A former screenwriter, Fields started at Shout! Factory in 2004 in the production department. In 2005, he moved to Rhino Entertainment as acquisitions manager, where his responsibilities included product managing their MST3K releases. In 2007, he went back to Shout! Factory as director of acquisitions and worked to bring MST3K distribution rights there. He works closely with DVD producer Brian Ward on their MST3K releases and helped engineer the MST3K reunion at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con.
Jordan has been at the heart of the decision-making process for MST3K on home video for quite some time, and looks to be at the heart of it for quite some time to come. So, what do you think we should ask him?
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First: Here’s another vote for figures. We NEED Tom Servo and someone in a jumpsuit. Then we can place them behind a row of theater seats and face them towards a wall.
Second: Another request for themed sets. The Russo-Finnish troika, for sure. A secret agent collection would be great, but only if it includes Operation Double 007! And a couple of Sandy Frank and/or Japanese omnibus editions go without saying. (Even though I said it anyway.)
Third: There is no third thing.
Fourth: Whatever happened to The Film Crew?
Fifth: Add my kudos to the rest for keeping the spirit of the SOL alive
Whoops! “Troika” only means “three,” and there were FOUR Russo-Finnish classics: The Sword and the Dragon, The Day the Earth Froze, The Magic Voyage of (NOT) Sinbad and Jack Frost. Should have used the word “quartet,” but it just didn’t sound Russo-Finnish enough.
Any chance of a new misted short or something as an extra on a boxed set? If a short that’s in public domain is used it shouldn’t be expensive to do it.
As said 50some times already, thank you for all you’ve done for us, both with Rhino and now with Shout!
That said, I must ask what the odds are of us getting a special edition of the MST:TM? If nothing else I’d kill for the deleted scenes and the unused theme song. I’ve seen/heard them. We know they’re out there somewhere. How feasible would it be to fund the project with preorder money? And if you want to go all out, grab the old crew and have them record an alternate track with the riffs from the live show.
Any way we can get the ep numbers on the case and discs? It’s a small detail but it makes my life easier.
How exactly are the episodes chosen for a set? I imagine there’s at least a little more to it than simple dollars and cents.
Yeah, #50 made a good point: would Shout! be in any position to re-release eps that Rhino put out then lost the rights to, or would such renegotiations be Rhino’s problem? Don’t forget that we also lost Volume 9, even though at least 2 of the movies in it didn’t have rights issues.
And don’t ever stop including statuettes! I’d be glad to own every version of every ‘bot, right down to KTMA Cambot. Heck, you could do Timmy and not even have to remold the plastic tray from the 20th Anniversary tin!
Are there any legal problems unique to the KTMA eps preventing their release, besides the wishes of some of the Brains? Or do you think they’re just plain unmarketable?
Also, have any rights holders clearly jacked up their asking price for a movie solely because you approached them about that episode?
How about a DVD set with the beginning and the end of MST3K? Disc would be episode 101- The Crawling Eye and fourth disc would be episode 1013- Diabolik. The other two discs could be one Joel episode and one Mike episode.
I do echo alot of others in wondering about how tough it’d be to release the Blockbuster Reviews with rights issues for the movie scenes used in each special. I wonder if Shout Factory could make a sort of “Sublet” deal with some of the larger companies who own the rights to MSTied movies, such as Lionsgate (for several Arkoff/Roger Corman films), MGM or even giants like Universal – even if it means “limited edition” boxed sets of some movies. I know alot of the MSTied movies are public domain, but eventually those will all be released… then where will you go from there?
I know the Gameras are expensive (I remember emailing you a while back about them as you’d released an “Elvira’s Movie Macabre” episode with one), but I’m thinking they’d be a big seller – so whadya think?
Completists like me are of course interested in KTMA eps as extras (perhaps double sided discs of those used in later seasons of MST3K – KTMA on one side, Comedy Central on the other).
Years ago, Rhino asked the fans to rate their favorite episodes and a list was compiled of that rating (I remember I voted for my favorites) and of course “Puma Man” ended up being number one. Do you guys still reference that list, or is it now a matter of just getting what you can out as they come up?
OH, and I’d love to see the fanclub videos come out on DVD as extras, too (Memories, Tom Servo’s All Time Favorite Host Segments…)
And thanks, for taking the time for us fans to answer our questions!
OH, almost forgot – will you consider picking up the “Shorts” DVD’s? There’s still plenty of shorts left unreleased, and some are attached to episodes that it’ll be unlikely you’d get the rights to (Like “Winter Sports Cavalcade” from the ep “It Conquered the World” – a film still tied up in rights issues between the widow of Samuel Arkoff and his son).
Oops, sorry – I meant Nicholson’s widow and Arkoff’s son.
