Mystery Science Theater 3000 Volume 8

For anyone unfamiliar with the premise of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 at this point in the series' history it goes like so: MST3K is about smart-ass mofos making fun of incredibly bad movies. That's it. Three characters, shown in silhouette in the bottom right-hand corner, sit through the movie and unleash smart ass cracks that cover every conceivable aspect of pop culture and are hellarious for those brave enough to watch. I mean, yeah, there's a funny commentary underneath, but we still have to see the monstrosities that spawned such humour and they are stinkers. There's a vague plot about why there are watching the movies — one human and a bunch of robots are trapped in space by the evil (insert name, the show changes radically over its run) and he/she's studying how many bad movies he can withstand before he breaks — but that's really not the point. The sets, acting and plot aren't so awesome either (one of the robots is a gumball machine) but we're not watching for the intros, outros or segues to get to the bad movies, we're watching for the running commentary during the bad movie, and it's funny as all hell. And by bad, we're not talking about Doom or Robots or some junk, we're talking truly awful. Example? Well, Volume 8 (which switches up theme songs and protagonists halfway through without explanation, but, whatever) features such "gems" as Hobgoblins, The Phantom Planet, Monster A-Go Go and The Dead Talk Back. Yeah, I never heard of them either. But they're bad, really bad, featuring some horrible acting, horrendous effects and plot? Well, if these made sense, they wouldn't be so ripe for ridicule. But ridiculed they are and even after eight volumes, the one-note premise is still funny as ever, thanks to the show's undying dedication, knowledge and mocking of crappy films. (Warner Music)