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The movie was slightly after the departure of the gay cast member (TV's Frank), but I doubt they all suddenly turned homophobic when he left- and I think Rosenbaum was vastly overestimating the quantity of homophobia in the jokes.

Wow. Oh, wow. I love Rosenbaum and even had the man himself sign one of his books for me (a very jittery starstruck version of me, admittedly) but he was particularly humorless the day he wrote that review, wasn't he?

I always assumed that a lot of the 'gay jokes' were just obvious plays on the rather close relationship that our jet-setting butch-scientist (?!) hero has with his stay-at-home assistant in the first part of the film. It may be the easiest possible joke to make but you could even critique the relationship in This Island Earth itself based on the way that after his successful test flight our hero returns home to find his domestic (lab) life in disarray and his assistant begging him to look at the goodies available in the latest catalogue that he has received! Though I do think that overall Mars Attacks! used elements of This Island Earth in a more effectively comedic manner than the rather underwhelming MST3K film - I prefer the episodes of the show where the film that they are viewing is so bad it is really torturing the wisecrackers!

And for the record I love the 'straight' version of This Island Earth. Even if it is not perhaps in Forbidden Planet's league, it comes close and certainly deserves to be bracketed with other classic 'moral' (if heavy-handed) technicolor 50s sci-fi such as When Worlds Collide or Invaders From Mars.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Volume 21: All 5 Gamera films (August 2nd)



People thought it would never happen, but Shout Factory pulled the right strings on this one!

I don't mean to be crude, but I want to masturbate onto that.

I love Shout! Factory.

Oh, wow, that set's been rumored for a while, but that is a gorgeous box. No little toy, though? I'm not sure the extra $20-30 will be worth it for the deluxe edition if the only difference is a tin box instead of a cardboard one.

You're right. It's been too long since I've seen it. Or any episode.

Y'know, MST3K really doesn't seem like Rosenbaum's kinda thing. I suppose he hadn't yet earned the right to pick and choose his films by 1996. Still, I bet if he'd watch more than a couple minutes of the shows some obscure Jarmush or Edward Yang reference would have lowered his defenses and he'd have been won over eventually.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Volume 21: All 5 Gamera films (August 2nd)

"Oh, that one. He's on the Mescaline!"

Ugh, has anyone else bought a copy of Vol XX off of ebay? Twice running now, I've gotten the same insultingly obvious bootleg, where the text is full of typos and the episodes are all on the wrong discs.

Report that shit!

I tried. Ebay's customer service line logs me in then immediately kicks me back out to the main menu, and my only other option is to contact the seller (who has admitted that all his copies of XX are bootlegs, but offered me a refund.)

I'd urge you to find a way to reach eBay (try another browser, or call them up at 1-888-749-3229). In addition to you getting your refund, this seller should really get a warning at least, especially if they openly admit they're selling bootlegs.

Yeah, I managed to get through to ebay now, although I'm not convinced they're actually going to do anything. I also contacted Shout.

I really hate when people try to pass off shitty bootlegs as real items- it's one thing when it's the grey market Hong Kong stuff where everyone knows what's going on, but this shit muddies the waters so badly that it's impossible to figure out what's legal and what isn't. I prefer Amazon's Draconian style, where the seller essentially has to prove that they didn't screw up.

It got me kicked off of Amazon Marketplace after one false accusation of false advertising.

Yeow. I'm a seller there and I've had a few bullshitty complaints go against me, but nothing that bad.

Wow, Shout is awesome- they want to see what the bootleg looks like, so they offered to trade me a legitimate copy for one. I love companies that care as much as I do about this kind of thing.

Excellent. You should send them that seller's information, too.

Shout's reissuing the MST3K Manos on September 13th

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Gamera review

Manos: The Hands Of Fate Shout Factory extras
Disc 1
Mystery Science Theater 3000 version “Manos” The Hands Of Fate
-Group Therapy (Joel, Trace, Frank & Mary Jo relive the horror)
-MST Hour wraps
Disc 2
the original “Manos” The Hands Of Fate feature film
-Hotel Torgo, a documentary on the making of “Manos” The Hands Of Fate
-Jam Handy To the Rescue!
-Hired!, (parts 1 and 2)
-and more!
-exclusive mini-poster by artist Steve Vance.

Has Manos been released in one of the big sets before?

In The Essentials set

Yes, the 2-disc "Mystery Science Theater: The Essentials" (2 discs, with Santa Claus Conquers The Martians / Manos double bill) from Rhino.

Can anybody please confirm or deny if any of the MST3K boxsets like the Essentials or Gamera include subtitles for the deaf or hearing-impaired?

They don't. To be fair, it'd be nearly impossible to subtitle in a legitimately workable way.