Any More "MST3K" Collections In the Works?
 

I know the latest collection of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" (Volume 3) just came out this past Spring, but I just can't get enough of Joel, Mike and the 'Bots.

With so many episodes from this series (well over 200), I am curious as to why there's only around 20 available on DVD? There's a few more available on VHS. I wonder why they're not on disc?

I'm sure there are rights issues involved here. But with so many episodes filmed, there's gotta be a bunch more that can be released on DVD.

I have gone to the official MST3K site and snooped around. And I've also briefly investigated older threads from this forum, but to no avail.

So, does anyone know if there are any plans on releasing more episodes of "MST3K" in the near future?

From MST3KInfo.com:

As far as I know, nothing else about the title has been said since.

Thanks for the info. I wonder what it could be? If it's still on for the fourth quarter of 2003, then we should be hearing about it fairly soon.

I'm hopefully, but with Rhino there is just no telling.

I really hope its MST3K the movie. That would save me hundreds of dollars.

Why is "MST3K: The Movie" no longer available on DVD?

I am a late-comer to the whole MST3K phenom. I never once watched it during its initial run. I rented the movie on VHS from Blockbuster about six months ago...and was roaring with laughter. I have since bought everything available on DVD, from individual episodes (all were just okay, but not as funny as the feature film) to the three various collections (very funny stuff). But I still think the funniest of all MST3K productions is the feature film. I really hope they re-release it for DVD. The price on ebay is just ridiculous; somewhere around $100 last time I checked.

I also understand that some episodes of the 200-or-so may never see the light of day due to rights issues with other studios. What a shame! Especially for someone like me who is just getting started viewing this series. With such a large following that even attends conventions for the darned thing, I am surprised that the distributor doesn't pay whatever the necessary costs are in order to make all the episodes eventually available on DVD.

At least I have the repeats on the Sci-Fi channel every Satuday morning at 9:00 EST. I don't know how many I will be able to eventually watch, but I am taping them just in case they begin to fall into the "forever lost" category.

The movie is on DVD, but it's out of print. I had an opportunity to pick it up for $15 back a couple years ago, but I passed. No you're lucky to find it for less than $75. :mad:

I remember when the movie was the only episode of MST3K available on DVD. It was one of the first DVDs I ever bought four years ago, before I actually bought a DVD player.

It was one of my first DVD purchases as well. Hopefully Universal will put it on DVD again one day. Rhino would not be able to though. If Universal went to the trouble to take the rights back from Image I doubt they would give them to Rhino.

Universal holds the rights, and they originally licensed it to another company, Image. When that deal was up, the Image disc was taken off the market, and Universal has yet to get around to re-releasing the movie themselves.

Well, there are a lot of issues at work here.

One, not all of the movies can be relicensed. One licensor, Sandy Frank, for instance, refuses to have any role in re-licensing those movies for use on MST3K.

Two, the cost of licensing varies from title to title, and from what Rhino has indicated, it's not financially feasible to license some of these movies. MST3K has given many of these movies somewhat of a higher profile, and some of the licensors apparently want considerably more money than they did originally.

Three, the market will only bear so much material. Stores will only carry so many MST3K discs on their shelves at any given time.

I posted a suggestion on Usenet a couple years ago for one solution I think would be workable, but it didn't get much of a response. Or any response whatsoever, actually.

www.dapcentral.org

Read the FAQs and try it. :up:

Here you go. Its Sci-Fi era which is a bit disapointing, but its still MST3K and I'm buying it. From mst3kinfo.com


Girl in Gold Boots is one of my favorite Sci-Fi episodes. Guess Rhino is done with the Comedy Central era though.

I got MST the movie about 7 months ago for $20 on another forum. I felt bad at first...

I not a MST3000 fanatic (yet) but, in general, I really enjoyed the show when it was on Sci-Fi. I hope these are good espisodes :up:

Some people's blind Sci-Fi hate aside, Space Mutiny is one of the best MST3Ks ever, and Hamlet is pretty good as well. I'm grabbing these right away, if only to get a good-looking version of Space Mutiny.

"We place our faith in Blast Hardcheese!"

Im highly excited to see Space Mutiny included. It was at least one of the best Sci Fi episodes, if not the best. So many great lines.

Wow! This is just incredible news! :banana: Thanks you so much for the info. It was just announced today by Rhino. This thread has been timely, to say the least.

Being such a newcomer to MST3K, I have no knowledge of the show's history. I didn't even realize that it was even on Comedy Central. I just assumed it was always on Sci Fi Channel.

Please tell me the difference between those two eras. Was it the fact that Joel Hodgson was starring during the Comedy Central period, and Mike Nelson in Sci Fi?

