For ages — after all of the “miracles” Shout! Factory has made happen with rights to movies that the owners (Sandy Frank) swore “Over my dead body” – I’ve thought of suggesting a weekend survey of “What movie/episode would you almost bet money Shout! Factory will never be able to get the rights to release?”
Between the movies that Rhino screwed up with (Amazing Colossal Man, Godzilla vs Megalon), the way things go in and out of copyright (the “Robot Rumpus” short) and the fact that some of the movies are owned by corporations who think the movies are decent or at least still money-makers (Space Travelers), you keep thinking there’s at least one that’s going to end up being impossible.
My guess was always Revenge of the Creature. Because even though it’s not one of the studio’s best efforts, Universal is notorious about protecting the image of their Monsters – even the minor ones. I thought there was no way we’d see that on home video…
Yes, another miracle.
So what episode do you think will never get released on home video?
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Well, we’ll never see the first three episodes of the KTMA era, but I am sure the main holdout will remain Roger Corman. Odd, that, considering how useful he finds publicity…
I still would love to see the Commando Cody episodes on a single dvd, but I can’t imagine that’s being held up since it should be in the public domain.
Corman’s will be the toughest to get, but (and this will make me sound like a total ghoul) he’s getting up there in years, and unless he has a “Never Let Those Jerks With The Puppets Have My Movies” clause in his will, whoever gets the rights after his death may have different feelings on the matter.
“The Screaming Skull might be a tough episode to release because of the Robot Rumpus short. Didn’t they make a joke or two about the Gumby short being expensive? But if anybody could get this episode for us, it’s Shout! Factory.”
Robot Rumpus is public domain, BUT Gumby is still under copyright and the current owner has gone after PD companies for distributing Gumby DVDs. Shout Factory could easily cut a deal legitimately though.
I think they’ll release them all. Yes, all. Even the Godzilla ones.
If I’m not mistaken the problem with the Rhino Godzilla release was that they didn’t get proper permission.
Somewhere, someone from Shout said that even though they had the rights to release Being From Another Planet as a DVD (Time Walker) they weren’t going to get the rights for the MST3K episode. That was last year, maybe two years ago, and I was thinking we’d surely see BFAP by now, but because we haven’t I’m afraid there’s a rights issue there meaning we’ll never see it. And that stinks, because my old VHS copy sucks (it’s practically black and white from being played too many times) and the other, erm, “available” copies have a sound synch problem.
Would make a great double bill with Riding With Death. Hint hint.
Since Revenge of the Creature IS coming to DVD. I think it means all Universal films are open to DVDs! All the episodes I thought would never happen have happened! YAY!!
I want “It Conquered the World.” Because Man is a feeling creature…
Shout Factory! wizards: you have your impossible task before you.
#55 get a realplayer, go to youtube, search for “mst3k Being From Another Planet”, watch it and download it to realplayer, then just convert it and burn it to dvd. problem solved.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCtOJQ1qvtw
this is the best way to get these until shout releases them to dvd.
Toho is nuts when it comes to Godzilla but I think they will see the light of day eventually. I think the same goes for the Roger Corman flicks. I just think these will take time and finesse to get and shout is up to the challenge as they have shown us recently. Pumaman is the one I think we will never get as finding the people who own it is impossible. I think it’s time to find the films stars and see if they know where these people are.
I will say these titles
Season 3 AIP Hart/Nicholson titles (309,311,313,315,317,319)everyone else seems to agree
The She Creature
I was a Teenage Werewolf
Daddy-O
Time Walker
Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster
Diabolik
Deathstalker
12 to the Moon
I would have said some MGM titles but it appears now we are getting their library
I think will see Gorgo at some point, it is with VCI who is planning a Blu Ray release. I think we will see Girls Town, Outlaw, Alien from LA and Squirm sooner or later since they are MGM.
Im not sure where they stand with the Warner titles from the first season and I am still waiting for Rocketship XM and Jungle Goddess :( Im losing hope for them
The 2-Godzilla & 5-Susan Hart AIP films are a given. They have already released some Roger Corman films, so I doubt he will block anymore from being released.
The 5-Susan Hart films are IT CONQUERED THE WORLD, ATTACK OF THE THE EYE CREATURES, I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF, TERROR FROM THE YEAR 5000, & THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN. She doesn`t own any of the other AIP films shown on MST3k.
