.JPG)
211- First Spaceship on Venus
706- Laserblast
904- Werewolf
1004- Future War
Incidentally, this counts as the weekend discussion thread.
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The Episodes for the 20th Anniversary Collection Are…
279 Replies to “The Episodes for the 20th Anniversary Collection Are…”Commenting at Satellite News
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I don’t know what I’m more excited for, this release or my birthday (same day!).
As stated earlier, there is a lack of Comedy Central set of fans who truly understand what made this show last 20 yrs..it was Joel who made show & its a shame that the lone Joel episode is a lackluster. Good episodes , yeah maybe, but not a stand out set by any stretch…
Good, but what about master ninja I and II and riding with death
This is a major set release. Even first spaceship on venus is a welcome addition. It is a much needed upgrade to my collection. Of course every episode is of different levels of quality BUT they all have merit and every official release is appreciated. Let’s face reality – some episodes will never be released. So enjoy everything they offer and say thank you, may I have another?
Sorry but this isnt a major set..Laserblast only makes this somewhat special..but not all that much..the scifi fans love it..goodie for them..
Not enough Joel for a 20th Anniversary set..
If they can somehow get the rights to San Francisco International and I’ll be a VERY happy camper.
Werewolf & Laserblast make the set worth getting alone. I think SF is being very smart from a marketing standpoint: If you are releasing multiple sets, the worst thing to do is put 4 slam-dunk titles in one package. You put one slam-dunk episode (Laserblast), a very good to excellent episode (Werewolf), and then round it off with the others that could be solid and just overlooked. (Future War & First Spaceship). MGM did the same thing with the Bond collection and it would have been stupid for them to package Goldfinger, Goldeneye, From Russia with Love, & Dr. No all in once package. If you buy the set with all the A list titles and there’s no reason to by the others. I would have done exactly what SF did.
Does it REALLY matter if a set is “All Joel”, “All Mike” or any combo of the two? Who cares? It’s MST3K any way you slice it!
Gotta say I’m disappointed. Is it a good set? Of course, because they’re all great episodes. But any way you cut it, they totally biffed the 20th anniversary theme. I mean, really, how hard would it have been to get 2 Joel and 2 Mike eps? Here’s hoping not getting the key respective intro/farewell episodes was due to rights and not lack of effort. Still, great looking box, great eps and a Crow figure may not be an electric car with a mixtape but it sure beats just getting a pair of slacks. ;)
Well AlSwearengen YES it does matter -comment 58 pretty much says it all. The scifi fans got a cool toy and others got the slacks. I can think of a better word other than biffed, but it all means the same. Shouldve been called the We Cater to Mike Nelson Set. You get 3 killer Mike shows, really good+ shows, oh and there’s a below average Joel episode. Yippeee..
Finally, a season seven episode! I have a copy of “Laserblast” but a DVD version will be better as the tape I have has it on LP speed. The other episodes are good but I would have liked to have seen some “key” episodes for this anniversary set. “Samson Vs. The Vampire Women” (last TV’s Frank episode), “Rocketship X-M” (first TV’s Frank episode), “Revenge of the Creature” (first Sci-Fi episode that could have gone as a “book end” with “Laserblast”) or even, what the hell-DIG DEEP!!- “The Crawling Eye”-the first Comedy Central episode. OK as was said before, there may be some issues with rights so what is given for this set will have to do. Still I would have liked some more of the “key” episodes along with “Laserblast”.
This is absolutely fascinating. :mrgreen:
I’ll take whatever they put out be I do agree with some of the other people, They should have tried to find more of the better episodes like Time of the Apes. I do agree too that they need to put out the russo-finnis ones considering that those had some of the best material in them. :lol:
People complain about not having 2 Joel / 2 Mike episodes… hey, look at it this way:
We have 2 Trace episodes, and 2 Bill episodes. :mrgreen:
Underwhelmed.
I love Laserblast and Werewolf. I didn’t like First Spaceship on Venus. Can’t remember Future War. I guess I’ll get a chance to watch it again now :smile:
I prefer Mike, but I love Joel too. I really think they should have split it down the middle with 2 Mike Eps. and 2 Joel Eps. Joel created the freaking show!!
It should have been:
101
201
706
1001
Or substitute Riding with Death for Future War.
Just my opinion.
An good lineup, though I don’t know if it’s exactly “20th Anniversary Edition” worthy, but Laserblast is a nice touch. I know there will be interviews, so it will be interesting if there is a section on the end of the Comedy Central run on Laserblast or something. I would have loved a box set that would be every important episode, but hey, give Shout a break, this is more solid than most Rhino box sets.