Any chance that episode 521-Santa Clause will be released?
How well do the dvd sets sell? Is it a money gold mine or do they just barely cover the cost?
First off, let me just say that the Shout! Factory sets are very cool – I especially like the retro-style movie posters in them.
My main question: Are there any plans to release compilations of just shorts? Those were the best way to get my friends who’ve never seen MST3k into the series, and I’m still mad that the Shorts V.3 release to DVD was so… bizarre.
Also, I’d like to second suggestions for scene selection options and putting out a list of movies that can’t be released due to rights issues.
It seems to me that the one thing missing from every MST release are those trivia factoid pop-ups, kinda like G4’s (I know, they suck) Lost 2.0.
While some info about the movies would be fun, it would be entirely necessary to explain the obscure jokes and references from the BB crew.
Mr. Fields,
Is it feasible to add closed captioning to upcoming releases, as a service to those of us with hearing problems? Thanks for your time and your efforts.
A couple of things I’d like to see released would include:
– have you considered, as an extra feature, Joel’s stand-up routines/specials from the early-to-mid ’80’s. I know he made several appearances on Saturday Night Live, David Letterman’s late-night show on NBC, and also specials he made on HBO.
– one disc devoted to the remaining shorts still unreleased: Alphabet Antics, Snow Thrills, Here Comes the Circus, Young Man’s Fancy, Money Talks, Progress Island, and the Gumby short have all yet to be released in MST form. If those were on one DVD, it would run about the same amount of time as the other Shorts Volumes.
– A KTMA episode, of course. The one episode I have on tape (Humanoid Woman) is not the best quality.
– When will SF release a Servo figure? Can you imagine Laurel without Hardy? Abbott without Costello? Cheech without Chong? The time has come for Crow’s bff to have his own little statue!
I believe Brian Ward has already stated that chapter breaks will be included in future sets, for those like me who were crying out for that feature.
The Lippert movies from Season 2 – Rocketship XM, Jungle Goddess, Lost Continent and King Dinosaur – what is the holdup on these ?
Also cast my vote for a few KTMA episodes to be on future volumes (some will be easier to get than Godzilla, Diabolik,etc)
I am also open to getting re-releases of the Atomic Brain WITH a stinger and The Dead Talk Back with a better master print. Would you be open to re-releasing certain episodes that Rhino screwed up on ?
This has been asked in a few different forms, but I’ll ask it again in my own unique way:
Any chance in hell we’ll see a full KTMA episode released on the set? I know the feeling from most people on the creative/marketing side of things is that they’d be kind of a niche product, but do you have any idea how many sets you’d sell if you took episode K01 (Invaders from the Deep), split it up into four parts and spread it across the four discs of one of your releases as an extra (kinda like what you did for the MST3K oral history doc that was on the 20th anniversary set)?
Another question I just thought of:
If you did consider a shorts-only release, would it be possible to include the as-yet-unseen “Mylar” short? And, if that project wasn’t finished, could cast members be brought in to complete it for release?
Everybody should keep in mind my Likelihood-for-Release List for specific episode questions:
http://forrestcrow.proboards47.com/index.cgi?board=mstchat&action=display&thread=1152828151&page=1
Travis H – now that “First Spaceship on Venus” has been released, how do you feel this may effect the possibility of release of other “Wade Williams” properties?
” ” I don’t think the release of FIRST SPACESHIP ON VENUS affects the Wade Williams titles, since it was released under the assumption that it is PD. Other titles had their rights transferred to Williams (BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS, etc) so he does own them legit, and some he probably just has copyrighted for his particular transfer/materials.
Excellent point in #64.
it would be very helpful to have subtitle as an option (both for the movie and riffs). This was done very successfully in MST: The Movie.
Somebody stated that they’d like to see KTMA as an extra, but I think that it would do the episodes justice if they made the KTMA episode the main feature, actually. See my post, comment #26 for thee best episodes.
Another person suggested that they show the proto-Season 3 episodes, but actually not too many of them are good … K04 is horrible & unshowable, K05 is just Joel, alone in the theater, I didn’t see the other Gamera KTMAs, but I do assume they’re good, K12 Fugitive Alien is pretty good, considering there were just 2 riffers in the theater, K14 Mighty Jack isn’t too good, and K17 Time of the Apes is wretched from the parts I saw.
The way I see it, it would do it justice if they’d actually show a full KTMA episode with some awkward silences edited out. What was good enough for Comedy Central (presumably) is good enough for the fans.
As mentioned above in quite a few posts there is some mad love for putting the episodes on itunes and I agree with this as I am in the Digital Dowloads camp VS the BluRay Horde.
