Product Details

• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Rhino / Wea
• VHS Release Date: October 5, 1999
• Run Time: 81 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00001U0DN
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #227,587 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Right People Will Get This, January 12, 2000

By 

J. Collins (Las Vegas, NV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Shorts Vol. 2 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The bad news: Tom Servo doesn't introduce the shorts so there's no transitioning from one to the next. More importantly NO "Mr. B Natural" in this collection. C'mon Rhino what are you waiting for?

However, this tape's got two of the best shorts MST's done, "What to do on a Date" and "Last Clear Chance". Apparently all we have to do on dates is find a decoration party for a garage sale (complete with Cokes and ice cream), a swim meet or a wienie roast. [If only I'd known this sooner-I could have saved the money taking girlfriends to Vienna and London]. Anyway, DID kids in the '50s really need a film to tell them what to do? I suspect this was made to prevent those "petting/make-out parties that kids nowadays are doing what with their hula hoops and lewd Rocking-and-Rolling".

"Last Clear Chance" has a death-obsessed highway patrolman dropping in uninvited to discuss fatal traffic accidents with a farm family that has no chores to do. Mike and the 'Bots rip this apart; you might have to watch it a couple times to get the jokes you missed while laughing.

The other 4 shorts are worth watching, especially the last one "Days of Our Years". A Kafkaesque nightmare of a safety film with a Reverend poking himself into railwaymen's tragic lives. A hoot. Buy This.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More classic MST3K shorts (by darkgenius), August 23, 2002

By 

Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Shorts Vol. 2 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

MST3K Shorts Volume 2 gives us 6 more classic short features with our hilarious friends on the Satellite of Love. It is a little shorter than Volume 1, coming in at around 82 minutes in length, and its contents rate a little lower than the gems featured on its predessessor, but it still delivers one laugh after another. Catching Trouble is a little problematic in that it features man's inhumanity toward animals, but Joel and the Bots not only apologize for the actions of Ross the animal trapper, their jokes are directed at him and his rather indecent activities. Basically, we watch Ross (whom the male narrator keeps creepily referring to as "my boy friend Ross") and his Indian guide capture a bobcat, two bear cubs, and three rattlesnakes in the Everglades. Rounding up snakes is one thing, but manhandling a bobcat and kidnapping two young bear cubs is something else. Joel and the Bots succeed in making Ross look the fool, though, which is this short's saving grace. What To Do on a Date is one of my favorite MST3K shorts; the title alone tells you how much fun Joel, Tom, and Crow are going to have with this one. Throw in a real goof like Nick, and you've got classic comedy. In case you are wondering, the whole point of the film's suggestions seems to consist of never allowing a couple to be alone together for a single moment. A Day at the Fair is, predictably, the story of a day at the fair. In the cattle-judging contest, the blue ribbon goes to a girl, at which point Crow unleashes the great line, "The cows are furious!"

Keeping Clean is not as funny as it is weird. Apparently, 12-year old kids had to be shown step by step how to take showers and get dressed. The short is basically a how-to guide for becoming anally retentive about grooming, and a kid would spend hours every day trying to do everthing the short tells them to do. Of course, it could be that the narrator just enjoyed watching a boy shower; he seemed just a little bit too interested in children's underwear, too. The most striking things in this short are the sweeping claims the narrator makes--being super-clean is important for your health and the health of those around you, but more than that, good appearance helps you get along with others. Conformity must have ruled the day in 50s elementary schools.

Then we come to two shorts produced by Union Pacific Railroad. They remind me of those safety films we had to watch in elementary school, the ones that tried to scare you to death. "Last Clear Chance" shows you what happens when you ignore traffic signs and signals (trains and convertibles just don't mix), while "The Days of Our Years" features death, maiming, and disfigurement. It's pretty depressing stuff, but the stories are so overdramatic and overdone that Mike and the Bots have no trouble injected lots of laughs into the experience.

What To Do on a Date is certainly a short you don't want to miss, but it's the only real classic on here. It would have been nice to have Crow or Mike "host" this volume the way Servo hosted volume 1, but the lack of a host doesn't detract from the shorts themselves. MSTies can't go wrong with any of these shorts collections.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Man, were the fifties really that depressing?, December 17, 1999

By 

"sasseesmurf" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Shorts Vol. 2 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Wow. I loved this video. A collection of shorts including CATCHING TROUBLE, WHAT TO DO ON A DATE, LAST CLEAR CHANCE, A DAY AT THE FAIR, KEEPING CLEAN, and THE DAYS OF OUR YEARS. I have never laughed so hard and so constantly as I did through the 80something minutes of this video. CT, though a very disturbing look at pre-PETA days, has Ross and his "Indian guide"--ha! tracking down poor defenseless animals in the Everglades to send to a zoo. Joel & TBs root for the animals to maul Ross by the end of this nasty flick. WTDOAD is so dumb that I would laugh even without the commentary. Obviously the kids of the fifties and sixties (read: our parents) found better things to do on a date... since we're all here! LCC tells us about the dangers of reckless driving and the policeman in this is just hilarious. It goes something like this... Our young hero: Oh, sure, officer. I know that guy. He's a good pal of mine. Officer: Well... He's DEAD! KC is another MST3K classic. "Now you're officially an obsessive-compulsive!" ADATF follows a family on their "fun day" at the fair. And last but not least is Days Of Our Years. Man, that was a disturbing short. Only Joel & the bots could have gotten me through that buzzkill of a public service message from Union Pacific Railroad "UPR make the best movies!" All in all, a wonderful viewing experience. But Days of our Years might make you cry!