What about the AIP titles from the 1970s – The Incredible Melting Man and It Lives By Night – does anyone know who owns them?
amazing colossai man,war of the colossal beast,and how about earth vs the spider.any chance of that comming out?
Susan Hart owns Attack of the The Eye Creatures?!! Crap, I didn’t know that! So that’s why we haven’t seen that one! >:(
At this point, I think the only ones that most likely won’t get released are the Paramount films, Godzilla vs the Sea Monster, any titles owned by Susan Hart, and of course, the KTMAs.
Roger Corman films he didnt have the right to like Giant Leeches , Swamp Diamonds and Gunslinger. These arent part of the Hart Estate. Otherwise we would have seen the rest of the Season 3 stuff from AIP
Just based on pessimism I’d say It Lives By Night. It’s a favorite of my friends but doesn’t seem very popular with fans. But now that MGM is in play…
GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER I’d place as the least likely to be getting officially released for several reasons. The Susan Hart-owned AIP titles are very unlikely as well; the UnMSTied versions haven’t even been released on DVD yet. I have great faith in Shout Factory that most of the MST3k series will get released someday (sans KTMA, of course).
@50: Shout! retains home video rights for certain Classic Media properties (mainly the Total Television library), so unless DreamWorks is looking to terminate the various home video deals Classic Media has made, Gorgo is *very* possible since the music rights for the classic Gumby shorts have been solved. The only possible stumbling block there is an objection by the Clokey estate, and their primary objections in recent years have been over royalties.
With that said, I don’t really think that there’s anything Shout! can’t acquire, as they’ve proven their abilities at getting ahold of DVD rights many times over. Personally, I think they need to fast track the reissue of episodes released by Rhino, since many volumes have fallen way out of print, and have easier home video rights than anything Shout! has released.
Quest of the Delta Knights because nothing ever goes my way. Revenge of the Creature surprised me too – maybe Shout! has been able to demonstrate MST3K to be profitable enough to warrant Universal letting go a little. After all, Revenge was also released as a 3-D movie (Remember that, when Burger King was hyping the red/blue glasses for a TV broadcast?)
@70 – One gets the impression Dreamworks was only interested in Classic Media as a Jay Ward “gold mine” after getting overconfident about their Mr. Peabody & Sherman movie, and weren’t even aware that Classic Media had Toho’s Godzilla rights through Henry J. Saperstein’s dubs of the 60’s films as part of their Mr. Magoo/UPA/What’s Up Tiger Lily? catalog.
That’s the only way Classic was able to get the uncut subbed originals from Toho, and it was a miracle that happened at all. Unfortunately, that doesn’t include “Sea Monster”, which was one of the three or four vintage-GZ titles that reverted to Sony (along with Son of and Smog Monster). Whether Shout can get those back from Sony, we wish them luck; Sony’s Japanese connection to Toho is even more ironclad.
“Josh says:
August 18, 2012 at 2:59 pm
To the poster of the topic:
Sandy Frank never said anything to the effect of “Over my dead body.” He hasn’t owned the movies since 1996. Please let this rumor die.”
Never said he owned the movies. He owns the specific English dubs of the films as they were riffed.
Without those the riffs rarely make sense. Therefore, his cooperation was needed.
Well since Universal and Shout are working together and allowing REVENGE OF THE CREATURE to be released, I wouldn’t rule out the films owned by MGM such as ALIEN FROM L.A. and SQUIRM. Maybe Shout can make a deal with them as well?
As of now the only ones I know for sure will never be released are the KTMA episodes and probably GODZILLA VS THE SEA MONSTER. I was fortunate to buy the original Volume 10 with GODZILLA VS MEGALON, but if Toho ordered a desist, then they’ll probably do it again.
“Danger: Deathray.” Just ’cause it’s one of my very favorites.
I’ve never actually seen anyone involved in the show say they would *prevent* a release of the KTMA episodes. I think that’s an overreach made by fans because they aren’t enthusiastic about them. (Much as Sandy Frank’s supposed objections were probably overblown.)
The problem with them is that BBI doesn’t seem to even own the host segments (in at least one article it was stated that the material is owned by the successors to KTMA, not BBI) and they didn’t even license the movies. *That’s* a more likely reason they won’t come out. I highly doubt they’d prevent a legitmate release if it could be done.
