There's some good news for everyone who is still mourning the end of Mystery Science Theater 3000:  the show is back.  Well, sort of. MST alumni Mike Nelson (host), Kevin Murphy (Tom Servo), and Bill Corbett (Crow, after Trace left the show), have gotten together to give the MST-treatment to a new set of movies and are releasing them directly to DVD.  The second release by "The Film Crew", as the trio have dubbed themselves, is the 1954 SF abomination Killers from Space.  (Not to be confused with 1959's Teenagers from Space, 1953's Phantom from Space, 1963's Terror from Space, or 1964's Invaders from Space.)  With the same odd-ball humor that MST was famous for, this disc plays like a long lost episode of that show.

Mike, Kevin, and Bill are the Film Crew, a group of guys who have been hired to give every movie ever made a commentary track.  Working in the basement of a building, the guys put on headsets and watch the tapes that are sent to them by their boss.

There are a couple of differences between this DVD series and MST, but they are minor.  There are no silhouettes at the bottom of the screen, and there are fewer host segments.  The crew has a brief introduction to the film as well as a conclusion segment.  There's also a short "lunch break" in the middle of the movie.

Bill:  Remember, this is Killer form Space!
Mike:  More like Killers of Time.

As for the movie itself, it is a pretty bad low budget SF film from the 50's.  Peter Graves stars as Dr. Douglas Martin, a researcher with the Air Force who is studying the effects of nuclear bomb detonation.    While monitoring a test from a plane the controls freeze up and the plane augers in.  Rescue workers find the plane and the pilot, but no trace of Dr. Martin.  A few days later Martin wanders out of the desert with no recollection of what happened to him and an odd surgical scar on his chest.  He starts acting a bit strange, but when he steals atomic secrets and tries to pass them to unknown agents, Martin is arrested and given a truth serum.  Under the effects of the drug, he recalls being rescued by aliens who are planning to conquer the earth with giant insects and lizards.  Martin had been brain washed into helping them, but when he realizes what's happened, he vows to destroy the invaders.

This was a goofy movie that is just perfect for riffing.  The plot is glacially slow, there are long, meaningless scenes, and the alien invaders look really funny.  Mike, Tom, and Bill do a great job of pointing out some of the more idiotic parts of the film and making this horror actually enjoyable.

Mike:  Ahh, he's got the comic touch of a Charles Bronson.
 

Kevin: His suit couldn't be boxier if you made it out of plywood.

There are a lot of Biography and Mission Impossible jokes, but not so many that the gag gets old. They also make a point of skewering the fact that you don't really know about the aliens until the movie is nearly half over.  Bill keeps reminding viewers that the movie is "Killlllers from Spaccccce" in a loud boomy voice and there's more than a little discussion early on as to why the movie is called that.

Bill:  Maybe the 'space' in the title is the space between actual points of interest.
Kevin:  And what is killed is our ability to care.

One word of warning, there are more adult oriented jokes and a few instances of swearing.  At one point someone refers to Peter Grave's cleft chin as his "chin ass".  They never get really R rated, more like the things you'll find on prime-time TV nowadays, but it is a bit stronger than MST was.

This disc comes in a clear keepcase and a two-sided cover.  The reverse of the cover has a collage of some of the goofier scenes from the film.

Audio:

The stereo soundtrack works well with the film.  The comments are loud and clear without overshadowing the dialog in the movie itself, and the riffs are never hard to discern.  The movie's audio track does have some background noise and is pretty weak sounding all together, but this doesn't effect viewer's enjoyment of the send up.

The one thing flaw with this disc is that there's no option to watch the movie without the comments.  That would have been great, and it's a shame they didn't think of allowing viewers to watch the movie as it was intended.  There are no subtitles either.

Video:

The full frame video isn't very stellar.  While the host segments are fine, if a bit soft, the movie itself looks pretty bad.  There are scratches and dirt throughout the film and more than a few missing frames.  The image is very soft, and the contrast is fairly narrow. I'm a little surprised that they couldn't find a better looking print to use for this DVD.  While it's a shame that the movie is so rough, it is definitely watchable and the video quality doesn't distract from enjoying the Film Crew's comments.

Extras:

The only extra on this disc is a "Did You Know...?" segment that has some faked outtakes from the film.  These are pretty funny, but they are lacking a "play all" option.

Final Thoughts:

The Film Crew is basically Mystery Science Theater Version 2.0.  With much the same premise, writers, and on-air personalities it has all of the charm and humor that MST did.  With a bit more time to work on the scripts the riffing is pretty tight and nearly always funny.  This disc would rate as one of the better episodes of MST, so fans of that late, lamented show should rush out to pick this up.  It's a funny, funny disc.  Highly Recommended.