Featured TV on DVD Review: MST3K: Season 11

April 15, 2018

MST3K: Season 11 - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray

MST3K

I previously reviewed the episodes of this series when they first came out on Netflix, but this week, the full season comes out on DVD or Blu-ray. Are there any extras on the DVD / Blu-ray? Is it worth the price?

The Show

I’ve previous reviewed this show in three volumes, because the show wasn’t made to be binged, unlike nearly every other show on Netflix. You can read those reviews here:

Volume 1

Volume 2

Volume 3

The DVD has all 14 episodes for a price-per-episode that is nearly 50% less than the recently released discount DVDs. Furthermore, this is also coming out on Blu-ray, which is great for fans of the show who have always wanted high definition. But are there any extras?

The Extras

Yes. There are extras. ... Although wouldn’t it be amazing if there weren’t any and this entire review was just links to the previous reviews.

The only extras on the retail version is A Good Test Case: Bringing Back MST3K Doc, a feature-length look at the show from its its origins in the 1980s all the way to the 11th season. It does concentrate on the revival from getting the rights, the Kickstarter, etc., but I like that you get a look at the very early parts of the show. They even have short interview clips with some of the high level Kickstarter backers. It’s nearly 75 minutes long and more than enough to give the DVD / Blu-ray serious value.

... But what if you want more? What if you are willing to pay for a Kickstarter edition of the DVD / Blu-ray? What will you get?

If you were like me and were a backer of the Kickstarter, then you also get a minute-long intro by Joel Hodgson. There is a gallery of Concept Art. It runs two and a half minutes and compares concept art with the final miniatures. There is a similarly long Production Gallery. Up next is four minutes of outtakes. They have all seven videos for the Kickstarter campaign, including the Turkey Day Marathon and The Final Countdown Telethon. The total running time is nearly 80 minutes. After the Campaign has most videos, including the Cast Reunion Show, ComicCon panel, etc. The shortest of these is 11 minutes long, while the total running time is over 80 minutes long. That’s a lot of extras just for the Kickstarter backers; however, it cost $200 to get the DVD / Blu-ray, so they did pay a lot to get this exclusive.

The Verdict

If you backed the MST3K: Season 11 Kickstarter at a high enough level to get the DVD or Blu-ray, then you should be very happy with what you got. If you missed out, the retail DVD and Blu-ray still has a feature-length documentary on the making of the latest season. That’s enough for the overall package to be a Pick of the Week contender.

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