#73
Uh no he did not own the rights to the dub, why would he? No one had forsight back then to know that owning a dub for a gamera movie would come into play in the future. He hasn’t owned the dub or had his feet in the movie industry in over 15 years. Shout Factory explicitly staited that sandy frank was not a part of the negotions for any of the mst3k movies they released. It all came down to tsuburaya and Daiei. Like I said, we have no reason to believe sandy frank harbored ill will so please let the rumor die.
Shout! are geniuses at this stuff. I wouldn’t put anything past them after GAMERA. That said, I’d love to see ROCKETSHIP X-M, whatever its issues are.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WUCW
As KTMA has gone through a lot of name changes and owners, would the current uber overlords know or care about MST at this point? Have they ever been asked about it even?
If they could sort out who owns the host segments, the Sandy Frank movies ought to be a breeze. Although there were a couple they didn’t revisit in the Comedy Central era.
You’d think someone at the SciFi channel knows who owns Puma Man.
And Susan Hart is either an incredibly stubborn woman, or she’s getting really bad advice from someone. There aren’t even any legit non-MST DVD’s of the films she’s sitting on.
i really did find the Sandy Frank interview interesting. and i don’t care what he may say, i could tell he was still reeaallly bitter about all the jokes. i’m still shocked we got what we have out of him. on to the main topic, i go with Corman’s grainy, black and white cinematic buffet.
The Leech Woman, The Deadly Mantis, Puma Man, The Screaming Skull, Riding with Death, Agent for H.A.R.M., Squirm, Danger: Death Ray: the list goes on and on… I would love a “Universal” set where they just have classics like Leech Woman, Projected Man, Riding with Death, etc… on it.
i think someone from the mob must own the rights to puma man. i think they dont want to be found.
The best way to see who owns Puma Man is to just release the MST3K episode on DVD and see what happens.
I’m going to say: Girls Town, I was a Teenage Werewolf, Agent for HARM, Rocketship X-M, The Castle of Fu Manchu, The She Creature, and for whatever reason Daddy-O
Oh and the Hercules stuff, still well remembered by that generation for whatever reason.
I glad that Sandy Frank finally got off his high horse and let Shout have the rights to his movies.
I know that whole Sandy Frank is a fallacy, but I’m just going to keep that myth going, if for no other reason than to piss off those that seem to take it’s statement as a personal affront to the show, or God, or Trace.
(IN the updated history it shall be called the Sandy Frank Flame War of 2012. Children ran naked int he streets, the internet crashed, Mike fought Bill and Trace fought Mary Jo).
I’m just glad that I have nearly all ten years still on VHS tape. Yeah, compared to DVDS or Blu-Ray they’re a bit fuzzy, but gadzooks, I love ’em.
I corrupted both my sons with them during their formative years (my dear wife never did get them), and now I have the joy of doing the same to my young grandsons.
Hey hey, my my … old Mistie guys will never die. *G*
John,
It took me three years or so, but I finally transferred all my broadcast quality (sat dish taped on nearly all episodes) VHS onto DVD. Then slowly, with the help of Rhino and Shout, replaced what I could with bought versions, and finally transcoded the whole shebang (to continue the “gadzooks” theme) into MKV files that I now, too, share with my grandsons (and soon with my granddaughter when she’s old enough to appreciate things beyond Buzz Lightyear, her favorite).
I feel fortunate to have gotten the entire series into nearly pristine condition, but always appreciate (and buy) the Shout discs even if sometimes my copies are every bit as good (and they are in all of the sci-fi years). The reason I write though is that if you want to continue to enjoy them (and have your grandsons continue) you should consider transferring those VHS tapes as well, particularly those episodes that may not see the light of day (um, back on topic to this thread).
If this old guy can set up a wi-fi network attached storage that serves the entire house with video on demand (MY demand) with any episode he wants to see in a few seconds notice, you can do the same. It’s surprisingly cheap, and amazingly satisfying (my grandkids think I’m a wizard who can cause any TV show or movie they want to “just appear” — they were stunned the other day when grandpa couldn’t show them “Brave”, since they are used to watching whatever they command. I told them they would have to wait another month or so :>).
Re: “As KTMA has gone through a lot of name changes and owners, would the current uber overlords know or care about MST at this point? Have they ever been asked about it even?”
