Two bit of news from our pals at Shout! Factory:
1. Early next year Shout will re-release two standalone episodes under the “Shout! Factory Select” label: episode 812- THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES WHO STOPPED LIVING AND BECAME MIXED-UP ZOMBIES and 517- THE BEGINNING OF THE END. Both are expected to have additional bonus material not seen on the previous releases, though that’s not confirmed. They should be available beginning in February, so preorders will likely go up around mid January.
Oh, and…there’s this… [brace yourself, but it won’t do any good]
2. Shout officials tell us they have completely cleared ALL FIVE GAMERA MOVIES for MST3K release, and plan to put out a five-disc deluxe box set. That’s episodes 302- GAMERA, 304- GAMERA VS. BARUGON, 308- GAMERA VS. GAOS, 312- GAMERA VS. GUIRON and 316- GAMERA VS. ZIGRA. No word on when yet. We’ll let you know when we know.
Breathe.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!”
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After the roller-coaster week I’ve had, ranging from the good (received my title to officially own my car), to the bad (found out Wednesday night my debit card number was hacked, causing a check to bounce), this is news that has made me believe that some good still happens in the world! In a way, this makes sense, since SF had the rights to distribute the Gamera movies in America anyway. But I wonder if the sales of previous MST releases has far exceeded their expectations, and allowed Shout! to make a higher offer. The still-fledgling economy may have also had a hand at causing the powers-that-be in Japan to have a change of heart.
Ignore part of my last post….I just read Brian Ward’s explanation.
But it’s still kick-ass news!
As for the next “hard-to-get” movie, how about “Attack of the the Eye Creatures”?!
Gamera is dancing go-go!
Wow, that’s almost too much to handle at once.
I’m glad they arent playing games by releasing one per boxed set for the next couple years or so, which a more money-hungry company could easily get away with doing.
To put them all out in one set is a highly commendable act of true class.
I salute you, Shout Factory.
Now, let’s get going on releasing the legendary ‘Riding with Death’…and if you can, pay Mike, Bill & Kevin to reprise their roles of ‘The Film Crew’, bring back Bob Honcho, and get cracking on some more old Peter Graves movies and the like.
I mean, if Shout Factory is capable of putting out all five Gamera’s, I believe that they are capable of anything.
YESSSS GAMERA!!!! *goes into MST3K-love-induced coma*
Shout Factory is a friend to all MSTies >.>
Woo Hoo, We gots some Gamera. I’m glad I decided not to watch the Gamera Eps. Now when they’re released they’ll all be new to me.
Wow. Didn’t see this one coming. Would never have seen this one coming, actually. Kudos to Shout for kicking all sorts of ass.
Also colossally happy that some stuff will be getting rereleases. Having gotten back into the show just about 3 years ago put me all kinds of behind and I missed out on all the individual episodes Rhino released, plus a number of their “became really hard to get REALLY fast” volumes. If this can allow me to catch up without having to drop $200+ on vol. 9, I will no longer be a sad panda.
Awesome news! It’s been a great couple of months for this MSTie. The last set looked sharp and had wonderful extras. Then there was the surprising announcement of the Master Ninja’s — and now the Gamera’s! Have I died and gone to Heaven?
Thank you SHOUT (and Brian for popping on here to answer to questions)
Ya know, I usually check the site every day to check out the This Day in MSTory and any other news bits that happen to come out. I had to work today and didn’t get to do it. WHAT A DAY TO FORGET TO! All five Gamera movies and two former Rhino releases out? Huzzah! Hi-Keeba! Rowsdower! (to steal from Cheepnis) Wow!
I just noticed the “Nooooooooo!” at the bottom of the Sandy Frank photo.
I’m assuming that’s what Frank’s reaction would be upon hearing the episodes that mercilessly made fun of him, are getting an official release.
Brilliant news! This eliminates a huge chunk of my “wishful thinking” episodes, and right after the amazing Master Ninja news for volume 20. The only thing that could be better would be an announcement that Volume 22 would feature Daddy-o, Time of the Apes, Mighty Jack, and Moon Zero Two…
OH WOW! Fantastic news! I’m also happy to see that Shout is starting to re-release some of the older OOP episodes, especially The Beginning of the End.
Am I the only one hoping that one of the Gamera DVDs will include a lengthy documentary about how they got the rights to the movies? I want to know how they did it.
I’m looking forward to some single rereleases as well. It’s something I’ve always thought they should do. I can’t wait for them to get around to the rest of Volume 9, seeing as how I can’t afford it as it is.
Daddy, I want a Coke!!
So the next two volumes will consist of all Joel episodes. Can we hope for an all Mike volume by the end of 2011?
Sandy Frank, or Lon Chaney Sr. as the Phantom of the Opera? You decide.
Insults aside, I am so thrilled with this announcement it’s ridiculous.
*head explodes from the sheer, improbable delight of it all* WOO HOO!! This year, *I’m* thankful for Shout! Factory! :-D
Merry Freakin’ Christmas!
BEST NEWS OF THE YEAR!! Seriously. My ‘Candid Gamera’ tape is not only incomplete, but it’s getting worn out.
