that staggers through the picture like a wino in search of his next bottle of Night Train. The defining moment of THE PHANTOM PLANET (1961) is Lt. Ray Makonnen's windy speech about the wise and the best, the good and the beautiful, just before he's taken out by a meteorite to the head. It's a typically dopey sci-fi film of the era, the kind of story that plays out as if science fiction hadn't evolved since the planetary romances of the 1920s. Funny? Yes, especially with a Pinto Colvig alien on the loose.

Filling my MST3000 series, more laughs

3 old B&W 1960's suspense/sci-fi films fill out this set with minimal hilarity, but the 1987 crapfest "Hobgoblins" makes Vol. 8 a comedy gem! I learned something about my MST3K preferences while viewing the movies in this set: I prefer Mike episodes. I can see the appeal of the Joel years, but they are a little too slow for my taste. Now let's get to the movies: "Phantom Planet" is classic sci-fi fun and manages to keep it snappy in the story department, while providing enough silly plot points and special effects for Mike and the Bots to tear it a new one. Favorite moments include the constant KFC/Fried Chicken references the crew throw out every time an exterior shot of the planet shows up. "Monster A Go-Go" was my first exposure to a Joel episode and although the crew does a good job making fun of the lack of "horror" in the film, I miss the sarcasm and bite of Mike's comments. The action figure host segment was pretty funny, though. "The Dead Talk Back" is right up there with the "Hamlet" episode on my list of movies so boring even MST3K can't save them. The film is just a bunch of people talking and none of them are wacky or weird-looking enough to allow for any great riffs. The Jerry Garcia endless guitar solo in the host segments was pretty hypnotic, but overall this movie should never have been released from it's obscurity-it should have been left in the vault with the... "Hobgoblins" This is classic, corny 80's goodness with spandex, hairspray and all! The host segments are great and the riffing is well fueled by the crappy madness that is this film. My favorite riff comes when the characters are dancing to generic 80's pop and Mike sings: "Hey everybody, yeah it's the 80's, do a lotta coke and vote for Ronald Reagan!" Hi-larity! This is why I watch the show and this is why I buy these DVD sets. So in the end I've realized I need more Mike and I need more films that were produced from 1980 forward. Thanks volume 8!

I currently have all of the Mst3k's compliation sets (I recently purchased vol.10) But I would have to say that this one which includes: "Monster A-GO GO" "Phantom Planet" "Hobgoblins" and "The Dead Talk Back" is one of the best. Reviews Below: Monster A-GO GO - least favorite of the four. The plot is almost non-existent. It consist of an uber-tall guy with a bad skin condition walking around in a space suit strangling random people he happens upon. Then seemingly in another movie, scientists are having coffee and discussing issues that have very little to do with what is going on. Joel and the Bots riff away on this piece of celluliod cheese, however they seem exhausted by the end. This movie drains the very fabric of space and time. Phantom Planet - "Everyday of my life I am reminded..." And the rest you'll have to see to get the whole quote. I honestly forgot it but it's funniest piece of drivel I've ever heard between two male characters in a movie who were not lovers. This movie was bad but not as bad as Monster A-GO GO which was almost unwatchable even with Joel and the Bots riffing at it. This one has Mike and the Bots riffing which makes this one bearable at least. I don't think Joel could've pulled this one off. The Dead Talk Back - Funny as hell. Watch out for Ludwig Kruger, he's a sexual deviant! Oh and the crossbow killing is solved by tricking the idiot killer into believing that the girl he stuck to front porch of boarding house with an arrow through the heart is actually alive. "My name is REENE.." Hobgoblins - Another movie with severval sexual deviants. The funniest of the four in my opinion. Stupid plot of course. People are getting chased around some (Canadian more than likely) town by grotesque green puppets. Never go to Club Scum. This is definitely something you want in your collection. If you are a fan of the show you already know this.

Favorite parts for each episode: Hobgoblins-Mike and the gang jumping on Pearl's couch spilling Juicy Juice and the entire commentary of the film The Dead Talk Back-Scenes involving the David Byrne lookalike religious fanatic, the featured short The Selling Wizard (from the makers of Budweiser) and the Grateful Dead guitar solo with Crow sporting the Jerry Garcia beard and all The Phantom Planet-"The good and the beautiful" skit and the villains' costumes Monster A Go-Go-The invention exchange each involving action figures