As we in the Burgh have a different controversy to deal with tonight (The Bucs just traded ‘The X Man’, one of our many good hitters), I will weigh in on this one.
211 is not even in my top 10 eps from this excellent season. It has a few decent moments though.
706 is a no doubt huge release. Very funny 70’s
fare ala Riding With Death. (I’d also love to see 704 from this season get released).
904 is a very good episode and adds shine to the release.
1004 I like second best of the eps in the set, I’ve seen some of you say Werewolf is better, but I highly disagree. Future War is one of the best riffed episodes ever. In my opinion this one has more funny fiffs per-minute than most. My face hurts from smiling after every viewing.
I’m most disappointed that the third and funniest Coleman Francis movie still didn’t make it.
I still can’t believe that so many of you havent seen every episode yet. Its not like there arent channels for you to obtain quality dvd’s of them all. I am highly obsessive in that when I find something I love, I have to know everything about it and if its a tv show, see every episode as soon as possible cause I might die and miss them. I bought every rhino release, yes, but I also bought every show that wasnt released, (off of the great ‘SKYRONITER’, the most trustworthy & highest quality source).
This even after already having obtained/taped every episode on vhs many years earlier.
While this may not be what some consider appropriate for an anniversary set, this covers most of the eras of the show:
Joel Era(First Spaceship)
Mike CC Era(Laserblast)
Mike SciFi Era(Werewolf)
The Last Season(Future War)
File this under “Can’t please everyone” and look forward to the next one!
As they say… You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can’t lead a horse to water to pick your friends’ nose… er something.
Sharky?!
Fantastic choices! 3 movies I absolutely love & one I’ve yet to see (First Spaceship) … definitely getting this release. I hope Shout Factory manages to release more of the late-CC-early-Sci-fi era shows we haven’t gotten yet, because that’s when I got into the series.
Looking forward to this one!
While I’m glad they’re all previously unreleased-to-DVD episodes, they really dropped the ball with putting 211 on this set. But as Meatload used to say, 3 out of 4 ain’t not ungood.
I think they probably assumed public domain for First Spaceship on Venus even though its status as PD is arguable. There are loads of PD releases of it and nobody seems to care.
First Spaceship isn’t the worst episode (it’s way preferable to a Season 1) but it’s too bad they couldn’t have gotten Rocketship X-M or a Season 3 AIP episode or something instead. Make Joel look a little better! Maybe they couldn’t secure the rights in time and just went with an easy one to represent Joel.
At least the other episodes are all winners, with Laserblast and Werewolf being classics.
A lot of people here are spoiled brats. Many of you have done nothing but whine and bitch for a seventh season episode that Rhino never brought us, and the most-called for one was “Laserblast”. Well, Shout! is bringing it to us. It’s also bringing us two of the funniest Sci-Fi era episodes I’ve seen in “Werewolf” and “Future War”. And though many are basing their judgment of the season 2 episode off the episode guide, we’re still getting a season 2 episode that was previously unreleased — and season 2 was one of the best seasons in the series. Not to mention, the special features on this set will be better than anything we’ve ever seen from any of the Rhino sets. This is the first of many sets we will see from Shout! Factory. Am I totally stoked for them to begin their reign — this is at least as good as the top 2 or 3 sets that Rhino ever released in their many, many years as distributors of MST3K home video entertainment.
To all the people complaining about “key” episodes in regard to continuity—good God, people. “Then repeat to yourself it’s just a show, I should really just relax.”
Spoiled? By what?
Anyway, it’s an okay set that pretty much matches the pattern of Rhino releases. There is one excellent ep (Werewolf–on nearly every rhino release there was one ep from my top twenty or thirty eps), one excellent to solid ep (Laserblast), one just okay ep (Future War), and not so good ep (First Spaceship). I’ve joked for many years on the internet that Rhino is if anything consistent. I was hoping for a break from that from Shout, but that’s not he case.
That said:
Werewolf is great. Many fans will rejoice this key eps release.
Laserblast means finally a Season 7 one. Thanks Shout.
Future War is pretty funny but it’s one I don’t think they should have done since it is so transparently a movie filmed “badly” on purpose. So many better eps to choose from.
First Spaceship is in my bottom five, I believe. Oh, well.
A 20th Anni set is supposed to representive, I suppose. In this case representive of not so much the shows overall quality but the eps chosen to release.
