It’s a scientific fact that Mystery Science Theater 3000 was the best show on TV, edging out such worthy competitors as Manimal, Knight Rider, and The Dukes of Hazzard. And when the show finally left the air the wave of disappointment could be felt by Jedis everywhere.
Luckily for us, the end of the show didn’t mean an end to the funny. Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett—who played, respectively, Mike Nelson, Tom Servo, and Crow T. Robot—came back with Rifftrax, which offers downloadable commentary tracks for new and old movies. The silhouettes may be gone, but the humor sure isn’t.
Missile to the Moon is part of a series of new DVDs released by Rifftrax featuring both the movie and the commentary track. Instead of having to download the track then play it in sync with the movie (think of playing Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon while watching The Wizard of Oz), you can have both playing through the television set. It’s a great idea for those like me who haven’t really taken advantage of the Rifftrax download service, and I have to say that Missile to the Moon is as funny as any of the best episodes of MST3K.
The movie is the kind of classic SF fodder that Mike, Kevin, and Bill delight in savaging. It’s full of pseudo science, women who are either helpless or pettily vindictive, and lumpy white guys making the universe safe for white men everywhere. Oh, and laughably cheesy muppet-monsters. The movie itself is laughable, but add in the commentary and it’s comic gold.
The movie is presented in Full Fram 1.33:1 aspect ratio with the audio in 2.0 Stereo. There were no problems with either the audio or the video except that at the beginning I had difficulty sometimes hearing the riffs over the original soundtrack. Thankfully that didn’t last long.
There are no extra features on this DVD.
Fans of MST3K will be delighted that Nelson, Murphy, and Corbett have continued to make fun of movies. And for those like me who haven’t quite jumped onto the Rifftrax bandwagon just yet, this should convince you. While I miss the robots and the silhouettes from everybody’s favorite cow-town puppet show, this is still great fun at a great price of only $9.95 and a DVD I’ll be sure to watch again and again until either my DVD player explodes or the disk melts. And if that’s not enough to convince you, the DVD also comes with a coupon for a free download of the Rifftrax for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. But then again, I am a fan. Highly recommended.
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Legend Films presents Rifftrax: Missile to the Moon. Directed by Richard E. Cunha. Starring Richard Travis, Cathy Downs, and K.T. Stevens with commentary by Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett. Running time: 77 minutes. Rated NR. Released on DVD: June 16, 2009. Available at Amazon.
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