I would like to make the suggestion that including the download codes within the box sets would help those box set buyers get their portable fix and if the cost rises for the sets a bit or maybe a discount online for those that bought the box? I would also like to see the “Variations on a Theme Song” appear as downloads for itunes as well.
Thanks!
Shed some light on the process of selecting an episode, negotiating the rights, etc. That’s be kind of interesting.
So I’m going to deviate way off course…
As an art nerd, I absolutely love the fact that each film has an illustration that combine the movie with MST3K. I see a signature for “S. Vance” on the one for Final Justice, but who are they? And how do they go about creating the illustration?
Going off of that, how did the decision come about to undertake such a task rather than just using basic stock photos? Was it something desired from the get-go, or an idea that popped up later?
Whatever it is, I love them and can’t wait to see what future releases look like.
Shout! Factory has so far released episodes of MST3k in which the featured movies are either public domain or have been licensed from non-major, independent rights holding organizations or individuals. Since Shout! has and still does license many other tv shows from major film and tv studios/conglomerates like Universal and Sony, can episodes which feature movies whose rights are owned by such major media conglomerates still be considered to be in play for possible future releases? I ask because I’ve read from online chat transcripts with representatives of the Warner Bros. film catalog division that they have a policy of not licensing out their content to others, which I guess makes releasing episodes like Moon Zero Two, Untamed Youth, and The Black Scorpion on DVD more difficult, since they are WB property. Have you found that rights holders are more likely to license their films in these especially troubled economic times than in others? During the episode releasing process, have you ever run into trouble determining who owns the rights to a particular MSTed film, i.e. disputed rights claims among several organizations/individuals over ownership of a movie? One gets an idea that some of these featured movies have very tangled histories involving red tape, rights-wise. What are some of the various reasons why some rights holders have said no? Also, have episodes that were released by Rhino and then later discontinued due to rights disputes made by such rights holders making such claims led any to refuse to ever consider licensing their films out for an MST3k episode DVD release or resolve such disputes for a re-release?
Gotta echo the Season 3 question. ANYTHING would be great.
The dual episode idea is for both hardcore and regular fans. I figure if they get both versions on the same disc, the hardcore fans can watch both versions and the regular fans can watch just the season 3 version, hence the two episodes on ONE disc, that way both types of fans can be satisfied without paying more for one good version and one bad version.
Thanks to Jordan for being instrumental in keeping the MST3K DVDs coming.
I second the question about scene selections and would add that I’d really like to see proper chapter stops like the Rhino DVDs used to have, which allowed you to skip to each host segment and movie section. I would much rather see intuitive chapter stops instead of the cheesy “lobby cards” included in each set so far. Those are a useless novelty, whereas chapter stops serve a useful, functional purpose and are a standard on 99.9% of all DVDs. Cut costs on the posters rather than excluding chapter stops, please.
I would also ask that Shout! not even consider re-releasing any episodes that have already seen a DVD release. I’d rather see previously unreleased episodes continue to come out than ones that are already out there.
#46 Fastidious Robot – There have been a higher percentage of SciFi episodes released because there were only 48 of them. In an average box set, 3 of the 4 DVDs are CC-era episodes. So the CC faucet is already flowing quite nicely. Anyway, a survey could help Shout! create sets that have a little something for everyone. Also, it’s a cool way for Msties to find out what everyone else wants.
I’ll come back in to this thread to voice the opinion that *if* (and it’s a big if) KTMA episodes are ever released, they shouldn’t be an “extra”. They are full-fledged episodes and deserve proper treatment. (Yes, KTMA-haters will bash Shout! for robbing them of a “proper episode”, but some fans will always do that when an episode they don’t particularly like comes out.)
Of course, if there was a “double-dipped” episode involved, I’d agree that a double-sided disc is the correct answer.
So, yeah, add me to the pile asking “What about KTMA?”
Any chance Shout! can license the movie so we can have a decent DVD release of it?
It’s sad that the German release has more extras then both of the American releases combined.
Universal would never license MST3k:TM to Shout, especially since they already have a DVD in print of it (despite that it totally sucks and they’re forever evil for not including the wonderful deleted scenes).
I would also like Chapter Stops/Menu and the episode/show info like Rhino did – the show number, etc.
Also – how do you come to the price for the box set?
I know hour long series like Smallville release a 24 episode, 5 or 6 disc with retail price at 40/50.
Of course, if the show runs 1 hour on TV, that means it’s not really 1 hour because of commercials.
MST3K was a 2 hour show, that ends up being about 1.5 hour in run time.
2 hour show is twice 1 hour.
half season (12 – though I have no idea what the avg season show amount was) MST3K = $40/50?
I haven’t really done any hard math for this, just off the top of my head.
It seems the pricing is more like 4 full length movies instead of 4 show episodes.
make any sense?