Back in the day, I had an awesome Hi-Fi 4-Head VCR, and I recorded many of the Comedy Central and Sci-fi episodes and later transferred them to DVD. I love Werewolf and Laserblast, but these are two that I already have. I remember that I recorded Future War, but this is one of those movies like Time Chasers where I wanted to see the filmaker’s slowly choke to death while I capture it on film, so I promptly recorded over it. I’ve seen First Spaceship on YouTube, and I can live without it. So I guess I’d only buy this set to support the institution maybe to possess the Crow figure.
I would have likes to see Samson vs. the Vampire Women because I played that tape to death before I transferred it to DVD and the picture is kind of on the soft side. Frankly, I already have most of the episodes that define the show for me (Horror at Party Beach, The Screaming Skull, The Final Sacrifice, three of the Russo-Finnish classics, and many more) so I mostly look forward to the CT titles at this point. The last one had some rough edges but I really found that I missed the character silhouettes on the Film Crew series, even though the premise for using them in CT is kind of mysterious.
For those complaining about Future War, you should remember that Crow mentioned that Mike’s doing the forced perspective was a result of Joel showing up (I don’t remember the actual line). Mike then held up a Turtle to the screen and saying “It’s Gamera!”
I know it would have been better to get Soultaker on DVD if you wanted one from Season 10, but they probably couldn’t get the rights to it. I also personally consider Future War to be a solid episode (not one of the best, but one of the better ones) and better than Soultaker. Maybe Soultaker is more “momentous” with Joel’s return, but I just like Future War better. The “Thanks for not killing us” sketch was pretty funny, I think. The riffing is all-around better, in my opinion, and isn’t that why we watched the show in the first place?
what a disappointment. if you going make big deal hyping this set, you better make it special. if they came out a month ago and said what the episodes are i wouldn’t have said anything. this is a 20th anniversery set? the worst episode ever? it is no question about that.
they did get laserblast. it seems to me they spent money to get one big named episode and then got 3 cheap movies. they should not have called this a 20th anniversery set. what other show would put the worst episode on a anniversary set. this is like a bad joke. all of you people who hated rhino so much but least they never hyped anything to make it seem something more than it turned out to be.
Maybe the “20th Anniversary” label was pertaining to the panel and the interviews that will be supplemental material in the collection. How Shout Factory packaged this makes sense, as well as how Rhino packaged it– mix and match with what was not released yet and what they could get, and don’t put all the “good” ones in one collection. Keep the consumer coming back for more (which they will, anyway, in this case). How do we know how the negotiations went with the rights holders concerning all the movies that weren’t released yet? We don’t, really. Some of us imagine that every episode is easily available, and want what we want right away….
…. Forums are a place to complain about things. They are also a place to discuss things. Everyone’s opinion is valid, at least to the person making it. We don’t have to agree. It’s fun to read some of these posts. I get a chuckle and, sometimes, a big laugh out of some of you. Only some of that is laughing with you or admiring your humor. Yes, sometimes I am laughing AT you and how you think and opine and such. To all of you that I laugh AT, keep up the good work!! And to all of you who I laugh with, keep it going!! What I mean to say is this: Don’t go changing, okay? It wouldn’t be a discussion board or forum without the contributors we can laugh AT.
And it wouldn’t be a good place to go if all we had were those we can laugh AT.
I saw grief drinking a cup of sorrow
and called out,
“It tastes sweet, does it not”?
“You have caught me”, grief answered,
“and you have ruined my business.
How can I sell sorrow,
when you know it’s a blessing”?
— Rumi
211? Ouch.
I like the idea Shout is taking unique episodes, and this one probably has more to do with right issues or availability (copyright probably expired) than anything, but 211?
There are far better episodes in Season 1 and 2 to select than that one. Or does BBI still have that idiotic ban on Season 1 episodes?
I feel like this is Rhino Volume 13 rather than a 20th Anniversary set in terms of episodes. It is the bonus features that will make this a 20th Anniversary set. Again, the gripe is the movies represented in this “20th anniversary set” Laserblast was a great choice since its the last CC episode, so why couldnt they have gotten the Crawling Eye, the first CC episode, which is most likely public domain. Rocketship XM is the first Frank and Kevin show, which would have made a lot of sense for this set..maybe it is being saved for a Lippert box set. I think everything except Godzilla in Season 2 is do-able for SF. Like I said, Im glad when there is a release, but the titles selected didnt seem very representative for the much hyped 20th Anniversary save for Laserblast. I mean, First Spaceship is a weak Joel episode,even the Brains admitted that. the SciFi shows are excellent shows and I understand these meet a lot of fans requests, & Werewolf is probably my favorite Scifi episode next to Soultaker, but I as well as others didnt think it was appropriate for an ‘anniversary set’..Soultaker would have been a better choice with both Mike & Joel and Frank made an appearence..
