OK, DU -- Riddle me this -- Why couldn't SciFi show the old MST3K movies

you know, like from the early seasons? :shrug:

Maybe he owned the rights or something.

yet Sci Fi channel only showed (over and over and over) episodes from seasons 8 - 10.

His replacement was a bit on the lame side.

His Michael Feinstein, playing the piano and singing the Gamera theme song, is one of the funniest host segments of all time.

His Morrissey and Torgo impersonations were also first-rate.

I miss it?:(

A highlight of my Thanksgiving each year.

"We gather together to watch cheesy movies
On Comedy Central on Thanksgiving Day..."

That's Mystery Science (sigh) Theater 3000 cuz we're the biggest fans and we love Turkey Day

But it was all downhill after it left Comedy Central.....Watch out for snakes!

The rights were still secured by a combination of Comedy Central and the local TV station that they started on.

It's like when a recording artist goes to a new label, and the new label can't release the old hits, unless special permission is granted.

Sci-Fi never got that permission.

:D

Thanks.

I KNOW EVERYTHING! :D ;-)

Syndicated reruns are hard to negotiate. One party doesn't agree to the terms, and BAM, it doesn't come through. Issues of royalties are touchy.

That's why Rhino's had such a time getting older episodes out on vhs/dvd.

They've gotten lots of the big ones (Manos, Mitchell) but man what would I give for a digital replacement of my sad vhs tape of "The Magic Sword".

Season One episodes. I read that Joel Hodgson and the gang do not believe that they are up to the standards of later seasons.

They are not available on DVD or VHS either.

For the most part, Season One episodes are not as good as later shows, but a few are rather well-done.

First season ones with the Dr. Forrester and Dr. Larry Earnhardt (pre-TV's Frank) - The Crawling Hand is one of them. The pre-Comedy Central ones you'll never see released because they didn't secure the rights to the movies in the first place.

And just to brag a bit some more (I've mentioned this on another thread), I have all but 19 episodes - either in official Rhino-released VHS, recorded off of Sci-Fi, or downloaded from the net.

You may worship me as your nerd god now.

TlalocW

KEEPER OF THE TAPES!!!!!!!!

I would be more than happy to swap you for something you would like to have!

But you're saying you have all 197 other episodes?

TlalocW

I taped them from Comedy Central, traded for lost ones, and bought a few on VHS.

I would be willing to record three in EP mode on a VHS as a trade for Untamed Youth!

Which episodes would you want?

If Untamed Youth is burned on a CD in avi format?

According to my spreadsheet (Man, I'm a Nerd!), these are the ones I'm missing:
Pre-Comedy Central (Not sure if you have these)
K01 Invaders from the Deep
K02 The Revenge of the Mysterians
K03 Star Force: Fugitive Alien 2
K04 Gamera vs. Barugon
K05 Gamera
K06 Gamera vs. Gaos
K07 Gamera vs. Zigra
K08 Gamera vs. Guiron

Season 2
205 Rocket Attack USA

Season 3
307 Daddy-O
309 The Amazing Colossal Man

Season 4
412 Hercules and the Captive Women
417 Crash of the Moons

Season 5
509 The Girl in Lovers' Lane
522 Teen-age Crime Wave

Season 6
610 The Violent Years

PM me, or email me at tlaloc26@cox.net, and we'll set something up. You rule.

TlalocW

I will email you with the details.

Thanks!

Cornjob - the ancieny DU'er formerly known as Torgo

You da man, TlalocW!

Cornjob is da man!

TlalocW

It also explains the tons of VHS tapes racked in my living room.

...as is season "zero". Check suprnova.org.

even with a hish speed cable hook-up, it would be a while to soak up 22 gigabytes of movies!!!!!

Probably wouldn't have taken as long if I hadn't had about 20 zillion (approx.) other torrents running at the same time.

The reasons are mostly financial -- Best Brains rented the original movies, most for only a couple of years, so in order to reshow them, they'd have to buy the rights again and convince advertisers to cover the costs.

From the FAQ:
Q: Why did Sci-Fi Channel officials decide to stop ordering episodes?
A: Initially, we were told that the issue was ratings, pure and simple. Later, officials also noted that the cost of acquiring the rights to movies for riffing was getting too high. Many viewers also noticed a change in the network after Barry Schulman -- MST3K's chief defender at the channel -- departed, and Bonnie Hammer -- an executive from what was then Sci-Fi's parent company, USA Networks -- took over. MST3K apparently did not fit with the network's new direction.

Q: Does BBI think the show can be saved?
A: No.

Q: So, it's over?
A: Yes. There will be no new episodes of MST3K.

Q: How long did reruns of the show continue to run on the Sci-Fi Channel?
A: The original contract Sci-Fi Channel and BBI signed expired in early 2002. However, in late 2001, the two parties signed a two-year contract extension, allowing the Channel to continue showing reruns through the end of January, 2004. At that time, the show ended its run on Sci-Fi Channel.

Q: So, does that mean that some channel can put the CC-era reruns back on the air?
A: While theoretically possible, that looks very unlikely. To do that, some channel would have to find the resources to repurchase the rights to the movies in many episodes, and having spent all that money, they will then have to find advertisers willing to pay enough to make the whole venture profitable. We aren't holding our breath that this business formula has much of a chance.

Q: Did they consider making direct-to-video episodes?
A: Yes, BBI and Rhino considered that. But when they crunched the numbers, it was clear that it wouldn't work. BBI needed a certain amount of funding to stay in business--that is, meet the payroll, provide benefits for its employees, maintain its office and studio, and all the things a business has to pay for. And Rhino needs to be able to make enough from the sale of the videos to pay for the rights to the movie being riffed and for duplication and distribution costs, and all the other expenses that go into putting the videos on the market--and make a reasonable profit. And the plain fact is that the video marketplace simply won't provide that level of revenue. The numbers just don't add up.

http://www.mst3k.com/mstfaq/cancel.html

Rhino apparently changed their minds, and purchased the rights to some of the cheaper movies to re-release them to DVD.

I'm sorry, but that show stopped doing it for me when Trace Beaulieu ("Dr. Clayton Forrester") left. He was the only original cast member still aboard. When Beaulieu jumped ship, it was time to pull the bloody plug!