For those that don't know, here is the basic rundown- Mad scientist traps a guy in a satellite (dubbed The Satellite of Love by Joel), where he performs experiments seeing the effect of bad movies will have on said luckless human lab rat. Along with his robot sidekicks, Crow and Tom Servo, the regular guy endures bad movies by making fun of the movies in various ways ranging from the obscure reference, to the most simple boneheaded insult- jokes than run the gamut from the silly to the sharp witted. Basically, the premise allows you to feel like you have three really funny friends to watch a bad movie with. They sit there in shadow, in the corner of your screen, making these old b-movies far more interested than they originally were. And, in the bumper segments between commercials, they converse, do skits, have an invention exchange, address the audience, sing songs, make pop culture references... When I first started watching the show it reminded me of a grown up Sesame Street, not really because of the fact that you were watching puppets that were surprisingly defined characters, but that these segments made you feel like part of the show, like it was there for your benefit, oddly catering to you.

Episode #513- The Brain That Wouldn't Die aired during the shows fifth season and was the introduction of Mike Nelson as show host and resident guinea pig. You couldn't ask for better MST fodder than 1962's The Brain That Wouldn't Die, the heartwarming tale of a sleazy surgeon, Dr. Bill Cortner, and his desire to transplant his wife Jan's recently severed head onto a prostitutes body. Jan in the pan, as the bots and Mike refer to her, is kept on a dissecting tray (or lasagna pan) in Bill's basement lab where she is maintained by his scientist cohort with a mangled hand. Also keeping her company, locked in a nearby closet, is their failed experiment, a twisted amalgam of freak parts with whom Jan develops a psychic connection.

Some of this episodes choice jokes include- Mike and the bots ponder how one keeps a severed head alive, "Doesn't she need lungs?", "No she has neck juice."... When Dr. Cortner enters a seedy nightclub Tom Waits Pasties and a G-String is sung, and upon seeing the bar patrons we get the remark, "Welcome to the Diane Arbus cafe"... Crow notes, "A head without a body is like a day without sunshine."... Jan in the pan laughs and they joke, "If I had sides they'd be splitting right now."... And, my favorite bit involves the poor already maimed assistant getting his arm ripped off by the freak, then stumbling around dying. They quip, "Now how am I going to tell fish stories?" and "Ironically, he collapses into an arm chair."... Of course all are infinitely more funny hearing them then reading them.

Mike would go on to prove himself as a worthy successor and would see the show through a network change and feature film. While I think the show had more pits and volleys, episodes I didn't particularly like, during his run, The Brain That Wouldn't Die has remained a very good episode. My favoritism will always be for Joel, but Mike really couldnt ask for a better introduction than this movie and this episode. His easygoing personality and large noggin'ed charm was perfectly suited for the tale of a woman who only has her noggin', a pan, and a twisted freak under her mind control.

The DVD: Rhino Home Video

Picture: Standard Full Screen - 1.33:1. Well, it looks as good as it can look. The intention was never to get pristine prints of these films, and the show, itself, looks as good as a low budgeted show on a marginal cable network can look.

Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. One of the things that was always a personal grumble, and was no doubt hard for the MST crew to deal with, was the distinction between the movie audio and the comment audio. Naturally, since they sometimes talk over the actual film dialogue, you have to find a happy medium where the comment track and film track can share the same space. In this case, I thought there were often bits of the film track that were a tad too inaudible and soft. It is probably due to the films source, but I found I had to turn my audio up and the quips by Mike and the bots were much louder than the film audio. It is just worth mentioning, not so negative that anyone should be turned off on buying the disc.

Extras: Shadow-Rama sticker--- Chapter selections--- Rhino title gallery and website info--- Uncut, non-MSTied version of The Brain That Wouldn't Die.

Conclusion: A landmark episode in the series and a darn funny one. Whether you are a fan or potential fan- Get it. A great episode either way.