I cant wait for the next release, Im sure there will be gripes, hey not enough Mike or SciFi shows & fans of Joel will get the next nyahh nyahh LOL :mrgreen: :lol:
It is not the best episode but I was expecting at least the Crawling Eye. In fact, going all 20th anniversary, the following episodes would have made sense:
101 Crawling Eye
706 Laserblast
801 Revenge of the Creature
1013 Diabolik
Of course, rights issues always come into play :sad: . In the end, at least we got Laserblast. Still, I am excited to see Werewolf upgraded, great episode.
First Spaceship on Venus is one of the best episodes from season 2…WOO HOO!!!! My eyes jumped out of their sockets when I saw that one listed. I thought they would never get it. I can’t wait to have it on glorious, eternal, razor-sharp DVD!
Finally, season 7 is represented with an episode. And it just so happens to be the best one, Laserblast…just phenomenal!
Werewolf is an essential SciFi era episode and another one of my personal favorites! EAR BONES, baby!!!!!!!!!!!
Future War is my least favorite episode of the entire series, including season 1 and the KTMA eps. But I’m happy as hell to have it on DVD any damn way!
:wink:
90% of you are nothing but a bunch of whining, sniveling brats!
GROW UP!
While you may think of yourselves as the “biggest fans” of the show, you certainly display your emotional maturity in your presumed support of it.
Who CARES if you don’t like one or two of the episodes included?
Who CARES whether a “20th Anniversary” set includes the “right” episodes?
Who CARES about the ratio of Joel to Mike?
If you were REALLY fans of the show and of the various cast members, you would be THRILLED about WHATEVER is formally released and you would be THANKFUL that somebody gives a rat’s ass enough to release them AT ALL. There were just under 200 episodes. The show will never come back. ENJOY each of them for what each one is – the good and the bad, each is unique,
STOP WHIMPERING about what a “raw deal” you got when the releases don’t match your perfect perception of what should have been included.
Immature sniveling fanboys…. you don’t know how good you got it…
http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-fairuse.html
How can I find out who owns a copyright?
We can provide you with the information available in our records. A search of registrations, renewals, and recorded transfers of ownership made before 1978 requires a manual search of our files. Upon request, our staff will search our records at the statutory rate of $150 for each hour. There is no fee if you conduct a search in person at the Copyright Office. Copyright registrations made and documents recorded from 1978 to date are available for searching online. For further information, see Circular 22, How to Investigate the Copyright Status of a Work, and Circular 23, Copyright Card Catalog and the Online File.
got $150 bucks/hour? find out what’s in the PD, then complain. Honestly, if it were up me we should be able to get any episode custom made. If the copyright has expired, it should be $5.99 per DVD. Others priced according to the fee to use the material. Personally, I’d pay 800 bucks for City Limits.
actually, the online search is pretty cool, but not very easy to sort. try searching mystery science, it won’t show the status of the original material, but it’s still all neat and official.
While I skipped Rhino Vol’s 2-10 (I’ve always preferred buying individual episodes for $10 a pop rather than $50 boxed sets) I WILL be picking this up!
I’m a little “meh” about the episode choices. I too was for the earliest possible episode, Laserblast, Revenge of the Creature and Danger: Diabolik. But I guess one out of four from my list isn’t bad. HA! Just last week I got Laserblast producer Charles Band’s autograph. :lol:
I keep seeing people wanting Danger: Diabolik. Well, it is owned by Paramount and they released it on DVD a few years back. Those hoping to get that one on a set any time soon should keep on dreaming.
GrowUp # 85
You need to switch to decaf and maybe you just don’t get it at all..
Why don’t you grow up and not resort to calling fans sniveling brats. Everyone has a right to their opinion, unfortunately even people like you.
I haven’t seen any of those eps, so I’ll be happy to get the set.
I suspect the reasoning behind including unpopular episodes is just to sell em. If they included only great episodes in sets at first, eventually they’d run out and then would anyone buy a set of leftover scraps? Completists would, but not everybody. I’m sure they want to sell as many of each ep as they can.
That said, considering this is a special anniversary set, they really hosed Joel by not including a strong ep for him, the creator. Boo on that, but yay in general.
