Mystery Science Theater 3000 Video Releases
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American TV show which aired between 1988 and 1999. This page summarizes video tape and DVD releases of episodes of the show. Episodes were initially released by Rhino Entertainment, with the rights later being purchased by Shout! Factory. Releases usually consist of boxsets of 4 episodes, although early releases consisted of just single episodes.
Episodes are not released in chronological order. This is because releasing the episodes on home video can be very difficult due to rights issues involved in licensing the movies featured within the episodes. As a result, long negotiations are involved, and some episodes are not able to be released on home video. According to Shout! Factory, releases are prevented because either the rightsholder or rightsholders will refuse to license the movie (one example is Susan Hart), will license the movie but will not allow the MST3K version to be released because of the mockery of the films (one example was Kadokawa Pictures), or will license the movie and allow them to release the MST3K version, but will charge more money than the distributor can afford to pay them. Some movies can be expensive to clear for release because the rights owner increased the cost of the movie rights due to the exposure that MST3K has given them. Because of these issues, it has been announced that the only way for those certain episodes to be released is if the rights transfer hands to someone who will definitely license the material and allow any version of the film to be released, and will only want a little cash in return. Any movies featured in the episodes that are public domain will not have to be cleared, and can instantly be released without any trouble.
Read more about Mystery Science Theater 3000 Video Releases: VHS Releases, Other Official Releases
Famous quotes containing the words mystery, science, theater, video and/or releases:
“The Heavens. Once an object of superstition, awe and fear. Now a vast region for growing knowledge. The distance of Venus, the atmosphere of Mars, the size of Jupiter, and the speed of Mercury. All this and more we know. But their greatest mystery the heavens have kept a secret. What sort of life, if any, inhabits these other planets? Human life, like ours? Or life extremely lower in the scale. Or dangerously higher.”
—Richard Blake, and William Cameron Menzies. Narrator, Invaders from Mars, at the opening of the movie (1953)
“The well-educated young woman of 1950 will blend art and sciences in a way we do not dream of; the science will steady the art and the art will give charm to the science. This young woman will marry—yes, indeed, but she will take her pick of men, who will by that time have begun to realize what sort of men it behooves them to be.”
—Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards (1842–1911)
“...I have never known a “movement” in the theater that did not work direct and serious harm. Indeed, I have sometimes felt that the very people associated with various “uplifting” activities in the theater are people who are astoundingly lacking in idealism.”
—Minnie Maddern Fiske (1865–1932)
“We attempt to remember our collective American childhood, the way it was, but what we often remember is a combination of real past, pieces reshaped by bitterness and love, and, of course, the video past—the portrayals of family life on such television programs as “Leave it to Beaver” and “Father Knows Best” and all the rest.”
—Richard Louv (20th century)
“We need a type of theatre which not only releases the feelings, insights and impulses possible within the particular historical field of human relations in which the action takes place, but employs and encourages those thoughts and feelings which help transform the field itself.”
—Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956)