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Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Brain That Wouldn't Die
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
Someone, somewhere probably hasn't heard of Mystery Science Theater 3000, so I guess I should provide a quick summary. Joel, an employee at the Gizmonics Institute, was launched into space against his will as part of a diabolic scientific experiment. To test the edge of sanity, Dr. Forrester and his sidekick, TV's Frank, subject Joel to a seemingly endless barrage of awful movies. The ever-resourceful Joel created some robot buddies to make watching these movies a little more bearable, and throughout the length of each movie, we get to hear Joel and the bots, who appear in silhouette at the bottom of the screen, make witty, insightful (or inane, sophomoric, but still liquid-squirting-from-nostrils-funny) quips. When Joel Hodgson decided to part ways with MST3K, his character found escape, and a hapless temp named Mike Nelson was chosen to take his place...
Dr. Bill Cortner thinks his chemical concoction can transfer body parts from one person to another, much to the dismay of his father. When he receives an urgent call from his assistant at the Secret Lab©, he and his unknowing fiancée rush to see what's wrong...but in their haste, the car flips over Toonces-style, leaving Jan disembodied. Thanks to modern science, Billy is able to keep his girlfriend's head alive while he searches for a suitable replacement. Jan isn't too thrilled with her current predicament, and she uses some of her newfound mental abilities to turn whatever-it-is-in-the-closet against her keepers...
Video: The 'uncut' version of "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" isn't any different visually than the version shown in the episode. The image is a little soft and filled with dust, specks, and about every print flaw you can rattle off. The episode itself looks decent, and although I haven't seen the MSTied "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" on cable in quite a few years, it doesn't look quite as good as I remember. It doesn't really look any better than a VHS copy, but it's good enough, I guess...
Audio: Mike and the 'bots come through clearly, and that's what's important, right? The movie itself -- in both the MSTied and uncut versions -- sounds pretty bad, but the poor dialogue sounds good enough to be understood and mocked accordingly.
Supplements: The un-MSTied version of "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" is a pretty big supplement, despite the quality being...less than stellar.
Conclusion: I'm kind of disappointed that "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" was chosen as one of the first two MST3K discs. This is a pretty mediocre episode, and actually, the movie really isn't that bad. Having the un-MSTied version is nice -- although if you like the movie, check out Synapse's immeasurably superior DVD -- but I'd rather have 2 MST3K episodes on one disc than the episode and the regular movie. Not to get into a Joel/Mike debate, but I don't think anyone could've replaced Joel, and Mike consistently left me flat during his long run on the series. Maybe if Rhino released a mediocre Joel episode alongside this, "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" wouldn't seem so disappointing, but "Eegah" is hilarious. I'll say 'recommended' just for the heck of it.
Dr. Bill Cortner thinks his chemical concoction can transfer body parts from one person to another, much to the dismay of his father. When he receives an urgent call from his assistant at the Secret Lab©, he and his unknowing fiancée rush to see what's wrong...but in their haste, the car flips over Toonces-style, leaving Jan disembodied. Thanks to modern science, Billy is able to keep his girlfriend's head alive while he searches for a suitable replacement. Jan isn't too thrilled with her current predicament, and she uses some of her newfound mental abilities to turn whatever-it-is-in-the-closet against her keepers...
Video: The 'uncut' version of "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" isn't any different visually than the version shown in the episode. The image is a little soft and filled with dust, specks, and about every print flaw you can rattle off. The episode itself looks decent, and although I haven't seen the MSTied "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" on cable in quite a few years, it doesn't look quite as good as I remember. It doesn't really look any better than a VHS copy, but it's good enough, I guess...
Audio: Mike and the 'bots come through clearly, and that's what's important, right? The movie itself -- in both the MSTied and uncut versions -- sounds pretty bad, but the poor dialogue sounds good enough to be understood and mocked accordingly.
Supplements: The un-MSTied version of "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" is a pretty big supplement, despite the quality being...less than stellar.
Conclusion: I'm kind of disappointed that "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" was chosen as one of the first two MST3K discs. This is a pretty mediocre episode, and actually, the movie really isn't that bad. Having the un-MSTied version is nice -- although if you like the movie, check out Synapse's immeasurably superior DVD -- but I'd rather have 2 MST3K episodes on one disc than the episode and the regular movie. Not to get into a Joel/Mike debate, but I don't think anyone could've replaced Joel, and Mike consistently left me flat during his long run on the series. Maybe if Rhino released a mediocre Joel episode alongside this, "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" wouldn't seem so disappointing, but "Eegah" is hilarious. I'll say 'recommended' just for the heck of it.
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