Lots of Mystery Science Theater news!

Somehow I missed that there was a whole new installment of Mystery Science Theater 3000 out on DVD!

1. The Rebel Set - This episode is notorious for being the one in which a gang leader adopts a "disguise" consisting of a different shirt and suddenly none of the members of his gang recognize him.  The reason for their bafflement is so poorly communicated to the audience that this essential plot point makes for a lot of great MST3K jokes.
   
2. Secret Agent Super Dragon - When a cheap scale model is attacked by other toys, it is time for Secret Agent Super Dragon to fly into action.  I love the spy gear jokes they make throughout the film.  This was the first MST3K ep I ever saw; I'm glad it's finally available.
   
3. The Star Fighters - Nothing to do with arcade consoles in trailer parks, sorry to say.  (What?  I liked that movie!)
   
4. Parts: The Clonus Horror - The *cough cough* "inspiration", if you will, for Michael Bay's The Island.  Aside from all of the identical plot points and the same storyline, it's a completely different movie.  Bonus: This one is very 70s.  Can you say "Bounce! Behave!"?

Michael Nelson has been trying to find some way to recapture the MST3K glory.  He started with commentaries for colorized DVDs, with some success.  (The "Night of the Living Dead" installment is excellent.)  He then launched Rifftrax, downloadable commentaries which you can play while running your own version of a blockbuster (or big screen bomb)  on a DVD in your computer.  He started off alone and then reunited with Tom Servo and Crow (a/k/a Kevin Murphy and Billy Corbett) for many of the latest RiffTrax.

And now, here comes The Film Crew.  Nelson, Murphy and Corbett, doing audio commentaries together for schlocky old movies.  I haven't seen one yet, but it sounds like the best thing to happen for MST3K fans since, oh, the year 1999?

Oh...and Joel Hodgson is launching a similar endeavor, Cinematic Titanic.