To quote my sister, did Mr Frank make this decision while gadding about the house all day?
WOOHOO!!! This is awesome!!!
Gamera is really neat,
Gamera is filled with meat!
Is that Green Lantern artist Ethan Van Sciver? Didn’t know you were an MST3K fan — cool!
So since this is a all Joel set (the Gameras) and we’re getting an all Joel set coming up…an all Mike set coming up next?
Horror of Party Beach at last?
Hey, I got no where to post this though it’s off topic, although it does deal with Shout Factory.
Just made a positive identification of COLEMAN FRANCIS in KILLERS FROM SPACE.
I had noticed earlier at the Coleman Francis page on wikipedia that he was an uncredited castmember, and so I looked for him today in about my 9000th viewing of this excellently riffed ‘Film Crew’ offering.
He is the guy at the power station that the anal security guard runs to, to tell him that somebody jut parked illegally outside. He is a lot skinnier, but you can clearly see his face as he hangs up a phone on the wall, and it’s unmistakably Coleman Francis. He appears for another couple minutes, and he runs around in a real weird way, even prompting Mike to riff “Oh, My Truss is too tight”.
Eventually Peter Graves knocks him out by practically blowing on him and nothing else. That’s about the last he appears.
So once again the riffers fail to notice Coleman Francis and the chance to throw some good riffs out there. (They missed him in THIS ISLAND EARTH, too – he was the mailman delivering the “is this metal or paper?” instructions to build the interociter).
Since this was a Shout Factory release, at least it isnt totally off topic. I needed to get this information passed on before I forget about it.
I think its about time we had a couple of all Joel sets. He created the show, he deserves all the accolades he gets..Nothing at all against Mike but hes had a couple of *All Mike* sets & the 20th anniversary set was 3 Mike…
It is really nice to see some of the Iconic Joel episodes come out such as the Gamera ones ..these helped get the show to new heights..
And Mike was Gamera & a few other characters in the hexfield viewscreen in these episodes..you get Mike when he wasnt Mike…God that sounds funny :)
#122
An all-Mike set would be great. If (a big if) they could get the rights the
beginning of the excellent scifi years would be an interesting theme.
(For example)
801-Revenge of the Creature
802-The Leech Woman
803-The Mole People (going down, down, down)
804-The Deadly Mantis
805-The Thing That Couldn’t Die
I think all the fans who havent seen any Gamera movie are in for a big treat :)
As far as all the Universals from Mike – anything is possible but these might be tough…Id like to see them too..
801-809 are all under licenses from studios who arent about to give up the rights for MST, yet :)
Well, it’s *way* after T-Day (Black Friday) but I just have to say “Thanks, Shout!” and thanks specifically to Brian for enlightening us as to the how and whys of this great news.
Obviously *any* MST3K episode releases are good news, but it’s particularly good to get shows we thought there was never a chance to get. What it demonstrates above all else is that Shout! really gets it — they understand the right moves to make to acquire things and seem very dedicated to doing this right.
I only hope they make enough money to keep going — I’ll do my (tiny) part by buying everything they release despite having broadcast quality DVDs of all of this stuff.
“Is that Green Lantern artist Ethan Van Sciver? Didn’t know you were an MST3K fan — cool!”
It is him, and he’s a big fan. He drew Tom Servo as a Green Lantern for me and someone on this site colored it and is using it as an avatar. I’m forgetting their name, but they did a good job.
Dsman:
I know Susan Hart isn’t, but I still think Universal, Lionsgate and Arkoff are more capable of licensing. Arkoff licensed some of their movies to Lionsgate, so why not Shout! Factory?
And wow, Horror of Party Beach sure is a popular episode. I haven’t seen much of it, but if it comes out I’ll definetly try it out. :D
I’m guessing/hoping BEGINNING OF THE END will have remixed audio – the Rhino disc was really bad. I had to adjust the levels constantly just to hear everything.
As for the GAMERA set, Shout! has earned its place among the gods.
Now this is awesome news. Shout, you rock! As for the single releases, I will order Begining of the End, to replace the one I have.
HOLY ****!!! Hope we’ll eventually get Fugitive Alien 1 & 2 as well!!!
Happy belated Turkey Day, everyone. I didn’t hop on the site yesterday – and look what I missed!!
This is good news. A Gamera episode (forget which one as I hadn’t had the foresight to tape it) was the first MST3K ep I’d ever seen and I fell instantly in love with the show. I haven’t seen any Gamera eps since the time when they were just starting to stop rerunning them on Comedy Central, so I’ll definitely be buying this!
Thanks, Shout! Factory !!
Alex – Arkoff licensed his titles to Lionsgate in NON MST3K versions..
Susan Hart has the Nicholson estate which is the ‘other half’ of the AIP titles
I honestly dont know how the Arkoff estate feels about MST3K titles but Susan Hart wont even license non MST versions to anyone let alone a MST cut of the film..I wont say never say never but these titles are probably going to take a lot of ingenuity to acquire them & when Shout runs out of PD titles and things that they can acquire then we’ll see
As for the Universals…well Universal did release MST3K the movie, but who can say how they feel about their catalog titles like Mole People, Kitten With a Whip, Revenge of the Creature..It certainly is possible..
