TV on DVD collections are the great exemplars of creative packaging for the holidays and although 2008 hasn’t reached any new high water marks in this regard, it has nevertheless produced a number of very interesting offerings including a Mystery Science Fiction Theater tin from Shout Factory that received a positive write-up in Sunday’s New York Times, as well as spectacular “complete series” offerings for I Dream of Jeannie and The Sopranos.
The wise-cracking Mystery Science Theater 3000, which is based on the conceit that a man and his robot sidekicks are trapped on a satellite and forced to watch really bad movies, was a cult hit that ran on various cable channels from 1988 to 1999. The only way to maintain sanity in the face of these cinematic abominations is to keep up a running commentary on their absurdities, which is formula for this series, which could well be titled “Revenge of the Peanut Gallery.” In Dave Itzkoff’s article “The Show That Turned the Mockery Into the Message” that appeared in the “Arts & Leisures” section of Sunday’s New York Times, Itzkoff profiles MST3K creator Joel Hodgson and explains the series subversive charms, while touting Shout Factory’s collection of 4 priceless MST3K “episodes,”—verbal disembowelments of First Spaceship on Venus (1960), Laserblast (1978), Werewolf (1996), and Future War (1997). The Mystery Science Theater 3000 20th Anniversary Limited Edition ($69.99) comes packaged in a spiffy tin box packed with four full color lobby cards and a figurine of Crow T. Robot.
Unfortunately, supply is tight; Shout Factory announced in late October that its entire supply was fully committed. As a result, the company is rushing its "standard" release, sans tin package, figure, and lobby cards, out early; it will street November 18th.
All 20 discs of The Complete Series come packaged in a collectible genie bottle. Although Bewitched may have been more popular in the 1960s, with its bachelor hero (astronaut Tony Nelson, played by Larry Hagman) and its super sexy heroine (Jeannie, played by Barbara Eden) I Dream of Jeannie continues to exert a strong hold over male audiences, which explains why the popularity of this series exploded when it went into syndication where it still remains very available (and popular) on a number of different cable outlets.
In addition to superb transfers of the original TV shows, I Dream of Jeannie: The Complete Series includes commentaries from the show’s stars, interviews with Barbara Eden, Larry Hagman, and Bill Daily plus some very cool collector cards featuring never-before-seen photos, episode synopses, and cast profiles.
