Nice work, Travis! I’d love to hear about how you found all this info out!
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Rhino, Rights and MST3KDuring the recent discussion of Vol. 10.2, Travis posted a link to this fascinating, informative and exhaustive look at the rights status of every movie MST3K did, and from there postulating on how likely each is to be in some future Volume.
31 Replies to “Rhino, Rights and MST3K”Commenting at Satellite News
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Thanks for the link there! It’s a shame to see that some of my favorites probably won’t make it to DVD,(like Operation 007), but the list is awesome just the same. Mainly it will be of great use when writing to Rhino and making realistic requests, (like Final Sacrifice), for the next volume of MST3K.
Here’s hoping we finally see some of the Gameras come out. Of the Japanese films, they’re easily among the best.
Great work Travis. I printed it out for easy reference. I went to it yesterday when you mentioned it, and give a bow to Sampo for having the good sense to point the way to it. This is definitely an official ‘must have’ document for Misties.
Matty O is right, we need to be as realistic as possible when giving Rhino our requests. Maybe even include the entire list when contacting them. Hell, THEY probably don’t even have as comprehensive a list as this.
Travis has often been considered indirectly responsible for Toho finding out about Vol. 10 and having it pulled.
Brandon: Travis has often been considered indirectly responsible for Toho finding out about Vol. 10 and having it pulled.
It looks like he was DIRECTLY responsible, actually:
http://forrestcrow.proboards47.com/index.cgi?board=deep&action=display&thread=1151622024&page=5#1151933492
Although, if they didn’t have the proper rights they shouldn’t have tried to release it in the first place. Perhaps they though they did. I guess we’ll find out on Gila.
Incredible Melting Man is unlikely? Ah, man…
It’s nice to Travis’ awesome ‘Likelihood’ list getting a bit more exposure. I’ve had the thread saved in my favorites for about a year since he updates it regularly.
ROCKET ATTACK U.S.A. was released on home video in 1990 by Sony.
After seeing the “Extremely Unlikely” list, I’m going to write a letter to Universal and plead for them to license some of their titles. “Agent for H.A.R.M.” and “Riding with Death” are two of my favorites.
I’m glad that Final Sacrifice and Master Ninja are likely. It’s just sad that the liscensing has to be done this way. I think my version of Heaven includes full-season box sets of MST3k which this rights stuff makes impossible.
Oh, well. Whatever the give us next, I’m grateful for.
“MASTER NINJA THEME SONG!!”
Tim Murphy, thanks for the heads-up on ROCKET ATTACK U.S.A; I hadn’t come across that VHS release before. Have you seen any other images/listings for that release besides Amazon?
Hello Travis. I knew about it because I own a copy of that release. I didn’t look on Amazon, only Half.com, and at present there are no copies for sale there.
Oh cool, that’s really strange Sony had/has it. Back when EVERYTHING was being put out on VHS (yes, there is a VHS of STARFIGHTERS out there somewhere!).
Thanks again
You’re very welcome Travis. Sony released a couple of other science fiction titles at the time, like ROBOT MONSTER and SPUTNIK. I think Medallion TV may have been involved in there somewhere.
I only read through a few pages of the thread and didn’t see many explanations, so what is it that determines the likelihood/unlikelihood of release?
Are the rights owners asking for too much money (which only makes me think of Frank’s comments about Radar Secret Service from the ACEG), are they hoarding them for some other reason (e.g. the honorary Sandy Frank “How DARE they”) or what?
Hi Black Rain,
You did raise a good question. What determines the likelihood depends partly on the company/individual who own the films. Big studios like Universal, Sony, Paramount and MGM wouldn’t even consider licensing one of their titles to another company like Rhino or they would want way too much money. Of course, most of the titles MST3k used don’t have much or any market potential on their own… you’d think they’d want to make money off of their bottom-of-the-barrel genre titles.. but that’s just how they are.
Fortunatly, a lot of the movies used on MST3k are owned by smaller companies who are more willing to license their titles to Rhino (Crown International, Media Blasters, Retromedia, etc..).
Another factor that goes in to my likelihood-grading is what information I may know about the company/individual who owns the movie. Parts: The Clonus Horror was one I had pegged as “Extremely likely” partly because MSTies had heard the director actually liked the show.
Hope that helps.
Ah, a nice list Thanks for your hard work Travis!
I re-read all the old posts. Great info, but much in the same way Gypsy didn’t “get” Tom, I just don’t get Travis. What in the world would possess him to contact Toho? If he doesn’t work for them, why should he care what gets put out on DVD by Rhino? Did he want the set to get pulled so he could sell his at a premium on e-bay or something? If he had no personal stake in the matter, why did he act against his own best interest as a MSTie and make a call that would get the set pulled? BTW, I am a member of the Godzilla/Gamera fandom as well but I just don’t get this behavior at all.
a great list but those univeral title films. universal owns the scifi channel. Couldn’t they make a deal with rhino?
magicvoice,
I didn’t want the set to get pulled (and, at the time, could only afford one copy of the box set… so, no, I didn’t sell any on ebay). The moment I read the news I was blown away and excited. It’s one of my favorite episodes, and one everyone wants to be released. But I knew it wasn’t going to last (and told everyone so). The rights status on MEGALON has been kind of weird for a few years now… with Goodtimes going bankrupt, etc. So I naturally wanted to find out some more information for the sake of MSTies and Godzilla fans alike (I am as much a Godzilla fan as I am a MST3k fan). I emailed Rhino first, but naturally didn’t get a response.
