YET ANOTHER 15 MINUTES OF "MST3K" FAME Vol. XXIV: Fugitive Aliens & Mighty Jacks

Last April, while my cohorts and I were handling Haruo Nakajima's appearance at the Monsterpalooza convention in beautiful downtown Burbank, I was tapped by Shout! Factory to shoot an interview for their MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 box set containing, arguably, the best (and most infamous) episodes of the seires: Gamera. After we finished the coverage for Vol. XXI, Special Features Producer Jordan Fields revealed that they had cleared the rights for Sandy Frank's TIME OF THE APES, MIGHTY JACK, FUGITIVE ALIEN, and STAR FORCE ("Fugitive Alien II"), based on the respective television series from Tsuburaya Producitons, and asked if I had anything to say about them. Well, since I love this stuff, I did.

Released December 6, 2011, MST3K: Vol. XXII contained TIME OF THE APES, MIGHTY JACK, THE VIOLENT YEARS, and THE BRUTE MAN. I provided on-screen introductions for TIME OF THE APES and MIGHTY JACK. The former was a 26-episode take on the popular PLANET OF THE APES film series, ARMY OF THE APES (1974), and the latter was an hour-long, 13-episode science fiction-tinged espionage drama, MIGHTY JACK (1968). Of course, the condensation of 26-episodes into a 97-minute film, would make even this juvenile adventure series even more confounding — especially with Sandy Frank's excruciating dubbing — while MIGHTY JACK comes across as a poor man's WHAT'S UP TIGER LILY?, making it prime MST3K fodder.

The latest, MST3K Vol. XXIV, released July 31, 2012, features the two Sandy Frank films culled from the 24-episode series, STAR WOLF (1979), based on Edmund Hamilton's pulp sci-fi adventure, produced in the wake of STAR WARS: FUGITIVE ALIEN and STAR FORCE. Also included in this set are THE SWORD AND THE DRAGON and SAMSON VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMEN. For FUGITIVE ALIEN, I provide the on-screen introduction to kick off the extras for this set, which includes three "MST Hour Wraps" with Mike Nelson as Jack Perkins, "You Asked For It: Sandy Frank Speaks!", two shorts ("Snow Thrills" and "A Date With Your Family"), "Lucha Gringo: K. Gordon Murray Meets Santo", a TV Spot for SAMSON VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMEN, and "Life After "MST3K": Frank Conniff".

It was a fun morning providing some background on these television series, to put them into context for the legion of MSTies and the uninitiated, and it was an honor to be involved with Shout! Factory's continuing stellar presentations of MST3K. It would be a pleasure to do it again if they eventually clear the rights to release Toei's PRINCE OF SPACE, INVASION OF THE NEPTUNE MEN, and LEGEND OF THE DINOSAURS. I'd love to talk about the Phantom of Krankor, if you're reading this, Jordan...

MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 VS. GAMERA! Shout!'s Boxset Touches Down August 2, 2011!

Shout! Factory's vivid package art for the upcoming tin box.

Santa Monica-based label, Shout! Factory has finally cleared the way for the release of what some may believe is the greatest (or worse) riff on Japanese Monster Movies, ever — MST3K Vol. XX: "MST3K vs. Gamera"! That's right, all of the inept Sandy Frank versions of Daiei's classic Gamera series as they were ripped on MST3K, complete and uncut, all in one special tin box set dropping on August 2, 2011. The set will sport five discs featuring experiments 302: GAMERA (1991-06-08), 304: GAMERA VS. BARUGON (1991-06-22), 308: GAMERA VS. GAOS (1991-07-20), 312: GAMERA VS. GUIRON (1991-09-07) and 316: GAMERA VS. ZIGRA (1991-10-19). These films should also be special to hardcore Misties, since they were also featured during the original (and legendary) KTMA-TV's "Season 0" episodes.

The Special Features for MST3K Vol. XX: "MST3K vs. Gamera" will include these on-screen featurettes: "So Happy Together: A Look Back at MST3K and Gamera", "Gamera vs. The Chiodo Brothers", "Gamera Obscura: A Brief History by August Ragone" (hey, that's me!), as well as the original Japanese trailers & five limited-edition mini-posters by artist Steve Vance. This past April, while attending the "Monsterpalooza" convention in Burbank (we brought over Godzilla himself, Haruo Nakajima, for the show), I was interviewed by Shout! Factory's Jordan Fields, way up in a secluded hacienda in the Hollywood Hills. Keeping things light, I talked about the origins of Gamera, how the films were received in Japan, and how they were released in the US before Sandy Frank. I also spoke about how MST3K has kept Gamera in the public eye, and why we should thank Sandy Frank. Seriously.

MST3K Vol. XX: "MST3K vs. Gamera" is currently available for pre-order from a number of online retail sites, including Amazon.com, with an MSRP of $64.99. I predict that this will be one of the biggest-selling of all MST3K sets to date, and I urge you to order your own copy ASAP — because if you miss it, you'll spin right into orbit, just like that colossal turtle meat-filled chelonian himself!