I've seen both of them and I like both just fine. In fact, I kind of like Mike over Joel, in terms of comedy. I know Joel got the whole shebang started, but maybe it's the fact that my first exposure to MST3K was with Mike. He was the one who got my cherry. :blush:

As far as the episodes that are to be on this collection:

I recently viewed "Hamlet" and "Over-Drawn at the Memory Bank" on Sci-Fi. Neither was, in my opinion, top-drawer stuff. In fact, I couldn't stand looking at "Overdrawn...," due to that God-awful, cheap '80-style videography. And I thought "Hamlet" was probably the dullest of all the episodes I've seen so far. Of all the episodes for them to put on this collection, it figures those two would have to make it. I'm kinda bummed about it :(

The other two, "Space Mutiny" and "Girl in Gold Boots," I've yet to see. The good things I've been hearing about "Space Mutiny" are heartening.

But at least there's more MST3K "product" coming out. Although I still don't think this is what Rhino was talking about in that earlier article about re-thinking their plans on releasing more MST3K product on the marketplace. I still think something in addition to this will be coming out fairly soon. After all, the last two Collections came within a couple months of each other. #2 was in February and #3 in April, I believe.


Anyways, thanks once again for all the info and feedback. It's the best news I've heard in a while. :thumbsup:

Well this news certainly made my day! Its not a seasonal set like I was wanting (with Santa vs. the Martians, of course) but this is the next best thing, since I have never had the SCI-FI channel...yes, Laserblast is the very last episode I have ever seen (speaking of which, I hope it will make it on DVD some day)

Joel hosted from the series' inception until halfway through season five, and Mike, the series' head writer, took over from there.

That seems to be the general trend -- viewers, by and large, prefer whoever was hosting when they first started watching the series. Joel was the host when I was introduced to MST3K, and I greatly prefer him over Mike. I like quite a few of Mike's episodes from the Comedy Central era, but I found the Sci-Fi run to be fairly dismal.

Holy crap, I didn't even see that Overdrawn At The Memory Bank was one of the other ones in the collection! It's also one of the ones I watch most often, for the jokes it makes about the fat man, Casablanca, Raul Julia, and all the supposedly-futuristic junk.

"I didn't want to bungle or bobble the Fingal dopple."

Does anyone know why Joel left the show? He was my favorite character. I could never really take a liking to Mike, for some reason.

You're right about "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank." I forgot all about all those hysterical jibes at the Fat Man, their shredding of the film's pretentiously-attempted "Casablanca" scenes, and all that ragging on the ridiculous gadgetry. Plus all those great "dopple" lines.

I guess I was so turned-off by that tacky, painful-to-watch videography that it soured me on the actual MST3K episode itself. But "Overdrawn..." is a very funny one. Should be an asset to have on disc.

I don't know about anyone else, but I kinda have a hard time watching more than one MST3K episode at a time. There's just so many jokes, comments, throwaway lines that it starts to become sort of an overload for me. Even after the one-hour mark, I begin to miss a lot. That's why the episodes, for me, are so beneficial to watch more than once. I mean, a person can only laugh so hard and so long, and after a point it gets desensitizing. What I usually do is tape the episode off Sci-Fi, then watch the first half and second half separately. I get more mileage out of them on first viewing that way. If I watch the whole thing all the way through, then re-watch the same episode a few days later, parts of it seem so much funnier than the first viewing. I guess this is just a show that has tremendous repeat power and value.

I'm just kicking myself for never having given it the time of day throughout the '90s. I've missed so much that will probably never see the light of a MST3K projector bulb ever again :(

Joel was wearing a lot of hats on production, and between that immense amount of work and the constant fights...errr...creative differences with Jim Mallon <small>(for one, Jim kept pushing to do an MST3K movie; Joel wanted to do other series)</small>, he felt burned-out and decided to move onto greener pastures.

Hey, could have been worse. Pearl could have been on instead of Mike.

I just caught the episode last Saturday on Sci Fi ("Quest of the Delta Knights") that had Pearl and Mike changing places for the first part of the screening. Pearl was so awful and almost none of her comments were delivered effectively.

Although the 'Bots seemed to take well to her. She did, after all, give them a dirty mint from the bottom of her purse.

My disapointment is in the fact there may be no more Comedy Central era on DVD. I'm not a blind hater and that comment is very offensive. I'd report you to the administrator if it wasn't you. :lol:

I enjoy all the episodes including Sci-Fi which has some of the best theater rifs of the series. I was just hoping for more Comedy Central era on DVD.

Back on topic, Space Mutiny is a really good episode. I watched the VCD just to refresh my memory and its a great choice for the DVD. I'm wondering how the Mike Nelson intros will turn out.