Toho has an office in LA and people who keep track of their properties. They’re not relying on some random MST3k fan in New England for potential copyright infringement information. Chances are Toho’s LA office already knew about the set (the email I used was one for Toho international in Tokyo I think). But because the way things went I ended up becoming the scapegoat.
Some fans are acting like I’ve prevented the episode from being available. Vol 10 is being reissued, and MEGALON is still available from NetFlix (something I pointed out to fans months ago), and lastly there are no doubt plenty of MSTies who wouldn’t mind burning a copy for others (myself included).
and…
“Nobody gets me. I’m the wind, baby!”
jason,
Universal now owns the SciFi Channel, but the SciFi Channel doesn’t have anything to do with MST3k anymore. Universal did release most of their MSTied titles in those recent Best Buy exclusive “Ultimate Classic SciFi Collection” sets. You’d think they’d want to make money off those movies where they could… but I’m sure they’d ask Rhino for too much money or refuse to license them to begin with.
I’m amazed BBI was able to get something like REVENGE OF THE CREATURE in the first place! But it looked like at the time SciFi had the pick of the Universal vault. With 7 of the 8th Season episodes featuring Universal-owned movies, it goes to show you how much confidence SciFi had in MST3k then.
Travis:
Nice list! Now, if someone could just convince Rhino to take a look at this, we might wind up with some box sets that WON’T be pulled after release. :wink:
Just get JACK FROST and/or FINAL SACRIFICE out on DVD, and I’ll guarantee sales of two (2) of them each. Better yet – put them in the same box set. Heck come up with a themed box set; both of these could fall under an “International” heading. – cause, you know…Canada and all…
Great to know. I glad to know that these titles have a chance for Rhino : All the Gamera’s, 306-Time of the Apes, 310 + 318 Fugitive Alien I/II, 903 Puma Man, 912-Final Sacrifice, 813- Jack Frost. But too bad though for 516- Alien from LA.
Travis, I too wanted to say what a great job you’ve done! It makes it much more interesting to speculate about what the next box set will contain!!
Thanks for the info, Travis. I knew it wouldn’t last either. Being a Godzilla fan, I’ve read all about how sticky Toho can be with their biggest star.
I’ve often joked that Godzilla must residuals if you even say his name!
I’d say it’s highly likely Rhino does indeed have the rights. For example, Vol. 8 contained the film THE DEAD TALK BACK. The print they used for the DVD had some pixelating (sp?) errors. They acknowledged the flaws, but said if they had substituted another film, they would have had to go through more rights issues.
:wink:
Also the promlem was back in 2003, GoodTimes went bankrupt! No company own’s the rights of the movie. Today, they are called Gaiam,Inc.
http://corpate.gaiam.com/default.asp
” ” Yeah, Toho knew about Goodtimes going bankrupt, I’m pretty sure the movie has reverted back to Toho now.
Thanks everyone for the kind words about my list. :grin:
Nice to see Final Justice, Moon Beast, Future War and Final Sacrifise are all extremly likely! And I’m surprise Neptune Men hasn’t come out yet!
Didn’t think It Lives by Night be extremly unlikely! Looks like just Neptune Men and possibly Jack Frost are all that is left for season 8 episodes! Oh yeah and Devil Doll.
Season 7 looks like it will never come out!
Season 1 could have all of its come though. Alhtough I’m not a fan of season 1 episodes. (Or season 2, though I did like Godzilla and Hellcats)
Yeah, at first IT LIVES BY NIGHT seems like it would be really likely (since it was shown on repeats so much). But unfortunatly MGM owns it and just put it out on DVD (under its original title BAT PEOPLE).
If Rhino could make deals with Image/Wade Williams, then we’d have a crapload of possible episode releases. But I’m not sure where they stand on that.
Too bad about the MGM, Universal and Corman stuff and the titles owned by Susan Hart. It Conquered the World, Earth vs. the Spider, The Incredible Melting Man and The Undead are some titles I was eager to have. Fortunately, I recorded MST3K as often as possible back in the Comedy Central days all the way through Sci-Fi. Thus I have many titles, burned to DVD now, that may not be released for a long time to come (I bet they’ll all be released someday–call it a hunch)like Sampson vs. The Vampire Women (a favorite of mine), Squirm, The Thing that Wouldn’t Die, as well as numerous titles that are undoubtedly on the way (Final sacrifice, Jack Frost).
Casanegra has been buying up the old K. Gordon Murray/Churabusco titles for DVD release, so they may have a bead on Samson vs. the Vampire Women. I don’t think they’d be able to sell the title to Rhino even if they bought it, though. The rights to all those Mexican horror movies seem to be pretty elusive.