Rifftrax Live!: MST3K Reunion Show (DVD)

It's SO good to see the gang back! I grew up with Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett as Mike and the 'bots, plus Mary Jo Pehl, so they're the quartet that I really like the best, but I did catch some with Joel and like him, though I never cared for Frank or Tracy. However, for this reunion, I didn't mind Frank or Tracy at all. The only one I know nothing about is the newbie, Jonah Ray, and…eh. Anyhow, I hadn't realized they've been doing things since their 2000 breakup! When I first started watching them, I was too young, really, to understand a lot of their jokes, but as I aged, my reference base expanded and, along with it, a newfound appreciation of their schtick. Yes, they're coarse and crass, their jokes more in keeping with dick-flick humor, but, though I'm a girly girl who enjoys romance and sentimental chick-flicks, I really do enjoy MST3K. I find the concept ingenious. I mean, it's as if you're in the theater sitting behind three viewers who won't shut up but insist on gabbing through the whole movie. The only thing is the movies are so BAD, you end up preferring to listen to the three in front of you with diarrhea of the mouth instead of the movie being played! It's really the perfect concept, and I really enjoy it—so much so, I was so disappointed when they brought things to an end in 2000. I've been hoping to collect the DVDS, especially from the years I watched with Mike, Crow, and Servo, but they're expensive and don't seem to be complete volumes of the seasons. I don't mind paying for the DVDS as long as I get a complete roster of, say, season 9. So I decided to sate my MST3K withdrawals with this reunion DVD. It's not the same as the show, with their silhouettes sitting in front of the movie screen, but the actors are off to the side behind podiums, reading from scripts as the movie plays out. Oh, and it's live—filmed in a Minnesota theater. Also, it's not one feature-film movie (such as, um, “Prince of Space” or “Diabolique”) but multiple shorts. Mike, Kevin, and Bill do two shorts (a PSA about how to be a responsible pedestrian (the lessons on which we NEED BADLY today—even though the short, itself, is, well, lame) and one rather gross one about large-machinery safety). Mary Jo and Mike's wife, Bridget, do another (about the 1950s kitchen of the future). Tracy and Frank do another (a very strange one about how some 1950s girl manages to get dates through good hygiene and, well, being annoying). Joel and Jonah do one (can't remember about what). And then they all come together and riff two (a “PSA” about grass (not the drug but the stuff that grows on lawns) and about buying USA stamps featuring the 1950s Superman). Anyhow, this was a good sampling of the old show. I miss it, but I'm so glad that I got this reunion. I look forward to expanding my MST3K library. If you liked the old shows, you'll want to buy this if for no other reason than the nostalgia of it all. Oh, and you get behind-the-scenes stuff, too.