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Published on Tuesday, October 28, 2008 - 1:14am

MST3K!! STAR COMMAND!! FLINTSTONES!! 4400!! RASCALS!! NEWSRADIO!! ZOOM!! TIM & ERIC!! HercVault!!

I am – Hercules!!

Mystery Science Theater 3000: 20th Anniversary Edition contains four episodes, just like the 12 prior collections, but is distinguished by an overabundance of extras, including a video of the 2008 Comic-Con Reunion and a three-part “Making of MSTSK” documentary. Also unusual is the inclusion of only one Joel Hodgson installment, lobby cards and a Crow T. Robot figurine.

MOVIES:

* 2.11 “First Spaceship on Venus” (1960). Cablecast Dec. 29, 1990. Servo’s sarcasm sequencer is adjusted, junk drawers are explored and we meet the world’s coolest robot.

* 7.7 “Laserblast” (1978). Cablecast May 18, 1996. The last of the Comedy Central episodes, it saw the crew menaced by a NOMAD-like hater of imperfections, undiapered starbabies and budget cuts.

* 9.4 “Werewolf” (1996). Cablecast April 18, 1998. A concussion causes Mike to believe he’s James Lipton before he ends up in Castle Forrester. Also, Mike becomes a werecrow and poodle skirts are donned.

* 10.3 “Future War” (1997). Cablecast April 25, 1999. Mike is determined to be eight times a lady, Tom challenges Gypsy to a kickboxing contest, Crow plays Droppy the water droplet, and Bobo and Observer form an acid-rock band.

EXTRAS:

* “Comic-Con 2008 Reunion Panel” (37:58). Comedian/actor Patton Oswalt moderates the event, featuring both human leads, both Crows and both Servos: Joel Hodgson, Mike Nelson, Trace Beaulieu, Bill Corbett, J. Elvis Weinstein and Kevin Murphy, plus Bridget Jones Nelson, Paul Chaplin, Jim Mallon, Mary Jo Pehl and Frank Coniff. Hodgson, Beaulieu and Mallon sit to Oswalt’s left, the rest to his right. Coniff points out that when the show started, very few of their friends got the Comedy Channel. Learn that Tom Servo is actually a baby robot called Beeper with a gum machine added at the last minute. Mike Nelson explains how the press goaded Joe Don Baker into despising the MST3K crew. Learn that Miles O’Keefe (“Ator”) invited the gang to party in Malibu. Learn that “This Island Earth” was chosen for the movie movie because it had to be a color film and Universal didn’t have much in their library. Kevin Murphy proves a spotlight-craving bore. Frank Coniff, who may be funnier here than he was on the show, remembers recommending “Bela Legosi Versus The Brooklyn Gorilla” for a target and being asked to leave the building.

* “The History of MST3K (Part I)” (25:25) Learn that Joel Hodgson quit doing his many pre-MST3K “Saturday Night Live” and “Late Night With David Letterman” appearances because the shows were exhausting all his material. Learn that Hodgson sold about 70 “robot sculptures” before creating MST3K. Learn that Hodgson was inspired by “The Omega Man,” which featured Charleton Heston watching “Woodstock” by himself. He was also inspired by “Silent Running,” about a guy who lived alone on a spaceship with his robot pals, and the inside of an Elton John album, which depicted the backs of three people as they watched a Clark Gable movie. Learn that Josh Elvis Weinstein was 16 when he started lending his voice to the original Tom Servo on the pre-Comedy Channel shows for Minneapolis UHF station KTMA. Learn that the show’s KTMA per-episode budget was $100; $45 for Joel; $12 each for Trace Beaulieu and Weinstein. Learn that Joel and the bots faced a an enormous screen that was two feet in front of them. Learn that Kevin Murphy invented the multiple-door sequences that took viewers into the “auditorium.” Learn that DEVO inspired the theme song. Learn that Dr. Clayton Forrester was based on comedy club owners.

* “The History of MST3K (Part II)” (23:07) Learn that Hodgson co-wrote Jerry Seinfeld’s special “Stand-Up Confidential.” Learn that execs for The Comedy Channel, originally modeled on MTV, had many ideas, most of which were roundly ignored. Learn that The Comedy Channel wanted to move the production to its home studio in New York. Learn that the biggest change that came with the leap from a local UHF station to a national cable channel was a budget for scripting the riffing in advance. Learn that when The Comedy Channel ordered the show, writer Mike Nelson was recruited by Weinstein, who knew him from the local stand-up circuit. Learn that Nelson was quickly promoted to heard writer because every joke he suggested put everyone in stitches. Learn that stand-up Frank Coniff, who knew Nelson, was brought aboard as a writer to replace Weinstein, who departed the show after the first Comedy Channel season. Learn that Weinstein still seems a little stunned by how the show flourished without him. (Though the doc does not explain why Weinstein elected to move on.) Learn that Mary Jo Pehl was a well-known area comedian when she approached the show about a writing position. Learn that the sketches proved far more important to the writers than to the audience. Learn that Hodgson left because he no longer felt like the creative leader of the show. Learn that three or four outsiders were auditioned to replace Hodgson.

* “The History of MST3K (Part III)” (32:25) Learn that fans were slow to welcome Hodgson’s replacement. Learn that “South Park” is blamed for pushing MST3K off Comedy Central. Learn that, thanks to Gramercy Pictures input, making the movie was a less pleasant experience than making the TV show. Learn that Nelson thinks “This Island Earth” is cheesy and overrated. Learn that the movie only played in 35 cinemas nationwide while Gramercy’s Pam Anderson vehicle “Barb Wire” went into 2,500. Learn that Hodgson’s departure influenced Beaulieu to leave as well. Learn that thought was given to dropping the Crow character after Beaulieu’s departure. Learn that Bill Corbett proved an awful puppeteer when he first inherited the role of Crow. Learn that Bridget Jones Nelson’s hairstyle has evolved considerably over the years. Learn that Chris Cornell is the administrator of the fan site Satellite News, and has really let himself go since his Soundgarden days.

* “Variations Of A Theme Song” (9:31) Compiles all the various show openings (including the earliest, with very different-looking … everything), with the title-song lyrics altered to reflect evolutions in the show’s cast and premise.

This business about a “complete collection” is a bit confusing. Only three of the 22 pre-1929 silent “Our Gang” shorts are included here, and you won’t find Robert Blake or Froggy Laughlin cavorting on this set because their tenure in “Our Gang” was subsequent to 1938, when the franchise migrated to MGM (and where it remained until its April 1944 demise). But the title The Little Rascals: The Complete Collection is technically correct because the 80 shorts Hal Roach bought back from MGM are the only ones retitled “The Little Rascals,” and all of those are in this set, courtesy current rights-holder RHI Entertainment.