I think they have to pay 4 the rights to 4 films and 1 tv show. Instead of the cost of the 1 season of the 1 tv show. But thats just my guess.
I’d also be interested if Shout will end up releasing any of the episodes that Rhino released. And I’d also be interested in more shorts compilations (especially any that were on the elusive Vol 3.) I miss watching the bread salesman in the grip of supernatural forces. ;)
Please, no “Shorts” compilations. It’s a waste of a disc.
I’d also be curious to know if the Rhino releases that have been discontinued will ever be re-released through Shout? I’m pretty new to MST, and it bothers me that if I want to see Vol. 9 I have to pay 200 or more dollars to get it. Anyway, the releases I’ve seen so far from Shout have been excellent. Keep up the good work.
#88, I agree. I always enjoy full episodes, not just part of one. Thanks for all the effort so far.
My question- Will Shout Factory ever do single episode releases? Not just an episode, but like a “Deluxe Edition” with a lot of extras. I’m thinking a great releases of “Santa Claus” around Christmas.
Since we know that Joel, Trace, and Frank shot all that in character segments in 2007 (like the volume 10.2 segment for Rhino) will you be releasing the rest of that stuff they made?
I’ve thought about this long and hard, and Jordan, my question(s) for you is this:
Are you happy in your work?
Do you never ever shirk?
#87,89, etc –
Shout has already said that they are not interested in releasing any of the Rhino-released episodes anytime soon. Once the Rhino sets go out of print for good, and Shout starts running out of episodes, then we can expect them to reissue some of the Rhino eps.
Thanks for all the laughs you’ve given me. I’ve been battling health problems lately and laughter is so far my most potent weapon.
Add my vote for scene selections. Sometimes my DVD player freezes and it would be so nice if I could just take up where it left off rather than play the movie all over again.
I’d like to see you do a poll too. Final Sacrifice would get my top vote, with Pumaman running a close second.
As for the KTMA episodes, only if Best Brains wants them released should they be released. How do they feel about it?
Other than no scene selections, I like your menus. Keep up the good work and keep us laughing! :lol: :lol: :lol:
My question would be about the realtionship between Shout!’s contract with Best Brains and their ability to distribute other cast projects. My understanding is that the Film Crew DVDs were originally filmed for Rhino while MST was there, and that Best Brains effectively torpedoed their release, which is why Film Crew were eventually edited and released by Shout! If this is the case, does Best Brains still have this attitude, and is their any prospect for future Film Crew releases (or, better yet CT and/or joint Film Crew/CT releases) under the Shout! banner as long as MST is there? It is probably a mute point as the Film Crew personnel are over at Legend now, but I for one would love to see more Film Crew DVDs, along with a better distribution infrastructure for CT and any potential collaborations.
yeah, for me the first 3 KTMA episodes have to top my wish list—
I want my KTMA MST3K!
I don’t understand why anyone would want/expect/need MST to ever come out on Blu-ray. MST CAN’T ever be in HD because it was shot on video in SD. There is no magic way of making SD video HD. So there are no video or audio benefits to putting it on BD. In fact DVD is probably capable of more than any MST episode Would ever need. So baring any inept transfers the MST DVDs we are getting are as good as MST ever COULD look. The only possible benefit would be the ability to put more content on each disc. Given that it would only be SD video they could probably very easily fit all four episodes of a set on one BD. But DVDs are dirt cheap to mass produce now, so it might actually still be less expensive to make a set of four DVDs than one BD anyway. And look at it from Shout Factory’s point of view. All BD players can play DVDs anyway, so there isn’t a single person who owns a BD player that can’t buy and enjoy these MST DVDs. The DVDs are aimed at 100% of the market. But BDs can only be aimed at a small portion of the current market, so they would be going through all the extra expense and hassle of producing and marketing seperate BD versions simply to provide the identical product just on a different disc format for a comparatively small number of people who could simply be watching the regular DVDs on those same players anyway. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to even ask about BD. Possibly some day in the future when DVD is actually gone from the market, and BD is just as universal and just as cheap to produce as DVD is today, then I could see them re-releasing MST episodes on BD. But even then they not only wouldn’t, but really couldn’t be in HD, and it would be no different than watching it on the DVDs we are getting now.
Kinda’ OT, but I was wondering if you had a hand in getting the Transformers/GI Joe episodes to Shout! Factory, and if so, what type of extras will you guys be planning for the sets.
Also, will you be releasing any of the MSTed movies in the “uncut” un-MSTed format?
” ” Brian Ward said that they’ve considered it, but it would mean they would have to license the film twice and in some cases the films are licensed because the MST3k releases won’t interfere with their DVDs (example: CLONUS, INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES, etc).