If there's one thing above anything else that the video rental I frequent should be praised for, its the healthy stock of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode DVDs that they have readily available.  MST3K is one of the greatest television series of all time.  Don't even try to argue with me, or I'll shower you with...something really unpleasant to be showered with.  Yeah.

Even if you don't recognize the title, a lot of you will probably be familiar with the show's premise.  Essentially, a poor sap is trapped in space by a mad scientist, and is forced to endure the worst movies ever made with the help a couple of robots built out of spare parts.  Their only defense?  Mocking with extreme prejudice.

The series lasted a good ten seasons between cable access, Comedy Central, the Sci-Fi Channel, and a theatrical film before the show came to an end for good in 1999.  Although it's still disappointing that the show is no longer on the air, even after all these years, it's great that the series is still available to watch on DVD.  Classic episodes featuring "classic" movies like The Brain That Wouldn't Die, Mitchell, Invasion of the Neptune Men, and the queen mother of them all, Manos:  The Hands of Fate*, never get old.

Seriously, if you've never had the opportunity to watch this show, you really don't know what you're missing.  To be quite honest, the series is still genuinely funnier than most every comedy on television today.  The premise may sound simple and corny, but in its execution, Mystery Science Theater 3000 could only be described as sublime.  On the GameSpot scale, this show would rank as an 11.awesome.

*:  I'm not kidding when I say that Manos:  The Hands of Fate is quite possibly the worst film ever aired on MST3K.  Its sheer awfulness on every single conceivable level is simply jaw dropping.  The MST3K episode of it is the only way I would recommend that anyone watch the film.  I actually have a friend who once watched the uncut, regular release version of Manos despite my every warning not to, and the next time he talked to me, the first thing he did was apologize for ignoring my advice.  Of course, by being so bad, it's also become one of the best MST3K episodes ever, so if you've never seen the show, I'd definitely recommend this episode as an introduction.

But seriously, don't watch the uncut version of Manos.  Ever.