The hardest to get titles I would venture are It Lives By Night, Squirm, Diabolik and Godzilla vs the Sea Monster – from there its the AIP stuff and Universals..
Can they be had ? Time will tell..
Im still in amazement over the Gamera titles – big time Season 3 titles finally on the way
I look forward to the Beginning of the End too as a possible upgrade to the Rhino disc…Im still undecided on the Incredible Strange Creatures..
Shout! Factory, you guys are AWESOME!!!!!
I bow down before your timing and/or mad negotiating skillz!!!
Holy crap in hell, all the Gameras in a boxed set. Life is sweet!!
Agreed on Beginning of the end audio.
It’s the worst sound engineering job I’ve ever heard on any MST3K episode. I think it was poorly done by MST3K even before Rhino got ahold of it.
Either way, it really detracts from the enjoyment of a well-riffed Peter Graves / Bert I Gordon piece of schlock.
I sure hope they remix this before releasing again.
The only episode I can think of that had as poor of job on the sound mix was ‘The Deadly Bees’, and that still wasn’t nearly as bad as The Beginning of the End.
Dsman – Well, Arkoff is dead now, so some other guys at the estate licensed the films (I don’t know who the members are in there). And yeah, I guess we can’t say if the estate DOES hate Mst3k or not, but I imagine that if they were licesning the un-mistied films to Lionsgate, obviously they couldn’t do the Mst3k versions since Lionsgate doesn’t own the home video rights to the show.
And to be perfectly honest, I really wish the Arkoff estate could purchase the home video rights from the Nicholson estate and put Susan Hart’s stupid estate out of buissness.
Oh, and as for Universal….. well, it seems like Mr. Ward DID explain that Universal doesn’t have any grudges with Best Brains. They apparently just want too much money.
WAITAMINNUT!
SF = SF…. (S)andy (F)rank = (S)hout (F)actory…. ? Is there a UFO connection? Has Von Danniken been consulted? Coinky-dink? You decide!
Its great to see all the MSTies “Being Frank about Frank”! Sandy that is. I hear he has woman troubles, could this be the reason?
On the plus side, this is really exciting news.
On the minus side, Sandy Frank is giving me nightmares.
#137
“It’s the worst sound engineering job I’ve ever heard on any MST3K episode. I think it was poorly done by MST3K even before Rhino got ahold of it.”
====================================================
And you can almost hear Mike and the bots replying
“I can’t help but feel partially responsible.” :)
maybe this could lead to a fugitive alien double feature
keeping fingers crossed.but make it had 2 typ.
Alex if the Arkoff estate titles were easily available, dont you think we would have gotten at least one by now ?
Its not a question of hate..its a money factor & / or the riffling of their films factor…
BTW: Two ALL-JOEL sets in a row! I wonder if they’ll do an all-Mike set for vol.22.
Concerning what I said about ‘Beginning of the End’ earlier,
I say the sound job may have been poorly done by mst3k (their sound engineer) before rhino got ahold of it because I have a pre-Rhino vhs copy from trading that was taped off of TV, and it is not much different sound-wise.
This was from before Rhino released it on vhs. Newcomers to the show may not be aware that before Rhino and shout Factory began releasing the episodes to the public, we used to have to get our tapes from fellow viewers and we traded our episodes around.
The copy I have that was taped off of TV is as bad as the rhino release, although it’s hard to really gauge if it was this bad on the first generation cable broadcast, and whether the traders recording job may have been done on inferior equipment or not, or originally recorded in the EP mode, (which causes sound quality loss).
Myself not having been witness to it ever having been shown on tv by Comedy Central, I can’t make a definitive statement on how good a job the mst3k sound engineer did on the episode. I didn’t really get heavy into watching the show until about 1997 when it was on Sci-Fi.
So basicly…… the Arkoff guys are just too keen with money? Damn.
Well, maybe Shout! can make a good deal with them. They seem to do better with money than Rhino, that’s for sure.
Then again…. did I hear those guys are pretty hard to find?
Well, it’s been nice knowing you all. The world is obviously coming to an end and once Satan gets tired of the unseasonably cool weather, he’ll be looking to set up residence on the surface.
Wait, did I miss something? Did Sandy Frank die? He must be on his deathbed or something. Yeah, that’s it.
Sadly when I first saw this news I wondered two things: why the picture of John Waters and why does he look in such rough shape? Then after not seeing the moustache, I went, “Ohhhh, right. Sandy Frank. Got it.”
I’m all in favor of new unreleased episodes and updated with special features re-releases. The un-MSTed DVD of TISCWSLABMUZ is features laden to the extreme, so I don’t know what else could possibly be said about that movie, but I can’t wait to see. I know that I’ll have to space out my watching of the Gamera movies because if I go back-to-back, time will actually stop and start going backwards for me. Don’t get me wrong, I love any new episodes on DVD and keep ’em coming, but I think I’m a bigger fan of the episodes in-between the Japanese movies that were shown en masse in Season 3.