I emailed someone over there a couple years ago and someone named Tom wrote back saying he’d been there at KTMA when MST3K was on. I had asked them if they happened to have copies of the first 3 episodes. They don’t. He also said WUCW may own the copyrights on the KTMA episodes.
Daddy-O
Amazing Colossal Man
It Conquered the World
Earth Vs. the Spider
Teenage Caveman
Viking Women and the Sea Serpent
War of the Colossal Beast
The Magic Sword
Fire Maidens of Outer Space
The Day the Earth Froze
and i want them all bad. they are some of my favorite episodes.
My odd hunch:
We seem, for the most part, to expect that the last holdout for the network runs to be one of a handful of rights-holders.
I think that many of those should come to terms, and the one that will be impossible to get will turn out to be one where the rights are screwy, in some form or another, meaning that negotiations will not fail due to resistance, but due to an inability to figure out who holds the rights in order to make the deal.
Out of these films, which ones seem to fit that issue the most?
The Amazing Colossal Man! Because some things need to be corrected after so long!
#78
I would LOVE to see this one, too (“the reporters of Rocketship X-M” host segment is a favorite of mine). Unfortunately, I’d add this one to the top of the list. The film has been owned by video producer/collector Wade Williams since the 70’s, and he holds it in high reverence. A buddy of mine has known him for quite a few years, and let’s just say you don’t want to mention MST3K around Mr. Williams! It’s pretty much a case of “Over my dead body!”.
Still, I have to wonder how we got Lost Continent (another film owned by W.W.)?
There are 67 episodes that need commercial release, including Godzilla v. Megalon and The Amazing Colossal Man, both which need proper wide releases. If I had my way, and access to all the rights, this is how I’d do it (listen up, Shout!):
First, to deal with the odd number of eps, I’d release a special single disc edition of 309- The Amazing Colossal Man as well as a double disc special edition of 212- Godzilla vs. Megalon and 213- Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster. Also, I’d release new double disc special editions (like the Manos release) of 512- Mitchell and 506- Eegah. Just ’cause.
After that, there are 64 episodes left, which makes for 16 4-disc box sets, which would take us to Vol. XLI . This is how that would all shake out:
201- Rocketship X-M
205- Rocket Attack, USA
602- Invasion, USA
819- Invasion of the Neptune Men
————–
623- The Amazing Transparent Man
704- The Incredible Melting Man
901- The Projected Man
903- PumaMan
————–
112- Untamed Youth
601- Girls Town
416- Fire Maidens of Outer Space
802- The Leech Woman
—————
317- Viking Women and the Sea Serpent
412- Hercules and the Captive Women
502- Hercules
605- Colossus and the Headhunters
—————-
111- Moon Zero Two
401- Space Travelers
524- 12 to the Moon
906- The Space Children
—————-
319- War of the Colossal Beast
523- Village of the Giants
909- Gorgo
1007- Track of the Moon Beast
—————
113- The Black Scorpion
313- Earth vs. The Spider
804- The Deadly Mantis
905- The Deadly Bees
————–
411- The Magic Sword
422- The Day the Earth Froze
703- Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell
913- Quest of the Delta Knights
————–
305- Stranded in Space
510- The Painted Hills
614- San Francisco International
814- Riding with Death
————-
520- Radar Secret Service
620- Danger! Death Ray!
815- Agent from HARM
1013- Diabolik
————-
315- Teenage Caveman
522- Teenage Crimewave
618- High School Big Shot
809- I Was a Teenage Werewolf
————
418- Attack of the the Eye Creatures
705- Escape 2000
807- Terror from the Year 5000
817- Horror of Party Beach
————-
203- Jungle Goddess
314- It Conquered the World
808- The She Creature
1010- IT Lives by Night
————-
307- Daddy-O
403- City Limits
516- Alien from LA
519- Outlaw
————–
108- The Slime People
420- The Human Duplicators
803- The Mole People
912- The Screaming Skull
————–
405- Being from Another Planet
805- The Thing that Couldn’t Die
808- The Undead
1012- Squirm
————————–What do you think, sirs?
I was just thinking that, an eventual 2 disc Godzilla set.
Please, oh please, I don’t want to wait until the end of Jungle Goddess! lol
we may get it all, just wait until management changes at the holding companies or an estate liquidates.
Or, in the case of Wade Williams, his actual dead body (no one lives forever).
Williams will be 70 next month.
Susan Hart is 71 and could live another 30 years.
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