Mystery Science Theater 3000 - The Brain That Wouldn't Die

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Mystery Science Theater 3000 experienced a changing of the guard with this fifth-season episode. Departed series creator and lead Joel Hodgson was replaced by head writer Mike Nelson, playing a hapless temp named... Mike Nelson, who was sent into space to cover for Hodgson's escape. The opening credit sequence and title theme (warbled by Nelson) were also new, but the show's basic premise--poking fun at atrocious B movies--remained the same.

Nelson's debut "experiment" is the delirious 1960 head-transplant horror The Brain That Wouldn't Die. And while Nelson is occasionally stiff, particularly during the invention exchange (a longtime Hodgson staple, and soon to be excised), he and robot pals Crow and Tom Servo rise to the occasion during the film, which is filled with memorable zingers (Crow: "He's keeping her alive with Grey Poupon!"). Rhino's DVD presents the uncut, slightly gory version of Brain with and without the MST3K treatment. --Paul Gaita

Customer Reviews:

A Must See. No Question........2007-07-15

Well, this is the first MST3K episode with Mike Nelson as host. But that's not the only thing that makes this episode a must see. The jokes are simply hilarious from the beginning, and get even better all the way through to the end. And the movie itself just has a sense of importance to it. I read on the internet somewhere that it couldn't get released for 2 years after it was made because of the sheer violence contained in it. And yeah, the movie is pretty darn violent. But MST3K makes the violence beyond hilarious. After a monster in the closet tears the lab assistant's arm off, he stumbles around slamming his wound into the wall, and Mike says, "Now he's going to fall into a pan of lemon juice."

Also the movie brings up a lot of philosophical issues I don't see raised in other MST3K movies. Or if they are raised, they're so bland and trite that they're not worth paying attention to. However, this movie is different. You really do think about, "Hmm, is the desire for medical progress extreme enough to be classified as playing God?" and, of course, the old Frankenstein scenario, "If a bunch of human parts formed together to make a living creature, would it have a soul?" This movie's like Frankenstein in a lot of ways, but the MST3K crew doesn't care. They just make fun of everything on the screen. Sure, the monster just lit the place on fire and bit the doctor's neck off, but look, his mask is just tied in the back!

Great show, good price.......2007-04-12

Any review of Mystery Science Theater 3000 written by me is boilerplate. MST3K was one of the funniest and most intelligent TV series ever to inhabit the ether. I am proud to possess a copy of every episode (except the missing K0-K3 titles, and you Misties know of what I speak).
The Brain That Wouldn't Die is one of my personal favorites.

Not one of their best..........2006-06-10

First let me say I am a huge MST3K fan and I have been known to record over precious family moments if I had no clean tapes. (Not MY precious family moments but, well, you get the idea...)
My favorites include Catalina Caper, Manos: T.H.O.F., The Screaming Skull, Wild Rebels, any Bert I. Gordon, etc. The list is almost endless. (Notice I say 'almost')
This is Mikes' 'first' film and while he and the bots keep the quips comin' they just are'nt as rapid fire as usaul and it shows. It's like they didn't want to give up on using this cinematic dreck but didn't have enough time or energy to give it a good thrashing.
I really tried to love this one (really, truly I did) but out of all the dozens of episodes I've seen (and I have seen PLENTY), only one or two didn't make my Movies-I-Will-Memorize list. Sadly, this one is hovering right near The Mask of Fu Manchu on the loser list. If you've never seen the show you might like it but as a MST gourmet; I've laughed harder.

Welcome, Mike Nelson!.......2006-06-01

The first of the "Mike" episodes; kind of sad for Joel fans, but Mike has a real zing to the commentary that makes up for his poor acting in the bridge segments. The movie itself - uck - a scientist's girlfriend's head kept alive with hydroponics or some such, really kind of a snoozer. But, if you like MST3K, especially the Mike episodes, you'll enjoy this one.

Mike replaces Joel on the SOL, and hilarity quickly ensues.......2006-03-06

Much to my surprise, I just realized that I apparently haven't gotten around to reviewing this classic episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Not only is it an especially funny episode, it is of great historical importance as the first episode featuring Mike Nelson as the human subject for Dr. Forrester's experiments (Joel Hodgson having bowed out in mid-season #5), thus giving rise to the who's funnier controversy that all of us fans seem to enjoy arguing about so much. The whole show got a makeover of sorts, from the theme song to new theatre doors to a new look to Deep 13. Mike, of course, was no stranger to MSTies, having served as head writer for years and having popped up numerous times in skits. That, plus the fact that Mike is a comic genius totally at home in front of the camera, made a rather traumatic event (Joel was, after all, the heart and soul of the whole show) a celebration rather than a wake. It was the start of a phenomenal run, as some of the show's funniest episodes can be found in Mike's half of that fifth season.

Naturally, Best Brains wanted a slam-dunk movie for Mike's debut, and The Brain That Wouldn't Die (also known - in the movie's end credits, no less - as The Head That Wouldn't Die) was a can't-miss. Any show featuring a talking head in a pan of neck juice is rife for ribbing. You've also got a mutated monster so ugly that even Tor Johnson's mother couldn't love him, an arm-challenged mad scientist's assistant, a doctor whose idea of saving lives involves murder, a stripper catfight, and even a beauty contest. And let's not forget the talking decapitated head, even though said head proves so annoying that many would argue the good doctor should have left the head to burn and saved the body instead.

You think you really know the woman you love - until you take her decapitated head, put it in a pan, and keep it alive with your own special blend of neck juice. Dr. Bill Cortner (Jason Evers), a new-breed doctor who bravely goes where most doctors (at least, those not named Frankenstein) fear to tread, could have just let his fiance Jan (Virginia Leith) die after her head gets chopped off in an auto accident. Instead, he grabbed her head, hustled it up to his personal lab, set it up all nice and neat in his own special recipe of life-maintaining gravy, and went out in search of a new body for the woman he loved. But does Peggy appreciate everything Bill has done for her? Nooooo. Not one bit. All she does is turn into the mouth that wouldn't shut up and makes "you should have let me die" her new mantra. Apparently, all of her nice qualities were located in her torso because she turns into a vengeful little spitfire who proclaims herself the leader of the doctor's army of mutant creations (all one of them). In her defense, Dr. Cortner is one weird dude with a pretty disturbing hairstyle, but she knew that before she dropped 95% of her body mass. Maybe she's just mad that the selective doctor is seeking an upgrade model for her new body, but you can hardly blame the guy for that. Why settle for pancakes when you can have the whole hungry man's breakfast?

No self-respecting MSTie would dare be without this hilarious, historically important episode in his/her personal collection.

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