I am absolutely thrilled with Laserblast, Werewolf and Future War being on the set.
I’ve never seen 211, but I’ll take all the MST3k on DVD I can get. :smile:
@ 90
No, YOU don’t get it.
Rather than celebrate the release of more episodes (regardless of their relative “quality”), you and many others here whine about which episodes they are! What does that tell Joel, et al? It tells them that you are merely sniveling ingrates!
Here’s what it sounds like:
“Hi, boys and girls, have some cake!”
“What??? It’s not chocolate cake? How utterly horrible to serve us some other cake instead!!!!” Waaaa! *whimper* *baaawl* *cry* *stomp feet*
If you are whining brats, then I’m not name-calling – I’m making an observation. Furthermore, it’s not your right to express an opinion I’m criticizing, it’s the content and value of said opinion that I question – with justification.
I think any disappointment has to come from the huge buildup to the release of the episode names – If they had just thrown these out a few weeks ago like Rhino used to I don’t think you’d hear much complaining. As many have said, it’s basically Volume 13 from Rhino, which is certainly not a bad thing.
I do remember Shout saying something about one of these episodes being one that they never thought they could get, or something like that…does anyone remember that? I wonder which one it was. (laserblast?)
@ #93
Your metaphorical “cake” situation is not completely accurate. Here’s a more honest version:
Parent (Shout Factory): “Hi boys and girls. You’ve been getting cake now and then from these other people (Rhino). That’s good, but it could and should be way better. In fact, I personally am disappointed by that cake. So let me give you much better cake!”
Kids (Fans): “Hooray!”
Parent: (spends next several months getting kids all excited by dropping hints about chocolate cake)
Kids: “Hooray!”
Parent: “Guess what kids? The day is here. Have some cake!”
Kids (flabbergasted): “But it’s not the chocolate cake you said you’d have!”
Parent (in desperation): “Well, yeah, but look! It’s got a little frosting (bonus features) on it! Yum yum!”
Kid 1: “Eh, okay, whatever…”
Kid 2: “Never mind then. I don’t want any, thank you.”
Parent (to Kid 2): “What are you talking about? Any cake is good cake!”
Kid 2: “True, but we were already getting cake. If we are promised something for a long time, and there is no obvious reason why we shouldn’t get it, we should get it.”
Parent (shrugs): “Oh well. Now, kids, wasn’t that cake delicious! You got your special cake!”
(Hypothetical section ahead)
(Parent proceeds to serve future cake with just sprinkles [more lackluster bonus features].)
@ 93
This is a consumer product, not a free gift we’re getting here. Paying customers are allowed to make certain demands of the product. Especially if the contents do not match the description it is sold under.
Actually, Grow Up, it’s more like:
“Here, you’ve been getting cake for years, but here’s some special cake that celebrates the 20th anniversary of cake and the announcement of what kind of cake you’ll get will be a big deal that we’ll hype long in advance so that you’ll all be on the edge of your seat to hear what kind of cake you’re getting.”
I mean, everyone’s happy for more MST3k on dvd, but when you call something the “20th Anniversary Set”, you’re raising the level of expectations and you’re setting yourself up for more disappointment with the contents. Especially when, IMO, it’s a step down in quality from the greatness that was Rhino volume 12.
I personally don’t care for the lineup, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to pre-order the set and doesn’t mean I’m not excited that it’s coming out. But if the core fan base doesn’t express their opinions on what’s being offered, then how is Shout to know that we don’t all want this kind of lineup.
And if you don’t think that many of the same fans who are raving about the set wouldn’t be expressing their disappointment if it was 3 Joel eps and 1 relatively unpopular Mike ep, then I think you’re very mistaken.
I agree with GypsyJr. I would have liked to have another Joel episode in the set to even it out, but I understand the rights issue.
Kudos to Shout Factory for continuing MST3K dvd releases. I hope they continue to release sets for my obsessive compulsive collecting!
I think people have a right to be disappointed about this set, considering the buildup engineered by Shout Factory. However, it’s still a good set that is well worth the price.
Again, I agree with the general consensus here: the episodes are great, but only one is what I would consider essential for a “historic” box set. As much I love Future War and Werewolf, I wouldn’t call them the series’ milestones. Maybe if they called the set something other than the 20th Anniversary Edition there would be no cause for minor bellyaching.
If the folks at Shout! read this, I hope what I’m saying doesn’t come across as bitching. Like I said, they are solid, funny episodes. :mrgreen: